President Obama was on CNN [Thursday] night for a national “town hall” discussion about gun control. Of course, it was no such thing. It was political theater with an audience tilted heavily toward Obama’s agenda.

By the way, CNN’s Anderson Cooper explained at the beginning of the event how it came to happen. He said:

“We are here tonight to talk about one of the most divisive issues in America today: guns. Now, protection is enshrined in the Constitution and the Second Amendment, and gun ownership is an integral part of American history and culture…

"This town hall is not something the White House dreamed up or that the White House organized. CNN approached the White House shortly after the San Bernardino terror attacks with this idea, and we’re pleased … to welcome tonight the president of the United States, Barack Obama.”

So in response to a radical Islamist attack, CNN thinks we need a national debate about the constitutional right of Americans to bear arms.

In response to a terrorist attack — not Sandy Hook, not the Colorado theater shooting, not any routine multiple-murder weekend in Chicago — our left-wing president finally decides to make his move on guns. He seems more agitated with supporters of the Second Amendment than with supporters of Sharia law!

Beyond making it more difficult for law-abiding Americans to exercise their Second Amendment rights, the president’s proposals aren’t going to accomplish anything meaningful. Even the Associated Press agrees.

The Discussion We Need

What we ought to be debating is the president’s continued abuse of power. According to CNN’s own polling, 54% of Americans “disapprove of Obama’s decision to go around Congress and implement changes to gun policy by using executive power.” A new Rasmussen poll finds that 58% of Americans oppose Obama’s unilateral actions.

If the president wants to change the laws, he should go back to the Senate and offer amendments or new legislation.

Rep. Steven Palazzo (R-MS) has introduced a resolution to formally censure President Obama for exceeding his authority. Of course a censure resolution has no legal implications for Obama. But at a minimum, Congress should go on the record saying, “We object!” That formal statement could be useful in a future court challenge to these orders.

And speaking of court challenges, here’s something else Congress could do to reassert its authority as a co-equal branch of government: Refuse to confirm anymore Obama nominations, including judicial nominations.

Many of Obama’s actions are being challenged in the courts. But the chances of success will be slim if the Senate continues to confirm Obama-nominated left-wing judicial activists to the bench.

Europe Under Siege

There is a huge scandal sweeping Europe. It has been making headlines overseas for much of the past week, and [Friday] The Washington Post finally noticed, although it buried the story on page A12.

During New Year’s celebrations in Cologne, Germany, dozens of women and girls were sexually assaulted. Normally, this would cause massive outrage in big media. There would be marches by feminists, demands for sensitivity training and the end of white male privilege. But there was none of that. Instead, there was a virtual media blackout.

How could that be? The explanation is telling. The perpetrators of these attacks were migrants from North Africa and the Middle East. Roughly 1,000 young Muslim men essentially took over the square outside of the main train station in Cologne and assaulted virtually every woman who passed through the area.

A report written by a German law enforcement official stated that “Women, accompanied or not, literally ran a ‘gauntlet’ through masses of heavily intoxicated men that words cannot describe.”

More than 100 women have filed complaints of rape and sexual assault. Their reports were initially ignored by local officials. In fact, the authorities were quick to condemn Germans for their racism and bigotry. But the women took to social media and eventually the details started getting out.

Days later it became obvious that Cologne wasn’t an anomaly. This happened in virtually every major German city. Yet the local governments initially tried to suppress the news. They were more worried about defending left-wing views of multiculturalism than they were about acknowledging the assaults and arresting the thugs.

The one million migrants who entered Germany last year brought a culture with them that most Germans will find intolerable. The rioters were doing what their culture teaches, which is that women, particularly infidel women, are possessions.

Similar assaults took place in other European countries, too. In Helsinki, Finland, hundreds of Iraqi refugees and asylum seekers took over the city’s central railway station. More than a dozen men were arrested for sexual assaults.

What kind of asylum seekers engage in attacks against the women of their host country? I’m not aware of previous instances of “guests” coming to a country and within weeks engaging in such offensive behavior.

What I do know from history is that it is, sadly, not unusual for a conquering army to rape and abuse the women of the nation it occupies. When conservatives described the mass influx of a million mostly male Muslims from the Middle East into Europe, some said it looked like an invasion by an occupying army rather than an influx of migrants.

Of course, the mainstream media on both sides of the Atlantic condemned such statements as racist and bigoted. That same media is strangely silent now. Thankfully, at least one German news outlet is apologizing for sacrificing the truth on the altar of political correctness.

By the way, this story is relevant to us as news broke [Friday] morning that “refugees” in California and Texas have been arrested for conspiring to carry out ISIS inspired attacks. The governors who stood up to the president, and who were condemned by the media for doing so, were right.

Also in the news, a Philadelphia police officer was shot three times [Thursday] night in an assassination attempt. Fortunately, Officer Jesse Hartnett survived. He was able to return fire, hitting his assailant.

We don’t know the attackers name, but he reportedly made a full confession, saying he attacked Officer Hartnett in the name of Islam.