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Re: F6 post# 240983

Wednesday, 11/25/2015 9:28:51 AM

Wednesday, November 25, 2015 9:28:51 AM

The Andrews Experience - Dr. Ben Carson 1998 Graduation key note speaker

Published on Oct 10, 2012 by Charles Le Blanc [ http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqIgvWeRRauYzI0dV6a9alQ , http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqIgvWeRRauYzI0dV6a9alQ/videos ]

Dr Ben Carson 1998 Andrews University graduation key note speaker...

Ben Carson: Egyptian Pyramids Built For Grain Storage, Not By Aliens Or As Tombs
“…you know, it doesn’t require an alien being when God is with you.”
Nov. 4, 2015
http://www.buzzfeed.com/natemcdermott/ben-carson-egyptian-pyramids-built-for-grain-storage-not-by [with this YouTube and a non-YouTube excerpt embedded, and comments]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FrqShRhxJBM [with comments]

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Ben Carson - Liberty University Convocation

Published on Mar 28, 2012 by Liberty University [ http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzibtqE6MFp4Z2gxi2_Acjw / http://www.youtube.com/user/libertyuniversity , http://www.youtube.com/user/libertyuniversity/videos ]

On March 28, 2012 at Convocation, North America's largest weekly gathering of Christian students, Dr. Ben Carson, American neurosurgeon and the Director of Pediatric Neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital, shared with Liberty University students his life story and how important it is in your life to stand up for what you believe in.

Dr. Carson is a gifted neurosurgeon and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award in the United States by President George W. Bush in 2008. He has received over 60 honorary doctorates and is the author of four bestselling books: Gifted Hands, The Big Picture, Take the Risk, and Think Big.

http://www.liberty.edu/index.cfm?PID=2586

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-Foz-EjZ3g [with comments]

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Celebration of Creation | Ben Carson, MD

Published on Feb 14, 2015 by IDquest [ http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCV4Zy3ry9DrDCdxwyAxXs0g / http://www.youtube.com/user/IDquest/videos , http://www.youtube.com/user/IDquest/videos ]

From December 2, 2012 [ http://www.andrews.edu/library/car/cardigital/Periodicals/ANN_Bulletin/2012/2012_12_04.pdf ]: Ben Carson speaks on God's creation.

Ben Carson’s Scientific Ignorance
September 28, 2015
http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/ben-carsons-scientific-ignorance [at/see (linked in) http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=117414835 and preceding and following]

Ben Carson: Big Bang A Fairy Tale, Theory Of Evolution Encouraged By The Devil

“I personally believe that this theory that Darwin came up with was something that was encouraged by the adversary, and it has become what is scientifically, politically correct.”
Sept. 22, 2015
http://www.buzzfeed.com/andrewkaczynski/ben-carson-big-bang-a-fairy-tale-theory-of-evolution-encoura [with video excerpts embedded, and comments]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6ChFtIDUbg [comments disabled] [ANN (Adventist News Network) upload on Vimeo at https://vimeo.com/59119191 (comments disabled)]

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Richard Dawkins & Daniel Dennett vs. Francis Collins & Benjamin Carson - Science and Religion

Published on Oct 13, 2015 by Carl Wong [ http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmcxMTAwTlJfRN-5U0zxvyw / http://www.youtube.com/user/MrCarlWong1 , http://www.youtube.com/user/MrCarlWong1/videos ]

http://evolutionvcreation.blogspot.co.uk/ Hear four distinguished thinkers -- Benjamin Carson, Francis Collins, Richard Dawkins and Daniel Dennett -- in a thought provocative discussion of "Science and Faith," recorded in Beverly Hills, California in 2006. The discussion is moderated by journalist Kathleen Matthews.

Dr Benjamin Carson is a world famous pedriatic neurosurgeon who has performed revolutionary brain surgeries and is a Seventh-day Adventist christian. In 1987 he became the first surgeon to successfully separated Binder siamese twins joined at the head. At age 32, Benjamin Carson became Director of Pediatric Neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore

Dr Francis Collins has among other achievement developed techniques to map genes that cause diseases such as cystic fibriosis. He is now Director of National Center for Human Genome Research, one of the largest undertakings in the history of science. This center has managed to chart the entire human genome. He is a scientist and a believer, and finds no conflict between those world views. He says, ' As a believer, I see DNA, the information molecule of all living things, as God's language, and the elegance and complexity of our own bodies and the rest of nature as a reflection of God's plan.

Dr Daniel Dennett has confronted the philosophical problem of individual awareness, synthesizing advanced research in neurology, psychology, linguistics, computer science and artificial intelligence. He is a evolutionist

Dr Richard Dawkins is now world famous as a foremost scientist in defense of the theory of evolution. He is a British scientist and author of the book The God Delusion

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJMPnzyvw04 [with comments] [also at/title adapted from and descriptive text taken from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JPxGnN7RV1Y (with comments), and also at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vsf209Ix-48 (no comments yet), http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rIHxWLAP4GI (with comments), and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1kkeSy25wE (with comments)]

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Debunking Creationists - Dr. Ben Carson

Published on Jul 30, 2015 by VoysovReason [ http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCf6V5DZJsjnJd3N2uEkpGIg / http://www.youtube.com/user/JonasGrumby71 , http://www.youtube.com/user/JonasGrumby71/videos ]

I address the arguments for creationism presented by retired neurosurgeon and Presidential candidate Dr. Ben Carson, made at a conference called "Celebrating Creation". From misrepresenting scientific evidence, to anecdotes about personal "blessings", and arguments from personal incredulity, Carson pulls out lots of typical nonsense from the creationism playbook, and a few new ones, which are easy to debunk with just a little scientific research and reason.

References:

Original Video - Ben Carson speaking at "Celebration of Creation"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6ChFtIDUbg [item second above]

Radiometric dating on talk origins
http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/dating.html

Transitional Fossils by King Crocoduck
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BwBWvVLlC2g

Eye evolution
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_s1cmOjvAQ

Irreducible complexity
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W96AJ0ChboU

Plant evolution
http://www.biologyreference.com/Ep-Fl/Evolution-of-Plants.html

Sean Carroll on fine tuning
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R97IHcuyWI0

Victor Stenger on fine tuning
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kUawGws4TvU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtpvHyE-Uws [with comments]

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Bill Nye: Creationism Is Not Appropriate For Children

Published on Aug 23, 2012 by Big Think [ http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvQECJukTDE2i6aCoMnS-Vg / http://www.youtube.com/user/bigthink , http://www.youtube.com/user/bigthink/videos ]

Evolution is the fundamental idea in all of life science, in all of biology. According to Bill Nye, aka "the science guy," if grownups want to "deny evolution and live in your world that's completely inconsistent with everything we observe in the universe, that's fine, but don't make your kids do it because we need them."

-- Transcript:

Denial of evolution is unique to the United States. I mean, we're the world's most advanced technological—I mean, you could say Japan—but generally, the United States is where most of the innovations still happens. People still move to the United States. And that's largely because of the intellectual capital we have, the general understanding of science. When you have a portion of the population that doesn't believe in that, it holds everybody back, really.

Evolution is the fundamental idea in all of life science, in all of biology. It's like, it's very much analogous to trying to do geology without believing in tectonic plates. You're just not going to get the right answer. Your whole world is just going to be a mystery instead of an exciting place.

As my old professor, Carl Sagan, said, "When you're in love you want to tell the world." So, once in a while I get people that really—or that claim—they don't believe in evolution. And my response generally is "Well, why not? Really, why not?" Your world just becomes fantastically complicated when you don't believe in evolution. I mean, here are these ancient dinosaur bones or fossils, here is radioactivity, here are distant stars that are just like our star but they're at a different point in their lifecycle. The idea of deep time, of this billions of years, explains so much of the world around us. If you try to ignore that, your world view just becomes crazy, just untenable, itself inconsistent.

And I say to the grownups, if you want to deny evolution and live in your world, in your world that's completely inconsistent with everything we observe in the universe, that's fine, but don't make your kids do it because we need them. We need scientifically literate voters and taxpayers for the future. We need people that can—we need engineers that can build stuff, solve problems.

It's just really hard a thing, it's really a hard thing. You know, in another couple of centuries that world view, I'm sure, will be, it just won't exist. There's no evidence for it.

