The Terrorism That Republican Candidates Won't Talk About

(This image of Republican debaters is by DonkeyHotey.)

Throughout this campaign the Republican presidential candidates have repeatedly brought up the specter of jihadist terrorism in this country -- and they did it again in their debate a few days ago. This is a naked attempt to appeal to their base's fear and hatred of muslims -- both here and abroad. It is not a real effort to hold a rational discussion on terrorism in the United States.

I say that because they all completely ignored a recent act of terrorism in this country -- the terrorist attack on a Planned Parenthood facility in Colorado. They were eager to talk about the terrorist attack in California, because it was done by muslims. But they don't want to talk about terrorist attacks done by right-wing christians.

If they did, then they would have to admit that many of the right-wing christian terrorists are radicalized by the words of Republican candidates -- and by their propaganda organization, Fox News. The GOP candidates (and Fox News) have been preaching hate for all they consider to be "enemies" (muslims, President Obama, immigrants, Democrats, liberal, minorities, Planned Parenthood, etc.) -- saying all of these "enemies" are destroying the United States. It is more than a bit disingenuous to say that this continual hate speech has not radicalized many of the right-wing christian terrorists.

And their refusal to recognize that terrorism in this country is not done by jihadists alone, means they have no real solution to terrorism in this country. Their only "solution" is to discriminate against muslims and broader the U.S. participation in the war in Iraq/Syria (both of which would just cause more American deaths and radicalize more jihadist terrorists). It is a bumper sticker solution that won't work in the real world.

Another reason it won't work is because most terrorist attacks in the United States are not done by jihadists, but by home-grown right-wing christian terrorists. Americans are far more likely to be the victim of a right-wing terrorist than a jihadist terrorist, as it is just a fact that most terrorist incidents in this country are carried out by right-wing christian terrorists.

We do need to have a rational discussion on how to suppress terrorist attacks in this country, but the Republicans are not willing to participate in that debate. They are only interested in bigoted hate and fear mongering.

A Gift Suggestion For Your Right-Wing Family And Friends

(This image is from the Photobucket page of leeannellebracht.)

With the holidays approaching, I offer you this suggestion for a gift for your right-wing Republican family members and friends -- for those times when they pee their pants out of fear from the fear mongering of their leaders.

Some of you may think that's over-the-top, but frankly, I getting sick of the cowardice being displayed by the right-wingers. Now they are terrified of muslim refugees (mostly women and children who have gone through a stringent 2-year vetting by our State Department, Homeland Security Department, and FBI). We are a nation composed of the descendants of immigrants (both documented and undocumented) and refugees -- and yet these pants-wetting cowards are willing to deny our history and toss out our values.

It doesn't matter that the "threat" is tiny from muslim terrorists in this country. They have a better chance of being killed by a home-grown white christian terrorist than a muslim one -- and a better chance of being hit by lightening than being killed by any kind of terrorist. But their GOP leaders say they should be terrified, so they are.

Whatever happened to courage in the face of the dangers we face? It has never been easy to live up to our values, but our ancestors did it. Why can't we? We have accepted refugees from many countries, and had very few (if any) problems from that -- because those refugees were thoroughly vetted before being allowed to come here. Why should we think it would be any different for the refugees trying to escape the violence in Syria (which was largely caused by our interference in that region)?

And if you can afford it, you might consider a year's supply of those diapers for your right-wing family and friends. This is not the first thing they have been terrified by, and it certainly won't be the last. They are terrified of immigrants, of people with darker skin (even those born in this country), of allowing everyone to vote, of equal rights (for women, minorities, homosexuals, etc.), of gun restrictions (even those that don't violate our constitution), of health care for all citizens, and of economic fairness (unions, minimum wage raise, free education, progressive taxation, etc.) -- just to name a few of the right-wing fears.

Isn't it time to stand up to the right-wing cowards and liars? Isn't it time to let them know we are a nation with values, and the courage to stand up for those values? Isn't it time to vote them out of power, and live up to the American Dream?

