Archives for August 2016

Faith-based colleges and universities in California dodged a major threat to their existence from Democratic state lawmakers, but the leader of an effort to block financial aid from the state to schools that do not adhere to the left’s position on sexuality vows to bring the matter back next year.

As reported in June, Democrats led by State Sen. Ricardo Lara were pushing an amendment to the California Equity in Higher Education Act. The act forbids discrimination based on religion, sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression.  But it also contains a significant exemption for religious colleges and universities, allowing them to hold students and staff to codes of conduct and use faith and other criteria in admissions and hiring.

The Lara bill originally called for removing that exemption, meaning student tuition assistance through the state’s Cal Grant program could be cut off to those schools.

But following the legislature’s summer recess, Lara unexpectedly changed his bill.

“The bill was significantly modified and the most devastating provisions were removed by the bill’s sponsor,” said Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Counsel Gregory Baylor, who also directs the ADF’s Religious Schools Team.

“Namely, the provision that says if a school wants to participate in the Cal Grant program, they can’t consider religion, they can’t have traditional Christian codes of conduct having to do with sexuality, they can’t consider religious beliefs in employment and admissions.  Those things have been taken out of the bill,” said Baylor.

The bill does require the schools to inform the California Student Aid Commission that they have an exemption and to inform student and staff applicants of their exemption.  Baylor says those policies already existed.

Sen. Lara has not fully explained his decision to withdraw the more contentious provisions from his bill.  Lara simply says he did not want the bill to create unintended consequences.  Baylor believes fierce resistance from the schools and church leaders played a major role in Lara backing down.

“There was a vigorous effort on behalf of the schools themselves lobbying against passage of this legislation.  The schools activated their students, the parents of those students, their employees, their alumni.  And many of California’s churches, including prominent leaders of African-American and Hispanic churches made their voice known to the legislature,” said Baylor.

Lara’s decision to back down is even more stunning considering that some liberal groups were pushing him to go even further in than targeting exemptions in his legislation.

“The ACLU, in one of those committees that the bill passed, testified against the bill, not because they understand that it violates religious liberty, which it does, but rather because they didn’t believe the bill was punitive enough,” said Baylor.

The ACLU was not alone.

“We heard similar stories about Planned Parenthood, hoping to use this bill to punish schools that have pro-life values and policies,” said Baylor.

But there is no time for the faith-based schools to breathe easy.  Sen. Lara says he plans to pursue this issue again next year because of the “appalling and unacceptable discrimination against LGBT students at these private religious institutions throughout California.”

Baylor says Lara and other liberals are relentless on this issue for many reasons, beginning with having little appreciation for the value these schools add to our society and the hope they provide for those coming from difficult backgrounds.

“They don’t comprehend how these schools, uniquely in many instances, reach out to economically disadvantaged and minority students.  I don’t think they value the character education these institutions offer, the quality character of the graduates, the contributions they make to our economy and our society.  I think they undervalue that,” said Baylor.

A more basic assessment, says Baylor, is that Democrats and liberal groups have zero tolerance for views contrary to their own.

“The purpose of a law like this is to make a statement that their views of sexuality are correct and Christian and other traditional religious views of sexuality are wrong,” said Baylor.

Baylor says the schools in question certainly have codes of conduct for students and employees, such as no sexual activity outside the marriage of one man and one woman.  He says Lara and other critics have this image of Christian schools expelling gay or lesbian students as a knee-jerk reaction to violating the code.  He says that narrative is false.

“If they encounter a student who has violated these rules, the first response is not to suspend or expel these students.  I think that’s a myth that opponents of these schools have propagated.  The real response is one of compassion, of ministry and of redemption,” said Baylor.

If lawmakers forbid Cal Grant dollars from helping to pay for tuition at faith-based schools, Baylor says poor and minority students will be hurt most.

“They are more interested in making an ideological and political statement than in protecting the interests of economically disadvantaged students,” said Baylor.

As for the schools, Baylor says they would be left scrambling.