Directed / Produced by
Jonathan Fowler and Elizabeth Rodd

What is Evolution?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhHOjC4oxh8 [with (over 18,000) comments]

550 million years of human evolution [animation]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XkYD3wEuKbY [with comments]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHbYJfwFgOU [with (over 469,000) comments]

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Perspectives on Leadership Forum with Dr. Ben Carson — 9/28/14

Published on Sep 29, 2014 by ReaganFoundation [ http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEJi23qnygQHE5UeLXoV_JQ / http://www.youtube.com/user/ReaganFoundation , http://www.youtube.com/user/ReaganFoundation/videos ]

On Sunday, September 28 Dr. Ben Carson visited the Reagan Library for a lecture and book signing on his number one New York Times bestselling book.

Dr. Ben Carson made headlines with his keynote at the National Prayer Breakfast in February 2013. Standing just a few feet from President Obama, the neurosurgeon offered a common sense critique of liberal government, calling for a return to our historic culture of personal responsibility, free markets, and upward mobility. The speech instantly went viral; The Wall Street Journal even ran an editorial, “Ben Carson for President.”

In “One Nation: What We Can All Do to Save America’s Future,” Dr. Carson calls for respectful discussion and disagreement, with no subjects off limits. Applying the problem-solving skills he honed as a surgeon, he takes on tough issues such as education, health care, family values, race relations, taxes, charity, and the role of faith in public life.

Avoiding the political correctness of politicians and the animosity of Washington lawyers, Dr. Carson In his journey from poverty to the top of his field, Dr. Carson has lived the American dream. He shows how we can save that dream for our future generations, by restoring a moral, informed citizenry that will support “one nation, under God, indivisible.”

For more information on the ongoing works of President Reagan's Foundation, please visit http://www.reaganfoundation.org .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VabSFBQjT7U [with comments]

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Dr. Ben Carson at the Nixon Library

Published on Oct 27, 2014 by Richard Nixon Foundation [ http://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-aB7UkyJBcAhbAWUNFUAaQ / http://www.youtube.com/user/NixonFoundation , http://www.youtube.com/user/NixonFoundation/videos ]

Dr. Ben Carson spoke in the East Room at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum in Yorba Linda, California on October 19, 2014.

He was introduced by James Ellis, Dean of the USC Marshall School of Business.

Ben Carson on Americans: "Many of Them Are Stupid."
Watch the GOP frontrunner dismiss a big chunk of We the People.
Nov. 3, 2015
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2015/11/in-speech-ben-carson-says-many-americans-are-stupid [with excerpt http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YsnppUFhVE8 (with comments) also embedded, and comments]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAL4pIHHO_k [with comments]

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Carson: Hillary Clinton is the epitome of a secular progressive

Published on Aug 6, 2015 by FoxNewsInsider [ http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqlYzSgsh5jdtWYfVIBoTDw / http://www.youtube.com/user/FoxNewsInsider , http://www.youtube.com/user/FoxNewsInsider/videos ]

Dr. Ben Carson said that Clinton counts of people being uninformed, while he believes that people are not stupid.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uSibyiOveBY [with comments]

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Dr. Ben Carson Campaign Rally

Streamed live on Sep 22, 2015 by Cedarville University [ http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAoxWD1f8M1beGa4EObY_dA / http://www.youtube.com/user/cedarvilleu , http://www.youtube.com/user/cedarvilleu/videos ]

Retired neurosurgeon and 2016 presidential candidate Dr. Ben Carson will hold a rally at Cedarville University on Tuesday, Sept. 22 at 2 p.m. in the Dixon Ministry Center.

The event is open to the general public, but requires a ticket which can be obtained by visiting http://www.bencarson.com . Doors open at 12:30 p.m.

Cedarville University does not endorse any candidate.

Carson Rewrites Laws of Thermodynamics
September 24, 2015
http://www.factcheck.org/2015/09/carson-rewrites-the-laws-of-thermodynamics/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CM66nV3O5WM [Carson's remarks begin at c. the 45:00 mark; comments disabled]

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Ben Carson Appears to Have No Idea What the Debt Limit Is

NATIONAL HARBOR, MD - MARCH 8, 2014: Neurosurgeon and author Ben Carson speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC).
Photo Credit: Christopher Halloran / Shutterstock.com

He was asked four times what he thinks about the debt limit.

By Zaid Jilani
October 8, 2015

A group of Republicans continue to threaten to use the U.S. debt limit — the amount of money the Treasury is allowed to borrow in order to pay for obligations already incurred — as a bargaining chip for various policy asks. They did so before in order to force a significant cut to social spending.

Dr. Ben Carson, who is running a strong second for the Republican nomination for the presidency, was on the "Marketplace" radio show [ http://www.marketplace.org/topics/elections/full-interview-dr-ben-carson-economy ] and was asked four times what he thinks about the debt limit. Carson appeared not to know what the debt limit is, confusing it with balancing the budget, which actually has nothing to do with whether the federal government can borrow to meet obligations it has already made.

"Marketplace" host Kai Ryssdal: All right, so let's talk about debt then and the budget. As you know, Treasury Secretary Lew has come out in the last couple of days and said, "We're gonna run out of money, we're gonna run out of borrowing authority, on the fifth of November." Should the Congress, then, and the president not raise the debt limit? Should we default on our debt?

Ben Carson: Let me put it this way: if I were the president, I would not sign an increased budget. Absolutely would not do it. They would have to find a place to cut.

KR: To be clear, it's increasing the debt limit, not the budget, but I want to make sure I understand you. You'd let the United States default rather than raise the debt limit.

BC: No, I would provide the kind of leadership that says, "Get on the stick, guys, and stop messing around, and cut where you need to cut, because we're not raising any spending limits, period."

KR: I'm gonna try one more time, sir. This is debt that's already obligated. Would you not favor increasing the debt limit to pay the debts already incurred?

BC: What I'm saying is what we have to do is restructure the way that we create debt. I mean if we continue along this, where does it stop? It never stops. You're always gonna ask the same question every year. And we're just gonna keep going down that pathway. That's one of the things I think that the people are tired of.

KR: I'm really trying not to be circular here, Dr. Carson, but if you're not gonna raise the debt limit and you're not gonna give specifics on what you're gonna cut, then how are we going to know what you are going to do as president of the United States?

BC: OK, let me try to explain it in a different way. If, in fact, we have a number of different areas that are contributing to the increasing expenditures and the continued expenditures that are putting us further and further into the hole. You're familiar I'm sure with the concept of the fiscal gap.

This wasn't the only economic snafu Carson hit during his interview. The interviewer repeatedly asked Carson to name specific government programs he would axe, and the candidate kept saying he would cut 3 to 4 percent without naming any sort of actual policy he would cut back on. “What I'm not gonna continue to do is supply money for everything. If you have to cut your budget by 3 to 4 percent, that automatically answers your question,” said Carson, which prompted the interviewer to give up and simply move on.

At another point in the interview, Carson was asked how he would approach the income gap. Carson said he would reduce the government debt without explaining how this would actually help reduce inequality. What was interesting was who he blamed for the very idea of suggesting that we redistribute income from the rich back to the middle and poor:

BC: I think our debt is horrendous. … And when people come along and say, “It's the rich people, it's their fault, and if we can take their money and redistribute it, somehow that's gonna solve the problem.” That's an emotional argument, and I think it appeals to our lower elements but it has nothing to do with reality.

It's unclear what Carson means when he refers to “the lower elements.”

At least the interview ended with some levity, with the interviewer asking about the Carson administration and the candidate saying he would beef up the military, get the United States back into space and confront Vladmir Putin. “And just so I'm clear, you're going to do this while balancing the budget, not raising the debt and cutting the size of government?” asked the interviewer. “Exactly,” responded Carson. “OK,” said the interviewer in a dry tone.

Copyright 2015 AlterNet

http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/ben-carson-appears-have-no-idea-what-debt-limit [with comments] [h/t arizona1 ({linked in} http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=117582097 and preceding {and any future following})]

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Ben Carson on gun control, McCarthy dropping out

Published on Oct 8, 2015 by CNN [ http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCupvZG-5ko_eiXAupbDfxWw / http://www.youtube.com/user/CNN , http://www.youtube.com/user/CNN/videos ]

Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson talks to CNN's Wolf Blitzer about his stance on gun control and his reaction to Kevin McCarthy dropping out of the House speaker race.

