Monday, April 20, 2015

Major shift in Americans' opinion on guns

gun_shop

Gun rights have become a top concern for Americans.

Since the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre in Newton, Connecticut, Americans’ views of guns have gone through a shift to the point where record-high numbers of citizens now say firearms are necessary for personal protections.

Crime rate increases have in part fueled a 25-year-high, the Washington Examiner reported.

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According to a recent survey from Pew Research Center, support for gun control once soared to 66 percent, especially in the days following the Sandy Hook shooting and the concerted Obama administration effort to platform that tragedy into crackdowns on the Second Amendment. But that number is long gone.

Now, support for more gun control stands at 46 percent and gun rights, at 52 percent – the highest level in 25 years.

“We are at a moment when most Americans believe crime rates are rising and when most believe gun ownership, not gun control, makes people safer,” Pew reported.

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Fully 63 percent of Americans believe a gun is the best defense against crime, Pew found.

As the Examiner reported, the Pew numbers coincide with the National Rifle Association’s record-high participation at its national convention, and soaring membership rate of five million.

“In the 1990s, the rate of violent crimes plummeted by more than half nationwide,” Pew said. “Public perceptions tracked right along, with the share saying there was more crime in the U.S. over the past year falling from 87 percent in 1993 to just 41 percent by 2001. In the new century, however, there’s been a disconnect. A majority of Americans (63 percent) said in a Gallup survey last year that crime was on the rise, despite crime statistics holding near 20-year lows.”


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CNN’s LZ Granderson: Boy, This Group Of 2016 GOP Candidates Sure Looks Like An “Intolerant Field”…

Wow, that’s some deep, insightful, original, ground-breaking commentary that’s never been heard before… Via Newsbusters: On Sunday’s This Week, several members of the show’s political panel took some cheap shots at the GOP and CNN contributor LZ Granderson argued that the 2016 GOP presidential contenders look like an “intolerant field.” The anti-GOP discussion started with […]


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CNN’s LZ Granderson: Boy, This Group Of 2016 GOP Candidates Sure Looks Like An “Intolerant Field”…

Wow, that’s some deep, insightful, original, ground-breaking commentary that’s never been heard before… Via Newsbusters: On Sunday’s This Week, several members of the show’s political panel took some cheap shots at the GOP and CNN contributor LZ Granderson argued that the 2016 GOP presidential contenders look like an “intolerant field.” The anti-GOP discussion started with […]


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Imprisoned WaPo Reporter In Iran Charged With Four Crimes Including Espionage And “Collaborating With Hostile Governments”…

Screwed from the beginning…as everyone already knew. Via Washington Examiner: A Washington Post reporter is being charged by Iran’s Revolutionary Court with crimes that include “collaborating with hostile governments” and “propaganda against the establishment.” Jason Rezaian, who has been imprisoned in Iran since July 2014, has also been charged this week with espionage, the Post […]


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Imprisoned WaPo Reporter In Iran Charged With Four Crimes Including Espionage And “Collaborating With Hostile Governments”…

Screwed from the beginning…as everyone already knew. Via Washington Examiner: A Washington Post reporter is being charged by Iran’s Revolutionary Court with crimes that include “collaborating with hostile governments” and “propaganda against the establishment.” Jason Rezaian, who has been imprisoned in Iran since July 2014, has also been charged this week with espionage, the Post […]


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Egypt’s Grand Mufti Meeting With Leaders In Europe To Clarify Facts About “True Islam”…

“True Islam” by all definitions what Saudi Arabia practices, where the sole governing document is the Koran. The above picture showing a woman being publicly beheaded by Saudi authorities sums “true Islam” up nicely. Via Daily News Egypt: Egypt’s Grand Mufti, Shawki Allam, headed to Europe Sunday in efforts to clarify and explain the facts […]


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Egypt’s Grand Mufti Meeting With Leaders In Europe To Clarify Facts About “True Islam”…

“True Islam” by all definitions what Saudi Arabia practices, where the sole governing document is the Koran. The above picture showing a woman being publicly beheaded by Saudi authorities sums “true Islam” up nicely. Via Daily News Egypt: Egypt’s Grand Mufti, Shawki Allam, headed to Europe Sunday in efforts to clarify and explain the facts […]


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Redemption: Tim Tebow Will Get Another Shot In The NFL With The Eagles…

Love him or hate him, this man has no quit in him. Via NYT: Reports that the Philadelphia Eagles are about to sign Tim Tebow raise a host of questions: How will Tebow fare after two years away from the game? What role does Coach Chip Kelly have in mind for him? Will he be […]


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O'Malley: Republican views are 'bullsh--'

(WASHINGTONTIMES) — Former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley on Monday called the Republican Party’s economic agenda “bull****” and suggested that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton sets her agenda based on polls.

Mr. O’Malley, who is considering a Democratic run for president, said he could not find “any truth” in Republican arguments that excessive federal regulations were holding back poor and middle-class families from economic advancement.

“It is not true that regulation holds poor people down or regulation keeps middle class from advancing. That’s kind of patently bull****,” he said on NPR’s “Morning Edition.”


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Redemption: Tim Tebow Will Get Another Shot In The NFL With The Eagles…

Love him or hate him, this man has no quit in him. Via NYT: Reports that the Philadelphia Eagles are about to sign Tim Tebow raise a host of questions: How will Tebow fare after two years away from the game? What role does Coach Chip Kelly have in mind for him? Will he be […]


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Cops tackle vet who stopped flag desecration

(FOX NEWS) A U.S. veteran was detained but not charged Friday after she intervened in a university protest where demonstrators were walking on the American flag.

Cell phone video taken at Valdosta State University shows Air Force vet Michelle Manhart take the flag from protesters and refuse to return it before she is tackled and handcuffed by university police.

Bryan Llenas reported on “America’s News Headquarters” that Manhart saw a photo of the protestors disgracing the flag and repeatedly asked the university to stop them. Nothing happened, so she took action, picking the flag up off the ground where protesters were reportedly trampling it.


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Flag-flying veteran turns tables on HOA

(WBIR-TV) An East Tennessee veteran who was forced by her homeowners association to take down her flag is once again flying the stars and stripes.

“It felt like there was an empty place,” said Delia Foster, “Not only in my yard, but in my heart.”

Nine weeks ago, Foster took down the American flag and pole in her yard.


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Michael Brown memorial tree chopped down

(KMOV) — A memorial tree for Michael Brown was found cut in half and a stone memorial was missing less than 24 hours after being dedicated.

The tree was dedicated by the Black Caucus of the American Library Association on Saturday, but was found vandalized on Sunday morning.

The memorial is along a walking trail in January-Wabash Park in Ferguson.


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Concealed Carrying Uber Driver Takes Down Gunman Firing At Innocent Civilians In Chicago…

Even better ending? No chargers will be filed against the driver. Via Daily Caller: An Uber driver in Chicago with a concealed carry license defended himself and a group of pedestrians against a man who opened fire on a crowded street Friday night, a state attorney said in court on Sunday. Assistant State Attorney Barry […]


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CNN poll: Jeb has competition for president

(CNN) — With the ranks of declared 2016 presidential candidates growing, a new CNN/ORC poll finds the contests for the Democratic and Republican presidential nominations solidifying around two key points: Hillary Clinton dominates everyone on the Democratic side, while no one has broken out of the pack on the Republican side.

The recent formal entries into the Republican race by Marco Rubio, Rand Paul and Ted Cruz have stirred up the GOP field somewhat, but still, no clear leader has emerged. The new poll finds Jeb Bush has held on to the top spot among Republicans and Republican-leaning independents, but Bush’s edge is slight and there are multiple contenders for the nomination who could overtake him with just a small increase in support at the same time that some previously strong contenders have faded.

Overall, 17% of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents back Bush for the GOP nomination, while 12% support Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker. Paul and Rubio stand at 11% each, with former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee at 9% and Cruz at 7%. Former neurosurgeon Ben Carson and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, both of whom placed second in CNN/ORC polls as recently as last fall, are now well behind the leader at 4% each.


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HHS Announces An Additional $201 Million To Pay For Obamacare Navigators…

Ughhh… Via TWS: The system of federal and state “exchanges” or “marketplaces” that offer health insurance through the Affordable Care Act lean heavily on “navigators” to guide consumers in their choices. Organizations such as community health centers, legal aid societies, social service groups, church groups and even Planned Parenthood chapters have received grants in the […]


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HHS Announces An Additional $201 Million To Pay For Obamacare Navigators…

Ughhh… Via TWS: The system of federal and state “exchanges” or “marketplaces” that offer health insurance through the Affordable Care Act lean heavily on “navigators” to guide consumers in their choices. Organizations such as community health centers, legal aid societies, social service groups, church groups and even Planned Parenthood chapters have received grants in the […]


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ISIS e-book: 'How to survive in the West'

(GATEWAY PUNDIT) A “Mujahid Guide” is circulating that teaches Muslims in Western countries how to blend in:

This book is a guide for the Muslims who are living in a majority non Muslim land, or a country where the rulers are harsh towards the believers. It will explain to you the different scenarios you may get into and how to react. It will teach you how to be a secret Agent who lives a double life, something Muslims will have to do to survive in the coming years.

The book categorizes Muslims into three groups: Converts to Islam, born Muslims, and practicing Muslims. The book explains how each group should behave in order to “look more friendly” and non-threatening while, at the same time, discreetly training for operations.


