At Issue this week... Gun Control by David Limbaugh December 23, 2015

Americans Barone (5) Spewing misinformation on guns Greenberg (23) Bergdahl, Bowe Bay (23) he Obama administration is not politicize the gun issue. What is tragic is on American soil? Would he deceitfully Climate Talks only at odds with America, as that it selectively cares about shootings pretend that ready access to guns and ex- Lowry (5) founded, but also woefully out of depending on the identity of the perpetra- cessive gun ownership are the proximate Thomas (8) touchT with ordinary Americans, and it is tors and victims and the motivation of the cause of blatant acts of Islamic shootings? Clinton, Hillary Barone (12) deceitful or delusional (or both) on guns. killers. To deny that Islamists, including those Constitutional Rights The administration barely blinks an here at home, are at war with the United Hollis (26) PRESIDENT OBAMA twisted him- eye at all the black-on-black gun shoot- States and represent a threat to Americans Saunders (25) self into a pretzel to deny that the San ings around the country, especially in puts Americans at greater risk. To make Cruz, Ted Saunders (8) Bernardino, California, massacre was Obama’s hometown of Chicago, though it harder for Americans to buy weapons Dear Mark committed by Islamic terrorists. Even as far more people are killed by those often- to defend themselves puts Americans at Levy (19) facts accumulated — making the obvious gang-related gun killings than the mass greater risk. Why does this administration Due Process undeniable — he continued to cling to the shootings Obama always po- want to put Americans at greater risk? Will (22) Foreign Policy preposterous narrative that it was work- Only God knows why Obama pursues Towery (30) place violence. It’s those high-stress jobs, David his destructive policies, but more and Gun Control you see, that cause otherwise peaceful more Americans realize that he is put- Limbaugh (1) people to fire up their time machines and Limbaugh ting them at greater risk by trying to make Lowry (3) Higher Education go back to buy weapons to kill dozens of (c) 2015, Creators Syndicate them less safe personally and degrading Charen (21) people who have nothing to do with their our national security and our leadership Murchison (29) workplace grievances. liticizes. It begins federal investigations presence around the world. Sowell (21, 22) The ever-clueless White House press when there’s a shooting by a rogue cop As ordinary Americans are fully aware Hollywood Bozell (20) secretary, Josh Earnest, referring to recent but ignores the chronic inner-city murders of Obama’s dangerous policies, it is nei- Holy Bible shootings and the San Bernardino terror where cops are not involved. It’s not the ther ironic nor tragic that they are running Limbaugh (14) attack, said: “The more that we see this killings that Obama cares about but his out and gobbling up all the weapons they Immigration kind of violence on our streets the more agenda. He showcases one type and ig- can get their hands on. It is eminently ra- Buchanan (31) Coulter (7) people go out and buy guns. And that is nores others to serve his political obses- tional behavior for people interested in Kudlow (3) both ironic and tragic.” sions. self-preservation. Lowry (17) In the first place, these liberals have Malkin (16) never been able to refute the axiomatic IF PRESIDENT Obama cared about SO PLEASE continue to spew non- Schlafly (17) Leftism truth that making our gun laws more re- the safety and security of the American sense, Mr. Earnest, and even more Ameri- Prager (27) strictive would not have prevented the var- people, would he go out of his way to cans will wake up to this administration’s Shapiro (18) ious mass shootings they invariably use to deny it when Islamic terrorism is obvi- recklessness. Leslie’s Trivia Bits launch new salvos against gun ownership. ously the cause and ignore that there is Elman (27) December 15, 2015 Media Bias So the fact that they even raise the issue a disturbingly increasing pattern of such Bozell (29) after these incidents is obscenely dishon- National Security est, opportunistic and hyper-partisan. Malkin (24) In the second place, guns are not the Napolitano (28) Obamacare Bailout cause of these shootings. Indeed, in many McCaughey (13) cases, guns could help prevent them or Obama Presidency reduce injury and death. It is no accident Elder (6) that these evildoers often unleash their Tyrrell (13) Radical Islam hellfire in gun-free zones. Cushman (25) In view of the facts, how could Earnest Republicans call it “ironic and tragic” that in response Buchanan (2) to these acts of violence, more people Erickson (12) Lambro (4, 10) buy guns? It is not ironic, because people Massie (11) rightly believe they will be safer with Sharia Law guns, and the American people know that Thomas (26) Obama and his ilk want to confiscate their Sinatra, Frank Will (20) weapons, which they make clear every Star Wars Christmas time there’s a mass killing involving guns. Farah (15) It’s not tragic, either, because increasing Trump, Donald gun ownership is quintessentially Ameri- Chavez (9) Harsanyi (6) can and constitutional, and it increases Krauthammer (9) the safety of the American people. What’s Saunders (18) tragic about that? Wal-Mart What is tragic is that this administra- Greenberg (11) Women in Combat tion uses these terrible incidents, whether Williams (30) terrorism-related or not, to distort and 2 Conservative Chronicle REPUBLICANS: December 15, 2015 Will elites blow up the Republican Party? “Buchanan, if you ever hear of a group Goldwater. Nixon pivoted swiftly to Deadlocked conventions — like the going to let a Beltway cabal decide the getting together to stop X, be sure to put repair the damage, offered to introduce 1924 Democratic convention, which nominee. your money on X.” Goldwater to the convention, did so in a went on for 104 ballots — virtually end- Carson has already warned he will So, Richard Nixon told me half a cen- brilliant speech, then campaigned hard- ed with the elimination, by FDR’s party walk away from the party if such a deci- tury ago, after he had been badly burned er for Mr. Conservative than did Barry in 1936, of the two-thirds rule for nomi- sion were imposed upon the convention. in just such a futile and failed enterprise. himself. nation. Moreover, the old establishments are It was the Cleveland Governors Con- And while That rule kept dead. Conservatives killed the GOP es- ference of 1964. Nixon enlisted ex-President Mar- tablishment in 1964. The Vietnam War Sen. Barry Goldwater had just defeat- in Goldwater’s Pat tin Van Buren, who and George McGovern killed the Dem- ed Gov. Nelson Rockefeller in the final campaign, Rock- Buchanan could not muster ocratic establishment in 1972. and decisive winner-take-all primary in efeller, Romney 67 percent of the What is left are elites, collectives of California. and Scranton, ar- (c) 2015, Creators Syndicate delegates, from officeholders past and present, donors, As the story is told, Stu Spencer, rogantly refusing capturing the nom- lobbyists, think-tankers angling for Rocky’s man in California, had come to accept defeat graciously, crippled any ination in 1844. jobs, party hacks and talking heads. to his candidate and said, “Governor, I chance Goldwater might have had by After eight deadlocked ballots in a What the Republican collectivity has think it’s time to call in the Eastern es- demanding that the platform condemn three-way contest, that Baltimore con- to realize is that it is they and the poli- tablishment.” the John Birch Society as equally ex- vention turned to a “dark horse,” Speak- cies they produced that are the reason treme as the Communist Party and Ku er James K. Polk, who promised imme- Trump, Carson and Cruz currently hold TO WHICH Rocky replied, “You’re Klux Klan. diate annexation of Texas by the United an overwhelming majority of Republi- looking at it, buddy. I’m all that’s left!” The party said no. And the establish- States and that he would take us to war can votes. Rocky was cooked. But then the pan- ment cut Barry dead in the fall. with Mexico to guarantee it. It was the elites of both parties who icked Republican governors gathered in Thus did the GOP establishment earn With the two-thirds rule dead, the failed to secure our borders and bro- Cleveland — Rockefeller, George Rom- the eternal enmity of the right. only way to have a convention without kered the trade deals that have de-indus- ney of Michigan, William Scranton of And thus did Richard Nixon emerge a nominee on the first ballot is a three- trialized America and eviscerated our Pennsylvania — to plot a path to deny in 1968 as the first choice of Barry Gold- or four-way split in delegates. middle class. Goldwater the nomination he and his water and the centrist Republican most It was the elites of both parties who conservative insurgents had won. acceptable to the conservative move- BUT ASSUME at the GOP conven- got us into these idiotic wars that have Nixon was invited, and, according to ment. The rest, as they say, is history. tion in Cleveland that Trump runs first, blown up the Middle East, cost us tril- Romney, privately urged him to get into Which brings us to that dinner last Ted Cruz second, Marco Rubio third lions of dollars, thousands of dead, and the race. Nixon denied it. week at The Source on Capitol Hill and Ben Carson fourth. tens of thousands of wounded among The governors, and Goldwater him- where Republican Party elites discussed Rather than wait for Karl Rove & Co. our best and bravest. self, suspected Nixon was pushing Rom- how Donald Trump, even if he wins to tell us whom the party shall nomi- That Republican elites would sit ney onto the tracks to derail his band- the lion’s share of votes and delegates, nate, Trump would phone Cruz, offer around a dinner table on Capitol Hill wagon. And, presumably, after Romney might be denied the nomination in a him second spot on the ticket in return and discuss how to frustrate the rising had been run over, the convention, to “brokered convention.” for his delegates, and if Cruz declined, rebellion against what they have done to heal the bleeding wound, would turn to a The absurdity of such a conspiracy ask for Rubio’s phone number. America, and decide among themselves centrist compromise candidate — Nixon. would be matched only by its stupid- Candidates who have gone through who shall lead us, is astonishing. “Nixon is sounding more and more ity. Has the GOP establishment learned a yearlong campaign, and sustained the like Harold Stassen every day,” said nothing from history? defeats and suffered the abuse, are not TO BORROW from the Gipper, they are not the solution to our prob- lems. They are the problem.

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[email protected] Visit our web site at: Contact us at 800-888-3039 or email: [email protected] www.conservativechronicle.com December 23, 2015 3 IMMIGRATION: December 12, 2015 I’ve changed. This is war. Seal the borders, stop the visas know this is not my usual posi- marriage-visa fraud. And in the mean- tion. But this is a war. Therefore, time, seal the borders. I agree with Jes- I have come to believe there sica Vaughn, director of policy studies shouldI be no immigration or visa waiv- at the Center for Immigration Studies, ers until the U.S. adopts a completely who argued many of these points in ex- new system to stop radical Islamic ter- cellent detail on the National Review rorists from entering the country. This website on Friday. calls for a wartime lockdown and a Again, why am I big change in my taking this hardline thinking. position? In the ISIS and re- Larry past I have been lated Islamic ter- an immigration who presently enter our country with- We may set back tourism. We may rorists are already Kudlow reformer, not a out a visa. This covers 20 million visi- anger Saudi princes whose kids are in here. More are (c) 2015, Creators Syndicate restrictionist. But tors a year who are allowed to stay 90 American schools. But so be it. We coming. We must we are at war. days. Of course this system is abused need a wartime footing if we are going stop them. That changes everything. big-time. to protect the American homeland. Until FBI Director James Comey Let me emphasize that my support Of course, President Obama doesn’t gives us the green light, I say seal the for wartime immigration restrictions BUT I SAY seal the borders. People get it. He never will. Already we should borders. is not based on religion. I think Don- hoping to relocate to the U.S. — from have led NATO into a declaration of ald Trump made a big mistake here. Syria, Iraq and anywhere in the Mid- war against ISIS. Already we should HERE’S WHAT we must do: Instead, I agree with this Rupert Mur- dle East, or France, England, Sweden, have pushed a resolution of war against Completely reform the vetting pro- doch tweet: “Complete refugee pause wherever — will be upset, at least for ISIS through the U.N. Security Coun- cess for immigrants and foreign visi- to fix vetting makes sense.” a while. There may be some unfairness cil. Already we should have convened tors. Change the screening process. Fortunately, the Republican House to this. But I don’t care. Wars breed meetings with our Middle East allies to Come up with a new visa-application voted to tighten restrictions on travel unfairness, just as they breed collateral formally declare war against ISIS. Al- review process. Stop this nonsense of to the U.S. by citizens of 38 nations damage. ready the U.S. Congress should have is- sued a formal declaration of war against GUN CONTROL: December 7, 2015 ISIS. The president had his last chance last Sunday night. And he didn’t take it. He is not a wartime commander in chief. In fact, he is not a commander in chief. The ignorant crusade on guns As I have written before, if the U.S. elf-righteousness is liberating. thundered against Warren Harding in care that a prior version of the assault- wants to destroy ISIS, it can destroy The same people who are most 1920, have fastened on the two “assault weapons ban, in effect in the 10 years ISIS. We won’t end terrorism around exercised about guns in Ameri- weapons,” AR-15s, used in the attack. after 1994, was wholly ineffectual. A the world. But we can destroy ISIS in ca,S and want to ban and even confiscate The Times called them “weapons of Department of Justice-backed study Syria and Iraq. Prominent generals are entire categories of firearms, know little war, barely modified.” President Obama concluded, “Should it be renewed, the telling us that. Prominent national-se- about them and evidently feel no com- referred to them as “powerful assault ban’s effects on gun violence are likely curity strategists are telling us that. punction to learn. weapons.” to be small at best and perhaps too small So let’s do it. The worst terror attack in the United On this question, the left has fallen for for reliable measurement.” (Rifles of all If there is to be a true wartime effort States since Sept. 11 has become the oc- its own propaganda. Decades types, let alone assault rifles, are used in to destroy ISIS, our leaders must com- casion for another frenzied, poorly in- ago, gun-controllers decided gun homicides only rarely.) municate a sense of urgency and energy. formed push for new gun restrictions. The proposal to keep people on the Define the clear goal: the destruction President Barack Obama gave a Rich terrorist watch list from buying guns of ISIS. Speak to that goal constantly. prime-time address on the terror threat, sounds sensible, yet it is problematic in Take steps at home and abroad to back in which he resolutely reaffirmed the Lowry that it denies people an explicit consti- up that goal. Lead the country. Rally the status quo in the campaign against ISIS. (c) 2015, King Features Syndicate tutional right on the basis of little or no country. Except that he hopes that gun control, due process. Last year, the Times itself Republican and Democratic com- one of the signal political and policy to play on the confusion between semi- inveighed against “the shadowy, self- manders in chief have done this in the failures of our time, will now be de- automatic versus automatic weapons to contradictory world of American terror past. We must do it again. ployed to help foil the apocalyptic ter- push for a ban on nasty-looking assault watch lists.” If the watch list is to be- I don’t believe a visa or immigration ror group. weapons, even though they are, for the come a no-gun list, it has to be cleaned lockdown here in the U.S. will solve the most part, functionally indistinguish- up, and listees should have an opportu- Islamic terrorist threat. Many other steps ALMOST EVERY time there is a able from other semi-automatic rifles. nity to challenge their status upon at- must be taken. And I am not suggesting mass shooting, there is a rush to push tempting to buy a gun. this in the name of religious profiling. old gun-control chestnuts, regardless of THE AR-15 is one of those semi- Such a prohibition would affect a Instead, I am hardening my position on their applicability. The San Bernardino automatic guns. It isn’t exotic or partic- tiny slice of gun purchases and would immigration, because we are at war and terror couple didn’t buy their guns at a ularly powerful. It is the most popular likely be mere symbolism, like the as- I fear we may be losing this war. gun show (making the effort to close rifle in the country. At least 3.5 million sault-weapons ban. The overriding re- My shift in thinking comes from a the so-called gun-show loophole irrel- are in circulation. It is lightweight, ac- ality that gun-controllers ignore is that deep desire to strengthen homeland se- evant); they weren’t on the terrorism curate and doesn’t have much of a kick. almost all gun homicides are committed curity. I hope that an immigration freeze watch list (so the proposal to ban people You wouldn’t use it in combat and, in with handguns in routine street crime, will not be in place for very long. But on the list from buying guns wouldn’t fact, wouldn’t necessarily use it to hunt. and are often obtained in informal net- for now I believe we must do it. (By the have stopped them); and Syed Farook A .223-caliber gun, it is less powerful works operating outside the gun rules way, keeping America safe is a prereq- passed a background check when he than many handguns. Some states for- we already have. uisite for growth.) bought two handguns (rendering calls bid .223-caliber rifles in deer hunting for universal background checks moot). because they aren’t powerful enough to BUT PLEASE don’t confuse the AND LET ME add, as I have in the The president and the New York reliably take down the game. anti-gun campaigners with facts. Their past, that if the U.S. has the will, the ur- Times, which saw fit to publish a front- If gun-controllers know any of this, ignorance is invincible, and necessary gency and the energy to destroy ISIS, page editorial for the first time since it they hide it well. Nor do they seem to to their crusade. then we will destroy ISIS. 4 Conservative Chronicle REPUBLICANS: December 15, 2015 Cutting through the bombast, it’s experience that matters onald Trump continues his Trump’s ban by 59 percent to 38 per- climb in the national polls cent. for the Republican presiden- Republicans trust Trump by a wide tialD nomination, while Hillary Clinton margin over all of his GOP political is well ahead of him in the general competitors — by 50 percent or more election matchups. — when asked who can better With the news handle terrorism, media focused on immigration, bring Trump and next Donald needed change to year’s GOP pri- Washington and maries, the politi- Lambro exert strong lead- cal reality is that (c) 2015, United Media Services ership. the bombastic bil- Trump’s weak- lionaire is significantly trailing Clin- est scores (23 percent) were for “most ton by 53 percent to 40 percent among honest and trustworthy” — the result adults. And trailing among registered of making statements that proved to voters, too, by 44 percent to 50 per- be false — and “best personality,” cent, though within range of the sam- the result of insulting remarks aimed pling error in the latest Washington at women and other candidates in the Post/ABC News poll. GOP race. Trump leads among every Repub- NOTABLY, THE new poll reveals lican demographic and ideological that 69 percent of adult Americans said group, but men were far more likely to they would feel “anxious” with Trump support him than women — a sign of as president — with 49 percent saying Clinton’s strength and Trump’s weak- “strongly” so. Only 29 percent said ness with a key voting bloc. Notably, Democrats rank the econ- Former Florida governor Jeb Bush they were comfortable with him. While a majority of Americans op- omy as the paramount issue before the has been pounding the same theme On the other hand, 51 percent said pose Trump’s ban, it is clear that ter- country — a warning shot to Clinton, for months. At a town hall speech in they’d feel anxious with Clinton in the rorism has become the biggest issue who will be forced to defend the per- Hooksett, New Hampshire, Bush said Oval Office, with 47 percent saying among voters since the terrorist at- petually anemic Obama economy in that in the end, the voters are going to they would be comfortable. tacks in San Bernardino, California, next year’s election. say, “I want someone who can actually Meantime, the Post poll also re- and Paris. Yet at a time when it appears that lead, that can do the job, that I can look vealed strong opposition to Trump’s voters are rejecting the GOP’s estab- into the past and have some sense go- proposed ban on letting Muslims who AFTER SEVEN years of polling, lishment candidates, the poll suggests ing forward that he has the right stuff, are not U.S. citizens into our country. when the economy and jobs were seen otherwise. that he can make the right decisions, Only 36 percent of all Americans said as the main issues named by the vot- It found that 57 percent of adults that he’s a serious person.” they’d support such a ban, while 60 ers, the political terrain has shifted said they would prefer a candidate None of this, perhaps, sounds as ex- percent said it would be the “wrong dramatically for the GOP. with political experience, while only citing as when Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, a thing to do.” Now, 38 percent of Republicans 37 percent said they wanted to put an freshman, said the answer to the war Democrats oppose such a ban by 82 mention the terrorist threat compared outsider in the White House. on terrorism was “carpet bombing” the percent to 15 percent, while Indepen- to 29 percent who point to the econo- But among Republicans, 58 percent bad guys hiding in civilian populated dents opposed it by 58 percent to 38 my and six percent who single out im- said they want an outsider rather than cities. percent. Republicans, however, back migration. anyone with government experience. Before he became governor, Chris- Trump was the overriding choice in tie was a tough-as-nails federal pros- this group. ecutor who put crooked Republicans The three candidates who have ex- and Democrats behind bars. And he’s perience in major state governorships the only one among the candidates — who were at the bottom of the poll- who has conducted terrorist investi- ing rungs — aren’t giving up, predict- gations under the Patriot Act and the ing their fortunes will turn around. FISA court, interacting with foreign Ohio Gov. John Kasich put it this officials on terrorist cases. way on CBS’ Face the Nation: “No one else on that stage has done “At the end, people are going to say, that,” he said. ‘Who can land the plane and who has Many times a presidential candi- got the experience?’ They’re frustrat- date comes along who can give a great ed. They’re upset. But you know what? speech, but knows absolutely nothing Over time, people tend to settle down about the machinery of government, when they actually go into the voting its laws, the tax code, and how to deal booth.” through a contentious thicket of 535 New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, men and women on Capitol Hill to campaigning in New Hampshire over break a legislative gridlock. the weekend, said, “It’s time for us to Experience still matters, and inex- get serious.” perience can hurt our country — badly. “You don’t want somebody sitting We’ve survived both. in the (Oval Office) chair, spinning around going, ‘Gee whiz, isn’t this THERE WERE Ike and Reagan, great to be president?’” Christie said. and then there were Jimmy Carter and “You want somebody who’s going to Obama. Choose wisely. ... understand from the first minute he sits in that chair that this is serious business.” December 23, 2015 5 AMERICANS : December 11, 2015 ‘Misunderestimating’ the American people s the week began, I planned But as events have shown then and (our leaders may claim that they aren’t country,” he said. That was a partisan to write this column about since, both presidents “misunderes- true believers in Islam, but the terrorists slap at Republicans who suggested that some implications of Barack timated” — to use a verb apparently obviously don’t agree). The other is that priority in admitting Syrian refugees Obama’sA Sunday night Oval Office ad- coined by Bush — the American people. most Muslims aren’t terrorists. should be given to non-Muslims. dress. I noted that he devoted about Yes, there have been incidents here But it turns out that ordinary people But no nation is under an obligation one-fifth of this 13-minute speech to and there when Americans have acted are entirely capable of understanding to admit foreigners to its territory, and pleas that Americans not discriminate violently or rudely to people they have that not everyone in a certain the U.S. Constitution prohibits a “reli- against Muslims. perceived to be category behaves ac- gious test” only for public officials. “It is the responsibility of all Ameri- Muslim. But they cording to stereo- American asylum law provides pref- cans — of every faith — to reject dis- are exceedingly Michael types, even those erences for those persecuted for their crimination,” he said. “It’s our respon- rare in a nation of Barone based on statistical religious beliefs, as Yazidis and Chris- sibility to reject proposals that Muslim 322 million peo- facts. This is not tians have been by Islamic State forces. Americans should somehow be treated ple. Government (c) 2015, Creators Syndicate actually a diffi- For many years American law provided differently.” statistics show cult concept. Fans for special treatment for Soviet Jews. that “hate crimes” are directed much know that most professional basketball Religious tests, in appropriate circum- AT ONE LEVEL, this is an ano- more frequently against Jews, the target players are black, but that nonetheless stances, are entirely consistent with dyne statement. As a general propo- of prejudice throughout the ages, than some whites are better players than American tradition and humanitarian sition, discrimination by religion is against Muslims. some blacks. principles. against the best in American tradition Both presidents showed a lack of con- As noted, earlier this week I was pre- and the letter of American law. George fidence in the ability of ordinary Ameri- THERE WAS another objection- pared to write more along these lines. W. Bush, you might recall, made simi- cans to carry in their heads two ideas able aspect to Obama’s Sunday night But then on Monday came the announce- lar statements in the days after Sept. seemingly in tension. One is that most speech. “It is our responsibility to reject ment that, in the words of a campaign 11, 2001. violent terrorists these days are Muslims religious tests on who we admit into this press release, “Donald J. Trump is call- ing for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until December 14, 2015 CLIMATE TALKS: our country’s representatives can figure out what is going on.” A Trump spokesman initially said the ban would cover “everyone.” But it Climate make-believe in Paris turned out later that the candidate would Saving the planet has never been so Instead, countries came up with so- ter? It promises to reach peak emissions make some exceptions. Muslim U.S. easy. called Intended Nationally Determined around 2030, when one U.S. govern- military personnel stationed outside the The Paris climate talks concluded in Contributions. That’s climate bureau- ment study estimates that it would hit country would be allowed to return. As a rousing round of self-congratulation cratese for “You make up your emis- peak admissions anyway, Cass notes. would Muslims who are U.S. citizens. over an agreement that, we are told, is sions target, whatever it is, and we will The more China promises to confront Trump’s proposal was denounced by the first step toward keeping Earth hab- pretend to take it seriously.” Thus, do climate change, the more it stays the former Vice President Dick Cheney and itable. If generating headlines and press the waters recede and Earth is saved same. by rival presidential candidates includ- releases about making history were the from looming climate catastrophe. India’s assurance that it will make ing (in alphabetical order) Jeb Bush, metric for anything, Paris might be as a roughly 30 percent improvement in Chris Christie, Lindsey Graham, John consequential — if misbegotten — as EVEN IF YOU believe the ex- carbon intensity is, according to Cass, Kasich and Marco Rubio. Ted Cruz said advertised. tremely dubious proposition that some- also about where it was projected to he disagreed with, but deftly declined to how the climate “consensus” perfectly be headed anyway. India still wants to criticize, Trump. THE FACT IS that Paris is very understands perhaps the most compli- double its output of coal by 2020. As I think Trump is “misunderestimat- meta. The agreement is about the agree- cated system on the planet, and can the Guardian put it, India “says coal ing” the American people in much the ment, never mind what’s in it or what its forecast with certitude and in provides the cheapest energy for rapid same way as Obama. Where the presi- true legal force is — namely, nil. Paris is industrialization that would lift mil- dent seems to fear the possibility of a legally binding agreement not to have lions out of poverty.” India would be widespread violence against Muslims legally binding limits on emissions. It Rich correct. (or those perceived as such), the presi- might be the most worthless piece of Lowry The agreement’s celebrants believe dential candidate evidently sees a wide- paper since the Kellogg-Briand Pact that by making countries report their spread consensus that Muslims are so outlawed war — about a decade prior to (c) 2015, King Features Syndicate progress on cutting carbon emissions likely to be dangerous that it is unduly the outbreak of World War II. and by sending a stern signal against risky to allow any to enter the country. Politico reported that the talks were detail what the global temperature will fossil fuels, Paris will catalyze painful This seems to me to get recent history almost derailed at the last minute by the be a century from now, Paris is a cha- cuts in carbon emissions somewhere wrong. “If this guy doesn’t look like an accidental insertion of the word “shall” rade. The best estimates are that, ac- off in the future. It speaks to a naive be- Arab terrorist, then nothing does,” the deep in the text, which, by implying a cepting the premises of the consensus, lief in the power of global shame over ticket agent who let 9/11 hijacker Mo- legal obligation, was to be avoided at all the deal will reduce warming 0.0 to 0.2 the sheer economic interest of develop- hamed Atta pass through security re- costs (the U.S. Senate would never give degrees Celsius. ing countries in getting rich (and lift- called thinking, “but it’s not nice to say its assent to a legally binding treaty). President Barack Obama praised 180 ing countless millions out of poverty) things like this.” Neighbors of the San The U.S. scrambled to change the of- countries for coming to Paris “with se- through exploiting cheap energy — you Bernardino terrorists noticed peculiar fending word to “should.” rious climate targets in hand.” This was know, the way Western countries have goings-on but didn’t report them to au- The Paris summit operated on the ridiculous climate grade inflation. As done for a couple of centuries. thorities. principle of CBDRILONCWRC, or Oren Cass of the Manhattan Institute “Common but Differentiated Responsi- points out, Pakistan produced a one- IF THIS IS the best hope of the cli- IT SEEMS that many Americans, bility in Light of National Circumstanc- page document promising to “reduce its mate alarmists, their global campaign out of a “misunderestimated” reluc- es With Respective Capability.” That emissions after reaching peak levels to will be a welcome fizzle. All things tance to discriminate by religion, have means nothing was actually mandated the extent possible.” For this we needed considered, it probably is best that they difficulty making the distinctions — or on anyone because that proved — un- a headline-grabbing global confab? occupy themselves with grand meet- discriminations — needed to identify derstandably enough, dealing with all No one will mistake Pakistan for ings and with the exertions attendant to terrorists. That’s a problem not easily the countries in the world — completely an industrial juggernaut. How about believing their own PR. Otherwise they solved, and Obama’s and Trump’s “mis- unworkable. China, the world’s largest carbon emit- could do real damage. underestimates” aren’t helping. 