GOP Uses The Politics Of Fear (And Ignores The Facts)

(This image is from the flickr page of user EN2008.)

The Republican candidates for president, and their elected cohorts in Congress, have been quick to jump on the tragedy in Paris and try to turn it to their own benefit. This is nothing new. They know their domestic policies, especially their economic policy (trickle-down) has failed, so they are using the politics of fear to enhance their electoral chances. They believe if they can scare the American voters enough, and convince them that their party will provide a safer country, then they can win the next election -- in spite of the fact that their domestic policies have nearly destroyed our economy (and they have no intention of changing them, since they benefit their rich buddies).

Terrorism is a real issue, but not as the Republicans would have us believe. They want Americans to believe that the only terrorist threat we face is from radical muslims. This is not new either. For the last decade and a half, the GOP has gone out of their way to demonize muslims and paint their religion as violent. The problem is that ignores the facts about terrorism in the United States.

The truth is that a significant majority of terrorism in the U.S. is not carried out by muslims, but by right-wing extremists (most of which claim to be christian and patriotic). These groups (militia's, white supremacists, soveriegnists, etc.) pose a significantly greater threat to the safety of Americans. But the Republicans don't want you to know that -- and have gone so far as to have that threat removed from government reports. They don't want you to know it because those extremists are in their own base.

This shows their scare tactics are purely political. If they truly worried about terrorism in this country, then they would be talking about all of the terrorism -- including the threat posed by the ultra-right-wingers. But that would anger some in their own party's base, and they don't want that. Their tactic is to win votes through fear -- not expose the extremists in their own party.

Here are the real facts on terrorism in the United States (from a June 2015 article in the New York Times). I post here a part of that article:

If you keep up with the news, you know that a small but steady stream of American Muslims, radicalized by overseas extremists, are engaging in violence here in the United States.

But headlines can mislead. The main terrorist threat in the United States is not from violent Muslim extremists, but from right-wing extremists. Just ask the police.

In a survey we conducted with the Police Executive Research Forum last year of 382 law enforcement agencies, 74 percent reported anti-government extremism as one of the top three terrorist threats in their jurisdiction; 39 percent listed extremism connected with Al Qaeda or like-minded terrorist organizations. And only 3 percent identified the threat from Muslim extremists as severe, compared with 7 percent for anti-government and other forms of extremism. . . .

Despite public anxiety about extremists inspired by Al Qaeda and the Islamic State, the number of violent plots by such individuals has remained very low. Since 9/11, an average of nine American Muslims per year have been involved in an average of six terrorism-related plots against targets in the United States. Most were disrupted, but the 20 plots that were carried out accounted for 50 fatalities over the past 13 and a half years.

In contrast, right-wing extremists averaged 337 attacks per year in the decade after 9/11, causing a total of 254 fatalities, according to a study by Arie Perliger, a professor at the United States Military Academy’s Combating Terrorism Center. The toll has increased since the study was released in 2012.

Other data sets, using different definitions of political violence, tell comparable stories. The Global Terrorism Database maintained by the Start Center at the University of Maryland includes 65 attacks in the United States associated with right-wing ideologies and 24 by Muslim extremists since 9/11. The International Security Program at the New America Foundation identifies 39 fatalities from “non-jihadist” homegrown extremists and 26 fatalities from “jihadist” extremists.

Meanwhile, terrorism of all forms has accounted for a tiny proportion of violence in America. There have been more than 215,000 murders in the United States since 9/11. For every person killed by Muslim extremists, there have been 4,300 homicides from other threats.

Public debates on terrorism focus intensely on Muslims. But this focus does not square with the low number of plots in the United States by Muslims, and it does a disservice to a minority group that suffers from increasingly hostile public opinion. As state and local police agencies remind us, right-wing, anti-government extremism is the leading source of ideological violence in America.

