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Elbridge Colby Is the Right Man to Carry Out Trump’s America First Mandate

By: Charlie Kirk | February 18, 2025

Read more at https://thefederalist.com/2025/02/18/elbridge-colby-is-the-right-man-to-carry-out-trumps-america-first-mandate/

Elbridge Colby speaking on stage
Elbridge Colby will actually do what Americans have given Trump a clear mandate to do, and for that reason, the D.C. blob is desperate to stop him.

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President Trump was elected with a mandate — a mandate to rethink the core assumptions of Washington, D.C., that have led this country to disaster after disaster. A mandate to put America first instead of last. To fulfill his mandate, the president needs to be able to make the appointments of his choosing without being sabotaged by the members of his own party that he carried to victory in November.

Yet right now, a fight has broken out over the nomination of Elbridge Colby to be undersecretary of defense for policy, the top strategy official at the Pentagon. Make no mistake: This is a make-or-break moment for whether Donald Trump’s America First foreign policy will succeed — or even happen. Colby is being attacked precisely because his opponents recognize he is the most effective and able person to put Trump’s America First approach into effect. He must be confirmed and empowered. 

Who is Colby? Colby has an establishment background. But don’t be fooled: He has been arguing against the disastrous Bush-Cheney foreign policy regime since he was in college. Colby instead embraces a foreign policy of genuine peace through strength, one that avoids wars while protecting our authentic interests, gets our allies to do their part, and focuses on the top threats to Americans rather than irrelevant distractions. 

Look back over Colby’s written record, and you will see that he was arguing for Trump’s America First approach long before it was popular — in fact, before Trump himself even arrived on the political scene. Colby paid the price for his advocacy, repeatedly losing out on high-powered jobs he could have easily received if he’d been willing to play along with the D.C. consensus.

Colby served Trump loyally and ably at the Pentagon during his first term, producing the landmark defense strategy shift that refocused the Defense Department on China, a central Trump goal. As great America First conservatives like Tucker Carlson and Jim Banks point out, Colby’s acclaimed book The Strategy of Denial is a guidebook for how to put an America First foreign policy into practice. Indeed, a Politico profile of him in 2023 was literally titled, “Elbridge Colby Wants to Finish What Donald Trump Started.” Even when almost every other foreign policy expert lambasted President Trump, Colby never did, enthusiastically and publicly supporting Trump in his historic 2024 campaign. 

So why is Colby being attacked? The fact is, despite what they say in public, many Republican politicians want to frustrate President Trump’s attempt to change American foreign policy. They want to revive the disastrous foreign policy of George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, and Mitch McConnell. These America Last Republicans think they can manipulate President Trump and his top officials the same way they tried to do in his first term.

They don’t even deny it. For instance, one anonymous senator recently said: “I think Tulsi Gabbard is flawed, but [is] she going to be harmful? No, because I think that there are going to [be] enough strong intelligence people around her.” GOP senators openly plan to tout Trump’s goals in public, then sabotage them in private. That same anonymous senator also said: “When it comes to those nominees below the Cabinet who may be less on people’s radar, who will be able to facilitate things, that’s where I think it can be dangerous.”

And that’s precisely why they see Colby as such a threat. He is so effective, so knowledgeable, and so genuine in his conviction for an America First foreign policy that he cannot be manipulated or controlled. Colby will actually do what the American people have given President Trump a clear mandate to do, and for that reason, the D.C. blob must stop him.

Colby’s nomination is a fork in the road not just for President Trump and his administration but for the country. If Colby is scalped by the secret cabal of bitter-ender neoconservatives, it will cut the legs out from under President Trump’s America First foreign policy, and it will chill any other nominees who follow in Colby’s wake.

People are watching to see whether President Trump’s administration will deliver real change, putting Americans first and ending the endless wars. If committed and loyal stalwarts like Colby are allowed to be taken down by those who want to return to the era of Dick Cheney, then it would be a disaster for the country — and supporters of the president will remember who was responsible.

Charlie Kirk is the founder and CEO of Turning Point USA, and host of The Charlie Kirk Show, a nationally syndicated radio show and one of the most listened to conservative podcasts in the country.

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After Media Try To Provoke Trump-Rubio Rift, Sec. Of State Nominee Pledges Loyalty To America First


By: Jordan Boyd | January 15, 2025

Read more at https://thefederalist.com/2025/01/15/after-media-try-to-provoke-trump-rubio-rift-sec-of-state-nominee-pledges-loyalty-to-america-first/

Marco Rubio at his confirmation hearing
Rubio plans to follow through on President Trump’s promises to secure the homeland and re-stabilize the globe.

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President Donald Trump’s pick for Secretary of State Sen. Marco Rubio doubled down on his commitment to the America First foreign policy agenda during his confirmation hearing on Wednesday, despite a corporate media effort to cause a rift between him and the incoming president.

Politico published a piece one day before the hearing attempting to kiss Rubio’s role as Secretary of State goodbye before it even begins. In the gossip column masquerading as an article, Politico’s Senior Foreign Affairs Correspondent Nahal Toosi uses the alleged analysis of a dozen unnamed “current and former U.S. and foreign officials” to claim that Rubio won’t last as Trump’s Secretary of State because “the odds are high that the two will differ on policy.” Toosi also invokes Trump and Rubio’s history as presidential primary rivals in 2016 as a potential problem for the pair’s ability to strategize effectively.

The only way Rubio will survive leading the State Department, the author insists, “may be to take the punches from his internal rivals, suffer through whatever insults Trump lobs at him, stick to the lanes that are open, and simply let the State Department fade into irrelevance.”

While it’s true that Rubio and Trump ran against each other and that the former used to take more of an interventionist and neocon approach to foreign policy than he does now, a lot has changed politically and globally in the last decade. The ongoing transformation of the Republican party from an arm of the establishment to a party of and for the people, paired with the rapid rise of China’s hegemony, has pushed Trump and Rubio’s visions for the globe much closer together than they were nearly 10 years ago. Both care deeply about projecting U.S. strength to the world while keeping American tax dollars from funding endless wars.

Rubio spokesman Dan Holler told Politico that Rubio is far more focused on executing Trump’s “ambitious foreign policy agenda that will put Americans first and correct the failures of the past four years” than devoting time to corporate media’s “silly games or gossip.” Rubio confirmed to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Wednesday that his new job will center on putting America first.

“Under President Trump, the top priority of the United States Department of State will be the United States,” Rubio said in his opening statement. “The direction he has given for the conduct of our foreign policy is clear. Every dollar we spend, every program we fund, every policy we pursue, must be justified by the answer to one of three questions: Does it make America safer? Does it make America stronger? Or does it make America more prosperous?”

On Rubio’s agenda is executing Trump’s vision to curb China’s global influence, end the Russia-Ukraine and Israel-Hamas wars, and address the vast problems exacerbating the U.S. border invasion.

“In our very own hemisphere, narcoterrorists and dictators, and despots take advantage of open borders to drive mass migration, to traffic in women and children, and to flood our communities with deadly fentanyl and violent criminals,” Rubio said.

The biggest foreign threat facing the U.S. today, he told senators, is the Communist Party of China, “the most potent and dangerous, near-peer adversary this nation has ever confronted.”

“We welcomed the Chinese Communist Party into the global order, and they took advantage of all of its benefits. And they ignored all of its obligations and responsibilities. Instead, they have repressed, and lied, and cheated, and hacked, and stolen their way into global superpower status. And they have done so at our expense and at the expense of the people of their own country,” Rubio said.

When it comes to Eastern Europe, Rubio says he echoes Trump’s desire for “people to stop dying” and for the U.S. to stop funding a conflict with no end in sight — especially when its own border is compromised.

“I think it should be the official position of the United States that this war should be brought to an end,” Rubio said. “My differences with the Biden administration throughout this process, is that they never clearly delineated what the end goal of the conflict was — what exactly were we funding? What exactly were we putting money towards? On many occasions, it sounded like however much it takes, for however long it takes — that is not a realistic or prudent position.”

Corporate media outlets, anonymous foreign policy officials, and America’s adversaries alike are trying to drive a stake between Rubio and the man who named him to be the face of the nation’s foreign relations with hopes of hampering their effectiveness. Yet, Politico’s own pages admit that Trump and Rubio have successfully worked together to secure their foreign policy goals before.

Rubio’s public commitment to following through on Trump’s promises to secure the homeland and restabilize the globe suggests that, if he is confirmed, productivity is the priority, not pretend personal strife.

Jordan Boyd is a staff writer at The Federalist and producer of The Federalist Radio Hour. Her work has also been featured in The Daily Wire, Fox News, and RealClearPolitics. Jordan graduated from Baylor University where she majored in political science and minored in journalism. Follow her on X @jordanboydtx.

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14 Lies Kamala Harris Told During Her DNC Speech


By: Shawn Fleetwood | August 23, 2024

Read more at https://thefederalist.com/2024/08/23/14-lies-kamala-harris-told-during-her-dnc-speech/

Kamala Harris giving her DNC speech.

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Implementing destructive policies isn’t the only thing Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have in common. Following the latter’s acceptance speech during Thursday’s Democratic National Convention, it’s clear America’s vice president has learned a thing or two about lying from her senile boss. From abortion to immigration, Harris parroted numerous falsehoods about her record and that of Donald Trump. In case you missed her lackluster screed, here’s a definitive list of the Democrat presidential nominee’s biggest whoppers.

[RELATED: Tracking Kamala Harris’ Biggest And Baddest Lies: 20 And Counting]

1. Jan. 6

Vice President Kamala Harris falsely claimed that Donald Trump “sent an armed mob to the U.S. Capitol” on Jan. 6. 2021, and further accused the former president of “fann[ing] the flames” after “politicians in his own party begged him to call off the mob and send help.”

That is false. During his J6 speech, Trump specifically telegraphed to protestors to “peacefully and patriotically make [their] voices heard.” Trump also released a video calling for peace during the riot and had previously sought to deploy thousands of National Guard members to the Capitol ahead of the demonstrations.

2. Supreme Court ‘Presidential Immunity’ Decision

Kamala Harris distorted the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision on presidential immunity by claiming the decision means Trump “would be immune from criminal prosecution.”

“His explicit intent to jail journalists, political opponents and anyone he sees as the enemy. His explicit intent to deploy our active duty military against our own citizens,” Harris contended in a hyperbolic fashion. “Just imagine Donald Trump with no guardrails, and how he would use the immense powers of the presidency of the United States.”

The vice president’s claim is misleading at best. While a majority of justices determined that presidents possess “absolute immunity” for “actions within his conclusive and preclusive constitutional authority” and “at least presumptive immunity” for “official acts,” they separately noted that “[t]here is no immunity for unofficial acts.”

The justices further remanded the Biden-Harris Justice Department’s get-Trump lawfare back to the lower courts to determine whether the actions alleged by Special Counsel Jack Smith constitute “official acts.”

3. Trump’s Record on Entitlements

Kamala Harris claimed Donald Trump “tried to cut Social Security and Medicare.” Even The Washington Post’s so-called “fact-checkers” rated a previous version of this claim from the Harris-Walz campaign as “misleading.”

4. School Funding Statistics

During her DNC speech, Kamala Harris attacked Donald Trump for pledging to get rid of the Department of Education.

“We are not going to let him eliminate the Department of Education that funds our public schools,” Harris said.

As the left-wing “fact-checkers” would say, this statement “needs context.” While the federal government does finance public school systems, those funds typically account for less than 10 percent of taxpayer monies given to schools in a given year. During the 2019-2020 school year, for example, “47.5% of funding came from state governments, 44.9% came from local governments, and the federal government provided about 7.6% of school funding,” according to USA Facts.

5. ‘Middle Class’ Roots

Kamala Harris falsely claimed that she came from the “middle class.” As previously noted by journalist Megyn Kelly, Harris’ father was a professor at Stanford University, while her mother was a biomedical scientist at UC Berkley.

6. Trump’s Tax Cuts

Kamala Harris falsely insinuated that the 2017 tax cuts approved by the Trump administration disproportionately benefited America’s wealthiest citizens.

“[Trump] fights for himself and his billionaire friends,” Harris claimed. “And he will give them another round of tax breaks that will add up to $5 trillion to the national debt.”

That is not true. Data produced by the IRS has shown that “on average all income brackets benefited substantially from the Republicans’ tax reform law, with the biggest beneficiaries being working and middle-income filers, not the top 1 percent,” according to The Hill.

7. Trump’s Tariff Policies

Kamala Harris claimed Donald Trump intends to impose a “national sales tax” on Americans that she contended will “raise prices on middle-class families by almost $4,000 a year.”

