The Ted Cruz Train Wreck

[El Guapo]

Cruz isn't a Mormon, though, is he? So is Beck just saying that the Mormons should save the nation by having their particular state vote for Cruz in this primary? Aren't the other majority non-Mormon states that vote for Cruz playing at least a large a role as the Mormons in this scenario?

Seems like kind of a weak fulfillment of the prophecy.

Hold up just a second here. Are you suggesting that Glenn Beck might not be a theological and intellectual giant?

As hard as it is to believe, it seems like that might be the case.

[Defiant]

"We need to empower law enforcement to patrol and secure Muslim neighborhoods before they become radicalized," the Republican presidential candidate said in a statement laying out how he would respond to terrorism.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/t ... ghborhoods

[Isgrimnur]

Policing neighborhoods will be worthless until we secure or destroy their Ordos Deviator missile launcers!

[El Guapo]

"We need to empower law enforcement to patrol and secure Muslim neighborhoods before they become radicalized," the Republican presidential candidate said in a statement laying out how he would respond to terrorism.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/t ... ghborhoods

Nothing prevents radicalization of a group like specifically targeting that group for intrusive policing actions, right?

[Rip]

"We need to empower law enforcement to patrol and secure Muslim neighborhoods before they become radicalized," the Republican presidential candidate said in a statement laying out how he would respond to terrorism.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/t ... ghborhoods

Nothing prevents radicalization of a group like specifically targeting that group for intrusive policing actions, right?

Probably no worse than not policing them.

[El Guapo]

"We need to empower law enforcement to patrol and secure Muslim neighborhoods before they become radicalized," the Republican presidential candidate said in a statement laying out how he would respond to terrorism.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/t ... ghborhoods

Nothing prevents radicalization of a group like specifically targeting that group for intrusive policing actions, right?

Probably no worse than not policing them.

Not that not policing them is different than not specifically targeting them for police action that other groups are not subject to.

[Rip]

"We need to empower law enforcement to patrol and secure Muslim neighborhoods before they become radicalized," the Republican presidential candidate said in a statement laying out how he would respond to terrorism.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/t ... ghborhoods

Nothing prevents radicalization of a group like specifically targeting that group for intrusive policing actions, right?

Probably no worse than not policing them.

Not that not policing them is different than not specifically targeting them for police action that other groups are not subject to.

Not that targeting an area or type of an area that has in fact produced lots of terrorists is targeting them for reasons of bigotry.

[El Guapo]

"We need to empower law enforcement to patrol and secure Muslim neighborhoods before they become radicalized," the Republican presidential candidate said in a statement laying out how he would respond to terrorism.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/t ... ghborhoods

Nothing prevents radicalization of a group like specifically targeting that group for intrusive policing actions, right?

Probably no worse than not policing them.

Not that not policing them is different than not specifically targeting them for police action that other groups are not subject to.

Not that targeting an area or type of an area that has in fact produced lots of terrorists is targeting them for reasons of bigotry.

American Muslim neighborhoods have not in fact produced "lots of terrorists". On top of that, Cruz's statement is based on the premise that American Muslim neighborhoods are not radicalized ("before they become radicalized"). Targeting a religious group for special action, even if it were effective in some way, is going to accelerate not prevent said radicalization.

[hepcat]

But Rip is in fact, unaware of what fact means.

[Rip]

But Muslim neighborhoods have. Given our direction ours will be before long.

[hepcat]

But Muslim neighborhoods have. Given our direction ours will be before long.

Give us some facts that support your ridiculous claim that Muslim neighborhoods in America are producing "lots of terrorists".

[Rip]

But Muslim neighborhoods have. Given our direction ours will be before long.

Give us some facts that support your ridiculous claim that Muslim neighborhoods in America are producing lots of terrorists.

Sorry somehow European didn't make it from my brain to my keyboard. American muslim neighborhoods are just a few years behind in the cycle. Patience padawan.

[hepcat]

So once again, instead of admitting you were talking out of your ass and have absolutely no facts to back up your absurd claims, you simply shrug your shoulders and tell everyone, "it might happen though!".

This is one of those cases where even I can't make excuses for you.

[ImLawBoy]

I have to say, I think Rip and Cruz have some good points here.

I think it makes a lot of sense to isolate and alienate an entire culture/religion and abandon American principles to adopt some militaristic practices of dubious effectiveness to combat some hypothetical problem that has shown no evidence of occurring here.

If you can't see that, I can't help you.

[PLW]

If you can't see that, I can't help you.

More like, "Just wait and see!"

