Month: January 2020

I am a veteran of the United States Army. I served two tours in the Middle-East, including one in Iraq. I’m proud of my service and America. And I am terrified of what will become of our beloved military and our national security if any of the Democrats I saw take the Debate stage on Tuesday night become America’s Commander-In-Chief.

Watching the top-tier candidates for president on the left blunder their way through answers on Middle-East policy while engaging in half-truths about the War in Iraq and the Iran/U.S. tensions from a few weeks ago made me profoundly uncomfortable. While septuagenarian multimillionaires argue about the Iraq war vote from 17 years ago, the lone veteran on stage outright lies about the origins behind the decision to kill Qasem Soleimani, and the billionaire who has no real reason to be there goes on about “climate change” as if it’s the primary threat to the lives of Americans, soldiers, and veterans realize they’re left with a sorry group of people aiming to be president of the United States.

The back and forth between Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders about the initial vote to authorize the Iraq war points to a fundamental misunderstanding of where we’re at now in terms of our troop presence in Iraq and the issues that America will face in deciding if and when we will vastly reduce the amount of troops we have there. Sanders wears his “no” vote on the Iraq war like a badge of honor to shine his virtue towards his socialist base and supporters. While being anti-war and American interventionism isn’t necessarily a bad thing, nor is critique of the origins of the war itself, what Sanders misses is that no matter what his vote was then, we’re in Iraq now. Veterans and active-duty soldiers don’t want 17-year-later Monday-morning quarterbacking about the vote; we want an answer to the issues facing troops in the region now.

As far as Sleepy Joe goes, he was very much asleep at the wheel with his answers at the debate, twisting himself into pretzels to try to defend his “yes” vote and rewrite his history as someone who was one of the more hawkish of the Democrats when it came to the decision of invading Iraq. On the issue of national security, he seems to be attempting to appeal to a far-left base who has no interest in him and will be unlikely to turn out in the numbers the left needs should he gain the nomination, which I remain a believer that he will do. On the identity-politics crazy left, he would likely prefer to pick a running mate that is either a woman or black (or both), and there is nobody on the left who fits those categories that would clearly be a strong addition to his team from a national security standpoint.

I’m not a Buttigieg hater. I find both him and Klobuchar a welcome respite from the socialist nutters of the Democratic left, but his handling of the Iran tensions of the past few weeks and his answers during the debate were woeful. You may have missed this tweet from a few weeks back when he suggested that the U.S./Iran tensions that culminated in Iran mistakenly shooting down a Ukranian passenger jet with 176 people on board was a “tit for tat” and not, you know, the response to the killing of an American contractor in Iraq. As the only veteran on that panel, Buttigieg should know that the way to America to respond to attacks is from a place of strength, and the fact that a presidential candidate who is also a veteran would stoop to side with one of our enemies to score cheap political points is the opposite.

The less said about “climate change” warrior Tom Steyer the better, but let’s just say Americans are unlikely to be interested in someone who appears to be taking cues from Greta Thunberg as to what the true threat of the world is right now. And Elizabeth Warren? If you think veterans or soldiers will vote for her, I assume the closest you’ve ever gotten to one is the last time you watched Full Metal Jacket.

Trump’s methods are not above criticism, but his strength and decisiveness will help keep America safe. These people can’t see the path towards ending or de-escalating the war we’re in because they’re stuck in the past. Trump knows the correct response to provocation is strength. Whether that will be enough to keep Iran at bay and to secure Iraq to a level where we can start drawing down troops remains to be seen. What I know for certain is that nobody on the Democratic bebate stage can stand up to him when it comes to national security. Take it from a vet: he’s the one.

A pro-life leader has dubbed President Donald Trump “the most successful pro-life president in the history of this country.”

The comment from Jeff Hunt, director of the Centennial Institute at Colorado Christian University, came as pro-life advocates prepared for Friday’s annual March for Life.

History was made today with President Trump speaking at the March for Life rally. Trump is the most pro-life president in our lifetime and a true protector of our most innocent lives. https://t.co/Jzk8JYPXFB

— Newt Gingrich (@newtgingrich) January 24, 2020

On Friday, Trump made history by becoming the first sitting president to address the march in person.