This claim is misleading and needs context. It appears Harris is citing figures from the left-wing Center for American Progress Action Fund, which, according to The New York Times, estimated that a potential policy “floated” by Trump to raise tariffs to 10 percent on most imports and at least 60 percent on Chinese imports could cost American families $3,900 a year. Other economic groups cited by the Times predict such policies would cost less than the figures estimated by the Center for American Progress Action Fund.

8. Nature of Abortion

The vice president falsely asserted that signing a federal law authorizing abortions nationwide would “restore reproductive freedom.” As The Federalist’s Jordan Boyd accurately noted, however, the law would actually “subject thousands of babies and women, nearly 70 percent of whom felt their abortions were forced, unwanted, or contradicted their views, to harm.”

9. GOP Pro-Life Laws

Kamala Harris falsely claimed that Republican pro-life laws that protect thousands of unborn babies from elective abortions bar doctors from treating women dealing with a pregnancy-related health issue, such as a miscarriage or ectopic pregnancy.

“I will tell you, over the past two years, I’ve traveled across our country, and women have told me their stories. Husbands and fathers have shared theirs. Stories of women miscarrying in a parking lot, developing sepsis, losing the ability to ever again have children, all because doctors are afraid they may go to jail for caring for their patients. Couples just trying to grow their family, cut off in the middle of IVF treatments,” Harris claimed.

As The Federalist previously reported, “[t]here is a clear legal distinction between an induced abortion, which deliberately intends to end the life of the baby, and the medically classified ‘spontaneous abortions’ such as an ectopic pregnancy, miscarriage, or early delivery with the intent of saving the baby and mother.” Furthermore, every pro-life law currently in effect contains exceptions allowing abortions when necessary to save the pregnant mother’s life.

10. Trump’s Position on Abortion

Kamala Harris untruthfully accused Donald Trump of attempting to “enact a nationwide abortion ban, with or without Congress,” designate “a national anti-abortion coordinator,” “force states to report on women’s miscarriages and abortions,” “limit access to birth control,” and outlaw a popular and dangerous abortion drug regime.

As The Federalist’s Jordan Boyd previously noted, Trump has regularly taken the position that laws limiting the murder of children in the womb should be left “up to the states.” He’s voiced opposition to signing a federal law curbing abortion and his vice-presidential pick J.D. Vance “similarly claimed the pill responsible for a 500 percent increase in abortion-related emergency room visits should remain legal and ‘accessible.’”

11. IVF

Kamala Harris falsely insinuated that Donald Trump is to blame if couples are “cut off in the middle of IVF treatments.”

As The Federalist previously reported, “Trump has openly touted in vitro fertilization, even though it is marred with ethical and moral pitfalls, as a procedure that Republicans and pro-life conservatives should promote.”

“Trump has openly touted in vitro fertilization, even though it is marred with ethical and moral pitfalls, as a procedure that Republicans and pro-life conservatives should promote.”

12. Disastrous Border Bill

Kamala Harris lied when claiming that a congressional immigration bill proposed and defeated earlier this year is the “the strongest border bill in decades.”

That statement is categorically false. The bipartisan measure would have enshrined the existing invasion into federal law.

13. Trump’s NATO Comments

While falsely claiming that Donald Trump “encouraged [Vladimir] Putin to invade our allies,” Kamala Harris distorted the former president’s remarks by claiming he told Russia it could “do whatever the hell [it] want[s].” Harris’ characterization of Trump’s remarks is as inaccurate as when her boss said it during his State of the Union address earlier this year.

Trump’s remarks came during a South Carolina rally, during which he recounted a story from when he was president and speaking with a NATO member. Trump purportedly told this state that he would withhold U.S. support if they didn’t pay their minimum defense spending obligations.

“‘You didn’t pay? You’re delinquent?’” Trump recalled telling the unidentified NATO member. “‘No, I would not protect you. In fact, I would encourage them to do whatever the hell they want. You gotta pay. You gotta pay your bills.’”

14. America’s Enemies

Kamala Harris claimed “tyrants and dictators like Kim Jong-un” are “rooting” for Donald Trump to win this November.

While there is no definitive way for Harris to know this, the actions of America’s biggest adversaries in the years since she and Biden assumed the White House suggests the exact opposite. Thus far, Russia has invaded Ukraine, Iran-backed Hamas launched a deadly terrorist attack on Israel, North Korea disavowed potential peace with South Korea, and China has ramped up its threats toward Taiwan, Japan, and the Philippines.

Shawn Fleetwood is a staff writer for The Federalist and a graduate of the University of Mary Washington. He previously served as a state content writer for Convention of States Action and his work has been featured in numerous outlets, including RealClearPolitics, RealClearHealth, and Conservative Review. Follow him on Twitter @ShawnFleetwood

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Biden Fell for China’s Empty-Promises Playbook at The San Francisco Summit


BY: HELEN RALEIGH | NOVEMBER 17, 2023

Read more at https://thefederalist.com/2023/11/17/biden-fell-for-chinas-empty-promises-playbook-at-the-san-francisco-summit/

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President Joe Biden and China’s leader Xi Jinping met this week on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in San Francisco. The Biden administration touted the meeting as a significant foreign policy achievement, even though it accomplished little but photo ops.

Leading up to the APEC meeting, Xi had a weak hand, while the leverage was on the U.S. side. China’s economic growth has slowed down significantly. Its once high-flying property sector crashed and exports dropped. The youth unemployment rate reached 22 percent in June 2023 before Beijing stopped publishing the data altogether out of fear of causing public panic. Foreign firms have pulled billions out of China, concerned over its weak economy, hostile regulatory environment, and geopolitical tensions with the U.S. China risks prolonged economic stagnation as consumers are unwilling to spend money due to financial and political uncertainty.

In contrast, the U.S. economy grew almost 5 percent in the third quarter despite facing its own

challenges, such as inflation and ballooning national debt. Since China needs American companies’ investments and technologies to revive its weak economy, Biden could have waited for Xi to plead for a summit and used it as leverage to demand some behavioral changes from China. Preconditions could have been that China’s military stops its harassment of Taiwan and the Philippines in the South China Sea, or no more funding Russia and Iran’s geopolitical aggressions by purchasing their oil.

Sadly, Biden and his foreign policy team are known to turn U.S. leverage into weakness by focusing on the wrong priorities. For example, they continue to believe that climate change is the world’s biggest challenge and that the U.S. needs China’s cooperation to save the planet, even though China remains the world’s biggest polluter after signing the Paris Climate Agreement.

Biden’s green initiatives have only deepened the U.S. economy’s dependency on China since the communist regime dominates the global supply chain for solar panels, wind turbines, and batteries for electric vehicles due to its willingness to exploit slave laborers (most are ethnic minorities) and the nation’s abundant supply of coal.

Biden, led by misguided policies, sent several cabinet-level officials to China, including Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen. They practically begged Xi for a meeting. Xi, of course, played hard to get. Rather than reciprocating senior U.S. government officials’ multiple visits, Xi waited until last month to send Wang Yi, China’s minister of foreign affairs, to visit the U.S. and only recently agreed to a meeting with Biden. 

A few days before the summit, China’s People’s Daily, the mouthpiece of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), faulted the U.S. for the deterioration of the Sino-U.S. relationship and demanded the U.S. “abandon its aggressive Cold War and aggressive mindset, fix the ‘action deficit’ with practical actions and concrete policies,” even though China is the one who has an action deficit as wide as the Grand Canyon. Remember when Xi promised President Barack Obama not to militarize artificial islands in the South China Sea and then armed those islands anyway and claimed 90 percent of the international waterway is Chinese territory?

Communist Party’s Playbook

What Xi has been doing is following the typical CCP playbook. Miles Yu, a former senior adviser to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, points out that CCP leaders, starting with Mao, love to “use international gatherings to lend legitimacy to [a] beleaguered regime at home.” By playing hard to get with the Biden administration, Xi hid his weakened hand behind a strongman image. He “seeks to send the message to his caged people — aided by the CCP’s relentless propaganda machine — that their supreme leader is respected, even revered, on the global stage,” according to Yu. Another CCP go-to tactic is to make vague and unenforceable pledges for the distant future in exchange for concessions from the other side now.

Unfortunately, the Biden team fell for the CCP’s trick. In a post-summit press conference, Biden put on a brave face and claimed the summit was “among the most constructive and productive we’ve had,” with three key agreements: to restart cooperation on controlling fentanyl, to resume direct (high-level) military-to-military contact, and to set up expert exchanges on risks and safety issues in artificial intelligence (AI).

But none of these represent any meaningful achievement, since the CCP is known for making empty promises, and the joke is on whoever believes them. On the fentanyl issue, many China observers, including Kelley Currie, a former diplomat, quickly pointed out on X, “Don’t forget that China agreed to do this exact thing in 2019 and dramatically reduced the flow of fentanyl out of China, only to switch tactics and instead supply mass amounts of precursor chemicals to Mexican cartels.”

On the AI issue, China promised nothing. Xi has made enhancing the People’s Liberation Army’s capabilities through AI a national priority and has already committed plenty of resources for AI research and development. Xi will not change his course because of some experts’ exchanges on AI with Americans. If such a discussion occurs, China will exploit it to identify which American AI expert to poach and what latest AI technology China should steal.

Military Aggression

Biden clearly believes that resuming direct, high-level military-to-military contact between the U.S. and China was a significant accomplishment. He tweeted, “Clear and open communication between our defense establishments is vital to avoid miscalculation by either side and prevent conflict.” But it was Chinese military leaders who refused to pick up phone calls from the U.S. side, and they did so under Xi’s order.

Chinese pilots frequently made dangerous maneuvers near the U.S. and its allies’ military assets in the South China Sea, not because of a lack of communication but because of Xi’s deliberate policy decision: China regards the international water as its territory and tries to block the U.S. and its allies from accessing it through intimidation. According to Jacob Stokes, a senior fellow at the Center for New American Security, “China wants the United States and its partners to feel worried about rising military and security risks in East Asia.”

It’s unlikely the Chinese military’s aggressive behavior in and above the South China Sea will stop after the Biden-Xi summit. Furthermore, Elbridge Colby, a former Pentagon official, points out that military-to-military communication is “not vital. It’s not the key issue.” Responding to Biden’s self-congratulatory tweet, Colby wrote, “The key issue is China undertaking a historic military buildup and increasingly using that military to get ready for a war, as your own appointees and generals point out. Just really nowhere near the seriousness we need.”

President Biden and his foreign policy team want Americans to believe that his meeting with Xi in San Francisco was successful. But in truth, the U.S. gained nothing from the Biden-Xi summit. Don’t expect Xi to fulfill any promises or change his policies. The U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission’s recent 753-page report to Congress presented evidence that Xi is preparing his military forces and the rest of the country for war and treats diplomacy with the United States, such as the most recent Biden-Xi summit, “primarily as a tool for forestalling and delaying U.S. pressure over a period of years while China moves ever further down the path of developing its own economic, military, and technological capabilities.”

If anything, the world is becoming more dangerous after the Biden-Xi summit, and we are on Xi’s timeline.

Helen Raleigh, CFA, is an American entrepreneur, writer, and speaker. She’s a senior contributor at The Federalist. Her writings appear in other national media, including The Wall Street Journal and Fox News. Helen is the author of several books, including “Confucius Never Said” and “Backlash: How Communist China’s Aggression Has Backfired.” Her latest book is the 2nd edition of “The Broken Welcome Mat: America’s UnAmerican immigration policy, and how we should fix it.” Follow her on Parler and Twitter: @HRaleighspeaks.

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Why Joe Biden’s Poll Numbers Are Even Worse for Democrats Than They Think


BY: KYLEE GRISWOLD | NOVEMBER 16, 2023

Read more at https://thefederalist.com/2023/11/16/why-joe-bidens-poll-numbers-are-even-worse-for-democrats-than-they-think/

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Democrats have one huge, unavoidable problem. And his name is Joe Biden.

According to recent polls, GOP front-runner and former President Donald Trump would beat Biden if the 2024 election were held today. A Quinnipiac poll out Wednesday shows Biden with 46 percent and Trump with 48 percent among registered voters, still within the margin of error and too close to call. However, a new Fox News poll, also out Wednesday, shows that in a head-to-head, the former president would prevail with 50 percent to Biden’s 46 — a number Trump has never garnered in a Fox poll going back to October 2015.

Do these numbers and thin margins mean anything? Maybe not. We are still a year from the election. And if 2016 taught us anything, it’s that polls are traditionally garbage and are used far more often as tools to shape public opinion than to reflect it. But there are deeper and far more meaningful insights to mine from the survey, and they don’t spell good things for the Democrat Party.