[El Guapo]

ISIS Struggling To Narrow Down GOP Debate Sound Bites For New Recruitment Video

RUKBAN, SYRIA—Growing increasingly tired and frustrated as they pored through tens of hours of footage packed with usable material, members of the militant group ISIS informed reporters Friday that they’ve been struggling to narrow down which GOP debate sound bites to use in their new recruitment video. “We’ve spent days cutting down our video to feature only the most inflammatory anti-Muslim statements that will attract new soldiers of jihad, but it’s still over 40 minutes—no one’s gonna sit through something that long,” said ISIS spokesman Abu Mohammad al-Adnani, adding that his team had already pulled several long nights focused solely on finding the most egregious clips of Donald Trump dehumanizing Muslims before even beginning to catalogue statements from the rest of the GOP candidates. “After staring at the monitor for so long, you lose the ability to tell whether a clip of Ted Cruz effectively saying the U.S. is at war with Islam has the same level of impact as a clip of Donald Trump talking about entering every Muslim into a government database. It’s a real shame we’re going to leave so much great recruitment material on the cutting room floor, but we’re confident we’ll be able to use the extra footage to roll out a brand-new propaganda video every week for the foreseeable future.” Sources confirmed that ISIS members were later seen sighing, shaking their heads, and dejectedly muttering under their breaths upon learning that another GOP debate had just been held the previous night.

[Rip]

Even Piers Morgan can see the writing on the wall.

Trump told me countries must tighten their borders in light of these terror attacks, especially to anyone related to an ISIS fighter in Syria.
Is he so wrong?

He told me he wants law-abiding Muslims to root out the extremists in their midst, expressing his bafflement and anger that someone like Abdeslam was able to hide for so long in the very part of Brussels he had previously lived.
Is he so wrong?

He told me America must make it far harder for illegal immigrants to enter the U.S. and thinks European countries should follow suit.
Is he so wrong?

He told me he believes there are now areas of many major European cities which have become poisonous breeding grounds for radicalized Islamic terror.
Is he so wrong?

I didn’t feel I was talking to a lunatic, as many seem to view Trump.
I saw a guy, a non-politician unfettered by PC language restraints, who is genuinely furious at the devastation which ISIS is wreaking, and seriously concerned for the security of his fellow Americans and indeed, the citizens of Europe.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... Trump.html

[hepcat]

Piers F'ing Morgan! Well hell man, I didn't realize you were going to cite a cast member of America's Got Talent! That changes everything! Bring in Lorenzo Lamas and I will personally write you a letter of apology for questioning you.

[Rip]

Piers F'ing Morgan! Well hell man, I didn't realize you were going to cite a cast member of America's Got Talent! That changes everything! Bring in Lorenzo Lamas and I will personally write you a letter of apology for questioning you.

Hey, it shows even a lefty gun control nut can board the TrumpTrain™!

[hepcat]

Can you find out what the cast members of Saved By the Bell think about the issues in the Middle East while you're sourcing world affairs?

[El Guapo]

Can you find out what the cast members of Saved By the Bell think about the issues in the Middle East while you're sourcing world affairs?

I can tell you that Scott Baio has endorsed Trump.

He hasn't reached Saved By the Bell yet, but I think he's only one step away from locking up Dustin Diamond, then the rest of the dominoes should fall.

[hepcat]

I wish Don Knotts was still alive so Rip could quote him on NAFTA.

[Jaymann]

Even Piers Morgan can see the writing on the wall.

Trump told me countries must tighten their borders in light of these terror attacks, especially to anyone related to an ISIS fighter in Syria.
Is he so wrong?

He told me he wants law-abiding Muslims to root out the extremists in their midst, expressing his bafflement and anger that someone like Abdeslam was able to hide for so long in the very part of Brussels he had previously lived.
Is he so wrong?

He told me America must make it far harder for illegal immigrants to enter the U.S. and thinks European countries should follow suit.
Is he so wrong?

He told me he believes there are now areas of many major European cities which have become poisonous breeding grounds for radicalized Islamic terror.
Is he so wrong?

I didn’t feel I was talking to a lunatic, as many seem to view Trump.
I saw a guy, a non-politician unfettered by PC language restraints, who is genuinely furious at the devastation which ISIS is wreaking, and seriously concerned for the security of his fellow Americans and indeed, the citizens of Europe.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... Trump.html

[Defiant]

So you're saying there's some valid truth in what he said.

[Jaymann]

So you're saying there's some valid truth in what he said.

He correctly identified the chancellor of Germany.

[Max Peck]

Jeb endorses Ted because he's not Trump a principled conservative. That'll work...

Former Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush has endorsed Texas Senator Ted Cruz for president, calling him a "principled conservative". Mr Bush, former governor of Florida, dropped out of the race last month after poor showings in state contests. He said Mr Cruz has shown the ability to appeal to voters and win primary contests, like in Utah on Tuesday. Republicans must "overcome the divisiveness and vulgarity" Donald Trump has introduced, he said. If not, the party will certainly lose the White House to Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton, Mr Bush wrote in a Facebook post. "Republicans can win back the White House and put our nation on a path to security and prosperity if we support a nominee who can unite our party and articulate how conservative policies will help people rise up and reach their full potential," he wrote, and linked to Mr Cruz's website.

[El Guapo]

If nothing else, Cruz has shown an ability to unite the Republican party in its collective dislike of Ted Cruz.

[GreenGoo]

How freakin' terrible is Trump that he can force the GOP to unite behind Cruz, a universally reviled politician.

[RunningMn9]

How freakin' terrible is Drumpf that he can force the GOP to unite behind Cruz, a universally reviled politician.

