President Donald Trump sat next to newly released American Pastor Andrew Brunson in the Oval Office Saturday and said that under his administration “they’re tending not to take” Americans, but he refrained from detailing why.

Breitbart News asked President Trump what he did differently from previous administrations to secure the release of 19 Americans including Pastor Brunson, given the U.S. did not make a deal.

“They’re tending not to take them out of our administration and that’s good,” President Trump replied. “I like that and I think I can tell you why, but I won’t, but they tend not to take them out of our administration and you know what, it’s going to stay that way.”

President Trump welcomed Pastor Brunson home to the United States Saturday before speaking to press in the Oval Office. Brunson had been held captive in Turkey for close to two years.

Trump told the press that the situation with Pastor Brunson began under a previous administration. “They were not going to work out anything,” said Trump. “We took it over, we inherited it, and I think have at this moment gotten 19 different people out of various countries that were being held.” He offered a few specific cases as examples.

The president acknowledged Brunson’s faith and strength getting him through.

“The whole world is a fan of yours,” Trump said of Pastor Brunson.

Brunson’s wife and children were with him in the Oval Office. 

“I especially want to thank the administration, you really fought for us, unusually so from the time you took office I know you’ve been engaged,” Brunson said to Trump, adding that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Vice President Mike Pence and so many others were involved as well.

President Trump remarked that he had talked with Pompeo once a day about Pastor Brunson’s situation.

Pastor Brunson and his wife prayed for President Trump during the Oval Office meeting. He prayed that God give President Trump supernatural wisdom, perseverance, endurance to stand for truth, and protection against those who would undermine him.

Michelle Moons is a White House Correspondent for Breitbart News — follow on Twitter @MichelleDiana and Facebook

A student in North Carolina was forced to remove a red, white, and blue USA sports jersey with Donald Trump’s name on it that he wore to a patriot-themed school football game, according to reports.

The student’s father, Mike Collins, slammed Harnett Central High School in Angier, North Carolina, for forcing his 18-year-old son to remove the Trump jersey. Saying that the school’s reason for its action was ridiculous, according to ABC 11.

Collins says that the school told his son that the shirt was “disruptive.” He said his son complied but that he was so humiliated that he left the game.

A father tells me his son was asked by the school principal to remove this jersey during a patriotic-themed football game after people complained. Dad, a registered Democrat, says his son complied but felt humiliated. @HarnettCoSchool says it supports expression not disruptions pic.twitter.com/W9U9v2vBLF

— Tim Pulliam (@TimABC11) October 10, 2018

“We don’t want any kids violated. We don’t want to see kids embarrassed over something like this,” Collins told the ABC affiliate. “He was not disrespectful. He was not acting in a manner that would cause attention to him.

Collins also said that he and his son were not going around proclaiming the greatness of Trump. In fact, Collins is a registered Democrat, he said.

“We’re not promoting Donald Trump. He’s our president. Again, you’ve got to respect your president. I can assure you that there was nothing about this shirt that was disruptive. I think we should stand up for our rights,” Collins said.

“Whether you support our president, or you agree with our president or disagree, that has nothing to do with this,” he added. “We are respecting our president, we’re respecting authority, and that’s what my son did.”

For its part, without admitting to any errors in judgment, the school district reaffirmed the students’ right to free speech.

“While we cannot comment on specific student issues, the Harnett County Schools supports and affirms students’ rights to express themselves,” the district said in a statement. “As long as the expression does not disrupt, and is not reasonably expected to disrupt, the educational mission of the school system, these rights include wearing clothing expressing political messages or supporting political candidates.”

Collins has consulted an attorney but has not said if he plans any actual legal action. He also noted that members of the school board promised to take action and make things right.

Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston.

“My wife and I pray for you.”

Pastor Andrew Brunson, freed from being detained in Turkey after almost two years, meets with Pres. Trump, and prays over him in the Oval Office. https://t.co/Wy0dKRBwht pic.twitter.com/ycNwxbUkYF

— ABC News (@ABC) October 13, 2018

Nicolás Maduro’s socialist regime in Venezuela arrested nurses and doctors across the country for repeatedly protesting the lack of medicine and essential resources required for them to treat their patients.