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Concealed Carrying Uber Driver Takes Down Gunman Firing At Innocent Civilians In Chicago…

Even better ending? No chargers will be filed against the driver. Via Daily Caller: An Uber driver in Chicago with a concealed carry license defended himself and a group of pedestrians against a man who opened fire on a crowded street Friday night, a state attorney said in court on Sunday. Assistant State Attorney Barry […]


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Open Letter From Mother Of First Navy Seal To Die In Iraq To Gen Martin Dempsey

So many sacrificed to free Iraq, and Obama has thrown that hard-won victory and sacrifice away. Via Fox News: Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Martin Dempsey responded to reports that Ramadi, Iraq is on the verge of an Islamic State today by describing Ramadi as “not symbolic in any way.” In an open […]


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Open Letter From Mother Of First Navy Seal To Die In Iraq To Gen Martin Dempsey

So many sacrificed to free Iraq, and Obama has thrown that hard-won victory and sacrifice away. Via Fox News: Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Martin Dempsey responded to reports that Ramadi, Iraq is on the verge of an Islamic State today by describing Ramadi as “not symbolic in any way.” In an open […]


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49% now believe Muslims view U.S. as enemy

(RASMUSSENREPORTS) — The number of voters who believe terrorists are winning the fight against the United States and its allies continues to grow, while views of Muslims in general and U.S. relations with the Islamic world have worsened.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that just 29% of Likely U.S. Voters believe the United States and its allies are winning the War on Terror. That’s down from the 33% measured in March, but still above findings for most of last year. But now 39% think the terrorists are winning the war, up from 33% in the previous survey and the highest level of pessimism since the September 11, 2001 terror attacks. Twenty-five percent (25%) say neither side is winning.

Confidence in U.S. anti-terrorism efforts hit a high of 62% in February 2009 just after President Obama’s inauguration, then steadily deteriorated until the killing of Osama bin Laden in May 2011 when it rebounded into the 50s. But it had been trending steadily down for most of the past two years.


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Feds Arrest 6 In California And Minnesota As Part Of ISIS Terror Probe

Just random folk, nothing to see here… Via Fox News: Federal authorities said late Sunday that they had arrested six people in Minnesota and California in connection with an investigation into young men who have traveled or tried to travel to Syria to fight alongside ISIS. A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Minnesota […]


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Feds Arrest 6 In California And Minnesota As Part Of ISIS Terror Probe

Just random folk, nothing to see here… Via Fox News: Federal authorities said late Sunday that they had arrested six people in Minnesota and California in connection with an investigation into young men who have traveled or tried to travel to Syria to fight alongside ISIS. A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Minnesota […]


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U.S. charter flights for illegals cost millions

(WASHINGTON POST) U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement may be wasting loads of money flying illegal immigrants home on expensive but largely empty charter flights, according to federal auditors.

A recent review by the the Department of Homeland Security inspector general’s office found that better logistical planning for deportation flights could have saved ICE up to $41 million.

The watchdog agency said in a report this month that ICE spent $12 million on charter flights that were less than 40 percent full between October 2010 and March 2014.


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United won't let man fly after security tweet

WASHINGTON (AP) — United Airlines stopped a prominent security researcher from boarding a California-bound flight late Saturday, following a social media post by the researcher days earlier suggesting the airline’s onboard systems could be hacked.

The researcher, Chris Roberts, attempted to board a United flight from Colorado to San Francisco to speak at a major security conference there this week, but was stopped by the airline’s corporate security at the gate. Roberts founded One World Labs, which tries to discover security risks before they are exploited.

Roberts had been removed from an earlier United flight Wednesday by the FBI after landing in Syracuse, New York, and was questioned for four hours after jokingly suggesting on Twitter he could get the oxygen masks on the plane to deploy. Authorities also seized Roberts’ laptop and other electronics, although his lawyer says he hasn’t seen a search warrant.


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NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio In Secret Bid To Become Democratic Pick In 2016

Corrupocrat vs. Comrade in the ultimate leftist throw down… Via NY Post: Despite repeated claims to the contrary, Mayor Bill de Blasio is positioning himself to be the leftist “progressive” alternative to Wall Street-friendly Hillary Rodham Clinton as the Democratic candidate for president, a national party operative told The Post. De Blasio’s hope, the operative […]


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NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio In Secret Bid To Become Democratic Pick In 2016

Corrupocrat vs. Comrade in the ultimate leftist throw down… Via NY Post: Despite repeated claims to the contrary, Mayor Bill de Blasio is positioning himself to be the leftist “progressive” alternative to Wall Street-friendly Hillary Rodham Clinton as the Democratic candidate for president, a national party operative told The Post. De Blasio’s hope, the operative […]


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2014 – Year Of The Big Fat Union Boss

Fat pockets filled by fleecing the faithful followers. Via Fox News: Union bosses known for bashing the rich are often millionaires themselves, paid with dues taken from workers’ paychecks. Laborers’ International Union of North America president Terry O’Sullivan, who was paid $670,403 in 2014, slammed Charles and David Koch and other critics of big government […]


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Police accused of cover-up in violent death

(CBS NEWS) Baltimore’s mayor promised accountability Monday following the death of a man in police custody.

Cell phone video shows the moments after Freddie Gray was arrested. He died Sunday, a week after his arrest. Lawyers say his spine was nearly severed.

CBS News correspondent Mark Albert reports his lawyers accuse police of covering up what happened.


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2014 – Year Of The Big Fat Union Boss

Fat pockets filled by fleecing the faithful followers. Via Fox News: Union bosses known for bashing the rich are often millionaires themselves, paid with dues taken from workers’ paychecks. Laborers’ International Union of North America president Terry O’Sullivan, who was paid $670,403 in 2014, slammed Charles and David Koch and other critics of big government […]


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Cruz takes 2nd Amendment fight to military bases

(POLITICO) LITCHFIELD, N.H.—Appealing to New Hampshire’s powerful gun culture, Sen. Ted Cruz said Sunday that he’s “pressing” Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain to hold hearings on whether soldiers should be allowed to carry their own concealed firearms onto military bases.

“I am very concerned about that policy,” the Texas senator told 120 gun owners at a hunting club here, before taking a trip to a firing range for some target practice. “I think it’s very important to have a public discussion about why we’re denying our soldiers the ability to exercise their Second Amendment rights.”

Defense Department leaders oppose relaxing the ban, which was enacted under George H.W. Bush.


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Latest White House Intruder Arrested After Climbing Fence With Suspicious Package

Via Fox News: An intruder carrying a suspicious package was arrested late Sunday after climbing the White House fence. Secret Service spokesman Brian Leary told Fox News that the fence-climber was immediately taken into custody by uniformed officers. The incident took place at around 10:25 p.m. on the south side of the White House complex. […]


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Latest White House Intruder Arrested After Climbing Fence With Suspicious Package

Via Fox News: An intruder carrying a suspicious package was arrested late Sunday after climbing the White House fence. Secret Service spokesman Brian Leary told Fox News that the fence-climber was immediately taken into custody by uniformed officers. The incident took place at around 10:25 p.m. on the south side of the White House complex. […]


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Empty Chairs Honor 168 Victims Killed In OKC Bombing 20 Years Ago

R.I.P. Via NY Post: Every day when Dr. Rosslyn Biggs goes to work as a federal government veterinarian she is reminded of her mother, one of 168 people killed in the Oklahoma City bombing and honored Sunday on the 20th anniversary of the deadliest terrorist attack on U.S. soil until Sept. 11, 2001. Biggs has […]


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Empty Chairs Honor 168 Victims Killed In OKC Bombing 20 Years Ago

R.I.P. Via NY Post: Every day when Dr. Rosslyn Biggs goes to work as a federal government veterinarian she is reminded of her mother, one of 168 people killed in the Oklahoma City bombing and honored Sunday on the 20th anniversary of the deadliest terrorist attack on U.S. soil until Sept. 11, 2001. Biggs has […]


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Obama Drops Earth Day Bombshell: “This Is The Only Planet We’ve Got”…

“Wait, this is our only planet?” … said hundreds of Obamabots.


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3 shot in Chicago, city of gun control

RahmEmanuel

Rahm Emanuel

Two men, 35 and 24, and a woman, 22, were shot and wounded Monday morning about a block from the University of Chicago’s Hyde Park campus, the latest in a spate of shootings in the city that have left 32 killed and injured.

Chicago has some of the toughest gun-control laws in the nation, but that hasn’t kept the criminal element from firing off weapons with alarming frequency. Between Sunday afternoon and Monday morning, 14 people were shot and wounded in the city, the Chicago Tribune reported, citing police statistics.

All you ever needed to know about guns and gun rights – right from the WND Superstore

In the latest, the three victims were sitting in their vehicle by an alley when a gunman approached and fired, said Hector Alfaro, a spokesman for the city’s police department. The victims were injured, but still ran into a nearby parking garage and were then transported to nearby hospitals, the newspaper said.

The woman was considered in serious condition from abdomen and chest wounds.

“The motive for the shooting is unknown and there is no suspect information at this time,” a security alert from the school stated.

Among the 14 wounded since Sunday, three were shot in the same area, the Chicago Tribune said. And go back to Friday, and the gun-related crime statistics soar higher.