For instance, it’s worth noting that not only does Biden appear to be losing generally to Trump, but the incumbent is losing his own dependable voters to his rival. Polls show Biden is hemorrhaging black, Hispanic, suburban, and young voters — all demographics that reliably vote Democrat. It could have something to do with how Biden has handled major crises he’s either caused or exacerbated. According to Quinnipiac, voters disapprove of his response to the Hamas attack and subsequent fallout (54 percent disapproval to 37 percent approval), his economy (59 to 37 percent), his foreign policy (61 to 34 percent), his border crisis (65 to 26 percent), and his response to the Russia-Ukraine war (49 to 47 percent).

The implications are simple. Voters are confronting a rare moment in U.S. history in which they can actually compare what it’s like to live under the leadership, or lack thereof, of the two major presidential candidates. Do they want Bidenomics or the affordable grocery and gas prices of the Trump era? Do they want war in the Middle East — or Eastern Europe or the South China Sea — or peace? Do they want an open border or national security? The Trump-Biden decision is an increasingly easy calculation for voters to make.

So, Democrats are stuck. And they did this to themselves, largely by closing off the possibility of a primary and instead committing to dragging Joe’s corpse across the finish line.

And yes, that really is the strategy. It’s not that Biden is a strong candidate by any measure, save for maybe his incumbency, but again, even that’s in doubt after his disastrous first term. He’s a demonstrably weak candidate, especially compared to Trump — another reality easily extrapolated from the polls.

On the Republican side — which, in contrast to Democrats, is still choosing to slog through primary election theatrics — the second-tier candidates are a notable governor and former governor, both beloved by their states and beyond. And Trump is still leading them by some 50 points. He’s got 48 points on Ron DeSantis and 51 on Nikki Haley. If prominent leftist governors such as Gavin Newsom or Gretchen Whitmer were to challenge Biden for the Democrat nomination, there’s no way he’d have that kind of lead.

This week there have been murmurs of a potential challenger — just maybe not who you would have expected. Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson was on Capitol Hill hobnobbing with Sen. Chuck Schumer on Wednesday and refused to answer reporters’ questions about whether he’ll run for president. This after he divulged last week that the parties did approach him last year. And you can see the twinkle in Democrats’ eyes at the thought of dumping weak, old Biden for his antithesis. Here’s Schumer flirting with The Rock on X after their meeting, posting cutesy little lyrics from one of the actor’s Disney roles.

But while Democrats might view The Rock as an exit strategy, they still have a monumental problem to overcome: Voters aren’t just fed up with Biden, they’re fed up with Democrat policies both foreign and domestic.

There’s no denying Democrats have become the party of mass illegal immigration. Every town is a border town, and even urbanites are done with the Democrat policies overrunning their cities with aliens who suck resources dry. Speaking of cities, left-wing policies have destroyed them, from Portland and Seattle to Washington, D.C. Democrats’ soft-on-crime policies have caused violence in these places to skyrocket, with carjackings up more than 100 percent since last year and violent crime up 40 percent in our nation’s capitol. In fact, just this week D.C.’s disaster of a mayor declared a state of emergency because youth violent crime has gotten so bad. Meanwhile, Democrats have also become the party of inflation, war, no-limits abortion, transing kids, weaponizing the federal government, terrorist sympathizing, and every other anti-America policy position you can imagine.

That takes a strong leader to overcome. Sure, The Rock does a magnificent job at the role he plays in every movie, but he’s not that leader. And besides, would today’s Democrat Party really vote for a candidate who’s a Joe Rogan bro and friends with Trump supporters?

So, Democrats are left to lie with sleepy Joe in the bed they made for themselves. It’s hard to feel sorry for them.

Kylee Griswold is the editorial director of The Federalist. She previously worked as the copy editor for the Washington Examiner magazine and as an editor and producer at National Geographic. She holds a B.S. in Communication Arts/Speech and an A.S. in Criminal Justice and writes on topics including feminism and gender issues, religion, and the media. Follow her on Twitter @kyleezempel.

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Biden Administration: War Is Very Good For Business


BY: JOHN LUCAS | OCTOBER 30, 2023

Read more at https://www.conservativereview.com/biden-administration-war-is-very-good-for-business-2666096121.html/

Joe Biden getting help from Antony Blinken

Has a single member of the White House staff ever held a dying American soldier in his arms as he bled out, calling for his mother? Have any of them ever loaded the blood-soaked bodies of his wounded and killed onto a medivac helicopter and then endured sleepless nights thinking about the visits their families are about to get and the ensuing destruction of their lives and dreams? 

These were the first questions that popped into my mind when I saw the report from Politico that the Biden administration is promoting the war in Ukraine because it is good for American business. I think the members of the administration could not have experienced these things because, if they had, and if they had one ounce of humanity in them, they could not possibly have promoted war on the “it’s good for business” rationale.

Apparently, multiple White House aides have been involved in this abomination because Politico is quite specific:

The White House has been quietly urging lawmakers in both parties to sell the war efforts abroad as a potential economic boom at home.

Aides have been distributing talking points to Democrats and Republicans who have been supportive of continued efforts to fund Ukraine’s resistance to make the case that doing so is good for American jobs, according to five White House aides and lawmakers familiar with the effort and granted anonymity to speak freely.

The Biden administration is fearful that it cannot sell its most recent aid package on the merits and on national security grounds, because “The talking points are an implicit recognition that the administration has work to do in selling its $106 billion foreign aid supplemental request — and that talking about it squarely under the umbrella of national security interests hasn’t done the trick,” Politico states.

The reprehensibility of these comments cannot be overstated. Biden’s administration is peopled with a number of “elites” who probably are familiar, at least in a theoretical, intellectual sense, with John Stuart Mill’s dictum, “War is an ugly thing.” But, hey, if it’s good for business, particularly in electoral swing states, let’s go for it.

I am old enough to remember how the left tarred George Bush, Dick Cheney, and others in the GOP with the argument that they wanted war because it was good for their supporters in big business. I never put any stock in these arguments because I thought no American could be so evil as to support war as a sop to big business. The Biden administration has changed my mind.

My contempt and revulsion for these people knows no bounds.

John Lucas is a retired attorney who has tried and argued a variety of cases, including before the U. S. Supreme Court. Before entering law school at the University of Texas, he served in the Army Special Forces as an enlisted man, later graduating from the U. S. Military Academy at West Point in 1969. He is an Army Ranger who fought in Vietnam as an infantry platoon leader. He is married with five children. He and his wife now live in Virginia. John also is published at johnalucas6.substack.com.

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Nice Speech, Mr. President. Now Let’s Stop Appeasing Terrorists


BY: DAVID HARSANYI | OCTOBER 12, 2023

Read more at https://thefederalist.com/2023/10/12/nice-speech-mr-president-but-now-is-the-time-for-antiterrorist-action/

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After the slaughter of more than a thousand Jews in Israel, among them beheaded infants and impaired elderly women burned alive, President Joe Biden delivered a righteous speech defending Israel and condemning the antisemitism of Hamas as “pure, unadulterated evil.” We should expect this kind of sentiment from any leader of a nation of civilized people after the single worst act of butchery against Jews since the Holocaust. And, earnestly, the moral clarity was nice to hear after listening to the degeneracy of Hamas allies and the fellow travelers that infest the American left these days.  

Democrats who’ve spent years defending the likes of Rashida Tlaib or Ben Rhodes or BLM or CAIR or whomever else are now feigning surprise that Soviet-style “anti-Zionists” are in their midst. And these aren’t members of some fringe groups dressing up like a bunch of Nazis in front of Disney World. They’re celebrated and educated and deeply embedded in left-wing intellectual circles, in major universities, in bureaucracies, in Congress, in establishment publications, and in cable news channels.

Some on the center-left have spoken out. Most leaders have not. I’m not suggesting censoring anyone. But if you’re too much of a coward to denounce these people at this point, when will you?

So, anyway, Biden’s speech was nice. But what are Democrats going to do? It is likely that the United States is providing Israel with intelligence assistance. One hopes we’ll provide diplomatic cover rather than engage in the Obama-era machinations that treated the Jewish State as if it were barely an ally. All that is also appreciated.

When, however, will the administration rescind the $6 billion waiver it gave the Iranian mullahs, who have spent decades murdering and kidnapping American citizens, in addition to fueling war against our allies in the Middle East? There is no plausible way that Hamas could launch an attack of this scope without the logistical and monetary assistance of Iran. The Biden administration has allowed somewhere around $40 billion in waivers to flow to Iran over the past few years, not only six. Some of that was likely to keep world supplies up and prices domestically down (of course, we could drill here instead.) Sanctions exist to pressure regimes to engage in normal behavior. Will that change, or will Biden continue to employ pernicious Obama-style placation of the terror regime?

What is Biden going to do about Qatar — where Hamas leaders are welcome to celebrate the murder of Jews and Americans while sipping spring water in upscale hotel rooms in Doha? The Department of Justice has designated Hamas as a terror organization. Qatar is ostensibly an ally. There is no reason we should not be able to extradite the architects of violence against American citizens.

What is Joe Biden doing about the hundreds of millions of U.S. tax dollars that continue to flow to Palestinian governments every year in direct aid and through the United Nations? Will we fund groups that divert fungible assets to launch terror attacks and pay stipends to the families of those who murder Jewish civilians? Should we be funding regimes that work to instill and propel (generational) hate and violence?

Only months ago, Fatah was in talks to form a unity government with Hamas, the organization that executed 260 young people at a music festival. (Though, to be fair, Hamas could probably win a majority support from the Congressional Progressive Caucus or the Harvard student body, as well.) For over a decade, there haven’t been elections in the “West Bank” because Hamas, or similarly fanatical parties, would prevail. The only group that can make Fatah look moderate is Hamas. Does that sound like the type of place deserving of U.S. aid? Or moral support? Or a state?  

The president has said all the right things. It’s appreciated. But his administration hasn’t done many of them. Not yet.

David Harsanyi is a senior editor at The Federalist, a nationally syndicated columnist, a Happy Warrior columnist at National Review, and author of five books—the most recent, Eurotrash: Why America Must Reject the Failed Ideas of a Dying Continent. Follow him on Twitter, @davidharsanyi.

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Sean Davis Op-ed: Was 9/11 The Beginning of the End of the American Empire?


BY: SEAN DAVIS | SEPTEMBER 11, 2023

Read more at https://thefederalist.com/2023/09/11/was-9-11-the-beginning-of-the-end-of-the-american-empire/

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Was 9/11 the beginning of the end for America? In the 22 years since the attacks, I’ve begun to worry that the answer to that question is “yes.”

It spawned the worst and most destructive foreign policy in the country’s history. The government response to 9/11 birthed the constitutional abomination that is the modern warrantless surveillance state. The Patriot Act enabled the government to weaponize its vast resources against its own people.

Bush’s failed foreign policy led directly to Obama’s presidency, and indirectly to Biden’s, both of which are responsible for diminishing the U.S. at home and abroad, militarily and economically. After two failed forever wars that wouldn’t have happened without 9/11, our government is now desperately trying to foment a potentially nuclear forever war against Russia.

Meanwhile, all the massive surveillance powers claimed by the U.S. after 9/11 are being ruthlessly deployed against American political enemies of the regime via the most insidious censorship-industrial complex the world has ever seen.

And then there’s the crippling legacy of debt enabled by America’s response to 9/11. Not content to spend trillions on poorly thought-out invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan, our leaders spent as thoughtlessly at home, creating insane amounts of new entitlements, while doing nothing to put the country on a sound financial footing.

And where are we today? The ruling political party is criminalizing its opposition and attempting to throw its top political opponent and his supporters in prison, all under the guise of “democracy.”

While the national unity in the days after the towers fell was unfortunately fleeting, the changes to the country, its laws, and its leaders were not. Perhaps there’s no better example of this than watching the man who scoffed during a presidential debate at the notion of America engaging in global “nation-building” suddenly declare that it was America’s mission to spread democracy to the ends of the earth with the “ultimate goal of ending tyranny in our world.”

It is clear that 9/11 spawned the most destructive foreign policy in modern American history. Instead of simply eliminating the Taliban and the terrorist havens in Afghanistan — an objective that had largely been achieved by the end of 2001 — the U.S. government insisted on grafting Western democracy onto the people of Afghanistan. Without 9/11, there is no 20-year forever war in Afghanistan that ends with China in control of an American airbase and the Taliban in control of tens of billions of dollars of American military equipment and weapons.