Ben Carson perfectly explains the Republican position on guns
October 7, 2015
https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2015/10/07/ben-carson-perfectly-explains-the-republican-position-on-guns/ [with comments]

Ben Carson Blames Holocaust On Gun Control
The Anti-Defamation League says these sorts of comments are "historically inaccurate and offensive."
10/08/2015
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/ben-carson-holocaust-gun-control_5616a7aee4b0082030a185c2 [with embedded video, and comments]

Ben Carson Is Wrong on Guns and the Holocaust
By ALAN E. STEINWEIS
Alan E. Steinweis is a professor of history and Holocaust studies at the University of Vermont. He is the author of three books, including, most recently, “Kristallnacht 1938 [ http://www.amazon.com/Kristallnacht-1938-Alan-E-Steinweis/dp/0674036239 ].”
OCT. 14, 2015
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/15/opinion/ben-carson-is-wrong-on-guns-and-the-holocaust.html

Ben Carson Owes the World an Apology

By Lev Raphael
Lev Raphael is the author of My Germany [ http://www.amazon.com/My-Germany-Returns-Parents-Escaped-ebook/dp/B003VS0H10 ] and 24 other books in many genres.
10/09/2015
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lev-raphael/ben-carson-owes-the-world_b_8267080.html [with comments]

A Message for Ben Carson: Please Shut Up About The Holocaust
10.8.15
http://spectator.org/blog/64309/message-ben-carson-please-shut-about-holocaust [with comments]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBrKkT70DIY [with comments]

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Ben Carson on being a black president

Published on Oct 8, 2015 by CNN

Ben Carson addresses a comment Rupert Murdoch made about him being a "real" black president. He also talks to CNN's Wolf Blitzer about Russia, Syria, and the hospital bombing in Afghanistan.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQCtwa_g-Mg [with comments]

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Bill O'Reilly to Ben Carson: 'Are You Really a Creationist?'

Published on Oct 12, 2015 by FoxNewsInsider

Dr. Ben Carson told Bill O'Reilly tonight that the far-left is attacking his faith and beliefs because he refuses to "submit to their nonsense."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBJMTd8jzDs [with comments]

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Ben Carson: Holocaust, Abortion, Roe v. Wade (Full Interview) | Meet The Press | NBC News

Published on Oct 26, 2015 by NBC News [ http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeY0bbntWzzVIaj2z3QigXg / http://www.youtube.com/user/NBCNews , http://www.youtube.com/user/NBCNews/videos ]

In the full "Meet the Press" interview, Dr. Carson clarifies his past statements on abortion, guns and the Holocaust.

[aired October 25, 2015]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kKYDssotsME [with comments]

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Fact Checker: Ben Carson’s unsupported claim that ‘nine out of 10 nonprofits fail’

October 26, 2015
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2015/10/26/ben-carsons-unsupported-claim-that-nine-out-of-10-nonprofits-fail/ [with comments]

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Carson: The Media Has a 'Secular, Progressive Agenda'

Published on Oct 28, 2015 by MRCTV .org [ http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpugeZUO4F8H7YC_H_EDirA / http://www.youtube.com/user/MRCTVdotOrg , http://www.youtube.com/user/MRCTVdotOrg/videos ]

Carson After Debate: Media Have A ‘Secular, Progressive Agenda’ [VIDEO]
10/29/2015
http://dailycaller.com/2015/10/29/carson-after-debate-media-have-a-secular-progressive-agenda-video/ [with this YouTube embedded, and comments]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Evw9CjmEXH0 [with comment]

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Ben Carson Thinks People Are Hunting Him

Published on Oct 31, 2015 by The Young Turks [ http://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1yBKRuGpC1tSM73A0ZjYjQ / http://www.youtube.com/user/TheYoungTurks , http://www.youtube.com/user/TheYoungTurks/videos ]

Ben Carson has asked for Secret Service protection. He believes secular progressive hoards are coming to destroy him. Cenk Uygur, host of the The Young Turks, breaks it down. Tell us what you think in the comment section below.

"When asked on Thursday about his campaign's request for Secret Service protection, Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson said that he is in danger because progressives see him as an "existential threat."

During a radio interview on WABC, host Rita Cosby noted that the Carson campaign hadrequested a Secret Service detail and asked Carson about the threats he has received.

"I’d prefer not to talk about security issues but I have recognized — and people have been telling me for many many months — that I’m in great danger because I challenge the secular progressive movement to the very core," Carson said in response, according to audio posted byBuzzfeed News.”*

*Read more here: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/ben-carson-danger-challenge-progressives

Are Secular Progressives Murderers?
10/28/2015
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/herb-silverman/are-secular-progressives-_b_8397214.html [with comments]

Ben Carson, Donald Trump Receive Secret Service Protection

Trump thinks he would have gotten the protection sooner if he were a Democrat.
11/05/2015
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/ben-carson-donald-trump-secret-service_563b936ee4b0b24aee494089 [with comments]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ykz8bYpF4Tc [with comments]

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Inside Ben Carson’s Cancer Scam

Published on Nov 1, 2015 by Mike Malloy

Ben Carson credited a nutritional supplement for helping save his life from cancer, yet he never mentioned it during interviews about his illness until he started shilling for its manufacturer.

Carson was a spokesman for Mannatech, which claimed its “glyconutrients” could treat cancer, autism, multiple sclerosis, and AIDS. “The wonderful thing about a company like Mannatech is that they recognize that when God made us, He gave us the right fuel,” Carson said in a 2013 speech praising the company. On Wednesday, he denied any involvement with Mannatech.

Full story: http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/10/29/inside-ben-carson-s-cancer-scam.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kks6bDRobDg [with comments]

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Springtime For Grifters

Published on Nov 1, 2015 by Mike Malloy

At one point during Wednesday’s Republican debate, Ben Carson was asked about his involvement with Mannatech, a nutritional supplements company that makes outlandish claims about its products and has been forced to pay $7 million to settle a deceptive-practices lawsuit. The audience booed, and Mr. Carson denied being involved with the company. Both reactions tell you a lot about the driving forces behind modern American politics.

As it happens, Mr. Carson lied. He has indeed been deeply involved with Mannatech, and has done a lot to help promote its merchandise. PolitiFact quickly rated his claim false, without qualification. But the Republican base doesn’t want to hear about it, and the candidate apparently believes, probably correctly, that he can simply brazen it out. These days, in his party, being an obvious grifter isn’t a liability, and may even be an asset.

Full story: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/30/opinion/springtime-for-grifters.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p53RL22OavU [with comments]

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Dr Ben Carson at Cornerstone Church

Published on Nov 9, 2015 by Sherri Burton [ http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCex05jZqUHt5KqqB2j3a41Q / http://www.youtube.com/user/sherribrtn , http://www.youtube.com/user/sherribrtn/videos ]

Nov. 1, 2015

Ben Carson argues that creationism makes more sense because non-believers 'can't tell me where anything came from'
Ben Carson doubled down on creationism while giving a sermon in Nashville, according to a video that was accidentally released
The candidate suggested that some scientific theories require 'a lot more faith than it takes to believe in God'
Carson said God encouraged him to run for president and 'put together an incredible national team'
2 November 2015 | Updated: 3 November 2015
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3300827/Ben-Carson-argues-creationism-makes-sense-non-believers-t-tell-came-from.html [with embedded videos, and comments]

Ben Carson touts creationism during Nashville speech
November 2, 2015
http://www.tennessean.com/story/news/politics/2015/11/01/ben-carson-preaches-visits-at-madison-church/75005896/ [with comments]

Spurious Quotations
A collection of quotations commonly misattributed to Thomas Jefferson.
http://www.monticello.org/site/jefferson/spurious-quotations

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6uHQEWFYJk [no comments yet]

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Carson: 'Secular Progressives' Are Welcome To Ridicule Pyramid Theory

By Tierney Sneed
Published November 5, 2015, 12:47 PM EST

Ben Carson is standing by his Egyptian pyramid theory -- that the pyramids were built by the biblical figure Joseph to store grain -- which has come under scrutiny since Buzzfeed surfaced [ http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/ben-carson-pyramids ] a 1998 video of Carson referencing it.