“I’m not convinced that significant sum of money is available to them right now.  Most of these institutions, although they’re economically stable, don’t have the endowments of a Princeton or a Stanford,” said Baylor.

Baylor says if the schools could not raise the money to stay open, many thousands of students would be forced to make other decisions.  He says many thousands would be forced into the University of California or California State University systems, throwing both of them into chaos.  However, he says another possibility is even more disturbing.

“The worst possible outcome is these students who would have gone to a school like Westmont or Thomas Aquinas College, if they can’t afford it, they may not have anyplace else to go.  They end up not having a college education at all just because there are folks who want to make an ideological statement to show their cultural power about issues of marriage and sexuality and that’s unfortunate,” said Baylor.

Jim Geraghty of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America applaud the Associated Press for discovering that more than half of Hillary Clinton’s nongovernmental meetings as secretary of state were with Clinton Foundation donors.  They also unload on Venezuela’s socialist government for trying to end bread lines – by fining bakeries if the lines go outside.  And they discuss Dr. Ben Carson getting involved in the debate over Hillary’s health.

Liberal American politicians often cite Nordic countries like Norway, Sweden and Denmark, as proof that big government or socialist policies can lead to a vibrant, prosperous nation, but a leading economic scholar says those countries are successful despite more government and are actually proof that such policies are a failure.

Dr Nima Sanandaji is author of “Debunking Utopia: Exposing the Myth of Nordic Socialism”.  He says liberals and socialists in America and beyond frequently extol the Nordic countries for one simple reason.  The Nordic countries are Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, and Iceland.

“If you remove the Nordic countries, the left doesn’t have any role models left.  The Left doesn’t say, ‘Look at California.  They have big government.  It works.’  They don’t say that.  They don’t say, ‘Look at Italy.  they have social democratic policies.  That works.’  They only point to the Nordic countries,” said Sanandaji.

But even that example is badly misleading.  Sanandaji says while there are some socialist policies in place, those are not socialist countries and they don’t see themselves that way.

“The policies of Nordic countries are not socialism.  It is capitalism.  Denmark is used by the U.S. left as the main role model for socialism.  The Danish prime minister came to Harvard University at the end of last year.  He said, ‘Stop saying Denmark is socialist.  Denmark is a market economy,'” said Sanandaji.

While citizens of Nordic countries pay up to 60 percent of their income in taxes, Sanandaji says other policies help to keep the economy humming.

“To a large degree, these companies compensate for high taxes by having economic freedom in every other area.  Denmark has the same economic freedom score that the U.S. does.  Why?  Besides having higher taxes, in virtually every other part of their economy, they’re much more capitalist than the U.S. is,” said Sanandaji.

But even more significant than economic freedom, says Sanandaji, is the renowned work ethic and strong responsibility culture of the Nordic people, qualities he says were in place long before the big government policies came along.

“The Nordic countries have a culture of success that gives them prosperity, that gives them social success.  This culture of success predates the welfare state.  I systematically show in my book, ‘Debunking Utopia,’ that the admirable features of the Nordic countries predate the welfare state,” said Sanandaji.

However, his research shows that the ‘culture of success’ is even stronger in Nordic immigrants to the U.S., proving the big government policies are actually a hindrance.

“All of [the admirable features] are found equally or even more among Nordic Americans who live in the American capitalist system than their Nordic cousins who live in the social democratic system.  It is not about social democracy.  It is not about big government.  It is about a unique Nordic culture,” said Sanandaji.

Liberals in the U.S. and beyond point to Nordic life expectancy exceeding that of the U.S., including Denmark, which has a life expectancy 1.5 years higher than Americans.  Sanandaji says that’s true, but government-run health care is not the reason.

“True.  They do live longer, but I look at history.  In 1960, Denmark had lower taxes than the U.S. had.  At that time, before the welfare state, Danes lived 2.4 years  longer than Americans.  The difference has actually shrunk when Denmark is moving toward the highest tax on the planet,” said Sanandaji.