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Between Friday morning and Monday morning, four people in Chicago were killed by gunfire, and 32 wounded, police reported.

Nobody has been arrested for the shootings, the newspaper reported.

Up until January 2014, when a federal court ruled it unconstitutional, Chicago banned gun sales in the city. Then-Mayor Rahm Emanuel, a staunch gun control advocate, responded to that court ruling by proposing a slate of other Second Amendment crackdowns – namely, to ban gun shops from operating within city boundaries and to limit buyers to one purchase per month.

The gun control and anti-violence measures don’t seem to be working well.

As WND previously reported, the murder toll in the city between 2003 and 2011 – much of it from gun-related violence – surpassed the death count of U.S. military members killed in Afghanistan’s Operation Enduring Freedom.

At the time of the analysis, 2,166 U.S. forces were killed in Operation Enduring Freedom, which began in late 2001 and ranged for more than 11 years. By comparison, 4,265 people were murdered in Chicago between 2003 and 2011.

Specifically, 3,371 were killed from guns, the statistics showed.


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Obama Drops Earth Day Bombshell: “This Is The Only Planet We’ve Got”…

“Wait, this is our only planet?” … said hundreds of Obamabots.


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Hollywood Moonbat Cher Blames California Drought . . . On Fracking!…

Another thought-provoking tweet from our favorite caps lock key-challenged escaped mental patient.


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Hollywood Moonbat Cher Blames California Drought . . . On Fracking!…

Another thought-provoking tweet from our favorite caps lock key-challenged escaped mental patient.


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Hillary Ad Touts Gay Support: “I Was Like, ‘That’s Our Gal'”…

Team Pant Suits found a gay man complete with the stereotypical gay mustache to tout her diversity credentials:


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Hillary Ad Touts Gay Support: “I Was Like, ‘That’s Our Gal'”…

Team Pant Suits found a gay man complete with the stereotypical gay mustache to tout her diversity credentials:


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ISIS To Christians: “You Will Not Have Safety Until You Accept Islam”…

Update to this story. Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, shows approximately 30 Ethiopians, who they identified as “followers of the cross,” being massacred in Libya. The 29-minute video, entitled “Until It Came To Them—Clear Evidence,” begins with what is called a history of relations between Muslims and Christians, followed by footage of Islamists destroying churches, smashing gravesites […]


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ISIS To Christians: “You Will Not Have Safety Until You Accept Islam”…

Update to this story. Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, shows approximately 30 Ethiopians, who they identified as “followers of the cross,” being massacred in Libya. The 29-minute video, entitled “Until It Came To Them—Clear Evidence,” begins with what is called a history of relations between Muslims and Christians, followed by footage of Islamists destroying churches, smashing gravesites […]


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OMG! She’s Just Like Us! Pant Suits Takes A Selfie With Everyday American…

Hillary better back off with the selfies, that’s Obama turf.


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OMG! She’s Just Like Us! Pant Suits Takes A Selfie With Everyday American…

Hillary better back off with the selfies, that’s Obama turf.


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British “Champion of Sharia” Takes Entire Family To Join ISIS In Syria…

Via The Independent: A British Muslim father feared to be travelling to Syria with his young family is a “champion for shariah” law who used to be a member of the banned extremist group al-Mujahiroun, it has been claimed. Asif Malik, 31, his partner Sara Kiran, 29, and their four children have not been seen […]


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British “Champion of Sharia” Takes Entire Family To Join ISIS In Syria…

Via The Independent: A British Muslim father feared to be travelling to Syria with his young family is a “champion for shariah” law who used to be a member of the banned extremist group al-Mujahiroun, it has been claimed. Asif Malik, 31, his partner Sara Kiran, 29, and their four children have not been seen […]


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Six arrested in U.S. for ISIS ties

Six men were arrested in Minnesota and California on suspicions they tried to travel to Syria to fight with ISIS.

A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Minnesota said there is no threat to the public, but declined to release further details about the arrests, Fox News reported.

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Authorities said three of the men who were arrested in Minneapolis were actually known by police, in part because they had traveled with a fourth man – 19-year-old Hamza Ahmed – to New York a few months ago with plans to head on to Syria. All four were stopped at JFk Internatinoal Airport, and Ahmed was soon after indicted for lying to the FBI on a terror-related investigation, and for plotting to provide aid to ISIS.

He’s pleaded not guilty, Fox News reported. But his colleagues were since put under watch.

The FBI said in an affidavit the men just arrested were all between the ages of 19 and 20.

isis-christian-slaughter-shore-600

ISIS terrorists walk Christians to their death.

Federal authorities are planning a news conference Monday to give further details.

The news of the arrests comes as ISIS terrorists just circulated a video of beheadings of Christians in Ethiopia.


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Sunday, April 19, 2015

ISIS Guide On How To Hide Under The Radar In The West As You Prepare For Jihad

Via PJ Media: A guide for jihadists in the West issued by ISIS late last month urges followers to train with Nerf guns and watch Bourne films as part of their under-the-radar preparation for terrorist attacks. “Many Muslims are putting alot of effort into showing the world that we are peaceful citizens, we’re spending thousands […]




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Princeton prof: Kill severely disabled infants under Obamacare

cute-baby-surprised


In a radio interview that aired Sunday, Princeton University ethics professor Peter Singer argued it is “reasonable” for government or private insurance companies to deny treatment to severely disabled babies.


Singer contended the health-care system under Obamacare should be more overt about rationing and that the country should acknowledge the necessity of “intentionally ending the lives of severely disabled infants.”


Throughout the interview, Singer repeatedly referred to a disabled infant as “it.”


Singer was speaking on the “Aaron Klein Investigative Radio” broadcast on New York’s AM 970 The Answer and Philadelphia’s NewsTalk 990 AM.


The Princeton professor is known for his controversial views on abortion and infanticide. He essentially argues the right to life is related to a being’s capacity for intelligence and to hold life preferences, which in turn is directly related to a capacity to feel and comprehend pain and pleasure.


Klein’s interview with Singer started out on the topic of the professor’s new book about charity, “The Most Good You Can Do: How Effective Altruism Is Changing Ideas About Living Ethically.”


The conversation turned to the issue of terminating disabled infants when Klein asked whether the Singer believes health-care rationing under Obamacare will become more prevalent.


Peter Singer

Peter Singer



Singer told Klein rationing is already happening, explaining doctors and hospitals routinely make decisions based on costs.


“It’s different in the U.S. system, in a way, because it doesn’t do this overtly; maybe it doesn’t do it as much. And the result is it spends about twice as much on health care as some other countries for very little extra benefit in terms of the outcome.”


Klein quoted from a section of Singer’s 1993 treatise “Practical Ethics,” titled “Taking Life: Humans.”


In the section, Singer argued for the morality of “non-voluntary euthanasia” for human beings not capable of understanding the choice between life and death, including “severely disabled infants, and people who through accident, illness, or old age have permanently lost the capacity to understand the issue involved.”


For Singer, the wrongness of killing a human being is not based on the fact that the individual is alive and human. Instead, Singer argued it is “characteristics like rationality, autonomy, and self-consciousness that make a difference.”


Asked whether he envisions denying treatment to disabled infants to become more common in the U.S. under the new health-care law, Singer replied: “It does happen. Not necessarily because of costs.”


He continued:



If an infant is born with a massive hemorrhage in the brain that means it will be so severely disabled that if the infant lives it will never even be able to recognize its mother, it won’t be able to interact with any other human being, it will just lie there in the bed and you could feed it but that’s all that will happen, doctors will turn off the respirator that is keeping that infant alive.


I don’t know whether they are influenced by reducing costs. Probably they are just influenced by the fact that this will be a terrible burden for the parents to look after, and there will be no quality of life for the child.


So we are already taking steps that quite knowingly and intentionally are ending the lives of severely disabled infants.


And I think we ought to be more open in recognizing that this happens.



Klein followed up by asking whether the killing of severely disabled infants should be institutionalized to reduce health-care costs.


Asked Klein: “I know that it happens and it happens certainly if the family gives consent. But do you think in the future in order to ensure a more fair rationing of health-care and health-care costs, that it should actually be instituted more? The killing of severely disabled babies?”


Singer responded such a plan would be “quite reasonable” if it saved money that can be used for better purposes. He contended that most people would say they don’t want their premiums to be higher “so that infants who can experience zero quality of life can have expensive treatments.”


Singer’s full response:



I think if you had a health-care system in which governments were trying to say, “Look, there are some things that don’t provide enough benefits given the costs of those treatments. And if we didn’t do them we would be able to do a lot more good for other people who have better prospects,” then yes.


I think it would be reasonable for governments to say, “This treatment is not going to be provided on the national health service if it’s a country with a national health service. Or in the United States on Medicare or Medicade.”


And I think it will be reasonable for insurance companies also to say, “You know, we won’t insure you for this or we won’t insure you for this unless you are prepared to pay an extra premium, or perhaps they have a fund with lower premiums for people who don’t want to insure against that.”


Because I think most people, when they think about that, would say that’s quite reasonable. You know, I don’t want my health insurance premiums to be higher so that infants who can experience zero quality of life can have expensive treatments.





