At least one swamp appears to be being drained. My latest over at The Geller Report:
“It’s a bloodbath at the State Department,” the New York Post hyperventilated last Friday: “Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is cleaning house at the State Department, according to a report.” In Donald Trump’s America, so much has happened so quickly to set the nation on a course decisively different from the one it was on during the regime of his disastrous socialist internationalist predecessor that this particular bit of good news was largely overlooked. But if a housecleaning at the State Department isn’t a cause for celebration, nothing is.
“Many of those let go were on the building’s seventh floor — top-floor bigs,” the Post tells us, and adds that this is “a symbolically important sign to the rest of the diplomatic corps that their new boss has different priorities than the last one.”
Pop the champagne!
And not only that, but “this week’s round of firings marks the second time State Department personnel have been cleared out since President Trump took office last month. Four top officials were cleared out of the building at the end of January.”
Break out the hats and hooters!
We can only hope that with the departure of these failed State Department officials, their failed policies will be swept out along with them. Chief among these is the almost universally held idea that poverty causes terrorism. The United States has wasted uncounted (literally, because a great deal of it was in untraceable bags full of cash) billions of dollars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Egypt, and other countries in the wrongheaded assumption that Muslims turn to jihad because they lack economic opportunities and education. American officials built schools and hospitals, thinking that they were winning over the hearts and minds of the locals.
Fifteen years, thousands of lives and hundreds of billions of dollars later, no significant number of hearts and minds have been won. This is partly because the premise is wrong. The New York Times reported in March that “not long after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001…Alan B. Krueger, the Princeton economist, tested the widespread assumption that poverty was a key factor in the making of a terrorist. Mr. Krueger’s analysis of economic figures, polls, and data on suicide bombers and hate groups found no link between economic distress and terrorism.”
CNS News noted in September 2013 that “according to a Rand Corporation report on counterterrorism, prepared for the Office of the Secretary of Defense in 2009, ‘Terrorists are not particularly impoverished, uneducated, or afflicted by mental disease. Demographically, their most important characteristic is normalcy (within their environment). Terrorist leaders actually tend to come from relatively privileged backgrounds.’ One of the authors of the RAND report, Darcy Noricks, also found that according to a number of academic studies, ‘Terrorists turn out to be more rather than less educated than the general population.’”
Yet the analysis that poverty causes terrorism has been applied and reapplied and reapplied again. The swamp is in dire need of draining, and in other ways as well. From 2011 on, it was official Obama administration policy to deny any connection between Islam and terrorism. This came as a result of an October 19, 2011 letter from Farhana Khera of Muslim Advocates to John Brennan, who was then the Assistant to the President on National Security for Homeland Security and Counter Terrorism, and later served in the Obama administration as head of the CIA. The letter was signed not just by Khera, but by the leaders of virtually all the significant Islamic groups in the United States: 57 Muslim, Arab, and South Asian organizations, many with ties to Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood, including the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), the Muslim American Society (MAS), the Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA), Islamic Relief USA; and the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC).
The letter denounced what it characterized as U.S. government agencies’ “use of biased, false and highly offensive training materials about Muslims and Islam.” Despite the factual accuracy of the material about which they were complaining, the Muslim groups demanded that the task force “purge all federal government training materials of biased materials”; “implement a mandatory re-training program for FBI agents, U.S. Army officers, and all federal, state and local law enforcement who have been subjected to biased training”; and more—to ensure that all that law enforcement officials would learn about Islam and jihad would be what the signatories wanted them to learn.
Numerous books and presentations that gave a perfectly accurate view of Islam and jihad were removed from coounterterror training. Today, even with Trump as President, this entrenched policy of the U.S. government remains, and ensures that all too many jihadists simply cannot be identified as risks, since the officials are bound as a matter of policy to ignore what in saner times would be taken as warning signs. Trump and Tillerson must reverse this. Trump has spoken often about the threat from “radical Islamic terrorism”; he must follow through and remove the prohibitions on allowing agents to study and understand the motivating ideology behind the jihad threat.
The swamp needs draining indeed. The “bloodbath” at the State Department is a good sign that the U.S. is on its way back on dry land.
