Paris Precursor Portends Profiling

Paris Precursor Portends Profiling

Commentary by Sanford D. Horn

November 16, 2015

Still think ISIS is a “JV team” Mr. Obama? That “JV team” is kicking ass and taking names. Still think we’re not dealing with enemies that are Muslim extremists? What do the words “Islamic State” mean to you, Mr. Obama?

While you and your administration are taking a victory lap, slapping each other on the tuchus over the death of “Jihad John” on Thursday, November 12, and saying “ISIS had been contained” in an ABC interview on that same day, dastardly deeds were in the works across the Atlantic Ocean. One cannot contain ISIS; ISIS must be irrevocably destroyed. The United States is at war, Mr. Obama, against an enemy you refuse to identify. You, Mr. Obama, are a weak and feckless so-called leader

Those deeds were the terrorist attacks perpetrated by the ISIS animals at several locations in Paris, France the very next day, Friday, November 13. ISIS savages slaughtered 130 innocents, to date, along with injuring more than 350 innocents. And yet, while civilization as a whole is being assaulted, you, Mr. Obama, are doubling down on your desire to import 65,000-100,000 Syrian refugees to the United States, endangering an entire nation – completely counter to your Constitutional responsibilities as Commander in Chief and Head of State. Lest he forget the ISIS bombing of a Russian airliner on October 31 killing all 224 people on board.

Each of the three major Democratic candidates for president, Hillary Clinton, former Maryland Governor Martin O’ Malley, and Senator Bernie Sanders (VT) still insist on accepting Syrian refugees, as they stated as recently as Saturday night during their CBS debate. What they refused to say are the words Muslim extremists or radical Islamists due to their enslavement to the culture of political correctness. Obama added to the Democratic candidates’ shortsightedness saying “not accepting Syrian refugees would be a betrayal of our values.”

Is Obama obtuse, irresponsible, or both? Witness the open borders of Europe. How’s that working out? The Muslim invasion of Europe mostly by men ages 18-40 has been a failure. Muslim extremists demanding Sharia Law in the countries they have invaded, while segregating themselves from mainstream society, in largely unemployed pockets of thugs attacking Christians and Jews.

The assault on Paris is merely a precursor of what is to come in the United States because of this administration’s unwillingness to seal the borders – yes, borders – plural – north and south, because the northern border with Canada is just as porous if not more so than the border with Mexico due to the friendly relationship the United States has with Canada. France shut down their borders within hours of these terror strikes – make a note, Mr. Obama, it can be done if the desire is there.

By accepting 65,000 to 100,000 Syrian refugees, Obama would be betraying the people of the United States, putting them in harm’s way because it will be virtually impossible to vet said refugees. The Obama administration said it would employ “vigorous screening checks” to determine the eligibility of these Syrian refugees. However, considering the condition of the Syrian government, it would be foolish to trust any information coming out of Damascus. Whether 65,000 or just 65, the answer must be no, for the safety of the American people is imperative and paramount.

And just what is vetting, if not profiling? Profiling is what is vital regarding the application of any foreign national to gain entrance legally into the United States. It’s high time the strictest of security is engaged. No visas from any Arab/Muslim countries should be processed. No visas from anyone with an Arabic/Muslim surname should be processed. A moratorium on such immigration should be installed for at least a decade.

The United States may be a country of immigrants, but it need not be a suicidal nation surrendering to the basest levels of those wishing to kill us. And if history has taught us anything, they are a patient people. Heed the writing on the walls, people. These are not the immigrants of the late 19^th-early 20^th Century – those Italian, Greek, Russian, Jewish, Polish, and Hungarian immigrants “yearning to breathe free,” and become contributing members of society – earning an education, learning English, opening a business.

As of Monday, November 16, 23 states’ governors have announced their rejection of future Syrian refugees: from Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, and Wisconsin.