"Some people believe in the Bible, like I do, and don't find that to be silly at all, and believe that God created the Earth and don't find that to be silly at all." Carson told reporters in Miami during a stop on his book tour. "The secular progressives try to ridicule it any time it comes up and they're welcome to do that."

Carson also defended the idea [ http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/ben-carson-stands-by-pyramid-theory ] Wednesday evening when asked by reporters about it.

"The pyramids were made in a way that they had hermetically sealed compartments. You wouldn’t need hermetically sealed compartments for a sepulcher. You would need that if you were trying to preserve grain for a long period of time,” he said, according to MSNBC [ http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/carson-egyptian-pyramid-theory-says-aliens-werent-involved ].

© 2015 TPM Media LLC

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/ben-carson-pyramid-secular-progressives [with comments], http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eTRvFnrIbaQ [as embedded; with comments]

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Ben Carson speaks out about overcoming violent past

Published on Nov 5, 2015 by Fox News [ http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXIJgqnII2ZOINSWNOGFThA / http://www.youtube.com/user/FoxNewsChannel , http://www.youtube.com/user/FoxNewsChannel/videos ]

GOP frontrunner responds to media accusations on 'The Kelly File'.

and in particular re the portion beginning just following the 5:20 mark, see/compare:
Megyn Kelly farts on live tv
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yAgxIayuoA [perhaps mercifully, one of those that won't embed; appears real enough; with comments] [at/see (linked in) http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=111031526 ]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3PofPbm9fQ [with comments]

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Fact Checker: Ben Carson’s absurd notion that the Founding Fathers had ‘no elected office experience’

(Nikki Boertman/The Commercial Appeal via AP)

By Glenn Kessler
November 5, 2015

“Every signer of the Declaration of Independence had no elected office experience.”
— Dr. Ben Carson, in a Facebook post [ https://www.facebook.com/realbencarson/posts/549786315187839 ], Nov. 4, 2015

Carson, a political novice running for the GOP presidential nomination, made this observation in a late-night Facebook post defending his lack of political experience. As he put it:

“You are absolutely right — I have no political experience. The current Members of Congress have a combined 8,700 years of political experience. Are we sure political experience is what we need. Every signer of the Declaration of Independence had no elected office experience. What they had was a deep belief that freedom is a gift from God. They had a determination to rise up against a tyrannical King.”

Of course, the Declaration of Independence was crafted by a committee charged by the Continental Congress, which was made up of delegates who had been elected by the Colonial assemblies. But we’ll assume that Carson knew that, and instead meant that prior to being elected to Congress, the delegates had had no elected office experience. Is that correct?

The Facts

Let’s start with Thomas Jefferson, the primary writer of the Declaration of Independence. Years earlier, he had been a student at the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg. As luck would have it, the House of Burgesses met there, and so Jefferson as a student was able to witness legislative debates.

The House of Burgesses evolved from the first European-style legislative assembly in the Americas, the General Assembly that was formed in 1619. And in 1769, seven years before penning the Declaration, Jefferson was elected to the House of Burgesses. As an online biography of the signers [ http://www.ushistory.org/Declaration/Signers/index.htm ] said: “It was there that his involvement in revolutionary politics began. He was never a very vocal member, but his writing, his quiet work in committee, and his ability to distill large volumes of information to essence, made him an invaluable member in any deliberative body.”

Now let’s look at the other members of the drafting committee: John Adams (Mass.) was elected to the Massachusetts Assembly in 1770, Benjamin Franklin (Pa.) had been elected to the Pennsylvania Assembly in 1751 and served as speaker in 1764, and Roger Sherman (Conn.) had been elected to the Connecticut General Assembly in 1755. Only Robert R. Livingston (N.Y.) had minimal political experience.

Of the other 51 signers of the Declaration, we count at least 27 as having at least some elected office experience, primarily in Colonial assemblies.

John Hancock, president of the Continental Congress, had been elected to the Boston Assembly and had participated in the Stamp Act Congress, a gathering of elected representatives (from Colonial assemblies) to craft a response to new British tax laws. Some states sent delegations with little political experience, but every member of the seven-person delegation from Virginia had been elected to the Houses of Burgesses.

Carson spokesman Doug Watts responded: “Touche. Four Pinnochios? Or do you give credit for intent?”

The Pinocchio Test

Carson needs to hit the history books, or at least do a Google search. More than half of the signers of the Declaration of Independence had elected office experience.

Indeed, one reason why the American Revolution was successful is because it was led by men with many years in politics, political action and protest, often honed in the debates held in Colonial legislatures. In many ways, the background of the Founding Fathers undercuts the very argument Carson was trying to make.

(Update: After this fact check appeared, Carson’s Facebook post was edited to read “no federal elected office experience.” There was, of course, no “federal” government at the time.)

Four Pinocchios

(About our rating scale [ http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/fact-checker/about-the-fact-checker/ ])

© 2015 The Washington Post (emphasis in original)

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2015/11/05/ben-carsons-absurd-notion-that-the-founding-fathers-had-no-elected-office-experience/ [with comments]

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Ben Carson’s striking ignorance

By James Downie
November 5, 2015

The political press is chortling at BuzzFeed’s story [ http://www.buzzfeed.com/natemcdermott/ben-carson-egyptian-pyramids-built-for-grain-storage-not-by ] that Ben Carson believes Egypt’s pyramids were built for grain storage, not as burial chambers. “My own personal theory is that Joseph built the pyramids to store grain,” he said in a 1998 commencement speech, referring to Genesis 41 [ https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis%2041&version=NIV ], which tells of Joseph storing Egypt’s grain during the “years of plenty” for the coming famine. Carson confirmed to CBS [ http://www.cbsnews.com/news/ben-carsons-unusual-theory-about-pyramids/ ] yesterday that he still believes this, but I’m not sure why this is such a big story. Before Wednesday, we knew that Ben Carson takes the Bible literally. After Wednesday, we knew the exact same thing. Frankly, I don’t care whether the president believes the pyramids were built by Joseph, aliens or the Egyptians themselves levitating the stones into place. What matters are the ideas — and that’s where the focus should be with Carson, since it’s clear he has no idea what he’s talking about.

In the same week, Carson also said that Medicare and Medicaid fraud is “huge — half a trillion dollars.” If true, that would be almost 50 percent of our total spending on the two programs [ http://kff.org/medicare/fact-sheet/medicare-spending-and-financing-fact-sheet/ ]. The real number is somewhere between 3 and 10 percent [ http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=1148376 ] — still a problem, but handing the program to a Carson White House would be like handing the drug war over to someone who believes half the United States is hooked on heroin. In the same Miami Herald interview, Carson was completely stumped by basic questions on U.S.-Cuba policy [ http://miamiherald.typepad.com/nakedpolitics/2015/11/cuba-policy-questions-stump-ben-carson-ahead-of-miami-book-stop.html ], before having no qualms about holding forth on the president’s Cuba policy.

And on Wednesday night on Facebook, Carson defended his lack of experience by claiming [ https://www.facebook.com/realbencarson/posts/549786315187839 ], “Every signer of the Declaration of Independence had no elected office experience.” That is utterly false: Many of the signatories, including Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, had been elected to colonial legislatures or other positions (and indeed were partly chosen for the Continental Congress precisely because of their prominence as elected officials). It’s one thing to be wrong about the pyramids, but Carson can’t cite the Founders both for the basic idea behind his outsider candidacy and for many of his policies when he can’t get their biographies right.

That’s just the past week. Zoom out farther, and we find that Carson has changed his Medicare plan from “End Medicare” to a new version [ http://www.politico.com/story/2015/11/ben-carson-medicare-muddle-215449 ] that doesn’t make any sense. He refuses to acknowledge [ http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2015/nov/04/ben-carson/does-ben-carsons-tithe-based-tax-plan-lead-1-trill/ ] that his tax plan would force trillions of dollars in spending cuts to reach the balanced budget he wants [ https://www.bencarson.com/issues/balanced-budget-amendment ], partly because he or his advisers appear to have no idea what does and doesn’t get taxed. (For example, Carson’s calculation would include taxing all government spending, including defense.) And he has confused the budget and the debt ceiling [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/ben-carson-debt-ceiling_56168f61e4b0e66ad4c6b3ab ]. Those are just some of the specifics he has actually talked about — even the conservative Heritage Action says he needs to release more detailed plans [ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/wp/2015/11/05/the-daily-202-sneak-peek-at-heritage-actions-report-on-the-republican-presidential-candidates/ ]. We haven’t even touched on his many offensive comments about women, the Holocaust, Muslims, gays and so on.

