World Affairs Brief, April 1, 2016 Commentary and Insights on a Troubled World.

Copyright Joel Skousen. Partial quotations with attribution permitted. Cite source as Joel Skousen’s World Affairs Brief (http://www.worldaffairsbrief.com).

This Week’s Analysis:

Cruz Unfaithful?

Trump Backs out of GOP Pledge—As Do the Others

North Carolina Nullifies Transgender Bathrooms

US Kills ISIS Leader Multiple Times

Anti-Vaccine Film Dropped from Film Festival

Belgium “Handler” of Suicide Bombers Released

China Still Very Much a Communist Dictatorship

Nothing has Changed to Secure Southern Border

Hillary’s Moral Skeletons

Preparedness Tip: Solar Water Pumps

CRUZ UNFAITHFUL?

Some pundits are calling it the Cuban Mistress Crisis since the Rubio campaign started the rumors about Cruz’s improprieties, but the rumors are creeping up from many sources. The tabloid National Inquirer took it upon themselves to tally up the accusations and suspect that Sen. Ted Cruz has had between 5 and 8 extra-marital affairs during his political career. Certainly Donald Trump, the alternative presidential candidate, is no paragon of moral virtue either, but Trump is also not running around the country trying to court the evangelical Christian vote by touting his “born again” status either. It is the charge of hypocrisy that is bearing down heavily on Cruz at the moment, especially after having been endorsed by Glenn Beck as the “Anointed Candidate” whose “time has been ordained.” This week I will discuss the charges and present some evidence you may not have seen before. It is far from conclusive at this point, but it wouldn’t be the first time a politician took advantage of adoring fans and co-workers.

Cruz immediately went on the offensive and blamed it all on Donald Trump. It is no secret that Trump is friends with the owner of the National Inquirer, David Pecker, who has flown with Trump on his 757 personal luxury jetliner. As Infowars.com reported,

Ted Cruz told reporters in Wisconsin the story was “all lies.” Cruz then went on to blame the article on Donald Trump and his “henchmen.” Cruz argued Roger Stone has been forwarding the article today on the internet. He thinks [the] Trump campaign is behind this story. Cruz also said the publisher of the National Enquirer is a friend of Donald Trump’s.

But these rumors did not start with Donald Trump. The rumors were started by the Rubio Campaign and GOP elites. Conservative Treehouse reported: It was discovered that weeks ago a large number of Marco Rubio operatives and supporters were trying to bring the sex scandal story to the MSM attention. Under the open guise of #TheThing they were communicating via various twitter feeds and following along to see if the story had been picked up. Most of the activity was centered around March 10th – March 15th.

Yesterday the hashtag CruzSexScandal went viral. Today, many of those DC operatives, participants, supporters, consultants, Super-PAC’s and campaign advisors have spent a great deal of time deleting their (The Thing) participation. The peak of their scrubbing coincided with Senator Ted Cruz accusing Donald Trump of planting the story.

Trump issued a statement saying he was not responsible for the article.

“I have nothing to do with the National Enquirer and unlike Lyin’ Ted Cruz I do not surround myself with political hacks and henchman and then pretend total innocence,” Trump said in the statement. “Ted Cruz’s problem with the National Enquirer is his and his alone, and while they were right about O.J. Simpson, John Edwards, and many others, I certainly hope they are not right about Lyin’ Ted Cruz.”

In other words, just as Cruz had “nothing” to do with the first naked photo of Melania [Trump] that started off this latest scandal, so Trump had “nothing” to do with the Enquirer article.

It probably is not a coincidence that the establishment media isn’t making a big deal out of these charges—only the alternative and tabloid media. The establishment doesn’t want to oust Cruz just yet—they need him to stop Trump from gaining a majority of delegates so they can hand the nomination to one of their own during a brokered convention. You can bet they will dump Cruz and jump on the bandwagon against him once Trump is denied a first ballot win.

