The Unholy War on Christianity

Easter Sunday, 2016- Following the attacks in Brussels on 22 March 2016, which left thirty-five dead including four Americans, a suicide bomber in Lahore, Pakistan killed seventy-one people, including thirty-six children, in the attack at a local park in Lahore. Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, a splinter group of the Pakistani Taliban terrorists claimed responsibility for the attack, and said that the attack was specifically targeted at Christians celebrating Easter. The splinter group, having once sworn allegiance to the Islamic State in 2014 after splitting from the Taliban, returned to the Taliban again in 2015, and said it had perpetrated the attack in order to send a message to Pakistan’s leaders…that Islamic terrorism has arrived.

“And their bows shall dash the young men in pieces; and they shall have no pity on the fruit of the womb; their eye shall not spare children.” -Isaiah 13:18

There is no doubt now, that radical Islam has declared an unholy war on Christianity, which saw 7,100 of its own, killed by Islamic terrorists in 2015, alone. Only recently, has the United States State Department owned up to the fact that, indeed, genocide is taking place in the Middle East and North Africa, where the Islamic State has gained control of large swaths of land in that embattled region.

“Then the dragon was enraged at the woman and went off to wage war against the rest of her offspring—those who keep God’s commands and hold fast their testimony about Jesus.” – Book of Revelations 12: 17

Yet, the Obama Administration has refused to recognize that these despicable acts are being perpetrated by radical fundamentalist Muslims in the name of Islam, insisting that Islam is a religion of peace. While yes, it is true that many Muslims are indeed peaceful, their religion is most definitely not a religion of peace, as Obama would have us believe. Their holy book, the Qur’an teaches its followers to wage war against Christians, as well as Jews, even authorizing beheadings as well as hostage-taking. To wit:

“Infidels indeed are those who say that God is the Messiah, the son of Mary.” -Qur’an Surah 5:17

“Believers, fight against the infidels who live around you; and let them find in you sternness.” -Qur’an Surah 9:123

“When you meet the infidels in battle, smite their necks until you have crushed them, then bind your captives firmly; thereafter (you are entitled to) set them free, either by an act of grace, or for payment of ransom, until the  war ends. That is for you to do. If Allah had so willed, He would have Himself  exacted retribution from them. (But He did not do so) that He may test some of you by means of others. As for those who are slain in the way of Allah, He shall never let their works go to waste.” -Qur’an Surah 47:4

Islam teaches that those who are Christians and Jews are to be, under the best of circumstances, considered “dhimmi”- essentially, second-class citizens who are not allowed to be given the protection of laws, unless they pay an annual  “jizyah,” a religiously-required per capita yearly tax historically levied by Islamic states on non-Muslim subjects (dhimmis) permanently residing in Muslim lands, under Islamic law. Even then, non-Muslims cannot bring criminal charges against Muslims under any circumstances.

Does this sound like a religion of peaceful co-existence?

Like it or not, believe it or not, admit it or not, radical Islam has declared an unholy war on Christians and Jews all over the world, and these savages are determined to bring on an apocalyptic end to the world as we know it, by slaughtering “infidels” wherever they may be found. They have even said so, but westerners- steeped in traditions of tolerance, inclusiveness and political correctness are loathed to admit what has painfully become quite obvious. Until this is recognized, we will continue to lose this war.

One thing is certain. Eventually, the evil forces of Islamic extremism will be defeated, and the evil that it is based upon will be vanquished, in the end.

“I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony about Jesus and because of the word of God. They had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years.” -Book of Revelations 20:4

Hasten the day when we come to our senses and recognize the enemy for who, and what, he is.

-Drew Nickell, 28 March 2016

© 2016 by Drew Nickell, all rights reserved.

Nastiness: Nothing New in this Nation

It never ceases to amaze when television news personalities and political operatives- those who should, and probably do, know better- bemoan what they determine to be the deteriorating level of discourse between political candidates and politicians- especially Republican candidates and politicians. Listening to these pontificators, one would be tempted to believe that the back and forth that exists in this year’s presidential campaign has hit a new low, but alas, such a belief would be nothing less than the product of purely partisan poppycock.