As more and more debates have passed this fall, several commentators [ http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2015-09-17/stop-asking-candidates-tough-questions ] have suggested [ http://www.vox.com/2015/11/4/9666788/case-for-softball-debate-questions ] moderators should retire more confrontational questions (such as “Is this a comic book campaign?” or “another candidate said something bad about you last week; please respond”) and ask more basic things like, “Should the Federal Reserve raise interest rates?” Carson’s lack of knowledge backs up this strategy: If you ask him a more confrontational question, he can just brush it off as an attack by the lamestream media. But give him a wide berth, and he’ll expose his own ignorance. Carson’s words clearly show he will trip up all by himself.

© 2015 The Washington Post

https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/wp/2015/11/05/ben-carsons-striking-ignorance/ [with embedded video, and comments]

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Ben Carson on CNN: Full interview

Published on Nov 6, 2015 by CNN

Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson speaks with CNN's Alisyn Camerota on "New Day."

Ben Carson Bizarrely Attacks CNN Host In Hostile Interview
The network's Alisyn Camerota later said she was "stunned" by the candidate's hostility.
11/06/2015 Edited: 11/07/2015
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/ben-carson-cnn-alisyn-camerota_563d3655e4b0307f2cada1cb [with embedded video, and comments]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRXJOFfN7pM [with comments],
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dL1oWaFbLDk [with comments],
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Kil43tNiHo [with comments]

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Ben Carson strikes back at the press

Published on Nov 6, 2015 by CNN

Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson gets animated with the press at a campaign event Friday.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMA0lCMtn_k [with comments]

*

Ben Carson Destroys Barack Obama

Published on Nov 6, 2015 by The Alex Jones Channel [ http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvsye7V9psc-APX6wV1twLg / http://www.youtube.com/user/TheAlexJonesChannel , http://www.youtube.com/user/TheAlexJonesChannel/videos ]

Ben Carson goes after Barack Obama in a way that most people would never have expected.

Losing It

November 6, 2015
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/losing-it--5 [with embedded video]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfTnRQsNQMw [with comments]

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Scrutinizing Ben Carson

Published on Nov 6, 2015 by Fox News

'The O'Reilly Factor': Bill O'Reilly's Talking Points 11/6

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_QCjqL8u10g [with comments]

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Ben Carson's Rap Music Video Campaign Ad

Published on Nov 7, 2015 by The Young Turks

Ben Carson’s Republican policies aren’t very appealing to most African Americans. Needing the support of this key demographic, he decided to put out a political rap. It doesn’t seem like it’s going to work. Cenk Uygur, host of the The Young Turks, breaks it down. Tell us what you think in the comment section below.

"Ben Carson has made his contribution to the annals of awkward rap ads promoting Republican presidential hopefuls, and it's awful. The GOP front runner's new radio advertisement features some confounding rhymes—"Vote and support Ben Carson. For the next president, he’d be awesome"—to try and add some hip hop credibility to the neurosurgeon's soft-spoken way with words.

While Carson himself isn't doing any of the rapping, he did provide the somber voiceover with such lines as:

"I'm very hopeful I'm not the only one who's willing to pick up the baton of freedom, because freedom is not free and we must fight for it everyday.””*

*Read more here: http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2015/11/hate-listen-to-ben-carsons-new-rap-song

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0slwsUvIkFk [with comments]

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Ben Carson Answers Questions On His Past (Full Interview) | Meet The Press | NBC News

Published on Nov 9, 2015 by NBC News

In the full "Meet the Press" interview, GOP Presidential candidate Dr. Ben Carson addresses recent reporting about his time at Yale, his violent past and the presidential vetting process.

[aired November 8, 2015]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvvff396Rqg [with comments]

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Pathological: Most Of Ben Carson’s Life Is A Lie

Published on Nov 9, 2015 by The Young Turks

Ben Carson is a guy who’s been getting a lot of media attention because he’s currently polling first among GOP primary candidates. Also, he has a long history of lying that is now coming back to haunt him. His main defense appears to be whining about “gotcha” questions. Cenk Uygur, host of the The Young Turks, breaks it down. Tell us what you think in the comment section below.

"The Wall Street Journal fact-checked another claim in the retired neurosurgeon's 1990 autobiography, "Gifted Hands," and found more evidence of a potentially fabricated story. The Journal's Reid Epstein reported:

"Mr. Carson writes of a Yale psychology professor who told Mr. Carson, then a junior, and the other students in the class—identified by Mr. Carson as Perceptions 301—that their final exam papers had “inadvertently burned,” requiring all 150 students to retake it. The new exam, Mr. Carson recalled in the book, was much tougher. All the students but Mr. Carson walked out.

The professor came toward me. With her was a photographer for the Yale Daily News who paused and snapped my picture,” Mr. Carson wrote. “‘A hoax,’ the teacher said. ‘We wanted to see who was the most honest student in the class.’” Mr. Carson wrote that the professor handed him a $10 bill."

However, The Journal spoke with Yale Librarian Claryn Spies, who said that there was never a class called Perceptions 301 at the school, and a search of YDN turned up no sign of such a picture.

It's another confounding instance of inaccuracies in anecdotes about the life and belief system of Carson.”*

*Read More: http://www.businessinsider.com/wall-street-journal-says-ben-carson-lied-about-being-most-honest-student-while-at-yale-2015-11

A tale of two Carsons
NEW: Ben Carson: Names of some victims of childhood violence are 'fictitious'
At the core of Ben Carson's narrative of spiritual redemption are his acts of violence as an angry young man
But nine friends, classmates and neighbors who grew up with Carson told CNN they have no memory of the anger or violence the candidate has described
November 5, 2015, Updated November 7, 2015
http://www.cnn.com/2015/11/05/politics/ben-carson-2016-childhood-violence/ [with embedded videos, and comments]

Ben Carson’s Past Faces Deeper Questions
Nov. 6, 2015
http://www.wsj.com/article_email/ben-carsons-past-faces-deeper-questions-1446861864-lMyQjAxMTI1NTAxNzgwMTcxWj [with embedded videos, and comments]

The Young Turks November 9, 2015 Hour 1
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLTpcK80irdQj9axric9sdgeN4WjV3AVih

Catfight: Bill O’Reilly Vs. George Will
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=POjNm9Wojyw

Trump: Steal Iraqi Oil
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-D5HX2Zd7s

David Vitter Hates Solar Subsidies, Loves Oil Subsidies
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qe7RksR5UW4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=22ZOuq-uRQc [with comments]

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Watch Ben Carson Deliver A Bunch Of Word Salad On The Middle East
It'll make your eyes glaze over.
11/11/2015
[...]
[from the November 10, 2015 main event GOP Debate, second item this post:]
"QUESTION: Dr. Carson, you were against putting troops on the ground in Iraq and against a large military force in Afghanistan. Do you support the president's decision to now put 50 special ops forces in Syria and leave 10,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan?
CARSON: Well, putting the special ops people in there is better than not having them there, because they -- that's why they're called special ops, they're actually able to guide some of the other things that we're doing there.
And what we have to recognize is that Putin is trying to really spread his influence throughout the Middle East. This is going to be his base. And we have to oppose him there in an effective way.
We also must recognize that it's a very complex place. You know, the Chinese are there, as well as the Russians, and you have all kinds of factions there.
What we've been doing so far is very ineffective, but we can't give up ground right there. But we have to look at this on a much more global scale. We're talking about global jihadists. And their desire is to destroy us and to destroy our way of life. So we have to be saying, how do we make them look like losers? Because that's the way that they're able to gather a lot of influence.
And I think in order to make them look like losers, we have to destroy their caliphate. And you look for the easiest place to do that? It would be in Iraq. And if -- outside of Anbar in Iraq, there's a big energy field. Take that from them. Take all of that land from them. We could do that, I believe, fairly easily, I've learned from talking to several generals, and then you move on from there.
But you have to continue to face them, because our goal is not to contain them, but to destroy them before they destroy us."
[...]
Allahpundit
@allahpundit
Still traumatized by that Carson answer on Syria and Iraq
8:11 PM - 10 Nov 2015
[ https://twitter.com/allahpundit/status/664294304244875265 ]
[...]
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/ben-carson-middle-east-debate_5643412fe4b06037734705e1 [with embedded video, and comments]

