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Mark Caserta: Iran nuclear deal could yield disaster

29 Jan

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Mark Caserta: Free State Patriot Editor

1.29.16

Americans believe terrorism is our No. 1 problem, according to a recent Gallup Poll.

But could the U.S. actually be helping finance terrorist activity? Well, according to our nation’s top diplomat, it’s very likely.

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As reported by multiple news agencies, Secretary of State John Kerry admitted last week that a portion of the billions of dollars of U.S. sanctions relief from the Obama administration’s controversial nuclear deal with Iran will likely support terrorist groups. During an interview just outside the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Kerry confirmed the stunning information.

 

“I think that some of it will end up in the hands of the IRGC (Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps) or other entities, some of which are labeled terrorists,” he acknowledged to CNBC. “You know, to some degree, I’m not going to sit here and tell you that every component of that can be prevented.”

 

These “labeled” terrorists could acquire a portion of roughly $100 billion in sanctions relief, according to the U.S. Treasury Department. The money, derived mainly from Iranian oil sales, has reportedly been tied up in international banks as a result of the sanctions. But now, these funds are being freed into the hands of people who really don’t care much for America.

 

So, let me see if I understand this scenario. Not only is the United States paving the way for a nuclear prolific Iran and a potential arms race in the Middle East, we’re actually going to help finance the terrorists who will eventually seek to use it toward our destruction?

 

Frankly, the elements of this agreement reach new levels of lunacy. Appeasement and compromise have always been deemed acts of weakness by our enemies and come as no surprise from this administration. But any proposition that actually helps fund our nation’s greatest fear seems to me to be nothing short of treason.

 

Iran has been recognized by the U.S. State Department as a state sponsor of terror for years and has never given America any reason to trust it – in fact, quite the opposite.

Iran has perpetually lied about its nuclear aspirations, claiming it was strictly for peaceful purposes.

 

A December 2015 report issued by the International Atomic Energy Agency indicated that Iran “had carried out activities relevant to the development of a nuclear explosive device” and that some activities may still be ongoing.

 

And Iran remains a sworn enemy of the U.S. and Israel. In March 2015, amid negotiations with the United States and its allies, a speech by Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei was interrupted by the chant “Death to America.” He reportedly smiled and responded, “Of course yes, death to America.”

 

Americans simply cannot feel safe with an administration that consistently proves it’s willing to gamble with lives for no other reason than to adorn this president’s legacy.

 

We need leadership in 2016 that will put an end to this deal and other “fruits” of this failed liberal experiment.

 

Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran just might be pivotal to disaster for the U.S.

 

Mark Caserta is a conservative blogger, a Cabell County resident and a regular contributor to The Herald-Dispatch editorial page.

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Mark Caserta: Republicans must support their nominee

22 Jan

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Mark Caserta: Free State Patriot Editor

1.22.16

As I watch members of the GOP cannibalize their own day after day, I can’t help but wonder if we might be witnessing the total collapse of the Republican Party as we’ve come to know it.

Following President Obama’s final State of the Union address last week, the Republican response was given by South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley. Now, typically, the response is used to offer the GOP perspective of the state of the union, often in stark contrast with the president’s. But this address was very different.

 

A significant portion of the governor’s speech took aim at Republican leaders and their rightful ownership of the dysfunction of Washington.

“We as Republicans need to own that truth,” she added. “We need to recognize our contributions to the erosion of the public trust in America’s leadership. We need to accept that we’ve played a role in how and why our government is broken.”

 

Well spoken, empress of the obvious. While confession is good for the soul, only substantive solutions will change the ebb and tide of this political storm.

 

But then, and possibly for the first time ever in a state of the union response, Haley and the GOP establishment she represented proceeded to challenge the Republican presidential front-runner, Donald Trump, and his hardcore stance on immigration.

 

“Immigrants have been coming to our shores for generations to live the dream that is America. They wanted better for their children than for themselves,” she said. While the immigration system must be repaired, she said, “During anxious times, it can be tempting to follow the siren call of the angriest voices. We must resist that temptation. No one who is willing to work hard, abide by our laws, and love our traditions should ever feel unwelcome in this country.”

 

While I’m no fan of “the Donald,” how can the GOP be so short-sighted! Heaven forbid that Trump would indeed win the Republican nomination, but stranger things have happened. What if he’s successful at carrying this torch to his final destination? What if Americans really feel they’ve exhausted all other options? Where will Republicans be then?

