Border Security Is National Security

by Gary Bauer, Contributing Author: When it comes to immigration, passions run deep. While some aspects of the debate are complex, I hope we can all agree that the people we allow to come here legally should be committed to our values and to democratic principles. As I have frequently argued, in a post-9/11 world border security is national security.

We should not allow individuals dedicated to overthrowing our constitutional system of government to come here. Our immigration procedures and policies should guarantee that we are not importing tribal hatreds and that most ancient of evils, anti-Semitism.

Polls show that significant percentages of Muslims around the world adhere to radical beliefs that are contrary to our concept of freedom. Many harbor anti-Semitic attitudes and buy in to conspiracy theories about who attacked us on 9/11.

We know that we already have a problem with radical Islam in this country. Minneapolis, of all places, is a hotbed of jihadi recruitment. Yet record numbers of Muslims are coming into the country every year due to our immigration and refugee policies.

I raise this issue again because recent headlines demand our attention.

Posters appeared Tuesday on a university campus in England with the caption "Hitler Was Right."

Earlier this week, it was reported that German intelligence officials are alarmed by what they are seeing in the so-called "refugee crisis." A high-level intelligence report warned, "We are importing Islamic extremism, Arab anti-Semitism, national and ethnic conflicts of other peoples as well as a different societal and legal understanding."

Unfortunately, the political left doesn't seem to be paying any attention. Some politicians are demanding that we let hundreds of thousands of Muslim refugees into the country.

Common sense suggests we should consider a freeze on Muslim immigration while opening our doors to Middle East Christians, who are facing what can only be described as genocide.
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Gary Bauer is a conservative family values advocate and serves as president of American Values and chairman of the Campaign for Working Families

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My New Tax Proposal – You Will Love It

I will be so happy to help you with that problem, sir!
I hope you are having a wonderful day!

by Tom Balek, Contributing Author: I have a great new tax reform plan. It’s so much simpler than the 73,954 pages in our current tax code. In fact, it is only one paragraph long.

Here it is:Any company that provides customer service or technical support using a call center in Bangladesh, India, Costa Rica, the Philippines, or any other place where people speak English but are totally incompetent, helpless, ingratiating, untrained, patronizing, overpaid, clueless, freaking idiots, must pay a 99% excise tax on all net income from sales in the United States.  All other companies and citizens will pay 10% of their income.What do you think?
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Tom Balek is a fellow conservative activist, blogger, musician and contributes to the ARRA News Service. Tom resides in South Carolina and seeks to educate those too busy with their work and families to notice how close to the precipice our economy has come. He blogs at Rockin' On the Right Side

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Tags: Tom Balek, Rockin' On The Right Side, My New Tax Proposal, To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. and "Like" Facebook Page - Thanks!

The Miraculous Debate

by Newt Gingrich: Wednesday night's presidential debate on CNBC may go down in history as a major turning point in candidate-news media relations.

For years the elite news media has assumed it was in charge--that it could define the topics, lengths of answers, and who got to speak.

For me the brutal dishonesty and anti-conservative bias became unbearable when Chris Matthews "moderated" the Republican debate at the Reagan Library on May 3, 2007. This was the very first debate of that cycle and there was Tip O'Neill's press secretary, a hard-line left-wing partisan Democrat pretending to "moderate". A few months later, Matthews would say that he "felt this thrill going up [his] leg" as he listened to Senator Obama speak. And he had the gall to show up at the Reagan Library as a "journalist."

By the 2012 campaign, Republican candidates and Republican audiences had begun to recognize the bias, hostility, and in some cases open contempt the so-called moderators had for Republican values, ideas and personalities. In more than 20 debates, the most emotional audience responses came when candidates stood up to media bias and attempted bullying.

The elite media has not yet caught on that an increasingly anti-elite, conservative audience rewards candidates for fighting back against the liberal media. Frank Luntz reported Wednesday night that he had never seen as strong a response as Ted Cruz got for blasting the CNBC team. That is an indication of the incentives Republicans now have for standing up to liberal journalists.

The miraculous part of Wednesday's debate came in two stages. First, the CNBC team was amazingly, consistently biased, arrogant and even contemptuous, to such a degree that virtually everyone understood that this was not a debate but a battle between two sides.

Second, at some point the Republican candidates rallied in mutual defense, forming a united team by praising each other and attacking their real adversaries, the CNBC opposition.

At times I felt I was watching the scenes in Gladiator where Russell Crowe teaches his group to fight as a team. After the battle (it was not a debate) candidate after candidate went on television to speak positively about his or her fellow candidates. When Donald Trump is speaking fondly of his fellow Republican candidates, you know something has changed profoundly.

Chris Christie may have set the right tone for future debates when he ridiculed the question about regulating fantasy football. In one sweeping statement, he exposed the infantilism and trivia which pass for much of modern journalism. It would be a real turning point if future moderators met the Christie Standard for seriousness.

Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus made clear how bad the CNBC performance was in a statement issued immediately after the debate. Priebus tweeted: "In spite of the moderators, I'm proud of our team for standing up against the improper and unprofessional display put on by CNBC. CNBC should be ashamed of how this debate was handled."

This outcome came despite Priebus's best efforts. He had worked exhaustively for more than a year to put on a fair and responsible series of debates. The RNC cannot literally tell journalists what to ask. But Priebus did tell NBC they could not use left-wing MSNBC to host a Republican debate.

He insisted that they had to use their business channel. He went on to insist that the theme of the debate had to be about the economy and spending. He went a step further and insisted that Rick Santelli, whose rants had launched the Tea Party movement, be one of the questioners.

Despite all that effort, the liberal culture of NBC asserted itself nonetheless and CNBC returned to the very gotcha games the RNC had fought to oppose.

Priebus responded to this broken commitment by promising that he will "fight to ensure future debates allow for a more robust exchange.” [Note: RNC Stops Presidential Debate Partnership With NBC]

Ted Cruz on Hannity may have offered the right principle for future debates: simply ensure that the moderators have voted in a Republican Primary. If the Cruz Proposal gets adopted Wednesday night will really have been a miraculous debate.
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Newt Gingrich is a former Georgia Congressman and Speaker of the U.S. House. He co-authored and was the chief architect of the "Contract with America" and a major leader in the Republican victory in the 1994 congressional elections. He is noted speaker and writer. The above commentary was shared via Gingrich Productions.

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Tags: Newt Gingrich, CNBC GOP Debate, elite news media,    To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. and "Like" Facebook Page - Thanks!

Most Important Political Facts of the Week

by Rod Martin, Contributing Author: Most important political fact of the week: The Republican Establishment went on the attack against its own party.