The most recent instance of hubris in these regards is the outrage being bandied about regarding the dust-up concerning Donald Trump’s wife, Melania, and Ted Cruz’s wife, Heidi. A super-PAC opposing Donald Trump’s candidacy posted a semi-nude photo of Melania Trump, taken during her modeling days, with a message that basically said, “Is this what you really want in a first lady?” or words to that effect. Ted Cruz did not precisely condemn the ad, as Ted Cruz would never come out and condemn any ad that either helps his own campaign, or hurts an opponent’s campaign. Predictably, Donald Trump warned Ted to “knock it off,” or risk the release of unflattering information about Cruz’s wife. When the ad resurfaced, Trump released a tweet with two pictures- an unflattering picture of Heidi Cruz juxtaposed against a lovely picture of Melania Trump, saying, “No need to spill the beans…The images are worth a thousand words.”

To this, Senator Cruz responded, “It takes a lot to make me angry, but when you mess with my wife and children (no one has ever assailed Cruz’s children) that will do it every time. Donald, you’re a sniveling coward. Leave Heidi the hell alone.”

Predictably, the major media and Republican apparatchiks like Katie Pavlich, a fellow of the National Review and a Fox News contributor, opened up both barrels on “the Donald,” with a full-blown diatribe of disgust voiced against Trump, essentially blaming him for bringing this campaign to an all-time low. Well, it’s not the first time that she has issued her invective against Trump, as she was one of two dozen conservative commentators who assailed Trump in a special issue of National Review on February 15th.

Well, with all due respect to Miss Pavlich, she knows better- far better.

Any student having a nominal knowledge of American history, knows about the political dust-up between Vice-President Aaron Burr, a Democrat-Republican, who failed in his attempt to acquire the New York governorship when President Thomas Jefferson had made it known that Burr would be dropped from Jefferson’s re-election bid, and the Former Treasury Secretary, Alexander Hamilton, a Federalist, who said of Burr, “he a dangerous man, and one who ought not be trusted with the reins of government.” (Sound familiar?) So angered with this slight, that Burr challenged Hamilton to a duel with pistols. On the early morning of July 11, 1804, in Weehawken, New Jersey, the duel took place, and Hamilton was mortally wounded.

In 1856, Republican Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts made fun of the speech impediment of Democrat Senator Andrew Brooks of South Carolina, and accused the South Carolina Senator of engaging in sexual relations with his own slave. Brooks’ nephew, Democrat Representative Preston Brooks of South Carolina, was so incensed on hearing this that he charged into the Senate chamber and, using a cane, savagely beat Sumner within an inch of his life. From the attack, Sumner suffered what would today be classified as traumatic brain injury, and he suffered with severe pain and debilitation for the rest of his remaining eighteen years.

When in 1950, music critic Paul Hume, penned a critique of President Harry Truman’s daughter, Margaret, writing,

“Miss Truman is a unique American phenomenon with a pleasant voice of little size and fair quality … [she] cannot sing very well … is flat a good deal of the time—more last night than at any time we have heard her in past years … has not improved in the years we have heard her … [and] still cannot sing with anything approaching professional finish”

President Truman wrote a letter to Hume, saying,

“I’ve just read your lousy review of Margaret’s concert. I’ve come to the conclusion that you are an ‘eight ulcer man on four ulcer pay.’ It seems to me that you are a frustrated old man who wishes he could have been successful. When you write such poppy-cock as was in the back section of the paper you work for it shows conclusively that you’re off the beam and at least four of your ulcers are at work. Someday, I hope to meet you. When that happens you’ll need a new nose, a lot of beefsteak for black eyes, and perhaps a supporter below! (Francis James Westbrook) Pegler, a gutter snipe, is a gentleman alongside you. I hope you’ll accept that statement as a worse insult than a reflection on your ancestry.”

That by a sitting president !

While it’s true that the race to the Republican nomination has indeed turned acrimonious, to suggest that this campaign has reached a new low in political discourse is as sanctimonious and suspicious a statement as the intention behind it. Such deception is neither journalistic nor altruistic. It is, however, the poison pen of prevarication that seeks to destroy, rather than to inform, and that is what is truly wrong with politics in America, today.

-Drew Nickell, 25 March 2016

© 2016 by Drew Nickell, all rights reserved.