He also says Denmark has the lowest life expectancy among the Nordic countries despite having the biggest government.  Iceland has the smallest government but also boasts the longest Nordic life expectancy.

But while the Nordic nations are doing much better than socialist nations like Venezuela, Italy and Greece thanks to a strong culture and market economic policies, Sanandaji says other big government policies are harming those countries.

“All this social capital, work ethic, responsibility ethics has been grinded down by the welfare state.  Many, many people are trapped in welfare dependency.  That creates social poverty.  So while the welfare state is supposed to combat poverty, it is actually to some degree creating poverty and social problems,” said Sanandaji.

Jim Geraghty of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America welcome a new Gallup poll showing 80 percent of Americans think voters should be required to present a photo ID in order to vote.  They also laugh as Donald Trump now says that after deporting hardcore criminal illegal immigrants, most of his immigration enforcement policy would look like what we saw from George W. Bush and Barack Obama.  And we discuss the USA Today story blowing major holes in the story offered by Brazilian police in the saga of the U.S. swimmers.

The man who served four U.S. ambassadors to the United Nations says Donald Trump is an easy choice over Hillary Clinton and says former GOP officials planning to vote for Hillary are exposing themselves as desperate to protect the system that has enriched them and advanced their careers.

And Richard Grenell says he is particularly disgusted by the decision of his former boss, John Negroponte, to stiff-arm the Republican nominee and line up behind Clinton.

Negroponte served in the George W. Bush administration, first as U.N. Ambassador, then as Ambassador to Iraq before eventually becoming the first Director of National Intelligence.  Earlier this month, Negroponte was one of 50 diplomatic and national security Republicans to issue an open letter opposing Trump’s White House bid.  Later, Negroponte announced he supported Clinton.

Grenell, who served as spokesman at the U.N. for Negroponte and Ambassadors John Danforth, John Bolton, and Zalmay Khalilzad,  says Negroponte’s decisions don’t surprise him at all.

“I’m not surprised that John Negroponte is supporting Hillary Clinton because he is a creature of Washington that has benefited from the system.  He likes the rules.  He has greatly succeeded by playing by those rules.  He’s a Washington insider,” said Grenell.

He also says no one should be fooled by Negroponte posturing himself as a loyal Republican.

“I heard him personally, on many occasions, mock the President of the United States and the vice-president, who appointed him to his position – that’s George Bush and Dick Cheney,” said Grenell.  “He mocked them and their policies, yet he continued to work for them and he took higher jobs from them.  So loyalty is not actually his strength.”

Grenell’s opinion of the others who signed the letter opposing Trump isn’t any higher.

“There are hundreds of experts who didn’t sign that letter.  So the 50 that did sign it, I’m not surprised.  Many of them on that list I’ve never heard of to be honest.  There are some on that list that I’m surprised are still calling themselves Republicans,” said Grenell.

He says many others are like Negroponte and are comfortable with the way Washington works right now.

“There are some on that list that I never believed would never vote for anybody but a mainstream politician that plays by the rules.  And then there are some that are going to lose a whole bunch of power if the rules are changed,” said Grenell.

Grenell says Donald Trump poses a serious threat to business as usual in Washington, making insiders like Negroponte very nervous and people like Grenell hopeful.

“I’m excited when I look at the possibilities that Donald Trump brings to Washington because he’s somebody new and different.  He’s not a politician and he’s not going to make decisions in the same way, which I have to say is the reason a lot of the D.C. types, whether they’re Republicans or Democrats are supporting Hillary Clinton,” he said.

“They like the rules.  The rules benefit them and so they don’t want the benefits to change.  Donald Trump is willing to look at Washington, D.C., and the way we run it in a  completely different way.  And that’s refreshing to me,” said Grenell.

Just looking at the day-to-day headlines convinces Grenell that a major shake-up is needed in our approach to foreign policy.  Over the weekend, over 50 people were killed in a terrorist attack at a wedding in Turkey.  Grenell says policy in Turkey is getting more complicated thanks to the autocratic actions of Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, but he also says it’s yet another example of the Obama administration – and Hillary Clinton – dropping the ball.