Does this sound hyperbolic? Consider:

1. John Kasich – whose principle achievement is expanding Medicaid, and whom many have touted as the Establishment’s Plan B should Jeb Bush falter – spent the week calling anyone to the right of him “crazy,” and lashing out at ideas not invented by Hubert Humphrey or Hillary Clinton. (Donald Trump’s evisceration of Kasich, who was a rather important part of the debacle at Lehman Brothers, was possibly the second best moment of the debate).

2. Mitt Romney – in an interview on David Axelrod’s podcast no less – openly lamented the demise of the Big Three networks’ oligopoly. “There was a time when we all got the news with the same facts,” he whined wistfully to Obama’s campaign guru (who clearly agreed).

3. John Boehner engineered passage of a budget that rubber-stamped Barack Obama’s agenda for the entire rest of his term, dropping any pretense of conservatism.

4. Jeb Bush spent almost one-fifth of his debate time calling for “federal regulation” of – wait for it – Fantasy Football. Which primarily matters because it doesn’t matter. What’s next, federal regulation of horseshoes and whittling? Why on Earth would anyone want to regulate this, much less devote an enormous percentage of precious airtime to it?

Answer, at least to anyone who’s awake: because the Republican Establishment, exactly like Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders and Jeb’s “brother from another mother” has come to believe that nothing should go unregulated, no matter how

insignificant, ever. It is like the faux “liberalization” just announced in China: yes, the One Child Policy is gone, but it is replaced with a Two Child Policy. No one asks how it is that government should regulate such a thing at all.

The vast majority of Republican voters never voted for any of this, and none of these men ever asked them to. Desperation is making them honest, perhaps, but that honestly comes at a price. Paul Ryan may be Speaker (and wonk that he is, he might be a good one under the right President), but conservatives felled the three Speakers before him – Pelosi, Boehner and (sort of) McCarthy. They couldn’t stop the budget deal, but with Trump, Carson, Cruz and Rubio collectively accounting for 64% of the Republican primary vote, they are stopping the Establishment from retaking the White House.

The media calls this chaos. But when the shoe has been on the other foot they’ve called it progress. And a conservatism that actually wants to win again is likely to prove infectious, just as Reagan’s was once.

Which brings us to the second most important political fact of the week: the outsiders have solidified their dominance of the Republican presidential field.

First, there’s Jeb, who (to quote Dick Morris) “cemented his downfall” last night. Don’t like Dick? That’s fine: the headlines were unanimous across party lines, from “End of Days for Republican Establishment” (the Financial Times) to “The ‘Jeb Bush Is Doomed’ Narrative is Dooming Jeb Bush” (Slate).

This was already becoming obvious for those paying attention to the deeper implications of the fundraising numbers (as we have continuously at RodMartin.org), particularly the most recent revelation: that Jeb’s ratio of major donor money to small donor cash is an historically unprecedented 15:1. By contrast, for Hillary it’s 3:1. For Ted Cruz it’s 1:1.6. For Obama 2012 it was 1:3, and even Mitt Romney managed 7:1. For Ben Carson it’s a whopping 1:11.5.

Yes, Jeb has no average Joes. None. Nada.

But the debate sealed it. Part of it was the frivolous, Emperor-Has-No-Clothes moment with – I repeat – “federal regulation of Fantasy Football.” Part of it was his general inability to break out of the pack. But most of it was his assault on Marco Rubio’s attendance record in the Senate and – gasp! – call for Rubio’s resignation. (!!!)

As Rubio pointed out to devastating effect, his having missed 11.5% of Senate votes has been radically better than prior Presidential candidates such as Bob Graham (30%), John Kerry (60%) and Barack Obama (70%), all of whom the media gave a pass, and not one of whom the civility-uber-alles Bushes ever called upon to resign.

But those facts are not why this was nightmarish. In that awful moment, Jeb showed his inability to pivot. Scripted and practiced and certain of his lines, Jeb could not read the audience, could not see that Rubio had scored on the CNBC inquisitors, could not see that this was an unprofitable line of attack. His was a one-man “Charge of the Light Brigade.” And everyone watching knew: if he’s nominated, Hillary will shred him in an instant.

By contrast, Trump shredded Kasich (see above), Cruz shredded CNBC, and Rubio shredded any thought that he isn’t the most charismatic candidate in the race. Mike Huckabee stood out (in the few moments he was given) as an advocate for innovation; Carly Fiorina showed a rare grasp of how regulation concentrates industries into ever fewer hands producing de facto socialism.

Ben Carson underperformed, badly. But it won’t be the end of his world. Ted Cruz won the night, which might prove the beginning of his long anticipated surge, with Rubio close behind. And those three plus Donald Trump are very likely the future of the Republican Party.

All this said, the best line of the night – and the third most important political fact of this or any other week – was Rubio’s, in response to Trump’s (entirely self-serving) assault on Super PACs: “The Democrats have their own Super PAC: the mainstream media.”

There is a lot to be said about CNBC’s complete lack of professionalism, and even more to be said about the utter failure of the RNC’s takeover of the primary debates (ostensibly intended to prevent exactly this). And it would be easy to attack Donald Trump’s hypocrisy, in that he is personally a one-man Super PAC (just like Meg Whitman and Michael Huffington before him, both of whom proved that you can’t really buy an election).

But Rubio’s point, intentionally or otherwise, is actually more significant. The argument made on behalf of Super PACs generally turns on the freedom of speech; but it is the freedom of the press which makes campaign spending limits bogus. CNBC can say anything it wants, any way it wants, to influence any election it wants. And it does.

Is it a campaign committee? No. Is it subject to giving limits? No. Is it owned by a giant corporation with a demonstrable agenda? Absolutely.

Comcast (parent of NBC) is a $154 billion corporation. Disney (parent of ABC) is worth $194 billion. Time-Warner lands at $61 billion, while CBS clocks in at $22 billion.

With or without Citizens United, they can and do spend any amount they want to influence…everything.

How do you think that stacks up against the $6 million (not billion) Marco Rubio raised last quarter? Or even the $100 million in Jeb Bush’s Super PAC?

No, Mitt Romney is wrong. Breaking the propaganda oligopoly is the most important development in U.S. politics since the invention of the television; and more than important, wonderful. It is a chance for America to (forgive the term) take the red pill, after decades in a Keynesian leftwing Matrix.

