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BEN CARSON IS an actual brain surgeon – and he’s hoping to make it to the White House in 2016.
A high-profile figure in the US for years (he’s huge on the public speaking circuit) we’ve become a little more familiar with Carson in recent months thanks to a series of controversial and often bizarre public statements.
His laid-back debate style couldn’t be further from that of GOP frontrunner Donald Trump – but his pronouncements have often been equally headline-grabbing.
Pedigree
To seasoned observers of the US political scene, his views will have come as no surprise.
After all, this is a man who once described Barack Obama’s healthcare plan as “the worst thing that has happened this nation since slavery”.
Then, of course, there was this:
Here are some other things Ben Carson believes, and has been talking about in recent months…
He later apologised for this – but back in March, Carson told CNN’s Chris Cuomo he “absolutely” believed being gay was a choice, adding:
Because a lot of people who go into prison go into prison straight — and when they come out, they’re gay. So, did something happen while they were in there? Ask yourself that question.
We probably don’t need to point out that there’s no research to back up Carson’s assertion.
Responding to a question during an interview broadcast on NBC’s Meet the Press in September, he described the Islamic faith as inconsistent with the constitution.
“I would not advocate that we put a Muslim in charge of this nation,” Carson said.
I absolutely would not agree with that.
He made a distinction when it came to electing Muslims to Congress, calling it a “different story” from the presidency that “depends on who that Muslim is and what their policies are, just as it depends on what anybody else says”.
Carson’s call for those caught in shooting situations to tackle their attacker drew criticism from public safety experts back in October.
He made the comments in the wake of a shooting at an Oregon community college that left ten dead.
The White House hopeful said that if he had been present at the attack, he would “not just stand there and let him shoot me”.
I would say, ‘Hey guys, everybody attack him. He may shoot me, but he can’t get us all’.
Just a few days after his comments on the Oregon shooting, Carson was back in the headlines suggesting the Holocaust would have been “greatly diminished” if German Jews had been armed with guns.
Asked by CNN’s Wolf Blitzer about an excerpt from his book A More Perfect Union, in which Carson linked the disarming of German citizens with the killing of 6 million Jews by Adolf Hitler’s Nazi regime, the neurosurgeon said:
The likelihood of Hitler being able to accomplish his goals would have been greatly diminished if the people had been armed.
He added: “there is a reason that these dictatorial people take the guns first”.
Perhaps the statement that drew the most comment of his campaign to date was Carson’s assertion that the pyramids of Egypt were built by the biblical Joseph to store grain and were not, as archaeologists believe, tombs for pharaohs.
He initially made the remarks at a 1998 address at Andrews University, a school associated with the Seventh-day Adventist Church, to which he belongs.
“My own personal theory is that Joseph built the pyramids to store grain,” Carson said.
Now all the archeologists think that they were made for the pharaohs’ graves. But, you know, it would have to be something awfully big if you stop and think about it. And I don’t think it’d just disappear over the course of time to store that much grain.
Carson has defended those beliefs - telling reporters in Miami that “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”.
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Do you know. The Trump circus will seem normal when Kanye and the Kardashian c.unts get a hold of the Whitehouse
@Charles Murr: I can believe that will happen after this
@Charles Murr: This is the most terrifying thing I’ve read in a while and I’m currently reading a book about a survivor of Auschwitz.
@Rob Cahill: Sorry about that.. didn’t mean to put you on a downer… There’s just something inevitable about it !
@Charles Murr: Although it is funny that either woman would refer to herself as a lady. As awful as Trump is he has never refered to himself as a gentleman. Laughing.
@Charles Murr: why do we continue to make stupid people famous?
@Gillian Weir Scully: what i find interesting is that Melania is the one who appears to carry the dignity of her role or is that too much botox ?
@john g mcgrath: ‘instant’ culture John, we celebrate absurd/extreme at home and abroad, Mainstream media are dis-interested in reasoned thought/ debate, rationality. Much more ‘fun’ to promote vacuousness. Anyway enough of that, back to my podium with my tassles and pasties…
Melania is a big league upgrade from Ivana. Five Stars Mr President, well done.
@Tristan Rowntree: That’s a disgusting way to talk about women.
@Harry Bookless: oh get a grip, it’s a compliment.
@Tristan Rowntree: it was at least equal parts insult
@Tristan Rowntree: Get a grip of yourself……….. https://thenypost.files.wordpress.com/2016/07/melania_-_copie_2.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&strip=all
@Karen Wellington: do you deny Melania is younger and more attractive than Ivana?
@Tristan Rowntree: I’ll concede that she’s younger, as I understand it; beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Just out of interest how does congratulating Trump on upgrading (like a phone?) his wife translate as a compliment to either woman?
@neilo: are you a Catholic church pearl clutching prude?
@Karen Wellington: it’s clearly a compliment both are attractive women, Melania is more so now with youth on her side but bring Ivanka or Tiffany into the picture and it all changes.
@Tristan Rowntree: your original comment really isn’t a compliment to either woman, it definitely isn’t a compliment to Ivana. If you have to tear one woman down to build another one up you’re not complimenting either of them.
@Karen Wellington: Have you got nothing better to do? Give the shrill feminist whinging a rest once in a while.
@Martan O Conghaile: Its not feminist at all Martan , its about a a bit of respect ,persoanlly i dont like either woman ,both are clearly goldiggers and generally poor female role models but hey .., and yes I can see clearly see that Melania is younger and more attractive than Ivanka now, but Tristan does denigrate them both to commodity level by referring to upgrade , i know it was incredibly witty and funny that you think that everyone is being snowflake sensitive for not laughing and saying yeah look the fat rich organge p8ssy grabber kicked the old one to the curb , but lets hope your missus or girlfrind dosent see fit to upgrade you or maybe you are so good looking any wealthy that you are not an upgradadable commodity ? not that it would bother an alpha male who chops wood before breakfast and rides a few birds before tea.Now let your partner now that your only a lotto win away from telling her to pack her bags :-)
@Martan O Conghaile: so sorry for not reducing two people to a (subjective) assessment of their personal appearances, and what an idiot I am for not adjusting Ivana’s value to reflect ageing. Of course you’re right; it is the sole prerogative of feminists to evaluate a person based on their words and deeds rather than their genetics.
A cat fight over the Donald and not for the first time!
@Tristan Rowntree: It’s those soft wavy locks that does it
@A H: or his abnormally well endowed hands.
@Tristan Rowntree: only cats would fight over Donald.
Trash without the Trailer
Melania took the bait here and probably helped Ivana sell a few books with her response
’47 and normally very reserved’….. wow, just wow
In her divorce affidavit (the kind of document you go to jail if you lie in) she claimed Trump came home angry one night and raped her.
@Peter King: “The divorce came under scrutiny during the 2016 election, when it was reported that Ivana once signed a sworn deposition alleging Donald had raped her. She sought to clarify that the accusation, which Trump has consistently denied, was not intended in a “literal or criminal sense”.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/oct/07/ivana-trump-donald-relationship-ivanka-president
@Tristan Rowntree: Needed that. Thank you. :-)
@Tristan Rowntree: You do like to keep the juicy bits out of your many ‘stories’…one might say that you even take a ‘scalp’ off them…
Ivana Humpalot….
Ivana needs to create publicity to sell her book but it must seem embarrassing for the kids trying to get on with their lives and keep on the right side of their dads potential inheritance.
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