On Baptist preacher and anti-abortion candidate Mike Huckabee…

“I’ve got a better idea,” Huckabee suggested. “Why doesn’t Saudi Arabia host them, and we will send some assistance through our charitable organizations for some hospitals and schools? We will design the curriculum for those schools. They won’t be madrassas to teach terrorism.”

The conservative Christian politician said the United States had no moral obligation to shelter Syrian refugees, but should instead be more concerned about preserving its sovereignty from Muslim immigrants.

“That’s not a lack of Christian charity,” Huckabee insisted. “It’s the essence of charity, to provide for needs, but not to put your own children at risk, if what you’re importing could be people who have a nefarious purpose for wanting to be here.”¹

On fundamentalist Christian and anti-abortion candidate Ted Cruz…

Cruz plans to introduce legislation in the Senate this week to cut off federal funding for refugee resettlement, allying himself with Ben Carson, perhaps Cruz’s closest competitor in the presidential race. And he also said he supports governors who are closing their borders to the refugees.

“I was one of the very first to stake out this position. Now we’re seeing more and more come over and agree with me,” Cruz told Bash.²

On fundamentalist Christian and anti-abortion candidate Rick Santorum…

“If we take refugees from that area of Syria, what we’re doing is actually helping ISIS with what they want to accomplish, which is to rid that area of moderate Muslims, Christians and ethnic minorities,” Santorum said. “ISIS says they are implanting people in these refugees who are, in fact, ISIS members and will come to countries and cause terrorist activities.”³

On fundamentalist Christian and anti-abortion candidate Ben Carson..

At campaign stops in Alabama, Carson said halting Syrian resettlement in the US doesn’t mean America lacks compassion.

“If there’s a rabid dog running around in your neighborhood, you’re probably not going to assume something good about that dog,” Carson told reporters at one stop.

“It doesn’t mean you hate all dogs, but you’re putting your intellect into motion.”

Carson said that to “protect my children” he would “call the humane society and hopefully they can come take this dog away and create a safe environment once again”.

More anti-abortion folks that have the nerve to call themselves “pro-life”…

“We need to activate the Tennessee National Guard and stop them from coming in to the state by whatever means we can,” said House GOP Caucus Chairman Glen Casada, R-Franklin⁴

“After full consideration of this weekend’s attacks of terror on innocent citizens in Paris, I will oppose any attempt to relocate Syrian refugees to Alabama through the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program. As your governor, I will not stand complicit to a policy that places the citizens of Alabama in harm’s way,” Bentley said.

“I will not place Alabamians at even the slightest, possible risk of an attack on our people,” Bentley continued. “Please continue to join me in praying for those who have suffered loss and for those who will never allow freedom to fade at the hands of terrorists.” [Governor of Alabama]⁵

Twenty-five Republican governors vowed to block the entry of Syrian refugees into their states⁶

5 million Syrian children, inside and outside the country, are in need of humanitarian aid, and millions have borne witness to unrelenting violence from the brutal conflict that began more than four years ago. 2.6 million children are no longer in school and 2 million are living as refugees in neighboring countries or on the run in search of safety, helping to fuel a global migrant crisis. Syria is now the world’s biggest producer of both internally displaced people and refugees.⁷

 

These folks constantly wave the Bible, tells us they love Jesus and call themselves ‘pro-life’ based on their Christian faith. What does the book they bellow about tell us about refugees? Check out the quotes listed below from the Bible. These folks are not only totally disgusting HYPOCRITES, they are exactly the religious folks that Jesus drove out of the temple with whips and that, in political maneuvering with the Romans, eventually crucified him. They have the nerve to indict Islam based on terrorism when they blatantly and overtly make Jesus the face of xenophobia.

Jesus tells us in Mathew 6, 23

But if your eye is evil, your whole body will be full of darkness. Therefore, if the light within you has turned into darkness, how great is that darkness!”

These folks are darkness personified.