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Dr. Ben Carson on The Sean Hannity Radio Show (11/11/2015)

Published on Nov 12, 2015 by Citizen_Of_The_Planet [ http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCm5RmlRF3J7nz8QSg3RJ2yw , http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCm5RmlRF3J7nz8QSg3RJ2yw/videos ]

Dr. Ben Carson gives his reaction to the GOP Fox Business Debate

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uw0VLCkVPeE [no comments yet]

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Dr. Ben Carson - Liberty University Convocation

Published on Nov 12, 2015 by Liberty University

On November 11th, 2015, at Convocation, North America’s largest weekly gathering of Christian students, Dr. Ben Carson spoke to students about the special nature of the American dream and the American people. He encouraged students to aspire to achieve greatness.

Dr. Ben Carson is a candidate for the Republican nomination for President and a retired neurosurgeon.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uL3ywB3ycgY [comments disabled]

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Ben Carson: We're being too tolerant of infantile behavior

Published on Nov 13, 2015 by Fox News

Candidate speaks out on 'The Kelly File' about offended college campus activists

[aired November 11, 2015]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zrh0aL_-U5M [with comments]

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Ben Carson Wants Jail Time For Health Care Fraud -- Except For Friends

Ben Carson described Alfonso A. Costa, who was convicted of defrauding insurance companies, as "one my closest, if not my very closest friend."
ASSOCIATED PRESS

"We became friends about a decade ago because we discovered that we were so much alike and shared the same values and principles that govern our lives."

By MICHAEL BIESECKER AND EILEEN SULLIVAN
Posted: 11/12/2015 06:42 AM EST | Edited: 11/12/2015 10:01 AM EST

WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican presidential contender Ben Carson has maintained a business relationship with a close friend convicted of defrauding insurance companies and testified on his behalf, even as the candidate has called for such crimes to be punished harshly.

Pittsburgh dentist Alfonso A. Costa pleaded guilty to a felony count of health care fraud after an FBI probe into his oral surgery practice found he had charged for procedures he never performed, according to court records.

Though the crime carries a potential sentence of up to 10 years in federal prison, Costa was able to avoid prison time after Carson helped petition a federal judge for leniency.

That's different from the position Carson took in 2013 as he prepared to launch his presidential campaign, saying those convicted of health care fraud should go to prison for at least a decade and be forced to forfeit "all of one's personal possessions."

At Costa's 2008 sentencing hearing, Carson described the dentist as "one my closest, if not my very closest friend."

"We became friends about a decade ago because we discovered that we were so much alike and shared the same values and principles that govern our lives," Carson told the judge, adding that their families vacationed together and that they were involved in "joint projects."

"Next to my wife of 32 years, there is no one on this planet that I trust more than Al Costa," Carson said.

Costa has served on the board of Carson's charity, the Carson Scholars Fund, and continues to lead the charity's fundraising efforts in the Pittsburgh area to provide $1,000 college scholarships to children in need.

Before his criminal conviction and the revocation of his license to practice dentistry, Costa built a multimillion-dollar fortune through commercial real estate. Investments Carson and his wife made through Costa earn the couple between $200,000 and $2 million a year, according to financial records that Carson was required to file when he declared his candidacy.

Costa also continues to promote his involvement with Carson's charity as part of his real estate business, prominently featuring the logo of the Carson Scholars Fund on the company's website. His son has worked with Carson's presidential campaign and a political committee founded by the retired neurosurgeon.

Doug Watts, the campaign's spokesman, said Wednesday he was unable to immediately respond to specific questions about land deals involving Carson and Costa. The AP contacted Watts on Tuesday and again Wednesday.

"I will confirm they are best friends and that they do hold business investments together," Watts said.

Costa did not respond to messages seeking comment.

The breadth of the two men's business ties has not been previously reported, partly because details can be obscured in property and incorporation records. Costa's company and its affiliates own properties in at least five states and overseas.

In 2007, a few months before Costa was charged, records show that a pair of corporations was established in Pennsylvania called BenCan LLC, and INBS LLC. Carson and his wife are listed as the sole members of the companies. Though the Carsons live outside Baltimore, the mailing address on the incorporation forms was Costa's home address in Pittsburgh.

BenCan and INBS then paid more than $3 million to purchase an office building in suburban Pittsburgh. The mailing address for the corporations listed on the deed matches the office of Costa's real estate firm, Costa Land Co.

That September, federal prosecutors charged Costa, accusing him of fraud committed over a nearly five-year period, according to court records. Investigators determined that Costa's dental practice charged more than 50 patients for procedures that had not been performed, resulting in a loss of more than $40,000 to insurance companies.

After Costa pleaded guilty, 40 of his family members, friends and dental patients wrote letters to the judge as character witnesses. Carson was one of three people who also testified at Costa's 2008 sentencing hearing, stressing his friend's charitable works and vouching for his personal integrity. Also testifying on Costa's behalf was Jerome Bettis, a beloved former Pittsburgh Stealers running back who had helped bring home a Super Bowl trophy to the city two years earlier.

The government urged the judge to make an example of Costa.

"Reduction of a sentence based on good works by a wealthy person can create the appearance that a defendant's financial resources and prominent connections can skew the justice system in ways not available to persons of lesser means," a prosecutor told the judge.

In the end, Costa got no prison time. He was sentenced to one year of house arrest and 100 hours of community service, and ordered to pay more than $294,000 in fines and restitution. Costa later got 12 months shaved off his three-year probation.

Though Costa was assigned to serve his sentence in his 8,300-square-foot mansion in nearby Fox Chapel, his lawyers repeatedly returned to court to seek permission for him to travel. A few months after starting his sentence, Costa asked to travel to the White House as one of 10 invited guests at a June 2008 ceremony where President George W. Bush presented Carson with the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

The judge denied that request, though Costa was later allowed to take a month-long trip to the Italian coast while on probation to handle what his lawyer described as urgent business at a resort he owns.

Carson's appeal for leniency toward Costa contradicts the draconian criminal penalties he called for in his 2013 political treatise, "America the Beautiful." In his book, Carson wrote that anyone found guilty of health care fraud should face what he called the "Saudi Arabian Solution."

"Why don't people steal very often in Saudi Arabia?" Carson asked. "Obviously because the punishment is the amputation of one or more fingers. I would not advocate chopping off people's limbs, but there would be some very stiff penalties for this kind of fraud, such as loss of one's medical license for life, no less than 10 years in prison, and loss of all of one's personal possessions."

Despite the tough-on-crime message, Carson and his wife kept their investment with Costa in the years since his conviction. Tax bills for the Pittsburgh office building owned by the couple are mailed to Costa Land Co. A recent lease for a portion of the property was signed on the Carsons' behalf by the president of Costa's company.

Associated Press researcher Monika Mathur in Washington contributed to this report.

© 2015 Associated Press

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/ben-carson-health-care-fraud_564472f0e4b060377347c912 [with comments]

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The Adventures of Young Ben Carson

Saturday Night Live
Season 41 | Episode 5 | Highlight | 11/14/2015 | 3:44

A young Ben Carson (Jay Pharoah) meets Black Jesus (Kenan Thompson) after trying to attack his mom (Leslie Jones) with a hammer.