Not everyone is up for the jailbreak: God knows John Kasich isn’t. But this week, it became all too apparent that the majority of the Republican party is, has been at least since Rick Santelli’s 2009 rant from the floor of the Chicago Merc, and isn’t likely to change its mind between now and next November.
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Rod D. Martin, writes at RodMartn.org, and is founder and CEO of The Martin Organization, a technology entrepreneur, venture capitalist, author and conservative activist. He is a member of the Board of Governors of the Council for National Policy, a Past President of the National Federation Republican Assemblies. and a contributing author to the ARRA News Service.

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Tags: Political Facts of the Week, GOP Presidential Debate, Republican Establishment, Rod Martin, RodMartin.org To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. and "Like" Facebook Page - Thanks!

A More Perfect Turkey

by Paul Jacob, Contributing Author: Let’s talk Turkey. Not the bird, the country. America has fallen behind in yet another category: preposterous promises by politicians.

It’s becoming clear that Bernie Sanders, Vermont’s independent “democratic socialist” U.S. Senator and now Democratic Party presidential contender, is a piker, a penny pincher, a cheapskate, a tightwad, a Scrooge. At least, by comparison.

It’s one thing to promise free stuff — say, zero-priced college for everyone! — but is the generous senator willing to give entrepreneurs $100,000 to start a business?

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu is.

Well, 100,000 Liras anyway.

In the run-up to Sunday’s Turkish election, the fearless leader of the Justice and Development Party announced his plan to subsidize new businesses.

And so much more. And why not? “Once you have a job, salary and food. What is left?” Davutoğlu rhetorically asked last week, answering, “A wife.” He told male citizens: “first consult your parents and, God willing, they will find you a suitable one. If they don’t, you can come to us.”

Meanwhile, no U.S. candidate proposes any government support whatsoever for men seeking wives. Or women seeking husbands . . . or wives. Or men seeking husbands. Etcetera.

No dating subsidy, either, or help with high wedding costs — not even a Costanza regulation to protect brides from the dangers of deadly wedding invitation envelopes.

Of course, government big enough to give folks everything they desire is also big enough to take everything — including free speech — away. This week, Turkish police stormed two “opposition” TV stations taking them off the air days before the vote.

That could never happen here, though . . . could it?

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.
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Paul Jacobs is author of Common Sense which provides daily commentary about the issues impacting America and about the citizens who are doing something about them. He is also President of the Liberty Initiative Fund (LIFe) as well as Citizens in Charge Foundation. Jacobs is a contributing author on the ARRA News Service.

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Hiring The Enemy

by Don Todd: One would think that those who benefited the most from the free enterprise system would be its most ardent defenders when in fact the opposite is often the case. It has been said that free enterprise never wins because when a person succeeds they give the credit to themselves and when they fail they blame it on, “the system.”

Worldwide, most of humanity has lived in abject poverty since the beginning of time. Capitalism is the system that created a middle class that lives better than kings and queens of the past could only have dreamed of and yet that system is singled out for unremitting attack from our culture and ironically from some of those who have benefited the most from it.

Take for instance Amazon.com founder and CEO Jeff Bezos. To those of us who admire the system, he is a hero. He started with nothing and created what is today one of the world’s largest online retailers, resulting in great wealth for himself and a great shopping experience for the rest of us. What does he do with that wealth?

For one thing he bought the left leaning Washington Post. The result being that the Post is possibly more left wing than it was before he bought it. It features daily attacks on the system that allowed Bezos to succeed while heaping praise on the Obama Administration that has turned this country into an economic basket case with half of our workforce either unemployed or underemployed and an international laughing stalk.

Then, he hires Jay Carney to run his Washington lobbying shop. From January 2011 to May 2014 Mr. Carney was the Press Secretary to Obama. Prior to that he was Press Secretary to Joe Biden and prior to that he was Washington Bureau Chief for Time Magazine.

Mr. Bezos is not alone in hiring the enemy. Mr. Carney’s predecessor as spokesmouth for Senator and then President Obama was Robert Gibbs. He is now the Executive Vice-President in charge of public relations for McDonald’s Restaurants. While McDonald’s pays Mr. Gibbs lavish amounts of money the Obama Administration’s appointees on the NLRB are giving a maximum regulatory effort to destroying McDonald’s franchise business model. Perhaps the thinking is that Mr. Gibbs will be great at handling the public relations for the restaurant chain’s bankruptcy.

Another enterprise much admired by free marketers is Uber, an innovative company that came out of nowhere to revolutionize an industry and make life easier for its customers and contractors. Like all innovation Uber is under attack by state, local, federal and international bureaucrats. Who do they hire to fight this? David Plouffe, a man who has spent his entire adult life supporting and advising politicians who despise Uber-like innovation. Mr. Plouffe was campaign manager to President Obama’s 2008 campaign and served as a Senior Adviser to the President from his first day in office up until January of 2013.

These companies and the people running them may think they are buying influence and access by hiring such people. In my view they are not. They are buying contempt from the political class who see through their cynicism and from their customers who do not understand why they would be hiring political arsonists to put out the very political fires they started.
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Don Todd is Director of Research at Americans for Limited Government. This article was also shared on NetRightDaily.

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Senate Passes Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015 - Troops Going to Syria

Thumbs Down on Increased
$80 Billion in
"Discretionary" Spending

Today In Washington - Oct 30, 2015 (Updated 1:20 pm)
The House is not in session today. It will reconvene on Monday, Nov. 2, at Noon.

The Senate is not in session today, It will reconvene at 10 AM on Tuesday.

The Senate is not in session today and will reconvene at 10 AM on Tuesday when it will resume consideration of S. 1140, Sen. John Barrasso’s (R-WY) legislation to overturn the Obama administration’s “Waters of the U.S.” regulation. Last night, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell filed for cloture on the motion to proceed to S. 1140.

Regardless of a limited filibuster by Sens. Rand Paul and Ted Cruz, last night, the Senate voted 63-35 to invoke cloture (cut off debate) on the motion to concur in the House amendment to the Senate amendment to H.R. 1314, the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015

The Senate later voted 64-35 to waive a budget point of order against the bill.

The Senate then voted 64-35 to concur in the House amendment to the Senate amendment to H.R. 1314, thus sending the budget agreement to the president for approval.

President Obama released a statement Friday morning saying he would sign the bill “as soon as it reaches my desk.”

The Washington Post reports: "The agreement is the result of tightly held negotiations between congressional leaders in both parties and the White House to increase spending and suspend the debt ceiling through March 2017 in order to avoid default. The deal will lift the so-called sequester spending caps and increase discretionary spending by about $80 billion over two years, an amount that will be split equally between defense and domestic programs.

"To offset this cost, negotiators tapped a number of sources, including making changes to Medicare and Social Security, auctioning off government-controlled wireless spectrum, selling crude oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve and tightening tax rules for business partnerships.