6 Conservative Chronicle OBAMA PRESIDENCY: December 10, 2015 Wishing terrorism away — mounting criticism hen asked why President been vetted. And as to Obama’s assur- Due to mounting criticism, Obama former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Barack Obama insisted ance that Syrian refugee mothers and gave a rare, televised Oval Office Sun- Staff Martin Dempsey; who once called on pursuing a nuclear deal their children pose no threat, Tashfeen day night speech designed to assure the ISIS a “JV team;” and who, again, the withW Iran, former Secretary of Defense Malik left behind her six-month-old nation that everything that can be done morning of the Paris attacks, called ISIS Robert Gates said: “I think that the pur- daughter as she and her husband left the is being done, and that ISIS’ days are “contained.” But Obama now claims to suit of the agreement is based on the house to go on a murder spree.) numbered. But he announced no new have adopted the right strategy to defeat President’s hope that over a 10-year pe- No, the Times, in its first front-page initia- tives, gave no hint of a terror group even as he still refuses to riod with the sanctions being lifted that editorial in al- possibly committing utter the phrase “radical Islam.” the Iranians will become a constructive most 100 years, combat troops. Some argued that future historians stakeholder in the international commu- demanded more Larry Obama and his would rehabilitate the reputation of nity. That — that as their economy be- control laws. Elder would-be succes- George W. Bush, who left office as one Goodness, if it’s sor, Hillary Clin- gins to grow again, that — that they will (c) 2015, Creators Syndicate of our most unpopular presidents. Well, abandon their ideology, their theology, that simple, why ton, focus more the future is now. A June 2015 Gallup their revolutionary principles, their med- not just demand that Iraq and Syria en- anger at Republicans than at the ter- poll found that the number of Ameri- dling in various parts of the region. And, act “common sense” gun-control laws, rorists. After the Paris attacks, Obama cans who call the Iraq War a “mistake” frankly, I believe that’s very unrealistic.” thereby putting ISIS out of the war busi- scolded Republicans for wanting re- declined from 57 percent in 2014 to 51 ness? No weapons, no war. strictions on Syrian refugees. And Clin- percent a year later. And this was before THE VERY morning of the Paris ton compared Republicans seeking to the attacks in Paris, Mali, Lebanon and attacks, Obama called ISIS/ISIL “con- POLLS SHOW that most Americans defund Planned Parenthood to “terrorist San Bernardino, all of which occurred tained.” And hours before last month’s al either believe President Obama has no groups.” She likened NRA supporters to in a span of three weeks. Qaeda-claimed hotel attacks in the capi- idea how to combat ISIS, or feel that the “Iranians or the communists.” tal of Mali, Africa, which killed 20, Sec- terror group is gaining strength. That as- Obama is the same commander in BUT THOSE angry at President retary of State John Kerry pronounced al sessment was corroborated by the chair- chief who failed to negotiate a stable Obama for his limp Sunday address Qaeda “neutralized.” man of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Marine force in Iraq; who pulled out all the should stand down. After all, when was Even after the Paris attacks, Obama Gen. Joseph Dunford, who, days after troops in Iraq over the objections of his the last time Obama gave a major na- summoned only enough indignation the Paris attacks, told Congress, “We then-Secretary of Defense Leon Panet- tional security speech without mention- to describe the attacks as a “setback.” have not contained ISIL (ISIS).” ta, his Secretary of State Clinton and his ing “climate change?” Meanwhile, the equally leftist, equally anti-war French president Francois Hol- lande called the attacks an “act of war,” DONALD TRUMP: December 11, 2015 and promised, “France, because it was foully, disgracefully and violently at- tacked, will be unforgiving with the bar- barians from Daesh (ISIS).” Maybe a buffoon, but he’s no Hitler Just as he did following the deadly at- “Is this what Germany looked like Yet storm troopers didn’t smash Mus- berg Laws. Muslim Americans enjoy tack at a Colorado Planned Parenthood in 1933?” Joe Scarborough asked on lim businesses in a fury of collective more individual liberty in the United clinic, Obama, after the radicalized Is- Morning Joe this week. punishment; a concentration camp for States than they would in any Islamic lamic-inspired terror attacks in San Ber- No. Not at all. political opponents of Trump was not nation. nardino, California, called for more gun established this year; there’s been no Many Americans feel that they’re un- control. He also urged Congress to pass THOUGH MANY in my family decree banning Muslims from practic- der attack. Many blame all Muslims, but laws preventing those whose names ap- were exterminated during the Holocaust ing law and civil service jobs; and there some won’t blame Islam at all. Both are pear on a no-fly list from acquiring fire- — including one of my grandfathers, have been no prohibitions on Islamic di- preposterous and dangerous positions. arms, as well as other “common sense” who died trying to make his way home etary laws. Not even Trump has claimed Trump’s crass populism — the crassiest measures. from Mauthausen after years of forced to want to institute any of these things — feeds off this fear. It’s an ugly over- Never mind that California, where labor — I’m not completely offended — and other than a few fringy Nazi reaction to President Barack Obama’s the two radical Islamists murdered 14 by an occasional gratuitous Nazi anal- types on Twitter, I’ve never seen anyone underreaction regarding terrorism, and wounded 21, long ago imposed ogy. But as much as I hate to intrude claim to want to institute these things. though there is one incredibly important “common sense” measures, including on our week of national indignation, All of them, of course, would b e distinction: Both of these men have pro- the closure of the so-called “gun-show Donald Trump’s idiotic, undoable and unconstitutional. posed actions that intrude on the Con- loophole,” restrictions on the purchase probably unconstitutional immigration stitution this week — with the president of certain assault and assault-style weap- proposal (if we can call it that) is not David proposing to use an arbitrary no-fly list ons, limits on handgun purchases to one comparable to the genocide of six mil- to take due process away from potential per month per person and a 10-day wait- lion Jews. Trump is not comparable to Harsanyi gun owners — but only one will ever ing period prior to the sale or transfer of Adolf Hitler. The Art of the Deal is not (c) 2015, Creators Syndicate have been president. a firearm. Mein Kampf. You can save your histri- The New York Times echoed Obama onic riffs of Martin Niemoller, for now. I REALIZE that many liberals like TRUMP IS never going to make a by running its first front-page edito- Trump’s statist suggestions and nativist to portray Muslims as an oppressed decision for the American people. Nei- rial since 1920. Did the Times call for populism, though often reprehensible in class, much like the Jews of prewar Ger- ther major party will support his run for U.S. ground troops in the Middle East, their own special way, are not nearly so many. But this historical fearmongering the presidency, should he somehow win a measure that polls now show a major- morally corrupt as the policies of Na- is not backed by evidence. Rarely are the Republican nomination, which is ity American support? Did the editorial tional Socialism or Stalinism or even religious hate crimes directed at Mus- highly doubtful. But if you don’t buy all demand imposing a no-fly zone in Syr- the theocracies that litter the Middle lims. (Over 60 percent of them are still that and if you’re truly concerned that ia? Or demand changing the rules of en- East right now. aimed at Jews, according to government Trump is going to turn America into the gagement to loosen the concern of “col- Unless political demonstrations have statistics.) As of now, Muslims have not next Nazi Germany, there is an answer: lateral damage” — which many military been banned and something compara- lost a single right as Americans (other You should become a vocal opponent of experts believe severely hampers us ble to the Reichstag fire is about to go than the ones we all lose). Calling for abusive executive power no matter who from defeating ISIS? Did the Times ask down, Trump is not going to be Führer. an end to Muslim immigration is more is president. That includes the one we Obama rethink the plan to bring in tens Marinus van der Lubbe may not have comparable to the Chinese Immigration have right now. Because it’s the prec- of thousands of Syrian refugees? (After burned down the German Parliament, and the Chinese Exclusion Acts (though edents we set today that would make all, the Pakistani-born San Bernardino but Islamic terrorists actually did gun this has nothing to do with economic it easier for Trump to have his own killer/mother immigrant had supposedly down a bunch of Americans last week. protectionism) than it is to the Nurem- Schutzstaffel. December 23, 2015 7 IMMIGRATION: December 9, 2015 Happy Birthday to me! Thank you, Donald or my best birthday gift this In the 14 years since Muslims killed week, Donald Trump called 3,000 Americans on 9/11, this country for blocking Muslim immigra- has admitted another 1.5 million Mus- tionF to the United States. If he throws in lims. So we’re xenophobic, bigoted all immigration, it will be my merriest racists if we don’t make it two million? Christmas ever. Three million? When will we have By contrast, the eunuchs running enough? How many murdered against Trump went mental. Amer- icans is an accept- Marco Rubio able number before called Trump’s Ann we can shut off the proposed morato- spigot of Muslim rium on Muslim Coulter immigration? immigration “of- (c) 2015, Ann Coulter The amazing fensive and out- thing is that no landish.” one (except the American people) wants Rubio’s idea for stopping Muslim any pause in Muslim immigration — terrorist attacks on U.S. soil is some- even after more than a dozen Muslim thing simple: Launch several wars to terrorist attacks on our soil in the last 15 clean up the entire Middle East. years. Chris Christie called Trump’s plan House Speaker Paul Ryan announced “ridiculous,” saying, “This is the kind that he will refuse to consider cuts to of thing that people say when they have Muslim immigration, saying, “That’s no experience and don’t know what not who we are.” perative to allow any immigration at all. are we allowed to talk about what’s they’re talking about.” Republicans are totally copacetic We don’t owe citizens of other countries good for America? with Pew’s recent finding that white anything. San Bernardino shooter Syed PEOPLE WITH “experience” say Christians are now a minority in Amer- But as long as you brought it up: Farouk’s mother described his father — things like: Walls don’t work and are ica, but furious with Trump for sug- They owe us. America runs around the original immigrant — this way: “My “too expensive.” gesting we take a break from importing saving other countries from tsunamis, husband is mentally ill and is on medi- Ted Cruz said he disagreed with Muslims. earthquakes, pirates, disease, starvation, cation but is also an alcoholic and drinks Trump and instead would focus on “rad- Can we move them to Ryan’s dis- warlords, dictators, Nazis, communists with the medicine.” ical Islamic terrorism.” Cruz will have a trict? According to Pew, only 11 percent — then their citizens show up full of Fantastic. So glad we got him. The lot more radicals to focus on if we keep of Muslims are Republican or “lean Re- grievances, as if we owe them. father, who has been here since 1973 — importing a quarter million Muslims ev- publican.” They may not make the “best Angry Muslims have been popping thanks, Teddy Kennedy! — told an Ital- Maybe a buffoon, but he’s no Hitler ery year. Americans” — as Ryan claims — but at up all over TV to denounce Trump and ian newspaper that he preached mod- And these were Republicans. MSN- least they’d get rid of him. complain about anti-Muslim bigotry in eration to his son, saying it’s not worth BC acted as if the nation had come under The hysterical demand for never- the U.S. If they’d prefer a country with a fighting Israel, because Russia, China terrorist attack (by a Muslim immigrant) ending Third World immigration has larger Muslim population and no white- and the U.S. “don’t want Jews there any with its round-the-clock, breaking-news gone beyond the rich’s need for cheap devil oppressors, low-rent mud huts are more.” In “two years,” he assured his coverage of Trump’s proposal, rife with servants and the Democrats’ need for available in any of about 50 Muslim son, “Israel will not exist any more.” images of dangerous demagogues from voters. It’s a mass psychosis. countries around the world. First month So after four decades in American George Wallace to Hitler. Everyone acts as if Pakistani push- free; after that, two goats a month. culture, these highly integrated, model People without real arguments call cart operators are the same as Ameri- In addition to the thoughtful policy immigrants are still clinging to their in- anything they don’t like “racist” or “un- can blacks, and we’re required to bring objection that Trump is a racist, we’ve sane magic potion fantasies. constitutional.” them here to make up for the legacy of been treated to an endless stream of The senior Farouk didn’t come here Trump’s proposal is neither — I slavery. stunningly stupid arguments against to work in some highly complex tech- won’t waste space mentioning 100 Trump’s proposal. nical field, like nuclear physics or cell years of constitutional law and practice, FOREIGNERS AREN’T the de- Fox News’ Dana Perino complained extraction biology. He’s a truck driver. but of course our country has absolute scendants of American slaves! The rest that Trump’s policy doesn’t “distinguish So one American lost his job as a truck authority to decide who gets to immi- of the world does not have a civil right the peaceful from the radicals.” driver and 14 Americans lost their lives grate here. to move here. We’re under no moral im- Yeah, nor can our government. because of Ted Kennedy’s 1965 immi- Given the devastation caused by only gration act. two Muslims in San Bernardino, eight How else have the 1.5 million Mus- Muslims in Paris, two at the Boston lims admitted since 9/11 made our Marathon, one at a Chattanooga military country better? Their massive welfare recruitment center, one at Fort Hood, 19 use? Overburdening our schools and on 9/11, etc. etc. — it’s really irrelevant hospitals? The machete attacks? The whether “most” Muslim immigrants are clitorectomies? The honor killings? The peaceful little lambs. It doesn’t take a lot occasional terrorist attack? of them to create havoc. Currently, there are more than a I don’t know why we need any. thousand active investigations of ISIS While it’s fantastic news that most in all 50 states. Here’s an idea: Instead Muslim immigrants aren’t terrorists, as of paying for an ever-expanding federal Samuel Johnson said, “A horse who can workforce to track, wiretap and investi- count to 10 is a remarkable horse, not a gate immigrants with possible terrorist remarkable mathematician.” sympathies, let’s stop bringing them in! We want remarkable Americans, not immigrants whose selling point is: BEGINNING TO sense the public’s “hasn’t blown anything up yet.” What’s fury, a number of Republican politicians the upside of admitting 250,000 poor, have been trying to talk tough on immi- culturally backward, non-English- gration. This week, Trump proved that speaking Muslims every year? When that’s all it is: talk. 8 Conservative Chronicle CLIMATE TALKS: December 14, 2015 Hot air in Paris: Climate change disciples f representatives of the nearly been based on imperfect computer 200 nations gathered in Paris for models. That those models do not re- the UN Conference on Climate flect reality has not affected the minds ChangeI had instead formed a coalition or policies of people who worship at the to fight a real threat — Islamic terror- altar of government and wish to impose ism — they might have accomplished additional regulations on already over- something useful. Instead, what they burdened corporations and in- came up with is dividuals. a document that As the Daily even Secretary of Cal Caller website State John Kerry, Thomas reported last in a rare moment June, “Data from of candor, con- (c) 2015, Tribune Media Services America’s most fessed is pointless. advanced climate Here’s Kerry: “... The fact is that monitoring system shows the U.S. has even if every American citizen biked undergone a cooling trend over the last to work, carpooled to school, used only decade, despite recent claims by gov- solar panels to power their homes, if ernment scientists that warming has ac- we each planted a dozen trees, if we celerated worldwide during that time.” somehow eliminated all of our domes- If you are a climate change disciple, worst polluter, but “global warming” tic greenhouse gas emissions, guess THIS REFLECTS a pattern we have or confused, do yourself a favor. Visit shouldn’t be the reason. what — that still wouldn’t be enough to seen throughout history. In the 1970s, climatedepot.org and see the film “Cli- If John Kerry is right — and the evi- offset the carbon pollution coming from scientists and the media were promot- mate Hustle,” which premiered in Paris dence suggests he is — why would the the rest of the world.” ing “global cooling” to advance their during the UN gathering. The film at- U.S. and other developed countries sti- “chicken little” fantasy that life as we tracted protestors largely because global fle their growth potential by embracing KERRY ADDED, “If all the indus- know it on Earth was about to end. They warming cultists want to suppress any a false doctrine that could lead to pre- trial nations went down to zero emis- were wrong then and they are wrong information that runs counter to their dictable and even unforeseen economic sions — remember what I just said, now. But there is money and political beliefs. consequences? all the industrial emissions went down power associated with climate change There is nothing wrong and much to zero emissions — it wouldn’t be orthodoxy and next to sex, humans lust right about the goal of reducing pollu- YOU WILL HAVE to ask a climate enough, not when more than 65 percent after these more than anything else. tion, especially in China, the world’s change disciple. of the world’s carbon pollution comes from the developing world.” Being a liberal means never having TED CRUZ: December 15, 2015 to admit error. Liberalism, it appears, has always been about intentions and feelings, not results. Fighting “climate change” makes liberals feel good. There Cruz: The maple leaf candidate? has been a near complete media black- uring the most recent presi- This month, GOP political consul- such thing for Cruz. out and intimidation of anyone present- dential election, non-candi- tant-turned-analyst Tony Quinn wrote 4) Cruz was a “natural born” citizen ing contrary scientific evidence disprov- date Donald Trump crowned a piece for the website Fox&Hounds of Canada. ing the theory that Earth is warming and himselfD king of the “birther” move- headlined “Ted Cruz Cannot Be Presi- I sent Quinn’s piece to John Yoo, the humans are responsible. Quentin Letts, ment, with his constant questions about dent: Take Him Off The Ballot.” Quinn former George W. Bush White House a BBC presenter, had his radio program whether President Barack Obama was acknowledged the conventional view counsel who teaches law at the Uni- pulled from the BBC’s iPlayer playback born in Kenya or the United States. that Cruz is “natural born” but argued versity of California, Berkeley. “This facility for, according to him, showing Now (it pains me to say) Trump is the that the Framers added “natural born” case is much stronger than people give “disrespect for climate change,” after GOP frontrunner, and his closest chal- to the citizen requirement to prevent it credit,” Yoo wrote. “The Constitution protests from global warming adher- lenger in the polls is Sen. Ted Cruz of the election of a candidate with requires the president to be a ‘natural- ents, which the UK Daily Mail later Texas, who was not born in the United foreign entanglements. born citizen.’ But no one is sure what dubbed the “Green Gestapo.” States. Cruz was born in Canada in it means. It’s never been the subject of This phony doctrine is being shoved 1970. His mother was born in Dela- Debra J. a definitive judicial ruling.” Yoo thinks down our throats by people who contin- ware. His father was born in Cuba. His the term applies to citizens “born in the ue to fly in private jets and ride in gas- family moved to Texas when he was Saunders territory of the United States.” That’s a guzzling SUVs while telling the rest of 4. Cruz had dual Canadian-American (c) 2015, Creators Syndicate credible position that takes into account us to walk or ride bikes. citizenship until he renounced his Ca- the Constitution’s likely original intent. Not that facts matter to the major me- nadian citizenship two years ago. QUINN LAID out four reasons he Do I believe the men who drafted the dia and others who have embraced the thinks Cruz does not make the cut. Constitution wanted to keep foreigners doctrines of this new religion, but here SO IS CRUZ a “natural born Citi- 1) His father was born in Cuba; Cruz out of the Oval Office? Of course I do. are some anyway because, in my opin- zen,” a requisite for presidential can- himself was born in Canada. Does Ted Cruz care about the Fram- ion, belief in “climate change” is on a didates under Article 2 of the U.S. 2) Every past presidential nominee ers’ original intent? Usually, he does. par with childhood faith in Santa Claus Constitution? PolitiFact looked into was born within the United States or a I asked Team Cruz to respond specifi- and the tooth fairy. that question and determined that Cruz possession. Calgary never was a U.S. cally to the argument that “natural born” Remote Sensing Systems (RSS) is a probably is eligible because his mother possession. means born in the USA or a U.S. terri- scientific research company located in was a U.S. citizen: “Most legal experts 3) While his father was serving in tory. No reply. Northern California, specializing in sat- contend (natural born Citizen) means the Navy, 2008 Republican presiden- ellite microwave remote sensing of the someone is a citizen from birth and tial candidate John McCain was born in THIS TRULY is an issue that vot- Earth. According to RSS, the Earth’s doesn’t have to go through a natural- the Panama Canal Zone, a U.S. posses- ers will have to sort out. Heidi Cruz, the temperature has not increased in the last ization process to become a citizen.” sion. Even still, the Senate unanimously candidate’s wife, told a group in Mis- 18 years and nine months, a record. But it noted that the issue is not “100 passed a resolution conferring “natural souri she expects Trump to play the As previously noted in this column, percent settled,” as there is no official born” citizenship on McCain just to birther card. She may be right. But will predictions of global warming have definition. settle the issue. The Senate has done no it stick to a candidate born in Canada? December 23, 2015 9 DONALD TRUMP: December 11, 2015 Candidates and the media need to show courage ext week’s Republican presi- voters support him, some large portion of voters, making references his intended secure our borders.” More dog-whistling dential debate will be a test for whom do so not in spite of his continued audience hears for what they are but oth- to voters suspicious of Mexicans, as well the candidates standing along- barrage of bigoted comments but precise- ers can dismiss as mere policy propos- as Muslims. sideN Donald Trump. Though most of ly because of them. This shouldn’t be sur- als. When Cruz says he disagrees with them have criticized Trump’s latest out- prising, but it should be troubling. We’ve Trump’s proposal, he makes sure to let STANDING UP to bigotry isn’t easy, rage — a call to ban all Muslim tourists, gone a long way toward eliminating ra- every- one know he has his especially in a political campaign in business travelers and immigrants from cial and religious own plan to deal which candidates are looking for every the U.S. for some unspecified time — discrimination, with Muslims. Cruz advantage they can muster. It has been a they have not done so uniformly or with but we can prob- Linda would bar all refu- while since we’ve seen candidates mak- equal passion. More than any others dur- ably never entirely Chavez gees from countries ing blatant appeals to prejudice, but the ing this campaign, Trump’s remarks pres- erase prejudice where the Islamic practice had a long run in American poli- ent the candidates with an opportunity to from the hearts of (c) 2015, Creators Syndicate State group is ac- tics during the civil rights era. Southern show courage and leadership. They need the few. There will tive — including, politicians from Arkansas Gov. Orville to speak out onstage — and do so with always be some portion of the elector- apparently, those who are the direct Faubus to Alabama Gov. George Wallace one voice. But they are not the only ones. ate for whom appeals to bigotry will be victims of the Islamic State — which to Georgia Gov. Lester Maddox made The media need to show courage, as well. effective if the