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Opinion

islamic state of iraq and syria

Members of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. (Photo: AP)

Iraq and most of the Middle East is now lost to Islamic extremism.

This is because the U.S. and the world have neglected to do what was necessary in a failed bid to avoid a major conflict on the scale of WWII. Both aggressive intervention and the subsequent appeasement have failed. Once the world wakes up to the fact that we are facing a threat on the order of Nazism, that now may be nuclear armed, it might be saved. Anti-semitic, hostile and extreme in their application of justice, Islamic fundamentalism represents a very great threat to American freedoms and its way of life.

If we don’t act quickly we once again face the peril of the genocide of the Jewish people and the specter of world domination. This is not about one or two presidents failures — it’s about a growing realization that we must organize the rest of the world against fundamentalism. If we don’t, we face another potential dark age. The longer we wait to provide leadership to the world, the more lives it will cost in the end. This is the lesson we learned with Nazism and it is clear we have forgotten that lesson.

Have we forgotten the promises we made at Nuremberg, too?

Justice Robert Jackson captured it well at Nuremberg in 1945. From his oratory:

..the privilege of opening the first trial in history for crimes against the peace of the world imposes a grave responsibility. The wrongs which we seek to condemn and punish have been so calculated, so malignant, and so devastating, that civilization cannot tolerate their being ignored, because it cannot survive their being repeated. That four great nations flushed with victory and stung with injury stay the hand of vengeance and voluntarily submit their captive enemies to the judgment of the law is one of the most significant tributes that Power has ever paid to Reason….

He goes on to say (and quoted in the movie ‘Judgment at Nuremberg’ by Spencer Tracy):

There are those in our own country too who today speak of the ‘protection of country,’ of ‘survival’. A decision must be made in the life of every nation at the very moment when the grasp of the enemy is at its throat. Then, it seems that the only way to survive is to use the means of the enemy, to rest survival upon what is expedient, to look the other way. Well, the answer to that is ‘survival as what’? A country isn’t a rock. It’s not an extension of one’s self. It’s what it stands for. It’s what it stands for when standing for something is the most difficult! Before the people of the world, let it now be noted that here, in our decision, this is what we stand for: Justice, truth, and the value of a single human being.

The United States made a promise to the world at Nuremberg, to not look the other way again. There are those who argue that we cannot be the world’s policemen. To them, I suggest that what we need to do is not the act of policemen, but that of a free nation defending the rights of a people to exist and to ensure its own freedoms in the long run.

Simply blaming Bush or Obama or Carter are failed ideologies. The question is, will the narcissistic and self-indulgent generation of today be able to muster up the moral fortitude to do what needs to be done? Will both the corrupt and rich see the danger soon enough?

Islamic extremism is a more lethal and brutal enemy than the Nazis were. At least the Nazis didn’t prey on their own people and behaved under rules of war. The fundamentalists do not. They kill and butcher with impunity, and the next war will be fought with weapons that are far more deadly.

Human rights atrocities will abound.

The Taliban, Al-Qaeda, and whatever other faction are all the same — they are Islamic fundamentalists that seek to destroy and dismember the peoples of a free world and the enlightenment that mankind has managed to achieve these past 500 years. We must recognize them as a common enemy and an enemy to every other nation on the planet.

The extremists have won the day for now, but it remains to be seen if they will win the war. What worries me most is that the people most capable in uniting the world and defying this anti-Semitic tyranny are the people least willing to fight it.
Heaven help our nation, for we seem unwilling to.

Thomas Purcell is host of the Liberty Never Sleeps podcast show and more of his work can be read at libertyneversleeps.com. 

Iraq and most of the Middle East

Politics

refugee crisis

(Photo: Breitbart News)

The refugee crisis on the southern border is evidently the classic government crisis and leviathan, and the National Association of Former Border Patrol Officers is calling it what it is.

Chairman Zack Taylor said “any elected member of the Executive or Legislative Branch of the U.S. Government that has not stood up and demanded that current Immigration Law be enforced vigorously since 1986 is fully and exclusively responsible for this latest invasion.”