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ISIS Guide On How To Hide Under The Radar In The West As You Prepare For Jihad

Via PJ Media: A guide for jihadists in the West issued by ISIS late last month urges followers to train with Nerf guns and watch Bourne films as part of their under-the-radar preparation for terrorist attacks. “Many Muslims are putting alot of effort into showing the world that we are peaceful citizens, we’re spending thousands […]




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Carlos Danger (Anthony Weiner) Discusses Clinton Scooby Van Tour…

I foresee a job for him as a political analyst on CNN. Via Politico When it came to perspective on the media’s treatment of Hillary Clinton’s campaign launch, CNN turned to someone who knows a thing about the power of the press, former Rep. Anthony Weiner. “I kind of like the idea to some degree […]




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Carlos Danger (Anthony Weiner) Discusses Clinton Scooby Van Tour…

I foresee a job for him as a political analyst on CNN. Via Politico When it came to perspective on the media’s treatment of Hillary Clinton’s campaign launch, CNN turned to someone who knows a thing about the power of the press, former Rep. Anthony Weiner. “I kind of like the idea to some degree […]




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Nice To Be Royalty: Michelle Obama Takes Mother To Mario Batali Restaurant Brunch In New York

Via Daily Mail: Mother’s Day is still three weeks away, but Michelle Obama didn’t need an excuse to treat her mom on Saturday. Enjoying a perfect spring day in New York City, the First Lady and ‘Grandmother-in-chief’, Marian Robinson, had a mother-daughter bonding lunch in Greenwich Village. The two sat down for a meal at […]




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Nice To Be Royalty: Michelle Obama Takes Mother To Mario Batali Restaurant Brunch In New York

Via Daily Mail: Mother’s Day is still three weeks away, but Michelle Obama didn’t need an excuse to treat her mom on Saturday. Enjoying a perfect spring day in New York City, the First Lady and ‘Grandmother-in-chief’, Marian Robinson, had a mother-daughter bonding lunch in Greenwich Village. The two sat down for a meal at […]




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Clinton Schedules First “Hillstarter”Fundraisers At Private Homes…

Everyday Americans can send checks. Via BuzzFeed Hillary Clinton is trying to keep her presidential campaign small, low-key, and home-grown: There will be no rallies, no massive crowds, no ropelines. But she’ll still need to raise money at a staggering rate. Clinton will attend the first fundraisers of the campaign later this month. There will […]




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Clinton Schedules First “Hillstarter”Fundraisers At Private Homes…

Everyday Americans can send checks. Via BuzzFeed Hillary Clinton is trying to keep her presidential campaign small, low-key, and home-grown: There will be no rallies, no massive crowds, no ropelines. But she’ll still need to raise money at a staggering rate. Clinton will attend the first fundraisers of the campaign later this month. There will […]




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Cruz: If Terrorists Attacked A Golf Course, That Might Get The White House’s Attention

Cruz: If Terrorists Attacked A Golf Course, That Might Get The White House’s Attention

Waiting List For Legal Immigrants Surges To 4.4 Million…

Dreamers have priority. Via Washington Examiner While the administration struggles to move forward with its plan to grant amnesty to illegal immigrants, the list of foreigners trying to get into the United States legally has surged to 4.4 million, over 100,000 more than last year, according to the State Department. Those on the list either […]




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The Shot Heard ‘Round The World- 240 Years Ago Today, The American Revolution Began….

“Let it begin here”. Via History: At about 5 a.m., 700 British troops, on a mission to capture Patriot leaders and seize a Patriot arsenal, march into Lexington to find 77 armed minutemen under Captain John Parker waiting for them on the town’s common green. British Major John Pitcairn ordered the outnumbered Patriots to disperse, […]




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Waiting List For Legal Immigrants Surges To 4.4 Million…

Dreamers have priority. Via Washington Examiner While the administration struggles to move forward with its plan to grant amnesty to illegal immigrants, the list of foreigners trying to get into the United States legally has surged to 4.4 million, over 100,000 more than last year, according to the State Department. Those on the list either […]




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from Tumblr http://lisahcnease.tumblr.com/post/116853317882

The Shot Heard ‘Round The World- 240 Years Ago Today, The American Revolution Began….

“Let it begin here”. Via History: At about 5 a.m., 700 British troops, on a mission to capture Patriot leaders and seize a Patriot arsenal, march into Lexington to find 77 armed minutemen under Captain John Parker waiting for them on the town’s common green. British Major John Pitcairn ordered the outnumbered Patriots to disperse, […]




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from Tumblr http://lisahcnease.tumblr.com/post/116853317077

The deadly truth: ISIS and Mexican drug gangs

U.S.-Mexico border

U.S.-Mexico border



TEL AVIV – While U.S. government agencies have strongly denied a Judicial Watch report claiming there are ISIS camps near the U.S. border with Mexico, lawmakers have expressed fears the global jihadist organization is linking up with deadly Mexican drug cartels.


Such a partnership would not only help to facilitate the smuggling of jihadists into the U.S. but could ultimately translate into a devastating terrorist attack on American soil, such as an Electro Magnetic Pulse, or EMP, catastrophe.


The U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Northern Command and the Texas Department of Public Safety all have denied the April 14 Judicial Watch report citing unnamed “sources that include a Mexican Army field grade officer and a Mexican Federal Police Inspector.”


The sources claimed ISIS “has established its base is around eight miles from the U.S. border in an area known as ‘Anapra’ situated just west of Ciudad Juárez in the Mexican state of Chihuahua.”


Judicial Watch further reported on an ISIS camp west of Juarez, which the organization said was planning to attack towns in New Mexico.


Rep. Beto O’Rourke, D-Texas, said he contacted the Mexican government, DHS and the U.S. Northern Command, all of whom told him they have no intelligence indicating ISIS is operating on the U.S.-Mexico border. O’Rourke represents the border city of El Paso and the surrounding area.


The free WND special report “ISIS Rising,” by Middle East expert and former Department of Defense analyst Michael Maloof, will answer your questions about the jihadist army threatening the West.


“Stories like these are good at scaring people and getting attention for those who spread them,” wrote O’Rourke on his Facebook page. “But they are terrible for the country’s image of the border, for El Paso’s ability to recruit talent, and for our region’s opportunity to capitalize on the benefits of being the largest bi-national community in the world.”


Department of Public Safety Deputy Director Robert J. Bodisch also denied the Judicial Watch claims.


“The Department of Public Safety and it’s intelligence community partners have no such credible information to corroborate or validate this today,” Bodisch wrote in an agency memo.


It’s not the first Judicial Watch report claiming ISIS was using Mexico as a base to stage attacks in the U.S.


Last August, the watchdog reported “Islamic terrorist groups are operating in the Mexican border city of Ciudad Juarez and planning to attack the United States with car bombs or other vehicle borne improvised explosive devices,” citing anonymous “high-level federal law enforcement, intelligence and other sources.”


In a report that made headlines last October, two Republican lawmakers told BuzzFeed that suspected terrorists had infiltrated the U.S.–Mexico border and as many as 10 jihadists were captured. The DHS at the time denied the claims.


Numerous U.S. lawmakers have repeatedly warned about ISIS teaming up with drug cartels.


In October, Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., warned in a town hall conversation that “groups like the Islamic State collaborate with drug cartels in Mexico who have clearly shown they’re willing to expand outside the drug trade into human trafficking and potentially even terrorism.”


“They could infiltrate our defenseless border and attack us right here in places like Arkansas.”


Cotton was likely referencing the Judicial Watch report.


In August, Rep. Ted Poe, R-Texas, a member of the House Judiciary Committee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security, was asked on Newmax TV’s “America’s Forum” whether there was an ISIS-Mexican drug cartel connection.


“My opinion is yes,” he replied. “There seems to be at least a talking to each other. How much? I don’t know. But … drug cartels use the same operational plan as terrorist groups do. They kill their opponents, they behead their opponents, they brag about it and they have operational control of many portions of the southern border of the United States. Mexico doesn’t.


“The United States doesn’t,” he continued. “Otherwise they wouldn’t be crossing daily with their drugs. They’re as vicious as some of these other terrorist organizations. We need to recognize them that this is an organized international crime group. And we have to deal with them as such.”


The reports of terrorists trying to cross the U.S.-Mexico border also took center stage during the 2012 presidential campaign, when candidates Rick Perry and Mitt Romney both warned terrorists infiltrating via Mexico posed a significant threat to U.S. national security.


Texas’s O’Rourke, however, was the public face of the Democrats in responding to those claims. He stated Republicans were simply trying to gin up opposition to immigration reform.


“There’s a longstanding history in this country of projecting whatever fears we have onto the border,” stated O’Rourke.


“In the absence of understanding the border, they insert their fears. Before it was Iran and al-Qaida. Now it’s ISIS. They just reach the conclusion that invasion is imminent, and it never is.”


Electrical grid


If terrorists are teaming up with Mexican drug cartels, the implications could be cataclysmic.


Not only do Mexican drug gangs maintain sophisticated smuggling routes, some of the more dangerous Mexican group have evidenced guerrilla-like tactics already used in terrorist-style attacks.


On Oct. 27, 2013, for example, the criminal drug cartel known as the Knights Templars attacked electrical facilities and blacked out Mexico’s Michoacan state, which boasts a population of 420,000. During the blackout, the Knights Templars reportedly entered towns and villages at will, terrorized the citizens and police, and publicly executed leaders opposed to the drug trade.