Killing Children To Satisfy Right-Wing Immigration Fears

(The cartoon image above is by Pat Bagley in the Salt Lake Tribune.)

Much has been made in the media recently about the 50,000 or so children from Central America who have turned themselves in to Border Patrol in the last 9 months. And right-wingers have seized upon this story as "proof" that there is a massive invasion of illegal immigrants flooding into this country -- encouraged by the "lax policies" of President Obama. It is not the truth, but then truth has never meant much to these right-wingers. They're much more interested in propaganda that supports their hard-hearted approach to immigration.

And their propaganda attempts seem to be working with a large segment of the American population -- in spite of the fact that undocumented immigrants are at the lowest point of growth in many years (including the growth during all Republican administrations. This is due to a lack of jobs in this country and increased border security. President Obama has put more agents on the border than any previous administration -- and in spite of right-wing claims, President Obama has deported more undocumented immigrants than any previous administration (of either party).

The right-wing fear-mongers have demanded these border children be deported as quickly as possible. They have ignored the pleas from these children that their lives would be in danger if deported -- or they just don't care. And sadly, president Obama is giving in to their mean-spirited demands and beginning to deport these children. And even more sadly, it is turning out that these children were telling the truth -- that their lives really were in danger. Here is part of a Los Angeles Times article on the subject:

"There are many youngsters who only three days after they've been deported are killed, shot by a firearm," said Hector Hernandez, who runs the morgue in San Pedro Sula. "They return just to die."

At least five, perhaps as many as 10, of the 42 children slain here since February had been recently deported from the U.S., Hernandez said.

Immigrant aid groups and human rights organizers say the Honduran government is ill-equipped to assist children at high risk after they have been returned.

San Pedro Sula had 187 killings per 100,000 inhabitants in 2013, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of data provided by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Honduras' overall homicide rate was 90 per 100,000 in 2012, the highest in the world, much of it fueled by gang and drug-trafficking violence.

Unaccompanied children from Honduras "come from extremely violent regions where they probably perceive the risk of traveling alone to the U.S. preferable to staying at home," the report said. . .

Valdete Wileman, a nun who runs the Center for Returned Migrants in San Pedro Sula, said about 80% of the children who had been returned from the U.S. had been seeking to escape the gang violence.

Wileman said she was particularly concerned about children who once served as gang lookouts.

"Some of these children are threatened with their lives," she said. "And now they are being forced to return to the same place."

Other children head for the U.S. after the rest of their families have been killed. Although some of these deportees move to other neighborhoods here, many don't have the money to relocate. And the gangs, with ties throughout the country, could track them down anyway.

Wileman said she has neither the resources nor the means to help, because the government barely funds the center.

Frankly, I am shocked that in a country filled with immigrants and the descendants of immigrants, so many Americans are willing to send these children to their deaths. And even more amazing is the fact that most of these people claim to be christians. Do they think Jesus was just joking when he gave the Sermon on the Mount? Was he just auditioning for a comedy club when he said to love your neighbor and take care of the poor and underprivileged?

These children came here to save their lives -- and we are sending them to their deaths. All Americans should be ashamed. The blood of these children are on our hands.

Military Cuts Proposed Are Not Nearly Enough

(The cartoon image above is by Stuart Carlson at carlsontoons.com.)

Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel has announced some cuts to defense spending. The cuts will include a reduction in the number of standing military forces (from the current 520,000 to about 420,000), and will phase out the A-10 Warthog plane.

These are actually fairly moor cuts in military spending -- cuts that don't affect the areas with the biggest spending (the corporations in the military-industrial complex making duplicative, unneeded military systems or systems that just don't work or are outdated -- and the massive number of military bases around the world, which numbers between 800 and 900). Do we really need that many military bases -- nearly 8 bases on average for every country in the world? Of course we don't.

