As Trump Faces a GOP and an America Divided on Terrorism, Gun Control and Bergdahl, Saudi Arabia Sets Out to Re-invent Itself

WE START THE WEEK IS A LOT OF NEWS IS JUMPING OFF THE PAGES. Mostly conservative online pages and the UK press, to be sure. • • • THE ANTIFA MARCHES DID NOT LED TO INSURRECTION. Not that we expected them to. But, what is telling about the Antifa wave is that not much was made of it -- except for al-Jazeera that was the only day-after report I could find -- and of course the New York Times, that decided to take Antifa pieces of silver and place a full-page ad about the marches in the "all the news that's fit to print" propagandist vehicle for Progressives. The Antifa advertisement tells readers how "To Find a Protest Near You.” • The New York Times, according to InfoWars : "knows -- even if its readers do not -- that Refuse Fascism is a front group founded and run by the Revolutionary Communist Party (RCP), a violent Marxist-Leninist group that idolizes China’s Communist mass-murderer Mao Zedong. Which makes the Refuse Fascism appeal to “humanity” doubly propagandist and offensive." • InfoWars aside, it is still shocking , even in this age when there is nothing left to shock us, that one of America's oldest and most cited newspapers would choose to take money -- that it, if the ad was not placed as a free 'public service' -- to support a group that publicly calls for the overthrow of America. Is that sedition in itself??? • • • THE BUSHES TRY AGAIN TO TAKE OUT TRUMP. And fail. TheHill published on Saturday an article about the Bush concerns set out in the new book, “The Last Republicans” by Mark K. Updegrove, in which President GW Bush is quoted as saying that he worries he would be “the last Republican President." The book, to be released Nov. 14, was previewed by TheHill and other media outlets late Friday and Saturday. • The White House fired back at former Presidents George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush on Saturday, attacking their legacies after both Bushes expressed their displeasure with President Trump in the new book. The WH statement by press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said : "The American people voted to elect an outsider who is capable of implementing real, positive, and needed change -- instead of a lifelong politician beholden to special interests. If they were interested in continuing decades of costly mistakes, another establishment politician more concerned with putting politics over people would have won.” In another statement reported by CNN, a White House source criticized the Bush legacy : “If one presidential candidate can disassemble a political party, it speaks volumes about how strong a legacy its past two Presidents really had,” the White House said, according to CNN. • Elitist #NeverTrump turncoats that they are, the Bushes -- father and son -- confirmed in the book they did not vote for Trump in the last election. The elder Bush confirmed he voted for Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. Former President GHW Bush said of President Trump : “I don’t like him. I don’t know much about him, but I know he’s a blowhard. And I’m not too excited about him being a leader.” George W. Bush offered his own critique of Trump in the book, saying Trump “doesn’t know what it means to be President." The younger Bush also didn’t vote for Trump in the 2016 election, saying he opted for “none of the above” on his ballot. • This came in the week in which former House Speaker John Boehner implied the Republican party is dead, telling Politico : "Donald Trump’s not a Republican." • Maybe the real question is whether the Bushes and Boehner are Republicans. • Both Bushes offer their thoughts on the Iraq War in the book. George W. Bush says the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, “changed the equation” in Iraq and demanded a change in policy : “I’m very comfortable that when people fully analyze my decisions in the proper context, they will understand why my foreign policy -- not in the principles of US leadership but in the application -- was different." But, the White House said the Bush legacy "begins with the Iraq war, one of the greatest foreign policy mistakes in American history." George H.W. Bush said in the book that Bush’s decision on the Iraq War “will be seen as the right thing to do. Saddam Hussein was a bad guy. I think history will be okay with it." • In a final word, the White House told CNN : “President Trump remains focused on keeping his promises to the American people by bringing back jobs, promoting an America First foreign policy and standing up for the forgotten men and women of our great country." • President GHW Bush's comment that he doesn't know much about Trump but he doesn't like him could, I suppose be excused because of GHW Bush's age. But, we do know something about former President GHW Bush from his days as President Reagan's Vice President. Abortion was an issue as Reagan considered GHW Bush as a running mate in 1980, and Newsweek said : "While he personally opposes abortion, he is against passing a constitutional amendment to make it illegal." Reagan was running on a strict anti-abortion platform and needed a vice presidential candidate who was right there with him. Richard Allen, Reagan's foreign policy advioer at the time and later national security advisor, wrote about the worry in the Reagan camp in an article for the New York Times : " 'There's Bush,' I suggested, half expecting him to close off the discussion. Instead he paused and then said, 'I can't take him; that 'voodoo economic policy' charge and his stand on abortion are wrong.' " Allen then said that Bush was approached by Reagan himself about whether he could pledge to support the platform. That was the beginning of Bush's unwavering antiabortion support." Planned Parenthood says Bush "turned his back on reproductive health care to be Reagan's running mate," while the National Right-to-Life Committee endorsed him for president in 1988.So, GHW Bush was a moderate Republican whom everyone in politics in 1980 believed to have changed his position from pro-abortion to pro-life just to get on the national ticket with Ronald Reagan. And, now GHW Bush is accusing Trump of being a "blowhard," while Bush himself was so intersted in being VP that he reversed his position on abortion in a matter of weeks. Makes one wonder if anything he says is deeply felt or simply political expediency. • • • TRAVESTY OF JUSTICE IN THE BERGDAHL SENTENCING. Of all the news making the headlines right now, surely the sentencing of Army Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl is the most shocking. President Trump tweeted Friday that Bergdahl's sentence -- a dishonorable discharge, but no prison time for leaving his post in June 2009 -- was a "complete and total disgrace to our Country and to our Military." • More than eight years after Bergdahl walked off his base in Afghanistan -- and unwittingly into the clutches of the Taliban -- Bergdahl walked out of a North Carolina courtroom a free man Friday. Bergdahl, who pleaded guilty to endangering his comrades, was fined $10,000 by the judge in the case, Colonel Jeffrey Nance, and was reduced in rank to E1 and dishonorably discharged -- but he received no prison time. Bergdahl faced up to life in prison for desertion and misbehavior before the enemy, and he was shaking and appeared emotional as the verdict was quickly read. Bergdahl's defense lawyer has told reporters after sentencing that his client "has looked forward to today for a long time," adding : "Sergeant Bergdahl is grateful to everyone who searched for him in 2009, especially those who heroically sustained injuries." • Was there no Bergdahl comment about soldiers who died searching for him??? • One of the soldiers who suffered because of Bergdahl's act was Master Sergeant Mark Allen, who suffered a head injury in July 2009 that left him unable to speak or walk. But, one of Bergdahl's defense attorneys said it wouldn't be justice to rescue Bergdahl from the Taliban "only to place him in a cell" now : "Sergeant Bergdahl has been punished enough. Sergeant Bergdahl paid a bitter price for the choices that he made." During the multiday sentencing hearing, Bergdahl himself testified that he was sorry for the wounds suffered by searchers. He also described brutal beatings by his captors, illness brought on by squalid conditions and periods of isolation, most of it in a cramped cage -- a story which some military doubt. • Back in 2014, President Obama caused great controversy when he brought Bergdahl home in a swap for five high-value, dangerous Taliban prisoners at Guantanamo Bay. Obama said at the time that the US does not leave its service members on the battlefield. • Retired US Navy Captain Chuck Nash, Fox News military analyst, severely criticized the military judge who ordered no jail time for admitted deserter Bergdahl as a “disgrace” and says the actions of both men strike a serious blow to good order and discipline in the U.S. military. Nash also said this episode is just the latest wound absorbed by the military due to the advancement of political correctness and social engineering. Nance’s decision is hitting a very raw nerve in the military community. Nash told Fox News : “It’s insane. This judge is a disgrace. He should have recused himself. By doing this, he just brings more discredit upon himself.” Nash says the military will suffer as a result of Nance and Bergdahl : “The rules are the rules and everybody in the military is held to the standards. The whole thing about the military and good order and discipline and all of that is just taken a serious hit today by this guy’s actions. And I mean both of these guys : Bergdahl for doing what he did and this judge for doing what he did. Just disgusting.” • Nash said the military is built on the understanding that orders will be followed and rules enforced, and the overwhelming majority of American service personnel fulfill their oaths despite countless tours and immense disruptions for their families and Nance’s decision shows a lack of respect for that : "You have someone who admits he did two really heinous things -- desertion and cowardice in front of the enemy -- and this judge says Donald Trump, when he was a candidate, said something that actually affected [his] ability to sentence?” Nash said he would not be surprised if Bergdahl wins his appeal on the dishonorable discharge sentence : “He’ll probably find some Obama appointee who will back him on it,” said Nash. • The truth is that six US service members were killed looking for Bergdahl and others were severely wounded. No amount of time as a "prisoner" of the Taliban, if that's really what Bergdahl was, can pay for those lives or wounds. It was not Barack Obama who "refused to leave a service member on the battlefield." It was Bowe Bergdahl who deserted his comrades in arms, leaving their battlefield and then causing the deaths of six of them and the grave wounds of others." A lifetime of incarcerated penance is a small price to pay for his cowardice and his dishonorable treatment of the uniform he wore. • • • DE BLASIO AND CUOMO DO A PROGDEM KNEEJERK ON GUN CONTROL. Lifezette reported last Thursday that New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio talked about firearms after the NYC islamic terrorist who used a truck to kill 8 people. Cuomo and De Blasio responded to the attack by calling for more restrictive gun laws. De Blasio spoke about the issue Wednesday at a news conference to update the public about Tuesday’s attack : "There's a much bigger conversation we could have about gun safety. The NYPD has always vigorously believed that we need to keep guns out of this city and that gun safety laws are here to protect us and protect our officers." Cuomo echoed De Blasio's comments and praised the 2013 passage of the Secure