Conservative Christian supporters of Cruz aren’t abandoning him in large number either, for several reasons: 1) there’s no open confession yet by any of the women, 2) there isn’t anyone else in the race for President that espouses the Christian faith as openly as Cruz, and 3) many Christians are overly tolerant of sin once a person is “born again” (where some Christians feel that puts them under “grace” and covers for even future sins).

Other Christians disagree and feel that being “born again” requires a “daily walk” with Christ through his Spirit—that truly being “born again” is a spiritual awakening combined with a resolute commitment to follow the will of the Lord in all things, and that you can fall from that spiritual commitment by willfully going against God’s commandments and His spiritual promptings. Naturally, they also believe you can repent again and get back into His grace, but you can’t say you are “saved” while in rebellion to what you know is right.

If these charges are true, it does make Cruz a target of establishment blackmail from now on, if he isn’t already. All this reminds me of my days in Washington DC during the mid-1980s when I saw way too many “stalwart” conservative leaders in Washington fall into moral transgression, compromising their ability to lead and avoid government pressure.

While the tabloid press is known for their extravagant and sensationalist claims, the National Inquirer has outed some notable politicians with their rumors-come-true campaigns, including Bill Clinton, Gary Hart, John Edwards, Elliot Spitzer, and Jesse Jackson. Roger Stone, a Washington political operative and former adviser to the Trump Campaign, thinks the information surfaced about Cruz’ mistresses from within the Cruz campaign where the candidate’s behavior is visible behind the scenes. He says “the allegations are largely true,” but I’m not sure how he would know this. But, it’s also telling that Cruz isn’t threatening a defamation lawsuit against the Inquirer, as that would force the publication to bring forth its evidence.

Breitbart reported that they received a video from an operative allied with Marco Rubio that shows Cruz coming out of the Capitol Grille Restaurant and Hotel on Tuesdays and Thursdays with a woman other than his wife—one of the five women which the Inquirer outed (with no names and blurred photos). While going out to lunch regularly with a woman who is not your wife is frowned upon in evangelical religious circles that Cruz espouses, it certainly isn’t proof of an affair, but there is more evidence linking the women in the article to Cruz.

People on the internet have likely guessed the identity of three of the five un-named women’s pictures in the Inquirer story, according to The Conservative Tree House, which does credible political research, they propose Katrina Pierson, Sarah Flores, and Amanda Carpenter.

Katrina Pierson was a consultant with the Cruz Senate campaign in 2012, so she certainly would have insider knowledge of the candidate. Ironically, she is now Trump’s spokeswoman and has done several interviews attacking Heidi Cruz as an establishment shill. WND.com covered her accusations which were not entirely correct. For example, Heidi Cruz is no longer a member of the CFR and wrote dissenting opinions on the CFR “Building a North American Community,” task force in favor of free market solutions. She has also denied having an affair with Cruz.

Amanda Carpenter is the former Communications Director for Cruz. Amanda Carpenter is also a conservative activist, CNN contributor, and writer for Mark Levin and the Conservative Review who recently published a “BLACKLIST” targeting anyone who supports Ted Cruz’s primary opponent, Donald Trump.

Interestingly Sarah Isgur Flores, in addition to being a well known political operative, was also the campaign manager for Carly Fiorina. And that little factoid brings an earlier discovery into question; where the Super-PAC for Ted Cruz (Keep the Promise) actually sent the Super-PAC for Carly Fiorina (Carly for America “CfA”) $500,000 (link).

It is also telling that Fiorina has now endorsed Cruz and stepped in quickly to save Cruz from an embarrassing request from a reporter, asking for Cruz to make an unequivocal declaration that “he has never been unfaithful to his wife.” As the Daily Mail reported,

But instead of making a blanket declaration that he has been faithful during the entirety of his 14-year marriage – a move that would effectively end the vicious news cycle – Cruz stood silently as campaign surrogate Carly Fiorina leapt in to intercept the question and change the subject.