A “Kasichness” in the GOP – Reprobate Republicans Robbing the Electorate

Not one to coin new terms, but “Kasichness” begs such coinage, for the simple fact that reprobate Republicans are spreading an insipid illness, by attempting to rob the electorate of their candidate(s).

Not satisfied that it has become all-so-apparent that Donald Trump will win the Republican nomination or, if not he, then Ted Cruz has an all-too-slight chance of doing the same, there are stirrings within the leadership of the Republican Party that they, and not the electorate, will determine the eventual nominee.

One Curly Haugland, a delegate from North Dakota who sits on the GOP Rules Committee, told CNBC:

“The media has created the perception that the voters choose the nomination…That’s the conflict here…The rules require the delegates to choose the nominee. Not the primaries or caucuses. I am a rules guy. Rules are rules. When in session, the GOP convention is the highest authority of the Republican Party. People don’t understand that. All rules are up for consideration.”

It is Haugland whose proposed amendment would replace Rule 40, which was passed during the 2012 convention and that made it mandatory for any candidate who sought the GOP nomination to have the support of the majority of the convention delegates in eight states or more.

So, given the fact that, thus far, Donald Trump has won eighteen primaries and caucuses acquiring 673 delegates, Ted Cruz has won eight primaries and caucuses acquiring 411 delegates, and John Kasich has won one primary acquiring even fewer delegates than Marco Rubio (who suspended his campaign), is it indeed so that the rules can be changed to negate both Trump’s and Cruz’s successes, and make Kasich or any of the “suspended” candidates (or someone else not presently running, like House Speaker Paul Ryan) the nominee?

Well, the “weenies” at the top of the GOP power structure are doing their level best to do just that, which just goes to show that these reprobate Republicans would rather ensure Hillary Clinton’s election, that to risk a Trump or a Cruz presidency outside their puppeteering control.

Apparently, there is only one way that this “Kasichness” can be cured, and that is for either Donald Trump to go into the convention with the required 1,237 delegates (mathematically possible), or Ted Cruz do the same (mathematically improbable). In either of these two scenarios, the GOP establishment would still be unhappy, and still do everything within their power to deny either of these two men the nomination. Incidentally there is no math on this earth, save for “common core” math, that can provide John Kasich or any other candidate the 1,237 votes needed to win the nomination, legitimately.

Figuratively speaking, such a scenario might cause a “riot” at the convention, according to front-runner Trump. Leave it to the mainstream media, and the establishment GOP “brownie-hounds” to join Democrats in making hay out of that one, insisting that Trump is trying to incite violence with such unartful statements. The funny thing is that the rank and file electorate knows better, far better, which is why the outsiders, Donald Trump and Ted Cruz, are the only candidates left standing. Should Trump and Cruz decide to join forces, it will be the Republican establishment who is left outside in the rain, and such a rain would be Hillary’s worst nightmare.

-Drew Nickell, 17 March 2016

© 2016 by Drew Nickell, all rights reserved.

(author’s note- this was originally posted a year ago on my facebook page, so in light of today being St. Patrick’s Day, I thought I would share it, once again)

Happy St. Patrick’s Day

My late father, who would be celebrating his 101^st birthday on May 16^th, was half Irish, one fourth Scottish and one fourth German, even though he always thought of himself as Irish. Given the fact that my mother was 100% Italian, I suppose that given such a “mongrel” background, as it were, that would make us one fourth Irish, so it is with this horrid cocktail of Jameson Irish Whiskey, Glen Levitt Scotch Whiskey, German lager and Italian Red Chianti, we should go ahead and offer a hearty and happy St. Patrick’s Day to one and all, whether you are a-sportin’ the Catholic green or the Protestant orange on this, the 17^th of March.

Dad always loved St. Patrick’s Day, and so did Mom. Both would be wearin’ the green all over- I think they might have even painted their faces green, if they had had the chance. On whatever night the date might fall, I would be assured of dining on corned beef, cabbage and even a sip of green beer, just for luck. It was one of those harmless frivolities that marked the passage of time. Given enough of liquid encouragement, Dad would even be emboldened enough to belt out his rendition of “When Irish Eyes Are Smiling”, in his soft Irish tenor voice- even though, invariably, he’d be sure to botch the lyric, as he did with any song he ever attempted to sing- such were the makings of family traditions, as it were.