It’s very telling that not only are half of Americans willing to give a neurotic liar and a professed socialist a shot at the presidency in order to perpetuate their progressive, leftist regime, a significant portion of the right are considering a paradigm shift in their conservative mentality simply to get our nation back on track. Hence, the Trump factor.

 

The one condition most Americans can surely agree upon is the state of our nation is in no way being improved by the listless group of elected officials who have lied and bamboozled their way into office only to sell their constituencies down the river. And the GOP is falling exceedingly short in presenting a unified front with real solutions to our nation’s woes.

 

And if Republicans refuse to support their party’s nominee in 2016, it may indeed be the end of the Grand Ole’ Party in the U.S.

 

Mark Caserta is a conservative blogger, a Cabell County resident and a regular contributor to The Herald-Dispatch editorial page.

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Mark Caserta: Our nation’s woes result from poor choices

17 Jan

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Mark Caserta: Free State Patriot Editor

  • Jan 15, 2016

Have you ever noticed how liberals respond when a Christian suggests the precepts of God’s Word as a solution to our nation’s woes?

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In fact, commentary regarding Christianity and its value in our society seems to draw the most vehement confutation from progressives. Following any such “Godly” expression, one will surely be poorly lectured on the “separation of church and state” and the edicts of the First Amendment.

 

I never cease to be amazed at how liberals are so “proficient” at ensuring “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion” but so inept at protecting “the free exercise thereof ”

It isn’t difficult to correlate the plight of our nation with the decline of our acceptance of God’s will for our country. Deuteronomy 11:26-28 clearly makes the connection.

“See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse – the blessing if you obey the commands of the Lord your God that I am giving you today; the curse if you disobey the commands of the Lord your God”

 

Each of us makes choices, directly or indirectly, based upon the values and principles we’ve adopted through our life’s learnings. But as a nation, we’ve made some devastatingly poor choices, many within our own judicial system. And as a nation, we’ve paid the price.

 

The decision by the Supreme Court in 1962 that allowing prayer in public schools amounted to government promotion of religion was a huge mistake and gave progressives the foothold they now leverage in attempting to remove any semblance of God from a public venue. It also paved the way for the 1963 decision to remove Bible reading and make the recitation of the Lord’s Prayer unconstitutional.

 

Abe Lincoln said, “The philosophy of the school room in one generation will be the philosophy of government in the next.” We are now reaping from those progressive seeds of the ’60s.

 

A decade later the court gave us the landmark decision in Roe v. Wade that protected a woman’s decision to have an abortion. The decision was meant to be balanced between protecting the women’s health and protecting the potentiality of human life and viability outside the womb.

 

Half a century later, it’s potentially easier to take the life of an innocent baby than it is to purchase cold medicine. And way too often, it’s not to protect the health of the mother – it’s simply a matter of “inconvenience.”

Our nation didn’t go astray overnight. Our country has been progressively desensitized to inhumanity. The clarity between good and evil has become blurred and it’s driven society to choose the temporal pleasures of life.

 

The Bible says, “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”

 

Have we come too far to ever comply with this condition for restoration? I’m not optimistic.

 

But we must begin at some point. Now is a good time.

 

Mark Caserta is a conservative blogger, a Cabell County resident and a regular contributor to The Herald-Dispatch editorial page.

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Mark Caserta: Obama plans surge in executive orders

14 Jan

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Mark Caserta: Free State Patriot Editor

  • Jan 8, 2016

President Obama has but one year to complete his fundamental transformation of America into a humble, apologetic nation satiated with socialist and progressive tendencies. And unfortunately, whether by design or fortuity, Congress has become so dysfunctional, he just may be able to complete his mission via executive order.

In what I expect to be a rampant executive surge by Obama that frankly could border on the edge of dictatorship, we could see our lives impacted by major policy decisions made without any congressional or judicial input.

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In a New Year’s Day address, the president shared his 2016 resolution was to complete “unfinished business,” which included addressing gun violence, as reported by multiple news agencies. In his message Obama paraded his frustration over a feckless Congress and its inaction and said he planned to meet with Attorney General Loretta Lynch “to discuss ways of reducing gun violence unilaterally through measures that do not require congressional approval.”

