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Get the truth about America’s founding from the World Socialists, says … the RNC??

Did I return from vacation to an alternate 2019? Did Biff actually succeed with the DeLorean after all? Of all the strange outcomes to pop up in this version of the universe, “RNC endorses World Socialist Website’s credibility” was somewhere around the millionth rank of possibilities.

“And they’d be correct” ranked]]>

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WINNING: Trump Doubles NATO Countries Paying Financial Obligations, Warns ‘Delinquent’ Countries Must Pay Up

Under President Donald Trump, the number of countries in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) alliance meeting their treaty-imposed financial obligations has doubled. Additionally, NATO spending has increased $130 billion and is on track to be boosted to $400 billion by 2024. Meanwhile, as promised by President Trump, the United States’ hefty contribution to the alliance has dropped from 20% to 16%. 

“In the [three] decades before my election, NATO spending declined by two-thirds, and only [three] other NATO members were meeting their financial obligations. Since I took office, the number of NATO allies fulfilling their obligations more than DOUBLED, and NATO spending increased by $130B!” the president boasted via Twitter, on Monday.

At a conference on Tuesday in London, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg praised Trump’s leadership with respect to the alliance’s progress.

“We are making real progress, most importantly on the burden sharing,” Secretary General Stoltenberg told reporters. “And your leadership on defense spending is having a real impact. Since 2016, Canada and European allies have added $130 billion more to the defense budgets, and this number will increase to 400 billion U.S. dollars by 2024.”

“This is unprecedented,” he continued. “This is making NATO stronger. And it shows that this alliance is adapting, responding when the world is changing.”

“Thank you for your leadership and your strong commitment to NATO,” Mr. Stoltenberg added.

President Trump has long been skeptical of the alliance, primarily because of the U.S.’s hefty contribution relative to other countries’ portions. During the conference, Trump heaped praise upon Mr. Stoltenberg and again highlighted the headway he’s made with the alliance.

“I think he’s doing a fantastic job,” Trump said of Stoltenberg. “I’m a big fan. His contract was extended; I was very happy about that. But you really are — you’re doing a fantastic job. We appreciate it.”

“I think the Secretary General will tell you that, through some work and some negotiation, we’ve increased the budget of countries other than the USA, because we’re paying far more than anybody else, and far more even as a percentage of GDP,” Trump continued. “But we’ve increased the numbers that other countries are paying, by $130 billion. It was going down for close to 20 years. If you look at a chart, it was like a roller coaster down, nothing up. And that was going on for a long time. You wouldn’t have had a NATO if you kept going that way.”

“And now we’ve really increased it incredibly well, and I’m happy to have helped. But the Secretary has been looking to do that for a long time. And, I can tell you, he’s very happy about it,” added Trump.

WATCH:

Despite the progress, President Trump is still pushing other countries to meet their obligatory financial standards.

“Some [countries] are way below 1%,” Trump told reporters on Tuesday, “and that’s unacceptable. And if something happens, we’re supposed to protect them. And it’s not really fair, and it never has been fair.”

Delinquent countries have to pay up, Trump added, noting that “if they don’t want to, I’ll have to do something with respect to trade. And with trade, I hold all the cards.”

WATCH:

Partial transcript via WhiteHouse.gov

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“This Is Sickening”: Race-Baiting Democrats, Media Panic With Harris Out, Next Debate Now Set to Be “All White”

Democrats and some on the media are stunned and revolted at the revelation that with Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) dropping out of the presidential race Tuesday, the next debate, set for December 19 has only white candidates who have met the party’s standards for a place on the debate stage.

“Kamala Harris is out of the 2020 U.S. presidential race. That leaves 6 candidates — all white — qualified for the Dec. 19 debate: Joe Biden Pete Buttigieg Amy Klobuchar Bernie Sanders Tom Steyer Elizabeth Warren”

Centrist Democrat and Third Way co-founder Jim Kessler (ex Chuck Schumer staffer) bemoaned Harris dropping out of the race, calling it “sickening” that the next Democrat presidential debate would be “all white.”

“At this point, we have 7 (sic) Democrats qualified for the December debate stage and they are all white. This is sickening.”

Activist Amy Siskind, “She was also the only candidate of color to qualify for the December debate. We have one white male billionaire who bought his way on stage and another trying. This is a sad commentary.”

Ashley Nicole Black sees a right wing conspiracy, “There was a coordinated right wing campaign against Harris, and a lot of those talking points were taken up by liberals, and now we’re set to have an all white debate stage. That’s how this works. We’re not immune because we’re liberal.”

Dean Obeidallah, “As of now the 2020 Democratic debate scheduled for December 19 will be all white candidates. We need Cory Booker and Julian Castro to qualify by the December 12 deadline!”

Lauren Duca, “Kamala Harris officially ended her campaign today, which means that all of the candidates who currently qualify for the December Democratic debate are white (Sanders, Warren, Biden, Buttigieg, Klobuchar, and Steyer). White supremacy is not just a Fox News problem, folks.”

Dr. Eugene Gu, “Kamala Harris dropping out of the race while only white candidates qualify for the next presidential debate shows that white privilege and white supremacy cut across party lines. It’s not just Trump. We have a racism problem in all of the United States of America, and it sucks.”

Vox, “Sen. Harris had already qualified for the upcoming Democratic debate on December 19. Now that she has dropped out, the debate lineup is currently entirely white — as of today, Andrew Yang, Cory Booker, Julian Castro, Tulsi Gabbard, and Deval Patrick have not yet qualified.”