Ah Clem says
Love the Steely Dan reference. 🙂
Bill says
The State Department has always had a Saudi tilt. I do not know that Tillerson will change that. He will get rid of the fluff and muddled thinkers and downright terrorist enablers that have dominated State for the last eight years.
DFD says
Let us hope that he, Trump, does indeed follow through. As Robert has suggested. But, as I said, and as I keep on saying, it requires severe and thorough purges.
Let me put it this way, whilst the top positions in Europe and the US are infiltrated, the middle and lower ranks can at best be described as infested. An glaring, and depressing, example from Germany, in the ministry for immigration (BAFM) there’s a women assigned to test the cases for Christian refugees – she insists on wearing her hijab to express freely her faith…
It’s at all levels. I am sure you have similar cases in the US, definitely in Canada.
I also believe that it is necessary for Trump to show strongest, personal support for his European friends and allies, namely Le Pen, Wilders, Storch & Petry, and some others. The infestation ranges from Hawaii to Berlin. They support each other, particularly through academic institutions and via NGOs. That also involves not just monies from Soros & Co., but also from the gulf states. **Purges!** It is to late for anything else.
And ‘something’ needs to be done about the so-called free press. Either we reestablish a free press, or bring the press under our control. Incidentally, the press was **never** really free. That is a myth. Consider this, the reporter may write freely what he/she wants, then it goes to the editor, who will act according to the wishes and instructions of the owner(s). Who needs to make a profit, and cannot upset the advertisers… In other words: Free press my foot!
It should be understood, and anticipated, that there will be objections because “we must maintain our values”. I have news for you: Most of our values are demolished, defunct or are being simply ignored.
Our values? First let us regain control, then we can reestablish these!
Oliver says
Regarding the press. Benjamin Franklin said it best well over 200 years ago. (not an exact quote)
The advertisements are usually the truest part of any newspaper.
KrazyKafir says
See ya later quisling dhimmi stooges.
Halal Bacon says
Kill the datsun
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6X9W3_erKk
last oil shortage…
mortimer says
Please HIRE ROBERT SPENCER at the STATE DEPARTMENT, MR. PRESIDENT !
Diane Harvey says
Get those materials back into the training programs.
Wellington says
Trump and those he has appointed to high positions are in the process of cleaning out, in fifth labor form and a la Hercules, the Augean stables.
Great good luck to them, to those like Rex Tillerson, because such stables are way, way overdue for a thorough cleansing.
Indubitably.
gee says
Not just the high positions, the rank and file have all been hired for a century now because and only because they are leftists.
Secretary Tillerson has a very long ways to go.
mousey says
stephen coughlin used to teach the gov’t people with the “Red Pill Brief”, until his info was banned. It’s in book form now, Catastrophic Failure. $30, almost 800 pages. It’s printed on demand, takes a couple days.
no_one says
Poverty does not cause terrorism. These guy an incompetent and so is the pope who keeps repeating the nonsense. When you start debating how to eat you last potato, half for lunch and half for dinner or the whole thing for lunch with no dinner you are poor. I have been there as a student and many other students in my native country were like this. None of my friends became a terrorist (unless you redefine it to equate kaffir and terrorist). We all graduated made it to the western world on scholarships (no one could pay for Grad school tuition) and many of my once very poor friends have good jobs now, some are professors. People never noticed us except for promotions at work. If you are smart enough to beat Chinese for a scholarship you are smart enough to get promoted at work. And we are an example that poverty does not create terror. There are many poor people who are not terrorists.
Joe McDonald says
Oh my, it’s not poverty that creates zealots, it’s “economic disparity”!!
binladen was so “economically disparate” from the rest of us that the cruel nature of his angst created the biggest islamic terror cultist of all time (except maybe for the pervert “prophet” himself!).
Wellington says
Agreed, RCH. And to put your eminently correct post in even shorter form, Islam is the Master of producing parasites. Here it has no superior, if even an equal.
Oliver says
When I was about 12 or 13, in Junior High School (now known as Middle School), I had a teacher who explained revolutions this way.:
The rich, the aristocrats, those with a superior education, start and lead s revolution.
The poor? They are too busy trying to make a living to buy food, to have time for a revolution.
