13 Hours in Benghazi is the "smoking gun"

13 Hours in Benghazi

I watched the Fox News special last night.  It focused on the experience of three contract security men who were on the ground in Benghazi the night of 9-11.  In the entire one hour special, there were only about 2 minutes of politics.  Unless you consider their opinion that had they been dispatched when they were ready to go the Ambassador and Chris Stevens could have been saved political, the men never commented on the politics of the situation.

My #1 take away from it was that there seemed to be no sense of urgency from anyone in a leadership position that was not actually in Benghazi.

#2 I expect that the Left Libs will be out in force this morning trying to discredit the men and justify the decisions or lack there of, of the Dope politicians and their hired yes men wannbe generals in the Pentagon to do nothing while Americans were rather slowly being killed.  Look for the Left libs their lapdog MSM stooges to close ranks and take careful aim at the character of the brave messengers in this story.

#3 is what an absolute farce the video explanation of the assault is. The attack was very well coordinated and had nothing to what-so-ever to do with a video or anything else other jihadis out to kill Americans on 9-11.

#4 is that if they just stick to the truth, the fall hearings into Benghazi now have more potential pitfalls for the Dopes than for the Republicans.  The lack of response, the video, the prolonged cluelessness of Admin officials including TES clinging to BS about spontaneous demonstration due to some video is going to be exposed as the BS it is.  Also while Admin officials claim there was no “stand down order” ever issued to any American force in position to affect a rescue at the mission, the men dispute that claim head on.  If handled correctly, the truth will come out.  The truth, as always, is not a friend of the Dope party.

#5 the skill and courage of the men in Benghazi is breathtaking.  Any Dope who takes on the character of these guys is likely to end up looking like a lying political hack.  That description includes about 99.9999% of the people in this administration, 99.9888% of the MSM, 99.97777% of Hollywood hipsters and about 98% of Dopes in general.  They have so much invested in TES they will be out force today looking to trash these guys.

A split in the Catholic Church?

Near the end of the Catholic profession of faith there’s the line, “I believe in one holy, Catholic and apostolic church.”  This article may indicate an impending split in the church.  We swapped Cardinal O’Conner for Dolan and Pope Benedict for Francis.  Those are worse trades than when Boston sent a player named Ruth to New York so the Red Sox owner could raise money for the Broadway flop No, no Nannette.  I believe the church is headed in the wrong direction.  The only comfort in any of this is Father David Mary's encouragement that in its 2,000 year history, "the Catholic clergy has not been able to destroy the church" so it may continue even through this.   

Along that line, I decided to send my letter on immigration along to Bishop Rhoades.  It was a tough decision.  After reading Father Pope’s letter I’m glad I did.  The finished product is below.

Dear Bishop Rhoades:

I have read and reread your column published in the August 10^th edition of Today’s Catholic.  I wasn’t going to reply because I’m a guy who happens to support the rule of law.  In today’s America, on this issue, to many that makes me hard-hearted and un-Christian.  Weird huh?  Simply for expecting the nation to have a secure southern border and an orderly process to enter the country, I’m labeled some kind of xenophobic racist.

Now that our president seems to be on the cusp of exercising some kind of extra constitutional powers that he has bequeathed upon himself with regard to the nation’s immigration policy, I’ve decided to vent on this issue.  Our president says, “If congress won’t act, I will,” but when congress does act by voting against the DREAM Act, the president ignores them and acts unilaterally.  How are the president’s actions that ignore the wishes of the elected representatives of the people while acting without their consent on a host of other issues any different from many of the corrupt tyrannical governments run by despots that the refugees flooding our southern border thought they were escaping?

We might start by asking ourselves how we arrived at this humanitarian crisis.  We have 60,000 children who have flooded our border since October.  Why?  Haven’t the poverty, violence and gang crime that have gripped the countries contributing to the flow of unaccompanied minors to our southern border existed for decades?  Why are they risking everything to come to America now?

One reason - the main reason in my opinion – is that our president, unconstrained by the congress, the constitution, or any law, natural or civil, simply announced to the world that the policy of prosecutorial discretion — which allows immigration agents to defer deportation of low-risk, non criminal undocumented immigrants — would be expanded to all DREAM eligible youth.  As a result, governments are running ads on radio telling their citizens to get their children to America before this arrangement ends.  In addition many are offering primers to their state sponsored “refugees” on how to access the American welfare system upon arrival.

With no real impediment what-so-ever to their crossing the U.S. southern border, they’ve flooded in.  It’s sort of an “if you don’t build it (a wall) they will come” situation.  The “they” in this case not only includes the needy children but also includes large numbers of drug trafficking gang bangers, human smugglers, probably some Islamic State terrorists, maybe a few ebola carriers etc.  Who knows who is coming in?

Also complicit in this humanitarian crisis, in my opinion, is the US Council of Catholic Bishops.  The USCCB has been an open and loud advocate for amnesty – not only for children but for the 11 million illegal aliens already in America.  Don’t think that the USCCB’s continuous calls for amnesty don’t affect people’s decision to risk entering the country illegally.  I agree.  We are facing a humanitarian crisis, but the sequence of events leading to the crisis are all of our own doing.