In an attack still largely unexplained, on April 16, 2013, a sophisticated assault was carried out on PG&E Corp’s Metcalf Transmission Substation outside of San Jose, California, which supplies power to San Francisco and other areas. A team of gunmen fired sniper and assault rifles on the substation, severely damaging 17 transformers.


Peter Pry, executive director of the Task Force on National and Homeland Security and director of the U.S. Nuclear Strategy Forum, believes the assault could have been part of a terrorist group’s preparation for a future attack on the U.S. electrical grid.


Jon Wellinghoff, the former chairman of the U.S. agency responsible for grid security, also warned that the Metcalf attack was likely a dry run for a future large-scale attack.


On the same day as the Metcalf assault, North Korea flew its KSM-3 satellite on the optimum trajectory and altitude to evade U.S. radars and carry out a potential EMP attack drill.


Networks within U.S. cities


An ISIS-Mexican drug cartel alliance could cause pandemonium in U.S. cities. Mexican drug cartels have established major networks within the U.S.


Earlier this month it was reported that federal agents arrested 976 suspected gang members across scores of American cities in a large-scale operation in February and March. The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency said 199 of those arrested were foreign nationals.


Criminal street gangs are responsible for the majority of violent crimes within the U.S. and are the primary distributors of most illicit drugs, according to a previous report by the Justice Department’s National Drug Intelligence Center, or NDIC.


The NDIC was a task force established in 1993 to coordinate law enforcement actions to stop drug trafficking and to curb the growing threat of violent gangs in the U.S. The agency was closed by the Obama administration in June 2011.


In October 2011, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement reported that in 2009 and 2010 it arrested 5,270 illegal alien gang members across all 50 states.


A 2011 FBI report draws a far dimmer picture of the nature of criminal gangs operating domestically. According to the FBI, criminal street gangs – mostly comprised of illegal aliens – are acquiring high-powered, military-style weapons to engage in lethal encounters with law enforcement members and citizens alike.


States the report: “There are an estimated 1.4 million active street, prison and outlaw motorcycle gang members in more than 33,000 gangs operating in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.”


The report notes those numbers reflect an increase from 2009 figures due “primarily to more comprehensive reporting from law enforcement and enhanced gang recruiting efforts.”


The FBI report further warns that gang members are acquiring high-powered, military-style weapons and equipment, which, the report says, poses “a significant threat because of the potential to engage in lethal encounters with law enforcement and citizens alike.”


In July 2014, WND reported the risk of ISIS infiltrating from Mexico, perhaps with the help of drug gangs.


WND senior staff writer Michael Maloof, a U.S. Defense Department analyst under President Bush, warned ISIS could use the Mexican border to infiltrate America, and it could happen “sooner rather than later.”


“MS-13 already are in over 1,100 U.S. cities, and, as a consequence, the infiltration capabilities are very, very high and the threat from them can be sooner rather than later,” Maloof warned at the time.




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Reagan Shooter Living In A Gated Community As Part Of Staged Release From Prison

Unfortunately, he wasn’t there when Obama visited in 2012. Via WIS The last man to shoot an American president now spends most of the year in a house overlooking the 13th hole of a golf course in a gated community. He takes long walks along tree-lined paths, plays guitar and paints, grabs fast food at […]




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Reagan Shooter Living In A Gated Community As Part Of Staged Release From Prison

Unfortunately, he wasn’t there when Obama visited in 2012. Via WIS The last man to shoot an American president now spends most of the year in a house overlooking the 13th hole of a golf course in a gated community. He takes long walks along tree-lined paths, plays guitar and paints, grabs fast food at […]




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Saudi Arabia: U.S. ally or radical financier of terror?

The intricate Henna adorning many Middle Eastern women are considered both stylish and an example of femininity (Photo: Anthony C. LoBaido)

The intricate Henna adorning many Middle Eastern women is considered both stylish and an example of femininity (Photo: Anthony C. LoBaido)



(Editor’s Note: In 2014, journalist Anthony C. LoBaido traveled to Saudi Arabia and other nations in the region. During this time, he explored Arabic and Islamic culture and art, studied Shariah law, Sufism, as well as the Arabic language and calligraphy. This is the first installment of his new series “Arabiana.” In Part I, LoBaido investigates Saudi Arabia’s alleged links to terrorism, planned procurement of nuclear weapons from Pakistan , the Wahhabi branch of Islam, and Saudi Arabia’s treatment of Christians, amongst other issues.)


DHAHRAN, Saudi Arabia – Saudi Arabia is in the news – from the bombing of the Shia Houthis in Yemen to a not-so-delicate dance with ISIS to Riyadh’s quest to fund nuclear weapons research, development and procurement with Pakistan.


Freedom House claims Saudi Arabia is one of the least free nations on Earth. In this country of 30 million people (60 percent of whom are under the age of 30), there are no political parties, no elections, precious few rights for women and summary, public executions.


As such, some are openly beginning to question if the kingdom of Saudi Arabia is truly an ally of the United States. Consider that close relations date back to President Franklin Roosevelt. Also consider how the use of the Saudi-centric petrodollar ensures a global demand for U.S. currency, while allowing the U.S. to ostensibly export its inflation. Some wonder if, like North Korea, Saudi Arabia ranks amongst the world’s greatest persecutors of Christians. One might forgive observers for seeing Saudi Arabia as “North Korea with sand and oil” – a nation led by an almost “god-like leader” who holds exceptional sway over the citizenry.


Saudi Arabia is now being re-examined as an outpost of terrorism – ranging from the breeding ground of the agents of Sept. 11, to assisting the de facto rise of Da’ish or “ISIS” in a Sunni versus Shiite fight to the death. Yet others believe ISIS is engaged in a terminal battle with Saudi Arabia, since all of the Gulf monarchies stand in the way of ISIS’ agenda of establishing a universal caliphate.


Recently the U.S. had to shut down the embassy in Riyadh, and it issued a warning on March 13, 2015, that Western oil company workers were in danger of being kidnapped by terrorist groups. (Several attacks with guns and knives have occurred against foreigners.)


Saudi Arabia sits at the crossroads of the world and holds tremendous geopolitical significance.

Saudi Arabia sits at the crossroads of the world and holds tremendous geopolitical significance.



Critics claim Saudi Arabia’s new King Salman has been a long-time financier of jihadist groups, and that his reach extends to “Charlie Wilson’s War,” “Black Hawk Down” and beyond. These allegations continue to proliferate, although his defenders claim King Salman is merely a nice, harmless man who could easily be anyone’s amiable grandfather. His most zealous supporters believe critics should simply leave him, all of the Saudi princes, and the entire nation out of the debate about global terrorism, global terror financial networks and leadership decapitation.


Yet the critics feel there’s something not quite right – something going on inside Saudi Arabia that isn’t quite kosher.


Former British Intelligence agent Alastair Crooke writes (quoting French scholar Giles Kepel), “With the advent of the oil bonanza … Saudi goals were to ‘reach out and spread Wahhabism across the Muslim world’ … to ‘Wahhabize’ Islam, thereby reducing the ‘multitude of voices within the religion’ to a ‘single creed’ – a movement which would transcend national divisions. Billions of dollars were – and continue to be – invested in this manifestation of soft power.”


Crooke added:



“Wahhabism was forcefully changed from a movement of revolutionary jihad and theological takfiri purification, to a movement of conservative social, political, theological, and religious da’wa (Islamic call) and to justifying the institution that upholds loyalty to the royal Saudi family and the King’s absolute power (emphasis added).


“ISIS … forcefully denies the Saudis’ claim of authority to rule. [Yet] … Today, ISIS’ undermining of the legitimacy of the King’s legitimacy is not seen to be problematic, but rather a return to the true origins of the Saudi-Wahhab project” (emphasis added).



The religious pilgrimages to Saudi Arabia's holiest sites have come under increased scrutiny as a possible means for collecting financial support for jihadist and terrorist operations.

The religious pilgrimages to Saudi Arabia’s holiest sites have come under increased scrutiny as a possible means for collecting financial support for jihadist and terrorist operations.



With regard to Prince Bandar, the former Saudi ambassador to the U.S., Steve Clemons of the Atlantic writes, “ISIS, in fact, may have been a major part of Bandar’s covert-ops strategy in Syria.”


Recently, Patrick Buchanan, a noted writer who served both Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan, and almost won the Republican presidential nomination in 1996, wrote, “The Shiite majority in Bahrain, where the U.S. Fifth Fleet is berthed, will one day dominate that Gulf state. And the Shiites in oil-rich northeast Saudi Arabia will one day rise up against Riyadh” (emphasis added).


Buchanan also wrote, “John Kerry said he might talk with Syria’s Bashar Assad, and was denounced by the Saudis. The State Department backed off. But who are the Saudis to be telling us to whom we may talk when coping with the Islamic State?”


Mr. Buchanan succinctly addresses Saudi Arabia’s complex relations with ISIS as he states:


“As Joe Biden said at Harvard a while back, the Turks, the Saudis and the Emiratis provided much of the money and arms that initially fueled the Nusra Front (al-Qaida) and ISIS in Syria. Biden was forced to apologize for having told the truth (emphasis added). But if Assad falls, then the Nusra Front or ISIS comes to power, a strategic disaster for the United States, followed by a slaughter of Christians that could drag America back into yet another land war.