Without 9/11, there is also no war in Iraq, which morphed from a mission to eliminate weapons of mass destruction to a war to bring democracy to a hodgepodge of tribes, warring factions, and religious sects throughout the Middle East. Yes, I know the official original rationale was that the war was launched entirely to capture weapons that we now know didn’t exist, but without 9/11, there’s no “axis of evil” speech and resultant march to war to depose Saddam Hussein. In his 2003 State of the Union address on the eve of the Iraq invasion, Bush himself explicitly claimed that Hussein was personally working with al Qaeda, and warned that Hussein might give al Qaeda weapons they could use to attack the United States.

While Bush and Republicans rode the wave of post-9/11 sentiment to political victories in 2002 and 2004, the honeymoon was short-lived. By 2006, the country had largely soured on the war in Iraq amidst increasing casualties with little progress to show for them, paving the way for massive Democrat gains in Congress and a flip of both houses away from Republicans and into Democrat hands. And in the 2008 Democrat political primaries, it was Barack Obama who rode the anti-war wave onto the presidential ballot by defeating Hillary Clinton, who had supported Bush’s efforts in Iraq. A war-weary country that had soured on global military intervention at any cost overwhelmingly voted for the anti-war Obama over the pro-war John McCain.

Without 9/11, there is no war in Iraq, and without the war in Iraq, there’s likely no President Obama, no President Trump (whose opposition to the war in Iraq and America’s hamfisted approach to foreign policy propelled him into the presidency), and certainly no President Biden. When America was caught in the quicksand of Iraq in 2008, Russian President Vladimir Putin annexed the country of Georgia. When America revealed itself to be a paper tiger in Afghanistan after 20 years of failed efforts to turn it into a beacon of Western liberalism, Putin seized Crimea. The seeds of each of those events were sowed on 9/11.

Meanwhile, the Bush administration seized on the emergency created by 9/11 to construct the largest surveillance state in world history. Almost overnight, the Patriot Act was passed, the Department of Homeland Security was created, and warrantless wiretaps were authorized, and it didn’t take long before each of those tools was weaponized against the American people. At the time, only a handful of people voted against those laws, and they were roundly mocked for their opposition (Rep. Barbara Lee was the sole vote in the House against the Afghanistan war, while Sen. Russ Feingold was the lone vote against the Patriot Act in the Senate). The U.S. government ended up using tools that were intended to be used against foreign terrorists to instead spy on the political campaign of Donald Trump. Tools that were supposed to be used to monitor terrorist chatter overseas are right now being used to justify censorship of American citizens. And all of it is being done based on laws and institutions that were created in the wake of 9/11.

Finally, at no point did America’s representatives in Washington consider actually paying for the trillions and trillions of dollars that would be used to prosecute their failed wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. No, those costs were financed by debt that will eventually have to be repaid by the grandchildren of those who authorized it. On top of that, Congress and the president heaped new entitlement on top of new entitlement, year after year. After the growth of the national debt finally began to slow in the 1990s following the end of the Cold War, the national debt nearly doubled during George W. Bush’s presidency, doubled again during Obama’s tenure, and will double again between 2016 and 2026 according to Office of Management and Budget projections. A country with this kind of debt growth is a country that is all but begging for hyperinflation and currency devaluation. It’s not a question of if, but when.

In hindsight, America’s response to 9/11 crippled the country. It birthed a disastrous foreign policy ideology that is still wreaking havoc on our own country, as well as the rest of the world. It spawned a surveillance state that threatens to rip the fabric of the country in two. It led to monstrous debt growth that will destroy the country financially from within if the trends are not quickly reversed.

We generally remember 9/11 as the day that the towers came down. I now worry that future historians will look back on it as the day that America started to fall.

Sean Davis is CEO and co-founder of The Federalist. He previously worked as an economic policy adviser to Gov. Rick Perry, as CFO of Daily Caller, and as chief investigator for Sen. Tom Coburn. He was named by The Hill as one of the top congressional staffers under the age of 35 for his role in spearheading the enactment of the law that created USASpending.gov. Sean received a BBA in finance from Texas Tech University and an MBA in finance and entrepreneurial management from the Wharton School. He can be reached via e-mail at sean@thefederalist.com.

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Corporate Media Try to Out-Lie America’s Biggest Liar Over His Terrible Track Record


BY: JORDAN BOYD | JULY 10, 2023

Read more at https://thefederalist.com/2023/07/10/corporate-media-try-to-out-lie-americas-biggest-liar-over-his-terrible-track-record/

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President Joe Biden may be the biggest serial liar ever to occupy the White House, but he wasn’t the only one lying about his track record during a CNN interview this weekend. Biden espoused several of his usual falsehoods — from fibs about traveling thousands of miles with China’s Xi Jinping to the price of oil. But it was his interviewer, CNN’s Fareed Zakaria, who told the biggest whopper of them all.

“I think a lot of people do watch you and are impressed and they think you’ve been a great president,” Zakaria said with a smile. “You’ve brought the economy back. You’ve restored relations with the world.”

Biden didn’t “bring the economy back.” Americans know he brought it down by exacerbating inflation, ushering in a fear-inducing recession, and then denying his role in the crisis — or worse, pretending it’s good for the nation.

Biden didn’t “restore relations with the world,” either. Americans know he botched the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, which had fatal consequences. They’ve also watched him go soft on China and its transnational spy balloon, while he continues funneling money and munitions to an overseas conflict that puts the world on the brink of nuclear war.

Zakaria isn’t the only member of the propaganda press shilling for Biden despite his crisis-riddled track record.

MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough wrote for The Atlantic on Monday that, contrary to what he dubs the “right’s meltdown over all things woke,” “America Is Doing Just Fine.”

“Quit your whining. America is doing pretty d-mn well,” he added on Twitter.

Given the corporate media’s fawning and corruption-covering when it comes to the Bidens, it’s no surprise that Zakaria, Scarborough, and their many left-wing colleagues at CNN, The Washington Post, MSNBC, and The Atlantic feel the president is doing his best (aka exactly what they want).

Americans, on the other hand, could hardly be less “impressed” or less “fine” with how the Biden White House has handled the last two years. Seventy percent of Americans say the nation is “off on the wrong track” and a majority of the nation disapproves of the job Biden is doing as president.

A fair and independent press couldn’t and wouldn’t want to overlook Americans’ feelings about the future of the nation under Biden. But the U.S. doesn’t have a fair and independent press.

If the last two and a half years have taught us anything, it’s that no amount of media “stop being poor” moments, of which there are many, can convince the nation that the Biden administration is leading Americans in the right direction. Yet, corporate media keep trying with the type of spin that puts the wheels on Biden’s shiny Corvette to shame.

Today’s corporate media exist for one primary purpose, and it’s to cheerlead Democrats’ wrongs and cover up Americans’ opposition to those wrongs. Biden made it this far because mouthpieces like Zakaria lie to his face and to viewers about the failures of his administration, while shills like Scarborough demand Americans stop caring about those failures.

Jordan Boyd is a staff writer at The Federalist and co-producer of The Federalist Radio Hour. Her work has also been featured in The Daily Wire, Fox News, and RealClearPolitics. Jordan graduated from Baylor University where she majored in political science and minored in journalism. Follow her on Twitter @jordanboydtx.

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McCarthy Strengthens U.S.-Taiwan Relations While Biden Allows Red China to Rise


BY: SHAWN FLEETWOOD | APRIL 06, 2023

Read more at https://thefederalist.com/2023/04/06/mccarthy-strengthens-u-s-taiwan-relations-while-biden-allows-red-china-to-rise/

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House Speaker Kevin McCarthy met with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-Wen on Wednesday in an aim to strengthen U.S.-Taiwan relations.

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On Wednesday, Speaker McCarthy and a bipartisan group of lawmakers met with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen at the Ronald Reagan Library in California. The meeting made McCarthy the most senior U.S. official to meet with the leader of Taiwan on U.S. soil in decades, according to Newsweek.

During the historic summit, McCarthy reaffirmed Congress’s commitment to strengthening relations with the island nation and support for Taiwan’s aim to remain democratic in the wake of increasing Chinese aggression.

“I felt our meeting today provided a greater peace and stability for the world. America’s support for the people of Taiwan will remain resolute, unwavering and bipartisan,” McCarthy said. Tsai echoed similar sentiments, saying, “To preserve peace, we must be strong” and “we are stronger when we are together.”

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) — which claims Taiwan is Chinese territory — issued remarks on Thursday threatening to “take resolute measures” in response to Tsai and McCarthy’s alleged promotion of Taiwanese independence. Taiwan News reported the island’s national defense ministry tracked a People’s Liberation Army helicopter and two naval vessels in the waters surrounding Taiwan on Wednesday and Thursday.

Most egregiously, however, is the CCP’s attempt to “inspect” ships traveling through the Taiwan Strait. According to Reuters, “China’s Fujian maritime safety administration launched a three-day special joint patrol and inspection operation in the central and northern parts of the Taiwan Strait” on Wednesday that includes “moves to board ships.” Fujian is a southeastern Chinese province bordering the Taiwan Strait.

“The maritime safety authority in the southeastern Chinese province said … the operation included ‘on-site inspections’ on direct cargo ships and construction vessels on both sides of the Taiwan Strait ‘to ensure the safety of vessel navigation and ensure the safe and orderly operation of key projects on water,’” the report reads. Taiwan indicated it would not cooperate with the inspections.

Biden Helps China by Undercutting America

In the background of McCarthy’s bid to reaffirm U.S. support for Taiwanese sovereignty is the flailing presidency of Joe Biden, whose administration’s seemingly intentional bid to cripple America’s national security and economic stability is giving China leeway to expand its influence across the globe.

On Monday, NBC News reported the infamous Chinese spy balloon the Biden administration let drift across the continental United States earlier this year “was able to gather intelligence from several sensitive American military sites.” Among the intelligence transmitted back to the CCP was “mostly from electronic signals, which can be picked up from weapons systems or include communications from base personnel.”

On the economic front, Biden’s monetary policy — which includes spending trillions of taxpayer dollars on useless Democrat pet projects — has resulted in decades-high inflation, causing everyday Americans to struggle to afford basic necessities such as gas and groceries. The administration’s ongoing war against the U.S. fossil fuel industry has only exacerbated the country’s economic pains.

Under Biden, the hegemony of the U.S. dollar is also in jeopardy. Countries such as Brazil and Malaysia have announced within the past week plans to work with China to reduce dependence on the U.S. dollar when conducting trade with Beijing. Most recently, the Chinese yuan surpassed the U.S. dollar as the most traded currency in Russia, signifying growing ties between Beijing and Moscow.

As noted by The Daily Caller, “[i]f foreigners no longer want [U.S. dollars] for trade, central bank reserves, private wealth funds, and the official currency of about a dozen countries, all those dollars have nowhere to go but back to us in a flood like our country has never seen.” Such a scenario would likely lead to hyperinflation and further suffering among the American people.

The U.S. is haunted by self-inflicted domestic problems, so the CCP likely sees an opportunity not just to take control of Taiwan but to recalibrate the politics of the Indo-Pacific in its favor. The longer Biden cripples the U.S., the closer China gets to creating a new world order devoid of U.S. influence.

Shawn Fleetwood is a Staff Writer for The Federalist and a graduate of the University of Mary Washington. He also serves as a state content writer for Convention of States Action and his work has been featured in numerous outlets, including RealClearPolitics, RealClearHealth, and Conservative Review. Follow him on Twitter @ShawnFleetwood

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Biden’s Empty Suit Presidency Is Resetting the World Order, And Not in a Good Way


BY: SHAWN FLEETWOOD | MARCH 27, 2023

Read more at https://thefederalist.com/2023/03/27/bidens-empty-suit-presidency-is-resetting-the-world-order-and-not-in-a-good-way/

Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin holding a press conference
With Biden in office, Xi Jinping smells an opportunity to further Red China’s global ambitions.

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If Americans are concerned about our enemies getting bolder in their bid to disrupt the U.S.-led world order, they should thank President Joe Biden. Last week, Chinese dictator Xi Jinping traveled to Moscow to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin. During the meeting, the leaders outlined plans to enhance bilateral ties on issues such as trade, energy, and military cooperation. Xi and Putin furthermore agreed to support one another’s “fundamental interests,” specifically on matters concerning “sovereignty, territorial integrity, security and development.”

Most notable in the joint statement released by Beijing and Moscow, however, is the expressed goal of creating a “multipolar world order.” “The Parties confirm a willingness to … oppose all forms [of] hegemony, unilateralism and power politics, against cold war thinking, bloc confrontation and the creation of narrow formats against certain countries,” a joint statement released after the meeting reads.