“It also has to do with a lack of U.S. leadership.  When we see different situations like this bombing going on in Turkey, it is a sign that the United States needs to step up its leadership,” said Grenell.

He says the U.S. and Turkey both want to see Bashar al-Assad removed from power yet can’t seem to make any progress in that direction while Russia has no problems sending in tanks to protect Assad.

“We haven’t seen this in recent memory, where the Russians have moved from just talking tough against U.S. policy to actually implementing a military strategy to stand up against the United States, to stand up against Turkey, to really stand up against NATO and nothing be done about it,” said Grenell.

Grenell is very concerned about the rapid erosion of freedom in Turkey over the past eight years and especially since this summer’s failed coup against Erdogan.  He says Hillary Clinton also failed to challenge that accumulation of power.

“When Hillary Clinton was secretary of state, he was openly challenging U.S. policy on Israel and Gaza and that was allowed to happen.  I think the lesson that Erdogan has learned is that the world really isn’t watching.  The U.S. isn’t paying attention and he can do what he wants,” said Grenell.

He also asserts that Clinton can’t spot terrorism when it’s staring her in the face, most glaringly in the case of Boko Haram in Nigeria.

“She considered it.  She looked at the evidence.  There were people within the State Department  and within the U.S. government; Obama political appointees were lobbying her to put this group on the terror list.  She looked at the evidence and her judgment brought her to the point of saying, ‘I don’t think they should be placed on the terror list.  That was a disaster,” said Grenell.

According to Grenell, Clinton also deserves blame for the mess in Libya and the general rise in terrorism in the world.  He also says the recent revelations that the Obama administration paid $400 million to Iran at the exact same time our hostages were released also shows some clear differences between Clinton and Trump.

“Whether you call it ransom or not, that immediate payment is a policy that Obama defends and that Hillary defends.  She says it wasn’t ransom, that it was appropriate.  Donald Trump says, ‘No, we’re going to stop that sort of sneaky, secretive payment process.’  Whatever you call it, that sort of policy will not be implemented in the Trump administration.  Hillary Clinton, however, wants to continue that,” said Grenell.

In addition to Trump shaking up how the Washington foreign policy establishment does business, Grenell says the GOP nominee would bring huge changes to the foreign aid process and insist on zero-based budgeting and justified foreign aid.

“What Donald Trump believes is that in January of the new year, countries should have to come to the United States and to the State Department to say, ‘This is what we’re going to spend your tax dollars on if you give us foreign aid,'” said Grenell.  “Those types of changes will never happen with a Hillary Clinton.  They will happen with a Donald Trump.”

In the final analysis, Grenell says his choice in 2016 is an easy one.

“The choice in November for people is very clear.  It’s either you vote for Hillary Clinton and you get 5,000 liberal political appointees running the government, or you vote for Donald Trump and you get 5,000 conservative political appointees, with him, running the government,” said Grenell.

Jim Geraghty of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America are pleased to see Republican voter registration efforts outpacing the Democrats at this point.  They also unload on Hillary Clinton over the revelation that she failed to turn over nearly 15,000 documents that should have been deemed work-related.  And they get a good laugh out of Trump Campaign Manager Kellyanne Conway suggesting that Donald Trump does not hurl personal insults.

A conservative challenger to Arizona Sen. John McCain says the time has come to retire the five-term Republican both for his “dismal record” and simply for being in Washington too long.

Former GOP State Senator Dr. Kelli Ward is mounting a spirited challenge to McCain leading up to Arizona’s U.S. Senate primary on August 30, just one day after McCain turns 80 years old.  Polling is sparse on this race and Ward says it’s close but it’s anybody’s guess who is ahead.

“The polling is very difficult because there are so many new voters.  There are people who are inspired to vote because of the changes at the presidential level,” said Ward.  “I think it’s neck-and-neck.  I think it’s very telling that here now 10-11 days before the primary, John McCain is now  suddenly scrambling to buy ads to attack me himself, not just through his SuperPAC, but his own campaign,” said Ward.

