Christian Persecution Growing, Something To Stand For, A Real Russia Scandal
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| Gary Bauer |
I continue to believe that one of the most defining moments of the 2016 campaign occurred during the Republican primary debate when Donald Trump said he would put a moratorium on Muslim immigration because we haven't yet figured out how to tell the good guys from the bad guys.
The entire weight of elite opinion, left and right, was against him. Every other Republican presidential candidate condemned him. Yet polls showed voters agreed with Trump.
Even many leading pundits and politicians on the right said it was wrong to impose a "religious test" in our refugee policies. That's what Barack Obama was saying too, while in practice his administration clearly favored one specific faith. It was bringing in large numbers of Muslim refugees while Christians were facing genocide. And polls showed voters strongly opposed Obama's policies.
A new report from Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) proves just how bad Christian persecution is. "In terms of the number of people involved, the gravity of the crimes committed and their impact, it is clear that the persecution of Christians is today worse than at any time in history,” said John Pontifex, editor of the ACN report.
The report also states that "In 12 of the 13 countries reviewed, the situation for Christians was worse in overall terms in the period 2015-17 than within the preceding two years."
As my friend former Congressman Frank Wolf has warned, Christianity is at grave risk of disappearing from much of the Middle East, where it has long predated Islam.
Yet under Obama, radical Shiite Muslims were persecuting Christians in the Middle East. Under Obama, radical Sunni Muslims were persecuting Christians in the Middle East. But for whatever reason, Obama brought in more Muslim refugees than Christian refugees.
Thankfully, President Trump acted quickly to reverse Obama's misguided policies. Not only has his policy of "extreme vetting" lowered the total number of refugees admitted to the United States, Trump is bringing in more of those who should be considered legitimate refugees. When it comes to those facing persecution in the Middle East and many parts of Africa, that means more Christians.
This is not a violation of our laws or values. Protecting those at risk of religious persecution is a key purpose of our refugee law.
During the Vietnam era, we brought in a lot more Vietnamese Catholics than Buddhists because Catholics were being persecuted by the Vietnamese communists. During the Cold War, the Soviet Union persecuted Russian Jews. Ronald Reagan made it a major priority to allow Russian Jews into the United States.
While I applaud the Trump Administration for welcoming more Christian refugees to America, the sad reality remains: Christian persecution overseas is growing. More must be done to reverse this terrible trend.
Something To Stand For - The NFL's annual fall meeting takes place today. It takes place against the backdrop of ongoing player protests against the national anthem and our country and amid falling ratings and revenues.
The kneeling players insist they are not protesting the country, but social injustice. Let me remind you of what Colin Kaepernick said when he explained why he started kneeling in the first place:
"I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color. . . There are bodies in the street and people getting paid leave and getting away with murder."
So, yes, this was and is all about protesting the flag, the country and the police. As usual, the left-wing narrative is false. "Hands up, Don't Shoot" was a lie. And there is no epidemic of police killing unarmed people of color.
But there is growing violence, especially against the men and women of law enforcement. According to the latest FBI statistics:
The total number of police officers killed on the job in 2016 (including those who died in accidents) increased 37% from 2015.
And there was a 61% increase in the number of "felonious killings" of police officers.This figure includes ambushes and deliberate assassinations of law enforcement officers.
What is also shocking and unacceptable is that the NFL and the "mainstream media" continue to tolerate these protests by millionaire athletes. Rather than protesting the police and denigrating the basic decency of America based on fake news, it is time for these players to stand up and take a stand for the men and women of the thin Blue Line.
The REAL Russia Scandal - There is a bombshell report from The Hill today about a real scandal involving Russian influence in our government and it has absolutely nothing to do with Donald Trump.
Remember that outrageous uranium sale to a Russian company that Hillary Clinton's State Department and the Obama Administration agreed to? Well, it turns out -- surprise, surprise -- that it was all part of an elaborate Russian bribery scheme that dated back to 2009. Consider these excerpts:
"Before the Obama Administration approved a controversial deal in 2010 giving Moscow control of a large swath of American uranium, the FBI had gathered substantial evidence that Russian nuclear industry officials were engaged in bribery, kickbacks, extortion and money laundering designed to grow Vladimir Putin's atomic energy business inside the United States. . .
"[The FBI] also obtained an eyewitness account — backed by documents — indicating Russian nuclear officials had routed millions of dollars to the U.S. designed to benefit former President Bill Clinton's charitable foundation during the time Secretary of State Hillary Clinton served on a government body that provided a favorable decision to Moscow."
Guess who was FBI Director when this investigation started? Robert Mueller, the man now leading the investigation of President Trump.
This entire investigation was swept under the rug. The Clinton/Russian uranium deal wasn't even exposed until 2015, and the full extent of it is only now coming to light.
Former Rep. Mike Rogers (R-MI) was chairman of the House Intelligence Committee during this time. He was never informed about the FBI's active counterintelligence investigation into this deal.
Think about that for a moment, friends.
The Obama FBI -- led by Robert Mueller and James Comey -- knew about Putin's efforts to influence the sale of our uranium deposits to Russian companies via bribes and kickbacks to the Clinton Foundation. And yet the Obama Administration allowed the sale to go through anyway.
Was this sale another example of Obama demonstrating his "flexibility" for Putin?
Clearly, Special Counsel Robert Mueller knows a lot about real Russian meddling in America. But it seems he ought to be investigating Barack, Bill and Hillary, not Donald Trump.
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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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