“This is not a humanitarian crisis. It is a predictable, orchestrated and contrived assault on the compassionate side of Americans by her political leaders that knowingly puts minor Illegal Alien children at risk for purely political purposes.”

While many of these children have come with phone numbers of family members — both legal and illegal — in their pockets and waiting to be alerted by ICE of their arrival, many do not. America already cannot find homes for 400,000 native-born children who will now likely be forced to compete for families with these minors.

National Border Patrol Council Vice President Shawn Moran made an appearance on Fox News Channel’s “The Kelly File” to comment on the refugee crisis and respond to Taylor’s statement.

“This is a failure of policy. Right now we have an immigration system designed to fail and our agents the border patrol agents nationwide – they’re stuck in the middle,” Moran said. “They are doing the best they can with the resources they have. The border patrol is under siege in the Rio Grande Valley and yet, we have half our agents processing and we don’t know what is coming through.”

The U.S. government has kept this crisis a secret from the American people for over six months, and is now denying the media entry to the facilities and refugees. Moran confirmed reports that border patrol agents are no longer allowed to carry cell phones in the facilities, an effort to keep cell phone video footage from being leaked to the media.

“I’ve heard that and I’ve seen memos stating agents can’t have cell phones in the holding and detention facilities,” he said. “We think the American public needs to see what is out there.

When asked, the refugees are telling border patrol agents that local media and Catholic Church leaders told them that the U.S. government would give them a free pass if they came to the border. While illegal immigrants in the past ran from the U.S. Border Patrol, now, they are running into their arms. Guatemalan officials have confirmed to People’s Pundit Daily that they told the Obama administration six months ago that the influx was coming.

Officials also stated that we can expect at least 60,000 or so more refugees in the coming months.

“We can stop it by having some kind of consequence,” Moran added. “The word is out in Central America that this is your golden ticket to the United States — that immigration is not being enforced and the rule of law is not existing. We need to close the loophole or else it’s going to continue. You have to have consequences, or else it’s going to be exploited.”

The NAFBPO also said that even the corrupt cartels wouldn’t have organized or taken up this effort, an effort that was a direct result of the Obama administration’s refusal to adhere to the rule of law.

“Certainly, we are not gullible enough to believe that thousands of unaccompanied minor Central American children came to America without the encouragement, aid and assistance of the United States Government. Anyone that has taken two six to seven year old children to an amusement park can only imagine the problems associated with bringing thousands of unaccompanied children that age up through Mexico and into the United States. I doubt even the Cartels would undertake that chore at any price. No, it has to be heartless corrupt politicians and their minions lusting for more money and power,” the statement said.

“Will this heartless criminal exploitation of Central American infants and children finally awaken Americans to the ruse being foisted upon them by their government, the media and other interested parties, or has America lost her ability to stand up against the tyrants and do what is right rather than what is easy? Obviously, this administration thinks you are as corrupt as they are and will vote them back into office or these young children would not be streaming into America to tug at your hearts and empty your heads of reason.”

Taylor called on Americans to “to rise up and report in mass to the ballot box with fire in their hearts for the rule of law.”

The National Association of Former Border Patrol

Polls

bowe bergdahl

New reports and testimony show it is “incontrovertible” that Bowe Bergdahl had deserted his unit when he disappeared on June 30, 2009.

The American public was initially skeptical of the exchange, disapproving of the deal by a slim margin in the days following the breaking news. But, as we first anticipated, public sentiment has grown even more negative as more of the scandalous details of the exchange emerge.

The latest Rasmussen Reports survey found that 54 percent now disagree with the decision to release the “Taliban Five” from the Guantanamo Bay detention center at Gitmo in exchange for Bergdahl. That opposition is up 11 points from 43 percent just one a week ago, and just 29 percent now agree with Obama’s decision, an 11-point drop from 40 percent last week.

A new Washington Post-ABC News poll found 73 percent say that — if it is shown that Bergdahl did indeed desert — he should be charged with a military crime. Meanwhile, just 20 percent oppose charging Bowe Bergdahl and support for such charges is bipartisan. In the WaPo/ABC poll, 70 percent of Democrats and 82 percent of Republicans agreeing. Democrats, in the WaPo/ABC poll, said they supported the deal 62 to 30 percent before desertion is posed to the respondent. However, they support it by just a 48 to 43 percent margin after the pollster explains the details of his desertion.

