Video: Donald Trump Targeting Birther Vote

Presidential hopeful Donald Trump is doubling down on his comments that Barack Obama should show his Birth Certificate. In his interview with Geraldo, Trump does a very good job of batting away the attempt by Geraldo to put him in the same camp as the Birthers by simply saying that he hopes Obama was born in America but that the controversy has gone on for far too long; Obama could end it simply by doing what even Chris Matthews has called for. Just show the darn thing and let's move on!

You've got to admit. It's hard to argue the point. Trump has a knack for being heard and perhaps he's latched onto an issue he can exploit. We'll see.

Via MediaIte:

Former KKK Grand Dragon Running for Mayor.... As a Democrat

As much as the right is demonized for being racist, the plank in the Democrat Party's platform about diversity seems to include former Grand Dragons of the KKK, at least in Lake Wales, FL. A man named John Paul Rogers is not only running for mayor as a Democrat there but he has already been a Grand Dragon with the KKK. Not only has he not renounced his past but he's blaming his opponent for making it an issue.

Via WTSP News:

He blames his opponent Mike Carter for bringing up his former involvement in the United Klans of America.

"My opponent's been going around saying I hung somebody in the park two years ago. Well, we have a city ordinance against that and I'm sure the police would have put me in jail if I would have done that."

He adds, "It's a shame that in a small city like Lake Wales where most everyone knows one another you have this kind of muckraking and character assassination."

In this small town of a little more than 13,000 people, times have changed since the Jim Crow laws of segregation and Rogers isn't apologizing or renouncing his time with the Klan.

After all, the KKK was founded as the armed wing of the Democrat Party and the Republican Party freed slaves. Why wouldn't John Paul 'the racist' Rogers be a Democrat.

Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson, the floor is yours..



h/t Gateway Pundit

Turkish Imam Fethullah Gulen Subject of 2009 Wikileaks Cable

In late December 2009, U.S. Ambassador to Turkey James Jeffrey authored a cable regarding the extremely controversial - and dangerous - Turkish Imam Fethullah Gulen who currently resides in eastern Pennsylvania. Based on the content found in the cable, our State Department knows all about Gulen's attempts to drive the Turkish government to being more Islamist. That goal has been all but realized with Recep Tayyip Erdoğan as the Prime Minister and Abdullah Gül as the president. Both are Gulen sympathizers.

Via Wikileaks:

1. (C) SUMMARY: Fethullah Gulen remains a political phenomenon in Turkey. Although "exiled" in Pennsylvania for the past decade, Gulen's impact continues to expand, aided by legions of loyalist supporters and a network of elite schools. The Gulen Movement's purported goals focus on interfaith dialogue and tolerance, but in the current AKP-secularists schism, many Turks believe Gulen has a deeper and possibly insidious political agenda, and even some Islamist groups criticize Gulen's lack of transparency, which they say creates doubts about his motives. END SUMMARY.

Keep reading because the State Department obviously knows quite a bit about Gulen and his intentions. Yet, at the end of the cable, Jeffrey recommends covering up for his government's outright refusal to do anything about Gulen despite grave concern about him. Here is his comment about those concerns followed by what he believes should be the official government response.

12. (C) Given the current AKP-secularist schism in Turkey today, it should not be surprising that any Islamist movement in Turkey would choose to be circumspect about its intentions. Unfortunately, this simply feeds the reflexive tendency in Turkish society for conspiracy theories, and magnifies suspicions about the Gulen movement itself. While the purported Gulen goals of interfaith dialogue and tolerance are beyond reproach, we see aspects of concern in the allegations that the USG is somehow behind the Gulen movement. Accordingly, we would recommend the following standard press guidance:

Q: Why is the U.S. sheltering Fethullah Gulen and doesn't this mean that the US is promoting a non-secular Turkey?

A: -- The U.S. is not "sheltering" Mr. Gulen and his presence in the U.S. is not based on any political decision.

-- Mr. Gulen applied for, and received, permanent residence in the U.S. after a lengthy process which ended in 2008 when a Federal Court ruled that he deserved to be viewed as an "alien of extraordinary ability" based on his extensive writings and his leadership of a worldwide religious organization.

It is beyond outrageous that our government would take this stand in light of everything Gulen's movement is doing right here in the United States. Here is an excerpt from a sermon Gulen gave in Turkey in 1999:

You must move in the arteries of the system without anyone noticing your existence until you reach all the power centers... Until that time, any step taken would be too early—like breaking an egg without waiting the full forty days for it to hatch. It would be like killing the chick inside.

Read more about this HERE and HERE.

Donna Garner has more.