© 2015 NBC Universal

http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/young-ben-carson/2937467 / http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/young-ben-carson/2937467?onid=245776#vc245776=1 [the above YouTube of the bit at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8YZaiouRmg (with comments), another at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BA_5b1-Ax8I (with comments)]

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Ben Carson Is Struggling to Grasp Foreign Policy, Advisers Say

Ben Carson after a news conference in Henderson, Nev., on Monday.
Credit David Becker/Reuters

Duane R. Clarridge, former C.I.A. agent and adviser to Ben Carson.
Credit Mike Wintroath/Associated Press

By TRIP GABRIEL
NOV. 17, 2015

Ben Carson [ http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/05/04/us/elections/ben-carson.html ]’s remarks on foreign policy have repeatedly raised questions about his grasp of the subject, but never more seriously than in the past week, when he wrongly asserted that China had intervened militarily in Syria and then failed, on national television, to name the countries he would call on to form a coalition to fight the Islamic State.

Faced with increasing scrutiny about whether Mr. Carson, who leads in some Republican presidential polls, was capable of leading American foreign policy, two of his top advisers said in interviews that he had struggled to master the intricacies of the Middle East and national security and that intense tutoring was having little effect.

Nobody has been able to sit down with him and have him get one iota of intelligent information about the Middle East,” said Duane R. Clarridge, a top adviser to Mr. Carson on terrorism and national security. He also said Mr. Carson needed weekly conference calls briefing him on foreign policy so “we can make him smart.”

As the deadly assaults in Paris claimed by the Islamic State reframe the presidential race, the candidates’ foreign policy credentials are suddenly under scrutiny. And Mr. Carson has attracted extra attention because his statements give rise to questions about where, as a retired neurosurgeon without government experience, he turns for information and counsel on complex global issues. What is unusual is the candor of those who are tutoring him about his struggle to master the subject.

In last week’s Republican debate, speaking of the turmoil in Syria, Mr. Carson said that “the Chinese are there.”

Both the White House and China denied that China had intervened militarily in Syria.

This week, Mr. Carson’s advisers said that his source for claiming Chinese involvement in Syria was a telephone conversation he had had with a freelance American intelligence operative in Iraq.

According to notes of the briefing kept by a Carson aide who was also on the line, the operative said, “Multiple reports have surfaced that Chinese military advisers are on the ground in Syria, operating with Russian special operations personnel.”

Mr. Clarridge, 83, a former C.I.A. agent who had connected Mr. Carson with the operative in Iraq, said on Monday that the information was wrong. The operative in Iraq had “overleaped” in suggesting that Chinese troops are in Syria, Mr. Clarridge said, adding of the operative, “You know how it goes when people are desperate for some headline.”

Mr. Clarridge, described by Mr. Carson’s top adviser, Armstrong Williams, as “a mentor for Dr. Carson,” is a colorful, even legendary figure [ http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/23/world/23clarridge.html ] in intelligence circles, someone who could have stepped out of a Hollywood thriller. He was a longtime C.I.A. officer, serving undercover in India, Turkey, Italy and other countries, and sprinkles his remarks with salty language. During the Reagan administration, he helped found the agency’s Counterterrorism Center and ran the C.I.A.’s Latin American division.

Indicted on charges of lying to Congress in the Iran-contra scandal (he was later pardoned), Mr. Clarridge today runs a private network of intelligence sources, including, he said, experts on Iran, China and the Middle East, who have all briefed Mr. Carson in phone calls or Skype sessions.

Mr. Clarridge, who contacted Mr. Carson nearly two years ago to offer his services without pay, has helped the candidate prepare for debates. But the briefings do not always seem to sink in, Mr. Clarridge said. After Mr. Carson struggled on “Fox News Sunday” to say whom he would call first to form a coalition against the Islamic State, Mr. Clarridge called Mr. Williams in frustration. “We need to have a conference call once a week where his guys roll out the subjects they think will be out there, and we can make him smart,” Mr. Clarridge said he told Mr. Williams.

Mr. Williams, one of Mr. Carson’s closest friends, who does not have an official role in the campaign, also lamented the Fox News interview. “He’s been briefed on it so many times,” he said. “I guess he just froze.”

Mr. Carson, 64, who retired as one the world’s foremost pediatric neurosurgeons, has sometimes struggled to adapt his thoughtful manner and speaking style to the rat-a-tat of debates and TV interviews. “Sometimes he overthinks things,” Mr. Williams said, adding that he had spoken to Mr. Carson after the Fox News stumble. “I could tell, talking to him, it was a bummer for him.”

After this article was posted online, the Carson campaign issued a statement saying The New York Times had taken advantage of Mr. Clarridge, “an elderly gentleman.” Mr. Williams had referred The Times to Mr. Clarridge, describing him as one of Mr. Carson’s top advisers on foreign policy and providing his phone number.

Once written off by political insiders, Mr. Carson has rocketed to the top tier of candidates and has traded off a lead in recent polls with Donald J. Trump.

But the stress of his ascent has revealed an inexperienced political operation and a lack of connections to informed and respected advisers. Whereas Jeb Bush can call on dozens of experts from the foreign policy establishment who once worked for the administrations of his father and brother, Mr. Carson so far has only one paid national security adviser, Robert F. Dees, a retired Army general on the staff of Liberty University in Virginia. The Carson campaign has also set up conversations between the candidate and senior foreign affairs officials from past administrations, including former secretaries of state, Mr. Williams said.

One official, Michael V. Hayden, a former C.I.A. director, described a conversation he had had with Mr. Carson to MSNBC last week. “I had one lengthy phone call with Ben Carson two months ago,” Mr. Hayden said, “and his instincts are all right, but this is a database in which he’s very unfamiliar.”

Mr. Dees, a West Point graduate whose biography lists commands in Korea and Europe, met Mr. Carson in February. He said they had since “locked ourselves up in a hotel room a couple of different sessions and took walks around the world.”

He also provides Mr. Carson with a regular national security update, with material from a group of retired military officers, business leaders and “ambassador-level type guys,” he said, some of whom the campaign plans to identify shortly.

Mr. Dees’s portrait of Mr. Carson differed from Mr. Clarridge’s. “Dr. Carson is an amazing intellect,” he said. “He has the right stuff to be commander in chief.”

On Facebook, where the campaign connects to its vast grass-roots army, two of his top campaign aides posted a video on Monday highlighting his “Fox News Sunday” interview with no hint of Mr. Carson’s private acknowledgment that he had performed poorly. The Facebook page included what it said was supporting evidence [ https://www.facebook.com/realbencarson/photos/a.143829065783568.1073741825.138691142964027/555567407943063 ] of Mr. Carson’s claim of Chinese involvement in Syria: a satellite image of a purported Chinese-made radar system in Syria, and a Syrian soldier posing on a Chinese-made armored vehicle.

But the effort to claim that Mr. Carson had meant only that there was Chinese-made matériel in Syria, not military personnel, was contradicted by his top Middle East adviser, Mr. Clarridge.
Continue reading the main story

He blamed his operative, who had spoken to Mr. Carson before last week’s Republican debate. The operative, who had visited the Kurd-controlled city of Erbil in Iraq, described unconfirmed intelligence he had gleaned about disguised Russian soldiers working in Kurdistan.

“Russian special forces are staying in the Titanic Hotel in Sulaymaniya,” the operative said, according to notes recorded by Mr. Williams. “They frequent an Irish pub in the hotel bar.”

“The jump from Erbil and Soviets” to the Chinese in Damascus “is a long leap,” Mr. Clarridge said, using an ethnic slur for the Chinese.

Mark Mazzetti contributed reporting.

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© 2015 The New York Times Company

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/18/us/politics/ben-carson-is-struggling-to-grasp-foreign-policy-advisers-say.html [with comments]

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Adviser Acknowledges Carson Struggling With Foreign Policy

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
NOV. 17, 2015, 6:42 P.M. E.S.T.

Some advisers to Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson say he is struggling to grasp the complexities of foreign policy, his closest confidant said Tuesday, acknowledging their frustration while adding the political newcomer is making progress.

"I'd say he's 75 percent of the way there," said Armstrong Williams, Carson's longtime business manager. "The world is a complex place, and he wants to get it right."

A story published Tuesday by The New York Times quoted one of Carson's advisers as saying the retired neurosurgeon, who is making his first run for public office, is having trouble understanding foreign policy despite intense briefings on the subject.

"Nobody has been able to sit down with him and have him get one iota of intelligent information about the Middle East," Duane R. Clarridge, a former CIA official, told the newspaper. Clarridge added that Carson needs weekly conference calls to brief him on foreign policy, so "we can make him smart."