TRENDING: Schiff Prison Joke for Senators Falls Flat, Earns Him Ridicule

Hunt spoke about Trump on Thursday in comments to SiriusXM’s “Breitbart News Tonight.”

“This is really a historic moment,” Hunt said. “From a purely policy perspective, Donald Trump is the most successful pro-life president in the history of this country. He has done a wonderful job attacking the abortion industry and their for-profit efforts to make money off of death.”

Hunt zeroed in on Trump’s success in nominating conservative judges to openings in the federal judiciary.

“He has appointed judges that are going to return to a constitutional approach — the original intent of the Constitution — not taking their position as a moment to legislate from the bench, but instead returning to co-equal branches of government,” he said.

That is not all, Hunt said.

“I am just thrilled with all that he’s done to defend religious freedom, the rights of conscience, to defund Planned Parenthood, to appoint these judges that are going to interpret the Constitution as it’s written,” he said.

Hunt said Trump’s actions are encouragement for pro-life advocates who have been fighting for years to end abortion.

“These are big moments,” he said. “These are the stepping stones that we’ve been waiting for to eventually end abortion in this country. If you look at history, the way we ended the slave trade, it didn’t happen overnight.”

“It took a lot of work, and people that I consider heroes, like William Wilberforce, labored for 60 years to end the slave trade and did so kind of incrementally, but they got there. They got to abolition of the slave trade, and then emancipation and freeing the slaves, but it took some time.”

RELATED: Trump Attorney Blasts Dems for Using ‘Completely Out of Place’ Quote from Founding Father Against Trump

“[W]e’re getting there on abortion, and this is a president that should be celebrated, and I think you’re going to see 100,000 people thanking this president for the work he’s been doing to promote the sanctity of life,” Hunt added.

During the interview, Hunt likened Trump to former President Abraham Lincoln.

“Lincoln also evolved during his [presidency],” Hunt said.

“In the beginning of the Civil War, he was primarily concerned about keeping the Union together. That changed as he became a very, very passionate abolitionist, and ultimately brought about the 13th Amendment, which ended slavery in this country,” he said.

During the interview, he noted that pro-life battlers including Vice President Mike Pence and White House counselor Kellyanne Conway are major figures in the Trump administration.

“Politicians and leaders in our country surround themselves with people that can guide and direct their thinking, and I’ve watched this president become a passionate pro-life leader, and I think a lot of it has to do with the openness this administration has to working with the faith community,” he said.

“I’ve got to tell you, I’ve worked with a number of different administrations. This one is wide open to working with pro-life leaders, it’s wonderful.”

.@realDonaldTrump at the March for Life:

“When we hold a newborn in our arms, we know the endless love that each child brings to a family. When we watch a child grow, we see the splendor, that radiates from each human soul.

One life changes the world.” pic.twitter.com/1g0hKqmNS4

— Students For Trump (@TrumpStudents) January 24, 2020

During Trump’s remarks Friday, he castigated pro-abortion Democrats and saluted pro-life advocates, according to a White House media pool report.

“Sadly, the far left is actively working to erase our God-given rights, shut down faith-based charities, ban religious believers from the public square and silence Americans who believe in the sanctity of life,” Trump said.

“They are coming after me because I am fighting for you and we are fighting for those who have no voice.”

Trump said that all children deserve the right to life.

“We cannot know what our citizens yet unborn will achieve, the dreams they will imagine, the masterpieces they will create, the discoveries they will make,” Trump said.

“But we know this: Every life brings love into this world. Every child brings joy to a family. Every person is worth protecting. And above all, we know that every human soul is divine, and every human life — born and unborn — is made in the holy image of Almighty God,” he added.

“Together, we will defend this truth all across our magnificent land. We will set free the dreams of our people. And with determined hope, we look forward to all of the blessings that will come from the beauty, talent, purpose, nobility and grace of every American child.”