The two polls represent the first time a majority of Americans disapprove of the swap.

The first WaPo/ABC News poll found what other pollsters found, including Pew and ABC News, which was a plurality of voters opposed to the exchange and a large amount undecided. Now, 51 percent disapprove of the deal, while just 39 percent approve.

The president’s job approval on foreign policy has fallen to an all-time low amid the controversy, which has followed a rash of never-ending foreign policy failures.

A recent USA Today/Pew Research poll released on June 9 found 43 percent of Americans say it was wrong for Obama to make the deal, compared with just 34 percent who say it was the right thing to do. The CBS News poll conducted around the same time showed 45 percent of Americans disapproved of the deal, while 37 percent approved.

Worth noting, despite the wavering support for the deal among Democrats, Rasmussen found a deeply concerning trend among Democrats. While 75 percent of Republicans and 60 percent of unaffiliated voters said they believe the administration should have consulted with congressional leaders before making the exchange, just 39 percent of Democrats agreed. Perhaps, it was the way Rasmussen asked the question, but either Democrats are unaware that President Obama broke the law requiring he give Congress 30-day notice or they simply don’t care.

Even Senator Diane Feinstein isn’t okay with that.

The American public was initially skeptical of

Economy

import export

(Photo: REUTERS)

U.S. import prices rose in May as the cost of petroleum increased, despite claims the imported inflation pressures are decreasing.

The Labor Department said on Thursday import prices ticked up 0.1 percent last month, while economists polled by Reuters had forecast import prices rising 0.2 percent. In the 12 months through May, prices increased 0.4 percent for the first time since July.

An abysmal global economy and weak domestic labor market is holding even greater inflation pressures at bay, giving the Federal Reserve an excuse to keep its easy fiat money monetary policy.

So, since the U.S. central bank slashed overnight interest rates to a record low of zero to 0.25 percent in December 2008, there has been little expectation that they will start raising them before the second half of 2015. Meanwhile, the investor class continues to build wealth on easy money and the saving, working class continues to get hammered and watch their purchasing and saving powers erode.

Last month, imported food prices fell 0.8 percent after declining by the same margin in April. Imported petroleum prices increased 1.1 percent after falling 1.2 percent in April.

Import prices excluding petroleum fell for a second straight month. The Labor Department report also showed export prices ticked up 0.1 percent in May after falling 1.0 percent the prior month. In the 12 months through May, export prices increased 0.5 percent, the largest gain since June last year.

US import and export prices rose slightly

Economy, Markets

retail sales

(Photo: REUTERS)

Wall Street is being weighed down today as traders digest weaker-than-expected U.S. retail sales data from the Commerce Department. They reported retail sales rose just 0.3 percent in May, missing the 0.6 percent increase Wall Street expected. Excluding the auto component, sales rose 0.1 percent, missing the 0.4 percent increase expected.

As of 10:01 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average is down 15.6 points, or 0.09 percent to 16829, while the S&P 500 fell 1.9 points, or 0.1 percent to 1942. The Nasdaq Composite shed 7.2 points, or 0.16 percent to 4325.

After enjoying a relatively positive week of gains, Wall Street slumped on Wednesday, with the worst of the losses coming from the Dow. Several large Blue Chips were in the red by mid-morning.

The Labor Department said prices for imported goods rose 0.1% in May, a shallower increase than the 0.2% Wall Street anticipated. Export prices rose by the same margin in May, matching economists’ expectations.

A separate report from Labor showed the number of Americans filing for first-time unemployment benefits rose last week to 317,000 from an upwardly revised 313,000 the week prior. Wall Street expected claims to fall to 310,000 from an initially reported 312,000.

Elsewhere, U.S. crude oil futures jumped $1.75, or 1.7%, to $106.15 a barrel. Wholesale New York Harbor gasoline rose 1.6% to $106.15 a barrel. Gold climbed $3.10, or 0.25%, to $1,264 a troy ounce.

Wall Street is being weighed down today

Economy

weekly jobless claims

Weekly jobless claims have unexpectedly increased by 4,000 to a seasonally adjusted 317,000 for the week ended June 7, the Labor Department said on Thursday.