True then, true in the 1700’s and 1800’s, true today. (Osama Ben Laden was a multi-millionaire; his family one of the wealthiest in the Middle East.
maghan says
Same for the Communist Revolution in Russia, 1917. Workers did not lead that Bolshevik revolution.
common sense says
Conversely, apropo for hive minded leftists, rich white people must ALL be supremacists with the goal of world domination and bent on victimizing Muslims and Blacks.
common sense says
I’m not 100% sure though I think Japan is somewhat like this…..only if.
Jeff says
Tillerson has spent his entire professional life at ExxonMobil sucking up to Saudi and other muzzie oil thugs. I am not optimistic about his efforts to “drain the swamp” at the State Department
Relic says
Good
frederick King says
I’m slow to notice many things, but read their book, listen to them rave, watch them treat non-believers like dirt. Listen to them. As muslim numbers increase, they become more violent and more prepared to impose their dark ages political system on all others. Holy mo himself tells them to strike every where they can. And they will continue doing so, it’s the path to heaven.
Charli Main says
Islamic terrorism is not born of poverty or lack of opportunities. Its born in mosques and madrassas where the tenets of Islam is indoctrinated into the minds of children as young as 4 years.
Charli Main says
” are indoctrinated” Oh for an edit button !!!!!
n tesdorf says
If Tillerson and Trump drain the Swamp efficiently enough, they will find a light at the bottom of it. Getting Robert Spencer involved again would help them light it.
patriotliz says
So…..aren’t we at war with ISLAM? Trump won’t dare poke that skunk. Also, Sebastian Gorka talks as if Jihad is a separate entity from Islam. I would LOVE to see a debate between Spencer and Gorka.
Islam is a relentless, warmongering, totalitarian supremacist ideology ever since it was invented by the pedophile prophet. It has ALWAYS been at war w/ Western Civilization. Nothing new under the sun.
I’m so tired of hearing that “not all Muslims are terrorists,” BUT all Muslims (who aren’t fearful of being put to death for apostasy) cling to the totalitarian supremacist ideology of Islam. Also, the so-called non-violent, “moderate” or “secular” Muslims really CAN NOT delegitimize their fellow jihadi terrorists (Soldiers of Allah) no matter how much taqiyya crap they sling when they say that terrorism is not Islam. There is a whole lot of evil committed by Muslims per Sharia law that is not directly labeled as “terrorism” per se. This is why we will NEVER win the war against Islamic totalitarian supremacism because we can’t crush the ideology like we did w/ Nazism, tried to do w/ Communism or, stigmatize it like we do w/ the KKK.
The problem is that the definition of “religion” per our Bill of Rights was not clarified. Islam should never have been given a protected status of a religion.
.
Alarmed Pig Farmer says
The key to draining the swamp isn’t getting rid of the political appointees, or even the highest level career bureaucrats. It’s the lifers who must be got rid of to take back control of the country. And to do that the OPM must be brushed aside. But to do that one must hold the judiciary in check, either by sure impeachment or nullification or court orders. The swamp may lose a foot in depth, but it’s area will only slow in growth.
old white gal says
“old white guy says
February 24, 2017 at 6:50 am
If you are a follower of Christ you would not be following any Pope.”
Obviously old white guy hasn’t consulted Christ about “following any Pope.” I dare you. Ask Him. If you tell me you don’t have to because of what your Bible says, then you don’t have a personal relationship with Jesus, you have a personal relationship with the Bible.
Joe McDonald says
I am a devout Chistian & Catholic.
I don’t like that pope Francis is denying & minimizing the REAL systemic persecution of Christians throughout the isLIEmic world (and now here in Canada with “TRUTHOPHOBIA” GAG laws!!).
Were Jesus here physically, I’d be very interested to hear his words for pope Francis….
For truthful, unbiased, objective info on pope Francis, see:
Edward Pentin Reports, Vaticanologist.
jewdog says
The poverty causes terrorism mantra is a direct result of the Marxist brainwashing so prevalent in our universities, but at least some academics have intellectual integrity as evidenced by the Princeton study.
While it’s nice to see the State Department swamp drained, the universities are a tougher nut to crack.
Joe McDonald says
Better even than stopping immigration (of those who don’t share our values)….
