Archives for May 2014

A leading expert on Islamic terrorism says Al Qaeda is different but as dangerous as ever because the U.S. failed to lead properly, and she says confronting the radical ideology is the key to victory.

Brigitte Gabriel says the good news is that more and more in the west are finally acknowledging the destruction radical Islam leaves in its path, but she says we should not hold our breath waiting for moderate Muslims to begin lashing out at extremist acts.

Gabriel grew up as a Christian in Lebanon and experienced terrorism first hand.  She is now president of actforamerica.org and author of “They Must Be Stopped: Why We Must Defeat Radical Islam and How We Can Do It.”

Al Qaeda has evolved greatly from how it functioned around the time of the terrorist attacks in September 2001.  Instead of a powerful central organization, it now exists primarily as many different regional organizations spread out from east Asia to North Africa and each group largely appears to be making their own decisions.

New FBI Director James Comey recently told New York Times reporter Michael Schmidt that Al Qaeda’s current strength is a major surprise.

“I didn’t have anywhere near the appreciation I got after I came into this job just how virulent those affiliates had become,” Comey told the Times.

Director of National Intelligence James Clapper also acknowledges Al Qaeda’s resilience.

Gabriel says those assessments are accurate because the U.S. hasn’t led well in the fight against radical Islam.

“It’s because our government underestimated and did not identify the ideology behind Al Qaeda,” said Gabriel.  “So today when we look at terrorist organizations across the globe, whether it’s Boko Haram, Al-Shabaab, you name it, Hamas, Hezbollah, etc., what brings them together is the same ideology as Al Qaeda.  Now it is metastasizing worldwide because we are seeing radical Islam and groups organized across the world feeling empowered to bring back and resurrect an Islamic caliphate and establish Islam as they see it in their own eyes as it was practiced in the days of Muhammad.”

The splintering of Al Qaeda into regional groups suggests we face a reduced risk for grand attacks, but Gabriel says the threat is more widespread and the terror is just as real.

“We’re not going to see attacks on a mega-scale, the way we saw on 9/11 and carried out simultaneously like attacking the Pentagon and the World Trade Center.  So now what’s happening with their attacks is they are more localized and on a smaller scale, shooting at malls, shooting at hotels, kidnapping girls from schools,” said Gabriel.

Gabriel believes the western world is finally coming to grips with the horrific actions of radical Islamic groups and much more attention is being paid to atrocities like the kidnapping of students in Nigeria.  But she says the complete lack of condemnation from anywhere in the Islamic world speaks volumes about what is tolerated there and what we can reasonably expect from moderate Muslims.

“We can continually dream on and on and on.  Here we are, 12 years after September 11th, and with this thing that happened in Nigeria with the kidnapping of the schoolgirls, have you seen any demonstrations in Saudi Arabia against it, asking to bring back our girls?  Have you seen any mass demonstrations in Indonesia calling to bring back our girls?  Have you seen any mass demonstration in Pakistan, in Afghanistan, in India?” said Gabriel.

All these countries with a huge Islamic population, the so-called moderate Muslims who are not really jihadist, where are their demonstrations en masse to bring back these girls to their families and not sell them on the slave trade market?  None, zip, zero.  Yet, when they want to attack Americans, we see demonstrations spring up all across the world and hundreds of thousands of people burning American flags and calling for the death of America,” said Gabriel.

“I think the best service that we can do for our country right now is to remove the fog from our eyes and begin understanding that we cannot wait around for these so-called moderate Muslims to come to the rescue,” said Gabriel.  “If the moderate Muslims want to come in and participate and make a difference, that’s great.  But we cannot expect them to do so.  We have to do what we have to do to protect our country.”

So what does that look like?  Few Americans have the stomach for additional military intervention after years of war in Iraq and Afghanistan.  Gabriel says the best thing the U.S. can do tactically is to leave other countries alone because we’ve made things far worse in places like Nigeria and Egypt.