Activist Yolanda Machado, “Harris, like all WOC, deserved far more than what she was given. Now the upcoming debate stage is full of rich, white people & we’re supposed to support them & expect change? NAH.”

Activist Ilya Sheyman suggests changing the rules to help minority candidates, “So: @TomPerez @TheDemocrats, time to revisit debate rules? Awful outcome for the party and country to have @TomSteyer & @MikeBloomberg buying way to relevance while experienced leaders like @SenBooker and @JulianCastro may miss out on the chance to make their case to voters.”

Reuters reported on the Democrats’ rules for the December 19 debate to be held in Los Angeles.

…To qualify for the Los Angeles debate, a candidate must hit 4 percent support in at least four DNC-approved polls, which may be national surveys of primary voters or single-state polls in the four early-voting states of Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina or Nevada. Alternatively, they can hit 6 percent in two early-state polls.

In addition, candidates must have received donations from at least 200,000 unique donors, with a minimum of 800 unique donors in 20 states, U.S. territories or the District of Columbia. The deadline for qualifying polls and donation targets is December 12. The televised debate on December 19 will be hosted by PBS NewsHour and Politico…

Ina anow deleted tweet, conservative never-Trumper David French threw cold water on all the hot-headed liberal race-baiters, “I’m seeing lots of takes on Twitter that it’s somehow a sign of our broken system that Harris is out, yet all those white dudes are still in, and on the debate stage. She couldn’t dent Joe Biden’s support from black voters. That’s on her.”

https://twitter.com/DavidAFrench/status/12019310092914237

The New York Times Astead Herndon made similar point:

“It is simplistic, and reductive, to ignore this. There’s a lot of folks on this app whose “trust POC voters” mantra only extend far enough that POC voters are doing what they want them to do”

And, “Going thru old Harris stories: The assumption that black candidates would walk into black support was never true on the ground. In Jan., we wrote that Harris’s attempts to replicate Obama success w/ black voters, would be more difficult than assumed”

The post “This Is Sickening”: Race-Baiting Democrats, Media Panic With Harris Out, Next Debate Now Set to Be “All White” appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

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Iran Orders U.S. to Pay $130 Billion in Reparations

Hossein Salami

The Iranian government has ordered the United States to pay some $130 billion in reparations to its citizens, claiming the Trump administration’s sanctions on Tehran have harmed Iranian "plaintiffs," according to an announcement by Iran’s judiciary on Tuesday.

Iran’s demand for hard currency comes on the same day that its military leaders issued new threats to annihilate the United States, Israel, Britain, and Saudi Arabia. Both moves represent a further escalation in an already tense standoff between the Trump administration and Iranian mullahs.

Iranian leaders accused the United States and other Western powers of organizing a spate of popular anti-regime protests that have spread across Iran in recent weeks. The country’s courts are now demanding that America pay a "$130 billion fine in damages caused by Washington’s crimes to ordinary Iranian plaintiffs who have suffered from the unilateral policies of the White House and its destructive role in riots of last month," according to reports in the country’s state-controlled media.

Gholam Hossein Esmayeeli, a spokesman for Iran’s judiciary, claimed on Tuesday that more than 360 separate complaints had been filed in Iranian courts against the United States for harm resulting from U.S. sanctions.

Meanwhile, Iranian military leaders confirmed they will be holding joint war drills with China and Russia on Dec. 27. The confirmation of this major war exercise was accompanied by renewed threats of violence by Tehran’s military brass.

Major General Hossein Salami, commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, promised to "annihilate" the United States, Britain, Israel, and Saudi Arabia if these countries attempt any military action against Iran.

"You have experienced our power in the battlefield and received a powerful slap across your face and could not respond; the world has come to observe some of these slaps, while it has not in some other cases," Salami was quoted as saying on Tuesday during a military rally. "You should wait. If you cross our redlines, we will annihilate you."

The State Department did not respond to a request for comment on Iran’s new cash demands.

The post Iran Orders U.S. to Pay $130 Billion in Reparations appeared first on Washington Free Beacon.

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Good riddance: Kamala Harris leaves presidential race with her tail between her legs

Well, it looks like Willie Brown’s mistress decided she didn’t want to stick around for the inevitable drubbing she was going to take in Iowa. After a big buildup and a lot of campaign cash, turns out the signature phony didn’t even make it to primary one. 

According to Alex Pappas at Fox News:

California Sen. Kamala Harris on Tuesday announced that she is withdrawing from the race for the Democratic presidential nomination, sources told Fox News.

An aide said Harris informed staff Tuesday she is suspending her campaign.

The campaign was also hemorrhaging money, spending more than what was coming in, amid tough media coverage about the campaign’s struggles. She becomes one of the biggest candidates yet to drop out of the crowded 2020 primary field, two months before the lead-off Iowa caucuses.

The more she talked, the less the voters liked her. And these were leftwing voters, a group that can absorb anything so long as socialism is given the nod. Harris is currently pulling around 2% in the nationals, three or four percentage points behind newcomer Michael Bloomberg. Get ready for her to start yapping about Iowa’s Democratss being rank racists, it’s what all the losing candidates like to do. Just ask Julian Castro.

The former “top-tier” candidate, as she called herself, was pretty well done in by her own bad decisions, her own twists in the wind, simply not standing for anything other than identity politics. She also sported a lifetime of sucking up to power, and abuses of power, yet had absolutely nothing to show for it for the little guy. She’s the one who demanded we all vote for her because she was a black woman, and sported a fake Southern accent to prove it, yet everyone knows she got her leg up in politics by … legging up, so to speak, to the establishment, namely, Willie Brown.