candidates are willing to includes a large swath of the Middle their reputations by defying federal court make them. East and North Africa. Cruz said: “I like desegregation orders and laws to appease TRUMP SHOWS no sign of falling in Trump is the favorite of those voters, Donald Trump. ... And listen, I commend fearful whites. the polls. Somewhere between one-quar- but he isn’t alone in trying to woo them. Donald Trump for standing up and fo- Bigotry creates its own audience, as the ter and one-third of Republican primary Ted Cruz dog-whistles to those same cusing America’s attention on the need to career of radio show host Father Charles Coughlin demonstrated in the 1930s. Coughlin became hugely popular — at DONALD TRUMP: December 11, 2015 his height, he had more than 30 million listeners — by spewing anti-Semitism over the radio waves. At the outbreak of World War II, radio stations began refus- Why take the Trump stunt seriously? ing to carry Coughlin’s program, which o how exactly does this work, Christian crusade against radical Islam interest — and target — is not the Islam- suggests one further way to counter the Donald Trump’s plan to keep — with those fabulous Hollywood-ward- ic State but the anti-Assad rebels, Trump Trump phenomenon. America safe from Islamic ter- robe tunics — the war on terror will only now promises to “bomb the s--- “out of The GOP didn’t create Donald Trump, rorismS by barring entry to all Muslims? be won in alliance with moderate Mus- the Islamic State. and every one of his opponents wishes he He explained it Tuesday on TV. The im- lims. Declaring them anathema is not the I’m sure there’s a Trump apologist would disappear because Trump makes it migration official will ask the foreigner if best beginning to coalition-building. out there working to explain the brilliant difficult for anyone else to get attention. he’s a Muslim. To take but the most obvious exam- complementarity of these two contradic- Trump is aided and abetted by the me- “And if they said, ‘yes,’ they would ple: Our closest and most effective allies tory strategies. Just as a few months ago dia because they provide the megaphone not be allowed in the country?” on the ground in the Middle East are the there was a frenzy of learned scholar- by which Trump reaches his audience. Trump: “That’s correct.” Kurds. Trump would turn them back at ship about the constitutional history of Trump’s outrageous comments provoke Cruz: The maple leaf candidate? Brilliant. And very economical. That the Orlando airport. No Disney World the 14th Amendment following another blanket TV and print coverage and then is, if you think that bloodthirsty terrorists for them. Or does he not know that they Trump eruption — the abolition of birth- garner invitations for him to appear on — “people that believe only in Jihad, and are Muslim? right citizenship. TV and give radio talk shows endless have no sense of reason or respect for hu- Whatever the final outcome, Trump’s opportunities to invite his supporters to man life,” as Trump describes them — campaign has already succeeded, indel- weigh in favorably. will feel honor-bound to tell the truth to Charles ibly affecting both this race and the Re- What if the media exercised some an infidel immigration officer. They kill Krauthammer publican future. At a time of economic responsible discretion by not inviting wantonly but, like George Washington, malaise at home and strategic collapse Trump on to spread his hate? In the wake cannot tell a lie. On this logic hinges the (c) 2015, Washington Post Writers Group abroad, Trump has managed to steer the of his latest rant, Trump appeared on Fox great Maginot Line with which Trump It is embarrassing even to embark on entire GOP campaign into absurdities, News Channel, MSNBC, CNN and ABC, will protect America from jihad. such arguments. To treat “no Muslims al- like mass deportation of 11 million il- with in-person and call-in interviews last- lowed” as a serious idea is to give credit legal immigrants, and impossibilities, ing from several minutes to more than I DECLINE to join the chorus de- to what is little more than a clever stunt like the exclusion of Muslims from our a half-hour. No candidate can buy this nouncing the Trump proposal as offen- by a man who saw Ted Cruz beating him shores. amount of time; indeed, Trump has run a sive and un-American. That’s too obvi- for the first time in the Iowa Monmouth “No Muslims allowed” is the perfect shoestring media campaign so far, spend- ous. What I can’t get over is its sheer poll and five hours later decided it was example. President Obama’s Oval Office ing less than $300,000 on radio ads in a absurdity. time to seize the stage again. address on Sunday night marked a new few early-primary states, according to the Here’s a suggestion (borrowed from low in his presidency. The shopworn Hill. my Fox News colleague Chris Stirewalt) THIS GOT the thinkers going again. arguments, the detached tone, the will- In effect, Fox News Channel, MSN- to shore it up. At every immigration sta- National Review’s Andrew McCarthy, ful denial that there might be anything BC, CNN and other networks are making tion at every airport in America, we will whom I (otherwise) hold in considerable wrong with his policy was deeply unset- in-kind contributions to Trump by giv- demand that every potential entrant — esteem, spent 1,000 words trying to tart tling for left, right and center. Even the ing him so much more airtime than they immigrant, refugee, student or tourist — up the ban in constitutional and statutory New York Times had to admit “Obama’s give the other candidates, and it isn’t just eat a bacon sandwich. You refuse? Back livery, stressing — hilariously — that he Plans to Stop ISIS Leave Many Demo- because he’s the frontrunner. I don’t re- home you go! is dealing with the Trump proposal “in its crats Wanting More,” which is Timesese member Mitt Romney, John McCain or True, the Stirewalt Solution casts the final form.” As if Trump’s barstool erup- for Democrats Stunned by Vacancy in George W. Bush — or any other candi- net a bit wide, snaring innocent veg- tions are painstakingly vetted, and as if the Oval Office. Here was an opportunity date — getting this kind of treatment in etarians and Orthodox Jews. But hey, anything Trump says about anything is for the Republican field to launch an all- previous GOP contests. as Trump said Tuesday “We’re at war ever final. out takedown of the Obama (and Hillary — get it through your head.” Can’t get Take his Syria policy. In September, Clinton) foreign policy. IT’S TIME for the media to just say squeamish about collateral damage. he said we should wash our hands and no to Donald Trump. If we disdain preju- Dozens of others have already pointed just let Russia fight the Islamic State. WITHIN LESS than a day that op- dice and bigotry, what better way to less- out how strategically idiotic is Trump’s Having, I assume, been subsequently portunity was wiped out. Once again, it’s en their effect than to stop giving their exclusion principle. Absent a renewed informed that Vladimir Putin’s principal the Donald Show. proponents more airtime? 10 Conservative Chronicle REPUBLICANS: December 10, 2015 Trump/Carson driving away important voting blocs olitical apprentice Donald You have one guess which presiden- Trump is attempting to do tial candidate will capture the Hispanic/ something no candidate has Latino vote next year if Trump is the doneP before: win a presidential election GOP’s presidential nominee. If Repub- by subtraction, not addition. licans are not competitive in the race It is, of course, an upside-down, for this piv- otal voting bloc, they will nonsensical campaign strategy, led by surely lose the White House a Mad Hatter can- for many years to didate that only Donald come. Lewis Carroll The American could love. Lambro Muslim vote is a His strategy is (c) 2015, United Media Services great deal smaller, vative, entrepreneurial and business- prejudice and paranoia,” she said. “At to attack, offend, a mere two mil- friendly politically, and thus a natural a time when America should be doing bully, anger and insult as many minor- lion or so. But it can be an influential Republican constituency. everything we can to fight radical jihad- ity voting blocs as he can. This includes vote in key states like Florida, which “George W. Bush was elected presi- ists, Mr. Trump is supplying them with large numbers of mainstream voters, remains competitive. dent of the United States of America new propaganda. He’s playing right i.e., women, offended by Trump’s habit “More than six in 10 are immigrants, because of the Muslim vote,” Norquist into their hands.” of using schoolyard names against them and they come from 80 different na- said. But Clinton didn’t stop there in show- (like “fat pig”). He’s driving voters into tions. They’re spread across the nation, ing her support for the Muslim com- the open arms of Queen Hillary herself. and across tax brackets and profes- BUT THERE is no chance of get- munity. One of her closest aides in the sions,” the Atlantic said this week in ting their vote now if Trump heads the State Department and in her campaign, HE BEGAN by defining the 11.3 an analysis of the Muslim vote. “Even ticket, campaigning on his ban against Huma Abedin, sent an email to Clin- million undocumented Hispanics as before Trump called for a total ban on Muslims entering our country. ton’s campaign list attacking Trump’s rapists, murderers, drug dealers and Muslim immigration on Monday, it was Since Bush’s election, Muslims have proposal, saying, “I am a proud Mus- other criminals, declaring that he will a foregone conclusion that Republicans turned much more Democratic anyway. lim.” have a nationwide police force round would lose the Muslim vote in 2016.” In 2008, Obama drew 89 percent of But Trump and one other GOP presi- them up and ship all of them back to The only remaining question “is just their support, which fell to 68 percent dential candidate weren’t through with Mexico. how small a portion of the Muslim vote in 2012. their anti-American Muslim crusade. Hispanics are the largest ethnic the eventual Republican — be it Trump A 2011 Pew poll found that 70 per- Former pediatric neurosurgeon Ben minority group in the United States. or someone else — receives.” cent of Muslims said they either identi- Carson said that no Muslim should be Obama won nearly 70 percent of their The American Muslim Alliance es- fied with or leaned toward the Demo- our president, reminding some of the vote in 2012. Recent polls show that 70 timates that 60,000 Muslims voted for crats. Only 11 percent said they were days when some Americans said that percent of Hispanic/Latino voters have George W. Bush in Florida, “a state he Republicans. about Catholics. And Trump further a very unfavorable view of Trump, but won by mere hundreds of votes,” the Clinton and her advisers lost no time suggested American Muslims should be a very favorable view of Hillary Clin- Atlantic said. in taking advantage of the controversy registered and required to carry special ton, by a two-thirds margin. Anti-tax crusader Grover Norquist over Trump’s Muslim ban, condemning IDs. But Trump, living in his own delu- had urged Bush’s campaign to go after it as “shameful” and “dangerous.” Right now, Clinton’s largest lead in sional “Alice In Wonderland” world, the Muslim vote there, arguing that they “Donald Trump has made a name for the presidential race is against Trump — says he will “win the Hispanic vote.” were family-oriented, socially conser- himself in this election by trafficking in by 11 points among all voters. Accord- ing to a national MSNBC/Telemundo/ Marist poll, she leads the Republican frontrunner by 52 percent to 41 percent. Among Latino voters, the former secretary of state leads the real estate billionaire by a whopping 42 percent — 69 percent to 27 percent. To put these numbers into sharper perspective in the general election cam- paign for the support of minority vot- ers, consider this: In 2008, Obama trounced Arizona Sen. John McCain among Hispanic/La- tino voters by 67 percent to 31 percent. In 2012, he soundly beat former gov- ernor Mitt Romney among these same voters by 71 percent to 27 percent. It seems that Trump is attempting to improve on those losses. But in the game of American politics, every vot- ing bloc and every vote matters. The late Rep. Henry Hyde of Illinois, a wily vote counter and legendary Ju- diciary Committee chairman, once told me about “Hyde’s rule on winning elec- tions.” “You win by addition, not by sub- traction,” he said.

IT’S A RULE that Republicans have broken in the last two president elec- tions, and appear ready to do so again. December 23, 2015 11 REPUBLICANS: December 10, 2015 Priebus and Ryan curtsey to Muslims eince Priebus, Chairman of the conservatism. What was proposed [by Since when was it wrong to take bold which serves individuals with develop- Republican National Commit- Trump] is not what this party stands for. steps to protect the people of America? mental disabilities. Maybe Priebus and tee, with more urgency than he And more importantly, it’s not what this How many more Americans have got to Ryan should ask them what true conser- hasR shown to countermand illegal aliens country stands for.” be beheaded, blown up, and murdered vatism is. flooding our country, attacked Donald I would like to ask Ryan and Prie- by Muslims on our soil before they con- I repeat the question: “How many Trump for daring to say what every sane bus: “If protecting the American people clude that Muslims are the problem? more Americans have to be murdered by American is thinking. against those sworn to kill us isn’t conser- Muslims before appeasers like Priebus Trump, the Republican presiden- vatism, what is?” That said, what Trump WE SENT tens of thousands of and Ryan realize bold actions are needed tial candidate, said that as President he dares to say isn’t their mealy-mouth, young men and women to die to protect Americans?” would call for a “total and complete milquetoast, po- in the Middle East, One thing is certain, and that is Mus- shutdown of Muslims entering the Unit- litically correct supposedly to pro- lims are not going to stop committing ed States until our country’s representa- version of con- Mychal tect those of us back acts of terrorism on American soil until tives can figure out what is going on.” servatism, but to here from Mus- they have overrun us or we destroy them. As Douglas Ernst writing for WND. those of us who Massie lims. Tens of thou- Why should we take the word of the com reported, Trump also said: “Until have loved ones (c) 2015, Mychal Massie sands sacrificed Council on American Islamic Relations we are able to determine and understand and friends actu- their lives, bodies, (C.A.I.R.) that Muslims are a peace lov- this problem and the dangerous threat it ally murdered and terrorized by Mus- emotional and psychological well-being ing pastoral people? If that is the case, poses, our country cannot be the victims lims, and families we care about — we for that cause — then they return to the why is it that every place on the planet of horrendous attacks by people that be- call what Trump said “patriotic” and U.S. to face a Muslim threat that they are they infest there is terrorism? lieve only in Jihad, and have no sense of “brave.” not even allowed to protect themselves We should be following France’s ex- reason or respect for human life.” (See: Therein lies the problem with the against. They are left vulnerable, not al- ample and begin raiding mosques; let “‘Kill Trump:’ Enraged Left Calls For Republican establishment. They are no lowed to carry their side-arms on mili- C.A.I.R. and the ACLU scream foul un- Assassination;” 12/8/2015) longer interested in doing what is right; tary bases, rendering them sitting targets til their throats become ulcerated to the they are now interested in being politi- for the likes of Nidal Hasan. They must point of them being unable to speak. ERNST REPORTED Priebus cally correct and having the mainstream relive their most dangerous moments in Muslims cried it was “racism and Is- wasn’t the lone Republican decrying media say nice things about them. We the Middle East battlefields at benign lamophobia” even as France 24 reported Trump. Speaker of the House, Repub- the People, however, have had enough places like the Boston Marathon and that police uncovered a stash of 7.62mm lican Paul Ryan opined: “This is not of that craven mindset. San Bernardino Inland Regional Center, Kalashnikov ammunition and ISIS pro- paganda videos. A revolver and Jihadist documents were found at the home of WAL-MART: December 14, 2015 a mosque leader. At least 334 weapons were confiscated and 232 Muslims were arrested. France’s Interior Minister Ber- nard Cazeneuve said: “In 15 days we The downfall of Wal-Mart have seized one-third of the quantity of he laws of economics are no Back in February, CEO Doug McMil- Is this a low, mean-hearted approach war-grade weapons that are normally more changeable than those lon of Wal-Mart agreed to raise his com- to economics? Ask the young worker seized in a year.” (“Three Mosques Shut of physics. No matter what the pany’s pay for entry-level employees to who has to apply for welfare. It’s cer- Down In Anti-Terror Raids as Officers plannersT in Washington decide, every almost $9 an hour come April and up tainly not the way the rest of us run our Seize 330 War Weapons;” Felipe Arau- action may still have its opposite but to $10 early the year after. That would own businesses, or till our own land, or jo; Express; 12/3/2015) equal reaction, and the greater the sup- amount to more than 37 percent above choose our own investments. We un- Only a fool believes that mosques in ply of a commodity, the lower the price the current federal minimum wage law. derstand that business is business, not America are not reservoirs of the same. must fall. Some things, like the law of So how did all that work out for the stuff of magical thinking. A singular truth that must be under- supply and demand, still must apply, no Wal-Mart in the real world? No wonder Wal-Mart is not the great stood is: “Because Islam is enshrouded matter how much we want to change job producer it once was, or why the by the term religion, we have been them. Paul value of its stock keeps dropping com- fooled into thinking that it must be tol- Robert Reich, who as an economist pared to, say, Costco or Amazon, whose erated and even respected. We must is more of a wizard of wishful think- Greenberg shares keep rising in value. Investors buck the notion that all religions are ing, can declare wages much too low (c) 2015, Tribune Media Services are not impressed with the societal ben- created equal. All religions are ideolo- for American workers to get a fair efits of higher minimum wages, with gies, and therefore, can never be equal. share in the American economy. He ANNOUNCING the company’s third- Wal-Mart stock down more than 30 Because Islam is more violent and pro- figures the typical American employee quarter results in November, Mr. McMil- percent so far in 2015. duces more terrorists than any other re- is now earning $8.25 to $8.80 an hour lon had to admit that the pay raise was a By substituting daydreams for com- ligions combined, tolerance of it [will] (at Walmart or McDonald’s), but most significant cause of Wal-Mart’s 8.6 per- mon sense, the character of a once great mean our own non-existence.” (Dom the companies can easily afford to pay $15 cent drop in corporate earnings from U.S. company can also be changed radi- Conservative; France Raids Mosques, an hour without causing layoffs or re- stores. The company now says the high- cally or lost completely. Sam Walton, What Was Found Should Have Us De- quiring price increases. er wages and other education programs Wal-Mart’s legendary founder, used molishing Them All; Mad World News; have added $1.2 billion in annual costs to to say that his dream was to serve the 12/7/2015) WHICH IS easy enough for Mr. the company’s expenses this fiscal year under-served by providing more value It’s not just angry uneducated Muslim Reich to say. He’s not in business. Nor, and will probably add another $1.5 bil- for lower prices. In doing so, he may men in dirty robes who are murdering despite all his good intentions, can he lion to the company’s balance sheet in have done more to help lower-income people on the streets of our cities. It is repeal another law, that of unintended the next. It’d be safe to assume most of Americans than any government pro- well-educated Muslim young men; it is consequences. As much as he means that money, though, went to wages. gram ever. well-educated Muslim women with ba- well, he may do only harm. By making profit a dirty word, Rob- bies. All of that has yet to stop the execs ert Reich and misguided associates have WAL-MART’S CURRENT man- at Wal-Mart from sounding like social left American companies like Wal-Mart agement would do well to go back to THEY CANNOT be reasoned with workers as they repeat the more politi- with less capital to invest in new stores, Mr. Sam’s original vision, which helped nor can they be threatened off. And until, cally fashionable mantras of their time, more apps and all the rest, most of all in create the largest company in the world as Trump rightly said, we are able to un- unaware that the best thing they can do more jobs for American workers, who and made it one of the most success- derstand the problem, we need to shut the for the general welfare is to be good may have no real idea why they’ve been ful companies ever in America, for cus- door to more of them coming here. It’s businessmen first and last. denied employment at a Walmart. tomers, employees and investors. called protecting the American people. 12 Conservative Chronicle HILLARY CLINTON: December 15, 2015 Questions legitimate journalists should be asking Hillary n Sept. 14, 2012, three days parents experienced,” thus suggesting Journalists, if they are more interested The obvious follow-up is: What evi- after the murder of Ambas- that they are unreliable witnesses. She in determining the truth than in making dence? Anything beyond Bill Clinton’s sador Christopher Stevens, cited her testimony before the Benghazi sure Clinton is elected president, should denials? Even after he had to retract his SeanO Smith, Glen Doherty and Tyrone committee three years later, as if that is ask her if she believes any of these things. denials of sex with Monica Lewinsky Woods in Benghazi, Libya, Hillary relevant. She talked about “a fast-mov- There’s another area where journalists and chose to settle a lawsuit brought by Clinton appeared at Andrews Air Force ing series of events in the fog of war.” ought to be pressing Clinton for answers. Paula Jones? Base, where she spoke with family On Dec. 3 a New Hampshire voter — Some may argue that these are pe- members of those slain. TO BELIEVE that Clinton’s “no” not a journalist — asked her, “You say ripheral matters. But the video-made- Shortly afterward, Tyrone Woods’ is not a lie, you have to believe that that all rape victims should be them-do-it distraction was clearly de- father reported that she told him, “We multiple individu- believed. But would signed to help secure the re-election of are going to have the filmmaker arrest- als each misre- you say that Juanita President Obama. The purpose of Hill- ed who was responsible for the death of membered what Michael Broaddrick, Kath- ary Clinton’s decision to stand by her your son.” Sean Smith’s mother recent- the U.S. secretary Barone leen Willey and husband and denigrate those making ly repeated this, saying, “She said it was of state had said Paula Jones be charges against him was clearly to keep because of the video.” Glen Doherty’s to them. Or that (c) 2015, Creators Syndicate believed as well?” him in the White House. sister said she chose “in that moment to members of three All three in the basically perpetuate what she knew was different families, struck by tragedy, 1990s accused Bill Clinton of acts that HILLARY CLINTON has not an- untrue.” got together and conspired to invent constitute sexual assault or harassment. swered all the legitimate questions that and spread an identical story that would “Well,” replied Hillary Clinton, “I can be asked about these matters. Le- IN PUBLIC remarks Clinton said, someday embarrass her. Or that this is would say that everyone should be be- gitimate journalists should keep asking “We’ve seen rage and violence directed somehow the result of a vast right-wing lieved at first until they are disbelieved them until she does. at American embassies over an awful conspiracy. based on evidence.” Internet video that we had nothing to do with.” Those words and her assur- December 11, 2015 ances to the family members stand in REPUBLICANS: stark contradiction to what Clinton said in messages she sent over her private email system at the time. On Sept. 11, 2012, she told her It is the season of Trump daughter that the “officers were killed have a history with Donald opposed Reagan in 1980. The party the Second, Republican donors are fi- in Benghazi by an al Qaeda-like group.” Trump. Having rescinded an in- media decries as a bastion of the far nally being forced to choose between On the morning of Sept. 12 she told an vitation from him to a gathering right has rarely nominated a candidate the lesser of two evils that they always Egyptian diplomat, “We know the at- in AugustI after his comments on Megyn for president explicitly of the right. try to force on conservatives, or be tack in Libya had nothing to do with the Kelly, I watched as Trump supporters What is more, the political consultant exposed as rank opportunists. In both film. It was a planned attack — nota descended on social media, my radio class within the Republican Party has 2008 and 2012, the base of Republican protest.” program, my phone number, and my come from those moderate candidates voters was told they must kneel before Blaming the Benghazi murders on mailbox to express their outrage. It was who most often lose. From team Dole McCain or Romney and suck it up. spontaneous protest of an anti-Muslim weeks before my children could check to team McCain to team Romney, their Both times, the donor class candidate video (whose maker was indeed arrest- the mailbox again. I still get random and consultants have stayed within the up- lost. Now the donor class candidates ed, on unrelated charges) was appar- assorted hate mail over the incident. per ranks of elite Republican consul- are losing to Trump, and the alterna- ently part of an Obama administration Despite that history, when this elec- tants and continue losing. They are tive to Trump, Ted Cruz, is a man the strategy. On Sept. 15, Susan Rice, then tion season is concluded, Republicans now losing to Donald Trump. donors loathe. So either they will force ambassador to the United Nations, after are most likely going to owe Donald themselves to unite with someone they White House briefing went on five Sun- Trump thanks. This season of Trump do not care for, or expose themselves day interview programs and blamed the has fleshed out and forced out some Erick as the ones who really do take their attacks on the video. rules of politics that only applied be- football home when they do not get There was an obvious political mo- cause they had never really been tested. Erickson their way. tive for blaming the video. Early Sep- Like Howard Dean in 2004 proving that (c) 2015, Creators Syndicate Third, Republican politicians are tember polling showed the race be- the person with the most money does finally being held accountable. Trump tween Obama and Mitt Romney tied. not really always win, Donald Trump TRUMP’S PRESENCE is forcing would not exist as a candidate but for Obama was claiming success against is proving that the Republicans with the the Republican Party to finally come to feckless Republican leadership in the terrorists, frequently citing the death of most veteran Republican political con- grips with three things. First, its con- face of an aggressive agenda from Pres- Osama bin Laden as evidence that the sultants do not always win. sultant class is fat, comfortable, and ident Obama. Even now, Republican threat was reduced. commissioned. If a Republican wins, leaders are hoping Marco Rubio will The Benghazi attack — the first mur- IN FACT, at this writing, Jeb Bush the consultants make millions. If a Re- unite the establishment while Ted Cruz der of an American ambassador in 33 hovers around three percent in the poll- publican loses, the consultants make is left in the shadow of Trump. Many years — obviously cast doubt on those ing and has gone from multi-thousand millions. Many beach houses have Republicans have decided not to attack claims. It validated criticism of the ad- dollar fundraising dinners to just trying been bought by Republican consultants Trump because they think his contin- ministration’s “leading from behind” in to fill rooms with people. Had Trump who have never had a major candidate ued presence hurts Ted Cruz. But they Libya policy. not entered the race, Bush would have win. The consultants get commissions will very soon find themselves having Yet now Clinton says the victims’ faced a traditional field and probably for their mail, their advertising, their to decide if they can continue that risk. family members are mistaken and that been much more competitive. That dif- marked up phone surveys and so much Every day exposes them as being more she didn’t mention the video to them ferent, traditional field tends to line do- more. With the threat of Donald Trump interested in power than principle. at all. On ABC News’ This Week last nors up with establishment picks. Peo- rising, these consultants are risking Sunday George