I remember his telling of a tradition in Baltimore that, before he was a lad, there was a rather odd application of justice in that city. With so many Irishmen getting drunk on St. Patrick’s Day, and a finite number of jail cells to place them in, those arrested would be marched down to City Hall, forced to lower their trousers, and they would have their backsides painted kelly green and forced to stand until the paint dried. The thought was that the poor lads’ wives would summarily exact a much harsher punishment on their husbands, having come home with green posteriors, attesting to their imbibing during Lent, than the city ever could.

So, when I became of age and began to go out and celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, on my own, I would always get the same kindly warning from my Dad, “Don’t go getting your fanny painted, tonight,” which meant “don’t over-do it.”

So to all of my friends on this, St. Patrick’s Day, 2015, may I say “Happy St. Patrick’s Day to all, and don’t go getting your asses painted.”

-Drew Nickell, 17 March 2015

© 2015, by Drew Nickell, all rights reserved

Sitting in for Nora Firestone on Thursday, 18 February 2016, local author and blogger Drew Nickell discussed the death of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia,  the Presidential Debates, the odyssey of Donald Trump’s campaign, Hillary Clinton’s campaign and the need for a national renewal- in essence, the need for a new and true Independence Day.

Chicago Protests- The Fascism of the Left

As predicted, the road to the presidential election of 2016 got ugly last night- very ugly, indeed.

Four months prior to the nominating conventions that will mark the official beginning of the fall campaign, leftist thugs from organizations like the Black Lives Matter movement and MoveOn.org instigated a coordinated protest in downtown Chicago, that quickly turned violent and prompted the cancellation of a speech by Republican candidate Donald Trump. The speech, which would have drawn upwards of 25,000, was cancelled due to concerns for public safety- concerns that were instigated by leftist radicals who only seek to shut down free speech that does not happen to coincide with their own political bent.

Yet, the idiocracy that is the mainstream media, the political insiders of both parties, and all levels of academia would have us believe that it is the candidate, himself, Donald Trump, who is inciting this unrest- all because he has the temerity to buck the established powers-to-be and advance his campaign for the Republican nomination. So desperate are his remaining rivals, Ted Cruz, John Kasich and Marco Rubio, to block Trump from the nomination, that they too have joined in the chorus to condemn Trump for the ugliness that was on display in the windy city, last night.

Ironically, it is these leftists who accuse Trump of being intolerant and fascist while it is they, themselves, who seek to curtail free speech that does not fall in lockstep with their own twisted and seditious world view. This attempt to curtail free speech on the part of those opposed to the radical leftist agenda du jour, is very much widespread on college campuses, today, and is the illegitimate stepchild of aging radical professors who ultimately failed to win the war of words during the late 1960s and early 1970s. These aging radicals, safe in their academic tenures and exalted positions, are attempting to reincarnate the desperate dregs of discontent by brainwashing these young and impressionable minds, who have in turn taken to the streets to protest that which they, themselves, do not understand in the first place.

Many of these same protesters, on the payroll of George Soros to stir up such discontent, as we have seen in the streets of Ferguson and Baltimore, were on hand in Chicago last night, for all the world to see. Regretfully, these protests will no doubt continue to follow Trump, wherever he goes and, sadly, it is the mainstream #NeverTrump trolls and the other GOP candidates, so incensed with their hatred of “the Donald,” that have suddenly found common cause with these malcontents.

And why?

Apparently, it is because all of them feel threatened by a man who just wants to make America great again…Go figure…

-Drew Nickell, 12 March 2016

© 2016 by Drew Nickell, all rights reserved.

Desperation, Deceit and Demagoguery- the Case Against Donald Trump

When all is lost, and it appears that all the breaks are beginning to fall against the conventional wisdom of the so-called experts, the ugly triad of desperation, deceit and demagoguery enter from stage right, and the race to the bottom accelerates with fevered fervor. Such has become the theatre of the absurd that is the Republican Party, as it enters the ides of March.