And we don't need to keep on spending money on things the military has said it doesn't want (or that don't work). A prime example is the engine for the new jet fighter. The military chose the engine it wanted, but Congress overrode them and voted to keep making two different engines for the new fighter. That is just one of many examples of wasteful spending. But Congress doesn't want to stop that spending, because that goes into the pockets of their corporate masters.

The truth is that the United States spends far more than any other nation on its military -- and far more than is needed to adequately defend this country. In fact, the U.S. spends about 45% of the military spending for the entire world, and more than the next fifteen biggest spenders combined. The American military budget could be cut in half, and we would still be spending far more than any other nation (friend or foe). Considering how much we actually spend on our military, the small cuts proposed by Hagel will not affect our ability to defend this country at all.

But you won't be able to find a Republican that will publicly admit that. They, with the help of Fox News, are acting like Hagel's cuts will devastate our ability to defend ourselves and will leave us helpless in the face of our enemies. They know it is not true But they also know that scaring the American people, and painting the Democrats as weak on defense, can get them votes -- especially among the ignorant and ill-informed.

Note that in the past the American people were starting to realize that the military spending was too high in this country. But then we had the first Gulf War, and then the terrorist attack in New York. And the Republicans began to beat the fear drum loudly, telling Americans we must have a strong military to fight terrorism. This is ridiculous for a couple of reasons. First, we could cut our military spending drastically and still have the most powerful military in the world. And second, military power (while superb in a conventional war) is not suited for fighting terrorism (since terrorists have no country or borders, and can easily disappear when confronting military forces). The FBI and the CIA are much better suited for that task.

Currently only 37% of Americans think we spend too much on the military, and amazingly, 28% think we don't spend enough. Obviously the Republican fear propaganda has been pretty effective, and that's sad because it means we will continue to spend far too much on the military -- to the detriment of all other government programs (programs needed to help hurting Americans).

NOTE -- The above charts were made with information from the Gallup Poll -- the latest being done between February 6th and 9th of 1,023 nationwide adults, with a 4 point margin of error.

The Product Of Fear-Mongering

There was a bit of excitement in Fort Worth Wednesday afternoon. Hundreds of people evacuated the Bank of America building, and the Fire Department was called to help along with several ambulances. The Fire Department had been told there was a carbon monoxide leak in the building -- an invisible and odorless gas that can be fatal.

It all started when two ladies became dizzy, and reported that to their supervisor. The supervisor then made an announcement " over the building’s PA system saying that anyone feeling these symptoms should exit the building to an outside location." Many of the approximately 2,000 employees went to the parking lot, and emergency personnel were notified.

Twelve people were taken to the hospital by ambulance, while another twenty-two went to the hospital on a city bus. About 110 people were evaluated and released at the scene. The Fire Department used their detection equipment to find any dangerous gases or chemicals in the building, and what they found was -- perfume.

That's right, it seems the first two women had gotten dizzy because they were close to someone spraying a very liberal amount of perfume (brand unknown). After that, Fire Department officials said "psychosomatic behavior" took over and a lot of people convinced themselves they were sick.

According to psychologist Hap Klinefelter, "Emotions are real contagious. A lot of times people will reason from their feelings. It introduces the power of suggestion and it makes them real susceptible to misinterpreting physical cues or it will distort their perceptions."

Psychologist Mary Lynn Crow agreed, saying, "Your thinking can actually cause you to feel pain or discomfort. Fear is one of the most contagious emotions there is. When you say to people, 'Hey, there is a contaminant in the building and it is making people sick,’ then it easy for them to feel accordingly."

I can't help but think this kind of hysteria is a product of the fear-mongering Bush administration. Bush and Cheney wanted Americans to be afraid, because that allowed them to seize more and more power -- power our Founding Fathers never meant for government to have. Bush and his cohorts had people thinking terrorists were hiding under every bed, and no one in America is safe.

The result of that kind of fear-mongering is 34 people going to the hospital and emergency personnel being called because someone used a bit too much perfume. I think we need to get a grip on ourselves.