Her record as a prosecutor showed even more sorry stuff for women and black people. She kept prisoners in prison beyond their terms as Attorney General of California in order to help some bureaucrat get the forest fighting help they needed. She condoned sleazy lies and invented testimony by corrupt local district attorneys in order to suck up to local power or else make herself, as was part of the fashion at the time, to look tough on crime.

She seemed incapable of honesty on anything, and not just honesty but competence. Was it a red flag to anyone that Miss Me-Too harbored an expensive sex-harasser in one of her most important staff positions as California’s AG? Or that she had some deal for free limo service from the LAPD?

Here’s a brief rundown of some of her earlier:

Everything was political for her, including her political rise as the mistress of California swamp thing extraordinaire, former State Assembly speaker, and San Francisco mayor Willie Brown.

As a prosecutor, she’s engaged in some pretty impressive politically motivated corner-cutting.  She falsified a confession transcript of a defendant and then, when she was caught, defended it.  She’s been caught making phony charges of racism about her Berkeley upbringing, as if Berkeley in the 1970s were a den of Klansmen.  She has an army of fake Twitter followers in an obvious bid to make herself look more influential than she really is.  Lately, she put out a deceptively edited video to smear Kavanaugh.

So no surprise to see her accepting an emolument from the politically correct and easy to shake down LAPD for free stuff.  Stuff other candidates have to pay for.  Stuff that costs taxpayers big bucks and creates lots of importance and prestige for herself. 

Her later career is no better. She came off as full of hubris as rival candidate Tulsi Gabbard took her to task, melting Harris (and later, Hillary Clinton) as if she were the green witch in the Wizard of Oz. Her reply, of course, was that she was a “top tier” candidate and Tulsi was like, well, nothing. That didn’t go well for her.

Now, it’s natural to wish that a phony like this would hang on and continue to bleed her own as well as the other Democrats’ money, given that she’s the incredible shrinking candidate now. But it’s nice to see her out on her ear, too. She made that creepy claim about “moving to Iowa” and being all in for Iowa culture and the voters there could see right through her. Dollars to donuts, she won’t be back unless she wants something. All that work, and now incoming Michael Bloomberg tops her. Couldn’t happen to a nicer phony.

Image credit: Photo illustration by Monica Showalter with use of images from Billy Ferguson, via Flickr and Gage Skidmore, via Flickr, both sources CC BY-SA 2.0

 

 

Well, it looks like Willie Brown’s mistress decided she didn’t want to stick around for the inevitable drubbing she was going to take in Iowa. After a big buildup and a lot of campaign cash, turns out the signature phony didn’t even make it to primary one. 

According to Alex Pappas at Fox News:

California Sen. Kamala Harris on Tuesday announced that she is withdrawing from the race for the Democratic presidential nomination, sources told Fox News.

An aide said Harris informed staff Tuesday she is suspending her campaign.

The campaign was also hemorrhaging money, spending more than what was coming in, amid tough media coverage about the campaign’s struggles. She becomes one of the biggest candidates yet to drop out of the crowded 2020 primary field, two months before the lead-off Iowa caucuses.

The more she talked, the less the voters liked her. And these were leftwing voters, a group that can absorb anything so long as socialism is given the nod. Harris is currently pulling around 2% in the nationals, three or four percentage points behind newcomer Michael Bloomberg. Get ready for her to start yapping about Iowa’s Democratss being rank racists, it’s what all the losing candidates like to do. Just ask Julian Castro.

The former “top-tier” candidate, as she called herself, was pretty well done in by her own bad decisions, her own twists in the wind, simply not standing for anything other than identity politics. She also sported a lifetime of sucking up to power, and abuses of power, yet had absolutely nothing to show for it for the little guy. She’s the one who demanded we all vote for her because she was a black woman, and sported a fake Southern accent to prove it, yet everyone knows she got her leg up in politics by … legging up, so to speak, to the establishment, namely, Willie Brown.

Her record as a prosecutor showed even more sorry stuff for women and black people. She kept prisoners in prison beyond their terms as Attorney General of California in order to help some bureaucrat get the forest fighting help they needed. She condoned sleazy lies and invented testimony by corrupt local district attorneys in order to suck up to local power or else make herself, as was part of the fashion at the time, to look tough on crime.

She seemed incapable of honesty on anything, and not just honesty but competence. Was it a red flag to anyone that Miss Me-Too harbored an expensive sex-harasser in one of her most important staff positions as California’s AG? Or that she had some deal for free limo service from the LAPD?

Here’s a brief rundown of some of her earlier:

Everything was political for her, including her political rise as the mistress of California swamp thing extraordinaire, former State Assembly speaker, and San Francisco mayor Willie Brown.

As a prosecutor, she’s engaged in some pretty impressive politically motivated corner-cutting.  She falsified a confession transcript of a defendant and then, when she was caught, defended it.  She’s been caught making phony charges of racism about her Berkeley upbringing, as if Berkeley in the 1970s were a den of Klansmen.  She has an army of fake Twitter followers in an obvious bid to make herself look more influential than she really is.  Lately, she put out a deceptively edited video to smear Kavanaugh.

So no surprise to see her accepting an emolument from the politically correct and easy to shake down LAPD for free stuff.  Stuff other candidates have to pay for.  Stuff that costs taxpayers big bucks and creates lots of importance and prestige for herself. 

Her later career is no better. She came off as full of hubris as rival candidate Tulsi Gabbard took her to task, melting Harris (and later, Hillary Clinton) as if she were the green witch in the Wizard of Oz. Her reply, of course, was that she was a “top tier” candidate and Tulsi was like, well, nothing. That didn’t go well for her.