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

While the guillotine is best known as the instrument of choice to kill dissenters during the French Revolution, it has a history spanning back to the 13th Century.

It was perfected by the Gallic people, however.

While the guillotine has generally fallen out of favor in the age of the more civilized torture — like a four-part series on Nancy Grace — it retains a certain popularity among people wishing for the good ol’ days when heads would rule for pretty minor offenses.

The device might be making a comeback in Puerto Rico — and while it almost certainly won’t be taking anyone’s life, it’s going to send a message to the island’s political establishment.

The move comes after another week of unrest in the United States territory, this time over Hurricane Maria.

TRENDING: Schiff Prison Joke for Senators Falls Flat, Earns Him Ridicule

Hurricane Maria, you may say, was over 2 years ago. Yes, exactly.

And, as recent video showed, disaster relief supplies given to the island from the storm weren’t distributed among the people.

The problems for the territorial government began last Saturday when a social media user calling himself “El León Fiscalizador” (translation: “The Lion of Accountability”) managed to sneak into a warehouse in the southern city of Ponce and find massive amounts of Hurricane Maria-era supplies that hadn’t been distributed to the island’s residents despite the fact that the hurricane occurred over 2 years ago and the island was undergoing another catastrophe — a series of earthquakes which had left many people sleeping outdoors.

The video prompted massive outrage, and it wasn’t long before a number of officials were sacked.

That wasn’t enough for many Puerto Ricans, however, since they wanted yet another governor gone — this time Gov. Wanda Vázquez, who replaced Ricardo Rosselló after a text-message scandal forced Rosselló out last year.

According to CBS News, fired Housing Secretary Fernando Gil Enseñat has accused the governor of knowing about the warehouse in Ponce full of supplies that weren’t being distributed.

“Gil Enseñat has told local news outlets his agency had ‘nothing to do’ with the supplies found in Ponce. He clarified that his agency is tasked with overseeing emergency supply warehouses in the towns of Cabo Rojo and Río Piedras, not Ponce, adding that updated information on the inventory of both warehouses was made available to the governor,” NBC News reported.

Vázquez, for her part, said her former housing secretary “doesn’t have my trust due to various circumstances.”

Whether one of those circumstances is the fact that he’s more than willing to go to the media to make his case that Vázquez knew full well the location of emergency supplies remained unsurprisingly unclear as of Saturday morning.

RELATED: Rogue Citizen Breaches Puerto Rico Warehouse, Finds Mountains of Supplies

There was, however, a certain clarity in whether or not the top of the Puerto Rican food chain knew where these supplies were.

“The locations of the emergency supply warehouses situated in Ponce and in other towns are included in Puerto Rico’s emergency management plan,” NBC News reported.

“The plan was signed by Vázquez in August 2019, suggesting that she already knew about the existence of the warehouses before outraged residents broke into the Ponce warehouse last week.”

That’s a problem, and the Puerto Rican people have taken to the streets to express their fury at the entire scandal.

On Thursday, a crowd of protesters assembled a crude guillotine, and (spoiler alert) it wasn’t going to Enseñat’s place of residence:

Um, the people of Puerto Rico are carrying a guillotine to the Governor’s mansion right now. pic.twitter.com/uAeH1WoLcN

— Joshua Potash (@JoshuaPotash) January 23, 2020

The guillotine has been been put up outside the Governor’s mansion in San Juan. pic.twitter.com/siTCpihlRO

— Joshua Potash (@JoshuaPotash) January 23, 2020

So @Residente showed up and gave a speech behind the guillotine. pic.twitter.com/R90HDUrg4K

— Joshua Potash (@JoshuaPotash) January 23, 2020

Residente, legal name René Juan Pérez Joglar, is a Puerto Rican hip-hop artist and filmmaker who — and I’m spitballing here — isn’t on team Vázquez.

I’m not a guillotine expert, but it looks a bit too wobbly and inexact to do any real damage.

It’s like strapping a few stripped wires to an IKEA ottoman and calling it an electric chair.

That said, there’s something positively Boston circa 1775 about these pictures. As if it had to be said, I mean that in a good way.