The Carson campaign reacted swiftly to the Times' story, casting Clarridge in a statement as "an elderly gentleman" who isn't part of Carson's inner circle.

"He is coming to the end of a long career of serving our country. Mr. Clarridge's input to Dr. Carson is appreciated, but he is clearly not one of Dr. Carson's top advisers," said Carson spokesman Doug Watts.

But Williams, who has no official role with Carson' campaign but regularly talks to the candidate, acknowledged in an interview with The Associated Press that advisers beyond Clarridge are distressed at the pace of Carson's progress.

Williams estimates Carson has been spending "40 percent of his time" in foreign policy briefings in recent weeks.

"I know they're frustrated," Williams said of the team advising Carson. "They know that Dr. Carson is bright. He understands. ... There's just so much there."

For his part, Carson said Tuesday that he is treating his foreign policy education like medical education, diving into reading materials and discussions with experts with diplomatic and military backgrounds.

"It's an ongoing process," he said during a satellite interview with WHO-TV in Des Moines. "In medicine we have something called CME — continuing medical education — that recognizes that you never become a know it all, you always are continuing to learn."

Carson recently mistakenly suggested that China is militarily engaged in the Syrian civil war and offered sometimes meandering answers in an interview with Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace a few days after the Paris attacks.

Williams added that too much is being made of Carson's appearance on Fox News Sunday. Along with delving into the hypothetical of a shooting war with Russia, Carson demurred when Wallace pressed him on which countries he would call first in attempting to build a coalition to fight Islamic State militants.

"Of course he knows the answer to that question," Williams said, arguing that Carson was "being dismissive" because he didn't think the question was relevant to the bigger picture.

"Sometimes it's a matter of style, not substance," Williams said, adding that it's "outrageous" to suggest Carson can't name existing or potential U.S. allies.

Williams, meanwhile, told AP that Clarridge is entitled to his view, but rejected the notion that Carson is less qualified or capable than any of his rivals.

"I don't know anybody on that stage who has extensive experience in foreign affairs," Williams said, adding: "They depend on researchers. They depend on staff. They all depend on talking points."

Williams, who sometimes advises Carson on how to deal with journalists, said he spoke with the candidate Tuesday about having to engage with questioners even if he doesn't like the format or the questions.

"We had a very deep conversation today," Williams said. "He realizes he has to get better at all of it. He can and he will."

Associated Press writer Catherine Lucey in Des Moines, Iowa, contributed to this report.

© 2015 Associated Press

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2015/11/17/us/politics/ap-us-gop-2016-carson-foreign-policy.html

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Ben Carson likens Syrian refugees to 'rabid dogs'

Republican presidential hopeful Dr Ben Carson
Getty Images

A group of migrants walks to a refugee reception centre after arriving by raft from Turkey onto the island of Lesbos

The leading Republican was speaking at a campaign event in Alabama

Andrew Buncombe, New York
Thursday 19 November 2015

The debate over whether to allow Syrian refugees to settle in the US took a dark twist after a leading presidential candidate likened those fleeing the violence in the Middle East to “rabid dogs”.

Republican Ben Carson told a campaign event in Mobile, Alabama, that allowing Syrian migrants into the US could put Americans at risk.

“If there is a rabid dog running around your neighborhood, you’re probably not going to assume something good about that dog,” he said on Thursday, according to Reuters [ http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/11/20/us-usa-election-carson-idUSKCN0T82TJ20151120 ].

“By the same token, we have to have in place screening mechanisms that allow us to determine who the mad dogs are, quite frankly.”

The US is riven by debate over whether or not to permit the entry of refugees fleeing Syria, which has suffered from the violence of more than four years of civil war.

President Barack Obama has said he wants to admit 10,000 refugees within a year, after close vetting.

A number of campaigners have called that figure too low and pointed to nations such as Germany that have accepted hundreds of thousands of people.

But in the US, a number of Republicans have suggested Mr Obama is allow too many to enter. The governors of more than 30 states have said they do not want refugees from Syria and will do all they can to block them.

Peggy Reilly
@pegallreilledup
Dear Dr. Carson: We need protection from RABID thinkers, haters like U. POTUS, Commander In Chief? HELL NO-I wouldn't trust my dog with U.
2:54 PM - 19 Nov 2015
[ https://twitter.com/pegallreilledup/status/667445801052971009 ]

Two Syrian families were forced to travel to Connecticut [ http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/syrian-family-to-settle-in-connecticut-after-indiana-turns-them-away-a6739741.html ] after the governor of Indiana, where they were initially due to be settled, said they would not be welcome there.

On the same day that Mr Carson spoke, the US House of Representatives passed Republican-backed legislation to suspend Mr Obama’s programme to passed admit the 10,000 refugees in the next year. The president has said he would veto any such legislation.

Concern in the US about the purported danger presented by the refugees - something for which Mr Obama mocked Republicans - has intensified after an unconfirmed report that one of the Paris attackers may have entered Europe among migrants registered in Greece.

Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations, denounced Mr Carson's comments as “unconscionable”, saying they pointed to a "complete disregard” for American Muslims.

“It really is unconscionable that he would stoop to such levels in smearing people who are fleeing violence and oppression, seeking a better life. Something he, himself, would do if put in the same circumstances,” he said.

Mr Carson has called for Congress to cut off funding to programs used to bring refugees into the country.

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Roanoke mayor uses internment camps to justify refusing Syrians
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US governors possess no legal authority to refuse Syrian refugees
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-governors-possess-no-legal-authority-to-refuse-syrian-refugees-a6738436.html

Copyright 2015 Independent.co.uk

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/ben-carson-likens-syrian-refugees-to-rabid-dogs-a6741226.html [with comments], http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZQ9zjWU8Kw [with comments]

--

Real Time with Bill Maher: New Rules – November 20, 2015 (HBO)

Published on Nov 20, 2015 by Real Time with Bill Maher [ http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCy6kyFxaMqGtpE3pQTflK8A / http://www.youtube.com/user/RealTime , http://www.youtube.com/user/RealTime/videos ]

Bill Maher issues his latest decrees for society and makes the case against electing politicians who believe we are living in the End Times.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=db9T5Bct3F0 [with comments]

--

Ben Carson Thinks Giving Up Certain Torture Techniques Would Be Too PC

Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson wouldn't rule out the use of torture on terrorism suspects.
Mike Kittrell/Associated Press

He won't rule out waterboarding of terrorism suspects.

By Arthur Delaney
Posted: 11/22/2015 11:32 AM EST

WASHINGTON -- Famed neurosurgeon and Republican presidential hopeful Ben Carson wouldn't rule out torturing terrorism suspects on ABC's "This Week with George Stephanopoulos" Sunday.

Stephanopoulos asked Carson if he agreed with GOP candidate Donald Trump that the U.S. should resume waterboarding, an "enhanced interrogation technique" President Barack Obama discontinued [ http://www.newsweek.com/obamas-order-ends-bush-era-interrogation-tactics-77965 ] in 2009.

"There's no such thing as political correctness when you're fighting an enemy who wants to destroy you," Carson said, "and I'm not one who's real big on telling the enemy on what we're going to do and what we're not going to do."

Carson also said he favored surveillance of mosques, essentially repeating something he said on Saturday [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/donald-trump-muslim-database_5650ae0ce4b0258edb31c230 ].

"We should monitor anything -- mosque, church, school, you know, shopping center -- where there's a lot of radicalization going on," Carson said.

Though extensive surveillance apparently doesn't trigger any constitutional concerns for Carson, when Stephanopoulos asked about blocking people on terror watch lists from buying guns, Carson worried about the Second Amendment.

"There are a lot of people on that watch list and they have no idea of why they're on that list, they have been trying to get their names off of it and no one will give them information," Carson said. "I am a big supporter of the Second Amendment and I don't want to deprive people unnecessarily of that. There needs to be better due process."

Copyright © 2015 TheHuffingtonPost.com, Inc.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/ben-carson-waterboarding_5651df1ae4b0879a5b0b5c7c [with comments]

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Ben Carson Walks Back Comments About Seeing Muslims Cheering On 9/11

Greensburg, KS - 5/4/07

"Eternal vigilance is the price of Liberty."
from John Philpot Curran, Speech
upon the Right of Election, 1790

F6

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