Now, it’s natural to wish that a phony like this would hang on and continue to bleed her own as well as the other Democrats’ money, given that she’s the incredible shrinking candidate now. But it’s nice to see her out on her ear, too. She made that creepy claim about “moving to Iowa” and being all in for Iowa culture and the voters there could see right through her. Dollars to donuts, she won’t be back unless she wants something. All that work, and now incoming Michael Bloomberg tops her. Couldn’t happen to a nicer phony.

Image credit: Photo illustration by Monica Showalter with use of images from Billy Ferguson, via Flickr and Gage Skidmore, via Flickr, both sources CC BY-SA 2.0

 

 

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U.S. Homeland Security Proposes Face Scans For U.S Citizens…

How about now?

Via Reuters:

WASHINGTON, Dec 2 (Reuters) – The Trump administration intends to propose a regulation next year that would require all travelers – including U.S. citizens – to be photographed when entering or leaving the United States, according to the administration’s regulatory agenda.

The proposed regulation, slated to be issued in July by the Homeland Security Department, would be part of a broader system to track travelers as they enter and exit the United States.

The plan has already drawn opposition from some privacy advocates. Jay Stanley, a senior policy analyst with the American Civil Liberties Union, blasted the idea in a written statement on Monday.

“Travelers, including U.S. citizens, should not have to submit to invasive biometric scans simply as a condition of exercising their constitutional right to travel,” he said.

The Trump administration contends in its regulatory agenda that the face scan requirement will combat the fraudulent use of U.S. travel documents and aid the identification of criminals and suspected terrorists.

The public typically has 30 to 60 days to comment on a proposed U.S. regulation. The federal agency then needs to review and respond to comments, a process that can be time-consuming for major regulations.

The Trump administration also said in its regulatory agenda that it plans to issue a separate fast-track regulation this month that would allow the entry-exit project to move beyond a pilot status.

Keep reading…

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He Grew Up Poor in Chicago. Then Conservative Values Helped Transform His Life.

“After I began to volunteer with this alderman and learn the ways of the Democratic Party … I began to question some of the narratives,” says Gianno Caldwell. “Why is it that although these politicians come every year during election time, why is it the conditions and the communities never get better?” 

That was the beginning of his journey to the right. Learn the full story by reading his lightly edited interview, posted below, or listen on the podcast: 

We also cover the following stories:

  • The Supreme Court hears the first major gun rights case in almost a decade.
  • President Donald Trump criticizes Democrats for having impeachment hearings during a NATO event.
  • Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg says social media shouldn’t censor politicians.

The Daily Signal podcast is available on Ricochet, iTunes, Pippa, Google Play, or Stitcher. All of our podcasts can be found at DailySignal.com/podcasts. If you like what you hear, please leave a review. You can also leave us a message at 202-608-6205 or write us at letters@dailysignal.com. Enjoy the show!

Kate Trinko: We’re at President’s Club, The Heritage Foundation’s annual meeting, and I’m joined by Gianno Caldwell, a political strategist, a Fox News political analyst, and the author of the new book “Taken for Granted: How Conservatism Can Win Back the Americans That Liberalism Failed.” Gianno, thanks for joining me.

Gianno Caldwell: No, thank you for having me.

Trinko: OK. So you’ve recently tweeted, “Conservative values helped me—a kid from the South Side of Chicago—find a life of opportunity.”

Caldwell: Absolutely.

Trinko: Tell me about that.

Caldwell: So, to know what that means, you have to know a little bit about my story. I grew up on the South Side of Chicago, extremely poor, lights, gas and water off at the same time. Mom addicted to crack cocaine. Grandmother who at one time was a private duty nurse when she gave over temporary custody of me and my siblings, ended up having a car accident, injuring her back and things were really, really bad. What ended up happening—

Trinko: And was your dad in the picture at all?

Caldwell: My dad, I saw him on the weekends and that’s what I was about to go into. My dad, I was blessed to see him on the weekends, most weekends, and he would take me to his father’s house—which was my grandfather—and small business, plumbing, construction, that kind of thing. And he would take me with him on Saturdays to go work with them. He’ll pay me $10 a day to hold the flashlight, hand them tools, and I felt extremely blessed to be able to earn something for myself. And from there … there was a moment really that transcended my life.

One day I was about 14 years old and we’re riding through this area in Chicago called Englewood, it’s one of the hardest hit areas or the hardest hit area in Chicago in terms of the guns, the violence, drugs, prostitution, etc.

And as we were riding, I see this lady who looks beat down, drugged up. She was clearly someone who was addicted to drugs. And I saw my mom and as we were riding, I’m tearing up, my grandfather sees me tear up and he says in this very Southern voice, “What’s wrong with you, boy?” And by that time we were passing this lady and I realized it wasn’t my mother, but it could have been.

And I said, “This lady, what can I do to prevent this from happening?” When he said, what’s wrong with me. He tells me about the elected officials, the power that they have to change people’s lives. … It creates different penalties for those who sell and distribute drugs—the power that they have to provide grant funding for those who want to be rehabilitated from drug use.

And I said, “I want to be an elected official.” So that very next week, at 14, I started volunteering for my local alderman at that time. And I was there every day after school, like it was a job. And that’s what created this trajectory of politics and certainly public service.

So when we talk about conservatism and how I got there, that’s a longer version of the story. But I’ll tell you, what ended up happening is after I began to volunteer with this alderman and learn the ways of the Democratic Party, and I began to question some of the narratives, “Why is it that although these politicians come every year during election time, why is it the conditions and the communities never get better?”