" . . . the legislation will limit a historic premium increase for some Medicare Part B beneficiaries, set to go into effect next year, for services like hospital care and doctor visits.

"The agreement also will prevent a potential 20 percent across-the-board cut to Social Security Disability Insurance benefits scheduled to take place next year, by transferring resources from the main Social Security fund and making changes to the program. The cost-saving revisions include allowing some recipients who can still work to receive partial payments while earning outside income, and expanding a program requiring a second medical expert to weigh in on whether an applicant is legitimately disabled."

The Post also noted, "President Obama is sending a small number of Special Operations forces­ to northern Syria, marking the first full-time deployment of U.S. troops to the chaotic country.

"The mission marks a major shift for Obama, whose determination to defeat the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria has been balanced by an abiding worry that U.S. troops not be pulled too deeply into the in­trac­table Syrian conflict.

"The latest deployment will involve fewer than 50 Special Operations advisers, who will work with resistance forces­ battling the Islamic State in northern Syria but will not engage in direct combat, Obama administration officials said."

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Tags: H.R. 1314, Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015, increased, discretionary spending To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. and "Like" Facebook Page - Thanks!

DNCNBC Debate . . .

. . . CNBC GOP debate was nothing more than a leftist excuse to attack GOP candidates.

Editorial Cartoon by AF "Tony" Branco

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CNBC Idiots and the GOP

Update: RNC Stops Presidential Debate
Partnership With NBC

by Nelson Hultberg, Contributing Author: Contemptuous disgust is the emotion that patriots feel these days when we have to
endure bureaucrats and talking heads on television, or anywhere else for that matter. But contempt and disgust are far too mild to describe the reaction of most of us in the wake of the GOP presidential debate in Boulder, CO on Wednesday night.

Could there be any more embarrassing of a performance on the part of the American media than that provided by imperious John Harwood, snide Becky Quick, and buffoonish Carl Quintanilla? If we were watching Homer and Marge Simpson strutting around in a nudist camp, it would be more cringe worthy maybe.

The horrifying aspect of this abysmal TV charade is that the three CNBC moderators are no doubt feeling like they shined in the spotlight thrust upon them. Because of the "self-induced blinders" that blot out reality for liberal know-nothings, they are probably feeling proud of themselves. This, despite the fact that a sixth grader could see they were puerile, illiterate, and excruciatingly biased.

The Night's Winner
The evening was saturated with rancor and stupidity, yet several wonderful moments were given to us.

Ted Cruz clearly stood out as the winner of the debate with a brilliant attack on the moderators that brought patriots of America to their feet cheering. Thirty minutes into the proceedings (marred by shocking fatuity from the questioners) Cruz was asked about the spending bill just passed in the House. He deftly sidestepped Quintanilla and seized the moment to unload on the god-awful behavior of CNBC.

Shakespeare's famous quote - "There is a tide in the affairs of men" - came to mind while watching Cruz's brief but brilliant oration. Or perhaps English professor, John Keating, in Dead Poets Society, telling his students to "Seize the day." It was great theater, and it was a signal that there is a strong, articulate conservative waiting in the wings if Trump falls because of the narcissistic load he carries and if Carson slides into the likable but unqualified for the White House category of political aspirants.

"Let me say something at the outset," Cruz fired back to the doltish Quintanilla. "The questions that have been asked so far in this debate illustrate why the American people don't trust the media. [huge applause] This is not a cage match...look at the questions - 'Donald Trump, are you a comic-book villain?' 'Ben Carson, can you do math?' 'John Kasich, will you insult two people over here?' 'Marco Rubio, why don't you resign?' 'Jeb Bush, why have your numbers fallen?' How about talking about the substantive issues the people care about?" [thunderous applause]

Cruz then scolded the moderators as if they were schoolboys: "The questions that are being asked shouldn't be trying to get people to tear into each other. It should be what are your substantive positions!" [more thunderous applause]

Cruz is highly intelligent, a Harvard graduate, and a polished debater. We just saw with his sterling performance in Boulder why he must not be counted out. His poll numbers are meager at present, but his audacity is huge. He seized the moment, which is what leaders do. They react spontaneously in the face of danger or evil or stupidity and dazzle with their oratory and their conviction.

The Rest of the Pack
How did the rest of the candidates fare? Not nearly as well as Cruz. Rubio stood out with his assertive speaking style and personality. He has an agile brain that spews information in an engaging, staccato manner. It's a winning approach for debates. But unfortunately he is not a true conservative; he is very weak on immigration and the principles of freedom. He strikes me as a cherubic Machiavellian who will always be suspect. Not a man we want in the White House.

Donald Trump was strangely subdued as if he was trying to dial it back and appear presidential. The Donald has a big problem. If he tones it down, he loses his charisma and drops in poll numbers. But if he continues to fire up the furnace of insults he puts himself on the path to inevitable disenchantment from the electorate. Verbal brickbats and ridicule can only carry one so far. My guess is that he is drifting into the danger zone, and with his mediocre performance in Boulder, his "aura of inevitability" will start to show cracks in the coming months.

Jeb Bush, the poor little brother and tag-a-long of the Kennebunkport presidencies, seems so forlorn trying to bravely follow in his father's and brother's footsteps to do his family's bidding. But his enthusiasm is, like manliness at a soiree of fops, noticeably absent. The stature of his father and the Texas charm of his brother are nowhere to be seen. The first two Bushes were disastrous from a patriot's perspective, but Big Jeb is a lumbering giraffe that makes them look like fleet gazelles in the arena of politics. Life has cruelly placed Jeb last in the dynastic dream of grandfather Prescott, and unfortunately the country has soured on Bushes. Thus the ponderous Jeb is left to flounder in futility as luckier and more self-assured candidates speed past him.

Ben Carson is the human embodiment of Winston Churchill's famous quote about Russia, "a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma." Sphinx-like in his persona, he gazes out at the world with mystery written all over him. Is he wise and profound, or is he just bold and opportunistic? A brain surgeon certainly must have a steel core and a calm disposition. He must possess a level of courage that escapes ordinary men. And I'm sure Carson has all these attributes. He is totally unflappable, but his demeanor borders on the somnolent. Could this man govern the most powerful nation in the world in the tempestuous times that are descending upon us? Immense doubts linger in one's mind. Being president of zonked out America in a world of ISIS, mastodonic China, and the cauldron of conflagration that humans have made of modernity will require more than the requisite skills for brain surgery.