The Puerto Rican people are learning with a decided quickness they can’t trust a territorial government that’s unresponsive when it isn’t completely ruthless.

When Hurricane Maria hit, they feuded with Washington over who was to blame for the slow response and ineffectual distribution of emergency supplies.

At the time, the general consensus was that the Trump administration was somehow to blame. I don’t fault Puerto Ricans for buying that.

They shouldn’t buy it now, not when they see those emergency supplies from two years prior rotting away in a warehouse. Island residents deserve better.

They don’t need a guillotine to get it, but they do need to hold their elected officials accountable — and that doesn’t just mean a few recalls here and there.

The entire apparatus has rotted from the head on down.

It needs to be replaced.

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

President Donald Trump just dropped the hammer on California, a state that seems to think it can do whatever it wants to do, federal law be damned.

The Golden State has been flouting the law by requiring private insurers to cover the cost of abortion, the president said. And he is threatening to withhold federal funding to the state if it does not stop.

The administration also hinted that it would do the same to other states, as the president seeks to establish religious exemptions to abortion laws.

“People should not be forced to participate, or pay for, or cover other people’s abortions,” Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights director Roger Severino said.

The administration served notice to the state that it is violating the Weldon Amendment, which states that some funds are allowed to be withheld from local or state governments that discriminate against a “health care entity” if it does not provide or pay for abortions, The New York Times reported.

TRENDING: Schiff Prison Joke for Senators Falls Flat, Earns Him Ridicule

California has 30 days to comply before action is taken that could result in funds from Health and Human Services being cut.

And with over $1.5 trillion in state government debt, according to the California Policy Center, including hundreds of billions in unfunded pension liabilities, California is scarcely ready to weather such a cut.

“We’re sending a message that if any state has done what California has done, they should expect to be found likewise in violation,” Severino said, in what should be a warning shot to other states like New York, Washington and Oregon, which have similar laws.

Democrats are unsurprisingly furious at the president for not allowing them to implement their far-left policy unimpeded — the way they have with sanctuary.

“Despite a federal opinion four years ago confirming California’s compliance with the Weldon Amendment, the Trump Administration would rather rile up its base to score cheap political points and risk access to care for millions than do what’s right,” California Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a statement, according to the Associated Press.

“California will continue to protect a woman’s right to choose, and we won’t back down from defending reproductive freedom for everybody — full stop,” he said.

A “woman’s right to choose,” of course, is a much nicer way of saying a woman’s right to snuff out the life of an unborn child.

The president has showed strong support for the pro-life movement during his presidency, and he made history Friday when he became the first sitting president to attend the March for Life rally in Washington.

RELATED: Landslide Majority Supports Legislation That Would Put Abortion Doctors Out of Business

“Together we are the voice for the voiceless. When it comes to Democrats — and you know this — you’ve seen what’s happened. Democrats have embraced the most radical and extreme positions taken and seen in this country for years and decades and you can even say for centuries,” the president said at the event.

“Nearly every top Democrat in Congress now supports taxpayer-funded abortion all the way up until the moment of birth,” he said.

“Sadly, the far left is actively working to erase our God-given rights, shut down faith-based charities, ban religious believers from the public square and silence Americans who believe in the sanctity of life,” the president said.

“They are coming after me because I am fighting for you, and we are fighting for those who have no voice, and we will win because we know how to win,” he said.

The right to life is guaranteed in the second sentence of the Declaration of Independence — and that is not be accident. Without the right to life all other rights are moot.

But for far too long, Democrats have not recognized this right for the most vulnerable among us. President Trump continues to stand for their rights, and as long as the voters keep him in office, he likely will.

If California and other blue states want a showdown, he appears more than willing to give it to them.

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

No one cares about the Democrats are trying to sell, even their own audience.

Axelrod: even in a focus group of Democratic voters, impeachment “didn’t even come up” for 80 minuteshttps://t.co/aMoJ2U3x1U pic.twitter.com/h0tNQOhOQ5

— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) January 25, 2020