And they will try to shut me down and blame white people for it. Like, “Oh, we’re in Chicago, the white politician, they just give them money to the white neighborhoods.” “OK, well, the politicians here are black. Why is … nothing changing and they’re coming with the same rhetoric year after year?”

So at that point I began to really think really deeply about the differences between both parties. And after having a conversation with a Democrat, a senior Democrat on the street—he’s the alderman who challenged some of my viewpoints on the Republican Party—I went and researched the distinctions between Democrats and Republicans. And I learned that the Republican Party was started in 1854 in opposition to the Kansas-Nebraska Act, which went to expand slavery into the West.

I’m like, “Wow, this doesn’t sound right. This isn’t a Republican Party that people have talked about in my community. The ones that they’ve said were racist and slave owners and pushed Jim Crow and all these other different policies,” which wasn’t true. It was all lies. Democrats were the ones that were pushing those particular policies.

And as I began to further examine, it just seemed like propaganda. Because why is it that I haven’t heard this before and why is it Republicans aren’t talking about this? And after really examining that and realizing that it was all true, [that the] Republican Party pushed every civil rights bill pretty much that there was … even the 1964 Civil Rights Act. I get Lyndon B. Johnson was a part of that, but if it wasn’t for Republicans in the Senate, it wouldn’t have passed, and mind you, Democrats had the majority, they didn’t want to pass it.

So learning these things and understanding the morals and values of conservatism—I come from a line of ministers in my family—learning that the party was anti-regulation. My grandfather, a small business owner often talked about how regulation would drive his business out of business. Immigration policy—my grandfather lost a lot of business deals due to illegal immigration.

I began to see the virtues of the conservative movement as a part of me and that ended up itself was a longer story reconciling what that meant, especially considering what people in my community had said about the conservative movement or the Republican Party for years.

Trinko: Great. And I find that so interesting because I grew up in a different background from yours, where family and friends tend to be very conservative and I always find it very interesting when people are able to convert, as it were. And were you upset when you started to think, “I might agree more with conservative ideas”? And what was the response of your community?

Caldwell: You are asking excellent questions, by the way. Was I upset? I felt sad and depressed, to be honest.

Trinko: Yeah, that’s hard.

Caldwell: Because, you got to keep in mind that Democrats have been really marketing geniuses, it’s painting a picture of the Republican Party and the conservative movement that doesn’t exist. It’s not backed by any factual basis. It’s really emotional rhetoric that’s driven or derived by way of pointing to racism and slavery. That’s really the angle in which they choose to push their messaging.

So what ends up happening is you get a whole community of people who believe this rhetoric and everyone just begins to believe the same. Nothing changes, there’s no one with an individual thought.

That’s why when you look at now the number of African Americans that vote for the Democratic Party [it’s] about over 90%. … And it’s not like their policies are making our lives better. Their policies are looking to entrap us into not just a victimhood mentality, but keep us dependent on government, and that’s troubling. It’s really troubling.

So yeah, I felt sad. I felt depressed. I said, “How could I be one of them?” And it was a long time of soul-searching before I really was able to reconcile what the truth was, how this aligned with me. And when I came out and told folks in my family, they disowned me. I lost a lot of friends. There were women who chose not to date me because of my political affiliations. Things were bad in that sense. And the worst of all, there was not really any conservatives around me … So what group am I going to really go to?

Trinko: Sounds like a rough time.

Caldwell: Yeah, it was rough. It was rough, but it led to a life of opportunity. It really did.

Trinko: In your book, you’re talking about the conservative ideas and the conservative solution. So for neighborhoods like the one you grew up in and inner city neighborhoods, what are the conservative ideas that you think will help them?

Caldwell: Entrepreneurship is a conservative idea that will help people. I think so often, especially considering the dependency the Democrats have empowered themselves with, saying, “Hey, if we can just give you another check, you don’t have to work. Just let me give you another check.” Or if you see in today’s policies, you see counties and cities saying, “Let’s give you a universal income, $1,000 a month so you don’t have to do anything.” That’s a trap. It really is.

Trinko: It sounds a little bit great. No—

Gianno Caldwell: It sounds a little bit … no—

Trinko: … just kidding.

Caldwell: … it really is a trap.

So let’s think about, for example, the ’94 crime bill was something that was pushed by both Clintons—just follow me. [The] ’94 crime bill was something that was pushed by both Clintons and within this ’94 crime bill, if you were an individual who had went to jail for something like having a bag of marijuana, you could not go into public housing. You couldn’t have that person go and live in your public housing, which left women, a lot of African American women, without a man in the home, which brings about those traditional family values.

This left them trapped and dependent on government, because you don’t have anybody that can earn. So what else are you going to do? You’re going to stay in this same cycle.

If we think about the fact that if you received these particular benefits and you say, “OK, I want to come out of this cycle and I want to go get a job,” maybe you don’t have skills, maybe you don’t have education. So what kind of jobs are you willing to get? A minimum wage job.

“Well, I’m going to go and get this job and I’m going to try.” Well, maybe on your first, second, third check, you’re getting a letter from the state government or whomever saying, “You’re making a little bit too much money. We may have to cut you off from your benefits.” What does that do? “Well, if you’re going to cut me off on my benefits and I’m not making much money, I’m just going to stay collecting your checks.” That’s a trap. Are you following me?

Trinko: Yeah.

Caldwell: So, how do we break through? We reform the system. Legitimately you reform the system and you bring about individuals within the community. It can really be a testament to a change in the dynamic.