Ammunition and Firearms Enforcement Act, which prohibits certain kinds of firearms defined as "assault weapons," limits the size of high-capacity magazines, and requires criminal background checks for people buying ammunition. Cuomo said : "As far as gun laws, I am increasingly proud that New York State passed some of the smartest gun laws in the country, the SAFE Act. I think it is madness the number of assault weapons that we have in this country. I think that it endangers law enforcement. I think that it costs us untold numbers of deaths. And I hope that one day we'll have a federal policy that actually brings sanity to the gun policy laws in this country." • Are De Blasio and Cuomo and all the other ProgDems deranged when they attack the Second Amendment every time a terrorist or crazed person kills people -- whether it is with a truck or bombs or a knife?? The NYC attacker killed 8 people with a vehicle, not a gun. • If that doesn't prove the bad faith of De Blasio, Cuomo and all likeminded ProgDems, consider that De Blasio also said he favored "vetting" people coming into the United States, as long as it does not involve where they are coming from or what their religious beliefs are : "I can say simply, we support vetting of individuals. We support thorough vetting, not of groups of people just because they belong to a group. We think that this is a very crucial distinction. There should be very, very careful vetting of anyone where there's an indication of a concern. But not because of their religion. Not because of their country of origin." • If the US were not allowed to ask where a visa applicant comes from or what his religious beliefs are -- what can be asked? Name? Age? Marital status? Number of children? That's about it -- and we know where that will lead -- more trucks and knives and bombs killing more Americans and visitors to America. It is utter nonsense. • • • SAUDI ARABIA CLEANS HOUSE. The House of Saud, that is. • CNBC News and other outlets reported that billionaire Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, a member of the Saudi royal family, was reportedly detained on Saturday. Saudi Arabia's royal family ousted key officials and arrested others in a sweeping anti-corruption drive. Bin Talal is a very prominent investor with stakes in companies like Citigroup, Apple and Twitter. The arrests on Saturday were made in connection with a wide-ranging anti-corruption initiative, according to local reports. Saudi Arabia's King Salman removed a host of prominent officials in a sweeping crackdown, in which dozens of princes and former ministers were detained after private airplanes were grounded. News outlets, including Saudi-owned Al Arabiya, and the Wall Street Journal, reported Bin Talal was among those arrested. CNBC said it could not immediately confirm Bin Talal's status. • Bin Talal is an American-educated philanthropist and investor. In 2015, bin Talal announced he would donate his entire fortune to help build a "better world of tolerance, acceptance, equality and opportunity for all." • Saudi King Salman appointed two new ministers on Saturday to key security and economic posts, removing one of the royal family’s most prominent members as head of the national guard, as part of a series of high-profile firings that sent shock waves in the Kingdom. The king also announced the creation of a new anti-corruption committee chaired by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, which state-owned Al Arabiya TV said had already detained 11 princes, four current ministers and tens of former ministers. The suspects were not named. • The anti-corruption sweep is taking place against as Saudi Arabia begins political and cultural reform and the upcoming launch of an initial public offering for state-owned oil giant Saudi Aramco in 2018. The IPO is expected to be the largest in history, and Aramco is widely expected to dual-list shares on an international exchange. The Guardian wrote on September 2 that Saudi Arabia’s new heir to the throne Mohammed bin Salman al-Saud, son of the current King Salman, was plotting his ascendancy -- "he surrounded himself with public accountants and private advisors who all drew the same conclusion – the Kingdom itself was at serious risk if its people didn’t change their ways." The Guardian said : "On every front, the house of Saud faced a struggle -- that it would probably lose -- to retain its grip on a country that was moving towards implosion. Culturally, socially and economically, Saudi Arabia needed an overhaul and Mohammed bin Salman, who sensationally ousted his uncle, Mohammed bin Nayef, as crown prince earlier this year, pinned both his startling rise and eventual legacy to the most comprehensive reform attempt that the Kingdom has ever seen. An absolute monarchy with a bloated, inefficient public sector, a huge government payroll and a resistance to change is not an easy target. Add to that a mindset of entitlement among many Saudi young people and low productivity, and the challenges seem close to insurmountable. Central to the young prince’s plan is unlocking wealth and giving its citizens a buy-in. As sweeteners, he has thrown in cultural reforms, such as opening cinemas, promoting concerts and other enhancements to social life that many Saudis crave." • But, it is the partial sale of Aramco -- potentially the world’s biggest company -- that is the centerpiece of Mohammed bin Salman's broad reform. Aramco is one of the world’s most opaque organisations: a state-owned oil conglomerate that holds the keys and secrets to the Kingdom. According to the Guardian : "Tapping into its revenue stream is seen by the country’s rulers and investors alike as a vital step to weaning the economy off its near-total dependency on oil. Its true valuation is being assessed in all the world’s financial capitals, where initial curiosity about the Saudi transformation has started to turn to tangible interest. Investment-house chiefs and merchant bankers have been regular visitors to Riyadh this year, where Mohammed bin Salman – a 31-year-old with carte blanche to reform -- has hammered home his Vision 2030 plan, which, if successful, would transform more than just the country’s ossified economy." • A senior minister told the Observer in Riyadh earlier this year : “This is cultural revolution disguised as economic reform. Everything hangs on it.” More than 60% of the Saudi population is under 30 and includes a large numbers of disenfranchised young people dissatisfied with the current social contract, which is bound up in rigidly conservative rules governing social interactions. Entertainment and fraternization are mostly outlawed. Jobs are few, and often menial. There are fears that in the absence of credible alternatives, extremist groups may provide a lure. Overhauling the way that Saudis live is intertwined with changing how they work. Despite enthusiasm among many sectors in society, there is broad resentment among other communities to the scale and scope of the plans. “The leadership is significantly less conservative than the base,” said the senior minister. “None of this will be easy at all. They are hoping for whole shift in values set within a generation. To do this, they will have to take on the clerics at the same time as building a new economy.” • On October 24, Mohammed bin Salman vowed to return the country to “moderate Islam” and asked for global support to transform the hardline Kingdom into an open society that empowers citizens and lures investors. In an interview with the Guardian, the powerful heir to the Saudi throne said the ultra-conservative state had been “not normal” for the past 30 years : “What happened in the last 30 years is not Saudi Arabia. What happened in the region in the last 30 years is not the Middle East. After the Iranian revolution in 1979, people wanted to copy this model in different countries, one of them is Saudi Arabia. We didn’t know how to deal with it. And the problem spread all over the world. Now is the time to get rid of it....We are a G20 country. One of the biggest world economies. We’re in the middle of three continents. Changing Saudi Arabia for the better means helping the region and changing the world. So this is what we are trying to do here. And we hope we get support from everyone." Earlier, the Crown Prince had said : “We are simply reverting to what we followed -- a moderate Islam open to the world and all religions. 70% of the Saudis are younger than 30, honestly we won’t waste 30 years of our life combating extremist thoughts, we will destroy them now and immediately.” • Those are quasi-revolutionary words, coming from the next ruler of a Kingdom considered to be one of the most repressive of Islam's leading states, which is often accused of promoting a brand of Islam that underwrote Middle East extremism. But, Mohammed bin Salman is moving to consolidate his authority, which includes sidelining clerics whom he believes have failed to support him and demanding unquestioning loyalty from senior officials whom he has entrusted to drive a 15-year reform program that aims to overhaul most aspects of life in Saudi Arabia. Central to his reforms is the breaking of the alliance between hardline clerics, who have long defined the national character, and the House of Saud, which has run the affairs of state. The changes have already tackled head-on societal taboos -- such as the recently rescinded ban on women driving, as well as scaling back guardianship laws that restrict women’s roles and establishing an Islamic center tasked with certifying the sayings of the prophet Muhammed. Alcohol, cinemas and theatres are still banned in the Kingdom and mingling between unrelated men and women remains frowned upon. But, Saudi Arabia -- an absolute monarchy -- is overpowering the once-feared religious police, who no longer have powers to arrest and seem to be falling in line with the new regime. • The economic reforms will feature a new economic zone to be established on 470 kilometers of the Red Sea coast, in a tourist area that has already been earmarked as a liberal hub similar to that of Dubai, where male and female bathers are free to mingle. It is the centerpiece of efforts to turn the Kingdom away from dependence on oil into a diverse open economy. The economic zone is due to be completed by 2025 -- five years before the current Vision 2030 reform program ends -- and is to be powered by wind and solar energy. The Kingdom’s enormous sovereign wealth fund is intended to be a key backer of the independent zone. It currently has $230 billion under management. The sale of 5% of the world’s largest company, Aramco, is expected to raise several hundred billion dollars more. But, obstacles remain -- an entrenched poor work ethic, a crippling regulatory environment and a general reluctance to change. A leading Saudi businessman told the Guardian : “Economic transformation is important but equally essential is social transformation. You cannot achieve one without the other. The speed of social transformation is key. It has to be manageable.” Prince Mohammed bin Salman has repeatedly insisted that without establishing a new social contract between citizen and state, economic rehabilitation would fail. A senior royal said : “This is about giving kids a social life. Entertainment needs to be an option for them. They are bored and resentful. A woman needs to be able to drive herself to work. Without that we are all doomed. Everyone knows that -- except the people in small towns. But they will learn.” • • • DEAR READERS, it was a busy weekend. And this week will undoubtedly be the same as President Trump moves through Asia in a trip designed to affirm America's critical role in the region. With North Korea and trade on his agenda, Trump will be speaking at every stop to hammer home the truth that the United States is the Pacific power to reckon with.