I think everyone would agree that America can easily absorb 60,000 children.  That said, no one in government seems to know what the final total will be or when the crisis will end.  Of course reuniting these children with their families ought to be the goal.  When that happens, will that start a chain migration process that will increase the total number migrants entering the country due to this crisis by a factor of five to ten times?  And what about the other children of the world who face similar circumstances but cannot simply hop a train and arrive at an open American southern border?  Do we have some kind of orderly process to address those children?  And not to be too crass, since the focus is on illegal migrant children, I assume that all American children have been fully served by USCCB.  After all the U-S in USCCB stands for…what?

I honestly believe that you and the USCCB don’t see this crisis in political terms.  There is one political party in this country that sees EVERYTHING as political.  For this party sports, the arts, music, TV, movies, every form of entertainment, and local, regional and global news story - EVERYTHING - is political.  While helping these children is an apolitical issue, the undeniable truth is that how this crisis is handled will have far-reaching, long-term political ramification for America.  As has been the case with most issues of my adult life, USCCB chooses to side with Nancy Pelosi, John Kerry Catholics in these political questions.

Governments fail for many reasons.  They become too big, corrupt and unresponsive to the people they are formed to serve then in their final days bureaucrats loot the treasury to line their own pockets, grow the government and buy votes and security.  We are nearly 18 trillion dollars in debt with no hope of this generation or the next ten paying that bill.  That doesn’t even include an estimated 90 trillion in unfunded liabilities.  The IRS, Bureau of Land Management, NSA, DoJ, EPA, VA and the rest of the government alphabet soup seem to be staffed wholly with overpaid corrupt bureaucrats more concerned with their own interests than serving the people these agencies were established serve.  America has 45 million people on food stamps, 11 million on disability, 47% of Americans receive some kind of government stipend and today’s labor force participation rate has not been seen since the 80s.  So it’s not surprising that the US Chamber of Commerce like the USCCB would be calling for an amnesty to provide a replacement work force for the one our government pays not to work.

The ash heap of history is littered with the carcasses of failed societies and governments that thought that they could bend natural, societal and economic law in order to maintain power or achieve equal outcomes among differing peoples.  Today a good portion of Americans, a majority it seems of their elected officials, the Chamber of Commerce and the USCCB seem to believe that simply because America has been successful in the past we are immune to the forces of these laws.  We are not. For good or for ill, those forces will have their way.

America has been a force for good for the last 200 plus years, but anything that cannot last forever won’t.  I think America is reaching that point.  Then what?  Who will do the good works for children world-wide that Americans have done when we are an entire nation that looks like Detroit or California or simply devolves into a corrupt, lawless, one-party state like the ones the children at our southern border are fleeing?  

The solution:

First, of course, the children at our border should be dealt with as compassionately as possible.  That does not include announcing to the world that they will be allowed to stay and invite extended members of their families to join them.  Even if the government does not intend to deport even the vilest of MS 13 drug smugglers entering the country illegally, the public position of the government and the USCCB should be that the overwhelming majority of these children will be reunited with their families in their country of origin.  We should stop all talk of any kind of general amnesty that only acts as a magnet to get into the country under the deadline for that amnesty.

Next, as a further deterrent, the government and the USCCB should advocate securing America’s southern border with high walls and wide gates.  How we deal with people who arrive unannounced at the wall or gates can be debated, but they should not be allowed to simply stroll into America undocumented with 200 pounds of cocaine.  The vast majority of America’s Catholic churches come with locks on the doors.  At some point during the day people are asked to leave the church and the doors are locked.   The position of the USCCB on America’s borders should be the same as for its churches.  When the USCCB advocates that US Catholic churches should remain open 24-7 allowing in anyone and everyone who wants to enter to take up residency in the pews, then their objection to controlled borders and controlled immigration will seem a bit less hypocritical.

Next, USCCB should advocate government policies and tax incentives that encourage families, children and work.  Currently the traditional nuclear family is under assault by the government, Hollywood and the mainstream media.  Babies are looked upon by many as a fashion accessory or a burden, (Recall, when advocating for abortion, the president said that he wouldn’t want his daughter to be “burdened with a baby?”).  The government pays people up to $46,000 a year in cash and “benefits” not to work.  If we do not change these trends the American culture will not have to worry about being taken over by outside forces it will simply die off through a self-inflicted attrition.  What follows will be anyone’s guess.

Last, instead of inviting hundreds of millions of suffering people around the world to America, the USCCB should be working to address their heart-breaking circumstances in their homelands.  The most effective deterrent to poverty in history has proven to be democratic government fueled by a regulated capitalist economy.  If the USCCB’s position is that capitalism concentrates too much wealth in to few hands, what’s their position on government ownership of and redistribution of assets that creates suffocating poverty every single time it is tried?

Bishop, if you have made it this far in this long letter, you truly are a great man.  I know that you are a wise and compassionate man who will, if not agree with the points contained herein, at least give them your consideration.

With great respect and admiration for you and love of our faith,