"The Governor has always made clear that we must ensure robust refugee screening to protect American citizens, and the Governor believes that the federal government should halt acceptance of refugees from Syria until intelligence and defense officials can assure that the process for vetting all refugees, including those from Syria, is as strong as possible to ensure the safety of the American people," William Hinkle, a spokesman for Governor Maggie Hassan (D-NH), said in a statement. (www.washingtonpost.com)

“I just signed an Executive Order instructing state agencies to take all available steps to stop the relocation of Syrian refugees to Louisiana,” tweeted that state’s Governor Bobby Jindal (R).

"Given the tragic attacks in Paris and the threats we have already seen, Texas cannot participate in any program that will result in Syrian refugees — any one of whom could be connected to terrorism — being resettled in Texas," Governor Greg Abbott (R) said in a letter to Obama. (www.washingtonpost.com)

Obama condemned all opposing the influx of Syrian refugees as “shameful…. It’s not American, it’s not who we are.”

Not who we are, Mr. Obama? It sure as hell was who we were months prior to the outbreak of World War II when the Franklin Roosevelt administration denied safe harbor to more than 900 Jews seeking refuge, first in Cuba, then the United States, sailing on the St. Louis from Hamburg, Germany in May 1939. Rejected, first by Cuban President Federico Laredo Bru, followed by Roosevelt, the St. Louis was forced to return to Europe where the passengers would face a then uncertain fate. Roosevelt, considering seeking an unprecedented third term in the White House, allowed the high rate of xenophobia, particularly anti-Semitism to influence his decision to sentence hundreds of Jews to their eventual deaths at the hands of the Nazis.

What’s shameful, Mr. Obama, is that you can unilaterally import refugees, foist them upon unsuspecting Americans in their neighborhoods and states without permission and call that part of our democratic republic. Those calling for the rejection of refugees from our shores due to an inability to properly screen them are doing so in an effort to protect their families, their neighborhoods, their states, and ultimately their country – they would like to remain American.

What’s also shameful is that Obama seems absorbed, almost obsessed with bringing increased numbers of Muslims into the United States instead of furiously working to rid the globe of the scourge of ISIS/ISIL, Muslim extremism, and/or jihad as a whole. Where is Obama’s effort to save the tens of thousands of Christians on the run with no place to home any longer, thanks to the ISIS savagery?

“I’m calling on Barack Obama to temporarily suspend admission of all Syrian refugees into the U.S. immediately,” tweeted U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX-10^th) Chairman of the Committee on Homeland Security.

Congress should be able to thwart Obama from acting unilaterally. He should not be able to run the country into the ground via one executive order after another in attempts to circumvent Congress. This is yet another example of Obama overreaching in his constitutionally delegated authority. Congress, via Article I, Section 9 of the Constitution has plenary power over immigration and naturalization. Congress also wields power of the purse and should deny funding any attempt to import these refugees. Quite frankly, those males 18-50 should be returned home to fight for the survival of their country, not the destruction of ours.

Please contact Congressman McCaul and declare your support for protecting the safety of the United States and all who legally reside within her borders. Politely express your opposition to bringing Syrian refugees to the United States during these troubling times. Call his Washington, DC office at 202-225-2401.

Also, call your own representative to politely express your concern about this issue. The number for the main House switchboard is 202-224-3121.

The future of our great nation is at stake, currently in grave peril. It is up to we the people to speak out for the salvation of the nation and for the last great hope for world civilization.

Sanford D. Horn is a writer and educator living in Westfield, IN.

First Amendment under Fire on Campus

First Amendment under Fire on Campus

Commentary by Sanford D. Horn

November 12, 2015

The cost of college is so expensive even speech is no longer free. More and more students on college campuses across the United States are actually willingly seeking a limitation or even a curtailment of the First Amendment to the Constitution.

Let’s take a look at what the clearly uneducated masses are willing to surrender under the guise of eliminating not just hate speech, but hurt speech.

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” (United States Constitution)

Students from the East Coast bastion of Ivy League liberalism at Yale University to the Left Coast bastion of California liberalism at Claremont McKenna College to the heartland and the University of Missouri and points in between are making ludicrous demands of their so-called institutions of higher learning and the alleged adults in the room are folding like a bad poker hand.