The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits unexpectedly rose last week, marking another second quarter report missing the mark for the negative.

Further, last week’s claims were also revised to show 1,000 more applications received than previously reported. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast first-time applications for jobless aid slipping to 310,000 last week.

A Labor Department analyst said there were no special factors influencing the state level data, but the weak employment to population ratio should decrease the number of eligible Americans. Instead, the four-week moving average for new claims, which is widely considered a better measure of underlying labor market conditions as it irons out week-to-week volatility, still increased 4,750 to 315,250.

The economy added 217,000 jobs in May, which is the fourth straight month of job gains above 200,000. However, the U.S. economy must add at least 250,000 monthly if it hopes to simply keep pace with population increases. The unemployment rate held steady at a 5-1/2 year low of 6.3 percent, but that is simply due to the number of Americans leaving the workforce, quitting on the American dream.

The claims report showed the number of people still receiving benefits after an initial week of aid rose 11,000 to 2.61 million in the week ended May 31.

Weekly jobless claims have unexpectedly increased by

World

iraq

An image taken from a video uploaded on Sunday by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria claiming to show fighters in Tikrit, Iraq. (Photo Credit: ISIS via Agence France-Presse — Getty Images)

The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or ISIS, a militant Sunni group inspired by Al Qaeda have now stormed into northern Iraq. The group has vowed to create a caliphate spanning the Sunni-dominated sections of neighboring countries, boasting control of large regions in Syria.

The group took control of Saddam Hussein’s hometown of Tikrit on Wednesday, as Iraqi soldiers and security forces fled their posts. The ISIS’s spokesman, Abu Mohammed al-Adnani, threatened Thursday that Sunni ISIS fighters would capture the southern Iraqi Shiite cities of Karbala and Najaf, two locations of the holiest shrines for Shiite Muslims. He said Adnan Ismail Najm, the group’s top military commander, known also as Abu Abdul-Rahman al-Bilawi al-Anbari, was recently killed in battle.

Najm is no stranger to U.S. military forces. He fought side-by-side with the former leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq, Jordanian-born Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who was killed by U.S. troops back in 2006. But now, it looks as though the Obama administration has rendered those efforts in vain, as the fall of Baghdad grows more and more imminent. Last year PPD reported on the growing violence that dwarfed the levels seen during the Obama administration, as did others, but the president ignored the warnings.

Najm had been detained by U.S. forces and spent several years in prison during the president’s first term. However, he was set free two years ago by the Obama administration and has since prepared and commanded the operations that led to the group’s recent assault on northern and central Iraq.

The group has seized several large and strategic cities, including the country’s second-biggest, Mosul, and it controls a larger territory than many countries and rivals. If measuring territory, then the group has far surpassed Al Qaeda as the world’s most powerful and dangerous jihadist group.

The militants have forced their entry in to the Turkish Consulate in Mosul and are now holding 48 people captive, including diplomats, police, consulate employees and three children, according to an official in the office of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Mosul, the capital of Ninevah province, and the neighboring Sunni-dominated province of Anbar share a long and porous border with Syria, where the Islamic State is also active.

Mosul’s fall is a devastating defeat for embattled Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who urged the Iraqi Parliament to vote on a measure declaring a state of emergency. His Shiite-dominated political coalition came to power as a result of the April 30 parliamentary elections, which were the first elections held since the U.S. military withdrawal in 2011. But he failed to gain a majority, leaving him little choice but to join with political enemies to build a governing coalition.

Prime Minister al-Maliki said a “conspiracy” — insinuating the opposing political forces — led to the conditions that were ripe for the militants to capture Mosul, and warned that members of the security forces who abandoned their posts rather than fighting the ISIS should be punished.

“We are working to solve the situation,” al-Maliki said. “We are regrouping the armed forces that are in charge of clearing Ninevah from those terrorists.”

The capture of Mosul and the fall of Tikrit add to an earlier capture of the city of Fallujah and parts of Ramadi, which is the capital of western Anbar province. This latest massive failure of foreign policy marks a complete waste of blood and treasure, reversing hard-fought gains against insurgents in the years following the 2003 invasion by U.S.-led forces.