According to the Venezuelan outlet RunRunes, the first case took place the Luis Razetti hospital in Barcelona, Anzoátegui state, where the Scientific, Criminal and Criminal Investigations Body (CICPC) detained two nurses in charge of the neonatology department on charges of stealing hospital supplies.

“They were taken for questioning because they found a box with two physiological solutions, 20 and 10 cc injectors, intravenous catheters, nasogastric aspiration probes, nebulizing mask, micro drippers, and May cannula,” said the hospital’s deputy director. “Everything needed for a newborn child.”

On Sunday, healthcare workers gathered in front of the Barcelona Court, where the nurses were presented, to express their rejection of the detention. Elected lawmaker Delsa Solórzano joined the health guild’s request, posting on her Twitter account, where she demanded the “full and immediate freedom for the three Anzoátegui nurses arbitrarily detained by the dictatorship.”

Exigimos Libertad plena e inmediata para las tres enfermeras de Anzoátegui detenidas arbitrariamente por la dictadura. #BastadeAmedrentamiento
Todas solidarias con las enfermeras en lucha por el derecho a la salud #UniónContraLaRepresión #LiberenALasEnfermeras

— Delsa Solorzano (@delsasolorzano) October 7, 2018

Another case involved the pneumonologist and criminal lawyer Maryori Medina Parra. The 63-year-old was reportedly was detained by agents of the DGCIM on Saturday when she was at her home in Puerto Ordaz, Bolívar state. According to reports, 20 secret service agents broke into her apartment, where they confiscated her car and laptop. The reason for her arrest is still unknown.

The arrests suggest that the Maduro regime may be cracking down on another institution that is in dire need of extra resources and personnel. Many hospitals are now severely understaffed and there are chronic shortages of necessary medical supplies that have led to many patients being left untreated and dying as a result.

Many medical professionals have taken to the streets to protest their meager salaries and lack of vital resources, although there appears to be no obvious solution given how the regime is effectively bankrupt and refuses international humanitarian aid. Universal healthcare was a central tenant of Hugo Chávez’s socialist revolution; the country now has some of the worst health outcomes in the world and has seen the return of infectious diseases such as polio.

The total collapse of the country’s healthcare system remains one of the principal factors behind the country’s outward migration crisis. Thousands of people flee the country every day in desperate need of humanitarian assistance, much of which is provided for by charities and foreign governments seeking to ease the pressure of the crisis.

Follow Ben Kew on Facebook, Twitter at @ben_kew, or email him at bkew@breitbart.com.

Let the kids be kids.

Via WPTZ:

A Windsor parent was shocked to find out her daughter had taken a survey in her fifth-grade class that asked questions about students’ sexual history, preference and gender identity.

“My daughter is 10. So are all the other kids who took this,” said Vanessa Beach. “A sexual partner at 10 years old would be called sexual abuse.”

Beach said she did not take issue with the topics of gender identity and sexuality being discussed in the classroom, but thought the survey was an invasion of her daughter’s privacy and asked questions that were not appropriate for her age range.

The survey was done by WISE, a domestic violence prevention and advocacy group that runs educational programs in Windsor schools.

A notice had been sent to parents about the survey, which gave them the opportunity to opt-out of having their children participate.

However, Beach said she never received the form.

A researcher connected to the survey said so-called “passive-consent” policies were common in Vermont.

A WISE official said students are told before the survey is distributed they are not required to take it and can choose not to without consequence.

According to a WISE representative, the questions on the survey were developed with researchers from the University of New Hampshire with whom they were sharing the data collected.

Beach said she had voiced her concerns to the school, including the guidance department and had reached out to WISE.

School administrators said they had heard some of the parental complaints and are working on addressing them.

Keep reading…

What a difference a little winning can make.

Just two years ago, Hillary Clinton, as a candidate for president was revered and worshiped by nearly everyone on the left. Now top Democratic strategists are labeling her the “kiss of death” to their party.

The monumental loss to President Donald Trump has prompted a sea change in how she is viewed as an asset — or not — in her own party.

Now the former first lady, state senator, and secretary of state turned presidential candidate can’t buy a spot next to a 2018 candidate on the campaign trail.

That’s got to be painful to someone who is so used to and maybe even still craves the spotlight on the center stage of American politics.

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Perhaps the Clinton machine still has a great deal of influence and power behind the scenes in the Democrat party, but it has clearly has lost steam in the public arena.