“If NATO’s Turkey, Israel, and the Gulf Arabs prefer Sunni Islamists in Damascus to an Alawite regime with which we have coexisted for 40 years, then President Obama is right to move us away from our old allies. U.S. national interests come first. Yet, a choice between Hezbollah and the Nusra Front, ISIS and the Shiite militias, al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula and the Houthi rebels, is a Hobbesian trap that is a conclusive argument for keeping U.S. troops out of this war of all against all in the Middle East.”


In the company of men


Saudi Arabia isn’t overly concerned about how its human rights record is perceived by the United Nations or other supranational and non-state actors like Open Doors and Amnesty International. The ability to put the gorgeous princess Ameera in front of the cameras to talk about Saudi Arabia puts forward a more positive portrait of the nation as perception is reality:


Saudi Arabia can be viewed as an actual nation-state or as an artificially created state midwifed by men like the fabled Lawrence of Arabia, British diplomat Harry St. John Philby and Stanford University graduate Max Steineke. The latter was a prominent geologist with Saudi Aramco.


Crooke writes, “Philby’s vision was not confined to state-building in the conventional way, but rather was one of transforming the wider Islamic ummah (or community of believers) into a Wahhabist instrument that would entrench the al-Saud as Arabia’s leaders. And for this to happen, Aziz needed to win British acquiescence (and much later, American endorsement).”


There are those who believe Saudi Aramco is the machine that keeps Saudi Arabia humming. (The wealth of the company has been estimated between $10 and $36 trillion.) If that’s the case, could we not at least on some level think of Saudi Arabia as a “company” rather than as a “country”? Big oil and transnational corporations are often derided in leftist American culture as comic-book variety boogeymen. Yet they are also a source of wealth creation, soft power, stability and the spreading of American and transnational culture. Critics will disagree.


It can be fairly argued that without Saudi Aramco, postmodern Saudi Arabia would not have attained its geostrategic importance in the fields of energy, finance and military cooperation. And without the crafty intelligence of those who run Saudi Aramco, and protect its brand and image, the company would not have risen to, and maintained the status of, a Goliath rivaling the British East India Company that turned India in the crown jewel of the British Empire.


Saudi Aramco has been described as a shadowy entity not unlike an intelligence agency. It has been called “The Stanford of companies.” You may have even heard the rumor that Saudi Aramco owns and operates two private airports inside the United States – the only private organization allowed by the FAA to do so.


Stanford University graduate Max Steineke (class of 1921) has become immortalized for his maverick and dedicated geological research. (Photo: Anthony C. LoBaido)

Stanford University graduate Max Steineke (class of 1921) has become immortalized for his maverick and dedicated geological research. (Photo: Anthony C. LoBaido)



How should those who hold truth as precious view America’s relations with Saudi Arabia? Perhaps the situation can be likened to a gigantic multidimensional jigsaw puzzle where multiple realities are all simultaneously coexisting. There’s always that looping cul de sac that leads one to ask what’s at the core of Saudi Arabia’s national character.


One cannot help but to be reminded of the HBO series, “True Detective,” in which actor Matthew McConaughey, while in the midst of investigating a series of ritual, Satanic murders in the swamps of Louisiana says, “All your love, all your hate, all your memories, all your pain – it was all the same thing. It was all the same dream, a dream that you had inside a locked room … and like a lot of dreams, there’s a monster at the end of it.”


If you’re asking who these people are exactly at their inner core, then filling in the vast holographic spaces of the Empty Quarter is no easy task. Saudi Arabians are basically moral and decent people who just happened to be born into their culture, just as people in the Congo or Sweden have been. Saudi Arabia’s citizens are not “all on board” with jihadist ideals. For the most part, they are kind human beings who are also concerned about global problems and the future of their children. That said, the hunt for something deep and dark inside of Saudi Arabia must have a starting point – and an ending point.


Fundamentalism is not purely an Islamic phenomenon. It can also be found in places ranging from India to Indiana. Consider, for example, the emergence of a “Christian Taliban” inside the Ukraine as an illustration of how fundamentalism is on the rise in many places around the world. Globalization, the decay of family life, the loss of traditional values, drugs (legal and illegal) and unrelenting mass-media stimulation all make daily life less and less “normalized” compared to previous generations. This new zeitgeist influences men, women, teens and even very small children.




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NY Times Frank Bruni: Huma “Clings” To Hillary “So Tightly, Their Relationship Could Be Called Marsupial”

Alrighty, now… U had me at marsupial @FrankBruni. Huma clings to Hillary “so tightly their relationship could be called marsupial.” http://t.co/mEg6Ny2T35 — Jason Horowitz (@jasondhorowitz) April 19, 2015




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'Government schools have essentially become criminal enterprises'

armed-school-marshal-600


Nine Atlanta teachers have been convicted of racketeering and sentenced to long prison terms for inflating grades in a scheme that also included bonuses and other career enhancements.


But maybe they shouldn’t be the only ones behind bars. The roots of American education’s culture of crime are in Washington, D.C., according to the authors of a new book that charges the American school system with deliberately harming the nation’s children.


Investigative reporter Alex Newman, co-author with longtime educator Samuel Blumenfeld of “Crimes of the Educators: How Utopians Are Using Government Schools to Destroy America’s Children,” believes that prosecuting a few teachers and school officials for cheating “doesn’t even scratch the surface of the real problems this nation is facing in its taxpayer-funded education system.”


Newman says government schools “are quite literally designed to dumb down and indoctrinate students.”


“This is an infinitely more serious crime than cheating on tests, yet the media, the education establishment, and the politicians that enable it refuse to discuss the matter – almost certainly because they are complicit in these crimes,” he said.


The American educational system’s reliance on standardized testing has been under increased scrutiny since the revelation that Atlanta public school teachers and administrators engaged in widespread fraud over a period of years to artificially boost test scores. After being convicted earlier this month, 10 educators now have been sentenced for crimes relating to the conspiracy, with nine defendants given prison time.


They are only part of a larger scandal that involved 44 schools and 180 educators. The former superintendent of Atlanta public schools, Beverly Hall, died before she could be brought to trial.


See what American education has become, in “Crimes of the Educators: How Utopians Are Using Government Schools to Destroy America’s Children.”


However, Newman says efforts to artificially inflate test scores are predictable because of the flawed incentives built into the American educational system.


“Many well-intentioned apologists for this kind of criminal behavior on the part of school employees have been pointing out that the federally imposed testing regime not only enables this sort of fraud – it practically requires it, at least if teachers and officials hope to escape serious financial consequences,” he said.


“The ridiculous schemes imposed on government schools by the federal government are destroying education. The unconstitutional federally backed testing regime and standards schemes are a big part of the problem. For example, by establishing counterproductive testing mandates based on terrible education standards, the federal government has played a key role in changing the focus of schools from education to mastery of useless or even destructive dictates from bureaucrats in Washington, D.C.,” he said.


“None of this excuses the guilty in Atlanta, but there is no question that the federal role in the cheating scandal is huge – and has been largely ignored so far.”


Teachers in the Atlanta school system who had tried to report the fraud were threatened with punishment, as such whistleblowing could have jeopardized financial rewards for the school district. However, structural incentives for fraud do not excuse the moral culpability of those involved, according to legendary conservative activist and bestselling author Phyllis Schlafly.


In an interview with WND, Schlafly, author of “Who Killed the American Family?” asserted: “The whole culture is just wrong. This is a huge scandal and a very public scandal, and the worst part is that everybody in the system knew about this scandal with nobody reporting it.”


The solution, says Schlafly, is for teachers to adopt the honor code mandated by American military academies.


“This is quite a scandal and very public. Everybody knew about it and nobody reported it. The staff needs to go through the same exercise in the military academies. ‘I will not lie, cheat, or steal, nor tolerate those among us who do.’”


Newman also believes the cheating scandal is part of a cultural collapse.


“The crimes committed by these educators and officials certainly deserve to be prosecuted and punished,” she said. “The lessons the students got from this scandal was that it is OK to cheat, that learning has no value provided fake test scores are good, and that morality is a thing of the past.”


However, Newman also says growing federal control over education, especially through programs like Common Core, practically guarantees that the experience in Atlanta is just the beginning.


“As schools across America transition toward the Obama administration-backed Common Core standards, the problems with cheating and widespread criminality in government schools will only get worse,” he said.


For one, even according to the subject-matter experts selected to sit on the Common Core Validation Committee, both of whom refused to sign off on Common Core, the standards are even worse than previous standards. They are confusing students and preventing them from learning properly, the critics say.


“By setting these counterproductive, confusing, and oftentimes ridiculous standards in stone across the country, and then enforcing compliance via the federally funded testing schemes, the Obama administration is basically ensuring that we will see many more similar scandals going forward.”


The most important “Whodunit” case ever, in “Who Killed the American Family?”


Some of the teachers involved in the teaching scandal justified their crimes because they thought students needed their help. One math teacher had allegedly commented that her students were “dumb as hell.”


But as Newman points out, the structural approach of the American educational system is part of the reason why American students suddenly seem incapable of learning.


“The education establishment itself is largely to blame for the crisis in education – not just among minority communities, but across the entire population. In our book, we have a whole chapter on how this outrageous ‘education’ system helped create a vast ‘underclass’ in our cities that has little hope of advancement,” he said.


“If inner-city school children and Americans more broadly are ever going to get a proper education that prepares them for college, career, and the responsibilities of citizenship, the government education system needs reform from top to bottom,” said Newman.