STOP FUNDING (subversion) of our “spewniversities” by oppressive regimes like saudi arabia who seek to spread their heresy & blasphemy by brainwashing our youth!
jenny brown nose at georgetown spewniversity is a classic case of a lost soul, a blatant homosexual yet he espouses the cult of the gaybashers…. it makes no sense!!
If he ever went to libya or somolia or saudi for some “isLIEmic immersion” he would be roof tossed the first day!!
no logic whatsoever….
Florida Jim says
You can bet anything Hillary was in charge of was infested with corruption, lying , passing the buck and praising Hillary. Sadly every single department , agency and employee under Obama is still doing all they can to disrupt Trump and bring down America.All of the protests against Trump are fomented by the Soros, and Obama Foundations with paid protestors m,any of whom did not vote because they hate America and their goal is to end America’s reign as The greatest country God ever made” they hate that.
Hillary would have had millions of fewer votes had illegals not been counted. Go to Project Veritas for details on voter fraud which is real and unending in Democratic precincts.The electoral system removes the large states from bullying smaller states and Democrats hate that they are bullies every moment of their sorry lives.
Ric says
Well said, Florida Jim, you have taken the words right out of my mouth. Excellent post.
Joe McDonald says
RX:
Repeat this 5x before retiring and call me in the morning:
PRESIDENT TRUMP,
PRESIDENT TRUMP,
PRESIDENT TRUMP,
PRESIDENT TRUMP,
PRESIDENT TRUMP,
watching PrivateRyan, or WW2 footage helps too, HyenaRoad (REAL Canadians spanking the taliban) is even better!!
as a person with True Canadian Values, living under the blight of CrimeMinister trudolt, the vapid & vacuous imbecile traitor, nothing will ease my suffering…. Unless of course PRESIDENT Trump comes up and annexes Canada (sorry General Brock, but I know that you and Sir John A. MacDonald et al are turning in your graves at the thought of the current stench in Ottawa, what did you all die for?).
Katnis says
+1 on that
Grace says
Agreed RCH! We’re seeing that firsthand in our inept, Muslim-loving Canadian government. Please, President Trump and Rex Tillerson, when you’re finished draining the swamp in the US, would you clean up ours too??
Kepha says
I’ll take issue with the idea that State is inhabited solely by Leftists. While it attracts many, some of them grow up, some of them may be a cause of a fair amount of damage, and some end up working alongside conservative colleagues.
I did run into a number of moral relativist pseudo-sophisticates. I recall a corridor conversation with a considerably more senior diplomat who spoke of his experience in Yemen. He noted that Jews there lived as clients of differing Muslim tribes, and “the system worked”. I could only observe (with veiled sarcasm) that it was re-assuring that there were places where minorities knew their place. His royal highness was not amused.
I was also told how “cool” the Thai were about offbeat sexuality, the speaker noting that Mom Rachawong Kukrit Pramoj was bisexual. Yet what went unsaid was that the newspaper editor who “outed” the former PM also went to jail for his troubles. “Cool”? You tell me.
Joe McDonald says
BAN the QUEERAN !!!
To get this done:
Reprint the passages, the satanic versus, advocating genocide & religious persecution (you know the many ones), only wherever it says kill/behead/slay/enslave/tax/rape/pillage/burn the “Jews, Christians, Infidels, Kufars, Polytheists, Unbelievers” etc, replace any of those with “muslim” or “isLIEmist”…. feed the hateful heresy right back to the “muslim supremacists” verbatim!!
Then distribute the new “Crusade-an” in front of mosques, isLIEmic centres at spewniversities, halls of government, police stations and to left wing kook’s homes.
Be sure to read from the edited book with a bullhorn, and have copies of the most offensive passages to hand out.
When these books are cited as hate speech and are slated to be destroyed, and they charge you, so too by default will the queeran be banned, and the swat teams will be required to siege the mosques, isLIEmic centres & cultist’s homes, and seize the offensive tomes for destruction.
Giant Bonfires like when they burn illegal drugs.
No, wait, the putrid toxic smoke would foul the heavens. Better to shred & compost them into swine feed, they can then be excreted and the swine excrement shipped to any oppressive, intolerant, uncivilized “caliphate”, mixed in with “halal” food stuffs.
As I said, FEED IT BACK TO THEM VERBATIM!!