The Washington Examiner published a very interesting article noting the complete about face in support for Hillary Clinton but failed to specifically name any strategists and leading democrats who rebuked her.

While the Clintons do plan a 13-city road trip in November to conduct “one-of-a-kind conversations about the most impactful moments in modern history” said The Examiner, they don’t embark until after the midterm elections are over.

Is there a coincidence in such timing? Probably not.

The Examiner quotes one unidentified House Democrat: “I have not seen Hillary or Bill at all — and I’m very grateful for that. When I think of people who have been part of our push to retake the House, I just don’t think of them at all. … I think it’s a very good thing that they’re not being visible. It wouldn’t help our candidates.”

And another leading Democrat strategist said: “Hillary Clinton is the kiss of death and she represents the part of the Democratic Party that led to historic losses and that elected Donald Trump president.”

For fear of political retribution the strategist specifically requested anonymity, reported The Examiner.

And while other leading Democrat office holders and Democrat Senator Dick Durbin are named in the piece, their comments are much more tactful and diplomatic: “I think they’re measuring how they can have the best, positive impact and have kind of decided to wait until after the election,” said Durbin.

Democrats like former Vice President Joe Biden, Senator Bernie Sanders and former president Barack Obama seem to have full dance cards during this campaign season, but Ms. Clinton has only received invitations to make appearances from the more questionable, scandal ridden candidates like J.B. Pritzker, the Democratic nominee for governor of Illinois and Andrew Gillum, the Democratic gubernatorial candidate in Florida.

RELATED: Total Lie: Witness Devastated 1 of Hillary’s ‘Most Vivid’ WH Memories

“Both Menendez and Pritzker carry considerable baggage. Menendez was once under federal indictment for corruption before the case was dropped earlier this year, while Pritzker was investigated for removing toilets from one of his luxury homes along Chicago’s Gold Coast to avoid property taxes,” according to The Examiner.

“It’s no surprise that one of the very few Democrats that would welcome her is someone who was formerly under federal indictment and the most scandal-plagued Democrat in the country,” said the unidentified Democrat strategist to The Examiner.

I think the tide of Democrat support has changed, but someone must have forgotten to tell the Clintons. It’s a sad, sad commentary on just how far the party has fallen out of favor, but a great message of reawakening for an America that values freedom and independence.

Americans have realized that no longer does the Democratic party or Hillary Clinton stand for any of that, if they ever did to begin with.

I’m hoping for a red tsunami in November and maybe even a full retirement for both Clintons as well.

We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.

Cultural commentator Camille Paglia said in a recently published video that second-wave feminism – in its attempt to destroy men – is also destroying women and our culture.

A video of Paglia’s discussion at the Battle of Ideas festival in London in October 2016 has been made available on YouTube and was recently linked to on the Drudge Report. The video is released with the launch of Paglia’s new book, Provocations: Collected Essays.

The feminist icon – who prefers the original brand of feminism that won women the right to vote and raised up heroines such as Katharine Hepburn, Amelia Earhart, and Anne Morrow Lindbergh – said the more recent second wave of feminism is “an absolute poison that has spread worldwide.”

Paglia said the original feminists “admired what men had done – there was no male-bashing – as became systemic to second-wave feminism.”

The brand of feminism recreated by Betty Friedan in the 1960s, Paglia said, is now based on “denigrating men” and “defining men as oppressors and tyrants through history.”

“It is an absolute lie,” she said, “an extrapolation of neuroticism on the part of these fanatics.”

The author of Sexual Personae, Paglia added the “snowflake generation” is also a result of social media, “where people feel they have so many friends and they want a sense that reality is comforting them and cushioning them and so on.”

A professor at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, Paglia said that, by attempting to suppress the evidence of differences between the sexes, second-wave feminism “is actually exposing young women to danger.”

Paglia added that the nation’s educational system has failed young people, because it has “tried to make everyone feel good” and uses the word “diversity” as a “banner” for trying to make up for something from the past – the hard truth of which is not even being taught any longer for fear of “triggering” groups of people.

Comparing second-wave feminism to the “Spanish Inquisition,” Paglia explained “any form of dissent – even within feminism – is treated as heresy … and they actually try to destroy you.”

Paglia said that while second-wave feminists have led a drive to destroy traditional religion and culture, the result has been the “new religion” of political correctness.