John Kasich, Carly Fiorina, Rand Paul, Chris Christy, and Mike Huckabee make up the rest of the roster. They have as much chance of winning the GOP nomination as a pond of toads has of winning the Mirror Ball on Dancing With the Stars.

What are we to conclude from all this? Ted Cruz would make a fine president. And CNBC's three stooges make CNN's talking heads look like Tom Jeffersons when we know they are the spawn of Saul Alinsky breast-fed by Hanoi Jane.
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Nelson Hultberg is a contributing author to the  ARRA News Service. He is a freelance writer in Dallas, Texas and the Director of Americans for a Free Republic and author of The Golden Mean: Libertarian Politics, Conservative Values.

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Tags: Nelson Hultberg, Americans for Free Republic, RNC Presidential Debate, CNBC, To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. and "Like" Facebook Page - Thanks!

RNC Stops Presidential Debate Partnership With NBC

On Friday, the Republican National Committee (RNC) suspended its partnership with NBC News for an upcoming GOP debate in Houston. In teh following letter to NBC News, RNC Chairman Reince Priebus said “we are suspending the partnership with NBC News for the Republican primary debate at the University of Houston on February 26, 2016.”

I just sent this letter to NBC News suspending our partnership for the February Debate: https://t.co/MVke5m2EBm

— Reince Priebus (@Reince) October 30, 2015

“The CNBC network is one of your media properties, and its handling of the debate was conducted in bad faith,” Priebus added. “We understand that NBC does not exercise full editorial control over CNBC’s journalistic approach. However, the network is an arm of your organization, and we need to ensure there is not a repeat performance.”

The RNC chairman made it clear that the Feb. 26 debate is still on and National Review remains a partner.  Priebus’ letter to NBC:Mr. Andrew Lack
Chairman, NBC News
30 Rockefeller Plaza
New York, New York 10112

Dear Mr. Lack,
I write to inform you that pending further discussion between the Republican National Committee (RNC) and our presidential campaigns, we are suspending the partnership with NBC News for the Republican primary debate at the University of Houston on February 26, 2016. The RNC’s sole role in the primary debate process is to ensure that our candidates are given a full and fair opportunity to lay out their vision for America’s future. We simply cannot continue with NBC without full consultation with our campaigns.

The CNBC network is one of your media properties, and its handling of the debate was conducted in bad faith. We understand that NBC does not exercise full editorial control over CNBC’s journalistic approach. However, the network is an arm of your organization, and we need to ensure there is not a repeat performance.

CNBC billed the debate as one that would focus on “the key issues that matter to all voters—job growth, taxes, technology, retirement and the health of our national economy.” That was not the case. Before the debate, the candidates were promised an opening question on economic or financial matters. That was not the case. Candidates were promised that speaking time would be carefully monitored to ensure fairness. That was not the case. Questions were inaccurate or downright offensive. The first question directed to one of our candidates asked if he was running a comic book version of a presidential campaign, hardly in the spirit of how the debate was billed.

While debates are meant to include tough questions and contrast candidates’ visions and policies for the future of America, CNBC’s moderators engaged in a series of “gotcha” questions, petty and mean-spirited in tone, and designed to embarrass our candidates. What took place Wednesday night was not an attempt to give the American people a greater understanding of our candidates’ policies and ideas.

I have tremendous respect for the First Amendment and freedom of the press. However, I also expect the media to host a substantive debate on consequential issues important to Americans. CNBC did not.

While we are suspending our partnership with NBC News and its properties, we still fully intend to have a debate on that day, and will ensure that National Review remains part of it.

I will be working with our candidates to discuss how to move forward and will be in touch.

Sincerely,
Reince Priebus
Chairman, Republican National Committee

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Forget Vegas, Nevada Is Now About Reno And Lithium

Western Lithium’s Kings Valley asset in NW Nevada

by James Stafford, Contributing Author: Nevada is booming as new lithium companies rush in to stake out targets and massive business development gets underway, from Tesla to Amazon and Apple. As the state's southwest corner fills up with new lithium players, Tesla gears up for its battery gigafactory and the world's largest data center sets up shop, Nevada is poised for one of the greatest economic revival stories of the century.

In an exclusive interview with Oilprice.com, Brian Findlay, President and CEO of Dajin Resources Corp, discusses:• How Tesla's gigafactory is sparking a massive resurgence in Nevada
• Why other giant businesses are setting up shop here
• Why Nevada is ground zero for the lithium boom
• Why Reno will be the New Las Vegas
• What it all means for economic development and job creation
• The rush to stake out lithium targets, and the big names that are interested
• The few options left to get in on this game
• Who got there first, and where it's all goingJames Stafford: The first thing that used to come to everyone's mind with any mention of Nevada was Las Vegas and gambling. Today, however, we think of a lithium boom, of Tesla, and of economic recovery. Why is Nevada suddenly on everyone's radar?

Brian Findlay: Particularly in the energy sector—but not exclusively—Nevada is one of the best places to be right now. The economic recovery that is going on here in Reno, but also statewide, is one of the best success stories of the decade. Not only is Tesla's battery gigafactory creating an amazing resurgence, but other major factories are moving to the Tahoe Reno Industrial Center, which will house Switch, the world's largest data center, along with some other huge names in the industry, including Amazon and Apple. The real estate market is on the upswing as a result of all of this activity, and this is only the beginning of the revival.

James Stafford: Can we get more specific about the impact from Tesla's gigafactory?

Brian Findlay: First of all, this will be a fantastic market for job-seekers. This $5 billion factory will create some 9,000 jobs - and that's based on figures from Nevada's Office of Economic Development. Of those, the gigafactory will employ around 6,500 people directly when it's up and running. Indirectly, we're looking at the creation of over 16,000 new jobs. And because of the additional economic development the whole idea of the gigafactory has brought to Nevada, authorities in western Nevada estimate that Wahoe County, encompassing Reno and Sparks, will see 34,000 new jobs by 2019.

James Stafford: So on a larger scale, what kind of add-on economic development are we looking at?

Brian Findlay: On a much larger scale, it turns Reno into a significant attraction for other big businesses with expansion ambitions. In terms of economic development, it doesn't get much bigger than this. Bloomberg estimates Tesla has already $800 million in battery reservations in the very first week of pre-order program, and this summer it tripled its land hold for the factory, adding another 2,000 acres to the 1,000 acres it originally scooped up. In fact, Bloomberg suggests that Tesla's gigafactory is the biggest thing to happen to Nevada since the silver rush of the 1850s and the gaming boom centered on Las Vegas.

James Stafford: Year-on-year, what can we expect from this economic development? Where will this be in two decades?