Casing the Colors © Week 34

Casing the Colors © Week 34 • • • CHAPTER 52 • • General Gordon closed his personal telephone line and boarded the waiting US military plane. Scott Bennett and Bill Stevens had phoned President LeNoir for permission to send the ousted American President to France for safety and to alert him that General Gordon was flying without announcement to Ramstein Air Base in Frankfurt. "I don't know how long they'll remain in Europe," Secretary Stevens said when he talked to President Katerinov and Kate from the White House. "Scott wants to clean up the mess here in time to hold the 2024 presidential election as planned." "I expect the next US election will be of a rather different sort," Alexei responded. "Who knows," Bill answered. "First, we have to trust that he can patch the country together again. The protesters outside the White House are calm now, singing patriotic songs and waiting for their General to appear and talk to them. But, the southwest has been devastated. Houston and Los Angeles have taken heavy bombing attacks in the military clean-up. Fires and looting are out of control. People are locked in their homes or in their cars trying to escape." "Should I go to Frankfurt to meet Dad?" Kate asked. "No, stay where you are," Bill said. "The news from Germany isn't much better than it is here. Marchers are reacting pretty much the same as in the US, killing refugees and looting city centers near the refugee camps. Chancellor Gerhardt has committed the German army to regain control. He's asked for US military support and Scott has agreed. Your father is on his way to Ramstein to coordinate the joint NATO-American effort in Germany." "What about the Joint Chiefs?" Alexei asked. "Are they in control of the military takeover?" "They agreed before it started, but they're preoccupied with the military response in all their sectors. That leaves Scott in political command. I don't think they would try to argue with his actions." "Do you see the immediate possibility of other officers trying to overthrow General Bennett? I don't want to seem callous, but I need a friend in the United States, not a new inner circle to deal with," Alexei said without great delicacy, considering the state of his wife's nerves. "There isn't much chance of another coup, President Katerinov. The country's paralyzed, waiting to see what happens. General Bennett has the support of congressional leaders and the Supreme Court, and the military is either loyal to him or being very quiet. I'll keep you informed." Alexei put down the phone, already talking about what position to take in Russia. He was interrupted when Admiral Taylor phoned from the US Embassy in Paris. "I'm not sure what to expect when President Wellford arrives," Paul Taylor said. "General Gordon told me Stu left Washington voluntarily, to try to prevent more bloodshed, but he's planning to return as soon as possible. Personally, I think it's all over for him. The ambassador and I will meet their plane. General Bennett has asked all of us to preserve as solid a front as possible." Alexei Katerinov's response was direct and practical. "Admiral Taylor, you have Russia's support for anything you need. Just get a message through to Katharine or me." "I'm so shocked, Paul, I can't really react," Kate said when Alexei turned away from the speaker phone. "Do you think Scott intends to keep power permanently? Has he been playing with us all the time?" "I don't know any more than you do, Kate. But, my guess is that whether he wants to be President or not, there would be anarchy if he tried to step aside right now. That won't happen, and at least we seem to have the beginning of order again. It's a start." "Have you heard from Pete Lowell?" she asked, remembering the political animal she had invited into the White House. "Jim told me Lowell is helping to hold things together, giving Scott good advice. Who knows what their private understanding is. If I get any better information, I'll phone you." Kate closed the speaker line. "What do you think, Alexei?" she asked. "You've got a new President, unelected and not even formally blessed by the Supreme Court this time. I need to talk to General Bennett. The Alliance could be dead and that would be a catastrophe here and in central Europe." When Alexei got a scramble line through to the Oval Office, Scott's familiar voice came through clear and sure. "Hell, no, the Alliance isn't dead. We're doing everything we can to preserve it. I've just talked to the Arabs to tell them not to worry about Raqqa, because the US Army has eliminated him." He gave them the details quickly and with pride. "I told you we would win, baby doll," he crowed, forgetting in his excitement that his baby doll was now married to the president of Russia. "I'll be hosting the king of Morocco and President Saadi al-Hafiz of Syria next week. Just to let the world know the United States is still in business. Would you like to join us?" Alexei's face set into its public expression as he began maneuvering for power and place in the new world of US politics according to Scott Bennett, General, and perhaps President for life. "Of course, General. I would be happy to join you. My staff will get the details later today. But right now, I would like some assurance that your position is stable." "Stable," Scott laughed. "I'm as stable as the Rock of Gibraltar, if you don't kick it too hard. Don't worry, President Katerinov, I'm not going to let America go down the tube." Alexei wished Scott good luck and walked across the living room to a window overlooking the Kremlin courtyard. "What can you possibly accomplish in Washington except to make it look like Russia supports Scott Bennett's coup?" Kate demanded. Alexei turned to face his wife. "What I can do in Washington is remind the world that Russia is still the other power, that we're not going to let General Bennett and his military friends run the world alone. If I don't participate, we won't have any chance to hold Russia together as a free country. The General knows that as well as I do. What I have to do now is convince the Russian military that their future lies with the new American military leader and not with the hard-liners trying to overpower me."