Trinko: So how can conservatives communicate this message? Because you just told me half the people in your life rejected you when you became a conservative, even after knowing you for years and years and hopefully, eventually, some of those relationships healed. But, conservatives walk into an African American community and it’s like … there’s no credibility. So how do conservatives reach African Americans?

Caldwell: This is like a very interesting thing that I’m about to say. And truthfully speaking, in 2016 when President Trump ran—I have always been a defender of the president where I believed appropriate. That’s the key word—because I don’t defend everything—when I believe appropriate.

And President Trump was one of the smartest messengers that the party has ever had. He went in and said, “Listen, your schools are broken. You can walk down the street in Chicago and get shot. Unemployment is bad. They’ve taken your votes for granted.” This is what he said to the African American community. Unlike some Republicans that may say it one time, he continued to say it.

But it wasn’t just him saying it, we got a list of deliverables from this president: the lowest African American unemployment rate in history, deregulation of the economy, more people to work than we’ve ever seen ever, a change in the immigration dynamic, where we know a lot of African Americans are disenfranchised by illegal immigration, including my grandfather.

Who’s the messenger? We need messengers that are forceful like President Trump. We’re going to speak the facts and we’re going to communicate them continuously. And by virtue of the results through the Trump administration, we have credibility, and that’s really it.

And I know it’s a tough pill to swallow for a lot of people, but you definitely don’t want to go and speak in a way that may not be appropriate, but certainly you definitely want to communicate the results that have been done by where this administration, and Republicans usually run away from that kind of thing.

Trinko: So do you think overall the African American community thinks well of Trump and thinks of his results or do you think the message is not getting out or what’s actually going on in the ground here?

Caldwell: OK, so let me take you back because I can tell you something by using the factual data, the reference.

So during the 2016 election, you had about every influential African American on television saying, “Don’t vote for Trump, etc.” Then we see his rhetoric, him continuing to mention policies that impact the black community, what he’s looking to do for the black community.

Again, something we had not seen from, and let me be clear, a Republican president in that … way, because a lot of Republicans are very concerned about being considered racist or being called racist … [for mentioning] just the simple facts about the unemployment rate in the black community or how some of these communities have really and truly marginalized. “Look at Baltimore, look at Chicago, look at … ” Then people will say, “Oh, you must be racist because you’re mentioning these things.” No.

So when considering that, he continued to do it. The data show that he won more African Americans than Mitt Romney and John McCain. He was double digits for African American men at 12% and he was about 8% for African Americans overall. He was over in the 30 percentile for Latinos because he kept on message. He continued to communicate that, and I think that’s important and powerful.

Trinko: OK. … So to switch gears a little bit, you grew up in the inner city and I think one of the things that the left talks about a lot these days that there’s a lot of concern about is, is the American dream still alive for all Americans and is it possible? You had your dad in your life, it sounds like it’s a really positive influence—

Caldwell: My grandfather especially.

Trinko: … and your grandfather, but for other kids who may not have any father figure, is the American dream still alive for them?

Caldwell: I would say, yes. And let me be very clear. There’s a total of nine of us, my siblings and I. There’s seven different dads of these nine kids, and what? It was maybe my dad was active. He was the most active of them all. … Yeah, one of them would send gifts on Christmas, that kind of thing, maybe a birthday. And I can tell you, some of my siblings aren’t doing well, but then there’s others that are doing very well. They may not be doing the kinds of things that I’m doing, but they needed examples of what was possible.

That’s why I push in my book, “Taken for Granted: How Conservatism Can Win Back the Americans That Liberalism Failed,” the power of mentorship.

… There’s [a group] called 100 Black Men of America, and these guys, their philosophy is, “Kids will be what they see.”

So you got all these successful African Americans who went out and they’re business owners, they’re politicians, they’re lawyers, they’re doctors, and their focus is on giving back to communities that they may have come from. And I think that’s important to do, whether you be black, white, or whatever.

If you’re listening to this and you feel like you can fill a void of mentoring people, not just black kids, because my book, although my story is where I come from, I’m black, but there’s kids in the Appalachian region, they can benefit. Those are people who have been told that the American dream is dead. They’re experiencing similar problems as I did growing up. The difference between me and them is the color of our skin, but it’s just as bad [for] them.

And I think, that’s really for me, that’s the focus. The American dream is for everyone and it’s available for everyone. But the liberals have really made it a punchline, like, “Oh, unless the government is really helping you, you can’t make it.” And that’s a lie.

Trinko: Okay. Now, you mentioned all the good things that President Trump has done for the black community, but a clip of you talking about Charlottesville two years ago went viral and you were crying and very upset. … Do you think that’s still affecting how blacks perceive the president? And do you think there’s other areas where maybe the President could grow in his outreach to African Americans?

Caldwell: Let me be very clear, and I talk about Charlottesville in this book, this president, as I told you, in 2016, I defended him where I believed appropriate and I lost even more friends and family over that. I believed in his messaging on a number of issues.

And yes, I also talk about in my book, “Taken for Granted,” about holding members of your party accountable, even more so than even the other side. Because in that moment we needed a president that was going to unite us and not divide us, and his language to me was divisive, and there was a number of members of the Republican Party who support him, senators, Congressman, etc., who also said that it was dividing language. So I wasn’t alone on that front.

And it really impacted me, because I happen to work for the No. 1 cable news network in the country. People actually listen to what I say and I was hired for a reason and certainly to express how I felt in that moment coming from where I come from with something that the president needed to hear, and the White House did hear me. They heard me loud and clear and they let me know about an hour or two after that segment began to go viral what they thought about it.