Brian Findlay: There are all kinds of indicators out there—all of them impressive. One that really sticks out is the prognosis that Tesla's gigafactory is expected to generate <$97 billion economic activity in the Reno area alone over the next 20 years. But there are other immediate indicators that are also impressive, including the fact that Reno/Sparks housing prices are up 19 percent. The trickle-down effect has already been extensive, leading new business to flood into Reno, as I mentioned earlier. The Switch data center covers a massive 6.5 million square feet. When it's completed, the 400 new permanent jobs it creates along with the 5,000 additional jobs for companies that use the data center's services will add to the already burgeoning consumer purchasing power. This snowball-effect business development changes the game for Nevada entirely.

James Stafford: Ok, so why Nevada specifically? Why is this ground zero for Tesla's gigafactory and the resulting economic development?

Brian Findlay: For Tesla, it's all about Nevada because of the state's lithium resources. It is no coincidence that Nevada is rich in lithium and that Tesla had stated that it wanted to source raw materials locally—not to mention that Nevada is the site of the only producing lithium mine in North America. But even more than this, Nevada is a mining-friendly state. The state's authorities understand what is at stake here and the economic development prospects, which is why Tesla got a tax break.

James Stafford: How much lithium is Nevada sitting on?

Brian Findlay: Nevada's lithium resources are second only to those in Chile, according to the Nevada Governor's Office of Economic Development. Beyond this, Nevada has a rich mining history. Not only is it ranked 1st in mining the U.S., but it's 3rd in the world. It also accounts for 80 percent of total U.S. silver output. This unique lithium position has turned Nevada into a lithium hub, and companies are now racing to stake out potential targets. In fact, the south western Nevada lithium space has even recently attracted the attention of well-known investor and philanthropist Frank Giustra, who is not only a financier, but also the founder of LionsGate films and friends with Bill Clinton.

James Stafford: So we all know that lithium is what you would call an everyday mineral, but we tend to take it for granted. Why lithium? Why is it so important in this context?

Brian Findlay: Lithium is the key ingredient in batteries. It's the preferred mineral for batteries because it has the highest electric output per unit weight. Supplies are thinning and demand—already attractive—is poised for a major spike. This new demand will be driven by grid storage, the 'powerwall' and electric/hybrid vehicles. Just one of the planned battery gigafactories could need upwards of 15,000 tons of lithium carbonate right from the start—just to put the emerging demand picture into perspective. Beyond this, the demand for electric vehicles is growing based on environmental awareness, price and newfound convenience. Prices are now starting to reflect lithium's rise, with one of the world's largest producers, FMC, recently raising the price of lith ium hydroxide across the board to $10,750 per ton. While other minerals are floundering in this market, lithium demand and prices remain strong.

James Stafford: While not directly related to lithium, do you have any comments on the 'dieselgate' scandal involving VW's alleged cheating on emissions standards, and how this might affect the electric/hybrid vehicle market?

Brian Findlay: Certainly this is another feather in lithium's cap and it could indeed further the forward movement towards electric vehicles. Volkswagen will have to undergo a very costly reinvention and all companies are going to have to deal with emissions issues as consumers and lawmakers become more focused on reducing greenhouse gas emissions and reducing climate change. This is good news for both lithium and the electric car industry.

James Stafford: Ok, let's swing back to Nevada. What shifts have we already seen in the lithium sphere that further indicates where this is all going?

Brian Findlay: There has been a significant spill over effect so far. That the lithium race is on is most poignantly indicated by Albemarle's acquisition for $6.2 billion of the Rockwood Lithium mine in western Nevada. Rockwood Lithium is North America's only producing lithium mine, and it's been in production since 1967. Another recent supply off-take agreement between a relatively small junior mining company and Tesla is also a strong indicator of where this is all going.

James Stafford: What does all this movement mean for junior lithium miners in general?

Brian Findlay: Listen, Western Nevada is now a hot bed of activity in the lithium sector, and the lithium-staking rush is moving ahead at full speed. Not only is this having a major impact on the local economy, but it's making it much easier for smaller companies to raise exploration money. This, in turn, is helping junior companies to flourish into more significant companies, further creating new jobs and further boosting the economy. Joint ventures are happening, and they're happening quickly.

James Stafford: How does Dajin Resources Corp. play into this lithium rush?

Brian Findlay: Dajin is a resource exploration company focused on the exploration and development of energy metal projects with strategically located brine-based lithium targets in Argentina and Nevada. Dajin has two 100 percent-owned projects in Nevada just a short distance from Albemarle's Rockwood Lithium Mine.

James Stafford: Now that the target-staking is on in Nevada, how hard is it to break into lithium?

Brian Findlay: The bigger picture here is that in such a weak commodities market, there are only a few ways to get involved in the lithium space, and Dajin is ahead of many of the new exploration companies because it was one of the first to make inroads into Nevada. Dajin has been quietly acquiring strategic lithium properties and is well underway with its exploration program. At the end of the day, fueled by vision and foresight, Dajin has continued to advance while commodities have tumbled.
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James Stafford is Editor, OilPrice.com the leading online energy news site and a contributing author to the ARRA News Service

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An Ass-Hat Action By The Daily Illini - Killing The Messenger

Editorial Cartoon by Rick McKee

by Daryl Cagle: The Daily Illini college newspaper at the University of Illinois cancelled their subscription to over fifty cartoonists in my CagleCartoons.com newspaper syndication package this week, in response to protests against a Halloween cartoon by Rick McKee of the Augusta Chronicle which featured a trick-or-treater climbing over a fence, saying, "I'm going as an illegal immigrant."

In an online apology, The Daily Illini editors write:"The person who selected the cartoon is currently on suspension due to regrets on the oversight. This choice was made out of carelessness, not out of malice. This student has learned an important lesson about carelessness.

We unfortunately cannot go back and erase it from yesterday's paper, yet we hope this serves as a wake-up call in our decisions as an editorial staff. We apologize again, and hope that we can earn back the trust and confidence of our readers with each issue of The Daily Illini from here on ...

We recognize that a statement can not recognize the hurt that this cartoon may have caused and we apologize for the perpetration of this disgusting stereotype."

The newspaper you are reading subscribes to my cartoon syndication service which includes cartoonists with a range of views from conservative to liberal. It isn't unusual that we get complaints from editors about cartoons they disagree with. Often the complaints come with threats to unsubscribe if we don't remove content that the editor doesn't like. Sometimes we get demands that we "fire" cartoonists that editors or readers disagree with.

Since editors receive about a dozen cartoons a day to choose from they can easily choose cartoons that meet their preconceived world views and they always have cartoon choices available that will not challenge their readers. It is fascinating to see the change in attitudes among editors and readers as both liberals and conservatives become less tolerant and seek to punish those who hold opposing views who offend them.