Stephanopoulos, a for- ple forget that the Republican Party of their reputations, careers and liveli- REPUBLICANS WILL owe Don- mer Clinton White House aide, asked Ronald Reagan has only nominated one hoods as the men and women who ald Trump thanks. He has finally forced the candidate, “Did you tell them it was person since 1980 who backed Ronald could not stop Donald Trump. Picking the GOP to come to terms with its iden- about the film?” Reagan in the 1980 primary cycle. That apart the carcass of the Bush campaign tity and its accumulated, unseparated “No,” Clinton said. was John McCain. to make their beach house payment chaff. She went on to say she understood George H. W. Bush, Bob Dole, will not go over well if they do not stop “the continuing grief at the loss that George W. Bush and Mitt Romney all Trump. December 23, 2015 13 OBAMA PRESIDENCY: December 10, 2015 The president’s disability: So little substance ast week, President Barack ing a “turning point.” It would be the Obama, the 44th president of “moment we finally determined we the United States and the only would save our planet.” Though, alas, oneL who reportedly leaves no shadow, no plausible agreement for managing ventured forth to Paris to join 196 other climate control is likely to be national leaders on signed as President official business. Obama’s historic Last month in R. Emmett “moment.” In fact, the City of Light, not one of the 129 people were Tyrrell world leaders is murdered and (c) 2015, Creators Syndicate likely to even 352 wounded by suggest where for gun violence. He attributed the mit the obvious, and, by the way, why crazed Islamofascists. Yet President they might set the world thermostat. In murders to the lack of “common-sense was he obfuscating the obvious? Was it Obama did not go to Paris to organize fact, there is no world thermostat. Paris gun safety laws.” There are over 300 part of some bizarre ritual known only the world against Islamofascists, whose was but another futile gesture made by million guns in America, most of them to members of the White House staff? headquarters are just a B-52’s flight to our sonorous president who leaves no constitutionally protected, and against On Friday, the director of Obama’s FBI Syria and Iraq. He did not go to Paris shadow. this colossal figure he calls for “com- identified the crime as an act of- ter to urge stricter gun control laws on the Once he had made his “turning mon-sense” laws? rorism and he went on to say that the French, which is his usual response to point” speech in Paris, the prophet two Muslim killers — down from the gun violence. No, he journeyed to Paris Obama vamoosed for Washington and AS THE EVIDENCE became clear suspected three killers — gave “indica- with the aforementioned world leaders received word that in California 14 that the perpetrators of this heinous tions of radicalization.” Still, the White to devise ways that they might manage people had just been murdered and 21 act were Islamofascists, the president House refused to identify the killers as climate control. injured in a massacre by two or three steadfastly refused to call them terror- terrorists. In fact, our president only gunmen. The identities of the perpe- ists. His stubborn reluctance became a admitted to reality on Sunday during a OUR NOBLE Prize-winning presi- trators were not even known when our diverting sideshow in the days that fol- stupendously defensive address to the dent declared this absurd world gather- president trotted out his favorite cure lowed. When would the president ad- American people. How many Ameri- cans watched the speech I cannot say, and it only lasted 15 minutes, but he December 16, 2015 It is the season of Trump OBAMACARE BAILOUT: finally uttered the word “terrorism.” It had taken him three days to catch up with his FBI director. Incidentally, on Sunday, though the Obamacare bailout in disguise president spoke from a well-lit room, s Congress rushes to pass an Care Act. That was mere Kabuki theatre Outrageous. Fortunately, Republi- standing behind a podium, still no one omnibus tax/spending bill for — President Obama will veto it. What cans in Congress showed backbone and reported seeing his shadow. There nev- the coming year, it’s concoct- matters is what Congress is doing in this refused to go along. By the end of last er has been such an insignificant fig- ingA a special tax break for health insur- week’s giant legislation to keep insurers week, the bailout idea was dead. ure serving as president of the United ance companies. It’s a backdoor bailout. happy and the health law alive. But behind the scenes, the White States as Obama. He entered the White Until this week, insurance company Just hours after UnitedHealth’s House and industry lobbyists continu- House seven years ago assuring us that lobbyists and the White House were bombshell announcement, the Obama ously pressed Congress for special con- the “war on terror” was a Bush admin- pushing for a bailout, spending taxpayer administration tried to calm insurers, cessions to insurers. istration exaggeration. He has undone dollars to cover what insurers are los- sending out a memo full of reassuring With all this pressure, the lawmak- President George W. Bush’s victory in ing on Obamacare plans. That bailout so promises. It vowed to go to Congress ers’ principled stand didn’t last long. Iraq and responded to worldwide ter- infuriated the public that D.C. insiders for funding to reimburse insur- ers The omnibus bill reportedly contains a ror with years of blah. As recently as switched gears. Now they’re offering a for their losses. huge tax concession to the same indus- the day before Thanksgiving, he said tax break for the whole health insurance try. Money is fungible. This rewards the there was “no specific and credible industry. Betsy same players. The new deal suspends intelligence indicating a plot on the Don’t be bamboozled by the switch. the Health Insurance Tax for a year. Sus- homeland.” Meanwhile the Islamic This last-minute tax break is a handout McCaughey pending the tax is in effect handing the terror has spread across Europe and to in disguise. We the taxpayers are still on (c) 2015, Creators Syndicate industry an estimated $12 billion dollars our shores. Once again, an official of the losing side in this crony capitalism a year, according to the Congressional the president’s own government has re- deal. THE ADMINISTRATION wanted Budget Office, exceeding even what the futed him. Last Tuesday, the chairman to put tax dollars into a program set up bailout would have cost. of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Marine OBAMACARE IS collapsing like a under the Affordable Care Act called Health law “should not subsidize General Joseph Dunford, informed the house of cards. Nearly all insurers are “risk corridors.” Insurers profiting un- companies that sell [insurance],” says House Armed Services Committee that bleeding red ink trying to sell Obam- der Obamacare are supposed to pay into Doug Badger, former White House pol- ISIS has not been “contained,” contrary acare plans. Last week, insurance giant this program to help other insurers who icy adviser. But that’s what’s happening to his boss, and that “strategically they Cigna hinted it will drop out of Obam- are losing money. But with nearly all here. [ISIS] have spread since 2010.” acare after 2016. Earlier, the biggest insurers losing money on Obamacare Most tax breaks are good. But this insurer in the nation, UnitedHealth, plans, there’s not enough money in the one shifts the burden onto the rest of the IT IS UNUSUAL for a man to have revealed it will likely quit Obamacare pot. That’s why the Obama administra- nation’s taxpayers. Obamacare has to be so little substance that he casts no shad- after 2016. Though these insurers are tion pushed for a bailout, using taxpayer paid for. If not by insurers, then by the ow. I am told that the bizarre phenom- highly profitable overall (their stocks dough. rest of us and our grandchildren. enon is known in Hollywood, where are soaring) they’re losing billions try- When you pull back the curtain, an actor plays a comic figure one year ing to sell the unpopular Obamacare here’s what it’s all about: First pass a MEANWHILE, any lobbyist-driven and a villain the next. Possibly when plans. law requiring the public to buy insur- deal that rewards insurers while the pub- Obama retires he will move to Holly- If insurers drop out of Obamacare, ance company products. Then impose lic faces soaring deductibles and copays wood and bask in the adulation of the the president’s health law will collapse big penalties on anyone who doesn’t and limited access to doctors is a cruel stars. Surely, he will take his Nobel on its own. Republicans are still trying buy. Finally, when insurers still can’t trick. It’s obviously designed to keep a Prize with him. Do you recall what he to kill it. Last week, the U.S. Senate make money, bail them out using tax- flawed health scheme on life support, won it for? I have forgotten. passed a bill to repeal the Affordable payer dollars. when We the People deserve better. 14 Conservative Chronicle HOLY BIBLE: December 11, 2015 Pre-Christmas effort to share my enthusiasm for the Bible s the Christmas season ap- discovery. I immediately wanted to the Bible and theology with relentless the Old Testament and, most important- proaches, I want to explain inhale every syllable of the Bible and fervor. ly, to its essential Christ-centeredness. why I am so enthusiastic learn everything I could as quickly as So, as I’ve mentioned before, I be- Everyone owes it to himself to learn as aboutA the subject matter I’ve written I could. How could I possibly ever get gan to write a book for laypeople that much as he can about God’s Word, and about in my new book, The Emmaus enough of this spiritual food? would serve as an introduction to the I pray this book will encourage readers Code: Finding Jesus in the Old Testa- As I began to learn more, I became Bible, beginning with the Old Testa- to do just that. ment. eager to share what I’d learned with ment. I intended to walk the readers Jesus himself told his disciples on As I came to Jesus Christ kicking my friends and family and anyone else through the Scriptures, show- the road to Emmaus that they had mis- and screaming, I have always been pas- who would lis- ing how each book understood the Scriptures in anticipat- sionate about sharing the epiphanies ten — many of of the Bible, begin- ing that the Messiah would deliver that led me to become a believer. I love whom, I assumed, David ning with Genesis, Israel from its political and military en- to relate my excitement about the Bible had been every Limbaugh points to Jesus emies. He came not to conquer earthly and encourage others to give it a chance bit as negligent Christ. kings but to die a sacrificial, substitu- (c) 2015, Creators Syndicate — really give it a chance — and to avail as I’d been about Perhaps be- tionary death on our behalf and thereby themselves of the full riches of God’s this most serious cause I wasn’t suf- conquer Satan, sin and death, so that by Word. of matters. I wanted to help them enjoy ficiently prepared to write such a book faith in him, we can live. the same kind of excitement that was then — more than 20 years ago — I I ADMIT that before I embraced the overtaking me. abandoned the project. A generation’s HE SAID to them, “O foolish ones, Gospel, I hadn’t given sufficient serious worth of years later, I started the project and slow of heart to believe all that the thought to whether the Bible actually is I WAS UNDER no illusion that the anew, and I completed it this time with prophets have spoken! Was it not neces- the Word of God. It’s hard to believe I people I approached would just auto- The Emmaus Code. sary that the Christ should suffer these was so negligent about something that matically embrace my new “discov- I sincerely hope that you will con- things and enter into his glory?” Then matters so much. To my surprise, I find eries,” no matter how infectious I’d sider picking up the book for yourself he “interpreted to them in all the Scrip- many people today — adults included hoped my spirit would be. I also doubt- or as a Christmas gift for someone else tures (the Old Testament) the things — who seem to give this very little ed that many would all of a sudden re- who you believe might benefit from a concerning himself.” thought. It is one of my humble goals order their schedules to begin studying book designed to introduce readers to Amen. with this book to nudge people to con- template it. LESLIE’S TRIVIA BITS: December 14, 2015 For too many years, I fashioned God in my own image. I thought I could bootstrap my way into understanding who he is without ever going to the very book in which he reveals himself to us Leslie’s Trivia Bits and shows us precisely who he is. In urning out 381 million wheels carol. In real life, he wasn’t a king; he C) Japanese retrospect, I wonder how I could have a year has earned LEGO the was the Christian duke of Bohemia. In D) Russian been so unserious as to formulate my title of world’s largest tire the year A.D. 935, the pious Wenceslas 2. One of the oldest living trees on beliefs without giving the Word of God manufacturerT according to the Guin- was on his way to church when he was earth is a 4,800-plus-year-old bristle- a fair hearing. How could I have been ness Book of Records. Of course, that’s murdered by assassins. He was elevated cone pine in northern California named so engrossed in my earthly existence nothing compared to the number of to sainthood soon after his death. for what Biblical figure? that I essentially ignored God’s revela- LEGO bricks manufactured each year George Washington’s only journey A) Hagar tion? — around 40 billion. The company esti- outside the United States was a three- B) Methuselah When — in the process of studying mates it’s produced more than 80 bricks month trip to Barbados in 1751-52 with C) Noah Christian apologetics, the Bible and for every person on earth. his half-brother Lawrence. Lawrence D) Sarah theology — it finally hit me that the Call them tree-huggers, the Bishnois was gravely ill with tuberculosis and 3. Speaking of foods with Q: The Bible is the living Word of the living won’t mind. The nature-worshipping, George contracted smallpox during the Quahog (or Quahaug) clam is the offi- God, I was blown away. I was stunned, vegan religious sect came into being in visit, but they maintained a busy social cial state shell of which state? excited and overwhelmed by this truth the 15th century and it’s still very much schedule nonetheless. Nineteen-year- A) Connecticut that I’d avoided for too long. I finally alive. Based in the Rajasthan region of old George kept a detailed diary of the B) Massachusetts realized that I was holding in my hands India, the Bishnois follow a strict veg- trip, describing everything from the C) Rhode Island a book whose every word was inspired an lifestyle and are so devoted to the weather conditions during their voyage D) Vermont by the God of the universe. I understood sanctity of nature they’ve been known to his newly discovered taste for pine- 4. Which astronomer is mentioned in that when I opened that book and began to latch onto trees in a fierce embrace apple. Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody?” to read it, I was opening myself up to to prevent other people from chopping A) Nicolaus Copernicus God’s direct communication to me. them down. THE TWINKLY sound of “The B) Galileo Galilei I’m not talking about sitting around Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy” in The C) Johannes Kepler in meditation imagining that I could be WHAT IS a quince? Yes, it could be Nutcracker comes from the glocken- D) Isaac Newton receiving promptings from God, which, the answer to “Foods with Q for $400.” spiel, a percussion instrument similar 5. Which U.S. Founding Father was of course, can also be a legitimate expe- (See White Men Can’t Jump.) It’s also to a xylophone. Tchaikovsky used it to born on the Caribbean island of Nevis? rience. Instead, I’m talking about read- a tree fruit similar to pears and apples, evoke a magical winter scene. So did Je- A) John Adams ing God’s words that were written to me but classified in its own botanical genus. thro Tull on “Skating Away on the Thin B) Alexander Hamilton and to you — words that I now under- Quince is the basis for dulce de mem- Ice of a New Day.” Other compositions C) John Hancock stood are unmistakably from him and brillo, a thick jelly that complements that feature the glockenspiel: Rush’s D) John Jay directed to me individually. This is not both sweet and savory dishes. Dulce de “Closer to the Heart,” Bruce Springs- 6. “The children were nestled all a matter of speculation. I had already membrillo traditionally is made in the teen’s “Hungry Heart” and Radiohead’s snug in their beds/While visions of sug- satisfied myself by putting Christian- fall when quinces are harvested, and “No Surprises.” ar plums danced in their heads” comes ity’s claims to the test and realizing that served in the winter especially at Christ- TRIVIA from a poem by whom? every bit of Scripture is God-breathed. mas. 1. The name LEGO comes from the A) Lewis Carroll I can rely on it for life as surely as I rely The main square in Prague, capital of words “leg godt,” which means “play B) Emily Dickinson on every breath I take for life. the Czech Republic, is dedicated to Saint well” in what language? C) A.A. Milne Corniness aside, you can imagine the Wenceslas, the man we know as “Good A) Danish D) Clement Clarke Moore feelings I experienced with this “aha” King Wenceslas” from the Christmas B) Finnish (answers on page 19) December 23, 2015 15 STAR WARS CHRISTMAS: December 16, 2015 Star Wars nativity scenes? In churches? n Morristown, N.J., at one of the Wars surprises” and expects 7,000 peo- state’s fastest-growing churches, ple to attend. it’s being hailed as the “Cosmic “I already have my tickets for the Christmas”I services, a three-week se- Dec. 18 premiere of The Force Awak- ries centering around Star Wars char- ens,” says Lucas. “I’m a huge Star Wars acters and plots — even a live “nativ- fan! In fact, as a child, I would take the ity scene” featuring Princess Leia, Han family nativity and replace the figu- Solo, Chewbacca, and R2D2. rines with Star Wars action figures — In Middletown, Illinois, another that’s the inspiration for our live Star church is telling the Christmas story Warsnativity. At its core, Star Wars through a Star Wars pageant. reflects spiritual faith. It’s the In Clarendon battle between good started his “Star Wars of Christmas” “Which is bigger in England — Star Hills, Illinois, an- and evil, the light theme Nov. 29 and will take it all the Wars or the Church of England?” he other church is Joseph versus the dark, and way through Christmas Eve. asked. “There may be more practic- capitalizing on that’s something But is all this just a big marketing ing Anglicans these days than there are the release of The Farah we can all rally scam? members of the Jedi faith, but it says a Force Awakens to (c) 2015, Creators Syndicate around.” “Along with the parallels with Star lot that we can even ask the question help ministers re- In Middletown, Wars and the Christmas story, this also with a straight face. It’s safe to say that tell the Christmas story because more at the Community United Church, they makes an easy invite to the church,” more young people in England are fa- Americans are familiar with the Star say it’s a great way to engage the kids. Rogers admits. “We want people who miliar with the details of the Star Wars Wars saga than they are with the first “What we are trying to do is kind of enjoy Star Wars and are curious about mythology than with the contents of two chapters of the Book of Luke. take the story of the Magi, and those the parallels with the Christmas story the Book of Common Prayer.” are the star troopers, those are our Jedi to come to our services and listen to In the 2001 Census, 390,000 people THOSE ARE just three of many knights, and they’re on their way to dis- the messages. It’s an easy opportuni- in England and Wales stated that their examples of American churches turn- cover a new light that has come into the ty to invite the non-believer friend to religion was Jedi, according to David ing to The Force this Christmas season world,” said Laura Crow, the church’s church.” Robertson, the director of Solas Centre to fill the pews and the offering plates, director of faith formation. “God has The Life Church in Saginaw, Michi- for Public Christianity. giving Jesus, Mary and Joseph a break. placed a new star in our world.” gan, is also enlisting in the Star Wars “The Scots, always the more sensi- Is it a trivialization of the gospel? But it seems like the common Christmas frenzy. ble and level-headed part of the U.K., Heresy? Profane? Blasphemy? A sac- denominator between many of the The Rev. Jonathan Herron, another had proportionately less at 14,000,” rilege? churches turning to Star Wars themes Star Wars fan, started the non-denom- noted Robertson. “The decline of the Take it up with the churches. this Christmas season is the passion inational church three years ago, using Jedi is spectacular — down to 175,000 Leslie’s Trivia Bits “We want to draw on the excitement the pastors themselves have toward the contemporary music and comedy to at- in 2011. It seems the joke is wearing surrounding Star Wars in order to reach movies. tract the under-40 crowd, so he says the thin. But the increasing diversity of new people and teach them about Je- The Rev. Matthew Rogers, senior latest promotion makes sense. The ser- religious belief in Britian is no joke. sus Christ,” explained Tim Lucas, lead minister at the Christian Church of vices will include “create-your-own- ... The removal of Christianity as the pastor and founder of Liquid Church in Clarendon Hills, said he was looking lightsaber activity, free photos with a primary philosophical, ethical and Morristown. “There are no rules that for something new in the retelling of storm trooper and Star Wars merchan- guiding force in our land will have pro- say church needs to be dry and boring. the Christmas story in 2015. dise giveaways. found consequences, not the least be- One of our core values at Liquid is that “That’s when the Star Wars idea cause it may result in the removal of ‘church is fun.’ It’s OK to laugh and came to me,” he said. “I’m a big Star WHILE THERE’S no separation the very values — equality, justice and celebrate together while talking about Wars fan. I saw the original when I was between church and entertainment as freedom — which some people seem to Christmas. If that means having Star a kid, and there are parallels with ma- far as the church in America goes, it think mean that Christianity should not Wars characters in costume and danc- jor symbols with the Christmas story. hasn’t worked in the reverse this year be given a special status.” ing storm troopers, I’m all for it.” The parallels came together really eas- in England, where British theaters re- Mega-church pastor Rick Warren in The church promises 14 Christmas ily once I started thinking about it.” jected advertisements from the Church California recently dissed the compari- services will be “jam-packed with Star He was so excited about the idea, he of England targeting Star Wars fans. sons between the God of the Bible and The ad featured Archbishop of Canter- “The Force.” bury Justin Welby and others reciting phrases from the Lord’s Prayer. HE SAID some people believe He’s The ban brought criticism on the like “The Force” — “an impersonal theater cartel from some unlikely force that we can bend to our own sources. Richard Dawkins, the world’s will. If I thought God was like [that], most famous atheist, said he strongly I wouldn’t trust him either. But he’s objected to suppressing the ads on the not. The Bible paints an entirely dif- grounds that they might offend people. ferent picture of the character of God. “If anybody is offended by something The truth is, God is infinitely worthy so trivial as a prayer, they deserve to be of your trust because no being in the offended.” universe is as capable to influence the Actress Carrie Fisher, who played world around you as He is. ... God Princess Leia told the critics of the ad to has the power (and the desire) to sus- “get a life.” On Twitter she proclaimed, tains and helps you through whatever “I don’t find it offensive ... even if I did you’re going through. He wants to give it shouldn’t be banned. You can’t ban you His best for your life — and he is everything that may offend someone.” uniquely able to help you get there. He Movie critic Stephen Greydanus is the creator of the universe. He liter- of DecentFilms.com and the National ally has all the resources in the universe Catholic Register suggested The Force that he can mobilize on your behalf as is exactly the kind of “spiritual but not you seek to follow him. But the key is, religious” symbolism that has been you must trust him.” widely embraced in England. 16 December 23, 2015 Immigration and our Founding Fathers’ values resident Obama claims that re- Madison asserted, “Not merely to swell stricting immigration in order the catalogue of people. No, sir, it is to to protect national security is increase the wealth and strength of the “offensiveP and contrary to American community; and those who acquire the values.” No-limits liberals have attacked rights of citizenship, without adding to common-sense proposals for heightened the strength or wealth of the community visa scrutiny, profiling or immigration are not the people we are in want of.” slowdowns as “un-American.” Madison argued plainly that America America’s Founding Fathers, I sub- should welcome the immigrant who mit, would vehemently disagree. could assimilate, but exclude the immi- grant who could not readily “incorpo- OUR FOUNDERS, as I’ve re- rate himself into our society.” minded readers repeatedly over the George Washington, in a letter to John years, asserted their concerns publicly Adams, similarly emphasized that im- and routinely about the effects of in- migrants should be absorbed discriminate mass into American life immigration. They Michelle so that “by an in- made it clear that termixture with the purpose of al- Malkin our people, they, or lowing foreigners (c) 2015, Creators Syndicate their descendants, into our fledgling get assimilated to nation was not to recruit millions of our customs, measures, laws: in a word new voters or to secure permanent rul- soon become one people.” ing majorities for their political parties. Alexander Hamilton, relevant as ever dilections in favor of particular foreign nation, but their force may be actually It was to preserve, protect and enhance today, wrote in 1802: “The safety of a nations, and antipathies against others, employed in assisting an invader.” the republic they put their lives on the republic depends essentially on the en- it has served very much to divide the The survival of the American repub- line to establish. ergy of a common national sentiment; community and to distract our councils. lic, Hamilton maintained, depends upon In a 1790 House debate on natural- on a uniformity of principles and habits; It has been often likely to compromise “the preservation of a national spirit and ization, James Madison opined: “It is on the exemption of the citizens from the interests of our own country in favor a national character.” He asserted, “To no doubt very desirable that we should foreign bias and prejudice; and on that of another.” admit foreigners indiscriminately to hold out as many inducements as pos- love of country which will almost in- the rights of citizens the moment they sible for the worthy part of mankind to variably be found to be closely connect- HE PREDICTED, correctly, that put foot in our country would be noth- come and settle amongst us, and throw ed with birth, education and family.” “The permanent effect of such a policy ing less than to admit the Grecian horse their fortunes into a common lot with Hamilton further warned that “The will be, that in times of great public into the citadel of our liberty and sover- ours. But why is this desirable?” United States have already felt the evils danger there will be always a numer- eignty.” No, not because “diversity” is our of incorporating a large number of for- ous body of men, of whom there may On Thursday, a bipartisan majority greatest value. No, not because Big eigners into their national mass; by pro- be just grounds of distrust; the suspicion of U.S. senators on the Senate Judiciary Business needed cheap labor. And no, moting in different classes different pre- alone will weaken the strength of the Committee adopted a stunningly radical amendment by Sen. Pat Leahy, D-Vt., to undermine the national interest in fa- vor of suicidal political correctness. The measure would prevent the federal gov- ernment from ever taking religion into account in immigration and entrance decisions “as such action would be con- trary to the fundamental principles on which this Nation was founded.” This pathway to a global right to mi- grate runs contrary to our founders’ in- tentions as well as decades of established immigration law. As Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., pointed out in a scathing speech opposing the Leahy amendment: “It is well settled that applicants don’t have the constitutional right or civil right to demand entry to the United States. ... As leaders, we are to seek the advancement of the Public Interest. While billions of immigrants may benefit by moving to this country, this nation state has only one responsibility. We must decide if such an admission complies with our law and serves our national interest.”