Discourse on campus used to be welcomed. Students were free to speak their minds, debate, argue, even shout a little without fear of retribution, censorship, or even expulsion or the risk of being fired if a campus employee.

One of my fond experiences at the liberal University of Maryland was to sit outside my dorm room and discuss history, politics, the issues of the day, as well as the upcoming presidential election until the wee hours with my next door neighbor. Me – white, he – black; me – Jewish, he – a Christian; me – conservative, he – not so much. We agreed on little, but we respected one another because we could have an intelligent conversation, and yes even argue, but come away shaking hands and even have lunch the next day. Disagreement does not equal disrespect.

But my experience on the College Park, MD campus was not all wine and roses. I encountered first hand anti-Semitism, but I did not demand the firing of the university president. It was certainly unpleasant to be sure, and even a bit traumatic, but it didn’t destroy me like a newspaper in the rain.

Today’s college students, by and large, and most certainly the liberal, progressive, socialist, secular students are incapable of tolerance. To them, if you do not kow-tow to their far left beliefs, you should be sent to reeducation camp, banished from the campus, and be labeled an intolerant hater. It is perfectly alright for them to be the hater because they have right on their side, he writes dripping with sarcasm. Today’s students demand safe zones, whatever the hell those are. To me a safe zone should be the entirety of the campus – safe for all to reside, study, work, play, and yes, debate and argue about issues knowing that some feelings may get hurt.

There is no constitutional protection against hurt feelings – that’s called the freedom of speech. The answer to bad or hate speech is not squelching speech, but inviting more speech. This generation of crybabies on campus wants no speech contrary to their own. Anything of a hurtful or disagreeable nature calls for protests and petitions for firing university presidents. Just wait until they are expectorated from that cocoon they call home on campus and enter the cold, hard reality of the ugly world.

Make no mistake; I am not calling for the end of protests and petitions. I live for a good protest and have written more than my fair share of petitions from junior high through graduate school. While peaceful protests are protected by the First Amendment, so too is stupidity. Stupid speech or disagreeable speech or even hurtful speech is also protected by the First Amendment. The notion of free speech zones on a campus that should be a wealth of ideas and discussion smacks of Orwell’s 1984. The entirety of the campus should be a free speech zone.

The idea that a so-called instructor of journalism at the University of Missouri would attempt to deny a student photographer his First Amendment right to conduct his duties is reprehensible. But that is exactly what Melissa Click, Ph. D. (U-Mass.) did to Tim Tai in her attempt to suppress the press. Tai behaved professionally in his constitutionally protected attempts to complete his photo-journalism assignment, while Click behaved like a rabid dog screaming for Tai to leave the site of a protest on the Columbia, MO campus. At one point, Click called for “muscle” to eliminate the problem.

According to the New York Times Click has stepped down from her post as an assistant professor at the School of Journalism. This marks the third resignation this week from Missouri. University President Tim Wolfe and Chancellor R. Bowen Loftin have already tendered their resignations under pressure by a mob of students citing insufficient response to alleged racism on campus. Those resignations will solve little and if there is a spate of racism on campus, which must be addressed, it is the hearts and minds of the perpetrators that require changing, not the heads of the university.

The possible racism is the impetus of the protests, a hunger strike by graduate student Jonathan Butler, as well as a potential strike by roughly 30 football players of this weekend’s game against BYU.

Wolfe and Loftin folded like a pair of cheap suits. They should have called the bluff of those football players. Not all the players were part of this plan and the team could have suited up enough players to field a team. If Missouri had to forfeit, costing the university one million dollars, that money should come from the striking players’ scholarships. Those players should be suspended for the duration of the season and tryouts should be held for walk-ons for the remaining three games. Shame on Wolfe and Loftin for caving to mob demands. If anyone should be out of job it should be head football coach Gary Pinkel for not reining in his players. The inmates are now running the asylum.