It is usually the conservative editors who call in to complain about liberal cartoons that offend them. In the case of the Daily Illini, the complaints, and the subscription cancellation come from the liberal side of the spectrum - which fits the conservative narrative about "politically correct" colleges stifling conservative ideas. Our experience is that the liberal editors are usually the ones who print left vs. right columns and cartoons, while the conservative editors prefer to reassure their conservative readers by only reinforcing the views their readers already hold.Rick McKee's response made me smile:"I think it's a sad day for journalism whenever a newspaper feels it has to apologize for something they knowingly published. But I don't blame the students. They're just kids and they're learning. I blame the politically correct atmosphere they find themselves in that exists on most U.S. college campuses. Our institutions of higher learning are supposed to be safe spaces where differing viewpoints are tolerated, but that no longer seems to be the case. There's nothing racist about the cartoon and the notion that people should come into this country legally is an opinion that is widely held by many Americans. I'd also like to add that if you hated this cartoon — or if you loved it — my new book is filled with much of the same and can be pre-ordered at a discount right now at mckee.cartoonistbook.com!"----------------
Daryl Cagle is the editorial cartoonist who runs the CagleCartoons.com newspaper syndicate, distributing editorial cartoons to more than 850 newspapers around the world, including the paper you are reading now. Comments to Daryl may be sent to editor@cagle.com. Read Daryl's blog or Like and follow him on Facebook. H/T GOPUSA

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Former Employees Speak Out About Disney's Outsourcing Of High-Tech STEM Jobs

Video via NumbersUSA: ABC 7 News Channel in Sarasota, FL interviewed former Disney employees about being replaced by foreign H-1B workers after they trained their replacements.

Transcript of Video:
Across the country, Thousands of hard-working Americans are losing their jobs jobs and being replaced by foreign workers. Critics say some corporations are misusing the H1B visa program to replace their employees with lower paid foreign workers. In an exclusive interview two former employees of Disney sit down with ABC 7 Rebecca Vargas to talk about the devastation of being let go but not before having the train their own replacements.

Just months before the holidays and on the heels of a great performance review an EP invites David Powers and Leo Perroro into his office both expecting a pat on the back but instead they hear the dreaded words you're being laid off.
"When a guillotine falls on you like that you're dead for that moment and I was dead for that moment."

Powers and Pereira where the brains behind your magical Disney World experience for the past 10 years. Both worked behind the scenes at the top of their IT field from working with high-tech data to making sure all points of sale from tickets to resort stays more seamless for visitors. Attaining some of the highest recognitions Disney could give, this was the last thing that they saw coming.

"I'm in a room with about two dozen people and very shortly thereafter an executive delivers the news that all of our jobs are ending in ninety days and that we have 90 days to train our replacements and if we don't train replacements and we won't get a bonus that we've offered

Adding insult to injury, a follow-up letter describing the expectations and severance pay if they adhered to disease wishes for the 90 days,

"So many American workers across the country, hundreds of thousands, are losing their jobs because they are being replaced by foreign workers."

At Sarasota based employment attorney Sarah Blackwell tells us, "It's not just Disney; companies including Toys R Us, IBM, and Verizon have been contracting with companies and outsourcing the workers. This is because of loopholes in the law behind the H1B visa.

"H1B when done properly is a great avenue. The purpose of H1B is to bring in foreign workers when there's no
qualified U.S. workers."

Blackwell says there are about 800,000 H1B workers here in the States who are meant to fill highly specialized field that companies are unable to find qualified Americans to fill. But when Disney let go of more than 250 employees at once, something doesn't line up.

"This was the one that finally took me out of business entirely. I would never recommend this field to anybody that is a student because of the lack of opportunity.:

This highly specialized tech field yields average salaries in the $100,000 range, but for the younger foreign workers their median salary is about $62,000 even less according to published reports.

In response, Disney acknowledges that outsource Powers' and Perroro' jobs to Indian workers but does he claims they've expanded and added jobs for U.S. IT workers. People going into the text field in college or in the university's, they have no idea that when they come out, they probably won't have a job.

According to the latest US Census Bureau data, only 26% of science and engineering graduates are currently employed in a STEM occupation.

"The grandparents in Sarasota and Manatee County, wherever, don't want your kids coming out of college or grand kids coming out of college and have no jobs, The STEM programs a joke."

On top of the job loss, they tell me training their foreign specifically Indian replacements at their own desks strips them of their dignity.

"I felt extremely un-american. I felt like I was part of destroying our economy because I had to train a replacement that was gonna come here take my job then potentially take other people's jobs."

As for our two Florida U.S. senators, their stances on this issue couldn't be more different. While Marco Rubio wants to expand the H1B VISA, while Senator Bill Nelson wants the program investigated. Reporting for ABC 7 New that 7, I am Rebecca Vargas.

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Tags: IFlorida, Disney, employees, STEM, H!B Visas, Disney World, layoff, Americans, recruit Indian workers, pay less, U.S. Senators, Marco Rubio, Bill Nelson, ABC 7, Rebecca Vargas To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. and "Like" Facebook Page - Thanks!

Waging the War on Waste

by Thomas A. Schatz: Forty-six cents! That’s how much of your individual income tax dollar the government squanders on wasteful spending programs.

Nearly half of your individual income tax dollar goes to government waste.

Another 31 cents goes to pay the $433 billion in annual interest on the national debt!

That leaves just 23 cents – or not quite one quarter of your tax dollar – to pay for the services that you expect from government!

Citizen Against Government Waste (CAGW) has identified, researched, and documented 601 specific examples of deficit-producing government waste that if eliminated would save $639 billion in the first year and $2.6 trillion over five years. That's why The Wall Street Journal, in a front-page article, cited CAGW as one of the top two sources of budget-cutting ideas in Washington.

What's more, we have consistently delivered results for taxpayers like you, winning hard-fought victories like cutting off Supplemental Security Income cash payments for drug addicts and alcoholics, ending food stamps for convicted felons, and enacting sweeping reforms that have eliminated $14.8 billion in fraudulent and improper payments by Medicare and other federal programs.

CAGW is right now working around-the-clock with leading fiscal conservatives in Congress to eliminate the worst wasteful spending programs; slash the federal deficit; and put America on course to a smaller, less wasteful, more efficient government.
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Thomas A. Schatz is President of Citizens Against Government Waste - the nation's largest taxpayer watchdog group with more than one million members and supporters nationwide.