PUT SIMPLY, unrestricted open borders are unwise, unsafe and un- American. A country that doesn’t value its own citizens and sovereignty first won’t endure as a country for long.

December 11, 2015 This Week’s Conservative Focus 17 Immigration Donald Trump channels Pat McCarran onald Trump’s presidential Before Tashfeen Malik received that States” — in other words, anti-American That plenary power is best expressed campaign has done it again. valuable visa from our government, she attitudes were not enough to keep a Paki- in this federal law: “Whenever the presi- Speaking aboard the USS was supposed to be screened for terror- stani Muslim out of the United States. dent finds that the entry of any aliens, YorktownD on the 74th anniversary of ist sympathies. A week after the mas- Other presidential candidates rushed or of any class of aliens, into the United the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, sacre, FBI Director James Comey told to disavow Trump’s proposal, which States would be detrimental to the in- Trump called on our government to Congress he still didn’t know if she was they claimed was illegal, unconstitution- terests of the United States, he may by stop letting Muslims enter the United given the required personal interview or al, or “not who we are,” echoing a sanc- proclamation, and for such period as he States “until our country’s representa- what questions she was asked. timonious phrase that President shall deem necessary, suspend the entry tives can figure out what the he-- is go- Now that it’s too late to keep her out, Obama has used 46 times. of all aliens or any class of aliens as im- ing on.” we’re learning that Unconstitu- migrants or nonimmigrants.” Tashfeen left a Phyllis tional? On the con- TRUMP’S PROFANITY was jus- long trail of jihad- trary, the Supreme THAT LAW was the work of one of tified by the revelation that the Muslim ist rants on social Schlafly Court has never our greatest U.S. Senators, Pat McCar- wife who helped her Muslim husband media, which were (c) 2015, Creators Syndicate dared to limit ran, D., NV, after whom the airport at massacre 14 people in San Bernardino overlooked by the Congress “plenary Las Vegas is named. Along with Repre- received a visa from our government, U.S. consular officials who granted her power” over immigration, even when it sentative Francis Walter, D., PA, the two which gave her official permission to visa. We learn from the New York Times was based on race, religion or national Democrats wrote the McCarran-Walter enter the United States last year. With that “anti-American sentiment in Paki- origin. In a 1977 case, for example, the Immigration Act, which Congress passed that visa and her Pakistani passport, stan was particularly high” following the Supreme Court observed that “the power over Harry Truman’s veto in 1952. she legally traveled from Saudi Ara- raid that killed Osama bin Laden, and to expel or exclude aliens [is] a funda- All during the Cold War, McCarran- bia to San Bernardino and married her that “it is often difficult to distinguish mental sovereign attribute exercised by Walter was successfully used to keep U.S.-born Pakistani fiance, with whom Islamist sentiments and those driven the government’s political departments out aliens who were members or “fel- she plotted jihad against Americans. by political hostility toward the United largely immune from judicial control.” low travelers” of the Communist party, or members of “Communist front” or- ganizations. In 1980, the same law was used by President Jimmy Carter during the Iran hostage crisis to suspend visas to anyone who wanted to come here from Iran. We aren’t the world In addition to barring the entry of “any o believe his critics, Donald es to set immigration policy in any way were more narrowly targeted and di- class of aliens” who may be “detrimental Trump has ripped up the U.S. they please. rectly related to a threat than Trump’s to the interests of the United States,” (a Constitution and sprinkled As Jan Ting of Temple University blunderbuss reaction to San Bernardino. category that could include Muslims or its Tshreds on the smoldering embers of notes, the Supreme Court wrote in a It is different, and less disturbing, to persons of any faith who are citizens of, what was once the Statute of Liberty. 1977 opinion, “Our cases ‘have long target the nationality of potential en- or have traveled to, a Muslim country), He did this, of course, by proposing recognized the power to expel or ex- trants, rather than their religion. It is the the law says the president may “impose a temporary ban on Muslim immigra- clude aliens as a fundamental sovereign difference between Trump proposing, on the entry of aliens any restrictions he tion into the United States, which might attribute exercised by the Government’s say, a temporary moratorium on visas may deem to be appropriate.” They could be the most roundly and fiercely de- political departments largely immune for people coming here from Pakistan be required to wear ankle bracelets to nounced idea in America since the Brit- from judicial control.’” The court re- and Saudi Arabia -- San Bernardino ter- monitor their movements, or to provide ish Parliament passed the Intolerable marked that “Congress regularly makes rorist Tashfeen Malik was a Pakistani passwords to their electronic devices and Acts (in 1774). rules that would be unacceptable who spent a lot of time in Saudi Arabia social media accounts as a condition of There is no doubt about it: Donald if applied to citizens.” -- and a halt to all Muslims. Trump’s the privilege of entering our country. Trump’s proposal is invidious; not all ban would apply to an Iraqi interpreter Sixty years ago, the Democratic Party Muslims are a security risk. It is un- Rich who worked alongside U.S. troops, as could boast a patriotic, pro-American workable; among other things, airlines well as to a harmless Ph.D. from Ma- anti-Communist like Pat McCarran, but would have to screen travelers from Lowry laysia. that is no longer the case. Hard-left Sena- Europe for their religion. It is impru- (c) 2015, King Features Syndicate Still, the braying about the First tor Patrick Leahy, D., VT, proposed an dent; we don’t want to send a message Amendment from the left is rich. The amendment, which unfortunately was of generalized hostility to Muslims. We have seen exercises of this plena- implicit position of Trump’s progres- adopted by the Senate Judiciary Com- ry power in recent decades. During the sive critics is that the First Amendment mittee with the help of seven republi- BUT IT’S NOT unconstitutional. hostage crisis, as FrontPage Magazine doesn’t protect all political speech, or cans, stating that “It is the sense of the Trump’s detractors, and even some of reported, Jimmy Carter ordered that all cover people with religious objections Senate that the United States must not his fellow Republicans, can’t help mak- nonimmigrant visas from Iran be invali- to gay marriage, or prevent the Obama bar individuals from entering into the ing this charge, even though it betrays a dated and that no more be issued, absent administration from forcing nuns to United States based on their religion, as misunderstanding, not just of the Con- a compelling humanitarian reason. He sign up for contraception coverage, but such action would be contrary to the fun- stitution, but of the very nature of a sov- also mandated that Iranian students in it extends to foreigners hoping to gain damental principles on which this nation ereign nation. the United States report to the authori- entry into the United States. was founded.” “We do not discriminate on people ties, who queried them about potential based on religion,” Ben Carson said in radical sympathies. Some students were THE EMBEDDED assumption is NO, THE fundamental principle on response to Trump’s proposal, “that’s expelled. Jimmy Carter has not hereto- that migrating here is some sort of glob- which this Nation was founded is that constitutional, that’s in the First Amend- fore been known for his fascistic ten- al civil right. Republicans, too, are sub- “we the people,” through our elected rep- ment.” Of course, he’s right. Except the dencies. ject to this hazy thinking. Trump may resentatives, have the unalienable right to First Amendment isn’t a free-floating be ignorant and bombastic, but his sup- pick and choose whom we shall allow to grant of rights to all of mankind. ON A MUCH smaller scale, the porters believe that, if nothing else, he enter our great country. The Constitution, We are a sovereign country with the Obama administration paused the Iraq understands that the security and inter- which our founding fathers bequeathed right to exclude whomever we want refugee resettlement program in 2011 ests of Americans must come first. They “to ourselves and our posterity,” does not from coming here. In keeping with this after it came to light it had welcomed know no such thing about his hysterical extend its rights and benefits to the whole basic attribute of nationhood, a long line two terrorists into the United States. detractors. world. of Supreme Court cases have upheld the Obviously, these comparisons aren’t “plenary power” of the political branch- quite apt. As policy responses, they December 10, 2015 December 15, 2015 18 Conservative Chronicle LEFTISM: December 16, 2015 Security dies where multiculturalism thrives hile Americans fret over ments. They do, however, have a mul- Donald Trump’s plans ticultural view of the world. to ban Muslim immigra- Or at least they did. Across Europe, tionW to the United States temporarily the reality of multiculturalism is hit- thanks to the government’s inability ting home. German chancellor Angela to keep us safe, the government con- Merkel, who was recently tinues to prove named Time’s Per- its inability to son of the Year for keep us safe. This Ben taking in one mil- week, we found lion Syrian refu- out that President Shapiro gees, said, “Mul- Obama’s Depart- (c) 2015, Creators Syndicate ticulturalism ment of Home- leads to parallel land Security prohibited agents from societies and therefore remains a ‘life screening foreign citizens applying lie’ ... We want and we will reduce the for visas to enter the country. Accord- number of refugees noticeably.” She ing to former acting undersecretary at was forced to denounce her own for- DHS for intelligence and analysis John mer viewpoint thanks to the fallout Cohen, “During that time period im- from her decisions: Refugee camps migration officials were not allowed to have turned into hotbeds of rape and use or review social media as part of child abuse. Mass Muslim immigra- the screening process. ... The primary tion into Europe has heightened such concern was that it would be viewed challenges for years, of course, but the negatively if it was disclosed publicly left and the press have suppressed such and there were concerns that it would information. be embarrassing.” No longer. ality forces the West to confront the ates real danger. But so long as leftists HE CONTINUED, “It was primar- THIS IS what happens when the truth: Its own culture is superior to oth- like President Obama remain in denial, ily a question of optics. There were West denies its values. Eventually, re- ers, and that pretending otherwise cre- that danger will only grow. concerns from a privacy and civil lib- erties perspective that while this was not illegal, that it would be viewed DONALD TRUMP: December 10, 2015 negatively if it was disclosed public- ly.” So 14 Americans in San Bernardino died for optics. Trump’s word isn’t worth the hot air While President Obama insists that ny day now, Donald Trump last month. They revel in his cheek. National Republican Senatorial Com- the government must check the meta- may walk back his Monday There’s some truth somewhere behind mittee got a modest $1,000. Only after data of American citizens to catch ter- call for “a total and com- his lies — and that is good enough for the Washington Post did an analysis rorists, he insists that his own people pleteA shutdown of Muslims entering them. of Trump’s campaign contributions — stop checking the publicly posted the United States until our country’s I know that my reward for writ- and found that most of his donations Facebook messages of potential ter- representatives can figure out what ing this column will be emails from had gone to Democrats — did Trump rorists. is going on.” If so, he won’t change Trump groupies who will call me a start giving more money to GOP cam- This is the essence of multicultural- his mind because he regrets insult- RINO — a Republican in name only paigns. ism. Multiculturalism suggests that all ing Muslim Americans — no small — while extolling Trump as the real In 2011, Trump gave $5,000 to the cultures are equal, that they carry equal number of whom, unlike Trump, have deal. They either do not know campaign of California Attorney Gen- values, that they pose equal threats to served in the military — or because his eral Kamala Harris, who had been a public safety. Extending that logic, we rhetoric threatens to isolate this coun- fierce supporter of San Francisco’s must treat suspects from all cultures try when it needs allies, especially Debra J. “sanctuary city” policy. In 2013, he with equal care. But what if not all in the Middle East. He’ll change his gave her another $1,000. In 2015, cultures provide an equal threat? What mind because he never really means Saunders he says that he wants to build a wall if the people who engage in some cul- anything he says. (c) 2015, Creators Syndicate across the Mexican border and that tures are more likely than others to Mexico will pay for it. participate in terrorism? Then, in order TRUMP DOESN’T even mean or do not care that over the past two The Islamic State group has trig- to maintain the multicultural fiction, it when he gives his word in writing. decades, Trump has been registered as gered a diaspora from Iraq and Syria we must bend over backwards not to Remember when The Donald signed a a Democrat, as a Republican and with and ignited Islamic radicalism within check out threats from such cultures. pledge in September not to run as an the Independence Party. In 2009, when the United States. Every minute that Either that, or we must violate every- independent candidate if he fails to he was in his 60s, Trump switched his the news media focus on Trump’s lat- one’s civil rights equally. win the Republican nomination? The registration from the Democratic Party est episode of verbal diarrhea is a min- pledge did not equivocate. No worries. to the GOP. ute not spent reporting on Syria and THE FORMER is happening in By November, the billionaire scion the San Bernardino, California, terror- the United States; the latter is happen- was inching away from that pledge IT WON’T matter that unlike ist attack — life-and-death stories. ing in France, where the government and hinting that it would apply only if Trump, I never gave a dime to a Hill- has been knocking down the doors of the party were to treat him “fairly.” ary Clinton campaign. I never gave GOP RIVALS have been slow to hundreds of mosques on grounds of His followers think it’s just ducky a dime to the Clinton Foundation. slam Trump for his scurrilous state- “preach[ing] hatred” or using “takfiri that he will say anything and isn’t con- Trump has given at least $100,000. In ments, lest they offend Trump’s cult- speech,” according to French imam strained by such hindrances as accu- the 2006 election, Politico reported, like followers. Clinton, who attended Hassan El Alaoui. In the United States, racy. It’s clear that Trump never saw Trump donated $5,000 to the Demo- Trump’s 2005 wedding, will have no we’d see such raids as a violation of thousands of New Jersey Muslims cel- cratic Senatorial Campaign Committee such qualms. the First and Fourth Amendments. ebrating when the World Trade Cen- and $20,000 to the Democratic Con- In France, they have no such amend- ter towers fell on 9/11 as he claimed gressional Campaign Committee. The December 23, 2015 19 DEAR MARK: December 11, 2015 Go Trump go: Annoying the media and politicians ow another seemingly in- lieve only in jihad, and have no sense of a platform that the Republican Party built sensitive and outrageous reason or respect for human life.” for him. Last week I came to the floor and CONTACT INFORMATION quotation from “The Don- Although Trump’s idea has been said that that Republican Party is running ald”W or is it one more genius PR move widely criticized and the man himself has on a platform of hate. Yesterday, Donald Individual Contact Information designed to garner free publicity for been demonized as a bigoted, Hitler-like, Trump provided the strongest evidence Greenberg - [email protected] Trump’s campaign? anti-Muslim, is his idea that farfetched? yet that this is true. Trump’s proposal to Krauthammer - [email protected] Here are the first few lines of Mr. Considering the problems we are having bar Muslims from entering this country is Levy - [email protected] Trump’s Statement on Preventing Mus- with our southern border and now sig- hateful, despicable and vile.” lims from entering the United States. nificant issues with the visa program as Wow so Dirty Harry is upset with Lowry - [email protected] “Donald J. Trump is calling for a evidenced by the San Bernardino terrorist Donald Trump for painting Muslims Malkin - [email protected] total and complete shutdown of Mus- attack, completely shutting down immi- with a broad brush yet the Senate Minor- Massie - [email protected] lims entering the United States until gration for a few months to figure things ity Leader just labelled half the country Napolitano - [email protected] our country’s representatives can figure out doesn’t sound that outrageous. as being full of hate. Not to mention that Saunders - [email protected] out what is going on. According to Pew The reality of terrorist attacks on our Democrats already blast all Tea Party Schlafly - [email protected] Research, among others, there is great soil is serious, so instead of becoming members, all bankers, all oil companies, Thomas - [email protected] hatred towards Americans by large hyperbolic and turning Trump’s idea into all one-percenters, all pro-lifers, and all Will - [email protected] segments of the Muslim population. political fodder, solution oriented leaders Christians. Most recently, a poll from the Center should take into consideration various If Senator Reid would ever fly com- for Security Policy released data show- ideas including Trump’s in solving this mercial, he would see that all passengers Contact through Creators Syndicate ing ‘25% of those polled agreed that dangerous problem. are screened by the TSA even though the Michael Barone, Austin Bay, Brent violence against Americans here in vast majority of fliers mean no harm. Bozell, Pat Buchanan, Mona Charen, the United States is justified as a part If the choice comes down to our secu- Linda Chavez, Jackie Gingrich of the global jihad’ and 51% of those Mark rity or the hurt feelings of immigrants, I Cushman, Larry Elder, Erick Erickson, polled, ‘agreed that Muslims in Amer- Levy prefer to err on the side of security. Sorry Joseph Farah, David Harsanyi, Laura ica should have the choice of being liberals but not every foreign citizen gets (c) 2015, Mark Levy Hollis, Terry Jeffrey, Larry Kudlow, governed according to Shariah.’ Shari- the trophy of free entry into the United David Limbaugh, Dick Morris, Wil- ah authorizes such atrocities as murder States. liam Murchison, Paul Paquet, Dennis against non-believers who won’t con- IS TRUMP guilty of speaking a little vert, beheadings and more unthinkable too generally? Possibly, but how about I HAVEN’T made my official deci- Prager, Ben Shapiro, Thomas Sowell, acts that pose great harm to Americans, using his idea as a starting point and at sion as to who I like as the GOP nominee Matt Towery especially women.” least temporarily shut down immigration but regardless, this is another in a long Contact - [email protected] from countries like Iran, Syria, Pakistan, line of infamous statements from Donald TRUMP WENT on to say “Without Libya, Saudi Arabia, and Iraq. Trump that whether intentional or unin- Contact through Universal Press looking at the various polling data, it is Instead of filling the political sewer tentional has gotten the ire of the media Ann Coulter obvious to anybody the hatred (among with more crap, how about leaders from and politicians of all stripes. And because Contact by mail : Trump’s word isn’t worth the hot air Muslims) is beyond comprehension. both parties coming together with a bi- I support anything that drives the media c/o Universal Press Syndicate Where this hatred comes from and why, partisan solution to a true national secu- and establishment pundits and politicians 1130 Walnut Street we will have to determine. Until we are rity crisis. But take a look at what Harry nuts, I say Go Trump go. able to determine and understand this Reid, the number two Democrat, had to Kansas City, MO 64106 problem and the dangerous threat it say about Trump’s plan. E-mail your questions to mar- poses, our country cannot be the victims “Donald Trump is standing on the plat- [email protected]. Follow Mark on Twit- Answers from page 14 of horrendous attacks by people that be- form of hate. And I’m sorry to say that it’s ter @MarkPLevy TRIVIA ANSWERS Trivia BITS ANSWERS 1) LEGO gets its name from the Danish words for “play well.” 2) That very old tree is named for the very old Biblical figure Methu- selah. 3) The quahog is the official state shell of Rhode Island. 4) Galileo is mentioned in Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody.” 5) Alexander Hamilton was born on the island of Nevis, probably in 1757 — but possibly in 1755. 6) Visions of sugar plums danced in the heads of children in the poem “A Visit from Saint Nicholas” by Clement Clarke Moore. Need to make a correction on your mailing label? Contact us at 800-888-3039 or [email protected] 20 Conservative Chronicle HOLLYWOOD: December 11, 2015 We can end stupid celebrity cause videos mericans are infatuated with solidarity without using the word “abor- celebrities, but unfortunately tion,” like wanting to be the “architects of for the left, that love doesn’t their own destiny,” and so on. translateA into a popular landslide for the Now post-San Bernardino, the gun- liberal point of view. Celebrity million- haters are back again, with yet another aires love to pose as compassionate citi- video (and some of the same celebrities). zens for the cameras, and it doesn’t matter It was put together by “Everytown for if anything changes. Gun Safety,” a group made from a merger Remember the video made by ac- between Mayors Against Illegal Guns and tors Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher Moms Demand Action. pledging to serve These geniuses the public and still haven’t located saying, “When we come together, Ameri- toughest gun-control laws. That didn’t end Obama? “I pledge Brent a plan, but they’re cans can do anything.” up stopping the gun violence there. They to be of service to Bozell all chanting over This is what utopian leftists do, suggest strike a pose, and feel good about them- Barack Obama,” and over and over it’s somehow possible we can end “gun selves. Liberals had a fit against conserva- said rock singer (c) 2015, Creators Syndicate again, “We can, we violence” or all disease or all poverty. tives only offering “thoughts and prayers” Anthony Kiedis as can ... we can end, after San Bernardino. But all these Hol- he kissed his biceps, right and left. It con- we can end ... we can end gun violence.” CELEBRITIES DON’T really care lywood hacks are only offering is Twitter cluded with Moore saying “I pledge to be Then President Obama comes on camera, that California had some of America’s hashtags and lame YouTube mantras. a servant to our president,” and Kutcher adding, “And to all mankind.” In a crowd, December 10, 2015 the celebrities chanted, “Because together FRANK SINATRA: we can, together we are, together we will be the change that we seek.”