NAFTA, Diversity Lottery, Uranium One, Benghazi -- President Trump Is Way Ahead of the ProgDems

TODAY'S NEWS IS THAT THERE'S AN EXPLANATION FOR TRUMP'S WIN. Jobs. Illegal immigrants. Tax reduction. Obamacare. The Wall. America First. • • • TRADE AND NAFTA. The Washington Examiner published an opinion piece by Noemie Emery on Tuesday that provides some meat for these Trump victory bones, focusing on trade. Emery says the top tiers of the country have been flourishing nicely, while those underneath have been taking a beating. And one reason is international trade. For Emery : "Like Hillary Clinton and the sixteen extremely well-qualified candidates who lost to Trump in the primary, these well-meaning, cultured, intelligent people seem unable to grasp what Roger Altman explained in the Washington Post this past weekend : that 'the so-called American dream...has ended for most of our citizens. Half of the young adults in this country will earn less over their lifetimes than their parents did. Indeed, the whole idea of rising living standards, which defined this country for so long, is a thing of the past.' Trump won, not because the country was racist or sexist, or because most in the country enjoyed his coarse language. He won because he was the only one who realized the problem existed." Emery says the trade issue came back to haunt Hillary. And it was her husband Bill who was the ghost. He passed NAFTA : "On Oct. 10, 2000, on the advice of the experts, Bill Clinton signed a now-infamous trade deal with China, calling it a ‘win-win’ solution for both of the countries that would create hundreds of thousands of jobs. It turned out the experts were wrong. It created job losses that were worse than expected. Workers didn’t ‘bounce back,’ as experts predicted, but remained unemployed. These losses fanned out in concentric circles of failure, as losses of wages led to failures of stores, restaurants, and local businesses in their localities, as entire districts fell into decline. Along with this, and caused by it, came a radicalization of politics. 'In the 2000s, congressional districts where competition from Chinese imports was rapidly increasing became more politically polarized,' the Wall Street Journal reported in August 2016. A study by four economists released late last November reported that districts represented by moderate Democrats in 2002 were likely to be represented by liberal Democrats or conservative Republicans eight years later. The moderate Democrats vanished. This foretold the rise of both Trump and of Bernie Sanders. In the 2016 GOP primaries, Trump won 89 of the 100 counties mostly deeply affected by the Chinese invasion, his pessimism and anti-trade talk 'tapping into sentiments...largely ignored by conventional' voices. The study concluded that 'if Chinese import gains had been 50 percent smaller,' Trump would have lost Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Wisconsin, and Michigan, and Hillary Clinton would have been President. The bill her husband signed sixteen years earlier ended up breaking her heart." • NAFTA's enormous unpopularity certainly helped defeat Hillary. And, she didn't help herself by ignoring Wisconsin and Michigan, states she was so sure of that she campaigned in them briefly or not at all. Trump’s critics love to list his faults without understanding the reason he beat them and their candidate. It is the continuing saga of the great failure of the Democrat Party and Progressives to care about, try to understand, or help the millions of Americans whom they robbed of their jobs, family futures, communities, and pride. Donald Trump saw that, but more important, he cared enough to wade in and take on the behemoth of Washington Swamp Creatures in order to save Americans cut down by elitist indifference to their plight. • • • THE NEW YORK CITY ATTACK. On a much more local scale, NYC mayor Bill De Blasio exhibited the same indifference -- if we are to believe reporter Paul Joseph Watson of Infowars. On Wednesday, Watson reported that : "Imam Mohammad Tawhidi says he repeatedly warned New York Mayor Bill De Blasio about the terror threat in New York City but that he was ignored because De Blasio was more interested in undermining President Trump. An Islamic terrorist pledging allegiance to ISIS killed eight people and injured at least eleven others yesterday, mowing them down in a pick-up truck on a bike track alongside West Street in Lower Manhattan. Iranian-born Imam Mohammad Tawhidi revealed on Twitter that he had given De Blasio specific intelligence about the terror threat in the city but was rebuffed every time he reached out." • Here are some of the warning tweets : "About #NYC terrorist attack, I personally sent letters to Mayor De Blasio online & in person about terrorist breeding in NYC.He did nothing....In 2016, I told Mayor De Blasio that I was in NYC and noticed some hot radical centres. I was willing to point out serious cases. Ignored!....About #NYC terrorist attack, I personally sent letters to Mayor De Blasio online & in person about terrorist breeding in NYC.He did nothing....I told Mayor De Blasio that I was in NYC and noticed some hot radical centres. I was willing to point out serious cases. Ignored!....Not only am I a Muslim Imam who understands the threat of Islamic Extremism, I also hold a certificate in counter-terrorism....Fact: In the last two years, De Blasio spent all his energy and resources in trying to bring down President Trump and not Islamic Extremists.” • Watson says the charge that Mayor De Blasio was too busy undermining Trump to focus on the terror threat in his own city resonates with criticism the Mayor received back in June when DeBlasio rushed off to Hamburg, Germany, to show solidarity with far-left protesters at the G-20 Summit. Those same protesters, many of whom were members of Antifa, later caused mayhem in Hamburg during a series of riots, assaults and attacks on private property. • Not a very positive calling card for the ProgDem socialist Mayor of America's largest city, but President Trump is on the case. • • • TRUMP SEEKS END TO DIVERSITY VISAS. President Trump told reporters on Wednesday that the Uzbekistan native who carried out the Halloween attack in New York City exploited the diversity visa lottery that let him in to America by bringing at least 23 other foreigners with him under the program. Trump said : “This man that came in -- or whatever you want to call him -- brought in, with him, other people. He was the point of contact -- the primary point of contact for, and this is preliminarily -- 23 people that came in, or potentially came in with him. And that's not acceptable.” • According to InfoWars, apparently, anyone coming into the United States on a diversity visa can act as a family member so others can follow. Trump blasted Senator Chuck Schumer for his role in creating the lottery back in the 1990s and is now calling on Congress to banish the program from the books and end the illogical US immigration policy : "We want a merit-based program where people come into our country based on merit and we want to get rid of chain migration...and I've been wanting to do it for a long time. And we'll be asking Congress to start working on it immediately." Currently, the State Department issues 50,000 visas under the program each year. The Trump administration would like that reduced to -- zero. • The UK Daily Mail published recent statistics on the program : "In the government fiscal year ending September 2015, the most recent year for which statistics are available, the State Department received about 9.4 million applications for Diversity Immigrant Visas. The applications included petitions for another 5 million spouses and children who would be admitted to the US with lottery winners, for a total of 14.4 million potential visa recipients. About 125,000 of them were lottery-selected, giving them the right to apply for immigrant visas -- a number that the State Department cut off at 50,000 on a first-come, first-served basis. Uzbekistan was the 8th-highest represented nation among the lottery winners that year." Here is the Daily Mail's TOP TEN countries in the visa lottery : Cameroon: 5,000 / Liberia: 5,000 / Iran: 4,992 / Egypt: 4,988 / Ethiopia: 4,988 / Democratic Republic of the Congo: 4,943 / Ukraine: 4,679 / Uzbekistan: 4,368 / Russia: 4,103 / Kenya: 3,534. Senator Schumer and his open border Democrats say that no one is exploiting immigration law, but with every terror attack unleashed by an “immigrant” to this country, they’re proven wrong. Trump gets it : "We need quick justice and we need strong justice -- much quicker and much stronger than we have right now. Because what we have right now is a joke and it's a laughingstock. And no wonder so much of this stuff takes place.” • So, as CNBC reported on Wednesday, Trump will ask Congress "to end the immigration lottery program, which he blamed for allowing Saipov [the NYC attacker] to enter the United States. 'I am today starting the process of terminating the diversity lottery program,' Trump said at a Cabinet meeting. I’m going to ask Congress to immediately initiate work to get rid of this program....Diversity lottery. Sounds nice, it’s not good. Not good. It hasn’t been good, and we’ve been against it.” Trump said his administration would thus seek to end what he called “chain migration,” and institute “a merit-based program, where people come into our country based on merit.” • • • TRUMP "GETS" THE PROGDEMS - URANIUM ONE. American Thinker last week published an article by Daniel John Sobieski titled Benghazi Liar Schiff Now Lies about Uranium One. Sobieski wrote : "When the Democrat anti-Trump mantra of “Russia, Russia, Russia” was in its infancy, House Intelligence Committee ranking member Representative Adam Schiff from the People’s Republic of California was in high dudgeon over Chairman Representative Devin Nunes daring to report to the public and the press that, yes, members of Team Trump were in fact surveilled and the contents of their conversations and their names were recorded and disseminated." As Sobieski noted, Schiff had no problem with intel leaks to the New York Times -- but an intelligence committee chairman giving the President a heads-up that his transition team was in fact caught up in surveillance by his own government? -- that is definitely out of bounds, Schiff insisted. Schiff's loud, deceitful rabblerousing over Nunes' briefings led to Nunes stepping away from all Russia-related Committee work -- but Nunes did not recuse himself, despite Schiff's attack in a press conference where Schiff said that Nunes was not acting as a committee chair but as a surrogate of Team Trump : "Schiff sharply criticized Nunes, given that his committee is in the middle of an active investigation that includes the question of whether Trump’s campaign colluded with Russia’s suspected attempts to meddle in last year’s election. 