Missouri is not the only campus where chaos is reigning supreme. In California at Claremont McKenna College Dean of Students Mary Spellman resigned following student protests demanding more programming for black, gay, disabled, and low-income students. No explanation as to why Spellman felt she had to fall on some imaginary sword, when meeting with students could have solved their problems. Yet another sign of weakness, which actually solves nothing. Spellman is out of a job and the students’ demands have not been met or even heard. Now a new dean of students must be named, given time to settle in, adjust to the culture of the campus or to the job if not new to the campus before even tackling the concerns of the students, which could be long into the spring 2016 semester.

Additionally, on the CMC campus junior class President Kris Brackmann unnecessarily resigned having appeared in a photo with others who were clad in Mexican-themed Halloween costumes – replete with sombreros, ponchos, and moustaches. Is Brackmann, who did not don the so-called offensive costume, responsible for the choices of her friends? In her resignation, Brackmann wrote that she hopes to foster a “safe environment for everyone.” Who was made unsafe by those costumes? Who was threatened? Are people so innately weak and thin-skinned that the mere sight of a cultural Halloween costume is the cause of consternation? If so, those students have bigger problems. The real world will chew them up and spit them out like rubbery calamari.

Halloween costumes are also the source of animus and over-emphasized hysteria at Yale. The university produced costume guidelines for the students on campus. Since when does a university enforce a costume dress code? Are the campus denizens not adults?

Enter Nicholas and Erika Christakis. The couple lives on the New Haven campus presiding over an undergraduate college via resident life. Erika is also a lecturer in early childhood education, which is ironic, as she composed an e-mail that students are adults, should have the freedom of costume choice and the university’s guidelines were unnecessary.

Students were apoplectic, calling for the resignations of the Christakises because of the e-mail Erika dispatched. Have students surrendered their ability to think for themselves? Apparently they actually want the university to thrust a costume dress code upon them for fear of possibly offending someone with a potentially insensitive costume choice for the evening. And for this perceived slight, Nicholas and Erika Christakis should stand in the unemployment line?

Not only should Yale students not have the power to choose their own Halloween costumes, but the concept of free speech on campus is too much for them to handle as well. A conference to be held on the subject of free speech was disrupted by liberals or fascists – either way, students opposed to the First Amendment. Not only did those rambunctious students stop the free speech event, their unruliness included spitting on the participants and attendees.

Also under fire is Carol Swain, Ph. D. (U-North Carolina) a professor of law and political science at Vanderbilt University and a conservative Christian. A petition, composed by a student never having studied under Swain, and signed by more than 1,500 people, has at its core, a virtual non-issue. Swain posts materials to “Christian Conservatives” on-line. The petition, in part, says “…it is generally unprofessional to attach your job title to a channel promoting your personally held beliefs.”

This, clearly, is much ado about nothing, as professionals appearing on public programming have their name and title posted. Apparently the petitioners seeking, initially Swain’s dismissal, now “merely” her suspension, have an axe to grind because she is a conservative and a Christian. Swain, who is black, is also accused of hating minorities. Those seeking Swain’s ouster have an agenda that in no way supports diversity of speech or thought. Nor do they support diversity in terms of gender or race as the pecking order apparently does not include Swain being black and female when Christian and conservative trump the former. Hypocrisy coupled with political correctness is a dangerous combination.

So politically correct have the university campuses become, that any speech can be designated hurt speech – the new nonsense. G-d forbid nothing objectionable should pass through ears and into the empty heads of the precious flowers marching through campus in lockstep demanding the firing of anyone who dare utter something with which they disagree.

In 1783 George Washington wrote, “If freedom of speech is taken away, then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter.” The knives are sharpening, America.

Sanford D. Horn is a writer and educator living in Westfield, IN.

Feds Give Bio-Boy Access to Girls' Showers

Feds Give Bio-Boy Access to Girls’ Showers

Commentary by Sanford D. Horn

November 4, 2015

Friends, if ever there was a time for collective, universal moral outrage at the federal government and the Obama administration, the time is most definitely now.