Allow me to re-ask liberals a simple question I posed in a previous column on gun control. What stricter gun law would have prevented any of the recent mass shootings?

Interestingly, Glen Kessler, a Washington Post fact checker, recently decided to fact check a statement made by Sen. Marco Rubio during a “CBS This Morning” interview in which he said, “None of the major shootings that have occurred in this country over the last few months or years that have outraged us, would gun laws have prevented them.”

 

In his “fact checker” column, Kessler writes his decision to scrutinize Rubio’s remark was prompted by a colleague who suggested that “it was almost certainly incorrect” and “posed an interesting challenge.”

 

But after a thorough vetting, Rubio’s statement received “The Geppetto Checkmark,” which is given only to statements and claims that contain “the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.”

 

The fact is, Obama and liberal Democrats cannot name a single gun law that would have prevented these shootings, yet they continue to shamelessly exploit these tragedies in order to advance their gun ideology.

 

So, what is the liberal motive here? In an era when the average citizen’s greatest concern is domestic terrorism, shouldn’t the conversation be about protecting Americans – not disarming them?

 

In fairness, Obama’s initial proposals, such as broadening background checks, are likely to be fairly easy sells to the American people.

But progressive methodology involves advancing the status quo one victory at a time. As with the tragedy of abortion over the years, expect the restrictions on gun owners to continue to evolve and increase, until the final objective is met. And remember, liberals believe the fewer the guns – the fewer the crimes, so you do the math.

 

Sadly, it will take both Democrats and Republicans to stop the Obama surge, and that isn’t likely.

 

It’s time for conservatives to take a “progressive” approach to regaining control of Washington and focus on accumulating our share of victories.

 

Returning our nation to greatness will be a marathon; not a sprint.

 

Mark Caserta is a conservative blogger, a Cabell County resident and a regular contributor to The Herald-Dispatch editorial page.

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Mark Caserta: Liberals apply double standard on religious tolerance

3 Jan

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Mark Caserta: Free State Patriot Editor

  • Updated Jan 1, 2016

Progressives waste no time quoting the First Amendment when there’s the slightest reference to Christianity in a public venue. But where is their outrage over similar references to the Muslim religion?

 

In a September Fox News opinion column by Todd Starnes, he shares an incredulous example of what can easily be viewed as public school “indoctrination” of the Islamic religion.

 

Seventh-graders at Spring Middle School in Maury County, Tenn., spent three weeks covering Islam in a social studies class. Some parents were outraged, claiming the lesson plan not only crossed the line into indoctrination, but proselytization as well.

“I am not pleased that my 12-year-old was taught the Islamic conversion prayer,” parent Brandi Porterfield told Starnes.

 

Starnes shares that another parent, Joy Ellis, was also “fired up” about her daughter’s class work.

 

“I was very angry that my child, my Christian child, was made to profess that Allah was the only God,” she told Starnes.

 

Apparently, part of the lesson included requiring each student to write the “Shahada” – “There is no God but Allah; Muhammad is the messenger of Allah.” Starnes also writes the students learned the “Five Pillars of Islam.”

 

Porterfield told Starnes she did not have a problem with the school teaching about Islam, but was upset that other religions didn’t get equal time.”to me, that is state-sponsored prayer in schools,” said Porterfield.

 

Porterfield is exactly right. I whole-heartedly agree with Starnes when he asks, “Could you imagine the outcry from liberal activists if the students had been forced to write, ‘Jesus is Lord’? ” The ACLU, along with every other liberal-minded group, would be climbing all over this public school system. And the liberal media would be like “white on rice” with their coverage!

 

The double standard in religious tolerance by liberals in our nation is as obvious as the nose on your face and fostered, in part, by President Obama. While many quotes are available from various sources, Obama’s 2009 speech at Cairo University is very telling in his understanding of his role as “protector-in-chief” of the Muslim faith.

 

“That experience guides my conviction that partnership between America and Islam must be based on what Islam is, not what it isn’t. And I consider it part of my responsibility as president of the United States to fight against negative stereotypes of Islam wherever they appear.”

So, one may ask, where are the president’s long and eloquent speeches protecting the Christian faith? Certainly one would have to agree Christians are increasingly under attack both at home and abroad. But on this, our president’s silence is deafening.