'The chairman will need to decide whether he is the chairman of an independent investigation into conduct which includes allegations of potential coordination between the Trump campaign and the Russians, or he is going to act as a surrogate of the White House, because he cannot do both,' Schiff told reporters." • Sobieski pointed out on that : "Schiff has no problem acting as a surrogate for Team Obama or Team Hillary. That deafening silence you hear is the outrage he has expressed over the leaking of classified information to the press designed to fatally wound the Trump transition. Schiff had no problem repeating claims without evidence that Team Trump was colluding with the Russians. But he was troubled by Nunes citing reports proving President Trump was right about his team being monitored, creating a kerfuffle that forced Nunes to recuse himself from active leadership of his committee." • Sobieski then moved forward to Uranium One and Fusion GPS and evidence of actual collusion and coordination between the Clinton campaign, the DNC, and the Russians. Sobieski said : "We find ranking member Schiff once again acting as a surrogate for both President Barack Hussein Obama and former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. He cannot do both. Nor can he ignore evidence that Team Hillary conspired with the Russians to both influence our elections and to engage in arguably treasonous pay-for-play in exchanging control of 20 percent of our uranium supply, the raw material for nuclear weapons, for $145 million in donations to the Clinton Foundation. Yet that is what Schiff is doing, whistling past his party’s political graveyard and ignoring evidence of crimes that, yes, make Watergate look like a third-rate burglary and the treason of the Rosenbergs look like a misdemeanor, He calls Uranium One a politically-motivated 'distraction,' showing how unserious the Democrats are about real corruption and collusion and why these 'bipartisan' investigations are a sham by definition. • Wednesday on MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell Reports, Schiff accused the Trump administration, Breitbart News and Fox News of "promoting" news first reported by TheHill last week regarding Hillary Clinton’s involvement in the Uranium One deal. The 2010 deal gave Russia control of a significant portion of US uranium. Schiff denounced the new attention as a 'partisan effort to distract' and accused House Speaker Paul Ryan of being a part of it, given that three House committees -- Judiciary, Government Reform and Intelligence -- are investigating. Schiff, as we know, is no stranger to partisan efforts to distract and is a veteran of using lies, false charges, and obfuscation to distract the American people from the crimes and corruption of Team Obama and Team Clinton. He shamelessly defended the incompetence and criminal negligence of Obama and Clinton in Benghazi." Sobieski reminds us in his article that it was Schiff : "who called the heroes who fought off terrorists from the roof of the CIA annex in Benghazi liars for their account of the Obama/Clinton administration’s denying security improvements, ignoring warnings of the attack, and the issuance of a stand-down order for any rescue, an order they ignored." Investor’s Business Daily wrote in 2014 : "The California Democrat who suggested that his party boycott the Benghazi Select Committee as a waste of time now accuses those who fought on the CIA annex roof of lying 'to promote a new book,'....as if their story is less plausible than the proven lie that the Benghazi attack was caused by an inflammatory YouTube video, a myth promoted both by then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and President Obama." • Sobieski slams Schiff, who : "thought the Benghazi heroes were making it up, and now he thinks Nunes and Team Trump are making up the fact that investigations into Team Trump and the Russians, and the creation of a Special Counsel, were prompted by a fake dossier put together by the Russians and paid for by Hilary Clinton’s campaign and the DNC. He claims it is a distraction to point out the truth that Hillary Clinton and the Obama administration sold out American national security in exchange for more Clinton cash." • Nunes, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, announced last week that he is working with the House Oversight Committee to learn whether an FBI investigation was under way when the Obama administration signed off on the 2010 deal : “One of the things we are concerned about is whether or not there was an FBI investigation, was there a DOJ investigation and if so, why was Congress not informed of this matter.” • And later, President Trump told reporters concerning the Russia Dossier and Uranium One : “They’re embarrassed by it, but I think it’s a disgrace. It’s a very sad commentary on politics in this country.” Trump emphasized that the information came out only because a court case threatened to reveal the funding source : “The whole Russia thing...this was the Democrats coming up with an excuse for losing the election. They lost it and they lost it very badly. And they didn’t know what to say, so they made up the whole Russia hoax.” Trump said it’s now “turning out that the hoax is turned around, and you look at what’s happened with Russia and the uranium deal and the fake dossier, and it’s all turned around.” • • • TRUMP "GETS" THE PROGDEMS -- BENGHAZI. US special operations forces captured a militant in Libya accused of playing an instrumental role in the Benghazi attacks, officials said Monday, in a high-stakes operation designed to bring the perpetrators to justice five years after the deadly violence. President Trump identified the militant as Mustafa al-Imam and said his capture signified that the four Americans who died "will never be forgotten." Justice Department officials are escorting al-Imam by military plane to the United States, where he's expected to be tried in federal court. • Here is the official White House Office of the Press Secretary Release of October 30 : "Statement by President Donald J. Trump on the Apprehension of Mustafa al-Imam for His Alleged Role in the September 11, 2012 Attacks in Benghazi, Libya Resulting in the Deaths of Four Americans. Yesterday, on my orders, United States forces captured Mustafa al-Imam in Libya. Because of this successful operation, al-Imam will face justice in the United States for his alleged role in the September 11, 2012 attacks in Benghazi, which resulted in the deaths of Ambassador Christopher Stevens, Glen Doherty, Sean Smith, and Tyrone Woods -- four brave Americans who were serving our country. To the families of these fallen heroes: I want you to know that your loved ones are not forgotten, and they will never be forgotten. Our memory is deep and our reach is long, and we will not rest in our efforts to find and bring the perpetrators of the heinous attacks in Benghazi to justice. I want to thank our law enforcement, prosecutors, intelligence community, and military personnel for their extraordinary efforts in gathering evidence, interviewing witnesses, and tracking down fugitives associated with the attack, capturing them, and delivering them to the United States for prosecution. The United States will continue to support our Libyan partners to ensure that ISIS and other terrorist groups do not use Libya as a safe haven for attacks against United States citizens or interests, Libyans, and others." • "Our memory is deep and our reach is long, and we will not rest in our efforts to find and bring the perpetrators of the heinous attacks in Benghazi to justice." President Trump's statement echoes exactly the feeling of Americans that justice must be done in order to lay to rest the Benghazi attack. • The Navy SEAL-led raid marked the first publicly known operation since Trump took office to target those accused of involvement in Benghazi, which became a long political dispute centered on Republican allegations of a bungled Obama administration response. Those criticisms followed Hillary Clinton, who was Secretary of State at the time of the attacks, through her presidential campaign. US forces captured al-Imam just before midnight local time Sunday in Misrata, on Libya's north coast. US officials said he was taken to a US Navy ship at the Misrata port for transport by military plane to Washington, where he's expected to arrive within the next two days. The DOJ says that, once on American soil, al-Imam will face trial in US District Court for the District of Columbia as the FBI continues to investigate. He faces three criminal charges that were filed in May 2015 but only recently unsealed -- killing or conspiring to kill someone during an attack on a federal facility, providing support for terrorists, and using a firearm in connection with a violent crime. The US officials said the operation was coordinated with Libya's internationally recognized government. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said he'd spoken with the relatives of some of the Americans who died in Benghazi -- US Ambassador Chris Stevens, State Department information management officer Sean Patrick Smith, and contract security officers Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty. Tillerson said the United States would "spare no effort" to ensure al-Imam is held accountable. • In October, another man accused in the Benghazi attack, Abu Khattala, went on trial in federal court in Washington. Khattala, captured during President Barack Obama's tenure, has pleaded not guilty to the 18 charges against him, including murder of an internationally protected person, providing material support to terrorists and destroying US property while causing death. • The Benghazi assault started in the evening when armed attackers scaled the wall of the diplomatic post and moved through the front gate. The official account of the Benghazi murders is that Stevens was rushed to a fortified "safe room" along with Smith, but were then separated from security officers when attackers set the building and its furniture on fire. Libyan civilians found Stevens hours later in the wreckage, and he died of smoke inhalation in a hospital, becoming the first US ambassador killed in the line of duty in more than three decades. A nearby CIA annex was attacked by mortar fire hours after the diplomatic complex, killing Woods and Doherty, who were defending the rooftop. • The circumstances of the Benghazi led to multiple congressional investigations to determine what happened and whether the Obama administration misled the public on the details of the bloody assault. Initial accounts provided by administration officials, notably Obama's UN ambassador, Susan Rice, said the attack grew out of a protest against an anti-Muslim internet film. Later, the administration said it was a planned terrorist attack. A two-year investigation by Trey Gowdy's House Benghazi committee focused heavily on Clinton's role and whether security at the compounds and the response to the attack was sufficient. It was the Benghazi probe that revealed Clinton used a private email server for government work, prompting an FBI investigation that proved to be an albatross for her presidential campaign. • President Trump, after al-Imam's capture, praised Libya : "Libya’s long-term stability and security are linked to its ability to form a unified government and military, and we encourage all Libyans to support the ongoing reconciliation process facilitated by the United Nations and to work together to build a peaceful and stable country." But, Trump's November 2 tweet -- "Would love to send the NYC terrorist to Guantanamo but statistically that process takes much longer than going through the Federal system..." -- told the American people driectly how he feels about the Benghazi capture and how he thinks the US should proceed. • • • DEAR READERS, the Democrats, and their Progressive majority in particular, seriously underrate President Trump. They have for so long characterized him as a bumbling blowhard no-nothing that they have come to believe their own Fake News about the President. The truth is that President Trump is an extremely intelligent person who grasps and organizes facts and figures far more rapidly than either Senator 'reading-glasses-make-me-look-intelligent' Schumer -- or Representative Pelosi -- who told the brain-dead Democrat House they'd have to pass Obamacare to find out what's in it, and who has long since lost whatever contact she had with the real world. Give serious thought to the fact that they are the titular heads of a political party that chose the worst possible candidate to contend against Trump in 2016, that allowed its DNC computers to be hacked several times, that chose to be led at the DNC by Debbie Wasserman Schultz and her criminal band of IT hucksters, that then elected Tom 'the-Electoral-College-is-not-in-the-Constitution' Perez, that found no reason to investigate Benghazi [or the IRS or Obama's gun-running Attorney General Holder or the Clinton Foundation's pay-for-play under Secretary of State Hillary...the list goes on] but chose instead to stonewall congressional investigations through lies under oath, refusal to deliver subpoaened documents and ignoring calls for DOJ actions against Obama officials who took the Fifth rather than testify. • Who is the American? Not the Swamp Creatures Obama or Schumer or Pelosi or Holder or Lynch or Comey or Mueller or Hillary or 'The-Brothers-Karamazov' Podesta. It is Donald Trump. He outsmarted them all to win in November 2016, and since then, they have been unable to stop him, despite their unending character assassination, street violence, Fake News from their MSM propaganda machine, and support for tearing down America's history in the name of "identity politics." Donald Trump was elected to drain the Swamp and he is doing it -- bit by bit until he has given the Republic back to its rightful owners -- America's citizens.