Background on the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, the Islamist group that appears to be in control of the second-largest city in Iraq.
Credit By Christian Roman on Publish Date June 10, 2014

The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria,

Politics

va scandal

FBI Director James Comey confirmed Wednesday that the bureau’s Phoenix branch has opened a criminal investigation of the Veterans Affairs Department, The announcement comes amid increasing pressure on President Obama and Capitol Hill to get the Justice Department to investigate systemic corruption that led to the death of an unknown number of veterans.

Comey confirmed the bureau’s involvement during a hearing before the House Judiciary Committee, and up until now federal prosecutors were simply helping in an inspector general investigation.

Internal audits found that thousands of military veterans died while suffering under long wait times for VA medical care. Then, VA officials covered up those wait times and falsified documents in order to make their internal numbers look better, and thus be eligible for bonuses.

After coming under pressure from the Republican-controlled House, which moved to pass various pieces of legislation, the Democratic-controlled Senate is now finally set to vote by Thursday on a bill that would make it easier for veterans who have dealt with delays to get their initial visits to receive VA-paid treatment from local doctors. Yet, while the bill resembles a House version that passed unanimously Tuesday, Republicans wanted veterans to have the option to receive private health care outside the VA. Democrats, unfortunately, ever the spokesman of government-centered solutions, refused to allow private visits outside the initial visit.

“Maybe we can show the United States of America that people can come together on a very, very important issue and do it in rapid fashion,” said Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont. However, the chairman of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee and self-described Democratic Socialist played a pivotal role in killing the Senate version of a bill passed in the House that would have given the VA Secretary the power to fire administrators for corruption and incompetence.

Richard Griffin, the VA’s acting inspector general, released a damning report that confirmed allegations of excessive waiting timse at VA medical facilities and corrupt scheduling practices. The report, which came only after at least 40 veterans died while awaiting care at a Phoenix hospital where employees kept a secret waiting list to cover up delays, found that 1,700 veterans seeking treatment at the Phoenix facility were at risk of being “forgotten or lost.”

VA Secretary Eric Shinseki resigned May 30, but the situation remains a continuing embarrassment for Obama, a reminder of government incompetence, and a political liability for embattled Democrats fighting for re-election in November.

The Senate bill would permit the VA to lease out 26 new health facilities in 17 different states and Puerto Rico, as well as spend $500 million to hire more doctors and nurses. The House bill does not specify costs, but claims are being made that the VA would save $400 million annually by dumping bonuses.

Though, on its face, both the revised House bill and new Senate bill would techincally free-up veterans facing long delays for appointments or living more than 40 miles from a VA facility to choose to get care from non-agency providers for the next two years, it’s not that simple. Some veterans already receive outside care, but the government’s process has made it worse than jumping through hoops, and veterans and their advocates say it is filled with delays.

The Senate bill would make easier to fire top VA officials, although with more employee safeguards than in an earlier, House-passed bill.

The FBI has confirmed that their Phoenix

Politics

dave brat defeats eric cantor

Dave Brat defeated Eric Cantor, the House majority leader and man widely believed to be next in line for the speakership. And he did so handily. Brat won 56 percent of the vote, compared with 44 percent for Cantor, with all precincts reporting.

But the post-election analysis from commentators, establishment politicians, and media pundits was striking. The how and why a little-known political newcomer defeated a House majority leader for the first time in the history of the American republic, was completely lost on them. Let’s begin with the commentator reaction from last nigh.

While I have an infinite amount of cable news commentators to choose from, “Campaign” Carl Cameron of Fox News took the cake for absurd analysis last night. After inaccurately framing the contest as an Establishment versus Tea Party battle, he went on to characterize the contest as a one-issue race focused on immigration and diminished the results by claiming voter turnout was low. I will get to immigration in a moment, because it ties all of this together, but let’s begin with voter turnout.

Voter turnout, which is always low in primaries compared to general elections, actually increased by a rather significant number from the last primary in the district. Roughly 18,000 more votes were cast in Tuesday’s primary than in 2012, when Cantor easily defeated a candidate who was actually backed by the Tea Party, Floyd Bayne. Further, a surge in activist support alone couldn’t have been the only cause for Cantor’s defeat, because he was rejected across the board in the district, underperforming in areas where activist groups were not as prevalent.