The move signifies a stark challenge to the U.S., which, since the end of the Cold War, has been the world’s sole superpower. Under this unipolar system, the U.S. has utilized its economic, military, and cultural power to fashion a global community centered around Western values.

The three-day meeting between Xi and Putin comes amid the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine. Last month, Beijing made headlines after calling for a cease-fire between the two nations. As part of its 12-point peace plan, China has called for all parties involved to abandon “the Cold War mentality” and “stopping unilateral sanctions.” As noted by The Wall Street Journal, Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials “routinely” use such language “to criticize the U.S. and other Western powers for their response to Russia’s invasion — including the supply of arms to Ukraine and the use of wide-ranging economic tools to pressure Moscow.”

But it’s not just eastern Europe where the Chinese government is looking to play dealmaker. Two weeks ago, Beijing brokered a peace agreement between Iran and Saudi Arabia, two Middle Eastern nations with a historically antagonistic relationship. According to a separate Journal report, Tehran and Riyadh have agreed to “re-establish diplomatic relations” after seven years of estrangement, which includes commitments to “reopen their embassies and missions on each other’s soil within two months.” The deal comes amid a breakdown in U.S.-Saudi relations — for which Biden bears the blame.

Beijing’s growing global influence is also apparent in Latin America. On Sunday, Honduras — a long-time ally of Taiwan — switched its diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing. As a prerequisite for establishing ties with its government, China has mandated nations to sever formal ties with Taiwan. Such a requirement is part of the CCP’s strategy to politically isolate Taiwan on the world stage.

Biden Cripples America

Red China’s bid to establish itself as a global power isn’t surprising. Since Xi’s ascension to party leader in 2012, he has sought to further China’s economic and military prowess as a means of expanding its influence throughout the world.

Biden’s presidency has ushered in an era of American weakness Beijing seeks to exploit. His administration threw the U.S.’ longstanding record as a buffer against the CCP’s global ambitions into the garbage. Rather than pursue policies strengthening America’s economic security and military readiness, Biden and his administration have implemented measures achieving the exact opposite.

On the economic front, Biden’s monetary policy — which includes spending trillions of taxpayer dollars on useless Democrat pet projects — resulted in decades-high inflation, causing everyday Americans to struggle to afford basic necessities such as gas and groceries. Rather than curb federal spending or increase domestic energy production, the Biden administration spends its time championing expensive electric vehicles made with Chinese batteries.

The situation isn’t any better on the national security front, either. Up until January, the administration depleted U.S. military ranks by removing servicemembers who didn’t receive the experimental Covid jab. Despite the shot’s inability to stop viral transmission and its significant risks, the Defense Department denied the vast majority of religious and medical exemptions filed by un-jabbed soldiers. Combined with forcing servicemembers to undergo racist DEI training, it’s no surprise the military is facing major recruiting problems.

Biden’s open border policies are also exacerbating national security concerns at the U.S.-Mexico border, where Border Patrol officials are facing unprecedented levels of illegal immigration. From Jan. 2021 to Oct. 2022, an estimated 5.5 million illegal aliens were apprehended by Customs and Border Protection. These figures don’t even include the millions of “gotaways” who evaded capture.

Don’t worry, though. When it comes to foreign policy, Biden’s team of “experts” surely has “confront the growing threat of the CCP” at the top of their to-do list. Right?

China Smells Blood

If the U.S. had a mentally-sound president who prioritized the success of his country, it’s not crazy to imagine that the CCP would be more hesitant in pursuing its global ambitions. Under Biden’s empty-suit presidency, however, Xi smells opportunity.

With Biden crippling the U.S.’ economic and military readiness from within, China is able to methodically expand its influence throughout the world nearly unchallenged. Whether it’s securing peace agreements between rivaling powers or fostering ties with strategically important countries, the CCP isn’t slowing down in its aim to usher in a world order devoid of American hegemony.

If Biden and co. had any interest in stymying Red China’s growing influence and maintaining U.S. global dominance, they’d reverse course and implement policies that further American success. Doing so would greatly benefit the American people.

Shawn Fleetwood is a Staff Writer for The Federalist and a graduate of the University of Mary Washington. He also serves as a state content writer for Convention of States Action and his work has been featured in numerous outlets, including RealClearPolitics, RealClearHealth, and Conservative Review. Follow him on Twitter @ShawnFleetwood

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Joe Biden Fiddles with World War In Ukraine as U.S. Border, Railways Burn


BY: JOY PULLMANN | FEBRUARY 20, 2023

Read more at https://thefederalist.com/2023/02/20/joe-biden-fiddles-with-world-war-in-ukraine-as-u-s-border-railways-burn/

Where is Biden as his country is in flames? Hiding from his crimes against Americans and our Constitution by urging atrocities in Ukraine.

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Americans received a pristine view of Democrats’ disastrous America-Last policies this morning as Joe Biden paid a surprise visit to Ukraine while his own country literally burns with manmade disasters he continues to inflame.

Biden’s Federal Emergency Management Agency denied any money to help clean up a burning chemical disaster zone in the Republican state of Ohio, but Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has made it clear that Biden will get a blank check to slosh around hundreds of billions from U.S. taxpayers to prolong the carnage of war in Ukraine — and the profits from it from insane deficit spending that also threatens U.S. national security.

Not only is key U.S. infrastructure on fire stateside, but Biden, in violation of his oath of office, also set the U.S. border figuratively on fire immediately upon assuming the presidency by lifting former President Trump’s effective enforcement of U.S. national security laws. Cities and towns across the United States are overwhelmed with mass human trafficking and the outsourcing of U.S. border control to international drug cartels allied with the top U.S. foreign adversary, Red China.

It’s no surprise that American support for expanding the U.S. proxy war with Russia is declining. They can see that their neighbors have to pay tens of thousands of dollars a year for health insurance even if they never see a doctor because they’re really paying off the health expenses of illegal migrants, and that their neighbors are dying from the fentanyl trafficked with the human flood of misery across the border.

And where is Biden as his country is in flames? Hiding from his crimes against Americans, our laws, and our Constitution by urging continued atrocities while doing a dog and pony show in Ukraine. While forcing his own people — and those whose migration keeps the cartels supplied with the billions to buy military-grade weaponry — to suffer murder, rape, and other heinous crimes, Biden is abroad encouraging ongoing violence in Ukraine.

War is hell, especially for the vulnerable — women, children, and the elderly. But Democrats and their military-industrial complex believe death, rape, starvation, and continued demolishing of Ukranian homes and towns are a worthy trade for a shiny new excuse to open U.S. coffers wide to high-dollar campaign donors with no oversight. It’s no coincidence, surely, the dollar spigots are also flooding toward the very same country that supplied millions to politically influence Biden’s family — and, according to his family, to influence Biden himself.

This is Joe Biden’s “mission accomplished” moment. Or, it would be, if the hapless and embarrassing George W. Bush were as patently evil as the Democrats running Biden.

Remember, six weeks after he invaded Iraq, Bush stood in front of a banner proclaiming “Mission Accomplished.” U.S. troops remained in Iraq and Afghanistan for 20 more years, spending precious soldiers’ lives and trillions in American treasure to weaken our national security by distracting us from higher foreign policy priorities, such as China. Right after Bush gave the “Mission Accomplished” speech, Iraqi insurgents redoubled their efforts.

U.S. Navy Photo by Photographer’s Mate Third Class Juan E. Diaz. Public domain / Wikimedia

Democrats’ media mouthpieces may have controlled U.S. discourse so much that only the brave like Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis can point out the foolhardiness of tempting another world war by refusing to seek peace for Ukraine. But the rest of the world is not fooled. They’re aware that Democrats are weak, that they hate America, and that they are willing to sell the labor, security, and peace of their American brethren to the highest bidder.

Biden may be trying to look tough by visiting Ukraine weeks after allowing Chinese spy balloons to traverse the United States and then shooting down $6 hobby balloons with $400,000 missiles. But the only person he’s fooling is himself.

Biden’s weakness is the Democratic Party’s weakness is the U.S. foreign policy cabal’s weakness. And weakness invites aggression. Photo ops are not going to reduce the threat of a world war. Patently weak appearances by Biden in fact escalate the threat of world war. Seeking to de-escalate is the only prudent choice. We all had better pray someone with power figures that out before China and Russia continue to align against us. History tells what happens when leaders fiddle after setting their cities ablaze.

Joy Pullmann is executive editor of The Federalist, a happy wife, and the mother of six children. Her just-published ebook is “101 Strategies For Living Well Amid Inflation.” Her bestselling ebook is “Classic Books for Young Children.” Mrs. Pullmann identifies as native American and gender natural. Her many books include “The Education Invasion: How Common Core Fights Parents for Control of American Kids,” from Encounter Books. Joy is also a grateful graduate of the Hillsdale College honors and journalism programs.

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How Biden And His Media Allies Turned A Threatening Chinese Spy Balloon Into A Political Feud


BY: MARK HEMINGWAY | FEBRUARY 06, 2023

Read more at https://thefederalist.com/2023/02/06/how-biden-and-his-media-allies-turned-a-threatening-chinese-spy-balloon-into-a-political-feud/

Instead of uniting Americans around the threat of China’s military provocations, the spy balloon episode produced a fog of misinformation and partisan finger-pointing.

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If there was any doubt that we are engaged in some sort of cold war or contest for global superiority with China, the emergence of the CCP surveillance balloon over the United States should eliminate that. There’s no question China is being intentionally provocative.

And why wouldn’t it? The CCP is paying close attention. Chinese leaders have correctly assessed America is so politically and culturally dysfunctional that blatant acts of provocation can be done with impunity because blatant acts of hostility will just become more fodder for our domestic political disputes.

Our lack of national unity has been a national security problem for a long time, but as far as China’s concerned, it became abundantly clear just how bad a problem it was in 2020. The media and those otherwise responsible for “fortifying” our elections decided we weren’t allowed to say Covid came from Wuhan and started banning people from social media for saying the virus leaked from a Chinese lab. Regardless of the fact that China’s irresponsible behavior was to blame for the deaths of millions of Americans, it became an important domestic political priority to convert a global plague into baseless accusations of racism so it could be used as a cudgel in a presidential election.

Similarly, when the local media first noticed the surveillance balloon over the northern states, there was clearly a scramble by the Defense Department — which by all appearances was aware of the balloon and could have shot it down over the Aleutian Islands but let it continue, hoping civilians wouldn’t notice — to avoid having to explain why it was forced into doing something reactive as a result of public outcry. And since the president is responsible for national security matters, this made him look like he wasn’t doing his job, either.

What could be done so the DOD could avoid having to explain any failures here to avoid public doubt and fear? And what could Biden, who already looks tremendously weak on foreign policy after the disastrous Afghanistan withdrawal and his failure to preempt the Russian invasion of Ukraine, do to minimize domestic political blowback?

The answer was obvious: Just go to the well for this one and blame Trump. Of course, that strategy depends on having a wholly credulous media that innately trust conflicted and compromised government officials who care more about political fallout than the safety and security of their country. So naturally, the accusation that the Trump administration looked the other way while several other Chinese spy balloons transited the U.S. was all over the media last week before anyone asked any real questions about whether this was fair or accurate.

After days of top Trump officials, including Trump’s CIA head Mike Pompeo and the former Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe, publicly denying the story, we’re now getting a situation so absurd it demands the mixing of metaphors: a backhanded walkback.

Monday morning, CNN was up with the story, “Chinese spy balloons under Trump not discovered until after Biden took office.” If you’re inclined to believe the national security apparatus under Trump would have been a little more aggressive in confronting China’s provocations, as most realists are, now the blame has shifted so as to portray the Trump administration as too incompetent to even notice what was going on.

There remains a possibility that this version of events is true. But the way this issue was dealt with by immediately pointing the finger at the previous administration, and then admitting the accusations that made it to the press were devoid of important context, is infuriating, less than reassuring, and difficult to believe.

As for how politics might enter into this transparently insulting and unserious media narrative, it’s probably worth noting that the aforementioned CNN story was written by Natasha Bertrand, a reporter so credulous that she earned the nickname “Fusion Natasha” because she wrote so many inaccurate stories about Trump-Russia collusion that appeared to be fed to her by Fusion GPS, the dodgy opposition research firm behind the so-called “dossier,” as well as other dishonest partisan sources.

Bertrand also holds a special place in President Biden’s heart for her, well, “politically helpful” journalism on Hunter Biden’s laptop. When the New York Post broke that story in October of 2020, Bertrand, then at Politico, wrote up the now-infamous story “Hunter Biden story is Russian disinfo, dozens of former intel officials say.” The article was cited by Joe Biden himself on the presidential debate stage while he was brazenly lying about his knowledge of his son’s corruption, and the broader media used her article to dismiss the need to look into the scandal. Of course, even some of the “former intel officials” Bertrand cited now admit they knew all along the laptop was real and declared it was Russian disinformation anyway.

