There are subdued cheers today coming from a particularly unattractive segment of the open borders community regarding the apparently forced resignation of General Michael Flynn as the president's national security adviser.
As we pointed out in an earlier posting, General Flynn was the only high ranking government official in years to recognize the dangers of the Gulen movement. This is the strange cult that revolves around the self-exiled, conservative Islamic imam Fethullah Gulen, once prominent in Turkish politics, now a resident of the Poconos.
Gulen's followers have taken over charter schools, then used their public funds and the H-1B program to bring in teachers from Turkey (when there are many, many unemployed U.S. citizen teachers); then these teachers are shaken down ("tithed" is the gentler term) to support other parts of the cult, which is determined to bring back the Ottoman Empire. It has also been reported that these schools rig their rental arrangements in ways to benefit the cult's activities.
This, while absolutely true, is so hard to believe that the media (with the honorable exceptions of "60 Minutes" and LA Weekly) seem reluctant to cover the subject. The Gulen schools have two other major factors tilting the media balance in their favor: On the left, it is politically incorrect to criticize a minority ethnic group, like the Turks; and on the right, it is equally incorrect to say anything nasty about charter schools.
While I am not defending the general for his dealings with the Russian ambassador before the inauguration, or his accounts of those dealings, or for how those actions embarrassed the vice president, it is fair to report that Flynn had been in a perfect position to encourage federal authorities to check out the activities of the Gulen schools. Further, he would have been able to counter the suspicion in anti-Gulen circles (true or not) that the quiet influence of the CIA was the reason for the lack of any indictments of any of the Gulen school operators.
But the general is out, and the charter school movement happily notes that one of their cheerleaders, Betsy DeVos, was confirmed as secretary of Education.
So, on both grounds, the cult leaders are heaving sighs of relief.
Flynn Footnote: Turkish Cult Using Public School Moneys Wins a Round
Topics: H-1B Nonimmigrant Visa Progam