Chris Christie casts himself as best prepared to keep America safe
In a Republican primary increasingly focused on national security, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is painting a picture of a dangerous world that he is the candidate best prepared to lead. “We know that we’re in the midst of the next world war. It’s a world war that’s not going to look like the first two that we engaged in,” Christie told a crowd Friday night in New Hampshire. “As our country confronts that issue, all those other issues seem real small now.” Christie is seeing his candidacy pick up steam in the first primary state, in part because of the new national focus on security and terrorism in the wake of attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, California. Christie avoided criticizing his rivals by name in Friday’s town hall, instead recounting his own family’s scare on 9/11 because Christie’s wife, Mary Pat, worked near New York’s Twin Towers, which were attacked that day. But in an earlier interview with The Associated Press, Christie suggested two of his chief Republican rivals don’t have the right experience or priorities to keep the country safe. Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, Christie said, hurt the country by voting against extending the National Security Agency’s bulk collection program of phone records which ended days before the shooting in California. Christie advocates reinstating the program and giving law enforcement and intelligence agencies more ways to track terrorism. “You can’t, in these dangerous times, take tools away from the government, and he’s made the country weaker,” Christie said of Cruz. Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, whom Christie is battling for second place in the state, simply doesn’t have the necessary experience, he said. “He’s not ready to be president, he’s a first-term U.S. senator, we just went through that,” Christie said. “You can’t do on-the-job training with the presidency.” Christie declined opportunities to attack GOP front-runner Donald Trump directly in questions from the crowd and in an interview. But he said there are better ways to ease Americans’ fears about terrorism than by suggesting a ban on Muslims entering the country, as Trump has done. An Associated Press-GfK poll taken before Trump’s remarks showed three-quarters of Republican voters think the United States is taking too many immigrants from the Middle East. “These are not people who are biased or prejudiced people — they’re scared and they want to protect their families,” Christie said of those worried about immigration. Part of the way to keep people safe, Christie said, is to engage with the Muslim community, as he did in New Jersey after 9/11. “Most people understand you can’t lump everybody in to the same basket,” Christie told the AP. “I think what they want is for the government to do their job and be effective. I don’t think that they care exactly how you do it — they just want to be safe.” Now, he’s trying his hardest to convince them he’s the best candidate to do that. “I spent 13 years of my life actually doing it,” he told the AP. “Especially in the aftermath of September 11.” Republished with permission of The Associated Press.
Donald Trump calls for ‘complete shutdown’ on Muslims entering U.S.
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump called Monday for a “total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States.” The proposed ban would stand “until our country’s representatives can figure out what is going on,” his campaign said in a statement. The statement added that Trump’s proposal comes in response to the level of hatred among “large segments of the Muslim population” toward Americans. “Until we are able to determine and understand this problem and the dangerous threat it poses, our country cannot be the victims of horrendous attacks by people that believe only in jihad, and have no sense of reason or respect for human life,” Trump said in the statement. He added on Twitter: “Just put out a very important policy statement on the extraordinary influx of hatred & danger coming into our country. We must be vigilant!” Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski said Trump’s proposed ban would apply to “everybody,” including Muslims seeking immigration visas as well as tourists seeking to enter the country. He did not respond to questions about whether it would also include Muslims who are U.S. citizens and travel outside of the country, or how a determination of someone’s religion might be made by customs and border officials. In response to a request for additional detail, Trump said via a campaign spokeswoman: “Because I am so politically correct, I would never be the one to say. You figure it out!” Trump’s proposal comes a day after President Barack Obama spoke to the nation from the Oval Office in the wake of the shootings in San Bernardino, California, which Obama said was “an act of terrorism designed to kill innocent people.” The FBI said Monday the Muslim couple who carried out the massacre had been radicalized and had taken target practice at area gun ranges, in one case within days of the attack last week that killed 14 people. Republished with permission of the Associated Press.
Expressions of solidarity for France in red, white and blue
Social media was awash Saturday in the red, white and blue of the French flag as people worldwide expressed their solidarity with a nation in mourning in the aftermath of the terror attacks in Paris. Users of Facebook shaded their profile pictures in the French Tricolor, and on Twitter and Instagram, people posted vacation photos, teardrops and a peace symbol with the Eiffel Tower inscribed in the center as they expressed their grief over the carnage. People also harnessed the power of social media in the search for their missing loved ones as Parisians desperate to get in touch with family and friends missing since Friday’s wave of gun and bomb attacks posted heart-breaking messages and photos under the hashtag #rechercheparis — Paris Search. Scores remain unaccounted for in the aftermath of the coordinated attacks on a rock concert, a soccer stadium, bars, restaurants and other popular nightspots that killed at least 129 people. “Waleed is missing,” read one post. “We last contacted him at the match, Please share & contact me if u have any info. #rechercheParis.” “I’ve been looking for my cousin since last night,” read another. “He’s 25 and 1m75. He’s called Younes. #rechercheParis.” The photos and messages garnered hundreds of retweets from users eager to help in the search for survivors. Across the globe, people joined in to offer sympathy and share a nation’s pain. Many posted the poignant video of the Eiffel Tower — the beacon of the City of Light — going to black in memory of the dead. Some of the world’s most recognizable buildings and monuments — the Sydney Opera House, the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio, One World Trade Center in New York, the Mexican Senate — were shaded in the colors of the French flag. Sports teams also expressed their solidarity. The Washington Capitals splashed the red, white and blue of the Tricolor across the team’s ice rink before Friday night’s game against the Calgary Flames. “The National Anthem is playing, but tonight our thoughts are with Paris,” a caption on the Capitals Twitter feed read. The images and sentiment, shared under the hashtags #prayforparis or #parisattacks, mirrored the outpouring of emotion that followed the Charlie Hebdo attacks 10 months ago. One of the most shared was a peace symbol by Jean Jullien, a French graphic designer living in London, that showed a stark image of the Eiffel Tower rising in the center of a peace sign. Jullien said the design came to him by simple association of Paris and peace. “I was overwhelmed that so many people used it,” he said in an e-mail to the Associated Press. “It’s a communication tool for people to share their solidarity. It’s a message for peace.” Republished with permission of the Associated Press.