And a matter of fact, even to be even more clear, and I talk about it in a book, before that segment even aired, I was in touch with the White House, saying that President Trump needed to get in front of the cameras and we needed to have a dialogue on race in America.

Think about what happened in 2001, I know it’s different, but when we were attacked in 9/11, we needed somebody that was going to bring us together, and that’s what George Bush did. It didn’t matter if you are a black life, black or white, we were brothers and sisters, we were Americans. And that was an opportunity I think that the president certainly missed, certainly.

Trinko: OK. So lastly, you write very movingly in your book about your mom’s drug addiction, and that’s a problem that we see more and more, the opioid addiction. But even here in D.C., there are certain places, Union Station, a corner of New York Avenue, where I regularly see people who seem to be on drugs and addicted, and it’s heartbreaking, and it seems like a problem that no one is able to solve. What do you think we both as communities and as policymakers should be doing?

Caldwell: And I’m going to have to go to this point again: President Trump in 2016, he talked about this crisis and he said he was going to do something about it. Him, with him, his administration, and Congress, they passed the bill and they provided a lot of money, hundreds of millions of dollars I believe it was, to this fight and it’s been working out.

There’s been a reduction in deaths for opioids and there’s also been a change in dynamic on how people view it. There’s been more education, there’s a more serious consideration around it versus some kids that are just popping pills here and there. So people are taking this matter very seriously. So that’s something that we can thank the administration for.

For me, it was a lot different when I was growing up. Crack was something that impacted mostly black communities. There was a lot of people who said, “Lock them up.” There wasn’t a lot of compassion for those who were on those drugs.

And you see the continuation of that through the ’94 crime bill. People were demonized and that’s why I’m so big on that, because they really created a mass incarceration generation, the Clintons and the Democratic Party. Republicans didn’t support that bill. There were a few Republicans that supported it, but the majority of Republicans didn’t support it.

So having these discussions and putting politics aside, I think we’re going in the right direction on it. And so long as more people are informed about the ability to get help and be rehabbed from this addiction, which is very serious and impacts millions of families, I think that’s really the route to go in terms of changing the dynamic in our country. And I see it going on every day. I see a change. I really do.

Trinko: OK. Gianno Caldwell, he’s the author of the new book-

Caldwell: Wait, wait. Don’t jump out yet. I mean, we’re talking a little bit more, am I right?

Trinko: Well—

Caldwell: I get it. It has been endorsed by Ann Coulter, Brian Kilmeade, of course, Mrs. [Kay Coles] James, the president of The Heritage [Foundation], Ben Shapiro, Newt Gingrich, and Clarence Cox III. I thank you so much for your time, and please have everyone now follow me on social media, @GiannoCaldwell.

Trinko: OK. Thank you so much.

Caldwell: Thank you.

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Common Core fails: US test scores show no improvement despite billions of dollars thrown at education reform

Results from the latest international exam show U.S. high school students have made “no significant improvement” since the early 2000s and continue to trail students in Asian countries, despite billions of dollars invested in educational reform.

The exam, known as the Program for International Student Assessment, consists of testing exercises in math, reading, and science and is taken by 15-year-old students across the globe every three years. It seeks to measure how students apply knowledge to real-life scenarios and is considered to be a barometer of future economic success.

A report on the results, which were announced Tuesday, stated:

Students in the United States performed above the OECD average in reading (505 score points) and science (502), and below the OECD average in mathematics (478). Their scores were similar to those of students in Australia, Germany, New Zealand, Sweden and the United Kingdom in at least two of these three subjects. The trend lines of United States’ mean performance in reading since 2000, mathematics since 2003 and science since 2006 are stable, with no significant improvement or decline.

The report also highlighted a widening performance gap in reading between socio-economically advantaged and disadvantaged students: “Some 27% of advantaged students in the United States, but only 4% of disadvantaged students, were top performers in reading,” the report found.

China, in contrast to the U.S., continued to make gains, posting the highest scores in all three of the tested subjects. Students from China recorded an average reading score of 555, an average science score of 590, and an average math score of 591 — topping U.S. students by over 100 points in that category.

The results are devastating for comprehensive educational reform initiatives such as Common Core, No Child Left Behind, and Race to the Top, which have spent billions of taxpayer dollars aimed at helping U.S. students compete with students around the world. Many of the initiatives specifically focused on assisting disadvantaged students.

The Common Core Standards Initiative, in particular, has been the subject of contentious debate since its rollout in 2010. Its mission is to set unified standards for what K-12 students should know and be able to do in each grade in preparation for college and the workforce. In adopting the standards, states have integrated “Common Core-aligned” materials into their curricula.

Conservatives have long opposed government involvement in education and voiced strong opposition to Common Core for unnecessarily forcing government into the classroom, wresting educational control from families and local communities.

With the PISA results showing stagnant test scores and a widening performance gap, comprehensive educational initiatives like Common Core will likely face even more heat from critics.

Speaking with the New York Times, Daniel Koretz, an expert on testing and a professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, argued that even when government initiatives and curricular changes are adopted, improved teaching quality doesn’t necessarily follow.

“It’s really time to rethink the entire drift of policy reform, because it just isn’t working,” he argued amid the recent test results.

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Virginia Democrats Filing Proposals To Begin ‘Confiscation’ Of Lawfully Owned Firearms, Second Amendment Reporter Says

After taking complete control of the state, Virginia Democrats are beginning to enact their left-wing agenda to undermine Americans’ constitutionally protected Second Amendment rights.