“Nigeria was doing a great job of cracking down Boko Haram.  It was America that intervened 2-3 years ago and stopped the Nigerian government from being too hard on these groups and that’s what made them feel empowered on the world stage,” said Gabriel.

“We did the same thing in Egypt.  Hosni Mubarak was not the exemplary democratic man but he was a great ally of the United States and he kept his thumb down on the Muslim Brotherhood.  He kept them in check.  It was America that allowed the Muslim Brotherhood to grow as much as they grew in Egypt,” she said.

“We have no business being the police of the world.  We cannot do that, but at least stay out of the business of local governments who understand exactly what they’re dealing with with radical Islamists and let them take care of the problem before it metastasizes,” said Gabriel.

However, Gabriel insists honesty and education are the keys to pulling out radical Islam by its roots.  She says citizens must be educated about who these groups are and what motivates them through her organization and others.  She also says the media and our government need to report what these groups are really doing.  She says nearly all reports on Nigeria focus on Boko Haram’s hatred for western education but very few outlets point out the vast majority of the kidnapped girls in Nigeria are Christians and the ones that escaped or were released are Muslims.

“We as the west must identify that we are dealing with a problem of radical Islamists against anything non-Muslim and that’s what they are pushing.  Unless we in the west are are able to report all the intricacies of the story, no matter how uncomfortable the truth may be.  We have to speak the truth in order to devise a solution to defeat the problem,” said Gabriel.

Radio America’s Greg Corombos and Jim Geraghty from National Review host today’s Three Martini Lunch. They agree with Brit Hume’s analysis that the VA health care scandal is an inevitable result of socialized medicine. They take stock of the potential that Iran could deploy nuclear weapons in the near future. And they debunk President Obama’s point that conservatives are out of touch for wanting answers about Benghazi and Obamacare.

The national immigration debate is being rocked by the new report showing more than 36,000 criminals in the country illegally were released on American soil in just the past year, and the author now says this is the result of a badly flawed system and a growing desire within the Obama administration not to deport illegal immigrants.

Jessica Vaughan is director of policy studies at the Center for Immigration Studies.  In addition to the number of criminals released, her research shows those offenders committed more than 88,000 crimes, many of them after being released from custody.

The Obama administration admits that it is looking to decrease deportations, essentially focusing efforts on those deemed to be a threat to public safety while allowing non-violent offenders to stay in the U.S.  Many of the 36,000 criminals are under orders to be deported, but were released instead of detained until they were due to be sent out of the country.  Vaughan says this sort of lax immigration enforcement puts all of us at risk.

“They’re really playing Russian roulette with our safety.  We do know from other studies that have been done that a very significant share of these people do go on to commit other crimes.  In fact, a 2012 study by the House Judiciary Committee found that about 58,000 crimes were committed by illegal aliens who were released instead of processed for deportation,” said Vaughan.

“That’s a gamble and they’re betting on our safety, but I would rather them err on the side of caution and keep people in custody, not only to keep us safe but also to make sure these individuals are deported,” she said.

The track record of the Obama administration on immigration enforcement has a lot of people confused.  The administration claims deportations were up considerably in the early years of the Obama presidency in comparison to the final years of the George W. Bush administration.  However, the government has recently admitted that illegals simply turned back at the border are now counted as being deported.  Previously, only those who went through the system and were formally deported were counted.

Vaughan says it’s hard to calculate what the real numbers are but the actions of President Obama concern her greatly.

“The most important metric that we could look at is the size of the illegal immigrant population.  It was dropping from about 2007-2009 and then has gone up a little bit.  That’s a pretty strong indication things are not getting any better,” she said.

“The other important figure to look at is the number of interior deportations, which has been dropping steadily for the last couple of years, even though the number of illegal aliens who have been identified, especially the number who have been identified after arrest, so these numbers are very concerning for those who think the first thing we should do when talking about immigration is to enforce the laws we have,” said Vaughan.

“Clearly they are not being enforced as vigorously as they were in the past and the administration was able to claim this record number of deportations by counting Border Patrol arrests that got turned over to (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) instead of looking at the traditional way which is interior enforcement,” said Vaughan.