The most damning evidence comes from sources who have talked to Bill Still, a long time establishment journalist who now has crossed over to the alternative news side. His news broadcasts are done via video only. Here are the two with damaging evidence on both the Cruz campaign dirty tricks and the mistress scandal:

[…]

From The Still Report #750 video, he gives a summary of an interview with a 24 year veteran political operative who was employed by the Cruz campaign. In this video he confirms that the Cruz campaign tactic to tell caucus goers in Iowa that Ben Carson was dropping out was done on purpose and was not a simple mistake. In fact, he says it was originally the idea of Amanda Carpenter who works for CNN. The Cruz campaign quoted CNN as their excuse for the rumor they spread, but it was Carpenter who fed it to them, not the network. Still’s source said he quit rather than go through with the Ben Carson lie campaign, but was surprised at how others in the campaign were not concerned. He said they viewed Cruz as on an errand from God and that his tactics were justified to save the country. The operative demanded anonymity because he is still working for another campaign, but he did make this telling comment about the mistress scandal:

“It’s 100% true that he has affairs. All top-level staffers got an email directly from Heidi Cruz saying that she knew about it, and it was OK, and for us not to concern ourselves with it.”

The Washington Post did a background piece on Ted and Heidi that shows how their aggressive career patterns led to marriage separation and stress that often leads to temptations of infidelity:

They’d met on the 2000 George W. Bush campaign, when they worked three cubicles apart, and in the years since, they’d gone from an apartment in Northern Virginia to a 19th-floor condo in Houston to a series of three-star hotels in early-primary states. Heidi had taken an unpaid leave from her lucrative job at Goldman Sachs to join Ted on the trail.

But in the earliest days of their marriage, they weren’t always together. At a time when Ted Cruz felt unsatisfied with his track in Washington, he made a decision to take a high-profile job in Austin — as Texas’s solicitor general — that provided a testing ground for his conservative arguments but also forced him to move 1,500 miles from Heidi, who continued working at the Treasury Department in Washington.

The job ultimately helped to launch Ted Cruz’s political career. It also nearly backfired: He and Heidi weathered several years of strained, long-distance commuting. And when Heidi finally moved to Texas, the strain only grew. She fell into a depression, what Cruz calls the couple’s “difficult chapter.”

In other bad news for Cruz, it turns out he is in the pocket of the agro-GMO giant Monsanto, according to the Natural Society:

During a recent agricultural summit in Iowa, Ted Cruz used the words “anti-science zealotry” to describe the viewpoint of the over 90% of Americans who want GMOs labeled. Like Hillary Clinton, Cruz seems to have picked sides in the GMO debate, and his name calling isn’t very pretty.

Cruz recently told his audience – whoever that is – through the Washington Post, not to let “anti-science zealotry” shut down GMOs. This remark came at a time when major food corporations are doing an about-face on GMO labeling due to Vermont’s mandatory bill going into effect this July. He also said that the anti-GMO movement is driven by “hysteria.” Considering that so many people are against agrichemical companies like Monsanto, Dow, and Syngenta and the food companies who have been (illegally) blocking food transparency, Cruz must be expecting a hefty paycheck. Declaring such a thing is otherwise a bit of political suicide.

Cruz also stated: “People who decide that is what they want, they can pay for it already, but we shouldn’t let anti-science zealotry shut down the ability to produce low-cost quality food for billions across the globe.”

The trouble is people can’t easily decide to turn down GMO foods unless they are more clearly labeled. Also GMO products aren’t quality food—there is increasing evidence they produce long-term adverse health effects, including gluten intolerance, immune deficiencies, and adverse reactions in the digestive tract. Many conservatives are on the wrong side when it comes to issues of natural health and eating better.

While Ted Cruz has currently switched to a position opposing the Trans Pacific Partnership agreement—a stepping stone to globalist control, I’m now of the opinion that his switch isn’t genuine. He was the co-sponsor of the TPA that gave the president fast track authority that will impact the eventual yes-or-no vote (no amendments allowed). With that damage done, it’s likely that the TPP will pass anyway, without Cruz’s support and he can go on record as having falsely opposed it. That’s an oft played trick of dishonest politicians—vote against something they know will pass anyway so they can gain favor among the opponents.