The legislative action comes after leftist Virginia Democrat Governor Ralph Northam announced at the beginning of last month that Democrats “will at least start” their attempts to restrict Virginian’s constitutional rights by “banning the sale of [semi-automatic firearms] and high-capacity magazines, restoring the law that limits purchases to one gun a month, and a red flag law that would empower a court to temporarily remove a gun from a person deemed to be a risk to himself or others,” The Washington Post reported.

When Northam was asked about confiscating firearms from law-abiding citizens, the governor responded, “that’s something I’m working [on] with our secretary of public safety.”

Free Beacon Second Amendment reporter Stephen Gutowski noted the proposed legislation on Monday, tweeting: “Meanwhile Virginia Democrats are filing bills to make the possession of millions of currently-owned firearms illegal. SB16 bans possession of many rifles without any grandfathering provision which means it’s confiscation.”

The legislation that Gutowski linked to included § 18.2-308.8, which proposes banning the “importation, sale, possession, etc., of assault firearms.”

The way that the legislation defines “assault firearms” would effectively ban nearly all semi-automatic rifles and shotguns, which are owned by tens of millions of Americans.

As Gutowski noted, there is no “grandfathering provision” included in the bill which essentially means that “it’s confiscation.”

The bill states (strike-through portions removed): “It is unlawful for any person to import, sell, manufacture, purchase, possess, or transport an assault firearm. A violation of this section is punishable as a Class 6 felony.”

In a separate article last month, The Free Beacon reported:

Gun confiscation and other gun control measures have been part of Northam’s agenda, but took on increased importance after a picture of two men, one in blackface and the other in KKK robes, was uncovered on Northam’s page in a medical school yearbook. In his first major public appearance after the scandal broke, Northam called for a special session of the legislature in order to reconsider his gun control package, following the recent strategy used by prominent liberals of pivoting to gun control after brushes with controversy.

Democrats have a strong incentive, in the form of millions in dark money, to implement new gun control laws. In each of the last three election cycles, Everytown for Gun Safety—backed by billionaire Michael Bloomberg—and other gun control groups have spent large sums of money backing Democrats. Everytown spent $2.5 million to help push Democrats into the majority in Virginia, while the National Rifle Association spent just $300,000 supporting Republicans, according to CNBC.

Virginia Citizens Defense League (VCDL) president Philip Van Cleave told The Free Beacon last week that support is rapidly growing at the county-level across the state to push back on Democrats’ attempts to restrict people’s constitutional freedoms.

“I’ve never seen anything like this, and I’ve been doing this for over 20 years,” Cleave said. “It’s a sleeping giant that had been pretty much not paying attention to politics, and now they’re awake, and now they’re flooding these sanctuary county hearings. Flooding them.”

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Injury-Plagued Detroit Lions Snub Kaepernick, Sign 2 Young QBs Instead

Despite suffering the loss of multiple quarterbacks, the Detroit Lions declined to sign national anthem protester Colin Kaepernick and opted to sign two younger players instead.

With starter Matthew Stafford out with a fractured back, and Jeff Driskel also on the injured reserve list, the Lions need to add at least one quarterback. But over the weekend, they picked up two. However, the Lions snubbed Colin Kaepernick despite being one of a handful of teams that sent a representative to the former 49er’s workout in Georgia last month.

Over the weekend, the Lions added to their practice squad Arizona Cardinals’ practice squad member Kyle Sloter, 25, and Joe Callahan, 26. Meanwhile, rookie David Blough started for the Lions on Thanksgiving Day, throwing for 280 yards and two touchdowns.

But the team completely ignored Kaepernick even though they sent a representative to see his workout. Still, Kaepernick did himself no favors with his two most recent acts of protest.

At his workout, for instance, Kaepernick wore a t-shirt with the name of Roots character of Kunta Kinte upon it apparently announcing that he feels he is something akin to a slave. Then, on Thanksgiving Day, Kaepernick proudly announced that he supported the “Unthanksgiving” event of native Americans who blame the country for “genocide” and “theft” of lands.

Kaepernick’s recent acts of far-left activism are only the latest examples of his years of agitation.

Only a few months ago, he forced sportswear giant Nike to abandon an American flag-themed shoe because he claimed the historic Betsy Ross flag was somehow a “symbol” of slavery.

He also famously brought the NFL up on charges of “collusion” to keep him from pursuing his NFL career before dropping the whole thing in exchange for a $10 million payoff.

That is not all. When he was still with the San Francisco 49ers, Kaepernick also wore socks portraying the police as pigs, an act that turned a discussion about occasional police brutality into a blanket statement of hate for all cops regardless of their actions. He said that the U.S. was never great, meaning that he stands against the whole country in general, not just against “racism.” Additionally, Kaepernick has been seen wearing a Fidel Castro t-shirt in celebration of a man who murdered hundreds of thousands of political opponents over the last 50 years. He is also a supporter of the Black Lives Matter, a group many Americans feel is a domestic terror outfit that has been responsible for multiple riots, millions in property destruction, and deaths across the U.S.

This history of extreme statements caused former Jets head coach Rex Ryan to note that no NFL coach wants that sort of mess brought into their locker room.

“The NFL doesn’t have to have this kid play,” Ryan said on ESPN after Kaepernick’s November workout stunt. “I’m sorry. What I see on the video is look, if you want to break down the little video, you see, you see, is he throwing the ball behind him, too much air on his deep ball, yeah, all those type of things. But that wasn’t about this. As a coach, you don’t want this circus in the locker room. And, I’m sorry, but that’s what it is. Is it going to be worth all the extra media? You’re going to have a backup quarterback having press conferences.”

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