The decreasing focus on interior enforcement may well be the tip of the iceberg in the administration’s admitted efforts to limit deportations.  In addition to the 36,000 criminals who were processed but released, she says another 68,000 were approached by ICE in 2013 for violating immigration laws but did not ultimately face charges.

Vaughan says the Department of Homeland Security is sending clear signs that this will only become more common.

“Secretary (Jeh) Johnson is saying that he’s going to scale back the Secure Communities Program, which is the program under which all these criminal aliens are identified.  So the numbers are only going to go up if what I’m hearing is correct.  They’re not going to allow ICE agents to accept referrals of criminal aliens from state and local police and sheriffs.  So you’ve got a sheriff with people in custody and they want this criminal removed, and ICE agents are going to have to say, ‘No, sorry,'” said Vaughan.

Defenders of the Obama administration’s goal of reducing deportations claim they are saving taxpayers a great deal of money.  They estimate each deportation costs roughly $12,500 and removing young people also eliminates a lifetime of tax revenue from them.

Vaughan isn’t swayed.  She says the government’s position is weakened by its own inefficiencies and conflicting priorities.

“It is much costlier for the government, and by extension for American taxpayers, because there are two immigration court systems.  One is for people who are detained and that moves very quickly.  They get their order of deportation much faster.  If they are not detained, there is a backlog that is about two years right now.  So the more people that they let out to await their hearing, the longer that hearing is going to take,” said Vaughan.

“That gets especially expensive when people never show up for their hearings and have to be tracked down by ICE.  That’s very labor intensive,” she said.

“But I find it ironic that the administration has actually asked Congress to reduce funding for detention for criminals who are in the deportation process.  They asked for a 10 percent cut this year.  That’s why it was especially shocking to find out they are releasing criminals even as they’re saying they don’t need as much money for detention space,” said Vaughan.

Vaughan says detaining more criminal illegals until deportation would save a lot of money, but she insists a bigger goal needs to be in mind.

“The answer is not to detain and deport every illegal alien in the country.  The answer is to have deterrents in place, such as preventing illegal employment, not allowing people who are here illegally to access social welfare systems and have better border enforcement so that fewer people will try to come here illegally and those who are here will realize it’s not as good a deal for them to be here.  Over time this becomes much less of a problem.  The more we can deter illegal immigration, the fewer people we’ll have to detain and deport,” said Vaughan.

Greg Corombos of Radio America and Jim Geraghty of National Review cheer encouraging polls for Republicans in competitive House and Senate races. They also criticize President Obama for his tepid response to the VA health care scandal. And they finish by laughing over the Pentagon’s plan to avert a future zombie apocalypse.

Former Georgia Secretary of State Karen Handel says she is a conservative with proven results, while her opponents for the Republican U.S. Senate nomination are three members of Congress who have failed to solve problems and a multimillionaire who may not even be a Republican.

The primary for the seven-member field is Tuesday.

“I’m an unwavering conservative who has a track record of getting the job done.  More than ever, Georgians are looking for someone they can trust to go to Washington and do the job for them,” said Handel.  “Look at the rest of the field.  We’ve got congressmen who have been there for 10-20 years.  They’ve had every chance to do what they’re now talking about and they haven’t.  And then you have this so-called outsider, David Perdue.  We don’t know very much about him.  He’s running for the Republican nomination and hasn’t even found it appropriate to vote in a Republican primary.

“We need someone like me, who is a solid Republican, a solid conservative my whole life, so we can cut spending, repeal the Obamacare health tax and re-energize this economy by lowering taxes and not raising them like David Perdue has suggested and reducing the burden of regulations on businesses,” she said.

Handel cites her work as the chairwoman of the Fulton County Commission, the largest county in the state, as an example of the leadership she would bring to the Senate.  She says she thwarted attempts by Democrats to close a $100 million deficit through massive property tax increases and instead tackled the red ink through spending cuts.  While secretary of state, Handel cut department spending by 20 percent and successfully implemented a voter identification requirement for voters.