“To start with, using phonics to teach reading is absolutely crucial. The sight method currently being used has been an utter failure, as the government’s own data show clearly. America went from being the most literate society on the planet to a nation where, according to a 1993 federal survey, a strong majority of adults can barely read. Once reading is being taught correctly, literate students will be educate themselves on real history, civics, science, and more if the government schools continue to push their propaganda and revisionism. It will also promote critical thinking skills – something today’s government education system is working to destroy at all costs.”


Newman notes while some critics are calling the sentences levied against the mostly black Atlanta public school teachers “racist,” inner city students are actually the biggest victims of the current educational establishment.


According to Newman, “The racism card is a typical tactic of the self-serving special interests that benefit from this corrupt mis-education system.”


The good news, says Newman, is that Americans are finding alternatives to the failing government schools.


“One of the developments I find most fascinating when it comes to these dumbed-down government tests is that, for a tiny fraction of the costs being squandered by the education establishment and the government schools, homeschooled students are able to far surpass their government-schooled peers. Even ‘unschooled’ students who receive little formal instruction actually do better than those in government school,” he said.


The bad news, Newman observes, is that the very success of homeschoolers and others outside the public school system shows how utterly corrupt and harmful public schools really are.


“The success of the ‘unschooled’ by itself is a damning indictment of the public school system. More broadly, it shows that even in terms of teaching children the absolute basics – some of what appears on these standardized tests – the government schools are failing miserably,” Newman said.


“If the schools were using proper teaching methods and genuinely educating students, these standardized tests would be a joke. While writing ”Crimes of the Educators,” we took a look at exams being used in middle school a century ago. Today, most college graduates would fail miserably on these tests, despite ever more billions extorted from taxpayers to mis-educate these students,” he said.


“The cheating scandals simply illustrate the point that we make in “Crimes of the Educators”: Government schools have essentially become criminal enterprises, and they are doing exactly what they were designed to, dumb down America. If our nation, our liberties, and our civilization are going to survive in the long term, urgent action and reforms are required.”




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NY Times Frank Bruni: Huma “Clings” To Hillary “So Tightly, Their Relationship Could Be Called Marsupial”

Alrighty, now… U had me at marsupial @FrankBruni. Huma clings to Hillary “so tightly their relationship could be called marsupial.” http://t.co/mEg6Ny2T35 — Jason Horowitz (@jasondhorowitz) April 19, 2015




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Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Rejects Inspection Of Any Military Sites Under Any Nuclear Agreement…

Kerry would doubtless have no problem agreeing to self-inspections by the Iranians. Via AP A senior commander in Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said Sunday that inspectors would be barred from military sites under any nuclear agreement with world powers. Gen. Hossein Salami, the Guard’s deputy leader, said on state TV that allowing the foreign inspection of […]




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Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Rejects Inspection Of Any Military Sites Under Any Nuclear Agreement…

Kerry would doubtless have no problem agreeing to self-inspections by the Iranians. Via AP A senior commander in Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said Sunday that inspectors would be barred from military sites under any nuclear agreement with world powers. Gen. Hossein Salami, the Guard’s deputy leader, said on state TV that allowing the foreign inspection of […]




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Network meltdown: 'Media arm of DNC' in tailspin

tv-media


MSNBC, with its imploding ratings and extreme bias, is widely regarded as an irrelevant propaganda organ, even among many liberals and some radical leftists.


Its executives are fully aware of that, too.


But it did not have to be that way.


Founded by two major U.S. corporate powerhouses, Microsoft and General Electric’s NBC unit (now owned by Comcast), MSNBC had the potential to be hugely influential and profitable.


Instead, its executives chose ideology over business savvy, according to insiders and analysts. And the consequences are clear.


At the most fundamental level, MSNBC’s biggest problem is that nobody is watching; and if nobody is watching, the bottom line suffers. A recent ratings report showed MSNBC with only about one third of the viewers of Fox News, 351,000 compared to 1,047,000. And in the key 25-54 demographic it could report only 67,000, compared with Fox’s 217,000.


Already small relative to its competitors and even some alternative media outlets, MSNBC’s ratings are still plummeting, sparking questions about the operation’s very survival.


Just over the last year, MSNBC’s daytime viewership is down more than 20 percent – with a 41 percent plunge among the key demographic aged between 25 and 54. Those are its lowest figures in a decade.


Credit: Bloomberg

Credit: Bloomberg



Fox News, by comparison, had almost three times as many viewers in the crucial demographic, crushing MSNBC and CNN combined.


Even MSNBC’s flagship, “The Rachel Maddow Show,” with a mere 145,000 viewers between 25 and 54, just experienced its worst quarter ever, and analysts say it is now essentially part of the leftist fringe. Other prime-time MSNBC shows are suffering a similar fate.


The failure has become impossible to conceal, and even President Obama, whose agenda have been promoted non-stop on the channel, has been lovingly ridiculing his most faithful cheerleaders.


“MSNBC is here. They’re a little overwhelmed,” Obama joked at last year’s White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner. “They’ve never seen an audience this big before.”


The year before that, Obama comically hit on what numerous sources who spoke to WND have identified as one of MSNBC’s biggest problems.


“Some of my former advisers have switched over to the dark side,” the president joked in 2013. “For example, David Axelrod now works for MSNBC, which is a nice change of pace since MSNBC used to work for David Axelrod.”


MSNBC President Phil Griffin, who in 2011 described the channel as “the place to go for progressives,” realizes there is a problem.


“It’s no secret that 2014 was a difficult year for the entire cable news industry and especially for MSNBC,” Griffin wrote in a December staff memo promising major changes to come.


As WND reported in February, a “massive shakeup” at the channel was being planned in response to the ongoing ratings implosion. Sources said “everything” was on the table.


Rachel Maddow of MSNBC

Rachel Maddow of MSNBC



There is even talk of drastically scaling back MSNBC’s radical left-wing bias.


Whether the anticipated shakeup will materialize or be enough to save the operation, though, remains to be seen.


What Happened?


WND set out to discover what was behind MSNBC’s stunning decline.


In less than two decades since its founding in 1996, MSNBC went from provocative powerhouse news and talk channel created by two of the most powerful corporations in America to what critics and even some supporters now say is a widely ridiculed and barely noticed promoter of far-left propaganda.


Based on an extensive investigation and interviews with numerous insiders and media analysts, WND found that MSNBC’s ongoing decline are a result of several key factors.


The first: transparently promoting a radical ideological agenda that is so far outside of the mainstream that few Americans can take it seriously. The shameless promotion is so blatant that even those who agree with it have little reason to tune in, critics told WND.


Another factor, WND’s sources and recent reports suggested, is that senior leadership at MSNBC apparently misread the market and, in any case, was often more interested in advancing an agenda than it was in serving even its own relatively tiny niche market.


WND repeatedly sought comment from senior MSNBC executives and other top figures at the network. Not one was willing to speak on record, and most did not even return calls or emails.


But it is hardly a secret that everybody, from corporate executives and show hosts to outside media analysts, realizes something must change – and quickly – if MSNBC is going to thrive, or even survive.


Conservative former MSNBC host tells all


In an interview with WND, conservative leader and former assistant secretary of state in the Reagan administration Alan Keyes, who hosted the MSNBC show “Alan Keyes Is Making Sense,” shared his experiences.


He also offered some advice to executives hoping to stem the viewer exodus from MSNBC.


After his experiences with NBC, Keyes was initially reluctant to host a show on MSNBC, he explained.


“My first reaction was, ‘No, I don’t want to do that, because they are so biased,’” said Keyes, who has also run for the GOP presidential nomination.


Alan Keyes

Alan Keyes



Eventually, after negotiations, a contract was developed in which Keyes would maintain control over the content of his show.


“I didn’t want them to be dictating that,” he said.


The show was also supposed to air during prime time.


For a while, he said, “that worked out.”


However, Keyes’ conservative message and its powerful delivery eventually led to what he described as “some conflicts.”


“I got the feeling by the end of it that they were more interested in having conservative window dressing – somebody who would wear a conservative label, have a conservative reputation but who, in the end, would be willing to compromise that,” Keyes said, a sentiment expressed by other former MSNBC insiders.


The animus against conservative principles was not the only factor in the eventual break between MSNBC and Keyes. Another was the fact that MSNBC wanted to move him into a less prominent time slot.


“And it was indicative of the road they’ve taken since then: yo become more and more explicitly propagandistic,” Keyes told WND.


The former diplomat admitted he did not pay much attention to MSNBC either before he joined it or after he left.


But from what he did gather, Keyes said he got the impression that “they had pretty much decided that they were going to try to succeed on the basis of both coverage and opinion shows that were strictly in accordance with a left-wing viewpoint.”


MSNBC did have “a couple people there who were supposed to be conservatives,” Keyes continued, struggling to remember their names.


However, even the token conservative who still has a show was willing to “blandify” his presentation to the point where conservative ideals were “non-recognizable” – a trend also evident in the Republican Party establishment, Keyes said.


“They still want to keep their conservative label,” he added. “I think that is fraud.”


While MSNBC is not unique in that respect, people are turned off by it, Keyes said, because “they know that it’s phony.”


There is also another fundamental problem with the way MSNBC promotes its agenda.