 

Frankly, the Muslim faith, at this point, is inconsequential to the progressive movement and poses little threat. Liberals couldn’t care less if the Five Pillars of Islam were posted in front of a courthouse or if a copy of the Koran was left in your hotel room.

 

Any you’ll never hear a liberal question “Allah’s word.”

 

Liberals attack Christianity in America because it denies the “free-form” tenets of the progressive movement; hence the double-standard.

 

Mark Caserta is a conservative blogger, a Cabell County resident and a regular contributor to The Herald-Dispatch editorial page.

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Mark Caserta: Americans just don’t feel safe any more

19 Dec

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Mark Caserta:  Free State Patriot Editor

 Dec 18, 2015

The irony of the liberal push for gun control is that the longer Barack Obama is president, the more Americans buy guns.

 

A recent column in the New York Times by Katie Rogers reported that gun bargains on Black Friday were a “big draw.” According to the column, the FBI was busy processing about two firearm background checks per second! It went on to say there have been a record number of background checks of people wanting to buy a firearm thus far in 2015, with more than 1.9 million background checks processed in the month of October alone.

Americans simply don’t feel safe anymore. On a recent trip to Washington, D.C., I observed that the area was inundated with billboards and signs saying, “If you see something, say something!” I can’t recall our nation ever being so afraid of the threat of Islamic terrorism – even after 911. And they just don’t trust this administration to keep them safe.

 

Frankly, it’s the result of failed leadership. Barack Obama’s acumen as commander-in-chief truly pales in comparison to his predecessor.

Following the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, President George W. Bush had our nation on the offense within hours. He successfully rallied all Americans, regardless of political persuasion, in the war on terror. On the evening following the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, President Bush wasted no time quickly identifying the attacks as acts of terror.

 

“Today, our nation saw evil, the very worst of human nature, and we responded with the best of America” Bush said. “Immediately following the first attack, I implemented our government’s emergency response plans. Our military is powerful, and it’s prepared.”

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The president’s words were filled with hope and resolve. There was clarity in his determination to protect Americans and our way of life.

 

“Terrorist attacks can shake the foundations of our biggest building, but they cannot touch the foundation of America. These acts shatter steel, but they cannot dent the steel of American resolve.”

 

And he didn’t flinch when taking action to identify the enemy and execute a military plan.

 

“The search is underway for those who are behind these evil acts. I’ve directed the full resources for our intelligence and law enforcement communities to find those responsible and bring them to justice. We will make no distinction between the terrorists who committed these acts and those who harbor them.”

Many refuse to remember that President Bush had even garnered the support of Democrats such as Hillary Clinton, John Kerry and Harry Reid in voting to authorize the use of military force in the war in Afghanistan, and all shared the same intelligence information.

 

But the only resolve and determination Barack Obama seems to have involve protecting his legacy. Every move is tainted by liberal ideology and no serious crisis is ever allowed to go to waste in propagating the progressive plan.

 

So just keep looking over your shoulder and indeed “say something” if you “see something.” And then hope there’s a good guy available with a gun.

 

Mark Caserta is a conservative blogger, a Cabell County resident and a regular contributor to The Herald-Dispatch editorial page.

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Mark Caserta: Americans must be prepared for ISIS attack

11 Dec

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Mark Caserta: Free State Patriot Editor

  • 20 hrs ago

Not only have the feigned strategies of Barack Obama been ineffectual in deteriorating the might of the Islamic State, they have emboldened radical jihadists in bringing their savagery to the United States.

The recent attack in California where 14 people were heinously murdered at an office Christmas party was just a preview of what I believe is to come as a result of the failed policies of this administration. And it’s simply a slap in the face to all Americans that this president wallows in intellectual dishonesty by not even being able to admit we are at war with radical Islam.

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Americans must now begin preparing for threats against our citizens that we heretofore had primarily associated with Middle Eastern nations. FBI Director James Comey has already revealed he has ISIS-related investigations in all 50 states. I share the belief of many that this formidable presence is busy readying sleeper cells for a coordinated attack on the United States, perhaps at an even greater magnitude than we witnessed in Paris.

I recently received a social media “terror alert” with this warning about the Islamic State. “They will use your laws to get inside your country and then use your freedoms against you.” The nature of this alert, and the fact that it was urgently sent by an individual who has studied the intricacies of Islam for decades, was quite disturbing. Even more disturbing is that our own government appears lackadaisical in providing timely, truthful information to its citizens.