Dozens of GOP insiders, ranging from failed candidates like Lindsey Graham, to failed nominees like Mitt Romney, to failed party leaders like Mitch McConnell and John McCain, to corporate icons like Apple’s CEO Tim Cook, are all conspiring to deny Donald Trump the Republican nomination for the United States presidency. In addition, many tens of millions of dollars have been spent, thus far by Republican super-PACs, in an effort to take down Donald Trump, and to de-legitimize his campaign- a campaign that has been run well outside the control of party apparatchiks, and without the blessing of the powers that be. The print newspapers, the National Review, and the major news networks have all joined in this initiative, as well, and it seems that there is an all-out effort to deny the American people the right to choose their candidate through popular voting.

Given the fact that all of these entities have seemingly soiled their britches at the very thought of a President Trump, is self-evident in the desperation, the deceit and the demagoguery of their efforts and it suggests one thing: “the Donald” can win the nomination and win the presidency. This possibility scares the living hell out of the established powers in both parties, because his nomination and his ultimate election would effectively end the influence of money and the special interests that have lorded over all three of the branches of government, as has unfortunately been the case long since before most of us can even recall.

While, as Hippocrates and Erasmus once observed that “desperate times call for desperate measures,” this dubious and dirty deed-doing has extended to the point that many of these Republican insiders would sooner see the election of Democrat Hillary Clinton than the election of Donald Trump…in other words these despicable desperados would sooner support a criminal under investigation by the FBI, than support an outsider who has added millions of new Republican voters and is attracting disaffected Democrats, independents, and a host of others to the nominating process, as no others have ever done. Such speaks to the fact that Hillary Clinton is one of “their own,” at long last, and partisan politics be damned.

Why? Is it because “the Donald” answers insult with insult? Is it because Trump eschews political correctness and nuance? Is it because they just don’t like him? Is it because he doesn’t stand, and doesn’t take, all of the excrement that has been thrown at him, from every direction?

Unartful as he is, as flawed as might be, as unpolished a portrait as he portrays, there is nothing in Donald Trump’s past that even begins to deserve the detritus that has been dumped on him, with charges of racism, sexism, misogyny, xenophobia, ad nauseam, by those who in truth, feel threatened at the prospect of his election and this may well be the secret to his allure. The people, long fed up with manipulation and being taken for granted, are starting a movement, yes a movement, to bring their own country away from the vested interests of the selfish and corrupt, and back under their own control- and it could not come at a better time, nor a more prescient moment, than the spring of 2016.

-Drew Nickell, 9 March 2016

© 2016 by Drew Nickell, all rights reserved.

Political Poison- the Hyperbole of Hypocrisy

With the nomination process speeding towards its own eventuality, and the ides of March approaching within a fortnight, the political poison of sanctimonious soliloquy is summarily revealed. By employing the haughty hyperbole of hypocrisy that is the hallmark of partisan power structures, such is the case with regards to the Republican nominee of 2012 and former Governor of Massachusetts, Mitt Romney.

Launching into a despicable diatribe of desperation against the leading Republican presidential candidate, Donald Trump, Romney showed himself to be all of the things that threaten to destroy whatever remains of the Republican Party, in this election year. Romney, who just four years ago, begged and beseeched the endorsement of Donald Trump, and praised without reservation “the Donald’s” business acumen, showed himself to be nothing more than an arrogant ass, by poisoning the well of all of those who support the front-runner, and everyone else who has worked to hold together the fractured remains of the GOP.

Had this same feckless and cowardly Mitt Romney shown half of the motivated moxie and passionate posturing shown yesterday, when he ran against President Obama four years ago, he would have been running for his own reelection this year. Yet, the message became quite clear that he is more content with aiding and abetting the election of Democrats, ranging from Obama to both of the Clintons, than he is in supporting a united Republican Party to defeat Hillary Clinton in the fall of 2016. His poisoned prescription of suggesting a brokered convention to prevent Mr. Trump from becoming the eventual nominee is nothing more than a poisonous prescription to guarantee the election of Hillary Clinton, all because Trump seems to be succeeding where Romney once failed.

The green-eyed monster of jealousy is an ugly sight to behold, indeed, but the pale and pasty hue of envy, completely devoid of rhyme or reason, is a far more sickening sight by any measure. That is what was seen yesterday, when Mitt Romney attempted to throw a wrench into his own party’s nomination process.