“Even when Americans have viewpoints, a lot of them want to be able to feel and know that they have listened and tried to think through the arguments that are being made against them,” Keyes said. “That’s part of intellectual integrity.”


“MSNBC, from what I can perceive, appears to have sacrificed that,” he said, again emphasizing that MSNBC was not the only culprit and that most of the broadcast media had become “propaganda” tools – even if not as extreme and obvious as MSNBC. “I think that turns people off regardless of their viewpoint.”


When asked what advice he would give to MSNBC executives, Keyes was not shy.


“There is a real hunger in this country to have people in the media who are just willing to be truthful,” he said, blasting “journalists” who have adopted ideological notions of truth being relative and, as a consequence, tell lies to their audience.


Keyes said media consumers also want honesty in the opinion arena.


If that was happening on MSNBC and elsewhere, “they would find that a lot of folks, including folks that don’t necessarily agree with their editorial point of view … would want to watch their programs, because they wouldn’t feel like they were being played for fools and manipulated.”


Obama

President Obama



Less reliance on the “entertainment” mantra would also help, he added.


“Yes, entertain them, but entertain them as serious citizens.”


Insider view of MSNBC’s troubles


According to MSNBC insiders with insight into leadership’s thinking, who asked not to be named for various reasons, top executives have long wanted to become the leftist version of Fox News.


Virtually everybody there ranged from liberal to extreme left, sources told WND.


Initially, executives brought in some conservative figures to help build up an audience – Keyes, Michael Savage and Pat Buchanan, for example – but executives were never truly comfortable with the audience hearing well-articulated alternate views.


After getting rid of Keyes and Savage, the channel turned to the ultra-left.


In 2008, Griffin, described as a “hardcore leftist” by WND sources with knowledge of the matter, was named president of MSNBC.


After meeting some success with left-wing host Keith Olbermann, executives decided the strategy of promoting fringe leftism alone might be enough to succeed. It was not.


More recently, insiders with knowledge of the issue told WND that top MSNBC leaders had “deluded” themselves into believing that because Americans voted for Obama, there was a large enough market for “progressive” television.


They forgot that Obama lied to win the election and Americans would have overwhelmingly rejected him if the truth had been known, a former senior MSNBC staffer said.


At this point, the source told WND, despite looming changes, the channel has probably backed itself into a corner.


If it seeks to move more toward mainstream America, the shift would essentially represent an admission of defeat – not just for MSNBC leadership, but for leftist ideology more broadly and the Obama administration’s vision specifically.


If it does not change course, though, it will likely end up as a giant write off to current owner NBC Universal.


Still, despite its financial woes and practical irrelevance, one MSNBC source told WND that the channel plays an important role for the far left.


By moving the goal posts and passing its content off as semi-mainstream liberalism, MSNBC attempts to shift the political center further and further to the left.


Media analysts slam MSNBC as ‘propaganda’


While its descent into becoming almost a parody of itself was especially obvious over the last decade or so, part of MSNBC’s extreme liberalism comes from its origins, explained Media Research Center analyst Tim Graham, who serves as executive editor of Newsbusters.


Here some of Keyes’ comments:


Microsoft as a company – and particularly Bill Gates – are known generally as liberal, said Graham, speaking of the role that the software powerhouse played in first putting MSNBC together.


It also tried to maintain a semblance of balance, though.


“In the very beginning, they were sort of NBC News mini,” he told WND in an interview. “Alan Keyes’ show was a sign that, at least at that point, they had a broad spectrum of hosts.”


The drastic shift to the left started becoming more apparent during the presidency of George W. Bush, said Graham, who has served as a media analyst since 1989.


That is when Olbermann stepped on the scene and soared in popularity by excoriating Bush.


“The entire current flavor of MSNBC comes from Olbermann,” Graham said. “Olbermann and his bombastic style sort of became the model for what they wanted to do.”


Then, Rachel Maddow was brought in, and MSNBC ended up becoming the “safety net” for failed radio hosts when “liberal radio went down the tubes.”


As more and more openly radical leftists came in under Bush, MSNBC got “more and more extreme,” Graham said, citing examples such as Olbermann’s claim that Fox News was “worse than al Qaida.”


The strategy of moving further to the left seemed to work, for a while, under Bush, when progressives claimed to feel under siege.


With the most extreme “progressive” in history currently occupying the White House, however, and with his policies and popularity increasingly in the tank, even leftists media consumers are watching less MSNBC.


“MSNBC is not succeeding right now,” Graham said, contrasting its decline with Fox News’ continued and consistent rise.


“One of the obvious reasons for that is that progressives are depressed, and when the lefties are depressed they watch less MSNBC,” he said, citing the meteoric conservative and GOP resurgence and the repudiation of progressive policies it represents as among the reasons for leftist malaise.


Six years into the Bush presidency, MSNBC was selling the notion that it was all over for the president and his agenda.


“That is not what they want to talk about now” when it comes to Obama, Graham argued.


He also noted that Fox was popular and at the top throughout the Bush and Obama presidencies, something MSNBC has not come close to replicating.


Another problem for MSNBC is that its hosts – with the exception of Ed Schultz, who remains fairly popular – are remarkably homogenous, Graham continued.


“Watch MSNBC from noon to 11 p.m., and you’re going to notice that the topics repeat,” he said, pointing to the wall-to-wall coverage of the “Bridge-gate” scandal one year ago surrounding New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, a Republican, on every show. “They’re all covering the same stuff.”


“When you keep hammering the same idea all day – war on women, people hate Obama ’cause he’s black and so on – they need to find something fresh,” Graham added, ridiculing a whole list of MSNBC personalities as everything from “hacks” to “loopy.”


He also pointed to a broad range of examples of extremism and vulgarity from hosts that the overwhelming majority of media consumers were unlikely to sympathize with – Martin Bashir calling for somebody to defecate in Sarah Palin’s mouth, for example, or the attacks on Mitt Romney’s adopted, black grandson.


Even MSNBC’s “token” conservative, Joe Scarborough, who mostly brings in establishment-type Republicans and often agrees with liberal talking points, fails to get audiences excited.


MSNBC executives, Graham explained, are largely ideological progressives, as evidenced by their shoveling funds into Obama’s campaigns.


Still, they are interested in the bottom line, too.


“They’re seeking the win-win,” Graham said. “They want to be a liberal network that makes money.”


But so far, the plummeting ratings indicate that is wishful thinking.


“Not a legitimate news channel”


Another prominent media analyst, Roger Aronoff, editor and executive secretary for Accuracy in Media (AIM), argued that MSNBC “is not a legitimate news channel, but a propaganda outlet for the left in general and for Democrats in particular.”


He told WND that the channel goes beyond just promoting Democrat policies with mottos such as “grow hope” and “lean forward,” delving into the realm of “outright electioneering.”


The bias is reflected in its viewership, with the overwhelming majority of MSNBC’s audiences identifying as Democrats even when less than one third of the public does.


According to Aronoff, when MSNBC was founded, it “seemed like a good idea,” and it did not set out to be a highly partisan propaganda outfit.


“I think that what happened was partly a reaction to the success of Fox News,” he said, adding that, at least in the mind of MSNBC executives, Fox was viewed as a “partisan, Republican cable network.”


“Part of it was the divisions in the country that settled in following the period of general unity after 9/11, followed by the lead-up to the Iraq War, followed by all of the finger pointing after the fall of Saddam and the failure to find WMD, at least in terms of the specifics the Bush administration had said were there,” Aronoff continued.


It was during that period between mid-2003 and the 2004 presidential election that MSNBC started to become what it is today, he said.


The transformation was sealed when Griffin, then an NBC News VP, was selected to lead MSNBC.


“I believe that Griffin solidified and consolidated the network’s move to the left,” Aronoff said.


More than a business strategy, the bias exhibited by MSNBC, he continued, “reflects that of their news executives.”


As Obama recently indicated in an interview with Vox, the left “longs for the days” when people all got their information and worldview from a common place, Aronoff said.


As a business strategy, though, MSNBC’s leftism has failed.


“Clearly, the mainstream American public does not want to consume stories from pundits such as Al Sharpton who endlessly hype racial conflict regarding the Michael Brown or Eric Garner cases, and they see that the station is becoming more and more of a propaganda outlet for the Obama administration,” Aronoff continued.


He pointed to MSNBC White House correspondent Kristin Welker’s defense to the accusation that the channel defends Obama and Democrats all day.


“Not everyone on MSNBC does that 24 hours a day,” Welker said.


Aronoff added: “As MSNBC attempts to consolidate itself among its base and promote liberal news, it alienates more and more viewers with its partisan non-news brand.”


If MSNBC executives hope to see the channel succeed and capture a decent share of the media market, a “major overhaul” would be required, he continued.


Aronoff suggested giving Tucker Carlson a show again, and giving him free rein, as an example of what could help boost MSNBC’s prospects.


“Or have guests on who strongly disagree with the ideology of Chris Matthews and Rachel Maddow and Lawrence O’Donnell, and who can destroy their arguments,” he added.


But the channel’s leadership is probably not prepared to do that, Aronoff said.


As such, the future does not look bright for MSNBC.


“This is speculation, but I think they will continue to exist as the media arm of the DNC and the left in general, even at the expense of low ratings and low profits, and of credibility among people who are looking for more balanced news,” Aronoff concluded. “They’re more about the cause.”




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