Friday, October 16, 2015
To: Friends & Supporters
From: Gary L. Bauer
“Day Of Rage”
Israelis are on heightened alert today after the terrorist group Hamas declared Friday to be a “day of rage.” Palestinians began the day by taking out their rage on Joseph’s Tomb in Nablus, setting fire to the Jewish holy site. Reports indicate the shrine suffered serious damage.
The Washington Post tells us that Muslims supposedly “venerate the site.” Yet it was attacked and destroyed by Palestinian mobs in 2000.
On MSNBC this morning, Israeli Ambassador Ron Dermer reminded his hosts that this is what happens wherever radical Islam gains a foothold. Whether it is the Taliban destroying ancient statues, ISIS destroying temples or Boko Haram destroying churches, militant Islam is not content with merely promoting its brand. It attacks and destroys everything else.
How long would the Western Wall stand if radical Islamists controlled Jerusalem? They are already engaged in a world-wide propaganda campaign aimed at delegitimizing the Jewish claim to the Holy Land, which is also an attack on Christianity.
Emails & Espionage
Fox News reports that the FBI’s investigation into former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s handling of classified information may be focusing on potential violations of the Espionage Act.
No, no one is suggesting Hillary is a spy. But sections of the act detail how classified information is to be handled and how it is not to be handled. Mrs. Clinton may have violated a subsection regarding “gross negligence” in maintaining classified information on an unsecured computer.
Meanwhile, the New York Times reports that FBI agents are furious with President Obama’s recent comments dismissing the controversy while it remains under active investigation.
Obama Vs. The Generals
Perhaps the most absurd thing to happen in the past seven years was President Obama receiving the Nobel Peace Prize in 2009. Just look at the world today. Thugs and dictators are on the march. Even the Cubans are in Syria!
Obama came into office with left-wing notions about how the world would be a better place if American power was restrained. So he immediately began pulling out of Iraq and ISIS took over. He started drawing down forces in Afghanistan, and the Taliban reemerged as a threat.
Yesterday, Obama was forced to concede to reality. Instead of pulling all U.S. troops out of Afghanistan by the end of 2016, he announced that 5,500 U.S. troops would remain in Afghanistan for at least the next two years.
The Pentagon had asked for nearly 10,000 soldiers. But as he has done on at least six occasions, Obama overrode that advice and slashed the number of troops in half. Military experts say that Obama’s clashes with our generals are “unprecedented.”
As I have noted before, there is a reason he has had four secretaries of defense in seven years, and the results speak volumes.
Left-wing commentators sympathized with Obama, agonizing over the tough choice between his desire to end an era of war and maintain some resistance against radical Islam.
They should stop feeling sorry for Obama and try walking in the shoes of Ukrainians who have Putin’s heel on their throats. They should feel sorry for the Christians, Yazidis and other religious minorities suffering extreme persecution in the Middle East because Obama abandoned the mantle of American leadership.
Speaking of which, I have an opinion piece today at The Federalist, arguing that U.S. refugee policy should favor Middle East Christians fleeing genocidal Islamists.
Bathroom Battles
Bathrooms are becoming the latest front in the culture war. Believe it or not, the administration is suing an Illinois school district because school officials are insisting . . . that boys use boys’ bathrooms.
In fact, the Department of Education is threatening to withhold $6 million in federal funding unless the district allows a biologically male student to use the girls’ locker room, shower and restrooms.
District officials offered repeated compromises, including a private room. But that was rejected. Thankfully, district officials are not budging.
“At some point, we have to balance the privacy rights of 12,000 students with other particular, individual needs of another group of students,” Superintendent Daniel Cates said. “We believe this infringes on the privacy of all the students that we serve.”
We reported several weeks ago that one of the largest school districts in Virginia voted to accommodate transgendered demands after federal bureaucrats threatened to cut off tax dollars to the classrooms. Clearly, there is a deliberate effort to force this nonsense on every school, district by district.
Next month, the residents of Houston, Texas, will vote on a city ordinance that allows individuals to pick and choose what restroom they use based on how they identify at any given moment.
The law has been a flashpoint for over a year. At one point the mayor attempted to subpoena the sermons of local pastors who opposed the radical law!
Former Astros player Lance Berkman weighed in on the controversy. Concerned about the safety of his four daughters, he says in an ad, “No men in women’s bathrooms. No boys in girls’ showers or locker rooms.”
That might seem perfectly logical, but this is the kind of cultural chaos that prevails when the radical left is in control.
Goodbye, Macel
I just received the sad news that Macel Falwell, wife of the late Rev. Jerry Falwell, passed away today at the age of 82. Macel and Jerry were married for 49 years, and were true champions of the faith.
Their legacy continues today in the tremendous work of their children, Jerry, president of Liberty University, Jonathan, pastor of Thomas Road Baptist Church, and their daughter, Dr. Jeannie Falwell Savas.
Please join Carol and me in praying for the Falwell family.
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