To bring this full circle, it’s probably worth noting that some of the most damning allegations of Hunter Biden’s corruption involve him being financially compromised by the CCP and President Biden’s personal role in those deals.

“..some of the most damning allegations of Hunter Biden’s corruption involve him being financially compromised by the CCP and President Biden’s personal role in those deals.“

Suffice to say, the situation we’re in where we have a Chinese spy balloon floating over the United States and we’re unable to trust the information we’re getting from our inept government and the corrupt media that enable it is a horrible one to be in. The end result of their excuse-making and blame-shifting is that a great many people feel more confused and less safe than when they first learned of the balloon.

National security threats can’t be used to play political games, yet that’s all we’ve seen for several years. The baseless accusations of Russia collusion under Trump were leveraged for domestic partisan political gain at the expense of actively poisoning our relationship with a hostile nuclear power with which we’re now mixed up in a war in Eastern Europe. And now we can’t bring ourselves to even speak forthrightly about the national security threat posed by communist China because it would have bad electoral ramifications for the same bad actors that regularly instigate domestic political tumult and sleepwalked into the war in Ukraine.

These bad-faith attempts of the Biden administration and the media — for once “collusion” is the right word — to examine every serious foreign policy development through a self-interested political lens have simply got to stop. Uniting Americans and the world at large around the threat China presents militarily and economically needs to be a much higher priority. And that’s simply impossible so long as China can exploit the fact that its every provocation will trigger a blizzard of dubious and divisive information coming straight from our government and sympathetic partisans in the press.

Mark Hemingway is the Book Editor at The Federalist, and was formerly a senior writer at The Weekly Standard. Follow him on Twitter at @heminator

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GOP Can’t Be Successful Until Mitch McConnell Is Gone


BY: MOLLIE HEMINGWAY | DECEMBER 21, 2022

Read more at https://www.conservativereview.com/gop-cant-be-successful-until-mitch-mcconnell-is-gone-2658993483.html

Mitch McConnell speaking, close-up
Republican voters are desperately concerned about the country and are looking for bold and persuasive leadership instead of comfort with a few small, intermittent successes.

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Comments Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell made on Tuesday show why he has become the single biggest obstacle to GOP success.

The Kentucky Republican claimed giving more money to Ukraine is “the No. 1 priority for the United States right now, according to most Republicans.” The new $1.7 trillion Democrat spending bill he enthusiastically supports would give Ukraine another roughly $45 billion in assistance, bringing the total over the past eight months to more than $100 billion, a staggering figure even if it weren’t happening during a time of inflation, looming recession, and other serious domestic problems.

The comment about Republican priorities is so false as to be completely delusional. Among the many concerns Republican voters have with Washington, D.C., a failure to give even more money to Ukraine simply does not rank.

A large coalition of conservative groups, including the Heritage Foundation and the Conservative Partnership Institute, publicly opposed ramming through more Ukraine support during the lame-duck session before Republicans take over control of the House on Jan. 3, 2023. Strong pluralities and majorities of Republicans have told pollsters they want decreases, not increases, in foreign spending and global military involvement.

Many Republican voters support helping Ukraine fight Russia’s unjust invasion, but it is absolutely nowhere near their top issue, contrary to McConnell’s false claim. It ranked higher as a priority before American taxpayers gave Ukraine more than was given to their war effort by nearly every other country in the world combined. But even at the height of support for the effort, before it turned into a massive proxy war with an unclear relationship to the U.S. national interest, it was not the top issue for Republicans, coming behind the economy and the U.S. border.

A majority of Americans polled a few months ago said more money should be given to Ukraine only after wealthy European countries match what Americans have already sent — something nowhere near happening.

Republicans care deeply about borders and national sovereignty, but they rank the protection of their own open border far above the protection of the borders of other countries. It is worth remembering that the longest government shutdown in U.S. history occurred in 2019 over a fight between Congress and President Donald Trump over whether to commit a relatively paltry $5 billion to protect our country’s southern border, which Congress had refused to fund.

About that $1.7 Trillion Spending Package

Another comment from McConnell also shocked Republicans. Of the $1.7 trillion left-wing spending spree McConnell is working so hard to help Democrats pass, he said, unbelievably, that he was “pretty proud of the fact that with a Democratic president, Democratic House, and Democratic Senate, we were able to achieve through this omnibus spending bill essentially all of our priorities.” As an indication of how deeply sick and broken and unserious the Senate is, no one had even begun to read the lengthy bill, which was put forward just hours before votes began.

The American people voted for Republicans to take over control of the House of Representatives, and House Republicans had begged McConnell to push for a smaller, short-term bill to keep the government funded while also giving them a rare opportunity to weigh in on Biden’s policy goals. McConnell allies dismissed House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy and other House members who tried to persuade Republican senators not to support Democrats’ spending frenzy.

Budgets are policy documents, and the only leverage Republicans have is to wait a few weeks for when they will have a much stronger hand to weigh in on every issue that matters. By ramming through the $1.7 trillion package during the lame-duck session, Republicans will have significantly less ability over the next year to fight against Democrats’ destruction of rule of law in the Department of Justice, the failure to protect American borders, the destruction of the military, and Democrat collusion with Big Tech to suppress conservatives and their ideas.

The spending bill McConnell asserted was good for all of his priorities rewards the FBI with brand new headquarters and ups the funding for the DOJ to enable it to go after even more of its political opponents while protecting its political allies.

It’s perhaps worth remembering that during the 2020 Georgia runoff campaign, McConnell blocked efforts to increase funding for Americans who had their businesses and jobs shut down by government mandate during the response to Covid-19. Spending is not a problem for him, so long as the right people receive the funds.

Republicans Need a Leader Who Shares Their Goals

What support McConnell has from Republicans largely comes from doing his job well when it comes to judicial nominations. I myself co-wrote a book on the topic. He is rightly praised for his work in getting conservative judges and justices confirmed and for stopping one liberal judicial nominee, Merrick Garland. It is not praiseworthy, however, that he encouraged President Trump to nominate Garland as attorney general and voted to confirm him when President Biden did nominate him.

It is noteworthy that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has matched McConnell’s record on judges, and with far less fanfare from his allies. Perhaps Democrats demand more of their leaders than competence at only a few aspects of their job. That Schumer is capable of doing what McConnell has done shows it’s not a particularly unique skill set.

McConnell allies also like to say McConnell is good at stopping Democrat legislation. Indeed, McConnell did contribute to what few successes there were in the last two years, such as stopping the poorly named Equality Act. Certainly, he played small ball well enough to keep Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona from voting to get rid of the filibuster. Again, whatever frustration Republican voters have with McConnell should not keep them from acknowledging these limited successes.

However, Republican voters are desperately concerned about the country and are looking for bold and persuasive leadership instead of comfort with a few small, intermittent successes. They also seek leaders who don’t hate them. Frustration with McConnell’s well-known and long-established disdain for Republican voters is becoming a serious problem.

The politically toxic McConnell has continuously ranked as the country’s least popular politician, well behind Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. He is so disliked by Americans that he is underwater by an average of 35.3 points in polls gauging his favorability.

Unfortunately for Republicans, he has been the top elected Republican in the country for the last two years, a period marked mostly by inexcusable impotence, fecklessness, and muddled messaging from the GOP.

Rather than present a coherent and persuasive vision of what Republican control of the Senate might look like, or even demonstrating consistent opposition to Democrat policies, too often McConnell overtly or covertly helped Democrats pass their signature policy goals. He had his deputy Sen. John Cornyn negotiate a bill to restrict Second Amendment rights. He notoriously and embarrassingly caved on a promise to help Democrats get huge numbers to pass their CHIPS subsidy, giving Biden a huge win he could celebrate with Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo two weeks before the midterm elections.

McConnell also famously trashed Republican candidates and the voters who selected them, refused to advocate strenuously for the candidates, and failed to develop or pursue a persuasive message to Americans for voting to give Republicans control of the Senate.

When Democrats poured $75 million — not even counting the outside spending — into defending Mark Kelly’s Senate seat in Arizona, McConnell left Republican challenger Blake Masters high and dry. Masters had only $9 million. Instead, McConnell interfered in Alaska’s Senate race even though the top two contenders were both Republican. He gave his valuable cash to weak Republican Lisa Murkowski, the candidate who did not even win the Alaska Republican Party’s endorsement! Murkowski is known for not voting to confirm Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, among other notable decisions.

After the disappointing midterm loss, McConnell blamed others. He also allowed a dozen Republican senators to vote for a bill that would enable assaults on Republican voters who, on religious grounds, oppose redefining marriage.

So long as Mitch McConnell is the top elected Republican in D.C., eagerly trashing Republican voters, vociferously advocating for Democrat policy goals, pushing $1.7 trillion Democrat spending packages, and weakly fighting for whatever Republican goals he can be bothered to pursue, Republicans have a major problem. This is beyond obvious.

Everyone outside D.C. knows this even if few inside D.C. are willing to acknowledge it. Until they do, the Republican Party will continue to suffer.

Mollie Ziegler Hemingway is the Editor-in-Chief of The Federalist. She is Senior Journalism Fellow at Hillsdale College and a Fox News contributor. She is the co-author of Justice on Trial: The Kavanaugh Confirmation and the Future of the Supreme Court. She is the author of “Rigged: How the Media, Big Tech, and the Democrats Seized Our Elections.” Reach her at mzhemingway@thefederalist.com

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Today’s TWO Politically INCORRECT Cartoons by A.F. Branco


A.F. Branco Cartoon – Media Protection Program

A.F. BRANCO | on April 16, 2022 | https://comicallyincorrect.com/a-f-branco-cartoon-media-protection-program/

The mainstream media continue to protect Left-wing politicians constantly deflecting our attention to other things.

Media Hiding Corruption
Cartoon by A.F. Branco ©2022

A.F. Branco Cartoon – Wheel of Misfortune

A.F. BRANCO | on April 18, 2022 | https://comicallyincorrect.com/a-f-branco-cartoon-wheel-of-misfortune/

Unlike President Truman, the buck never stops with Biden as he’s ready to blame everyone but himself.

Biden’s Buck Stops Wheel
Cartoon by A.F. Branco ©2022.

DONATE to Branco Toons – Tips accepted and appreciated – $1.00 – $5.00 – $25.00 – $50.00 – $100 – it all helps to fund this website and keep the cartoons coming. Also Venmo @AFBranco – THANK YOU!

A.F. Branco has taken his two greatest passions, (art and politics) and translated them into cartoons that have been popular all over the country, in various news outlets including “Fox News”, MSNBC, CBS, ABC, and “The Washington Post.” He has been recognized by such personalities as Dinesh D’Souza, James Woods, Sarah Palin, Larry Elder, Lars Larson, Rush Limbaugh, and President Donald Trump.

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Op-ed: Flynn Exposes Truth About Putin’s Real Plan – Says It’s Time to Pray


Commentary By Michael Flynn | February 24, 2022

Read more at https://www.westernjournal.com/breaking-flynn-exposes-truth-putins-real-plan-says-time-pray/

With the price of oil pushing above $100 per barrel, the U.S. stock market opening with heavy losses, more global economic challenges looming, the real potential for significant loss of life, and the international community in complete disarray with feeble attempts to condemn what was totally avoidable, we face the onset of another very grave and historic period of tension between competing ideologies and worse, the onset of WWIII.

This “invasion” was totally avoidable.

As one friend told me, President Joe Biden and his failed foreign policy team set the table and sent the invitation and Russian President Vladimir Putin came and spoiled the dinner party.

Clearly, there are fault lines on both sides, but for now, we must pray that those affected, without the ability to decide their fate, are able to survive this extraordinary period of world history unfolding (for many, unraveling) on the world stage. Civilians and military forces will be killed, wounded and displaced; those are the real consequences of war.

Pray that this conventional war is limited in scope, purpose and intent.

Yes, there were gross violations of previous agreements due to incompetence, arrogance and ignorance that got us to this point. Beyond this, what happens next is anyone’s guess, but Putin (and Xi — Taiwan?) just laid down a new world order marker.

That said, it is doubtful that the U.S. administration will change its failed foreign policy, and instead, it will make weak attempts to triple down on leveraging this extremely serious situation in Europe to continue to distract from problems here at home.