Only a pure sophist and narcissist would try to make these folks into anything other than what they are…despicable, dangerous and insane.

Leviticus 19:33-34

“When a stranger sojourns with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong. You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.

Matthew 25:35

For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me,

Exodus 22:21

“You shall not wrong a sojourner or oppress him, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt.

Malachi 3:5    

“Then I will draw near to you for judgment. I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who oppress the hired worker in his wages, the widow and the fatherless, against those who thrust aside the sojourner, and do not fear me, says the Lord of hosts.

Deuteronomy 27:19

“‘Cursed be anyone who perverts the justice due to the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

Hebrews 13:2

Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.

Zechariah 7:9-10

“Thus says the Lord of hosts, Render true judgments, show kindness and mercy to one another, do not oppress the widow, the fatherless, the sojourner, or the poor, and let none of you devise evil against another in your heart.”

Ezekiel 47:22

You shall allot it as an inheritance for yourselves and for the sojourners who reside among you and have had children among you. They shall be to you as native-born children of Israel. With you they shall be allotted an inheritance among the tribes of Israel.

Jeremiah 7:5-7

“For if you truly amend your ways and your deeds, if you truly execute justice one with another, if you do not oppress the sojourner, the fatherless, or the widow, or shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not go after other gods to your own harm, then I will let you dwell in this place, in the land that I gave of old to your fathers forever.

Leviticus 25:35    

“If your brother becomes poor and cannot maintain himself with you, you shall support him as though he were a stranger and a sojourner, and he shall live with you.

Proverbs 31:8-9

Open your mouth for the mute, for the rights of all who are destitute. Open your mouth, judge righteously, defend the rights of the poor and needy.

Deuteronomy 10:18

He executes justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the sojourner, giving him food and clothing.

Matthew 5:46-47

For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same?

Exodus 23:9

“You shall not oppress a sojourner. You know the heart of a sojourner, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt.

Deuteronomy 10:18-19

He executes justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the sojourner, giving him food and clothing. Love the sojourner, therefore, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt.

Leviticus 19:10

And you shall not strip your vineyard bare, neither shall you gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard. You shall leave them for the poor and for the sojourner: I am the Lord your God.

Leviticus 23:22

“And when you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap your field right up to its edge, nor shall you gather the gleanings after your harvest. You shall leave them for the poor and for the sojourner: I am the Lord your God.”

Deuteronomy 10:19

Love the sojourner, therefore, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt.

Numbers 15:15

For the assembly, there shall be one statute for you and for the stranger who sojourns with you, a statute forever throughout your generations. You and the sojourner shall be alike before the Lord.

James 2:1-4

My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. For if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly, and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in, and if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, “You sit here in a good place,” while you say to the poor man, “You stand over there,” or, “Sit down at my feet,” have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?⁸

_________________

¹ Mike Huckabee thinks Syrian refugees aren’t fleeing ‘tyranny’ — they’re just looking for ‘cable TV’

² Ted Cruz: Muslim refugees from Syria should go to other Islamic countries

³ Santorum talks Syrian refugees at Coralville stop

⁴ Tennessee GOP leader: Round up Syrian refugees, remove from state

⁵ Governor Of Alabama Says His State Will Refuse Syrian Refugees

⁶ G.O.P. Governors Vow to Close Doors to Syrian Refugees

⁷ Syria — one of the most dangerous places in the world to be a child — and another bitter winter is on its way

⁸ Immigration

The Republican Presidential candidates so opportunistically decry the Presidents ‘lack of strategy and leadership’. Like a shark feeding frenzy, they smell blood in the water and the black bile of vim and vitriol spew from their drooling jaws. The sheer impact from their gut felt righteous indignation is, for them, proof of their veracity in the cause of ‘shock and awe’ against the evil of terrorism. Yet, when it comes to deaths by gun violence in our own country, the great rhetorical monoliths of truth, justice and the American way shrink to an anemic puff of hot air.