Courts, Crosses, Christianity, Western Civilization, a Rabbi, France, and the American Identity

THE REAL NEWS ON NOVEMBER 2nd WHEN CHRISTIANS PRAY FOR THE SOULS OF THE DEPARTED IS THAT THE WEST'S FOUNDATIONS ARE CHRISTIAN. I have heard no better explanation of the role of Christianity in the modern democratic West than that of then French President Nicolas Sarkozy, a profoundly Christian conservative, who spoke about France's Christian roots in a speech at the Lateran Church of Saint John in Rome on December 20, 2007. Keeping in mind that France is a deeply Catholic Christian country, consider Sarkozy's words : "With the baptism of Clovis, France became the eldest daughter of the church. It'’s a fact. By making Clovis the first Christian sovereign, that event had important consequences for the destiny of France and for the Christianization of Europe. Following that turning point, French sovereigns repeatedly had occasion to demonstrate the deep ties which connected them to the church and the successors of Peter. Beyond the facts of history, France has had a particular relationship with the Holy See, above all because the Christian faith penetrated deeply into French society, into its culture, its towns, its mode of life, its architecture, its literature. The roots of France are essentially Christian." President Sarkozy went on to offer his view of the modern French 'laicity,' the honored and protected status enshrined in French law in which no religion is either favored or disfavored, and in which there is a daily attempt at separation of church and state, but without denying the Christian culture that created and sustains France or the other religions that exist in the country. President Sarkozy said : "Like Benedict XVI, I think a nation that ignores the ethical, spiritual and religious heritage of its history commits a crime against its culture, against the whole of its history, patrimony, art and popular traditions, which permeate living and thinking in such a deep way. To uproot is to lose meaning; it is to weaken the foundation of national identity, and to drain even more the social relationships that have such a need of memorable symbols. For this reason, we have to join the two ends of the chain : to accept the Christian roots of France -- even better, to value them, to defend the laicism that finally reaches maturity. This is the step I want to take this afternoon in St. John Lateran. I am calling for a positive laicism, that is to say, a secularism that watches over freedom of thought, of belief and unbelief, does not consider religion as a danger, but as an asset." • There is a world in Sarkozy's words for AMericans to consider in these days in which every Christian and cultural underpinning of the Repubic is being vandalized, torn down and rejected by a minority determined to erase both America's political past and its Christian cultural character. • • • PRESIDENT TRUMP SENDS AID DIRECTLY TO MIDEAST CHRISTIANS AND YAZIDIS. And to persecuted Moslems. US Vice President Mike Pence will be visiting the Middle East in December to promote the safety and security of Christian minorities currently facing widespread persecution in the region. Pence made the announcement last week during his keynote remarks at the "In Defense of Christians" annual solidarity dinner : "Now is the time to bring an end the persecution of Christians and all religious minorities." Pence said President Trump asked him to go to the Middle East "to deliver the message that it is time to bring an end to the persecution of Christians." Vice President Pence will also be visiting Israel, the one place the Middle East where Christians are flourishing. It will serve as a stark contrast to how Christians are treated in neighboring Moslem nations. • What President Trump is doing is skipping over the United Nations to deliver USAID assistance to persecuted Christians and Yazidis In Iraq. Trump has issued a White House directive forcing the State Department and USAID to bypass the UN and stop its "ineffective" relief efforts aimed at helping Iraqi Christians, Yazidis, and other persecuted religious minorities, and instead to provide the assistance either directly or through "faith-based groups." • Vice President Mike Pence, in his speech at the In Defense of Christians Dinner highlighting the plight of persecuted Christians in the Middle East and elsewhere, announced the directive and lambasted the United Nations, arguing the international body has "often failed to help the most vulnerable communities, especially religious minorities. We will no longer rely on the United Nations alone to assist persecuted Christians and minorities in the wake of genocide and the atrocities of terrorist groups. The United States will work hand in hand from this day forward with faith-based groups and private organizations to help those who are persecuted for their faith. This is the moment, now is the time, and America will support these people in their hour of need." Pence said the UN has repeatedly denied funding requests from faith-based groups "with proven track records" of working most directly with Christians in Iraq to help provide basic necessities. "Those days are over," he said. "Our fellow Christians and all who are persecuted in the Middle East should not have to rely on multinational institutions when America can help them directly." • President Trump's decision was six months in the making and comes after several lawmakers and human rights activists have repeatedly argued their case to top officials at the State Department and USAID, which have resisted any change to their "religion-blind" policy of channeling most of the aid money to the UN. That policy, the two US agencies have argued, is "needs-based" and does not give priority to Christians and Yazidis and other religious minorities in Iraq, even though both the Obama and the Trump administrations have publicly declared that both groups, as well as Shiite Moslems and others, have suffered genocide at the hand of ISIS. • The plight of Christians in Iraq and the Middle East is dire, and Pence told his audience that they are on the verge of extinction in northern Iraq, an area where Christian communities have thrived for two thousand years : "ISIS murders and kidnappings have decimated the Christian population in Iraq, which numbered between 800,000 and 1.4 million in 2002 and is below 250,000 now, according to human rights groups." Pence repeatedly referred to ISIS and other extremist Moslem terrorist groups as "radical Islamic terrorism" and held them responsible for the genocide against Christians and other religious minorities, saying : "Let me assure you tonight, President Trump and I see these crimes for what they are : vile acts of persecution animated by hatred for Christians and the gospel of Christ. And so too does this President know who and what has perpetrated these crimes, and he calls them by name : radical Islamic terrorists." • Catholic charities and activists who have spent years urging the Obama administration and now Trump administration to better assist Christians, Yazidis, and other minority communities in Iraq cheered the move and Pence’s strong words. Carl Anderson, CEO of the Knights of Columbus, one of the largest Catholic charities, said : "A year ago the United States used the right word to describe what was happening to Christians and other religious minorities in the Middle East. That word was genocide. Tonight, those words were put into action. For almost two years, the K of C has warned that Christians and other religious minorities in the Middle East have been falling through the cracks in the aid system, and has been urging the United States government to provide aid directly to genocide-targeted communities. We are pleased that tonight, the administration has promised to do just that." • Other activists who helped chronicle the genocide against religious minority communities in Iraq and who have spent years chronicling the mass slaughter of Christians, Yazidis and other religious minorities there cheered the move and Pence’s strong words. Former representative Frank Wolf, a Virginia Republican who spent decades championing human rights in Congress and is now a senior fellow at the 21st Century Wilberforce Initiativen said : "This is good news and we want to thank President Trump, Vice President Pence, and all those who have been working diligently on this issue. This should impact humanitarian aid for those living as internally displaced persons and refugees and stabilization assistance for the Christians and Yazidis returning to areas seized from them by ISIS." Wolf recently returned from Iraq and testified in October before both the House and Senate about the dire situation facing Christians, Yazidis, and other religious minorities in Iraq. • The Knights of Columbus and Aid to the Church in Need, another global Catholic charity, have sent millions of dollars in donations to the Catholic archdiocese in northern Iraq, one of the few groups on the ground working to house and feed displaced Christians and Yazidis and help rebuild their homes. In an October appearance before the Hosue Foreign Affairs Committee, Stephen Rasche, an attorney for the Catholic archdiocese in Erbil, Kurdistan, Iraq, where Christians are welcome, and who is the director of internal displaced people resettlement programs, in early October accused the UN of squandering US taxpayer aid for reconstruction projects. The aid programs are so mismanaged, says Rasche, that some US dollars are going to benefit Iraqis who took over areas persecuted Christians fled from, even though the UN says the project is aimed at helping Christians. The Washington Free Beacon obtained photos of UN Development Program projects in Christian and Yazidi towns in northern Iraq, showing "completed" school-rehabilitation projects that amounted to a thin coat of paint on exterior walls with freshly stenciled UNICEF