Given the shutting down of the Keystone pipeline and America’s energy independence while also enabling Russia and Germany (read: Europe) to reopen the Nordstream pipeline, one has to wonder about the discussions in the Oval Office that came to these conclusions.

This is the Biden administration: describing America as a systemically racist nation; appointing Marxists and other radical ideologues to positions of power; allowing millions to surge across our southern border; attempting to federalize our election systems and processes; implementing racist critical race theory in our schools, military and government; and all along, raising the national debt until it is closing in on $30 trillion — spending us toward extinction, all for left-wing causes.

Let us not forget the Afghanistan disaster, the myriad lies about COVID, a certain Biden-owned laptop, a complete refusal to investigate allegations of election irregularities … all while China gets a pass.

It is extremely difficult to trust this administration when they lie with a straight face to the American people daily.

Anyone who questions these rotten foreign and domestic policies is demonized as a racist. We see the unleashing of the federal government on citizens who are simply exercising their constitutional rights and the establishment media covers all this incompetence with a fake smile due to their own deep corruption.

Our president rarely entertains questions or takes responsibility for his tone deafness and failures. The White House ignored — even laughed at — Putin’s legitimate security concerns and ethnic unrest in the Ukraine.

We have yet to hear from the president of the United States an explanation of U.S. national security interests in the region.

Instead, we continue to demonize Russia — reminiscent of the fake Russia-collusion hysteria we now know was perpetrated against the Trump administration by elements of the Clinton campaign  and Obama administration (among others).

President Putin calculated this strategic, historic and geographic play and made the decision to move.

And he did.

All that given, there will never be justification for this invasion or any other form of invasion. However, never forget that war results when diplomacy fails.

May God watch over and protect those in harm’s way and may God continue to bless and protect the United States of America.

Michael Flynn

Retired Army Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn served as national security advisor to President Donald Trump. Headshot photo credit: Jewel Samad / AFP via Getty Images.

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In Opposing War with Russia, Tucker Carlson Champions the Hard-Won Truths of Putting American Interests First


REPORTED BY: SUMANTRA MAITRA | JANUARY 31, 2022

Read more at https://thefederalist.com/2022/01/31/in-opposing-war-with-russia-tucker-carlson-champions-the-hard-won-truths-of-putting-american-interests-first/

Tucker Carlson monologue on Russia

Arecent Tucker Carlson monologue questioned the relentless narrative insisting Americans must compulsively side with Ukraine against Russia in their conflict.

“We are potentially on the verge of a land war in Europe aimed at extinguishing democracy and sovereignty, and the American right wing is on the side of ethno-nationalist authoritarianism. That’s where we’re at,” tweeted President Obama’s former speechwriter Ben Rhodes, who coined the phrase “DC blob,” in reply to Carlson without a hint of irony.

Another Democrat operative, who allegedly worked with the Ukrainian embassy to dig up dirt on President Trump, tweeted that Carlson should be prosecuted as a foreign agent. To top it all, President Obama’s former Russia hand quite literally called for war against a nuclear rival to ensure the sovereignty of Ukraine, a proposition unthinkable during Cold War bipartisanship, when the first instinct was to ensure great power equilibrium and avoid mutually assured destruction.

They are not the only ones. A recent New Yorker profile makes it clearer than any:

Vladimir Putin presents himself to his citizens and to the world as the standard-bearer of a modern counter-enlightenment. He has declared liberal democracy ‘obsolete,’ a political arrangement that has ‘outlived its purpose. One of his historical role models is said to be Alexander III, a reactionary tsar in the Romanov dynasty who instituted draconian restrictions on the press, sought to ‘Russify’ his multi-ethnic empire, and mobilized against internal and external threats. Four years ago, Putin expressed his deep admiration for the tsar while visiting the Crimean Peninsula, a substantial and distinctly unthreatening parcel of Ukraine that Russia invaded in 2014 and has occupied ever since.

A Rabid Response to the New Right’s Power

There is a palpable panic at Carlson arguably driving the GOP towards a more pre-war conservatism. It’s even being hysterically termed Putinism and “Russia First” by some commentators. Michael McFaul, Obama’s Russia ambassador, was vocal on Twitter arguing that opposing Russia is a moral duty of anyone who opposes “imperialism,” alongside both prominent liberal theorists and second-tier neoconservative internationalist gadflies.

There has also been relentless fearmongering about Carlson, authoritarianism, and nationalism. Some have gone so far as to bizarrely tag Carlson a “comrade,” which is absurd because Putin’s Russia is far more Christian and conservative than the increasingly secular West.

“Why is it disloyal to side with Russia but loyal to side with Ukraine?” Carlson asked, provoking commentary noting Putin murders dissidents. Yet the world is full of rulers who murderously abuse power—for example, by sending drones that kill non-combatants and children.

It cannot be a matter of American patriotism to send U.S. troops to die for evils in other nations, or United States must attempt to police the entire globe. Experience has shown that is practically impossible and deeply damaging to U.S. national interests.

Thus in recent years, the ascendant New Right has led a bipartisan push for a more restrained foreign policy, one predicated on cutting down on foreign entanglements (termed as foreign policy realism in academic circles) especially from the Middle East, pushing Europe to spend a lot more for its own defense, and focusing more on domestic issues, as well as the rise of China. Carlson is perhaps the most prominent voice of that school in the right and has consistently opposed needless foreign confrontation, especially over Iran and Russia.

Matt Walsh and Sohrab Ahmari recently also opposed further confrontation with Russia over ensuring democracy and rights in Ukraine, as this conflict does not directly threaten the American landmass or way of life. Prominent next-gen Republican lawmakers and foreign policy leaders, such as Adam Laxalt, Bernie Moreno, J. D. Vance, Blake Masters, and Peter Meijer also often voice more realist rhetoric.

Is It America’s Job to Change Other Nations’ Regimes?

This realignment has also included questioning whether the ascending conservative foreign-policy realism in America, based on a narrow definition of national interest, is compatible with progressivism. Progressivism, as John Mearsheimer noted, is by definition universalist, radical, and revolutionary.

Mearsheimer wrote, “because liberalism prizes the concept of inalienable or natural rights, committed liberals are deeply concerned about the rights of virtually every individual on the planet. This universalist logic creates a powerful incentive for liberal states to get involved in the affairs of countries that seriously violate their citizens’ rights. To take this a step further, the best way to ensure that the rights of foreigners are not trampled is for them to live in a liberal democracy. This logic leads straight to an active policy of regime change, where the goal is to topple autocrats and put liberal democracies in their place.”

Consider the relentless number of tweets by a section of the commentariat about Western support for ensuring LGBT-favoring laws in Ukraine, and Mearsheimer sounds prescient. Whatever these people are, their constant revolutionary and internationalist rhetoric would make Leon Trotsky blush.

Our Job Is to Govern Ourselves First

Foreign policy realism, on the other hand, enacts a grand strategy based on amoral narrow national interest, one formulated by early American statesmen from George Washington to James Monroe to John Quincy Adams. If it ever comes back as an administrative principle, then it will become the domain solely of the right.

The aversion against great powers and spheres of influence is an egalitarian instinct claiming all states are equal, regardless of any other variable. This instinct is by definition unnatural and revolutionary. It defies geography, aggregate power, history, and most importantly, narrow nationalism.

Believing that “History” is progressive, and therefore acting on it to liberate everyone everywhere and promote rights and democracy, then becomes part of an inflated American national interest. The side that does not believe in nation-states or nationalism cannot by definition side with a narrow interpretation of national interest.

It’s Natural to Defend Yourself

Carlson is increasingly influential because he sides with something very natural: a human urge to be a nationalist, and therefore opposed to a relentless and crusading global revolution, whether promoting a borderless Marxism or an equally borderless liberalism.

The ascendant New Right believes in peace through strength, and a very narrow Jacksonian definition of nationalism, in which Europeans pay for their own security and Americans only come at the last moment if things go wrong. In this view, China is a far bigger threat to American prosperity and its land-mass than Russia or Iran will ever be, and defending porous American borders matters a lot more to Americans than Ukrainian borders.

The other side, a duopoly of Never Trump neoconservatives and liberal-internationalists, wants to continue to allegedly ensure human rights across the globe while neglecting the way of life at home. It may be a noble goal, but ultimately it’s one that the majority of Americans and an overwhelming number of conservatives are tired of after 30 years, thousands of lost lives, and trillions of dollars in deficits.

The instinct for promoting a global revolution to promote LGBT rights, liberalism, and feminism is as radical an instinct as it can get, and that argument is increasingly opposed by a majority of Americans who simply don’t care enough to spend blood and treasure in places they cannot spot on a map.

Self-Government Means No Country Is Too Big to Fail

When Rhodes and McFaul yell about defending human rights in Ukraine, and Carlson and others on the right remind everyone of American failures in pursuing such an unlimited global policy, it’s important to rethink the priors and understand the re-alignment in foreign policy is complete. Powerful realist voices on the left such as Matthew Duss, Stephen Wertheim, Tulsi Gabbard, and Rep. Ro Khanna notwithstanding, it is becoming increasingly clear that true restrained foreign policy realism is connected to a very narrow form of nationalism, and that is fundamentally a reactionary and therefore conservative concept.

Second, as I wrote recently, “selling” such foreign policy, even to a very instinctively nationalist electorate like America, means talking in a language that most people will get. Carlson (and Donald Trump, for that matter) connected with the normal crowd, arguing about the futility of sending their sons to die for Ukraine, Afghanistan, or Libya. That has more impact than a bunch of Foreign Affairs Snapshots.

This recent debate on Ukraine, therefore, has brought forth troubling questions for those trying to sell oxymoronic “progressive” foreign policy realism, which took a hell of a beating in the last few weeks.

Dr. Sumantra Maitra is a national-security fellow at The Center for the National Interest; a non-resident fellow at the James G Martin Center; and an elected early career historian member at the Royal Historical Society. He is a senior contributor to The Federalist, and can be reached on Twitter @MrMaitra.

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Photos Show What US Admiral Meant When He Warned of China’s ‘Breathtaking’ Nuclear Expansion


Reported by Isa Cox July 3, 2021 at 1:41pm

Read more at https://www.westernjournal.com/photos-show-us-admiral-meant-warned-chinas-breathtaking-nuclear-expansion/

In April, U.S. Navy Adm. Charles Richard, the commander of U.S. Strategic Command, warned a congressional panel that China’s nuclear program was in the midst of a “breathtaking expansion,” including the development of intercontinental ballistic missiles, mobile missile launchers and nuclear-capable submarines. Now, satellite imagery has confirmed that Richard was by no means exaggerating.

Researchers from the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies in Monterey, California, obtained the images which were initially captured by commercial satellites. The images depict the construction of over 100 new silos for ICBMs in the desert outside the city of Yumen, which is in northwestern China, The Washington Post reported.

Should these 119 near-identical construction sites be completed, it would mark a significant expansion in the country’s relatively meager stock of nuclear weapons. The Post noted that the number of silos doesn’t necessarily indicate the number of weapons intended to be stored within them, as China has been known to use decoy silos in the past in a similar fashion to a strategy used by the U.S. during the Cold War to mislead Soviet intelligence forces.

“The reported silo construction project could provide China with yet another means of concealing its most powerful weapons. The construction sites spotted on satellite photos are arrayed in two huge swaths, covering parts of a desert basin stretching to the west and southwest of Yumen, a city of 170,000 people along China’s ancient Silk Road,” The Post explained.

“Each site is separated from its neighbors by about two miles, and many of the sites are concealed by a large, dome-like covering, following a practice observed at known construction sites for missile silos in other parts of China. At sites where the dome is not in place, construction crews can be seen excavating a characteristic circular-shaped pit in the desert floor. Another construction site appears to be a partially built control center.”

Jeffrey Lewis, who was part of the team that reviewed the satellite images, explained in a summary of his analysis on the findings as provided to The Post that, when added to similar construction projects, these silos would bring the total count to 145 across the Chinese mainland.

“We believe China is expanding its nuclear forces in part to maintain a deterrent that can survive a U.S. first strike in sufficient numbers to defeat U.S. missile defenses,” he explained.

This intelligence underscores the urgency with which China is bolstering its defenses in likely anticipation of any attempt at foreign intervention in its aggressive expansion of power both at home and abroad.

Lewis, who described the sheer scale of the construction projects as “incredible,” believes the silos are likely intended for a Chinese ICBM known as the DF-41, which is capable of carrying multiple warheads and can strike targets as far off as 9,300 miles. Yes — that means they could, potentially, have the capacity to reach the U.S. mainland.

Although the U.S. Department of Defense declined to comment on the satellite images or discuss any of its own intelligence on China’s nuclear capabilities, a spokesperson pointed to previous warnings that any such concern is likely justified.