¹

Aristotle, the basis of democracy, would have rational, enlightened voters contemplate upon proportion, magnitude, and ‘ratio’, the basis of the word ‘rationale’. Emotion has the tendency to distort and dramatize. It tends to bring out the strongest and darkest emotions of human experience: hatred, anger, arrogance. While I will admit emotions can be fun and make for great movies, we must, at the end of the day allow rationality to incline our ears to a more sublime and adaptive voice.

In all human endeavors psychology has taught us that in order to understand behavioral motivations we need to look at the emotive payoffs which drive them. A terrorist is an enigma to those of us who have meaning in our lives. We have loved family members, basic security and enjoyment of life. For us, the antithesis of our basic meaning is the irrational and self-destructive terrorist. We set up the stage of the terrorist as the evil genius, the diabolical embodiment of Satan. We justify our own hatred and darkness based on the greater, perceived evil. Our meaning is enhanced by reacting violently to the Great Satan.

Likewise, the terrorist is motivated by violence to the Great Satan. Our Satan’s differ diametrically but each of us has the tendency to feed our meaning with the carcass of the other.

Here is what Republicans, which give themselves completely over to their base instincts, do not understand: A terrorist knows they are not going to win a conventional war against us. However, with the advent of the internet and the virtual, almost innumerable, clamoring for publicity and voice, the promise of meaning is fueled by the instantaneous and highly dramatic act of pure ego, even as the final and resolute ingesting and absolute enveloping of the id. The id in Freud has no other than itself². It incites phantasmal passions infinitely from the imaginary order of Lacan.³

Here is where the fait fatal of Republican rhetoric plays into the symbiotic relationship with the terrorist. The behavioral motivation of the terrorist is publicity. The Republican rhetorical response to terrorism is war, the pinnacle of publicity, as we saw with G.W. Bush. The devout Republican believes the ‘war’ can be won. The devout terrorist has already won, as war is the publicity they crave. Realistically, it is impossible to win the ‘war’ against terrorism. ‘Winning the war against terrorism’ is effectively an admonition that the war has already been lost. Terrorism is not a state you can win a war against, it is a psychology. Terrorism and war are devoted bedfellows. Neither can annihilate the other. They are determined to dance from instinctual necessity into perpetuity. The neocons of the Republic Party are the terrorists dream. The neocons are the primary recruitment mechanism for the terrorists.⁴ However, caught in the cross-fire of their narcissistic hate affair are the innocents the Republicans claim to champion.

The answer to this senseless debacle is not more war. More war is like throwing more fuel on the fire. If Republicans really want to win the war they will have to call off the fight at the O.K. Coral with its Wild West romanticizing and listen to what President Obama is telling them. ‘We’, meaning the most immediately effected first, need to quietly, without the hubris of “shock and awe”, eliminate these publicity craving terrorists. The middle east is, and should be, the on the fore front of a world wide effort to starve these ravenous appetites for publicity. Islam should assert itself against the blasphemous and heretical attempts to justify the murder of innocent people. Likewise, let us not forget that Pope Pius XI made a contract, the Concordant, with Hitler in order to protect Catholics as he justified it. When a major religion becomes the mouth piece for hatred and war, it blasphemes and thus, apostates, itself. When religion is silent in the face of evil it becomes the face of evil.

‘Nation building’, the once politically disposed phrase by the Republicans, is now effectively the defacto politically correct way for Republicans to justify to themselves what is, for all intents and purposes, endless occupation. Our longest wars under G.W. Bush would have no end with the current crop of Republican candidates. Even Rand Paul would ‘evolve’ on the issue of military engagement as evidenced by his more recent statements, “If I were president, I would call a joint session of Congress. I would lay out the reasoning of why ISIS is a threat to our national security and seek congressional authorization to destroy ISIS militarily.”⁵ What the American public need to understand is that gut level reaction is exactly what fuels the fire of terrorism and political rhetoric on the right. No solutions or victories can come out of the wars of G.W. Bush and this is not President Obama’s fault. It was the fault of an ill-conceived strategy. We have more terrorists, more debt, more of our own killed and injured and hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians because we let unabated emotion take over for intelligence and cunning.⁶ As far as I am concerned when I hear war hawks advocating reckless and endless wars they may as well be saying, “Let’s go kill our kids and put trillions more on the national debt to satiate our ignorant rage.” In the end, the solutions they propose are no different than the ones the terrorists propose; senseless violence without end which only exacerbates the problems, all the while feeding their own blood lust for vengeance.