Rep. Kingston rejects that recap of her career in county government.  He says the real story is that Handel increased spending in Fulton County by $46 million during her tenure as chairwoman.  Handel rejects Kingston’s message and the messenger.

“Jack Kingston has a lot of nerve, when he’s been in Washington on the Appropriations Committee and sat there keeping the seat warm while this country, through his votes, absorbed debt – 17 trillion dollars in debt,” said Handel.  “To put it in perspective, Fulton County’s budget is ab out a one billion dollar budget per year and we worked really hard to roll things back.  When we finished up my term, we had the first truly balanced budget that Fulton County had had in decades.”

“(Kingston) raised the debt ceiling for our nation multiple times.  He voted for millions in things like the Charlie Rangel Center and the Ted Kennedy Center and has the audacity to talk about saving money from his office budget when he helped contribute to a $17 trillion debt,” said Handel.

She saves her most fierce criticism for Perdue, for accepting millions in stimulus dollars and laying off thousands of textile workers while also allegedly being open to tax hikes in a recent meeting with editors at the Macon Telegraph.

Rivals also slam Handel for her time as a vice president at the Susan G. Komen Foundation.  She resigned in 2012 after Komen re-committed to giving money to Planned Parenthood after the organization earlier announced it would stop the practice.  Other GOP candidates say Handel characterized the initial denial of money to Planned Parenthood as a simple change in funding criteria rather than an abhorrence of Planned Parenthood, which she later cited in her resignation.

Handel says the plain fact is that Planned Parenthood does not do mammograms and so Komen dollars seemed wrongly prioritized going to the nation’s largest abortion provider.  She says Congress is the entity that has much more power to stop the flow of money to Planned Parenthood and has failed to do so.

Perdue appears to be leading in the latest polls, with Handel and Rep. Jack Kingston essentially deadlocked for the all-important second place slot that will advance to a July run-off.  Congressmen Paul Broun and Phil Gingrey are a few points behind.  The winner of the July run-off will face presumptive Democratic nominee Michelle Nunn, daughter of longtime Sen. Sam Nunn.

Handel, who is endorsed by Sarah Palin, says she is clearly the best choice for Republicans to put up against Nunn.

“We do know what the narrative is going to be that Democrats run in the fall.  It’s going to be income inequality and war on women.  I look at the debate over income inequality and I know first-hand that the way to move someone up the economic ladder is not with minimum wage jobs and raising the minimum wage.  We need to build our economy on good, quality, solid-paying jobs, giver working moms the ability to not have to choose between fixing their car and keeping a roof over their heads,” said Handel.

“And when it come to the war on women, well, I’d like to see Michelle Nunn try to drop that on me,” she said.

Greg Corombos of Radio America and Jim Geraghty of National Review enjoy the ongoing squabble over equal pay at the New York Times. They also rip Veteran’s Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki for his poor response to the veteran’s health care scandal. And they get a kick out of the Idaho GOP governor’s debate.

Georgia Rep. Jack Kingston says he has a time-tested conservative record that people can count on if he’s elected to the U.S. Senate, and warns voters they will have buyer’s remorse if they elect either of the other top two contenders in the race.

The GOP Senate primary is one of the most competitive in the nation.  Seven candidates are jockeying to replace retiring Republican Senator Saxby Chambliss.  The latest surveys show businessman David Perdue in front, with Kingston in second and former Georgia Secretary of State Karen Handel closely behind in third place.  Representatives Paul Broun and Phil Gingrey are a few points back of Handel.  With no one in position to win a majority of the vote, the top two finishers head to to a July 22 run-off.

The Georgia primary is on Tuesday.

Kingston has been targeted by his fellow members of Congress as well as Perdue and Handel for being a partner in the growth of government during his 22 years in Washington.  Kingston says he has more than two decades of conservative leadership that voters can count on if he’s elected to the Senate.  The congressman says his 96 percent lifetime rating from the American Conservative Union and A+ from the National Rifle Association prove his commitments to conservative principles, in addition to endorsements from Fox News Channel host Sean Hannity, Flat Tax author Steve Forbes and Fair Tax architect John Linder.

