{"id":1412,"date":"2015-12-20T20:40:24","date_gmt":"2015-12-21T01:40:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/?p=1412"},"modified":"2015-12-20T20:40:24","modified_gmt":"2015-12-21T01:40:24","slug":"republican-terrorism-freak-out-debate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/2015\/12\/republican-terrorism-freak-out-debate.html","title":{"rendered":"Republican Terrorism Freak-Out Debate"},"content":{"rendered":"

Myron Pauli has guest blogged for At the Intersection of Faith and Culture in the past.\u00a0 He always manages to provide commentary that is at once scathing, entertaining, and–most importantly–insightful.\u00a0 In this short essay, Dr. Pauli points out the combination of incompetence and hypocrisy that was on display during the most recent GOP presidential debate.\u00a0 This is well worth the read.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ninety-nine percent of \u201cNEWS\u201d in America consists of two things: Kardashians and the bi-monthly \u201cmass shooting\u201d where 5 \u2013 25 Americans are killed by: unemployed white rednecks, angry black dudes, Korean students, horny teenagers, or Jihadists. While the number of people killed in these events (about 300 a year) are less than 10% of the Americans who die while drowning, our Messianic politicians frantically insist that we must \u201cdo something\u201d about this massive plague. We must ban<\/em> guns; Ritalin; the 4th<\/sup> Amendment; Hispanic immigrants; proms; Moslem immigrants; Confederate flags; deodorant, etc.<\/p>\n

Given a choice between \u201cdoing something stupid\u201d and \u201cdoing nothing\u201d, most politicians and voters will opt for the former, something along the lines of another \u201cPatriot Act\u201d. Where is Gerald Ford when you need him?<\/p>\n

So after the traditional TSA nudie-scan, grope, and mass spectrometer scan at Denver Airport on my way to another aircraft survivability meeting, I settled in my hotel room to watch a rerun of CNN\u2019s \u201cRepublican debate\u201d on how to survive San Bernardino which almost \u201cdestroyed\u201d America (if you listen to the rantings). The politicians were angry over the fact that the immigrant Tsardaevs were granted asylum into America (under Jeb Bush\u2019s brother\u2019s administration) despite warnings (by Big Bad Vlad Putin) that they were Chechen terrorists.<\/p>\n

They were angry about Major Malik Nidal Hasan, the mass killer at Fort Hood who had been publicly ranting about Jihad for year via e-mails from him to Anwar al-Awlaki. These emails, which were sent during the Bush and Obama years and which were read<\/em> by the FBI, the Defense Criminal Investigative Service, the Army, and the Joint Terrorist Task Force, did not result even in Hasan\u2019s ID badge being confiscated!<\/p>\n

The shoe-bomber happened under Bush and the underwear bomber (who traveled from Nigeria to the US via Yemen and whose father warned the CIA he was a terrorist) was allowed to fly to the US under both the Bush and Obama administrations. Perhaps under Clinton or Cruz, we will get the necktie bomber. At least Gerald Ford would have only had us wear a KAT (Kill All Terrorists) button to go with the WIN (Whip Inflation Now) button instead of eviscerating the Bill of Rights.<\/p>\n

How to respond? Moderates like Kasich want to punch Putin in the nose while Christie wants to shoot down Russian planes. World War V \u2013 oh goodie!! Moderate Rubio attacks Cruz for being \u201csoft on terrorism\u201d because of the latter\u2019s stance against monitoring billions of e-mails and calls every year. Carly \u201cHigh-Tech\u201d Fiorina, who got $100,000,000 for wrecking Hewitt Packard, calls for an \u201calgorithm\u201d from the \u201cHigh-Tech\u201d community to spot terrorism!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

So let\u2019s \u201cread\u201d this \u201cdecrypted and translated\u201d e-mail from \u201cAbdul\u201d to \u201cIshmael\u201d:<\/p>\n

\u201cMy mother wants me to wear this hideous yellow sweater\u2026 I ate falafel, ful medames, and lamb shisk-kebab at Suleiman\u2019s caf\u00e9 last Wednesday \u2026 My cousin Fatima is marrying Yussef, who I know from 8th<\/sup> grade, in Hoboken on July 15th<\/sup> at 8 pm\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u2013 as opposed to \u2013<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cMy grandmother insists I wear this grotesque blue vest\u2026 I enjoyed beef shish-kebab, lentils, and tehina at Achmed\u2019s bistro last Tuesday\u2026 My niece Jazmine is marrying Farouk, whom I went to school with in 6th<\/sup> grade, in Dearborn on June 11th<\/sup> at 4 pm\u201d. <\/em><\/p>\n

Do you think that the people who can\u2019t spot Hasan and Tsardaev and Underpantsabomber can understand how pre-arranged terrorist instructions can be translated by perfectly innocuous e-mails?? Carly, you are a complete fraud.<\/p>\n

Naturally, I trust President Hillary Clinton with reading my e-mails! She would never, ever <\/em>use the emails of her political enemies against them! Just as the government under such astute presidents as Lincoln, Wilson, and FDR could apprehend such \u201cgrave\u201d threats as Clement Vallandigham, Eugene Debs, and Fred Korematsu, respectively, there\u2019s no doubt that Hillary Clinton or Marco Rubio will be able to spot the terrorists with the Fiorina algorithm!<\/p>\n

Perhaps Fiorina\u2019s \u201calgorithm\u201d can connect Moslem sounding names with lethal things like \u201cgunfire\u201d or poisonous chemicals like arsenic. Or maybe it will be able to determine that at least two Middle Eastern men, one Turkish-born, the other Iranian-born, have been working at different times and places on projects with yours truly! The genius of the Fiorina Algorithm would reveal none other than Myron Pauli as the common denominator here and, hence, the terrorist master mind!<\/p>\n

In between Trump bloviating insults, Carson smiling inanely, and the \u201cmoderates\u201d starting World Wars with Russia, this \u201cterrorist\u201d fell asleep.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Myron Pauli has guest blogged for At the Intersection of Faith and Culture in the past.\u00a0 He always manages to provide commentary that is at once scathing, entertaining, and–most importantly–insightful.\u00a0 In this short essay, Dr. Pauli points out the combination of incompetence and hypocrisy that was on display during the most recent GOP presidential debate.\u00a0…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":399,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1412","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nRepublican Terrorism Freak-Out Debate<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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