If they really wanted to do something to make a difference for approximately 30,000 deaths as opposed to dozens of deaths a year on average since 2005, they should apply their righteous indignation to the NRA but when did facts ever make a difference to them?

_________________

¹ Fact-checking a comparison of gun deaths and terrorism deaths

² “The ethical rapport with the face is asymmetrical in that it subordinates my existence to the other. This principle recurs in Darwinian biology as the “survival of the fittest” and in psychoanalysis as the natural instinct of the ‘id’ for gratification, possession, and power — the libido dominandi.” Face To Face With Levinas, page 24, isbn= 0791499367, Link

³ Felluga, Dino. “Modules on Lacan: On the Structure of the Psyche.” Introductory Guide to Critical Theory

⁴ “Since the U.S. occupation of Iraq began in 2003, foreign jihadists have flocked to Iraq, making it a new center of jihad – and in the process, they have transformed the nature of the anti-U.S. Iraqi resistance. Iraq’s insurgency is concentrated in the Sunni Arab parts of Iraq, though much of the rest of the country outside the Kurdish regions is convulsed in civil war or confronting the problems of a de facto failed state.

Only a portion of the insurgency consists of jihadists who took up arms in the name of God, but over the years their numbers have grown. A 2006 National Intelligence Estimate found that “The Iraq conflict has become the ’cause celebre’ for jihadists, breeding a deep resentment of US involvement in the Muslim world and cultivating supporters for the global jihadist movement.”[4] Foreign jihadists are capitalizing on, and exacerbating, the strife in Iraq. Between 1,000 and 2,000 foreign fighters are in Iraq, and they carried out most of the suicide bombings. Most are from Arab countries, with Saudi Arabia comprising the lion’s share of those killed. In recent months, however, the number of Iraqi jihadists has swelled. Indeed, this may be one of the most lasting effects of the U.S. invasion and occupation: the growth of a domestic jihadist movement in Iraq, where none existed before.” Iraq and the Global War on Terrorism, Brookings Institute

⁵ Republicans Evolving on ISIS: Rand Paul takes tougher stance on terrorism, FoxNews

⁶ Iraq War – Direct Government Cost

Brown University

Iraq War: 190,000 lives, $2.2 trillion

Harvard University – Total Economic Impact

The Financial Legacy of Iraq and Afghanistan: How Wartime Spending Decisions Will Constrain Future National Security Budgets

“The Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts, taken together, will be the most expensive wars in US history – totaling somewhere between $4 to $6 trillion. This includes long-term medical care and disability compensation for service members, veterans and families, military replenishment and social and economic costs. The largest portion of that bill is yet to be paid. Since 2001, the US has expanded the quality, quantity, availability and eligibility of benefits for military personnel and veterans. This has led to unprecedented growth in the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of Defense budgets. These benefits will increase further over the next 40 years. Additional funds are committed to replacing large quantities of basic equipment used in the wars and to support ongoing diplomatic presence and military assistance in the Iraq and Afghanistan region. The large sums borrowed to finance operations in Iraq and Afghanistan will also impose substantial long-term debt servicing costs. As a consequence of these wartime spending choices, the United States will face constraints in funding investments in personnel and diplomacy, research and development and new military initiatives. The legacy of decisions taken during the Iraq and Afghanistan wars will dominate future federal budgets for decades to come.”