Sadly, Romney is not alone in this endeavor, as many others including former New Hampshire Governor John Sununu, Arizona Senator John McCain, Nebraska Senator Ben Sasse, South Carolina Senator Lindsay Graham, former White House Chief of Staff Karl Rove, and the editors of National Review all have conspired to both block Trump from getting the nomination, and block the Republican electorate from having its eventual say. In fact, they would rather see a President Hillary Clinton than even allowing the possibility of a President Trump. It is no wonder that large swaths of Republican voters, who are so angered and so entrenched with the elitist and egocentric establishment Republicans, long on promises but short on delivery, are collectively and undeniably saying, “Enough is enough.” It is this anger that has given rise to the candidacy of Donald Trump, for he is the unintended creation of a political party who has taken their constituents for granted for forty years, or more.

Julius Caesar once famously ignored the ominous warning “Beware the Ides of March,” and he did so at this own peril. Will Republican voters make this same mistake, while their Democrat counterparts are foaming at the mouth and chomping at the bit, to ride this rift of Republicans into victory? The long knives of “#NeverTrump” are sharpening to await “Caesar’s entry into the Senate,” and are all pointed at a man who has garnered millions of new Republican voters into the fold.

To all their credit in last night’s debate, each of the remaining front-runners, Ted Cruz, John Kasich, Marco Rubio, and Trump, himself, restated and re-avowed their pledge to support the eventual nominee of the Republican Party, regardless of who that might end up being. Despite their heated and palpable differences, they at least understand what Romney, Sununu, McCain, Graham, Sasse, Rove and many others will never understand- that unity is the recipe for success, that division devolves into defeat and that the will of the people is what matters most in this year of 2016.

-Drew Nickell, 4 March 2016

© 2016 by Drew Nickell, all rights reserved.

Super Truths-day- The Road to Un-deniability

In the wake of yesterday’s primary results, with both of their respective front-runners, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump having each won seven of the eleven states contested, some undeniable truths have come out for all the world to see.

For Democrats it became obvious that, despite his winning Colorado, Minnesota, Oklahoma and Vermont, there is no way that Bernie Sanders can win the nomination, unless Hillary Clinton is indicted for criminal actions regarding her use of a private e-mail server while Secretary of State, and influence peddling vis-a-vis the Clinton foundation. While the FBI and the Justice Department are deliberately “slow-walking” both of these criminal investigations, hoping that the release of their findings can be delayed until after the November election, President Barack Obama is never going to allow his Attorney General, Loretta Lynch, to proceed with any such indictment, even if he has to issue a full and unconditional presidential pardon on the morning his successor takes office, January 20, 2017. Hence, Hillary Rodham Clinton will be nominated by the Democrats in Philadelphia, this coming July.

For Republicans it has become obvious that, despite Ted Cruz winning Alaska, Oklahoma and Texas, and despite Marco Rubio winning Minnesota, there is no way that either of them can win the nomination, because neither one of them have indicated any willingness to suspend their respective campaigns, to benefit the other. As long as both of these candidates remain in the race, Donald Trump is virtually guaranteed a Republican nomination that is likely his, regardless, because there seems to be no path leading towards his defeat. Add this to John Kasich’s determination to remain in the race until the ides of March, in an effort to win his home state’s primary election, his presence further frustrates the chances of either Rubio or Cruz to ultimately prevail. While there has been a lot of talk about Republican Party insiders uniting behind a “NeverTrump” initiative, this effort will ultimately fail because even these unthinking and selfish party insiders realize that, to pursue this line of reasoning, will only result in the election of Hillary Clinton and the final destruction of the Republican Party. At the end of the day, these resolute and irascible egomaniacs will have to hold their noses and unite behind Trump, because doing otherwise will lead to their own demise.

For the time being, the nominal quests for the Democrat and Republican nominations will continue, if only for the fact that the financial interests of the mainstream media depend on this continuation, but make no mistake that the General Election of 2016 has already begun, between the Democrat nominee, Hillary Clinton, and the Republican nominee, Donald Trump. Hillary Clinton can ultimately win if the Republican Party commits “suicide” by failing to unite behind “the Donald.” That aside, Donald Trump will become the forty-fifth President of the United States.

-Drew Nickell, 2 March 2016

© 2016 by Drew Nickell, all rights reserved.