MOVIE STARS with large “carbon The Frank Sinatra we remember footprints” who jet around the world to n today’s culture of hyperbole, born to (Tony Bennett) and Dino Paul Crocetti book’s authors — Cole Porter, the Ger- film festivals ridiculously pledged “to re- of desperate attempts to be noticed (Dean Martin) adjusted. Sinatra was an shwins, Johnny Mercer and many oth- duce my use of plastic” and “to no longer amid the Niagara of Internet and unadjusted man. ers — that Sinatra came along to remind use the plastic bags at the grocery store.” otherI outpourings, the label “genius” In spite of the spectacular vulgarity of some Americans and inform others of that Actor Jason Bateman pledged to flush is affixed promiscuously to evanescent Sinatra’s choices of friends and fun, he book’s existence. his toilet only after a “deuce,” and never popular entertainers, fungible corporate bequeathed to postwar America a sense This is one kind of popular music: a single. No one was going to check that CEOs and other perishable phenomena. of style, even male elegance. His Las Ve- “I can’t get no satisfaction, pledge. But it almost fits the saloon singer — his gas cavorting with “The Rat Pack” (Mar- I can’t get no girl reaction” Speaking of pledges, Moore’s mar- preferred description of himself — who tin, Sammy Davis Jr., Joey Bishop, Peter This is Sinatra’s kind: riage to Kutcher (her third) crumbled be- was born 100 years ago, on Dec. 12, Lawford) was an embarrassing manifesta- “The summer wind came blowin’ in fore Obama’s second term. 1915, in Hoboken, New Jersey. tion of 1950s arrested-development mas- from across the sea In 2012, the gun-hating group Mayors It is, however, more precise and, in culinity — adolescence forever. But never It lingered there, to touch your hair and Against Illegal Guns assembled celebri- a way, more flattering to say that Frank mind his toupees and elevator shoes, his walk with me ties for a YouTube video called “Demand Sinatra should be celebrated for his crafts- loutish flunkies and violent bodyguards, All summer long we sang a song and a Plan,” which unsurprisingly offered manship. Of geniuses, we have, it seems, his many awful movies and public brawls, then we strolled that golden sand nothing resembling a plan. Just stone- a steady stream. Actual craftsmen are his pimping for Camelot. And never mind Two sweethearts and the summer wind faced celebs in black and white looking rarer and more useful because they are that the comedian Shecky Greene was not Like painted kites, those days and glum and posing against mass shootings. exemplary for anyone with a craft, be it altogether joking when he said: “Sinatra nights, they went flyin’ by There was Reese Witherspoon: “How surgery or carpentry. Sinatra was many saved my life in 1967. Five guys were The world was new beneath a blue um- many more colleges? And Will Ferrell: things, some of them — libertine, bully, beating me up, and I heard Frank say, brella sky “How many more movie theaters?” And gangster groupie — regrettable. But he ‘That’s enough.’” Then softer than a piper man, one day atheist Sarah Silverman: “How many unquestionably was the greatest singer of it called to you more houses of faith?” And comedian American songs. I lost you, I lost you to the summer Aziz Ansari: “How many more shopping George wind malls?” And so on. Then they all said “De- HOW SHOULD an artist’s character Will The autumn wind, and the winter mand a plan,” and repeated “It’s time,” and private life condition our apprecia- winds, they have come and gone and repeated “We can do better than this,” tion of his or her art? How, say, should (c) 2015, Washington Post Writers Group And still the days, those lonely days, and finally a chorus of “Enough.” knowledge of T.S. Eliot’s anti-Semitism they go on and on condition one’s admiration for his poetry? NEVER MIND the tawdriness so And guess who sighs his lullabies IT FEELS so very good. It proposes With Sinatra, tune out the public person- abundantly reported in the just-published through nights that never end absolutely nothing. And the Hollywood ality and listen to his music as Miles Da- second volume of James Kaplan’s 1,765- My fickle friend, the summer wind” hypocrisy was blatant. Jamie Foxx shot a vis, Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman, page biography (Sinatra: The Chair- Frequent performing, and too much lot of white racists dead in Quentin Tar- Gerry Mulligan and Oscar Peterson did. man). But you must remember this: In a Jack Daniel’s, and too many unfiltered antino’s Django Unchained. Jessica Alba They all, according to the culture critic recording studio, Sinatra, who could not Camel cigarettes took their toll before starred in ultraviolent Sin City and Ma- Terry Teachout, named Sinatra their most read music, was a meticulous collabora- he acknowledged this and left the road, chete. Julianne Moore starred in Assas- admired singer. tor with great musicians — including the much too late. However, his reputation is sins. Witherspoon was a teenaged killer in For decades he was, Teachout says, Hollywood String Quartet — and arrang- preserved by the short-term memory loss Freeway. “the fixed star in the crowded sky of ers. of a nation that will forever hear the Sina- A few weeks ago, in the wake of a na- American popular culture.” It speaks well For Sinatra, before a song was music, tra of the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s. tional outrage at the news they were sell- of Sinatra, and reveals the prickly pride it was words alone. He studied lyrics, in- ing the body parts of dead babies, Planned that sometimes made him volcanic, that ternalized them, then sang, making music KAPLAN REPORTS, according to Parenthood released a video of 20 actress- he refused to adopt a less Italian name from poems. His good fortune was that “legend,” that Sinatra’s casket in a Palm es declaring “why they will always stand” when ethnicity was problematic in the he had one of the nation’s cultural trea- Springs cemetery contains some Jack with the abortion conglomerate. Again waning days of America’s Anglo-Saxon sures, the Great American Songbook, to Daniel’s and Camels. If so, even in death, they used the usual vague declarations of ascendancy. Anthony Dominick Benedet- interpret. It was the good fortune of that Sinatra did it his way. December 23, 2015 21 HIGHER EDUCATION: December 14, 2015 The liberal elite’s festival of smugness here are few more repugnant to prove his bona fides to anyone. Ev- same thing. But the key thing is being a Gerald Seib of the Wall Street Journal, spectacles among the liberal eryone is, in effect, on notice that this Supreme Court justice means never hav- Helene Cooper of the New York Times elites of this country than the brilliant jurist is the farthest thing from ing to say you’re sorry.” and, of course, Chuck Todd himself all festivalT of smugness that follows any a racist. expressed regret that Scalia can “get comment by a conservative public figure But you know this game works. A THE REST OF the crew on MTP away with it” and noted that this ex- that can be twisted into a racial slight. conservative says something that can be chimed in with similar head shaking and plains why he opposes cameras in the This week it is Justice Antonin Sca- misinterpreted, and the self-righteous, invocations of bad popular fiction. Now, Supreme Court. lia’s turn. In an oral argument over af- bad-faith denunciations pour out like leaving Campanis aside (I Who pays these people for their com- firmative action, Scalia said: sewage in a flood. have my doubts that mentary? This is risible. Supreme Court “There are those who contend that it On Meet the he was a racist ei- oral arguments are fully available to the does not benefit African-Americans to Press, Ted Koppel Mona ther; he got caught public in print and audio form. Is Sca- — to get them in the University of Texas compared Scalia Charen up in one of Amer- lia trying to hide his racism by having where they do not do well, as opposed to the hapless Al ica’s fits of righteous it only unavailable on video? Quite a to having them go to a less advanced Campanis, and (c) 2015, Creators Syndicate indignation), who strategy. school, a less — a slower track school said: does Koppel think The usual people issued denuncia- where they do well.” “I was thinking both of them have the he is? First of all, he’s almost exactly tions and everyone had a good “two same problem. It’s generational. He re- four years younger than Scalia, so spare minutes hate,” as George Orwell might SURE, MAYBE Scalia should have ally doesn’t think he is saying untoward. us the generational snobbery. Second, have put it. said “some” African-American students, This is the kind of thing that someone he (like the other panelists) is clearly But Scalia has nothing for which to but frankly, he shouldn’t have to. After of Antonin Scalia’s generation has been unfamiliar with the argument Scalia was apologize (though his critics do). He was a career in public life, he doesn’t need saying all his life. Al Campanis did the referencing. Molly Ball of the Atlantic, referring to a perfectly plausible theory about the effects of affirmative action. He was not saying that all African- HIGHER EDUCATION: December 15, 2015 American students are slower than oth- ers, merely that the widespread practice The Frank Sinatra we remember of accepting black students into colleges with much worse grades and scores than Attacking the truth the majority of students has certain un- mong the many sad signs of These students were not stupid or failed to graduate from M.I.T., and those fortunate effects. As Stuart Taylor Jr. our time are the current po- uneducable. On the contrary, the aver- who did graduate were concentrated in and Richard H. Sander explain in their litical and media attacks on age black student at Cornell at that time the bottom tenth of the class. book Mismatch: How Affirmative Action SupremeA Court Justice Antonin Scalia, scored at the 75th percentile on scholas- There were other fine engineering Hurts Students It’s Intended to Help, and for speaking the plain truth on a subject tic tests. Their academic qualifications schools around the country where those Why Universities Won’t Admit It, there is where lies have been the norm for years. were better than those of three-quarters same students could have learned more, a good deal of evidence (and more has The case before the High Court is of all American students who took those when taught at a normal pace, rather been produced since the book’s publica- whether the use of race as a basis for tests. than at a breakneck speed geared to tion) that black students who “benefit” admitting students to the University of Why were they in trouble at Cornell, students with extremely rare abilities in from affirmative action in admission, Texas at Austin is a violation of the 14th then? Because the average Cornell stu- math. and thus attend schools for which they Amendment’s requirement for govern- dent in the liberal arts college at Justice Scalia was not talking about are less prepared than their peers, are ment institutions to provide “equal pro- that time scored at the 99th sending black students to substandard less likely to major in difficult but re- tection of the laws” to all. colleges and universities to get an in- munerative subjects such as engineering Affirmative action is supposed to be Thomas ferior education. You may in fact get and science, more likely to wind up in a benefit to black and other minority a much better education at an institu- the bottom 10th of the student body, and, students admitted with lower academic Sowell tion that teaches at a pace that you can most important, less likely to graduate qualifications than some white students (c) 2015, Creators Syndicate handle and master. In later life, no one than their peers. who are rejected. But Justice Scalia is going to care how fast you learned What the Mismatch authors and others questioned whether being admitted to an percentile. The classes taught there — something, so long as you know it. have described as the “cascade effect” institution geared to students with high- including mine — moved at a speed Mismatching students with educa- means that at every level of college ex- er-powered academic records was a real geared to the verbal and mathematical tional institutions is a formula for need- cept for the very top, black students are benefit. level of the top one percent of American less failures. The book Mismatch, by more likely to attend colleges for which students. Sander and Taylor, is a first-rate study they are unprepared and thus many are DESPITE MUCH media spin, the of the hard facts. It shows, for example, set up to fail. That might be important, issue is not whether blacks in general THE AVERAGE white student that the academic performances of black right, Ted Koppel? should be admitted to higher ranked or would have been wiped out at Cornell. and Hispanic students rose substantially One of the most telling statistics that lower ranked institutions. The issue is But the average white student was un- after affirmative action admissions poli- is rarely mentioned in this debate comes whether a given black student, with giv- likely to be admitted to Cornell, in the cies were banned in the University of from California, where Proposition 209 en academic qualifications, should be ad- first place. Nor was a white student who California system. banned racial preferences by law in mitted to a college or university where he scored at the 75th percentile. Instead of failing at Berkeley or 1996. Advocates of affirmative action would not be admitted if he were white. That was a “favor” reserved for black UCLA, these minority students were note that minority enrollments dropped Much empirical research over the students. This “favor” turned black stu- now graduating from other campuses thereafter. Yes, but graduation rates in- years has confirmed Justice Scalia’s dents who would have been successful in the University of California system. creased. concern that admitting black students at most American colleges and universi- They were graduating at a higher rate, to institutions for which their academic ties into failures at Cornell. with higher grades, and now more often PERHAPS THE mismatch theory is preparation is not sufficient can be mak- None of this was peculiar to Cornell. in challenging fields like math, science wrong. Perhaps the benefits of attending ing them worse off instead of better off. Black students who scored at the 90th and technology. more prestigious schools than you are I became painfully aware of this prob- percentile in math had serious academic prepared for outweigh the disadvantages lem more than 40 years ago, when I was problems trying to keep up at M.I.T., DO THE FACTS not matter to those (though this leaves unaddressed the con- teaching at Cornell University, and dis- where other students scored somewhere who are denouncing Justice Scalia? stitutional problem of discriminating by covered that half the black students there within the top 99th percentile. Does the actual fate of minority stu- race at all). But surely this is a worthy were on some form of academic proba- Nearly one-fourth of these black stu- dents not matter to the left, as much as debate for people of goodwill to have. tion. dents with stellar qualifications in math their symbolic presence on a campus? If we had people of goodwill. 22 Conservative Chronicle DUE PROCESS: December 13, 2015 A Missouri town demands substantive due process f Pagedale, Missouri, is a tire nation should hope that this small ment power, limits inherent in the idea duced it, but also its substance. This is glimpse of the future, the fu- city’s pettiness will be stopped by a of law. As Sandefur says, a legislative because, as Sandefur writes, the Con- ture is going to be annoying. court that says this: The Due Process act that fails the tests of generality, stitution gives priority to liberty, not PagedaleI might represent the future Clause, properly construed, prohibits regularity, fairness and rationality (be- just to the democratic processes that of governance unless some of its resi- arbitrary government action, particu- ing a cost-efficient means to a legiti- produce government acts. Again, “the dents succeed in their lawsuit against larly that which unjustifiably restricts mate end) is not a law, so enforcing it Constitution does not require just any their government. If they do, it will be individuals’ liberties. cannot be due process of law. process but due process.” Were “due” because they successfully invoked the Read as what it is — as the imple- simply a synonym for “democratic,” principle of substantive due process. THAT IS, the Due Process Clause mentation of the principles of the Dec- the due process guarantee would guar- Pagedale is 1.19 square miles of St. is not purely about process. As Timo- laration of Independence antee nothing. Louis County. Approximately 93 per- thy Sandefur of — the Constitution cent of its 3,000 residents are African- the Pacific Le- guarantees govern- GOVERNMENTS ARE raven- American and about 25 percent live gal Foundation George ment that secures ous for revenues to fund the promises below the poverty line. There is not writes, what dis- Will individual rights that purchase votes. But the governed much of a tax base for their govern- tinguishes due by establishing are resistant to taxes. So governments ment. But supposed necessity does not process is an out- (c) 2015, Washington Post Writers Group lawful, mean- increasingly resort to arbitrary behav- confer constitutionality on Pagedale’s come that is not ing non-arbitrary, ior that is difficult to distinguish from decision to budget on the assumption arbitrary. Granted, the Constitution’s rule. So, in determining whether there theft. Which is why all Americans have of a steady blizzard of capricious fines. text does not explicitly infuse the con- has been due process, a court must a huge stake in the correct resolution cept of due process with substance. examine not just the form of a statute of this case from a small Missouri city. PAGEDALE RESIDENTS are But there are implicit limits on govern- or the procedural formalities that pro- subject to fines if they walk on the left side of a crosswalk; if they have a HIGHER EDUCATION: December 15, 2015 hedge more than three feet high, a weed more than seven inches high, or any dead vegetation on their property; or if they park a car at night more than 500 feet from a street lamp or other source Attacking the truth: Part II of illumination; or if windows facing a he case currently before the titude” and “general abilities” — as these grades acquired the name “grace street do not have drapes or blinds that U.S. Supreme Court, involv- determined by interviews that lasted marks.” In Malaysia, committees were are “neatly hung, in a presentable ap- ing racial double standards in approximately three minutes per ap- authorized to adjust grades to enable pearance, properly maintained and in a admissionsT to the University of Texas plicant. The ratings on these vague, the preferred Malay students to be — state of good repair;” or if their houses at Austin, has an Alice-in-Wonderland wholly subjective criteria could then be or to seem — more comparable to the have unpainted foundations or chipped quality that has been all too common in used to offset some students’ academic non-preferred Chinese students. or aging layers of paint (even on gut- other Supreme Court cases involving deficiencies, and thus preserve group In the days of the Soviet Union, pro- ters); or if there are cracks in their affirmative action in academia, going quotas de facto. fessors were pressured to give higher driveways; or if on a national holiday all the way back to 1978. Another common feature of group grades to Central Asian students. In — the only time a barbeque may be Plain hard facts dissolve into rhe- preference policies in various New Zealand, softer courses in Maori conducted in a front yard — more than torical mysticism in these cases, where studies achieved similar results. In two people are gathered at the grill or evasions of reality have been the norm. the United States, easy ethnic studies there are alcoholic beverages visible One inconvenient reality is that ra- Thomas courses serve the same purpose. When within 150 feet of the grill. cial double standards by government I taught at Brandeis University, many All this and much more is because institutions are contrary to the “equal Sowell years ago, an academic administrator Missouri’s Legislature, noting exces- protection of the laws” prescribed by (c) 2015, Creators Syndicate confided to me that one of his chores sive reliance on traffic tickets, put a low the 14th Amendment to the constitution. was phoning professors to see if they cap on the portion a community could Therefore racial double standards must countries in different parts of the world would “reconsider” failing grades giv- raise of its budget from this source. be called something else — whether is the illusion that these preferences can en to minority students. So now 40 percent of Pagedale’s tick- “holistic” admissions criteria or a quest be confined to some transitional time Often the rationale for group prefer- ets are for non-traffic offenses. Since for the many magical benefits of “di- period, after which the preferences will ences is to help the less fortunate. But, 2010, such tickets have increased 495 versity” that are endlessly asserted but fade away. in countries where hard evidence is percent. In 2013, the city collected never demonstrated. available, it is often the more fortunate $356,601 in fines and fees. But Page- EVEN IN countries where a time members of less fortunate groups who dale’s misfortune might be America’s SUCH MENTAL gymnastics are frame was specified at the outset — as get the bulk of the benefits. These ben- good fortune now that the constitu- not peculiar to the Supreme Court of in Pakistan, India and Malaysia, for ex- eficiaries can even be more fortunate tional litigators from the Institute for the United States. I encountered the ample — the preferences have persisted than most of the people in the country Justice are representing some Pagedale same evasive language in other coun- for generations past those cutoff dates. at large. residents. tries with group preference programs, Yet the Supreme Court of the United India’s constitution, like the Ameri- The institute argues that the city is during the years when I was doing re- States has repeatedly indulged in the can constitution, has an amendment subordinating the administration of search for my book Affirmative Action same illusion of transitional group pref- prescribing equal treatment. But in justice to the goal of generating rev- Around the World. This was one of the erences. India that amendment also spells out enue, even limiting court hours in or- sadder examples of the brotherhood of Such preferences have not only ex- exceptions for particular groups. In the der to cause people to fail to meet re- man. tended in time, they have spread to more United States, the Supreme Court has quirements, thereby subjecting them to When the courts in India tried to activities and more groups. In India, it taken on the role of creating exceptions more fines. But the city’s pecuniary in- rein in some of the more extreme group was declared that preferential treat- to the 14th Amendment. terest in particular judicial outcomes, quota policies in academia, that only ment in the academic admissions pro- which creates an appearance of bias, is inspired more ingenuity by university cess would end there, and not extend to MANY LOFTY verbal evasions are not the crux of the argument that the officials, who came up with more sub- treatment of the preferred groups once necessary, in order to keep the Ameri- city is violating the 14th Amendment jective admissions criteria. they were students in the university. can people from catching on to what guarantee that Americans shall not be At one medical school in India’s Yet preferential grading of students they are really doing when they claim deprived of life, liberty or property state of Tamil Nadu, those criteria in- admitted with lower qualifications to be merely applying the laws and the without “due process of law.” The en- cluded extracurricular activities, “ap- became so widespread in India that constitution. December 23, 2015 23 BOWE BERGDALH: December 16, 2015 Bowe Bergdahl behaves before the enemy U.S. Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl will dahl, he put the fundamentals of military stand trial on charges of desertion and justice at risk. misbehavior before the enemy. Bergdahl committed his alleged of- U.S. Army Gen. Robert Abrams’ de- fenses in June 2009 while serving at cision to try Bergdahl on these serious Com- bat Outpost Mest-Malak charges has raised in Afghanistan’s Pak- a media firestorm. tika province. He left That is understand- Austin his unit, and Taliban able for two rea- fighters captured him. sons. Bay In May 2014, Military law is (c) 2015, Creators Syndicate President Obama not just a disciplin- exchanged five ary constraint but also a tool in prepar- “high-risk” Afghan Taliban terrorists ing for combat and, once the fight begins, — the Taliban Five — for Bergdahl. defeating the enemy. Many loudmouths The terrorists were held in Guantanamo who have never served in the military fail Bay’s prison. to grasp this fact. I’ll expand on this in a Obama welcomed Bergdahl at a moment. White House ceremony, which Bergda- The other reason is President Barack hl’s parents attended. Obama didn’t quite Obama’s politicization of Bergdahl’s re- treat Bergdahl as a hero — thank good- “Excuse me, sir. If Bergdahl deserves Which segues back to the alleged lease. ness — but his meta-message was essen- trial, have you improperly prejudiced the crimes. Desertion is a charge familiar to tially: “Hey, Bowe’s back. His service military justice system, which almost al- the general public. Hollywood movies LET’S DEAL with Obama first. A is honorable enough to rate moving five ways involves investigations by military get the gist; the soldier left his duty post president brings instant and enormous more prisoners from George W. Bush’s officers and decisions by commanders and did not intend to return. Misbehavior media visibility to an issue. Obama, how- Gitmo. So, press corps, can the messy to hold a court-martial? Have you tam- before the enemy is an obscure charge, ever, inevitably uses an event as a media questions.” pered with potential military jurors? As one associated with complex circum- opportunity to bash political adversaries, commander in chief, you have an institu- stances that civilians will rarely encoun- Attacking the truth: Part II even when bashing may damage essen- AS I SCANNED the ceremony’s tional responsibility here. You know, sir, ter. Both charges are serious. Desertion in tial U.S. institutions. In the case of Berg- transcript, I wanted to ask the president: good order and discipline?” time of war is punishable by death. For good military reasons, both judicial and AMERICANS: December 9, 2015 strategic, misbehavior before the enemy is punishable by life in prison. You can find these charges in the Uni- form Code of Military Justice, which gov- erns U.S. service members. The military I hear America singing has its own code because military service isquiet lives here. Quietly but Peggy Noonan, the former White ball. There’s the bank where one of them involves harsh preparation, extraordinary ominously. Unseen, it creeps House speechwriter who’s now a weekly worked. ... The men look down at what rigors and enormous individual, group up in the dark of night like columnist for the Wall Street Journal, they’d left behind years before, and it’s and national risks. Combat demands dis- BooD Radley in To Kill a Mockingbird, confesses that she likes to write to the still there.” The music swells and soars. cipline. In violent, chaotic and dangerous rustling like the wind in the trees. It’s theme songs of movies. Among her fa- Like the sound of America in flight. circumstances, soldiers must immediate- here, you just can’t see it. But you can vorites: The themes of Spartacus, heroic What a contrast with today’s whin- ly respond to orders and carry them out. feel it, hear it. Eerie. and stirring, and On the Waterfront with ing, sniping political discourse — if you The UCMJ is a disciplinary tool, one Music hath charms to soothe the sav- its evocation of great, grimy American could call it discourse — full as it is of vital to Gen. Abrams. Abrams commands age breast — or stir it up. Back in public cities and Palookaville in general, not to snappy comebacks and failed gotchas. U.S. Army Forces Command. He knows school in Shreveport, La., half the class mention The Last of the Mohi- Not to mention the bloated braggadocio that in order to protect the U.S. Consti- would leap to its feet at the first stirring cans. The cornier, the better. of Donald Trump. Just tune in to one of tution, service members give up many of chords of “Dixie,” the other half at the these “debates” among this year’s con- their individual rights. That’s why he re- first notes of the “Battle Hymn of the Paul tenders for the Republican presidential spects his own soldiers — his good, dis- Republic,” and some for both, but as the nomination. Sad. And depressing. ciplined soldiers. years went by, the adherents of “Dixie” Greenberg Miss Noonan’s comments inspired the At FORSCOM, Abrams’ job is to pre- gave way to those of the “Battle Hymn” (c) 2015, Tribune Media Services thought: If only one of those candidates pare the Army to win wars. As a person, — another sign of the South’s final sub- understood the American people’s yearn- Bergdahl is a loser. As a soldier, he is a mission to the Union, one nation indivis- Her favorite? There’s no doubt in her ing — and need — for patriotism, not war loser — a danger to his fellow sol- ible. mind: just pap. He — or she — just might catch diers and his unit. “But for me, always, the greatest the country’s imagination, our hopes and And Abrams knows it. THINK OF the scene from the classic movie score, the one I listen to when I dreams, our yearning to be united again, “Misbehavior before the enemy” in- movie Casablanca in which the German need it, is the most perfect pairing of sto- the way a Ronald Reagan or a Franklin cludes endangering the safety of fellow occupiers compete with the French patri- ry and music in the history of film: The Roosevelt brought us together. What a soldiers. The Army alleges that Bergda- ots in the bar of Rick’s Cafe Americain, Best Years of Our Lives.” Which brings magnificent difference that might make. hl endangered the safety of his unit “by in which the Germans raise their voices in back scenes from the movie, too. Its plot: How we all must wish for such a lead- walking away and causing the military to the chorus of “Deutschland uber Alles,” er again. And to hear America singing launch ‘search and recovery operations.’” joined by any French collaborators they “THREE MEN coming home from again. Let’s grant that Bergdahl suffered dur- can attract, notably a French mistress. World War II wind up by chance in the ing his five years as a Taliban captive. But as the French counter them with the nose of a beat-up bomber, itself head- BOO RADLEY, like Atticus Finch in However, his la-di-da stroll from his duty “Marseillaise,” the Frenchwoman grows ing home to the junkyard. Suddenly at the book and later the movie, turned out station put the lives of scores of American misty-eyed and can no longer control dawn, after a long night of flight, they to be a hero — a force for good and not soldiers at risk. herself but joins in the rousing rendition see America unfurling below them — evil, a source of hope, not fear. Disquiet, of her country’s national anthem. Such is the Midwest, and now Boone City, their it turns out, was only a prelude to assur- NOW HE HAS his day in court. the power of song. It brings out our true (fictional) home. There’s the stadium ance. That’s America for you — if we Good. Let a jury decide his fate. He’s al- selves. where one of them played high school would but hear her singing. ready had his day in the Rose Garden. 24 Conservative Chronicle NATIONAL SECURITY: December 16, 2015 Vetting Obama’s witless vetters at DHS aping holes in the K1 fiance beneficiary of Reid’s lowered nomina- visa interview process. Reck- tion standards. Like Johnson, Mayorkas less bans on scrutinizing visa was an Obama bundler early and often. applicants’G social media posts. Ignored He slithered into the job in 2013 while alarms over marriage fraud. New de- still under investigation by the DHS in- tails keep seeping out about all the “red spector general for his role in facilitat- flags” Obama’s immigration officials ing EB-5 foreign investor visa missed in the case scams over the ve- of the San Ber- hement objections nardino jihadists. Michelle of homeland secu- Color me un- Malkin rity staff. shocked. As my co-au- The American (c) 2015, Creators Syndicate thor John Miano public and Capitol and I point out in Hill politicians should have been more our new book, Sold Out, on systemic vigilant about vetting Obama’s vetters visa corruption, federal investigators in- in the first place. What do you expect terviewed more than 15 whistleblowers when you put crony know-nothings, po- ranging from rank-and-file employees litical hacks and identity politics zealots to several senior managers in Califor- in charge of our safety? nia and at the D.C. headquarters who accused Mayorkas of bestowing both IN CASE you’d forgotten (or never preferential access and preferential with the feds on enforcing immigration ing process to try and secure jobs for at paid attention), Obama campaign fi- treatment to politically connected EB-5 laws. least three political cronies who worked nance bundler Jeh Johnson snagged the applicants and stakeholders. They de- with Bersin on the Obama 2008 cam- top DHS post two years ago thanks to tailed how Mayorkas “created special THAT’S RIGHT. A zealous advo- paign, according to the Office of Spe- Harry Reid’s rigging of Senate filibus- processes and revised existing policies cate of sanctuary city policies, Fong cial Counsel. Two of those pals did not ter rules. Johnson’s a “diversity” relic in the EB-5 program to accommodate now oversees outreach to nearly 18,000 even meet “the minimum qualification from the Clinton era with zero experi- specific parties” while serving as direc- state, local, tribal and territorial law en- requirements for their respective career ence in border security, port security, tor of the U.S. Citizenship and Immi- forcement agencies nationwide. This en- positions,” OSC’s complaint noted, be- airport security or immigration enforce- gration Services. forcement obstructionist is in charge of cause they lacked at least one year of ment. So what is main qualification for “Their allegations were unequivo- terrorism prevention policies and coor- relevant experience. overseeing the $40 billion, 240,000-em- cal,” the inspector general concluded, dination and distribution of intelligence Bersin moved up the DHS ladder; a ployee homeland security bureaucracy? and the corruption under Mayorkas was between DHS and localities. Her main lower-level scapegoat was exonerated Besides dumping gobs of money into systemic. qualifications? Being the first woman in court; and a key figure in the patron- Obama’s coffers, he’s the “first African- In case you’d forgotten (or never and Asian-American to lead the SFPD, age plot was allowed to retire. American” to hold the job, as the White paid attention), DHS Assistant Secre- whose rank-and-file despised her. In case you’d forgotten (or never paid House trumpeted. tary, Office for State and Local Law En- In case you’d forgotten (or never paid attention), Secretary Johnson hired his In case you’d forgotten (or never forcement Heather Fong abandoned her attention), Assistant Secretary for Inter- DHS chief of staff Christian Marrone paid attention), DHS undersecretary post as San Francisco police chief amid national Affairs and Chief Diplomatic without bothering to read the longtime Alejandro Mayorkas, the No. 2 in widespread disgust with her weak lead- Office Alan Bersin was implicated in Pennsylvania Democratic operative’s charge of the department, was also a ership and obstinate refusal to cooperate a scheme to manipulate the DHS hir- background security check. Marrone was a top aide to slimeball Philadel- phia power broker Vincent Fumo, who was convicted of 137 federal corruption charges in 2009. As the Washington Times reported, Marrone “admitted in court to collect- ing a taxpayer salary while supervising the senator’s private home renovations, hiring a private eye to dig up dirt on a political rival and serving as president of a company that used nonprofit -ur ban revitalization money for a for-profit venture.” At trial, Marrone acknowl- edged doing Fumo’s rotten bidding be- cause “that was the culture at the office ... there were no boundaries.” Marrone walked away after claim- ing he was a victim. And now, this go- along, get-along toady willing to violate the law to please a boss serves as John- son’s right-hand man and the No. 3 of- ficial at DHS.