Even though Brat himself acknowledged his strong grassroots support, there wasn’t a single nationwide Tea Party group backing Dave Brat. Laura Ingraham, a conservative talk radio host who backed Brat early on in the contest, openly criticized Jenny Beth Martin, the co-founder and national coordinator for the Tea Party Patriots, for not even bothering to return Brat’s phone calls during the campaign. In fact, Judson Phillips of Tea Party Nation wrote an op-ed in the Washington Times back in March, in which she argued for widespread Tea Party support in the race.

It never came.

Yet, every segment on “The Kelly File” still began with “Tea Party-backed candidate” defeated Eric Cantor.

That’s simply not true. Dave Brat defeated Eric Cantor, and he did so running a shoestring, retail politic campaign giving 30-minute long stump speeches on actual policy prescriptions to save a nation everyone knows is heading in the wrong direction. On the PPD average, the negative spread on the number who say the country is headed in the wrong direction is consistently around -30. And while the country is headed off a fiscal and moral cliff, Eric Cantor was too busy catering to Wall Street and K Street to have time to listen to the concerns of the citizens living in the 7th Congressional District.

A darling of big Wall Street donors and K Street, Cantor had the support of 377 political action committees all vying for a slice of the taxpayer pie. He filled the pockets of every major corporate and special interest from nearly every sector of the American economy, including the airlines, telecom industries, the energy sector, food, and manufacturing groups. Cantor and his staff were known for their hubris and arrogance, an attitude that became evident when he attended his little spring break getaway in the Sunshine State, where he plotted to defeat conservatives rather than work with them. He neglected the interests of Main Street America and his real constituents, which brings me to immigration.

Nothing less than a refugee crisis is occurring right now on America’s southern border, with military installations being used to house women and children illegally entering the country. The Obama administration has literally been dumping thousands of unaccompanied minors and vulnerable women in various U.S. cities with no food and water, all as a part of an effort to deal with a problem they created by incentivizing more illegal immigration. Yet, the Republican leadership has refused to go head-to-head with the Democrats on this issue, because they would rather take money from the corrupt Chamber of Commerce.

Brat, an economics professor, effectively articulated the negative impact this influx will have on working Americans on Main Street. Fictitious and corrupt economic studies bought and paid-for by the Chamber of Commerce and printed in the Wall Street Journal cannot mitigate basic economic principles. An influx of labor will reduce wages and hurt the American people, who year-after-year never experience an increase in their quality of life. Unlike Cantor and others in the Beltway, Brat doesn’t believe the voters are too stupid to know that.

As we have previously examined here at PPD, Americans are not particularly supportive of the particulars of so-called immigration reform. Despite the media constantly citing polls that are about as credible as the polls that showed Cantor leading Brat 2 to 1, or the studies showing a massive influx of cheap labor is good for the economy, voters do not support the bill in its current form, which is amnesty (Uhum, Mr. Brit Hume).

When the issue is actually debated in an open and truthful discussion, amnesty is a political loser every time. And all one has to do is dissect the comments from Democrats responding to Cantor’s loss to know that is true of immigration and other political realities.

“Cantor’s defeat does not change the fundamental fact that Republicans will become a minority party if they don’t address our broken immigration system,” Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said in a statement.

Does anyone in the Republican Party, or all of America, believe that Sen. Schumer is concerned about the political survival of the Republican Party? If you do, then I have a green card and a subprime mortgage to sell you.

“Eric Cantor has long been the face of House Republicans’ extreme policies, debilitating dysfunction and manufactured crises. Tonight is a major victory for the tea party as they yet again pull the Republican Party further to the radical right,” said House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. “As far as the midterm elections are concerned, it’s a whole new ballgame.”

That’s just ridiculous. First, Virginia’s 7th Congressional District is heavily Republican, R+15 to be exact. Democrats have next to a zero percent chance to win that seat. Nationwide, what Democrats’ comments should tell everyone is that Democrats are petrified, and for good reason. It is precisely because this was not simply the result of voters on the “radical right” that they have reason to fear. The only “manufactured crisis” is the one on the border Democrats and President Obama created by not enforcing immigration law so that they may increase America’s permanent and dependent underclass for votes.