Washington Post

After 13 years, 2 wars and trillions in military spending, terrorist attacks are rising sharply

Institute For Economics and Peace

The Economic Cost of Violence Containment

Repeat

Started Two Mass Wars

    6 Trillion For Wars

    190,000 Killed

    70% Civilians

    4,488 US Military Killed

    3,400 US Contractors Killed

    Freedom Handout

    Nation Building

    Occupation

War Hawks

Economic Collapse

    Market Darwinians

    Financial Deregulation

    Bank Bailouts

    Trickle Down

    Help the Rich

    Regressive Taxation

Started The Great Depression

High Unemployment

Against Minimum Wage

Against National Health Care

Climate Change Denial

Gender Bias

    Anti-choice for Women

    Income Inequality Denial

Ethnic Bias

    Build Walls

    Deport All Immigrants

Gay Bias

Voter Suppression

Religious Education and Tax Breaks

Erode Separation of Church and State

Oppose Science

    Evolution

    Climate Change

 

Learn

Withdrawing From Two Mass Wars

    Other Effected Countries Lead

    International Support and Cooperation

    Against Military Occupation

    Peace Talks and Diplomacy

Economic Recovery

    Reduced Deficit From GW Bush

    Reduced Discretionary Spending

    Progressive Taxation

Low Unemployment

For Minimum Wage

Profit Sharing

For National Health Care

Climate Change Realists

Pro-Choice for Women

Income Equality for Women

Path to Citizenship

    2 Trillion Boost to Economy

Marriage Equality

Civil Rights and Voter Friendly

Strengthen Separation of Church and State

Proven Economic Record

Higher Education Free or Low Cost

Fund Science, Technology and Research

Iraq War – Direct Government Cost

Brown University

Iraq War: 190,000 lives, $2.2 trillion

Harvard University – Total Economic Impact

The Financial Legacy of Iraq and Afghanistan: How Wartime Spending Decisions Will Constrain Future National Security Budgets

“The Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts, taken together, will be the most expensive wars in US history – totaling somewhere between $4 to $6 trillion. This includes long-term medical care and disability compensation for service members, veterans and families, military replenishment and social and economic costs. The largest portion of that bill is yet to be paid. Since 2001, the US has expanded the quality, quantity, availability and eligibility of benefits for military personnel and veterans. This has led to unprecedented growth in the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of Defense budgets. These benefits will increase further over the next 40 years. Additional funds are committed to replacing large quantities of basic equipment used in the wars and to support ongoing diplomatic presence and military assistance in the Iraq and Afghanistan region. The large sums borrowed to finance operations in Iraq and Afghanistan will also impose substantial long-term debt servicing costs. As a consequence of these wartime spending choices, the United States will face constraints in funding investments in personnel and diplomacy, research and development and new military initiatives. The legacy of decisions taken during the Iraq and Afghanistan wars will dominate future federal budgets for decades to come.”

Washington Post

After 13 years, 2 wars and trillions in military spending, terrorist attacks are rising sharply

Institute For Economics and Peace

The Economic Cost of Violence Containment

American Immigration Council

STRENGTH IN DIVERSITY: The Economic and Political Clout of Immigrants, Latinos, and Asians in the United States

Latinos and Asians (both foreign-born and native-born) wield $2 trillion in consumer purchasing power, and the businesses they owned had sales of $857 billion and employed 4.7 million workers at last count.

The Big Picture: Facts Concerning History, Politics and the Economy

1917 to Present: Political Parties in Congress and Administration with Economic Data and Sources

Latest Observations on the Housing and Economic Crisis

American Enterprise Institute and Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission

The Great Lie: The Great Depression and Recessions of the United States

History of Republican Economic Failures and Democratic Successes

Senator Cory Gardner Prefers War With Iran, his letter to me…

Fallacies from Anti-Abortionists

Fundamentalism in Market Economy: The Austrian School

Treasury Department