“We want to make sure people know I have honest to goodness conservative credentials that have been tested and tried.  On the other hand, David Perdue yesterday came out for a tax increase.  That’s not a conservative position.  He’s pretty weak on the Second Amendment.  That’s well known.  He’s flip-flopped on Common Core.  Those are things people care about in Georgia.  We want to make sure people know the difference between my voting record and his rhetoric,” said Kingston.

In an interview with the editorial board of the Macon Telegraph, Perdue discussed the need to grow revenue in a way that led Kingston and others to accuse Perdue of being open to a tax hike.

“Well here’s the reality: If you go into a business, and I keep coming back to my background, it’s how I know how to relate is to refer back to it — I was never able to turn around a company just by cutting spending,” said Perdue. “You had to figure out a way to get revenue growing.”

Thursday on Herman Cain’s radio show, Perdue tried to clarify what he meant.

“I’ve been preaching for over a year that to solve the debt crisis we have to cut federal spending, and we have to grow the economy,” Perdue told Cain. “The other day in the editorial-board interview, I said we need to cut taxes so we can grow revenue ‑ without tax increases, I might add.”

Kingston isn’t buying it.

“Let me tell you what happened.  He got out of that room and he got clobbered.  he was being an insider, which he is.  This is a guy who took stimulus money, sat on the board of a company that took three million dollars in stimulus funds.  Now he’s going out and telling people the stimulus bill was a bad bill,” said Kingston.

“He absolutely said he supported revenue increase.  He didn’t mention growth.  He’s coming back to that position.  I understand why he’s doing that, because he walked out of there and his handlers said, ‘You got way in front on this thing.  You shouldn’t have been talking like that.  He’s already come out for one tax increase on internet sales so it’s not that big of a change.  This is a guy who likes big government, from stimulus programs to a bailout which he did,” said Kingston.

The congressman also says Perdue’s business career leaves much to be desired, noting Perdue drove a major textile company into bankruptcy and laid off thousands of workers while making out quite well for himself.

“He did it in a nine month period of time and took the largest bonus in textile history.  As a Republican, how in the world will he get by in November?  I can already see the ad, one of the 8,000 people who were fired saying, ‘I lost my job.  He ended up in a very nice luxurious house with his golden parachute,” said Kingston.

“David Perdue has never voted in a Republican primary.  If he was charged with being a Republican, is there enough evidence to convict him?” asked Kingston.

So how would Kingston have answered the question about whether spending cuts or revenue growth is the better strategy for restoring fiscal sanity in Washington?

“We do not have a tax problem.  We have a spending problem.  The way we have got to balance the budget is we have got to cut spending and shrink the size of government.  If you do that, obviously the economy is going to grow on its own and I would say the best way get the economy going  is to develop energy independence with North American oil, push back on the regulatory overreach, kill Obamacare and replace it with a market-driven, patient-centered health care system, replace welfare with workfare and have a simplified tax code,” said Kingston.

As proof of his conservative credentials on fiscal matters, Kingston points to his opposition to the recent Ryan-Murray budget deal, debt ceiling increases, TARP and stimulus plans under both Presidents Bush and Obama in addition to Obamacare and the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac bailouts.

Kingston is also unabashed in his contention that he is a far better choice for the GOP nomination than Karen Handel.

“As chairman of the Fulton County Commission, she increased spending $46 million.  When she ran for governor, her votes for organizations like Planned Parenthood were very well vetted, which is why people rejected her candidacy.  As there’s more of a spotlight on those types of votes, people are going to say, ‘Not what I’m looking for, not a true conservative,'” said Kingston.

Greg Corombos of Radio America and Jim Geraghty of National Review enjoy the irony of the New York Times firing managing editor Jill Abramson for demanding more pay after the paper championed the liberal income equality agenda.  They also react to Bill Clinton’s assertion that Hillary did everything right on Benghazi.  And they share their thoughts on Michael Sam getting his own reality show.