Universally reviled human being.

[Holman]

No one has the slightest expectation that Cruz can win the general. The idea is that sacrificing the WH with Cruz is better than sacrificing the party with Trump.

"Lose with Cruz" could be the official campaign slogan.

[Zarathud]

If it puts a stake through the heart of not just Trump but also the ultra-conservative Tea Party, I support it.

[RunningMn9]

If it puts a stake through the heart of not just Drumpf but also the ultra-conservative Tea Party, I support it.

Yeah...except this is also how the "President Cruz" nightmare starts, and we won't be able to tell the difference until it's too late.

[Grifman]

If it puts a stake through the heart of not just Trump but also the ultra-conservative Tea Party, I support it.

Unfortunately, I don't think it will. They will just blame the Trump supporters stay at home and who won't vote for Cruz in the general. They'll say it was an outlier.

[Grifman]

But Muslim neighborhoods have. Given our direction ours will be before long.

Give us some facts that support your ridiculous claim that Muslim neighborhoods in America are producing lots of terrorists.

Sorry somehow European didn't make it from my brain to my keyboard. American muslim neighborhoods are just a few years behind in the cycle. Patience padawan.

Rip, actually, they're not, and you saying so just shows your ignorance about the American Muslim community:

http://www.theatlantic.com/internationa ... sis/475005

Still, Trump’s point about assimilation was important. If many European countries struggle to integrate their Muslim immigrants, Belgium does a particularly poor job. The unemployment rate for Belgians of North and sub-Saharan African descent is between 40 and 50 percent. Last year, the BBC reported that of Antwerp’s 2,600 police officers, only 22 are non-white. In 2011, Belgium became the first country in Europe to ban the veil nationwide.

So Trump’s diagnosis of the Brussels attack makes sense. Which is why the proposals that he and Ted Cruz offered in response to it are so idiotic. Soon after decrying Belgium’s lack of “assimilation,” Trump reiterated his call for temporarily banning Muslims from entering the United States. It’s hard to think of a proposal more likely to push America in Belgium’s direction. Today, American Muslims are far more integrated than Muslims in Europe. According to a 2011 Pew Research poll, only 20 percent of American Muslims surveyed would prefer to “be distinct” than to “adopt American customs.” Half say that many of their friends are non-Muslim. Almost 80 percent rate their community an “excellent” or “good” place to live.

Banning Muslim immigration would almost certainly undermine this. A 2014 study found that Muslim immigrants in states that experienced more anti-Muslim hate crimes were less likely to intermarry with non-Muslims and learn English. Trump’s demonization of Muslims has already fostered more of these anti-Muslim attacks, and were he to try to implement his ban on Muslim immigration, Islamophobia would likely spike even higher, undermining the very integration of American Muslims that helps keep America safe.

Ted Cruz’s proposed response to Brussels would have a similar effect. The day of the attacks, he called for police to “patrol and secure Muslim neighborhoods.” Asked what that meant, Cruz cited a program in New York that, according to The New York Times, allowed to the NYPD to designate “entire mosques as suspected ‘terrorism enterprises,’” and thus “collect the license plate numbers of every car in mosque parking lots, videotape worshipers coming and going, and record sermons using informants wearing hidden microphones.” What Cruz didn’t mention is that an NYPD official himself admitted the program didn’t yield a single terrorism investigation. What it did was alienate law-abiding Muslims. As a Newark-based FBI special agent noted, the program led “people [to] pull back cooperation” and thus impaired “our ability to have our finger on the pulse of what’s going on around the state.”

Compared to countries like Belgium, the degree of acceptance that American Muslims enjoy represents a form of American exceptionalism. Republican presidential candidates like to say Barack Obama doesn’t believe in American exceptionalism and instead wants to make America more like Europe. Yet it’s they who, by demonizing Muslims, would do just that.

[hepcat]

In Rip's defense, he has yet to check with either Ted Danson or Teri Hatcher on these issues.

[Archinerd]

I have to say, I think Rip and Cruz have some good points here.

I think it makes a lot of sense to isolate and alienate an entire culture/religion and abandon American principles to adopt some militaristic practices of dubious effectiveness to combat some hypothetical problem that has shown no evidence of occurring here.

If you can't see that, I can't help you.

I'm not sure how Cruz thinks we are going to afford a totalitarian police state on a 10% flat tax.
Genocide might be a cheaper option.

[Isgrimnur]

Only the rich get police protection. So much cheaper when you only have to protect enclaves and motorcades.

[Archinerd]

Only the rich get police protection. So much cheaper when you only have to protect enclaves and motorcades.

Got it. More like Necromunda than a Stalinist Soviet Union.

[Pyperkub]

Train Wreck indeed:

Presidential candidate Ted Cruz is trying to survive an explosive “dirt file” on the finger-wagging conservative senator!

And the new issue of The National ENQUIRER — on newsstands now — reveals how the reports say the staunch Republican is hiding FIVE different mistresses!

[Holman]

Wait for it: Trump is about to tweet that he's got ten huge mistresses who are way hotter than Ted's five boring, sad mistresses.