THESE HACKS won’t even vet each other. They place “optics,” “diver- sity” and political protectionism above national security. Forget the red flags over San Bernardino. It’s the giant white flag of surrender waving over DHS that’s the real threat to our well-being. December 23, 2015 25 CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS: December 13, 2015 Should Lake Chabot rant about religion be a crime? n the age of the cellphone cam- tian, and so I wanted to tell them about eda County District Attorney Nancy technician. She wasn’t working at the era, interactions that are best Christ” and that what they were doing O’Malley, with a recommendation to time, and this has nothing to do with forgotten instead escalate and be- was “not of God; it’s of the devil.” charge Slader with misdemeanor bat- her job. comeI chew toys for the chattering class. The three men, Albeshari told me, tery. Albeshari thinks she also should When a video goes viral, the public’s tried to talk with Slader and explain to be charged with a “hate crime.” SLADER WAS completely out of sense of proportion often goes AWOL. her that as good Muslims, they “love I asked Albeshari: Do you really line, but she has a First Amendment Jesus.” She did not back down. Albe- think prosecutors should right to criticize Muslims. She does not IT STARTED last Sunday when San shari decided to go after Slader for have a right to throw coffee at Mus- Franciscan Rasheed Albeshari, 31, went record Slader’s this? “Absolute- lims who exercise their First Amend- to Lake Chabot Regional Park, in Cas- rant on his cell- Debra J. ly,” he replied. ment right to pray in a public park. tro Valley, California, with two friends phone, which he Saunders Should she go to And though she has a right to opine to play volleyball. The three friends are later posted on prison? “I would that Muslims have been brainwashed, Muslim, so though they went to the park Facebook. Slader (c) 2015, Creators Syndicate say so, yes,” he she didn’t come across as a religious to play volleyball, “when prayer time did not like being answered. “I’m scholar when she ranted: “You are very comes, we pray for four or five minutes recorded. She swung an umbrella at the her first victim.” He also believes that deceived by Satan. Your mind has been and get back to the game,” Albeshari camera and hurled coffee at Albeshari. Slader should lose her job with the taken over — brainwashed — and you told me. Last Sunday, Castro Valley The video went viral. California Department of Corrections have nothing but hate.” resident Denise Slader objected to their According to spokeswoman Caro- and Rehabilitation because she is “an Albeshari believes that Slader threw prayers and started to argue with them. lyn Jones, the East Bay Regional Park official employee” who might have to coffee at him because of his religion. She later told KTVU-TV, “I’m a Chris- police referred the matter to Alam- work with Muslims. She is a program In the video, however, she seems very angry at being recorded without her permission. RADICAL ISLAM: December 10, 2015 My take: Albeshari publicly shamed Slader for her bad public behavior. She looked like an idiot in front of the en- tire country. I think that’s ample pun- The power of naming ishment. This is a state where offend- ast Wednesday’s attack in San “First, our military will continue to According to Whiton, “Successful ers don’t go to prison for long stretches Bernardino, which left 14 peo- hunt down terrorist plotters in any coun- political warfare against this ideology for stealing a gun from someone’s car. ple dead, was carried out by try where it is necessary ... Second, we could involve three broad steps: First, Ditto repeat drunken drivers. It’s in- radicalL Islamists whose actions shook will continue to provide training and we should tell the truth about radi- sane to use law enforcement resources the nation. Four days later, President equipment to tens of thousands of Iraqi cal Islam and adopt a policy of oppos- to prosecute someone for an altercation Barack Obama sought to reassure the and Syrian forces fighting ISIL on the ing Islamism globally. ... Being honest in which no one was physically hurt. American people in a rare address from ground so that we take away their safe about this threat is not anti-Muslim. In Former Golden Gate University the Oval Office. He failed. havens. fact, political warfare ideally would in- School of Law Dean Peter Keane saw “This was an act of terrorism de- “Third, we’re working with friends volve getting Muslims to turn decisively the video and told me it was “clearly signed to kill innocent people,” he said. and allies to stop ISIL’s operations, to against the Islamists. an assault.” That’s a misdemeanor. For “Our nation has been at war with terror- disrupt plots, cut off their financing, “Second, we need to focus on non- his part, former San Francisco Public ists since al Qaeda killed nearly 3,000 and prevent them from recruiting more violently undermining Islamist govern- Defender Jeff Brown doesn’t think you Americans on 9/11.” fighters. ments like Iran’s. While ISIS may earn can prove battery. People get angry “Fourth, with American leadership, headlines, Iran’s theocracy has tentacles when they are videotaped against their TERRORISM IS a tactic used by the international community has begun throughout the Middle East and may will. Not every overreaction should people and groups to achieve their po- to establish a process and timeline to soon be armed with nuclear weapons. make it before a bench. If Brown held litical, social or religious goals. It is pursue cease-fires and a political resolu- “Third, we should work with allies a prayer vigil in a public park and not in itself a belief system. Christian tion to the Syrian war.” to suppress radical Islam culturally. ... someone told him his church is oppres- Whiton, former diplomat and author of We should support institutions that give sive, then he would have to realize that Smart Power: Between Diplomacy and Jackie power to modern Muslims who believe “when you’re in a public space, you’re War, notes that there is “a critical error” in separating mosque and state.” inviting intervention.” in that “two distinct but overlapping Gingrich We have to use all of our sources of Michael Rushford of the tough-on- elements” have not been clearly iden- Cushman support, power and influence to prevail crime Criminal Justice Legal Founda- tified or articulated to the American (c) 2015, Creators Syndicate over Islamism. tion has a more appropriate punishment public. He identifies them as Islam and Additionally, we have to be clear on for Slader: “She should get a severe Islamism. The belief system that fueled This current strategy has clearly not who has targeted us, and not target those scolding.” Keane, Brown and Rush- the terroristic act — radical Islam or Is- been effective. What more should we who are Muslim, but instead focus on ford agreed that this case seems ripe lamism — is described as follows: “The do? According to Whiton, we should do those who subscribe to the Islamist po- for diversion. Keane suggested proba- former is a religion of nearly a quarter what is “most necessary to turn the tide litical ideology. This means having the tion, wiped clean with no re-offense of the world’s population; the latter is on radical Islam: political warfare.” clarity and focus to not profile based on in two years. Rushford suggested an a political ideology whose central tenet religion, but instead to focus on those anger management class. He added, is unifying government, and Islam and WHAT DOES this mean? Using all who believe in a political ideology “The state’s lousy with those kinds of is advocated by a small subset of Mus- avenues to win. “In statecraft, politi- whose ultimate success is possible only programs.” lims,” according to Whiton. If we are cal warfare is the reverse of espionage. by destroying our way of life. not aware of the situation, we cannot Whereas spying involves the pull of ALBESHARI TOLD me he wants create a strategy to win. information our enemies don’t want us OUR BELIEF system as Ameri- people to get educated about his reli- The truth is that we are not at war to have, political warfare is the push of cans runs counter to theirs, regardless gion. Facebook is filled with rage from with Islam. The truth is that Obama’s ideas, information, people and events of the tactics that they use. Our system “friends” who want to throw the book avoidance of the correct label for who with which our enemies would rather embraces freedom and diversity; theirs at Slader and take away her job. Albe- is at war with us puts us at a disadvan- not contend.” embraces adherence and purity. The shari belongs to a generation with fin- tage. The answer: Islamism, or radical It is neither improved “public diplo- challenge will be to maintain our belief gers that itch to record political incor- Islam. macy” (Bush administration) nor an system, while appealing to and winning rectness. They demand tolerance, when When Obama spoke Sunday, he re- apology tour (i.e. Obama’s 2009 speech over those among us who are at risk of they could learn a lesson or two about ferred to continuing our current strategy. in Cairo). buying into theirs. mercy. 26 Conservative Chronicle CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS: December 10, 2015 Rights versus wrongs — seeing the truth n a recent Facebook discussion (described by President Herbert Hoover victims of every criminal and terrorist That’s un-American! That’s not who we following the terrorist attack in as a “noble experiment”) went into ef- -- not to mention an overreaching gov- are!” San Bernardino, California, a fect with the passage of the 18th Amend- ernment whose burgeoning power is al- Fair enough. But there is no legal friendI whom I respect greatly posed a ment to the U.S. Constitution, we had a ready a concern. right for foreign-born individuals to challenge to those of us defending Sec- uniform, federal law that forbade the In addition to being recklessly dan- come to the United States, and certainly ond Amendment rights. “You always say importation, manufacture, and sale of al- gerous, the arguments in favor of reduc- no constitutional right to immigrate here. what isn’t the answer,” he complained, cohol. It was a disaster that criminalized ing or eliminating Second Amendment Whether there is a moral obligation to “but you never say what the answer is.” the conduct of previously law-abiding rights are inconsistent and hypocritical, take some or all of those trying to come It was refreshing to have a legitimate citizens, and cost billions in lost rev- especially in the wake of the San here is a different question altogether. So debate that didn’t descend into name- enues, lost jobs, Bernardino terrorist by what logic can it be unfair to deprive calling and hyperbolic accusations. But and misplaced attack. people of a right they do not have, but implicit in my friend’s observation is a law enforcement Laura After it was simultaneously proper to deprive Ameri- question: do those of us who object to resources. Not to Hollis revealed that the can citizens of a right that they do have? the infringement of our rights have a mention the in- shooters in last prior obligation to offer a better solution numerable people (c) 2015, Creators Syndicate week’s massacre IDENTIFYING AND stopping those than that which is being proposed? killed by the mas- were Muslim im- who intend to do harm to others is a seri- I say no. And here’s why. sive criminal infrastructure that Prohibi- migrants, presidential candidate Donald ous and difficult problem. It will not be tion fostered and encouraged. Trump captured the world’s attention yet made easier by infringing or eliminating TO ACCEPT that premise is to start again, this time calling for an outright the rights of millions of Americans who with the false conclusion that our consti- AS RECENT events have demon- ban on Muslim immigrants. engage in no wrongdoing. If we refuse tutional rights are conditional: either we strated with painful clarity, if Americans The reaction was predictable (and bi- to see that truth, we will suffer conse- come up with some solution Y for prob- were to be disarmed, we would be sitting partisan): “You cannot punish an entire quences far worse than those we have lem X, or else the powers that be are jus- ducks; sheep for the slaughter; potential people because of the actions of a few! faced thus far. tified in taking our constitutional rights away as part of solution Z. SHARIA LAW: December 10, 2015 A more compelling version of this same argument is the “but we’ve got to do something” approach. These ap- peals to desperation are understandable, but misguided, as they promote rushing Disorder in Sharia courts headlong into any policy proposal with- et aside for a moment the violent obtain unusual access to secretive Sharia prompted Baroness Caroline Cox to in- out thought for the consequences. incidents associated with people courts. After attending 15 hours of hear- troduce a bill in the House of Lords last Gun control policy proscriptions are claiming to act under the author- ings at the Islamic Sharia Council in Ley- summer that would make it illegal for no different. The New York Times outed ity Sof their Islamic faith and consider in- ton and the Birmingham Central Mosque, Sharia courts to treat “the evidence of a itself in a rare front-page editorial last stead what passes for normalcy. Zee reviewed more than a dozen cases. man as worth more than the evidence of a week, stating that what we need is for Some in Britain would like to elevate According to the Independent, some woman.” The bill passed its second read- people to give up their guns. Because to the level of wide-scale acceptance of her findings included: ing in the House of Lords in October. gun violence is a “national disgrace.” Sharia law, an Islamic legal system predi- — A case where a woman who In an editorial responding to Ms. Zee’s Translation: we have to do something. cated on the religious tenets of Islam. claimed to be married to a physically and research, the Independent says, “Can a And yet, the dire conditions of un- “A number of Sharia councils operate in verbally abusive man is told by a “laugh- healthy, harmonious multicultural soci- armed populations are evident through- the UK to offer resolution to disputes,” ing” judge: “Why did you marry such a ety tolerate private legal systems? Not if out history. Certainly the founders were writes the Express, but currently “they person?” that means the subjugation of women in well aware of them. Virtually every dic- have no jurisdiction in criminal matters.” abusive and indeed dangerous marriages, tator in contemporary history has dis- Not yet, anyway. There is a campaign a form of imprisonment in all but name armed the population. Once disarmed, underway to make a UK suburb Britain’s Cal sanctioned by their local religious lead- they are powerless to resist whatever op- Sharia-law zone. ers.” pression is imposed upon them. “Former archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Beyond the mass shootings in Ameri- Threats from those who would flout Rowan Williams sparked controversy in (c) 2015, Tribune Media Services ca, stabbings on London’s tube and Israe- “uniform, federal” gun prohibitions are 2008 when he suggested it was ‘inevi- li bus stops, there is the larger question of just as real, and even more immediate. table’ that elements of Sharia would be — A woman “ready to burst into tears” Islam’s compatibility with Western val- Sandy Hook Elementary School was a incorporated in British law,” according to is sent away without an answer after say- ues and laws. Will those of us who prac- “gun-free zone.” As was the theater in the Express. Would this mean that in the ing that her husband took out a loan in tice a different faith, including Muslims Aurora, Colorado, Umpqua Commu- near future Sharia law could run parallel her name on the day they married and is with a different view of Islam, or those nity College in Oregon, and the Inland and equal to UK law? Hope not. Sharia denying her a divorce until she gives him who practice no faith at all, be required to Regional Center in San Bernardino. has an abysmal record when it comes to 10,000 pounds. adhere to Sharia law should the Muslim California already has strict gun con- the treatment of women. — A married couple asking for ad- population become a majority? That’s trol laws, not to mention laws against vice on whether the woman had been what radical Islamists appear to want. murder. That did not stop Syed Rizwan LONDON’S MAYOR Boris Johnson religiously divorced from her former Carved into the facade of the U.S. Farook and Tashfeen Malik from as- called the idea of Sharia law in Britain husband were told “the secular divorce Supreme Court building in Washington, sembling an arsenal and slaughtering 14 “absolutely unacceptable.” He is joined counts as nothing.” D.C., are the words “Equal Justice Under people. The same dynamic is on display in his rejection by Home Secretary The- Law.” But how equal can justice be if that elsewhere. The city of Chicago has some resa May, who has proposed a review into WHILE MS. ZEE found some judg- law becomes Sharia law, either in a paral- of the strictest gun control laws in the Sharia courts. The Independent recently es granting divorces and urging people to lel legal system, or a dominant one that country -- and alarmingly high handgun published an investigative story reveal- live under British law, she also concluded forces all other laws, be they based on the murder rates. ing a parallel system of Islamic justice, that most of the Islamic judges “are not a Ten Commandments, or secular philoso- “Oh, but the problem is that people which the writer says condemns many neutral third party but are always in favor phy, to succumb? can get guns from neighboring states,” British women to “marital captivity,” of the man.” the argument goes. “We need a uniform, while at the same time failing to protect Zee has compiled her research in a THE QUESTION is more than aca- federal law.” them from domestic violence. book titled Choosing Sharia? Multicul- demic and theological. The answer could We’ve seen this argument before, and Leiden University scholar Machteld turalism, Islamic Fundamentalism and determine the future direction of the it failed then, too. When the Prohibition Zee, writes the Independent, managed to British Sharia Councils. Her findings world. December 23, 2015 27 LEFTISM: December 15, 2015 Why don’t Republicans identify what they are fighting? merican conservatives are bers of the party — fight Barack Obama, rightfully annoyed with the Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, Hillary Clin- Obama administration, and ton and all other Democrats. But they DemocratsA generally, for refusing to don’t fight the left and leftism. name radical Islam or Islamism as the The implication is that if only we major source of terror. could defeat this or that Democrat, we When Nidal Hasan murdered 13 fel- would be on our way to a low soldiers at much better Amer- Fort Hood, the ica. administration re- Dennis But it’s not true. fused to label the Prager If extraterrestrials mass murder — (c) 2015, Creators Syndicate came to our planet committed by a and absconded Muslim in the name of Islam — an act with every Democrat holding office of Islamist terror, or even terror at all. In- from Barack Obama down to every stead it was officially declared a “work- Democratic city councilman in America, place shooting.” nothing would change. Other Democrats with the same left-wing views would AND WHEN President Obama con- take their place. vened an international conference on Leftism is ruining America. But al- terror, he refused to include the word most no Republican ever — let alone “terror” or any form of the word “Is- repeatedly — says this. lamist” in the title. Instead the confer- The universities of this country have ence — which took place a month after become a laughingstock. They have Why did Islamic State rise in Iraq black and not because he was threaten- the Islamists’ massacre of the Charlie degenerated into anti-intellectual, anti- after that country had been pacified by ing the life of the officer. Because of the Hebdo writers and editors and Jews at Western, anti-rational institutions with American troops and the Sunni upris- absurdity of “microaggressions,” those a Paris shop — was ridiculously named their ludicrous “safe spaces,” trigger ing? Because a leftist president, the left- lists of often noble statements — such as “The White House Summit on Counter- warnings that infantilize students, and wing Democratic Party, and the left-wing “there is only one race, the human race” ing Violent Extremism.” all the lies about the racism and a rape media demanded a complete American — that the left characterizes as racist. Disorder in Sharia courts But conservatives and Republicans culture that allegedly pervade the cam- withdrawal from Iraq. Why is it harder to open and sustain a do the same thing. They, too, almost puses and American society. Why are race relations worse than in small business than at any time in Ameri- never identify what they are fighting — What is responsible for that? Leftism. living memory despite the election and can history? Because of the left and their namely, leftism and the left. (Note to re-election of black president? Because endless regulations. left-wing websites that monitor conser- ACCORDING TO Pew Research, of the left-wing lies about “systemic” rac- Why do we have the highest national vative writings: This is not a compari- 40 percent of millennials do not believe ism. Because of the left-wing “Ferguson” debt in American history? Because the son of the left with Islamic terrorists; it in the principal of freedom of speech if lie, repeated regularly by the president of left keeps expanding the size of the gov- is about not naming an ideological foe.) the speech might hurt the feelings of a the United States, as if an innocent “un- ernment. Republicans — from the highest member of a minority group. armed black teenager” was killed by a Why are more Americans on public ranking politicians to rank and file mem- What is responsible for that? Leftism. white policeman because the teen was assistance than ever before? Because left-wing policies are designed to get more and more Americans dependent on government. Why are Americans increasingly sep- arated into ethnic, racial and religious identities? Because of the left-wing be- lief in multiculturalism and the left’s neo-fascist emphasis on the importance of race. Why are more Americans born to women without husbands than ever be- fore? Because, ideologically, the left has determined that children do not need fa- thers, and because, policy-wise, the left has enabled mothers to depend on the state rather than the man who fathered her children. Why is the American military weaker and less feared than at anytime in the last 50 years? Because the left doesn’t want America to be the strongest country in the world.