Second, Brat is a 49-year-old professor of economics at Randolph-Macon College, a small liberal arts school north of Richmond. He received his doctorate from American University, his master’s from Princeton Theological Seminary and his bachelor’s from Hope College. In addition to teaching, he has served on the state Joint Advisory Board of Economists and served as the president of the Virginia Association of Economists. This is hardly the resume of an unhinged “radical right” extremist, and the voters who resonated with his campaign message knew that, even in spite of the atrocious media coverage.

It is expected to hear the reaction from the Democratic Party, who find themselves in a tough spot this cycle. However, immigration was not the only issue in this campaign, and if the Republican Establishment insists on taking the position they outlined on Fox News last night, then they will be shocked by the outcomes of many more elections to come.

How and why Dave Brat defeated Eric

Politics

eric cantor

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor.

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor has been defeated handily by insurgent Dave Brat, an economics professor and first-time politician. While the liberal media has pumped the presses with stories headlining the death of the conservative movement, Cantor’s loss marks the second upset of a powerful incumbent politician in less than a month.

With nearly 100 percent of the precincts reporting, Cantor trailed Brat by roughly 55.5 to 44.5 percent.

The stunning upset — well, for liberal pundits — came in Virginia’s 7th District, which is a decently conservative area near Richmond. Even Fox News ran a last-minute piece in what appeared to be an effort to deter Brat’s supporters. “Despite the attacks, Cantor appears well positioned for reelection,” the column read.

Brat had little money, but now has a huge victory for the conservative movement, which supported Cantor just a few years ago. But immigration was at the forefront of this campaign, and Cantor had attempted to sell-out his base several times on amnesty. He attended several confirmed meetings, particularly one during spring break with other members of the House leadership, who plotted to ram an amnesty bill down the throats of the conservative base after their votes helped the party take the Senate.

However, nothing less than a refugee crisis is occurring at America’s southern border, but Republican leadership has refused to go head-to-head with the Democrats on this issue, despite having the majority of the American people on their side. Last week, we learned that the Obama administration has been dumping off women and minors at bus stops in various cities with nothing, after their immigration policy has caused a mass migration from people who have traveled over 1200 miles to the Texas border.

Now, for the first time in U.S. political history, the base has made a House majority leader regret it. The movement was simply detected too late by the Cantor camp, who felt a sense of false comfort reading flawed polls. A poll commissioned by The Daily Caller showed Cantor leading 52-40 percent. The poll of 583 primary voters was taken June 2, and had a margin of error of 4 percentage points.

Worth noting, the media has continuously painted this matchup as a Tea Party versus Establishment race, but Dave Brat won this race, not the Tea Party. I will have more on this tomorrow in a detailed column, but no national Tea Party presence inserted themselves in this race. The people of the 7th District voted for Dave Brat, not the Tea Party, because they believed him and agreed with him.

The most recent campaign finance reports showed Cantor spent more than $1 million in April and May, but still has more than $1.5 million in the bank. Brat, on the other hand, has raised just a bit more than $200,000 for his campaign. But endorsements from radio host Laura Ingraham and others helped Brat’s name recognition.

But it wasn’t simply a greater-than-usual activist turnout that defeated Eric Cantor, but he performed poorly in areas around the district he was expected to fair well in. His base abandoned him.

Meanwhile, in order to answer the charges, Cantor went negative on Brat. A mailer even accused Brat of being a “liberal professor” in the week leading up to the election. The American Chemistry Council, whose members include many blue chip companies, spent more than $300,000 on TV ads promoting Cantor. And the American College of Radiology political action committee paid nearly $23,000 for fliers touting Cantor as better qualified than Brat at “ending business-as-usual in Washington.”

Cantor was and will remain for a few more months the second-most powerful member of the U.S. House and was seen by some as a possible successor to the House speaker. Cantor was in the House of Representatives for twelve years. A former state legislator, Cantor was elected to Congress in 2000. He became majority leader in 2011.

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor has been

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