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A More Perfect Union

by Kerby Anderson, Contributing Author: Dr. Ben Carson has a new book out that should be required reading not only for U.S. citizens but also for many of the presidential candidates. In his book, A More Perfect Union, he provides a detailed introduction and overview of the U.S. Constitution. He was on my radio program recently to talk about the book and some of the things he is hearing as he travels the country on his presidential campaign.

Dr. Carson says that understanding government and the Constitution “isn’t brain surgery.” He argues that the Constitution was written so the average American could understand it and see if it was properly applied. The founders wanted a republic that, in Lincoln’s words, was a government “of the people, by the people, and for the people.” That is why the subtitle of Dr. Carson’s book is “What we the people can do to reclaim our constitutional liberties.”

He acknowledges that the “founders gave Congress a great deal of latitude when it came to taxes. Unfortunately, this vagueness has been abused by our government in a way that would horrify the founders.” He also believes that issues ranging from Obamacare to same sex marriage are outside of the federal government’s purview. “The framers of our Constitution intended that these kinds of issues be handled by the states. Judges should not be able to overturn the decisions made by the citizens of each state.”

We talked about the Second Amendment. He says that this right cannot be violated, and “any attempt to erode it should be vigorously resisted. Those who insist that tyranny could never come to America should read about how it came to so many other places that also felt safe.”

Article 2 in the Constitution states that the president “shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed.” Dr. Carson says: “it does not say that the laws with which he agrees be faithfully executed. The executive branch cannot pick and choose.”

Dr. Carson provides us with a short course in Constitution 101. It is a book we all need to read.
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Kerby Anderson is a radio talk show host heard on numerous stations via the Point of View Network endorsed by Dr. Bill Smith, Editor, ARRA News Service

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Conservatives Fall For PBS Propaganda About Mulvaney, Freedom Caucus

Congressman Mick Mulvaney
PBS falsification of his words/ record 

by Tom Balek, Contributing Author: This week Congressman Mick Mulvaney and some fellow Freedom Caucus members are under attack on the web and social media. But not, as you might expect, by liberal opponents.

The hits are coming from conservatives, both grassroots activists and inside-the-beltway veterans.

And guess what, Hillary? This attack really was caused by a whacko video! Last week PBS played a three-hour documentary about Congressman Luis Guitierrez’ three-year struggle to win amnesty for illegal Mexican immigrants. The writers and producer of the piece made no attempt to hide their emotional advocacy for amnesty and open borders. But their methodology was a masterpiece of subterfuge.

In order to legitimize their position, the PBS writers were seeking a respected, well-known, solid conservative who favors open borders. They failed to find one, but they did stumble onto the remarkable and highly publicized film clip of Congressman Mick Mulvaney (R-SC) addressing a Hispanic town hall meeting in Gaffney, SC speaking only in Spanish.

Mulvaney’s statements to that audience were consistent with the same message he had presented dozens of times to other groups: the borders and ports must be sealed, existing laws must be enforced, no amnesty for illegals, and improve legal immigration policies. But the carefully edited footage of Mulvaney, speaking eloquently in Spanish to a smiling group of Hispanics had a visceral effect. The casual observer would assume he joins Congressman Guitierrez arm-in-arm down the path of amnesty.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

These same conservatives laugh at the PBS hysteria about global warming. They see right through the propaganda in support of myriad other liberal issues. How on earth do they now decide that PBS is suddenly 100% accurate in their depiction of a solid conservative as a supporter of amnesty and open borders?

I have always known better than to believe everything I see on television, especially on PBS. And in recent years I have learned to not swallow everything that is published on the web. This post is in that category, so I urge you to please do a little research on Mulvaney and his positions on immigration (here’s a policy statement I found). Better yet, ask him – he is one of the most accessible politicians around.
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Tom Balek is a fellow conservative activist, blogger, musician and contributes to the ARRA News Service. Tom resides in South Carolina and seeks to educate those too busy with their work and families to notice how close to the precipice our economy has come. He blogs at Rockin' On the Right Side

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Ben Carson's Campaign Manager Wants To Reinvent The Debates

John Harwood, CNBC

"He hates the format"

by Daniel Greenfield: I don't think the debates even need that much reinventing, but a return to a more classic debate format that allows candidates to explain their positions without the interruptions and the debates with the moderators.

Candidates should be interacting with each other and not the moderator, for the most part. Moderators should provide a topic, rather than be the topic. Here's an example from a Reagan - Bush forum. The moderator's question is leading, but both candidates can enter into a civil discussion that is based around issues, policies and details. It's the opposite of what we have now.

It's slow. It's much less exciting than throwing out insults at Trump. Ratings would fall, but a more motivated audience would watch.In any case, Carson's people are correct. These debates are a disaster. The large number of candidates are a problem. There are still too many people on the stage. Kasich should not be there, let alone get the amount of time that he does. But neither should two or three others. And if we can't cut candidates, just pair them off, drop the whole undercard thing and have randomly chosen candidates debate in smaller groups.

It would be better than what we have now.In an interview shortly after the debate, Barry Bennett, manager of the Ben Carson campaign, called the session here in Colorado "unfair to everyone" and said the current debate structure should not remain in place. "I think the families need to get together here, because these debates as structured by the RNC are not helping the party," Bennett said. "There's not enough time to talk about your plans, there's no presentation. It's just a slugfest. All we do is change moderators. And the trendline is horrific. So I think there needs to be wholesale change here."

Bennett said he will call Donald Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski Thursday to propose a unified call for change. "Corey and I talk regularly, so I will talk to him," Bennett said. "I will call Frank Sadler (Carly Fiorina's campaign manager), I will call those guys and say listen, we can choose our own network and our own format. We don't need to be led around like prize steers."

"I think at this point, if five or six of us get together, who generate the largest portion of the audience, we can force change," Bennett said.

... Bennett is particularly unhappy with the length of time given candidates to address issues — he thinks it's way too short — as well as the debate moderators' attempts to spark fights between the candidates. Bennett had not yet spoken with Carson himself about Wednesday night's debate, but said the two have discussed the problem in the past. "He hates the format," Bennett said of Carson.He's right.

The whole CNBC debate made no sense at all. I doubt it was even bringing in viewers considering that CNBC isn't hugely popular and there was no online stream for non-subscribers. It would have made more sense to let YouTube host a debate, as long as the moderators were clean. I suspect some major dot com, Google, Facebook or Microsoft would have jumped at the opportunity. And the candidates would be able to set terms that would make for a compelling debate about the issues.
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Daniel Greenfield is Shillman Journalism Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center and a New York writer focusing on radical Islam  (Correction made 3:45 pm to photo title)

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