IN ADDITION to criticizing Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton, Republicans need to tell the American people over and over that the only thing that can stop the further degradation of the United States of America is conservatism and the Re- publican Party. Because only conserva- tism and the Republican Party can stop the left. 28 Conservative Chronicle NATIONAL SECURITY: December 10, 2015 A needle in a haystack — the government way f you were looking for a needle challenged and is nearly universally ac- in a haystack, simple logic would cepted. Except by the government. tell you that the smaller the hay- The government — which thinks stackI the likelier you are to find the nee- it can right any wrong, tax any event, dle. Except for the government. regulate any behavior and interfere with Since Edward Snowden revealed the any right — also thinks it can keep us federal government’s unlawful and un- safe from the terrorists among constitutional use us by cutting con- of federal statutes stitutional corners, to justify spying Andrew which it has done on all in America many times since all the time, in- Napolitano 9/11. Among the ural right of self-defense and a federal arrives determined to stop the killing, it cluding the mem- (c) 2015, Creators Syndicate constitutional cor- government attempting to devour far stops; the killer flees or is disabled or is bers of Congress ners it has cut is more data than it can handle. killed or dies by suicide. who unwittingly wrote and passed the unleashing its 60,000 domestic spies The San Bernardino killings — like No-gun zones are not only uncon- statutes, I have been arguing that the upon us with orders to disregard the those in Newtown, Connecticut; at Vir- stitutional legislative limitations on the Fourth Amendment prohibits all domes- constitutional requirements for spying ginia Tech; in Roseburg, Oregon; and natural right of people to use modern- tic spying, except that which has been on Americans and gather all the data in Paris — occurred on or near govern- day means for self-defense but also an authorized by a search warrant issued about us that they can by listening to ment property where lawful guns were invitation to disaster. And they are es- by a judge. The same amendment also phone calls and reading emails, as well banned. These no-gun zones are the tablished by local municipalities with requires that warrants be issued only as gathering the banking information, most dangerous places on the planet the consent of state governments. based on a serious level of individual- credit card information, utility bills, when a person armed to the teeth and The federal failure is born of an an- ized suspicion backed up by evidence postal mail and medical records of ev- determined to kill enters upon them. tipathy to constitutional norms and a — called probable cause — and the eryone in America, without regard to In the no-gun zone in San Bernardino reluctance to engage in meaningful hu- warrants must specifically identify the individualized suspicion. where the killings occurred, even off- man intelligence on the ground. Instead place and person to be spied upon. The government’s behavior is pre- duty or retired law enforcement person- of gathering all they can about every- mised upon the false belief that it can nel, trained and continually qualified in one, the feds should concentrate on BECAUSE THESE requirements morally and constitutionally interfere the use of firearms, and private people those about whom there is some reason- are in the Constitution, which is the with our natural right to privacy without lawfully authorized to carry handguns able belief to warrant some investiga- supreme law of the land, Congress and due process and upon the absurd belief are required to check their guns at the tion. The feds should know the neigh- the president and the courts are bound that surrendering personal liberty some- door. borhoods where the suspicious live and by them. There is no emergency or pub- how keeps us safe. Can the civilian use of guns keep us work as well as they know their own lic safety or wartime exception to them. safe? Of course it can. The police sim- computer screens. These requirements cannot be changed AS WE KNOW from the tragedy ply cannot be everywhere. Anything Even the National Security Agency by legislation; only a constitutional last week in San Bernardino, California, that diminishes the shooting-fish-in-a- itself has admitted to data overload. In amendment, ratified by the legislatures the government’s strategy and practices barrel environment of no-gun zones is 2013, the director of the NSA at the of 37 states, can do so. failed to keep us safe. The governmen- an improvement over the carnage we time, Gen. Keith Alexander, was asked All of this is what lawyers and judg- tal failure at San Bernardino was the have witnessed in them. Think about how many plots his spies had unearthed es call black letter law — meaning it is confluence of a state government with it. In every mass killing — every one in their then-seven years of spying on well-understood, has not been seriously antipathy and animosity toward the nat- of them — when someone with a gun everyone in the U.S., and he replied un- der oath, “About 54.” Then he corrected himself and amended his answer to one or two. When asked to identify them, he declined. Why weren’t a recently married cou- ple with Middle Eastern backgrounds — one of whom had been born here, the other of whom had immigrated here and achieved permanent legal residence only through marriage, both of whom recently had been stockpiling huge amounts of military-style weaponry and ammunition, both of whom had just re- ceived more than half their combined annual income in a single wire trans- fer to their joint bank account, both of whom had been practicing the use of their hardware at a gun range, one of whom had been known to hate Jewish people and had suddenly left his local mosque — generally known to the all- seeing and all-hearing NSA?

BECAUSE THE NSA has aban- doned traditional techniques of on-the- ground, in-your-face human intelligence in favor of sitting in front of computer screens. And that has produced a hay- stack of data so gigantic in size that by the time the needle of terror plotting has been found, it is often too late. December 23, 2015 29 HIGHER EDUCATION: December 15, 2015 University that doesn’t know what ‘equality’ means asn’t there a time when were it not for the university’s plea to be universities dedicated excluded legally from the requirement themselves chiefly to the of treating student applicants equally, spreadW of knowledge and wisdom, or, judging them only on merit rather than you know, to anything besides social such non-academic characteristics as engineering, cultural manipulation and leader- ship qualities, com- political postur- munity service, so- ing? cioeconomic status Yes, there William or race. That last was such a time. Murchison criterion most of “Was.” Past tense. all, perhaps. (c) 2015, Creators Syndicate We shouldn’t We have been be surprised, in here before, you this day of wallpaper politics (i.e., poli- might have noticed. We never seem tics everywhere you look), to find the as a nation to abandon completely the mighty University of Texas urging the premise that to be something is better, U.S. Supreme Court to allow it the po- for admissions purposes, than to know litical mission of “diversifying” its stu- something or to demonstrate the possi- dent body through, among other raw bility of knowing even more at the end tactics, racial discrimination. of four years. schools to use, in their selection, the col- The argument, as I say, is familiar. UT IS embroiled in a battle with the CALLING THE University of Tex- orblind process supposedly required of We have chewed over these matters courts over its claim that a “holistic” ad- as’ purposes “non-academic” doesn’t public institutions since Brown v. Board since the late 1960s, without resolu- missions policy is needed to make the cut the ice it might have prior to our cul- of Education in 1954. When colorblind- tion. Nothing the court says about the Austin campus less white, in order to ture’s embrace, in this post-civil rights ness yields the wrong result (e.g., too University of Texas will put the matter reflect changing demographics. Nobody era, of social transformation as our many whites at UT), that’s when it has to bed. The cry will continue: Discrimi- in his right mind would argue against the most important goal, one that trumps to stop and a form of socially approved nate! Discriminate! intended result — a diverse campus — even equality. Equality would compel discrimination has to commence. “To what end?” is the larger ques- tion. Social peace? That’s hardly the MEDIA BIAS: December 16, 2015 reality, when the inevitable result of intentional discrimination is resentment and anger on the part of the discrimi- nated-against. The butcher who puts his thumb on the scale in order to increase Hillary says relatives of heroes are liars his profits rarely earns the gratitude of ur news media are so over- these four brave Americans. And I did ... She said it was because of the video.” the customer. whelmingly obsequious to testify, as you know, for 11 hours. And I Smith’s uncle backed her up. But wait! Aren’t we here to redress the Democrats that Hillary answered all of these questions. Now, I Kate Quigley, the sister of Glen the awful legacy of slavery by admit- ClintonO can imply the relatives of the can’t — I can’t help it that people think Doherty, agreed: “When I think back ting to the University of Texas more Americans killed in Benghazi are liars there has to be something else there.” now to that day and what she knew, it descendants of slavery’s victims (in ad- on national TV, and no one in the press So are the relatives of these deceased shows me a lot about her character that dition to the sons and daughters of other blinks an eye or finds it newsworthy. heroes liars? she would choose in that moment to ba- races that happen to be growing demo- ABC is about to host another one sically perpetuate what she knew was graphically)? of those hide-and-seek Saturday night NONE OF the networks picked up untrue.” What’s the purpose of reducing stu- Democrat debates. There is something on this question and answer. That matches what Clinton said at dents with minds and hearts and aspi- very ironic here: It was on this network the ceremony at Andrews Air Force rations to mathematical units? Justice where she made that outrageous state- Base: “We’ve seen rage and violence Scalia, during arguments on the UT ment. Brent directed at American embassies over an case, wanted to know why students un- Bozell awful Internet video that we had noth- prepared for the rigorous atmosphere CLINTON LIED to her former ing to do with.” of a top university shouldn’t attend “a employee (and donor) George Stepha- (c) 2015, Creators Syndicate Quigley was stronger in a Boston less-advanced school” where they do nopoulos on his ABC program This radio interview: “This is a woman that better, and for his breach of political Week on Dec. 6. In his toughest ques- The Washington Post only picked up will do and say anything to get what she courtesy Scalia has been bruised and tion of the day, George told his pal, her hawkish talk about fighting ISIS, wants. I have very little respect for her. abused in the liberal press. “Some GOP rivals and family members not her attack on the Benghazi relatives. I know what she said to me and she can He was right, of course — but only of the Benghazi victims are saying you The New York Times and USA Today say all day long that she didn’t say it. partly so. He was right in that it’s hard- lied to them in the hearing. They point completely skipped any mention of her That’s her cross to bear.” ly a favor to a less-college-ready kid to to emails that you sent the night of ABC interview. These relatives can occasionally be throw him to the academic lions. He Benghazi attack, one to your daughter, The New York Post did what all of found sharing their pain and outrage in was wrong, possibly, in considering to- Chelsea Clinton, saying... ‘Two of our them should have done. They rounded interviews on Fox News and on CNN. day’s UT an academic lions’ den. officers were killed in Benghazi by an al up the relatives, who reiterated that But ABC, CBS, NBC and PBS can’t Smart people teach there; smart Qaeda-like group.’” He added that she Clinton told them as the caskets arrived find them. people study there. But they may be do- had told the Egyptian prime minister at Andrews Air Force Base on Sept. ing so in dwindling numbers, given the on a phone call on Sept. 12, 2012, “We 14, 2012 that it could be blamed on a THE SAME outlets that lionized school’s apparent commitment to things know that the attack in Libya had noth- YouTube video. Charles Woods, the fa- “peace mom” Cindy Sheehan over and apart from knowledge and wisdom, ing to do with the film.” ther of Tyrone Woods, recalled hugging over again as she trashed Bush as a “ter- things such as laughable arguments in Clinton denied ever telling the Beng- Clinton and that “she said we are going rorist” in August of 2005 stay silent. court and blatant disregard for the plain hazi relatives that it could be blamed on to have the filmmaker arrested who was Today, any grieving relative who lacer- meanings of words. an anti-Muhammad video: “No. ... I un- responsible for the death of my son.” ates Clinton is just buried in a cave like derstand the continuing grief at the loss Patricia Smith, the mother of Sean nuclear waste. BUT I WILL admit: They have a that parents experienced with the loss of Smith, said Clinton is “absolutely lying. pretty nice football stadium at UT. 30 Conservative Chronicle WOMEN IN COMBAT: December 16, 2015 Social engineering and our timid military leaders his month, President Barack cent lower aerobic power, 40 percent able than men. Servicewomen are four with unnecessary loss of lives on the Obama’s defense secretary, lower muscle strength, 47 percent less times likelier to report being ill than battlefield. Ashton Carter, decreed that lifting strength and 26 percent slower servicemen. The percentage of service- thereT will be 220,000 combat military marching speed than the average man. women being medically FINALLY, THE Selective Ser- jobs offered to women — including Women are less unavailable at any vice System’s website (http://www. n Army special operations forces and likely to be able Walter time is twice that sss.gov) reads: “While there has been the Navy SEALs. He said, “They’ll to march under of servicemen. talk recently about women in combat, be allowed to drive tanks, fire mortars load — 12.4 miles Williams Then there’s there has been NO decision to require and lead infantry soldiers into combat in five hours with (c) 2015, Creators Syndicate pregnancy. Each females to register with Selective Ser- ... and everything else that was previ- a 71-pound as- year, between 10 vice, or be subject to a future military ously open only to men.” sault load — and to be able to crawl, and 17 percent of servicewomen be- draft. Selective Service continues to Technological changes since the sprint and negotiate obstacles with come pregnant. register only men, ages 18 through time of the M60 Patton, embodied that load and move a casualty weigh- Perhaps the most dangerous as- 25.” How can that, coupled with re- in the M1 Abrams tank, mean that a ing 165 pounds or more while carrying pect of military social engineering is duced performance standards, possibly woman can probably drive a tank. But that load. the cover-up of failure. Officers who be consistent with the Defense Depart- what if track pads or a tank track has to criticize double standards or expose ment’s stated agenda “to provide a lev- be repaired in the field and under en- THERE ARE other differences be- official lies and deception about- ser el, gender-neutral playing field?” emy fire? Such repairs pose a signifi- tween male and female troops. Women vicewomen’s performance risk their cant physical challenge to men, who are twice as likely to suffer injuries careers. Those official lies and decep- generally have far greater strength and are three times more undeploy- tion will eventually reveal themselves than women. Will our military lead- ers relieve women from such a task, FOREIGN POLICY: December 10, 2015 claiming that demanding equal perfor- mance creates a “disparate,” sexually discriminatory impact?

THEN THERE’S hand-to-hand Next generation ‘duck and cover’ drills combat training, which comes near or decades I was convinced men to preserve whatever life they problem is, of course, what good do the end of the Army’s basic training. the degree I received in in- had. profits do if the whole world is march- Recruits spend a few hours facing ternational relations at Cam- Now we enter into an era in which ing toward doomsday? off against each other in pugil stick bridgeF was basically useless. After leaders of nations that have, or easily Putin still seems the less threaten- bouts. Pugil sticks are padded train- all, the Soviet Union had fallen and could have, nuclear capabilities are ing of the potential nuclear players. He ing weapons used since World War II relations with nations such as China seemingly less focused on what former comes from the old school Soviet line: by each branch of the military to train seemed to have stability, if nothing President George H. W. Bush might Bluster, but don’t press the “red but- service members for hand-to-hand else, out of mutual interests in com- have termed “that preservation thing.” ton.” rifle and bayonet combat. The object merce and trade. I never thought that What brings this all home is the But Iran is a different matter alto- of the training is to subdue your op- my grandchildren might have to learn combination of the rise of radical Is- gether. The U.S. agreement, which ponent. Women are at a severe disad- a more advanced version of the civil lamic terror, the Iran nuclear agree- seems riddled with holes and excep- vantage because upper-body strength defense training I received in elemen- ment and the recent alleged testing tions, and which in great part is weak really counts. Given the timidity and tary school. Does anyone recall the of ballistic missiles by Iran. and unverifiable for enforcement, character of today’s military leaders, “duck and cover” drills of the 1960s? has terrified other nations, Israel the I predict several possibilities: Train- most obvious among them. And with ing with pugil sticks will be banned, or AND WHILE I’ll still likely never Matt news of two alleged Iranian tests of servicewomen will train only against make a dime directly from my time Towery potentially nuclear-carrying missiles, other servicewomen, or, if the train- studying what I later thought to be which violates at least the spirit of an ing is integrated, servicemen will be out-of-date issues, such as tactical or (c) 2015, Creators Syndicate 11-year-long U.N. ban on such tests, court-martialed if they knock out or strategic nuclear theory, I can certainly confidence in the agreement is at an knock down a servicewoman. Even if attest that we are swiftly returning to What ups the ante even more is Rus- all-time low. our military leaders fudge this aspect the days where such training will once sian President Vladimir Putin’s com- If one needed any additional evi- of training, what happens in actual again be quite relevant. ments that basically boil down to say- dence of the administration’s naivety, combat when hand-to-hand skills are As a result of our nation’s current ing, “I’d rather not have to use nuclear look no further than to the statements called upon? I wouldn’t be surprised foreign policy, which to be kind I call weapons to put down ISIS, but they of a State Department spokesman, if today’s military leaders call for an naive but which could more accurately are on the table.” John Kirby, on alleged missile tests. As amendment protocol to the Geneva be labeled idiotic, we are again swiftly reported by the Associated Press, he Conventions to make the hand-to-hand approaching days when the threat of PUTIN’S SOBERING “musings” “stressed that ballistic missile activity killing of a female fighter a war crime. nuclear warfare will not only exist; it may one day be remembered as the was not a violation of the July deal,” What about other training stan- will be far more likely. moment that nukes were officially put and that the “U.S. would monitor Teh- dards? The Army’s physical fitness During the Cold War it was not a back on the table as viable weapons of ran for ‘destabilizing’ behavior.’ “ test in basic training is a three-event secret that the force that most likely war. Not too comforting from a crew physical performance test used to as- kept us all from a nuclear apocalypse I wrote in my new book, Newsvest- that dubbed ISIS the JV team, botched sess endurance. The minimum require- was the concept of mutually assured ing, that I purchased numerous defense Benghazi, claimed ISIS was contained ment for 17- to 21-year-old males is destruction. That meant, for example, stocks in 2014 and 2015 as I continued and still can’t spot radical Islamic ter- 35 pushups, 47 situps and a two-mile that if we attacked the Soviet Union to dig deep into the reaction of various ror or utter the phrase. run in 16 minutes, 36 seconds or less. they would retaliate at an equal or nations to the leaderless U.S. response For females of the same age, the mini- greater level and the ensuing retalia- to the so-called “Arab Spring” and to WITH WORLD powers muttering mum requirement is 13 pushups, 47 tions would surely destroy a great deal the Obama administration’s childlike about the use of nuclear weapons, and situps and a 19:42 two-mile run. Equal of civilization. That concept worked insistence on a nuclear agreement with with the U.S. policy so profoundly out fitness standards would wash most because, for all of the bad aspects of Iran (I’m still buying defense stocks, of touch, it regretfully might be time to women out. “USMC Women in the what Ronald Reagan called “the Evil by the way). It’s been a great way to bring those duck and cover drill films Service Restrictions Review” found Empire,” there remained a desire see my portfolio grow in an otherwise back into the classroom. that the average woman has 20 per- among its leaders and their country- sideways trading stock market. The December 23, 2015 31 IMMIGRATION: December 11, 2015 A firestorm and an establishment unhinged alling for a moratorium on primary religious and ethnic ties were Muslim immigration “until to Europe, not Africa or Asia. our country’s representatives Under FDR, Truman and JFK, this canC figure out what the he-- is going on,” was the law of the land. Donald Trump this week ignited a fire- Did this represent 40 years of fas- storm of historic proportions. cism? As all the old hate words — xeno- Why might Trump want phobe, racist, bigot a moratorium on — have lost their Muslim immigra- electric charge Pat tion? from overuse, and Buchanan Reason one: terrorism. The Ought we not explore why, before Trump was being (c) 2015, Creators Syndicate is in the cards, how many more millions called a fascist 9/11 terrorists of devout Muslims do we want inside we continue down this road? demagogue and compared to Hitler and were Muslim, as the gates? In some countries of the Muslim Mussolini. were the shoe and underwear bombers Set aside al Qaeda, ISIS and their world, Americans who embrace “Hol- The establishment seemed to have on those planes, the Fort Hood shooter, sympathizers. Among the 1.6 billion lywood values” regarding abortion, become unhinged. the Times Square bomber and the San Muslims worldwide are untold millions adultery and homosexuality, can get Bernardino killers. of followers of the Prophet who pray their heads chopped off as quickly as WHY THE hysteria? Comes the re- And as San Bernardino showed for the coming of a day when sharia is converts to Christianity. ply: Trump’s call for a temporary ban on again, Islamist terrorists are exploit- universal and the infidels, i.e., everyone In what Muslim countries does Earl Muslim immigration tramples all over ing our liberal immigration policies to else, are either converted or subjugated. Warren’s interpretation of the First “American values” and everything we come here and kill us. Amendment — about any and all reli- stand for, including the Constitution. Thus, a pause, a timeout on immi- IN NATIONS where Muslims are gious presence being banned in public But is this really true? gration from Muslim countries, until already huge majorities, where are the schools and all religions being treated The Constitution protects freedom of we fix the problem, would seem to be Jews? Where have all the Christians equally — apply? religion for U.S. citizens. But citizens simple common sense. gone? When is the next “Crusade for Next generation ‘duck and cover’ drills of foreign lands have no constitutional Second, Muslims are clearly more With ethnic and sectarian wars rag- Christ” coming to Saudi Arabia? right to migrate. And federal law gives a susceptible to the siren call of terror- ing in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Turkey, Japan has no immigration from the president broad powers in deciding who ism, and more likely to be radicalized Yemen, Libya, Nigeria and Somalia, Muslim world, nor does Israel, which comes and who does not, especially in on the Internet and in mosques than are why would we bring into our own coun- declares itself a Jewish state. Are they wartime. Christians at church or Jews at syna- try people from all sides of these mur- also fascistic? In 1924, Congress restricted immi- gogue. derous conflicts? President Obama and the guilt-be- gration from Asia, reduced the numbers Which is why we monitor mosques Many European nations — Germans, sotted West often bawl their apologies coming from southern and Central Eu- more closely than cathedrals. French, Swedes, Brits — appear to re- for the horrors of the Crusades that lib- rope, and produced a 40-year moratori- Third, according to Harvard’s late gret having thrown open their doors to erated Jerusalem. um on most immigration into the United Samuel Huntington, a “clash of civi- immigrants and refugees from the Is- Anyone heard Muslim rulers lately States. lizations” is coming between the West lamic world, who have now formed un- apologizing for Saladin, who butch- Its authors and President Coolidge and the Islamic world. Other scholars assimilated clusters and enclaves inside ered Christians to take Jerusalem back, wanted ours to remain a nation whose somberly concur. But if such a conflict their countries. or for Suleiman the Magnificent, who conquered the Christian Balkans ram- paging through Hungary all the way to the gates of Vienna? Trump’s surge this week, in the teeth of universal denunciation, suggests that a large slice of America agrees with his indictment — that our political-media establishment is dumb as a box of rocks and leading us down a path to national suicide. Trump’s success tells us that the American people really do not cel- ebrate “globalization.” They think our negotiators got snookered out of the most magnificent industrial machine ever built, which once guaranteed our workers the highest standard of living on earth. They don’t want open borders or mass immigration. They want people here illegally to be sent back, the bor- ders secured, and a moratorium im- posed on Muslim immigration until we fix the broken system.

AS FOR THE establishment, they are saying pretty much what The Donald is saying. To paraphrase Oliver Crom- well’s speech to the Rump Parliament: You have sat here too long for any good you have done here. In the name of God, go! RUSH! •NEWSPAPER• •DATED MATERIAL•

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