With just days until the hotly contested Republican Senate primary in Georgia, Rep. Phil Gingrey says he will be the voice of blue collar Georgians in Washington and maintains his vow to repeal Obamacare in his first six years in office.

The six-term congressman also blasted apparent GOP front-runner David Perdue for being more concerned with his own well being than the condition of people in his state struggling to make ends meet.

According to recent polls, Perdue, Rep. Jack Kingston and former Georgia Secretary of State Karen Handel are in a tight race for the top two spots that will advance to a July run-off.  Gingrey and Rep. Paul Broun are a a bit further back.

Perdue and Handel take frequent shots at the three members of the House, suggesting they are part of the problem in Washington and do not deserve a promotion to the Senate.  Gingrey says he is the perfect balance of someone who spent most of their life in the private sector but has also worked to help people through his public service.

“Does congressional experience matter?  Clearly it does.  I think people can stay too long in Congress but I was a physician for 32 years and I’ve been a member of the House of Representatives for 11.  This is my sixth term.  So if you just do the subtraction, it comes out on the side of being a professional physician and not a professional politician,” said Gingrey.

The congressman says the House has done a lot of good work to improve job creation and preserve freedoms while the Democrats in the Senate do nothing.

“We have voted repeatedly to rein in the EPA, to rein in Obamacare, to try to create jobs, to stop Cap and Trade.  We do things.  We send them to the Senate, which is of course controlled by the Democrats and Harry Reid.  They just sit on it and do nothing,” he said.

“So these two candidates for the Republican nomination for Senate from Georgia who are not in the House of Representatives, who have no experience in that venue, it’s so easy for them to criticize and fire shots at us, but the truth is experience definitely helps,” said Gingrey.

Gingrey exhibits especially little patience for Perdue, the Dollar General CEO who appears to be leading the charge for one of the top two slots next week.  The two have sparred on the airwaves as well, with both using crying babies to lampoon each other and some of the other candidates.  The congressman also strikes somewhat of a populist tone in comparing himself with Perdue.

“He’s been all over the world and he touts his business experience and the fact that he has been CEO of several Fortune 500 companies.  He is purportedly worth $50 million and he says we just need a new person in Washington,” said GIngrey.

“I represent those blue collar Republicans, the people that are not really protected by a safety net because of poverty.  They’re not rich and getting richer like David Perdue.  They’re just hard working, conservative Georgia Republicans who seem to have been forgotten and no matter how hard they work it’s like being on a treadmill and falling further and further behind.  That’s the kind of people I represent.  Ultimately, that’s what’s going to get me in the run-off, get me the nomination on July 22 and ultimately give me the Senate seat come November,” said Gingrey.

One of Gingrey’s boldest tactics in the campaign was to promise not to run for re-election if he failed to repeal Obamacare in his first term, a vow he says is getting a lot of attention from voters.

“As a physician of 32 years, I think people understand that I am one who has worked tirelessly to repeal the most egregious aspects of the bill and of course voted five or six times to repeal the bill lock, stock and barrel.  When we take over the Senate, and I think we will, and win the presidency in 2016, then we’ll have the whole ball of wax and I’ll still have four years on my first term.  By golly, if I can’t get it done for the people of Georgia in that length of time, then I probably should get out of the way and let somebody else take my place,” said Gingrey.

Gingrey says his get out the vote operation is in full swing and will be key to advancing to the run-off.  He encourages voters to visit his House website to track his voting record over the past 12 years and his campaign website to learn what he would do if elected to the Senate.

Greg Corombos of Radio America and Jim Geraghty of National Review cheer the big primary win by Ben Sasse in Nebraska’s U.S. Senate primary and laugh as the Democrats fail to get a candidate on the ballot in what was once a competitive Florida congressional district.  They also react to Russia’s plan to refuse sending U.S. astronauts or satellites into space due to our sanctions over Ukraine.  And they detail evidence of a giant waste of taxpayer dollars through an Obamacare contractor.