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Barack Obama seemingly places being an apologist for the Muslim faith above the safety of Americans. And he appears to value protecting the narrative that he has “ISIS on the run” beyond being truthful with the American people. His words lead one to believe he is either grossly negligent or dangerously incompetent in understanding the true nature of the threat we all now face.

 

Just one day before the brutal coordinated attacks in Paris, where at least 120 people were killed, President Obama said in an interview that ISIS was not growing stronger and was, in his words, “contained.”

 

“I don’t think they’re gaining strength,” Obama told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos. “What is true, from the start our goal has been first to contain and we have contained them.”

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But just last week, the nation’s top military officer, Marine Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, gave lawmakers at a House Armed Services Committee hearing a very conflicting report to that of President Obama.

“We have not contained ISIS,” reported General Dunford. In a column in “The Hill,” written by Kristina Wong, Dunford went on to say that ISIS has been “tactically” contained in areas but “strategically they have spread since 2010.”

 

And spread they have. The conversation about the tactics for fighting terrorism is no longer solely about “boots on the ground” or “the number of air attacks.”

 

It’s now about how do we prepare ourselves and local law enforcement for being able to proactively deal with an ISIS attack here at home.

 

Mark Caserta is a conservative blogger, a Cabell County resident and a regular contributor to The Herald-Dispatch editorial page.

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Mark Caserta: Obama’s ideology risks American lives

29 Nov

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Mark Caserta: Free State Patriot Editor

Nov 27, 2015

Why is Barack Obama deliberately gambling with the lives of Americans?

Following the terrorist attacks on our nation on Sept. 11, 2001, our nation’s leadership had a resolve to leverage the most powerful military force in the world in defeating the threat of Islamic terrorism.

President Bush and our military commanders initiated a “shock and awe” strategy that would eventually decimate Al-Qaida in Iraq and send a clear message to radical Islamists that the United States would not tolerate their antics.

But enter stage left, Barack Hussein Obama, vowing to deliver America from “Islamophobia,” who removes our military presence from the region, creating a vacuum for the blood-thirsty, radical Islamists known as ISIS. In the infancy of the threat from the Islamic State, the president even referred to the terrorist group as the “Jayvee team,” attempting to downplay the legitimacy of the rise of Islamic terrorism on his watch. To this day, the president remarkably refuses to utter the words “Islamic terrorism.”

 

Now, as a result of President Obama’s lack of leadership, not only has the Islamic State become the most ominous terrorist threat known to mankind – they may have sleeper cells right here in the U.S.

According to FBI Director James Comey, there are over 900 ongoing investigations of ISIS activity in America. According to numerous reports, the Islamic State, which vows to destroy all who refuse to adhere to Sharia Law, has terrorist “sleeper cells” all across the United States just waiting for activation.

 

In less than two years, ISIS has expanded into what Director Comey calls a “chaotic spider web.”

 

“Those people exist in every state. I have homegrown violent extremist investigations in every single state. Until a few weeks ago there was 49 states. Alaska had none which I couldn’t quite figure out. But Alaska has now joined the group so we have investigations of people in various stages of radicalizing in all 50 states,” Comey said.

Now, one would think the rationale would be to control our borders and restrict the rampant entry of unknown individuals into our nation. But this president is far from being rational where protecting America is concerned.

 

Despite lacking an authentic vetting process, Obama plans to admit some 10,000 Syrian refugees into the United States. Now if you were a terrorist looking for a secluded entry point into the U.S., wouldn’t you consider entering under the guise of a Syrian refugee? In fact, following the recent terrorist attack in Paris, a Syrian passport was found near the body of one of the slain assailants leading investigators to believe one of the terrorists did indeed enter as a Syrian refugee.

 

Obama’s weak-kneed strategy against ISIS is failing miserably, yet he refuses to change his approach. And now, he plans to clear a path for potential Islamic terrorists to enter the U.S. and risk attacks on innocent citizens – maybe your family!

 

It’s time for Congress to step up and squelch this president’s radical ideology before we have a tragedy of devastating proportion.

 

Mark Caserta is a conservative blogger, a Cabell County resident and a regular contributor to The Herald-Dispatch editorial page.

