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 The Events of the Week -- Featuring: 
 
Trump and the ‘Madman Theory’
by Charles Krauthammer

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 Venezuela's Socialist Diet 
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Is this what Bernie Sanders and his ilk envision for America when they fervently promote pure socialism? Via Fox News: "In a new sign that Venezuela's financial crisis is morphing dangerously into a humanitarian one, a new nationwide survey shows that in the past year nearly 75 percent of the population lost an average of 19 pounds for lack of food. The extreme poor said they dropped even more weight than that. The 2016 Living Conditions Survey (Encovi, for its name in Spanish), conducted among 6,500 families, also found that as many as 32.5 percent eat only once or twice a day — the figure was 11.3 just a year ago. In all, 82 percent of the nation's households live in poverty, the study found."
          Way back in 1985, Sanders lectured, "Sometimes American journalists talk about how bad a country is because people are lining up for food. That's a good thing." By that logic, the millions upon millions of undernourished Venezuelans, some of whom now lie in mass graves because they can't find enough food, can somehow be construed as "a good thing." Sanders wrongly believes that his version of socialism would evolve differently. But the reality is that socialist "equality" for everyone means misery for all. And for those who think Sanders can somehow turn statism into a utopia, it's worth reflecting on what Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's said last year in support of Sanders: "He is an emerging candidate with a renovating and revolutionary message." Unlike America's leftists, Maduro understands the end result is always the same.
          Consider also this 2011 excerpt that appears on Sanders' senate.gov website: "These days, the American dream is more apt to be realized in South America, in places such as Ecuador, Venezuela and Argentina, where incomes are actually more equal today than they are in the land of Horatio Alger." That may be true. But as Venezuela demonstrates, they also share hunger equally. It's becoming increasingly obvious that nothing can change the minds of statist supporters — even widespread malnutrition that results in 20 lbs. of weight loss. Instead, as Sanders' might say, they're more apt to perceive it as an effective dieting regime.  ~The Patriot Post
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France: Deradicalization of Jihadists
a "Total Fiasco"
by Soeren Kern
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The Château de Pontourny "Center for Prevention, Integration
and Citizenship," in France
{gatestoneinstitute.org} ~ The French government's flagship program to deradicalize jihadists is a "total failure" and must be "completely reconceptualized," according to the initial conclusions of a parliamentary fact-finding commission on deradicalization... The preliminary report reveals that the government has nothing to show for the tens of millions of taxpayer euros it has spent over the past several years to combat Islamic radicalization in France, where 238 people have been killed in jihadist attacks since January 2015. The report implies that deradicalization, either in specialized centers or in prisons, does not work because most Islamic radicals do not want to be deradicalized. The report, "Deindoctrination, Derecruitment and Reintegration of Jihadists in France and Europe"  (Désendoctrinement, désembrigadement et réinsertion des djihadistes en France et en Europe) — the title avoids using the word "deradicalization" because it is considered by some to be politically incorrect — was presented to the Senate Committee on Constitutional and Legal Affairs on February 22...  https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/9982/france-deradicalization
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Tom Perez elected to chair DNC,
names defeated Keith Ellison as his deputy
by Eric Cortellessa
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{timesofisrael.com} ~ Former labor secretary Tom Perez was elected as the Democratic National Committee’s new chairman Saturday, narrowly defeating his chief rival, Minnesota Rep. Keith Ellison, after a contentious campaign... Perez immediately named Ellison his deputy. The four-month race drew controversy over the Minnesota legislator’s past record of associations with known anti-Semitic figures and critical stances on Israel. His alliance with much of the progressive wing of the party threatened to divide the Democrats as they seek to revitalize themselves after tough losses in the 2016 election. In his first act as DNC leader, Perez appointed Ellison his deputy chair, a move that sought to unify the party and prevent — or, at the least, alleviate — continued infighting. “I look forward to helping the Democratic Party in any way that I can,” Ellison said in a statement...  http://www.http://www.timesofisrael.com/tom-perez-elected-to-chair-dnc-defeats-keith-ellison/?utm_source=The+Times+of+Israel+Daily+Edition&utm_campaign=85d49be472-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2017_02_26&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_adb46cec92-85d49be472-54638825/tom-perez-elected-to-chair-dnc-defeats-keith-ellison/?utm_source=The+Times+of+Israel+Daily+Edition&utm_campaign=85d49be472-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2017_02_26&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_adb46cec92-85d49be472-54638825
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ICE confirms Bridgeport murder and
Amber Alert suspect was previously deported
by Katie Carolan
{fox61.com} ~ The Bridgeport man accused of killing his girlfriend and sparking an Amber Alert when he took off with their 6-year-old daughter, was previously deported, immigration officials said... "Oscar Obedio Hernandez, a citizen of El Salvador, was issued a Final Order of Removal by an immigration judge on Oct. 29, 2013," said spokesman Shawn Neudauer. "He was removed from the United States by ICE officers in Hartford, CT on Nov. 27, 2013. He has prior felony convictions from 2002 for assault and threatening, as well as several misdemeanor convictions. ICE has placed an immigration detainer with the Bridgeport (Connecticut) Police Department.” Gov. Dan Malloy's spokeswoman, Kelly Donnelly, issued a statement today regarding the incident between Hernandez and the ICE...
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liar-nObama, liar-Clinton, Soros Thugs
Shout Down Prayer, Pledge In Senator’s Town Hall
by Rick Wells
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{rickwells.us} ~ It’s admirable that in spite of the threats by George Soros and Hussein liar-nObama’s partnership in anti-American agitation and thuggery, OFA, that they would be swamping town halls with their trained national army of paid disrupters... Sen Bill Cassidy (R-LA) attempted to meet with and gain input from his constituents anyway. It’s unfortunate that, due to a failure on the part of the fake news media to properly identify the problem and assign the blame where it belongs, with liar-nObama and Soros, this is happening. The former pretend ‘president,’ his financier and now the criminal candidate who tried to become the second consecutive person to steal the presidency liar-Hillary Clinton, have acknowledged with pride that they are behind the disruptions, and they’re just getting started. Barring action by law enforcement to forcibly remove their thugs, these things are only going to continue and get progressively worse. It’s just like when the same criminal Democrats, liar-nObama, liar-Clinton and Soros sent their thugs into the Trump rallies to do exactly the same thing...
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At CPAC, Panelists Discuss Role Vetting,
Assimilation Play in National Security
by Fred Lucas
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{dailysignal.com} ~ Extreme vetting and a border wall are the key issues facing the country under President Donald Trump’s administration—but aren’t the silver bullet solution to immigration, experts and members of Congress said Saturday... “Extreme vetting is something that applies to the refugee side of this debate,” said Rep. Ken Buck, R-Colo., during a panel at the Conservative Political Action Conference, or CPAC. The forum was titled “If Heaven Has a Gate, a Wall, and Extreme Vetting, Why Can’t America?” and covered a number of illegal immigration issues, from the national security impact to the economy...
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Trump and the ‘Madman Theory’
by Charles Krauthammer
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{freedomsback.com} ~ At the heart of President Trump’s foreign policy team lies a glaring contradiction. On the one hand, it is composed of men of experience, judgment and traditionalism. Meaning, they are all very much within the parameters of mainstream American internationalism as practiced since 1945. Practically every member of the team — the heads of State, Homeland Security, the CIA, and most especially Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and national security adviser H.R. McMaster — could fit in a Cabinet put together by, say, liar-Hillary Clinton.