While at least one poll over the past couple of months suggest a race within the margin of error, a new poll conducted by the firm of a former Arizona Republican Party official has McCain comfortably ahead, 50-29 percent.

Ward says McCain’s own actions prove those numbers are wrong.

“One of the polls out recently I think is completely bogus.  If he were that far ahead of me, why would he be spending hundreds of thousands, if not millions of dollars, to attack me here in the homestretch,” said Ward.

Ward has two major reasons for trying to #RetireMcCain as her campaign’s hashtag proclaims: the senator’s record and his entrenched position in Washington’s political class.  However, she makes clear McCain’s record frustrates her most.

“Most importantly is his dismal record of voting for tax hikes and bailouts, massive spending, amnesty, liberal judges, and the fact he’s been in Washington for almost 40 years,” said Ward.

McCain won a House seat in 1982 and was first elected to the Senate four years later.  Ward says over three decades in Washington is more than enough.

“Our country was never designed to have a political ruling class that stayed in power for decades.  So it’s time to pass that torch and I want to give him the best eightieth birthday present ever – the gift of retirement,” said Ward.

The 47-year-old Ward says Arizona voters will not have to worry about chasing her out of Washington in 30 years.

“I am running on the term limits pledge.  I will not stay in Washington longer than two terms.  I think 12 years in Washington, D.C., is probably more than enough time for anyone to start an agenda, accomplish a lot of it and pave the way for the next generation to take the torch,” said Ward.

Ward is especially critical of McCain on border security.  When running for re-election in 2010, McCain aired an ad touting himself as committed to border security and stopping the flow of criminals and smugglers into the state.  The ad became famous for McCain saying, ‘Complete the danged fence.'”

Ward says McCain is a failure on the issue.

“We’re still having the drug trafficking, the home invasions, the illegal people flooding in and effecting every aspect of society, from healthcare  to education to public safety and correction to our economy to our very American culture.  It’s all under assault because of our open border,” said Ward.

After winning his fifth term, McCain played a leading role the Senate bill to reform immigration policy.  Ward says that action proves McCain cannot be trusted with securing our borders.

“The comprehensive immigration reform bill they tried to pass of with the Gang of Eight was an amnesty bill.  People aren’t going to stand for that.  We need a clean bill about border security first and foremost.  Then we will worry about cleaning up the mess that decades of an open border have left us with here in our country,” said Ward.

She says their positions going forward are also very different.

“John McCain is a big fan of open borders.  He wants to pull the wool over the eyes of the Republican voter and the voter in general, Republican and Democrat, to make them think he’s trying to keep them safe.  We all know that border security is national security and I’m ready to mix the mortar to fix the border,” said Ward.

Ward also contends that she would be a more effective voice in Washington to strengthen the military and provide better care for our veterans.  How does she make that case against the sitting chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee?

She says the world is not safer as a result of John McCain’s 34 years in Washington, especially in light of his support for numerous overseas interventions.  She believes McCain has more in common with Hillary Clinton on foreign policy.

“They share the foreign policy of invade the world, invite the world.  Invade the world through nation building and expensive occupation, invite the world through opening our borders and bring people into our country.  That policy has led to terrorist attacks across this world.  There are piles of bodies from Benghazi to Orlando.  That’s why we’ve got to change Washington, D.C. by sending the people we send there,” said Ward.

As voters in the Grand Canyon State make up their minds heading into the August 30 primary, Ward has a final message for them.

“I want them to know I’m going to mix the mortar to fix the border.  I’m going to heal the VA.  I will be a conservative champion for Arizona and for America in the United States Senate,” she said.

Jim Geraghty of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America have only good news today.  They applaud Donald Trump and Mike Pence for going to Louisiana to support flood victims and bring attention to their plight and applaud Trump for admitting many of his remarks in this campaign were uncalled for and hurtful.  They also welcome the exit of Paul Manafort from the Trump campaign.  And they enjoy Colin Powell’s refuting of a key point in Hillary Clinton’s flimsy email defense.  Finally, they react to the Ryan Lochte apology.