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Mark Caserta: Who is qualified to question God’s word?

13 Nov

And why is it so important for liberals to refute the Bible?

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Mark Caserta: Free State Patriot Editor

11.13.2015

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If anything, our nation longs for a moral compass with steadfast principals which offer hope for eternity rather than the frivolity of temporal gratification.

Anyone truly understanding God’s Word should know Jesus’ message was one of hope in the midst of hopelessness. Driven by a love we couldn’t possibly understand, the Son of God subjected himself to the frailty and passions of man, yet remained sinless. This sinless nature allowed Jesus to amass the sins of mankind and freely offer his life as a cleansing sacrifice for those who would call upon the name of the Lord.

If we aren’t to believe the entire Bible is the inerrant, Holy Spirit inspired Word of God – then what parts should we discard? Are we to believe that a Holy God, who spoke the world into existence, is capable of making a mistake? If so, then how can we be certain of our eternal salvation?

My experience has been that any scripture that impedes a lascivious lifestyle and narrows the path to righteousness will be brought to question. Often, liberals will attempt to discredit the infallibility of God’s Word by taking scripture out of context to validate their argument. It’s truly interesting how liberals challenge scripture that restricts them but leverage it if it empowers them.

None of us is qualified to “pick and choose” what parts of the Bible are true. Doing so would be the height of arrogance and hypocrisy. I submit that if even one word is false, we have no hope.

All of us who trust and believe in God’s Word share an eternal hope – not by our works, but by His Grace. And frankly, anything less than receiving the Bible in its entirety is much too great a risk to lose an eternity in Heaven.

Mark Caserta is a conservative blogger, a Cabell County resident and a regular contributor to The Herald-Dispatch editorial page.

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Mark Caserta: Russia’s influence growing at US expense

7 Nov

Is Russia winning the modern day Cold War?

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Mark Caserta: Free State Patriot Editor

  • Nov 6, 2015

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Russian President Vladimir Putin is rapidly returning his nation to international prominence and easily upstaging the Obama administration in the Middle East. In a recent BBC column, diplomatic and defense editor Mark Urban reports that just one month into Russia’s Syria intervention, it has deployed a strike force of 34 combat jets and 21 helicopters that have conducted approximately 1,000 flying attack missions. He added that U.S.-led forces have averaged around six strikes per day during the last year.

Some may recall when Obama was caught on camera at the 2012 Nuclear Security Summit shaking hands with Dmitry Medvedev, assuring the outgoing Russian president that he will have “more flexibility” to deal with issues like missile defense after the U.S. presidential election. While I viewed this as a ploy by President Obama to protect his re-election from what might be considered poor judgment, Russian leadership viewed it as weakness and an opportunity to restore Russian power.

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In an online U.S. Politics and Policy column in Financial Times by Demetri Sevastopulo, he reports that Russian warships and submarines are operating at levels not seen in two decades, according to the new head of the U.S. Navy. “Their submarine force and their navy are as active as they have been in a long time, 20 years or so,” Admiral John Richardson said in an interview. “How are we going to posture our forces to make sure that we maintain the appropriate balance and are suitably engaged?”

But being “suitably engaged” has never appealed to Barack Obama.

Just last week, despite vowing there would be “no boots on the ground” in Syria, White House press secretary Josh Earnest confirmed the president’s decision to send 50 special forces troops to Syria in an “advisory” role to help rebel forces in the fight against ISIS.

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This feeble action of sending only 50 men into harm’s way sends a deafening message to our allies and enemies that Barack Obama isn’t taking the war on ISIS seriously. It’s simply a gratuitous attempt to appease critics and could pave the way for Russia to augment its influence and partnership in the region.

It’s been nearly a quarter century since the fall of the Kremlin. Ronald Reagan’s “peace through strength” policies are largely credited for precipitating the downfall of the Soviet empire. But the ebbing of our nation’s strength is creating a vacuum of power other nations desire to fill.

 Will America ever return to being a “shining city upon a hill,” as portrayed by John Winthrop? Well, if it’s to happen, it will require bold, inspiring, truthful leadership – and someone who values the virtues of Capitalism.

And this administration fails on all counts.

Mark Caserta is a conservative blogger, a Cabell County resident and a regular contributor to The Herald-Dispatch editorial page.

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