Under the guise of equal rights, the federal government – the Obama administration – has declared war on school girls in every public school in these United States. The Obama administration has stripped female public school attendees of their privacy, of their rights, of their dignity, and of their safety.

The federal government has once again overreached in its authoritarian and zealous decision to grant one singular transgender student in Illinois the right to use all female facilities – bathrooms, locker rooms, and showers simply because he, yes, he – this student is a biological male – G-d gave him a penis – felt singled out when given more than adequate accommodations by his school. Accommodations also allow the bio-boy to participate on girls’ sports teams.

There is no Constitutional right to not be uncomfortable. Yet the ACLU, suing on behalf of the bio-boy, and the Obama administration determined that a separate and private set of facilities provided to him was unacceptable. To force the entire female student body to accept this decision is not just lunacy, but a form of child abuse.

This decision, handed down by the Federal Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights and specifically by Catherine Lhamon, Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights, obviously had Obama’s blessing. It affects, for now, Township High School District 211 in Palatine, IL, a village in Cook County, northwest of Chicago with a population of roughly 70,000.

The unprecedented calamitous decision affects not only this particular school district because it flings open a Pandora’s Box that will render female students unsafe and unprotected. With such a decision, what is to prevent hundreds or thousands of public school male students to suddenly decide they “identify” as female, for the sole purpose of invading the privacy of girls’ locker rooms and showers gawking where they do not belong? Further, what protection does this one student have off campus should the boyfriends of his female classmates take out their anger in a physically brutal manner?

This is the further degradation of the public school system in the United States; the continued breakdown of the federal government’s lack of knowledge and understanding of the Constitution and the 10^th Amendment; as well as the complete destruction of the moral fiber established by those who adhere to Judeo-Christian values.

In the ever coarsening of American society, Nero is fiddling and the nation as a whole is most certainly burning. In Washington, a football coach is relieved of his duties for praying at midfield following games. In California, motor-voter legislation, signed into law by Governor Jerry Brown, now endows illegals with the right to vote. These illegals already have the right to obtain drivers’ licenses; now the linkage to voter registration grants them access to the ballot box. Additionally there are hundreds of sanctuary cities across the national landscape flaunting their protections of millions of illegals without penalty from the federal government.

This is the same federal government threatening to revoke federal funding from Township High School 211 should it not comply with its decision within 30 days. Call the fed’s bluff Superintendent Daniel Cates. It’s time Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner (R) steps up, calls for emergency funding for the Township High School 211 school district covering the remainder of the 2015-16 school year. Will the federal government effectively shut down an entire public school district due to the demands of one student who was already given ample accommodations? But we all know this was not about accommodations. The student creating this firestorm simply sought to make a political statement. That statement should be squelched, not honored or placated. The school district bent over backwards to accommodate the student; he should have accepted yes for an answer.

Between now and the inauguration of the 2016-17 school year, move to turn the school into a charter school and seek private/corporate funding. (If I had the money I would sponsor it myself, move to Illinois and run the school in a manner that respects majority rule and minority rights. Why does the comfort of one student supersede that of the majority?)

There is no end in sight as the federal government continues to raze the moral foundation upon which this once great nation was built. But what’s equally disturbing is the lessening outrage amongst the rank and file. Far too many Americans throw their hands in the air conceding defeat and surrendering because “there’s nothing we can do.” As government grows larger and tightens the noose around the necks of we the people, it is time for a moral revolution in America.

Every parent in this school district should pull their children from this school immediately. It’s time the disaffected students and parents speak back – en masse. I challenge one parent or female student from this school to contact me that supports this deleterious decision by the Obama administration. Just one parent who will say he or she is OK with a biological male sharing a shower with his or her daughter; just one female student who is OK showering with a bio-boy.

It’s time to stop the madness and take back our country. Get off the sidelines and into the game – a game we the people can ill afford to lose. The future of our civilization hangs in the balance. May G-d Bless and save the Union.

Sanford D. Horn is a writer and educator living in Westfield, IN.