logos every 30 feet -- but inside the building, the rooms remained untouched and unusable, without running water, power or any furniture, Rasche testified. • As ISIS is driven from Iraq, US lawmakers and activists argue that it's critical to US national security that that these indigenous communities are supported to prevent Iran from gaining influence in the region. The Free Beacon provided an example of the severity of the problem, quoting a letter from engaged Congress members to the State Department and USAID : "Repatriation has a strategic advantage of heading off potential conflict between the KRG and Baghdad while barring an Iranian land bridge to the Mediterranean, which presently threats to fill the vacuum in the Nineveh Plain created by the removal of ISIS. This land bridge will be occupied by forces loyal to Teheran if security and rebuilding fails to come from other quarters." The Free Beacon also said : "Thousands of Christians in the town of Teleskof who had successfully returned home and were trying to rebuild their community after the area was freed from Islamic forces were forced to flee [recently] after Kurdish forces swarmed the town and engaged in a standoff with the Iraqi army. Sources in touch with the community said the situation in Teleskof was improving as a direct result of US intervention." • • • WHAT IS AMERICA? American Thinker asked that question on October 6 in an article by Rabbi Aryeh Spero titled "What Is America's National Identity? Rabbi Spero is one of America’s leading conservative thinkers and spokesmen. A theologian, he is also a popular and influential political and social commentator, and the author of Push Back: Reclaiming Our American Judeo-Christian Spirit. Rabbi Spero wrote : "Many were elated and approved of President Trump’s July speech in Warsaw, Poland acknowledging the central role Western civilization plays in defining who we are and what we believe. Our freedom and survival depend on defending it, he said. Beyond that, he celebrated Western civilization as something extraordinary: 'What we’ve inherited from our ancestors has never existed to this extent before.' A vocal few, popular in left-wing opinion circles, condemned Mr. Trump’s remarks as an affront to multiculturalism, labeling his linkage of us with Western civilization, and our pride in it, as 'tribalism, white nationalism, and racism,' claiming that references to Western civilization and ancestors are code words for the above-mentioned vices. For some, even the broad term 'Western civilization' is offensive and prejudicial since, as with all definitions, it necessarily conveys something distinctive and thus circumscribed." Rabbi Spero said : "The question we should answer is : does a country or nation need an identity, a unique identity with salient features that distinguish it from other countries and nations? In Democracy in America, Alexis de Tocqueville gave a resounding affirmation to the need for a specific identity....as long as it operates by the principles upon which it was founded. When it changes those principles, it becomes something entirely different, and the success it had, based on its original formula, becomes uncertain and imperiled. It atrophies and declines. He spoke not against periodic tinkering but warned against fundamental transformation." • America's identity, states the Rabbi, "lies in our Constitution and Bill of Rights, which delineate the liberties that enshrine our peoplehood and, on a functional level, make possible a daily life open to achievement, aspirations, and human potential. Our way of life and the blessings that have come to us depend on everyone living within this Constitutional framework and by precluding its replacement or abridgement with another set of laws claiming to be a 'higher morality' or temporarily more important, or by enacting waivers or special accommodation in the name of multiculturalism." But, Rabbi Spero sees those today who want to "sideline the Constitution and our historic way of life by invalidating the men, and thus the ideas, behind it. Using charges of racism as the singular and only important lens in which to judge a person’s value, they nullify the totality, the overwhelming contributions, and extraordinary sacrifices of great men and women of a different era. Meanwhile, they grant themselves unassailable superiority and rigid final judgment simply because of their claims to victimhood or for espousing one of the many isms in today’s pantheon for self-righteous virtue signaling. A nation’s historic identity is being replaced by identity politics, culminating frequently in automatic indictment of historical figures simply because their race or moral values are now out of fashion." • The key point Rabbi Spero makes is that American "tolerance and inclusivity....often, as in Europe, in tolerating the intolerable and including everyone and everything to the point of endangering those in society....thinking the best identity is no identity....this vacuum and void, as witnessed in Europe, allows for other assertive or aggressive identities and mores to creep within and replace, zone by zone; for surely, strong and energized identities will replace the mushy identity of No Identity." • Can we not help but agree with Rabbi Spero when he says : "Though tolerance is a laudable theme, it is found elsewhere and is not an exclusive element of Americanism. The President was correct in underscoring the importance of Western civilization and how it connects and ties America and Europe. But, America moved Western civilization beyond its previous European contours. It fashioned something more grand, a majestic idea, something that not only preceded the Constitution, but from the time of Plymouth Rock distinguished America from other Western polities, unfolding into the American civilization. It is the Judeo-Christian ethos. Though its roots began in a religious and idealistic outlook, this ethos shortly developed into a civic attitude and philosophy, shaping the themes and civic perspective that were America’s foundation and key to our freedom and prosperity. It supplies a set of moral and philosophic principles regarding economic, social, personal, and political life. Among its distinguishing features are: personal responsibility, liberty, seeing man as an individual, a work ethic, rights from God, meritocracy, rights to property and how one makes his living, and freedom of religion and conscience. Together with these principles were the uniquely American ideals of fair play, rugged individualism, innovation, volunteerism, speaking one’s mind, and demarcating between right and wrong." The Judeo-Christian ethos has made America unique among the nations. As Rabbi Spero points out, it "does not demand adherence to the details of religion or to a particular form of worship or religious creed, nor loyalty to a particular religion. The ethos is open to all, just as is Western civilization. That its founders and ancestors were mostly white is not a structural roadblock to all sharing in its outlook, except in the mind of racialists eager to impute racism in anything distinctive or weaponize against those with whom they disagree." • • • THE MARYLAND PEACE CROSS. As President Sarkozy said of Christinaity in France, Rabbi Spero says of the Judeo-Christian ethos in America -- it is a "treasure, a morality, to be defended and preserved, a gift and legacy to pass on to future generations." • But, America's liberal, morphing into Progressive, judicial system has corrupted the American Judeo-Christian ethos. I have been thinkging particularly about this pervasive corruption of the American Republic and its Constitution since I read a New York Times article published on October 29 about the Peace Cross, a World War I memorial on state land in Bladensburg, Maryland. The Peace Cross stands five miles from the United States Supreme Court. It is a 40-foot-tall World War I memorial in the shape of a cross that has been there for nearly a century. Now, it is at the center of a battle over the separation of church and state that may end up at the Supreme Court -- because the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit declared in October that the Peace Cross is unconstitutional, a ruling that supporters of the monument warned could result in a “cleansing” of memorials on public grounds across the country. • The New York Times says an appeal to the Supreme Court "would provide the justices an opportunity to weigh in on increasingly common disputes over religious symbols on government property. Scholars hope the case will further distill what is and is not an unconstitutional endorsement of religion." • The Peace Cross, writes the NYT, commemorates 49 fallen soldiers from Prince George’s County. It looks over a highway in Bladensburg, "an old port town of 10,000 people. When the sun rises, the cross casts a shadow toward the bank of the Anacostia River, and when it sets, toward an industrial lot housing a King Pawn shop and a boarded-up Kelley’s Muffler. The monument was erected in 1925 with funding from local families and the American Legion, but the state obtained title to the cross and land in 1961, and has spent at least $117,000 to maintain them." • In a 2-to-1 ruling, the three-judge 4th Circuit panel declared that the Peace Cross violated the First Amendment by having “a primary effect of endorsing religion and excessively entangles the government and religion.” Douglas Laycock, a religious liberties scholar and professor at the University of Virginia School of Law, praised the decision, saying the cross : “asserts the truth of one religion and, implicitly but necessarily, the falsehood of all other religions. Its secondary meanings, as in honoring war dead, are entirely derivative of its primary meaning as a symbol of the Resurrection.” If the 4th Circuit denies a request for the full court to reconsider the panel’s decision, defenders of the monument vow