The commander in chief, on the other hand, is quite the opposite — inexperienced, untraditional, unbounded. His pronouncements on everything from the one-China policy to the two-state Arab-Israeli solution, from NATO obsolescence to the ravages of free trade, continue to confound and, as we say today, disrupt.

The obvious question is: Can this arrangement possibly work? The answer thus far, surprisingly, is: perhaps.

The sample size is tiny but take, for example, the German excursion. Trump dispatched his grown-ups — Vice President Pence, Defense Secretary Mattis, Secretary of Homeland Security John Kelly and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson — to various international confabs in Germany to reassure allies with the usual pieties about America’s commitment to European security. They did drop a few hints to Trump’s loud complaints about allied parasitism, in particular shirking their share of the defense burden.

Within days, Germany announced a 20,000-troop expansion of its military. Smaller European countries are likely to take note of the new setup. It’s classic good-cop, bad-cop: The secretaries represent foreign policy continuity but their boss preaches America First. Message: Shape up.

John Hannah of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies suggests that the push-pull effect might work on foes as well as friends. On Saturday, China announced a cutoff of all coal imports from North Korea for the rest of 2017. Constituting more than one-third of all North Korean exports, this is a major blow to its economy.

True, part of the reason could be Chinese ire at the brazen assassination of Kim Jong Un’s half brother, who had been under Chinese protection. Nonetheless, the boycott was declared just days after a provocative North Korean missile launch — and shortly into the term of a new American president who has shown that he can be erratic and quite disdainful of Chinese sensibilities.

His wavering on the one-China policy took Beijing by surprise. Trump also strongly denounced Chinese expansion in the South China Sea and conducted an ostentatious love-in with Japan’s prime minister, something guaranteed to rankle the Chinese. Beijing’s boycott of Pyongyang is many things, among them a nod to Washington.

This suggests that the peculiar and discordant makeup of the U.S. national security team — traditionalist lieutenants, disruptive boss — might reproduce the old Nixonian “madman theory.” That’s when adversaries tread carefully because they suspect the U.S. president of being unpredictable, occasionally reckless and potentially crazy dangerous. Henry Kissinger, with Nixon’s collaboration, tried more than once to exploit this perception to pressure adversaries.

Trump’s people have already shown a delicate touch in dealing with his bouts of loopiness. Trump has gone on for years about how we should have taken Iraq’s oil for ourselves. Sunday in Baghdad, Mattis wryly backed off, telling his hosts that “All of us in America have generally paid for our gas and oil all along, and I am sure we will continue to do so in the future.”

Yet sometimes an off-center comment can have its uses. Take Trump’s casual dismissal of a U.S. commitment to a two-state solution in the Middle East. The next day, U.S. policy was brought back in line by his own U.N. ambassador. But this diversion might prove salutary. It’s a message to the Palestinians that their decades of rejectionism may not continue to pay off with an inexorable march toward statehood — that there may actually be a price to pay for making no concessions and simply waiting for the U.S. to deliver them a Palestinian state.

To be sure, a two-track, two-policy, two-reality foreign policy is risky, unsettling and has the potential to go totally off the rails. This is not how you would draw it up in advance. It’s unstable and confusing. But the experience of the first month suggests that, with prudence and luck, it can yield the occasional benefit — that the combination of radical rhetoric and conventional policy may induce better behavior both in friend and foe.

Alas, there is also a worst-case scenario. It needs no elaboration.
 
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