The recent violence and property destruction in Milwaukee is the result of of a false ideology embraced by President Obama and Hillary Clinton and this episode also further exposed the extent of media bias on this charged issue, according to best-selling author Heather Mac Donald.

Mac Donald is the Thomas W. Smith Fellow at the Manhattan Institute and is author of the New York Times best-seller “The War on Cops: How the New Attack on Law and Order Makes Everyone Less Safe.”

On Saturday, violent protests broke out after a Milwaukee police officer shot and killed 23-year-old Sylville Smith.  Smith was running from a traffic stop and in possession of a stolen gun.  He was deemed a threat to the officer’s life and the officer opened fire.

Multiple businesses in Milwaukee were set on fire by angry protesters and several police vehicles were also damaged.  More violence took place on Sunday night, yet all of this warranted far less coverage than the national media devoted to police-involved shootings in Ferguson, Baton Rouge or Minneapolis.

Mac Donald thinks she knows why.

“I think the media is simply starting to cover up the effects of the Black Lives Matter movement,” she said.  “I think the media now is looking the other way and is almost trying to normalize that level of violence.”

When the media did cover the story, some of the reporting was discovered to be altering the facts.  CNN received intense criticism for selectively editing comments from Smith’s sister, Sherelle.  The CNN story depicted her as calling for peace, leaving out her plea Saturday night to burn down the suburbs.

“It’s appalling.  It makes it perfectly clear what their agenda is, and that is to promote a one-sided story that white racism is the biggest force affecting social relations today,” said Mac Donald.

“I think the whitewashing of this woman’s statements is an absolutely illuminating example of what is the reality of the media and their one-sided view of American society,” she added.

She says what’s even more alarming is that the actions of Black Lives Matter demonstrators and the media only make additional violence more likely.

“What we’re going through now is an ideological war on the cops.  Unless that rhetoric changes, you’re going to see more black lives lost because cops are backing off proactive policing under this non-stop assault that they’re racist,” said Mac Donald.

“These riots are, along with the assassination of police officers, the results of this campaign of hatred that has been launched against the police by Black Lives Matter activists and, sadly, by President Obama and by Hillary Clinton,” said Mac Donald.

Another divergence from past incidents is how prominent politicians responded to the violence.  President Obama and Hillary Clinton have said and written nothing while Donald Trump went to Milwaukee and delivered a law and order address in support of police that also blamed failed liberal policies for the crushing poverty in many black neighborhoods.

“I thought the speech was powerful, especially his acknowledgement that there is a false narrative about policing and his recognition that that narrative itself has consequences,” said Mac Donald.

Meanwhile, she is horrified by the silence from Obama and Clinton.

“This is anarchy.  It cannot go uncondemned by the political leaders.  For Hillary Clinton and President Obama to stay silent about this is just a complete dereliction of their responsibilities towards this country,” said Mac Donald.

She says it’s also hypocritical, as evidenced by no one getting violent in the wake of four homicides in Milwaukee in the 48 hours before the Smith shooting.

“The Black Lives Matter activists could not care less about the dozens of black children gunned down in drive-by shootings last year by black thugs.  The only time they move themselves to take over intersections, scream at cops, hurl invectives, is in those rare instances when a police officer shoots somebody who’s black, overwhelmingly when confronted by someone who is armed and dangerous,” said Mac Donald.

She says the statistics bear this out.  She says a much higher percentage of black Americans die by gunfire than whites or Hispanics but only four percent of them die from a police shooting.  In comparison, she says 12 percent of whites and Hispanics die from police shootings.

Jim Geraghty of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America enjoy watching Tim Kaine twist himself in knots trying to distance himself from his 2002 statement that Bill Clinton should have resigned over the Monica Lewinsky scandal.  They also wonder why the media and top political figures are largely ignoring the devastating floods in Louisiana.  And they discuss the increasingly discredited allegations that four U.S. Olympic swimmers were mugged in Rio.