[Thursday] night’s Republican debate thankfully had a lot less vitriol and a good discussion of the issues. There were clear policy differences, but the exchanges avoided the schoolyard taunts that have dominated previous debates.

Perhaps the best example of the new-found civility came when Donald Trump tried to explain that while he was pro-Israel, he would, nevertheless, maintain a position of neutrality between the Israelis and Palestinians during any peace talks.

Senator Rubio responded that such a position was still anti-Israel because it is impossible to negotiate with the Palestinian Authority, which is committed to Israel’s destruction. But Rubio gave Trump the benefit of the doubt, saying, “Maybe that’s not your intent.”

After all the negative press from the previous debate, Trump was clearly trying to appear presidential. It will be interesting to see whether he can still command the loyalty of his supporters while sounding like a more conventional candidate.

Islam & Hate

During the debate, moderator Jake Tapper brought up Trump’s comment, “Islam hates us.” Tapper asked, “Did you mean all 1.6 billion Muslims?” Clearly the media and the left thought Trump’s statement was beyond the pale.

But the facts are clear. There have been multiple polls throughout the Muslim world showing that United States is not held in high esteem. Christians and Jews are not well liked either.

Christian refugees coming from the Middle East had to be segregated for their own safety because they were still subjected to attacks and violence from the Muslims in the refugee camps. Remember the African Christians who were thrown off of a refugee boat and drowned to death because they were praying?

Majority Muslim nations are intolerant of all religious minorities. Many enshrine Sharia law into their constitutions and prohibit religious freedom. Those who convert from Islam to another faith are subject to prison or even death. Seven of the top ten abusers of religious liberty are majority Muslim nations.

Iran Attacked U.S. Dam

Government prosecutors are preparing to indict several Iranian hackers for a 2013 cyberattack on a U.S. dam 30 miles north of New York City. Thankfully, the hackers didn’t get very far and were unable to access the dam’s operational systems.

But the attack demonstrated two things: First, the vulnerability of our infrastructure. Second, the weakness of the Obama administration.

According to CNN, the hackers were working on behalf of the Iranian government at the same time “the U.S. and Iran were conducting talks over the Iranian nuclear program.”

So let me see if I have this right: Iran attacks our dam and we make multiple concessions on Iran’s nuclear weapons program and agree to lift sanctions on the world’s leading state-sponsor of terrorism. In what world does this make any sense?

Government Gone Wild

We’ve reported in the past on how the Obama Justice Department, with its massive army of lawyers, went to war against the Little Sisters of the Poor. We’ve reported on how they went after the Christian owners of Hobby Lobby.

We’ve told you about how this administration attempted to force religious organizations to hire people they didn’t want to hire. Thankfully, they were smacked down 9-to-0 by the Supreme Court. Even the four liberals on the court did not support Obama.

We’ve told you about the many times Barack Obama has criticized Christianity while praising Islam. We’ve told you about bakers, florists, photographers, high tech executives and college administrators who have lost their jobs and had their careers destroyed for affirming their faith. Not once did the Obama administration offer to help them.

So you can imagine my shock when I saw a headline indicating that the Obama Justice Department was launching a new program to “Promote Religious Freedom in the Nation’s Schools.”

Did the radicals at the Justice Department have a “road to Damascus” experience? Did they have a sudden epiphany about the First Amendment? Sadly, not even close.

Vanita Gupta, of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, said that in the wake of the San Bernardino terrorist attacks, “too many Muslim Americans and those perceived as Muslim suffer a backlash of violence and discrimination. We see criminal threats against mosques; harassment in schools; and even reports of violence targeting Muslim Americans… Our schools must remain places where our children feel safe and supported.”

So when the bureaucrats take a break from forcing public schools to allow boys who think they are girls to use the girls’ locker rooms and bathrooms (how’s that for making children feel safe?), they will be looking for new ways to push Islam in the public schools.

But wait… there’s more!

Attorney General Loretta Lynch testified before Congress this week that the Justice Department may prosecute skeptics of climate change science. Yes, that’s right — we’re now going down the Orwellian path of prosecuting free speech and scientific inquiry.

The culture war is real, my friends. The left’s assault on the First Amendment — from free speech to religious liberty — is total. Nothing is exempt from the tyrants of tolerance.