to take the case to the Supreme Court. They argue that the ruling sets a dangerous precedent, threatening national treasures such as the 24-foot Canadian Cross of Sacrifice and 13-foot Argonne Cross in Arlington National Cemetery -- both within the Fourth Circuit’s jurisdiction and thus subject to its ruling -- as well as the ground zero “cross,” the steel beams discovered among World Trade Center debris now on display in the National September 11 Memorial & Museum. • Kelly Shackelford, the president of First Liberty Institute, one of the legal groups aiding the American Legion in defending the cross, says : “It is brooding hostility toward religion, a sort of cleansing. We would immediately need to begin massive bulldozing and sandblasting of veterans memorials across the country in a way that most people would find inconceivable.” In his 4th Circuit dissent, Chief Judge Roger L. Gregory, first appointed by President Bill Clinton, argued that the Establishment Clause “does not require the government ‘to purge from the public sphere’ any reference to religion.” Supporters of the cross also argue that context is vital : The Peace Cross is displayed alongside an American flag, amid a park of memorials for veterans of various wars. Its four sides, they say, are marked prominently with patriotic, not religious, virtues : valor, endurance, courage and devotion. The fallen soldiers are listed on a tablet with a quote from President Woodrow Wilson. But opponents say it is hardly integrated : No other monument in the area is taller than 10 feet, and there are no other religious symbols in the park. They note that its fallen soldiers’ names are rusted away and obscured by bushes. And the cross has been the site of prayer gatherings as well as Veterans Day vigils -- and even such vigils are often opened in prayer. • Two past Supreme Court cases, decided the same day in 2005, may reveal the factors that would control the outcome in the Supreme Court, says the NYT. In McCreary County v. American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky, officials had authorized the display of framed copies of the Ten Commandments in courthouses. After pushback, they had modified the exhibits to include Magna Carta, the Declaration of Independence and other historical documents, arguing that the Ten Commandments were similarly influential in the development of Western legal thought. The Supreme Court ruled the displays unconstitutional, finding that they had no evident secular purpose. Michael W. McConnell, a constitutional law scholar at Stanford, calls such displays “triumphalism -- a flavor of who is top dog.” In a second case, Thomas Van Orden v. Rick Perry, the Supreme Court allowed carvings of the Ten Commandments in a Texas State Capitol monument that had been donated by the Fraternal Order of Eagles, a primarily secular group, in 1961. The Court cited the donor’s lack of religious intent. In his Van Orden opinion, Justice Stephen Breyer, who cast the swing vote in both cases, called the historical factor alone “determinative” : The monument had stood since 1961 without controversy. • The Times points out that the Peace Cross, also donated by a secular group, is almost twice as old as the monument in the Van Orden case, and has been on public property for a comparable period. If the Supreme Court reviews this case, Mr. McConnell believes it will be squarely governed by Justice Breyer’s opinion : “I think they thought they were putting this kind of case to rest with Van Orden. Somehow, the Fourth Circuit didn’t get the memo. I think this is a pretty easy case, and I found the Fourth Circuit’s decision quite surprising. If the Supreme Court were to grant review, the likelihood is very high that it would be reversed.” • But, maybe not -- Peace Cross opponents argue that there is a stark difference between the Ten Commandments and a cross -- namely, the figures each represents. Monica Miller, senior counsel at the American Humanist Association, who argued the case in the 4th Circuit, says : “The Court pointed out that Moses was a lawmaker as well as a religious leader. There were connections to the nation’s history of lawmakers that made the Ten Commandments overall less religious than an enormous, free-standing Latin cross that unequivocally represents Christianity.” And, says the NYT, the Supreme Court’s thinking on displays of the cross is "murky" -- in Salazar v. Buono, a 2010 decision regarding a cross-shaped war memorial in a remote part of the Mojave Desert, six justices wrote individual opinions. In 2011, when the Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal regarding a series of highway memorial crosses for fallen police officers in Utah, Justice Clarence Thomas’s 19-page dissent argued that the court had rejected “an opportunity to provide clarity to an Establishment Clause jurisprudence in shambles.” • Elizave Mordan, the King Pawn manager, can see the Peace Cross from her shop. She told the Times : “We heard they may be taking it down, and I disagree with that. It just doesn’t bother anybody around here. I worry nobody is going to remember them, the 49 fallen soldiers. You can’t remember something you cannot see.” • • • DEAR READERS, isn't that exactly the point that Progressive judges, egged on by anti-Christian, anti-Western civilization anti-American activists, are indirectly making. If Christian symbols are all erased from America, then Christianity itself, along with its moral codes and ethos, will disappear, and America will have lost its reason to exist. George Soros and his foot soldiers will have won. • But, let's consider another cross -- thousands of crosses. The BBC published a story by Egle Gerulaityte on October 28 about a Hill of Crosses 11km outside the city of Siauliai in Lithuania. The Hill is an old, earthen mound hunched "under the weight of thousands of crosses. As the wind blows across the fields of rural Siauliai County, ornate rosaries clink against metal and wooden crucifixes, filling the air with eerie chimes. Known as the Hill of Crosses, the mound’s history is a complex narrative of wars and uprisings. Ancient legends, mysterious visions and accounts of haunting surround the hill, and its exact origins remain a mystery to this day." Vilius Puronas, a local artist and historian, told BBC : “According to folklore, there was once a church where the hill now stands. During a terrible storm, lightning struck the church and the tempest buried it under sand and rock with everyone still inside. Locals say that you can glimpse a ghost procession of monks at the foot of the hill at sunrise. Throughout the ages, magical appearances, visions of saints and sightings of ghosts have been a part of the hill’s history.” Another legend says that in the early 1300s, the hill served as a platform for a wooden castle manned by the pagan barons of Samogitia, once a state in the former Grand Duchy of Lithuania. In 1348, the castle was destroyed by the Order of the Brothers of the Sword, German warrior-monks tasked with the Christianization of Livonia (what is now Latvia and Estonia). Many believe the Samogitians who survived the battle piled their slain comrades’ bodies together and buried them, thus forming the mound. Like those of the monks, the souls of the fallen pagan warriors are said to still haunt the hill at night. However, says the BBC, the most renowned story of the hill’s creation is the tale of a desperate father whose daughter suddenly fell gravely ill. As the girl lay dying, the father had a vision of a woman who told him to make a wooden cross and place it on a nearby hill; if he did so, she said, his daughter would recover. In the morning, the despairing man hurriedly carved a wooden cross and rushed to the hill. When he returned home, his daughter greeted him at the doorway, perfectly well again. Ever since, people have been leaving crosses in hope their prayers will be answered. • Yet, not every cross has been left by an optimistic pilgrim -- some are instead reminders of quiet rebellion. After surviving medieval sieges by invading German crusaders and 19th-Century uprisings by Lithuanians against Russian Tsar Alexander II, the Hill of Crosses faced its most aggressive threat -- the Soviet Union. In an effort to stamp out Christianity in the Eastern bloc, the Soviet government attempted to level the hill numerous times during the 1960s and 70s. They bulldozed it, burned the wooden crosses and removed the metal and stone ones for scrap. People who brought crosses to the hill were fined and jailed. But, the crosses on the mound just kept multiplying, left in the dead of night as an act of defiance against religious oppression. Now, more than a quarter of a century after the fall of the Soviet Union, the crosses still stand, and the site has become a magnet for pilgrims of all denominations -- Christian crosses stand beside carvings bearing Jewish inscriptions and words from the Koran. • Puronas says : "The Hill of Crosses doesn’t really belong to anyone, and thus belongs to all. Neither church nor government has any claim to it, and people bring crosses here not because they are told to, but because they feel inspired to.” The Hill of Crosses, minimally maintained by the city of Siauliai and local Franciscan monks, is now covered in more than 100,000 crucifixes and other religious icons -- and the number is constantly increasing. Puronas says : “For some people, the Hill of Crosses is a place of contemplation and prayer. For others, it symbolizes defiance and resistance in the darker times. And for others still, it’s an extraordinary occurrence in the humdrum of ordinary life. None of them are wrong.” • Dear friends, sometimes people vote with their feet to get away from tyranny. But, people also vote with crosses to preserve what is key to their lives -- freedom, culture, faith, hope, and God, Who loves all His children. Don't let the crosses be erased -- in America or anywhere.