“Defense Department leaders have testified and publicly spoken about China’s growing nuclear capabilities, which we expect to double or more over the next decade,” spox John Supple said.

Lewis believes that China, which boasts a significantly smaller nuclear arsenal than those in the U.S. and Russia, has engaged a “limited deterrence” doctrine that simply prioritizes its ability to retaliate if attacked.

Yet while he believes that the satellite images could be indicative of a “shell game” on the part of China, i.e. that they’re simply designed to give the appearance that they’re more nuclear-capable than they really are, the sheer multitude of so many potential launch sites could serve as a warning to U.S. officials to modernize our own arsenal.

While Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in February that the Biden administration plans to “pursue arms control to reduce the dangers from China’s modern and growing nuclear arsenal,” he offered no specifics on what this would look like, merely vowing to pursue “effective arms control that enhances stability, transparency and predictability while reducing the risks of costly, dangerous arms races.”

It appears that we’re in an arms race with China whether we like it or not, however, and that’s exactly where the nation wants us to be.

In 2019, China unveiled new nuclear warheads amid massive pomp and circumstance reminiscent of Soviet and Mao-era military parades as the 70th anniversary of the establishment of the People’s Republic of China was being celebrated. This came as a trade war with the United States loomed thanks to former President Donald Trump’s tough stance on the aspiring global superpower. That was when the DF-41 made its public debut amid the tightly synchronized goose-stepping and Cold War-style theatrics of the celebratory parade.

Now that President Joe Biden is in office, Beijing has made clear it’s hardly afraid of Trump’s successor — a fact made embarrassingly plain in the first diplomatic talks between his administration and China when the nation’s diplomatic team publicly humiliated Blinken — on U.S. soil, no less. The Biden administration has publicly condemned China’s human rights abuses among the Uyghur population in the Xinjiang province and its authoritarian crackdown in the previously liberal and autonomous Hong Kong, but has stopped short of taking any action against the antagonistic communist nation.

During his remarks on the centennial anniversary of the founding of the Chinese Communist Party this week, President Xi Jinping vowed “broken heads and bloodshed” to any foreign adversaries which provoke or enrage China, a message which is entirely consistent with the notorious “wolf warrior” diplomacy exercised by his regime.

China may be doing its best to fluff up its feathers and appear more powerful than it is on the world stage — but it’s determined to increase its power by any means necessary, and it is this fierce determination and fearless provocation of foreign powers that we have to be concerned about.

As long as Biden continues to take a weak and soft stance on China and President Xi, a man he once described as a “friend,” China will take every single advantage such leniency affords it.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Isa Cox, Contributor, Commentary

Isa grew up in San Francisco, where she was briefly a far-left socialist before finding Jesus and her husband in Hawaii. She now homeschools their two boys and freelances in the Ozarks.@crunchyconmama

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International Politics

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Today’s THREE Politically INCORRECT Cartoons by A.F. Branco


A.F. Branco Cartoon – It’s No Cackling Matter

A.F. BRANCO on June 12, 2021 | https://comicallyincorrect.com/a-f-branco-cartoon-its-no-cackling-matter/

When is Kamala going to the border to look at the crisis the Biden administration has caused?

Kamala Border

Political cartoon by A.F. Branco ©2021.

A.F. Branco Cartoon – School Choice-O-Phobe

A.F. BRANCO on June 13, 2021 | https://comicallyincorrect.com/a-f-branco-cartoon-school-choice-o-phobe/

Governor Walz of Minnesota is reported to be Hiding from the School-choice Groups.

Minnesota School Choice

Political cartoon by A.F. Branco ©2021.

A.F. Branco Cartoon – Slap Happy

A.F. BRANCO on June 14, 2021 | https://comicallyincorrect.com/a-f-branco-cartoon-slap-happy/

Joe Biden demonstrates his America last attitude on the world stage at the G7 summit.

Biden and the G7

Political cartoon by A.F. Branco ©2021.

A.F. Branco coffee table book “Keep America Laughing (at the left)” ORDER HERE.

For more A.F. Branco cartoons at Legal Insurrection click here.

Donations/Tips accepted and appreciated – $1.00 –  $5.00 –  $25.00 – $50.00 – $100 –  it all helps to fund this website and keep the cartoons coming. Also Venmo @AFBranco – THANK YOU!

A.F. Branco has taken his two greatest passions, (art and politics) and translated them into the cartoons that have been popular all over the country, in various news outlets including “Fox News”, MSNBC, CBS, ABC, and “The Washington Post.” He has been recognized by such personalities as Dinesh D’Souza, James Woods, Sarah Palin, Larry Elder, Lars Larson, Rush Limbaugh, and shared by President Donald Trump.

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Recent Leaks Expose Communist China’s Extensive Infiltration Of The West


Reported by Helen Raleigh DECEMBER 18, 2020

Read more at https://thefederalist.com/2020/12/18/recent-leaks-expose-communist-chinas-extensive-infiltration-of-the-west/

U.S. State Department’s Assistant Secretary David Stilwell recently warned the public: “Influence and interference operations are fundamental to how the Chinese Communist Party engages with the world.” Through two leaked documents, the rest of the world recently discovered more about how aggressive and extensive the CCP’s influence and interference operations are: a database of CCP members and a secret agreement between Switzerland and Chinese police.

The CCP Member Database

One of the largest newspapers in Australia, The Australian, reported last weekend it obtained a leaked database of nearly two million CCP members, including their national ID number, birth date, and party position. Additionally, the database contains information on almost 80,000 party branches, showing these CCP members are currently working inside international corporations, universities, and even government agencies around the world.

Based on this database, The Australian also disclosed the names of several companies that have employed CCP members, including Boeing, Volkswagen, Qualcomm, Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Deutsche Bank, and J.P. Morgan. Further, as seen via the database, numerous CCP members have infiltrated Australian, American, and United Kingdom consulates in Shanghai, China.

The database was reportedly extracted from a Shanghai-based server by a Chinese dissident in 2016. The Australian stated it hasn’t found any evidence that any member on the list is spying for the CCP. Still, there are good reasons to be concerned. As one national security expert suggested, “Allowing members of the CCP to work for such companies risks their stealing technology, providing intelligence to China on forthcoming weapons systems and capabilities, or on force structures built around those capabilities.”

That no spying has been discovered yet doesn’t mean it hasn’t happened or it won’t happen in the future when the CCP issues a call to action. After all, these CCP members took the same oath when they first joined the party, to “carry out the Party’s decisions; strictly observe Party discipline; guard Party secrets; be loyal to the Party … fight for communism throughout my life, be ready at all times to sacrifice my all for the Party and the people, and never betray the party.” If the party demands its members to share sensitive technology or take certain actions, it will be very difficult for a CCP member to say no.

Besides security concerns, having this many CCP members holding senior positions at western companies and government agencies also raises the concern that they would influence or sway these entities to support the CCP’s policies. For example, the U.K.’s Telegraph discovered:

…At least 335 HSBC employees were CCP members. Current members include the senior vice-president of HSBC China, the president of HSBC’s Shenzhen office, and the deputy manager of Hong Kong corporate and consumer products are listed as members.

The paper also learned that the deputy president of Standard Chartered Bank in China, Dong Shuyin, has won the “Excellent Communist Party Member in Shanghai” award.

Not surprisingly, both HSBC and the Standard Chartered Bank publicly backed the new national security law that China imposed on Hong Kong to crack down on dissent in the city. The law is so draconian that even a tweet supporting Hong Kong protests could land someone in jail. At least two dozen Hong Kong activists have been imprisoned under the security law since it went into effect in July.

HSBC not only supports the policy but may help with its enforcement. Ted Hui, a former pro-democracy Hong Kong lawmaker who now lives in Denmark, claimed that HSBC froze his and his family’s bank accounts. It’s worth asking: would HSBC carry out Beijing’s economic coercion like this had it hadn’t employed so many CCP members in its senior management?

Switzerland’s Secret Deal with Chinese Police

Another leak came from Safeguard Defenders, a Switzerland-based Human Rights organization. It disclosed last weekend that Switzerland had established a secret “Re-admission Agreement“ with Chinese police since Dec. 8, 2015, and posted details of the deal on its website.

Countries typically establish a “Re-admission Agreement” with each other’s immigration agencies to address illegal immigration issues and make sure illegal immigrants or visa over-stayers will be safely returned to their country-of-origin. What’s unusual about Switzerland’s agreement with China is that the deal allows agents from China’s Ministry of Public Security to have “free access in Switzerland, for unsupervised operations across the country.” Furthermore, Switzerland “agreed to keep the identity of visiting agents secret. Agents are selected by China, and Switzerland has no part in the selection.”

Yet MPS is no ordinary agency in China. It’s in charge of Chinese police, national security, espionage, and intelligence. It’s known for suppressing domestic dissent and has been accused of human rights violations.

In recent years, it has expanded its operations overseas, sending agents around the world to bring Chinese nationals it deems as “criminals” back to China — part of “a global, concerted, and extralegal repatriation effort known as ‘Operation Fox Hunt.’” According to China’s state media, the operation has been highly successful and about 6,000 “criminals” have returned to China by mid-2019, including 300 Uighur Muslims from 16 different countries.

Nevertheless, the aggressive tactics Chinese agents deploy as well as their vague definition of “criminals” have irked law enforcement agencies in the West. In August, the U.S. Department of Justice charged eight people, including both Chinese nationals and U.S. residents, with conspiring to act as illegal agents of China, in a multi-year campaign of harassment and stalking of Chinese immigrants in the United States, attempting to force them back to China.

In contrast, Switzerland appears neither bothered by the hard-hitting tactics of Chinese agents nor concerned with the fate of those who have been forced to return to China. There’s also apparently little concern over whether they committed crimes, or were persecuted for being critical of the CCP’s policies, and whether they would be safe upon their return to China.

Under the agreement between Switzerland and China, the Swiss government put very little constraints on their Chinese counterpart. Chinese MPS agents have been allowed to go anywhere they want, and “meet” anyone they want in Switzerland without the Swiss government’s supervision.

In 2016, 16 Chinese nationals who resided in Switzerland were forced to return to China as the result of these MPS agents’ visits. So far, the Swiss government refuses to disclose who these people were. Even more outrageous, the Swiss government covered the cost of the extensive travel expenses for these Chinese agents. In essence, “Swiss taxpayers are paying for Chinese police agents to secretly enter Switzerland and conduct unsupervised operations against Chinese people inside their country.”

What’s not surprising, but embarrassing for Switzerland, is that the deal is not reciprocated. By no means do Swiss agents who travel to China enjoy anything near the same kind of unsupervised movement inside China. As such, it isn’t clear why the Swiss government signed such an erroneous agreement to aid the CCP, and what benefits, if any, this deal has brought for Switzerland.

When details of this deal became public, it caused an uproar in both the Swiss public and members of Parliament. Since the deal expired on Dec. 7, Switzerland’s Foreign Affair Committee requested a consultation on any renewal of a similar agreement.

The leaked database of CCP members and a secret agreement between Switzerland and Chinese police reveal that the CCP’s influence and infiltration operations are far-reaching and widespread in a scale and magnitude that was previously unknown. It also shows the CCP’s success in executing its plan is at least partially due to the complacency or even willing cooperation by some short-sighted western corporations and governments.

It’s high time for citizens in Western democracies to demand their corporations and governments stand up for the values and liberties we cherish and resist the CCP’s infiltration, corruption, and economic coercion. The long term survival of free societies is at stake.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Helen Raleigh, CFA, is an American entrepreneur, writer, and speaker. She’s a senior contributor at The Federalist. Her writings appear in other national media, including The Wall Street Journal and Fox News. Helen is the author of several books, including “Confucius Never Said” and “Backlash: How Communist China’s Aggression Has Backfired.” Follow her on Parler and Twitter: @HRaleighspeaks.

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Political

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Americans Voted To End War In Syria, But This Unelected Bureaucrat Lied To Overrule Them


Reported by Willis L. Krumholz NOVEMBER 18, 2020

Americans Voted To End War In Syria, But This Unelected Bureaucrat Lied To Overrule Them

Defense One, a subsidiary of The Atlantic, came out with a story last week about a man named Jim Jeffrey. If you haven’t heard of him, don’t feel bad, but he’s pretty important in Washington, D.C. Under his fancy title, he’s been appointed to oversee the U.S. fight against ISIS and what are supposed to be the limited operations of the American troops who still remain in Syria.

Jeffrey is now also a hero in D.C., because in the interview with Defense One he bragged about how he misled President Donald Trump and other top White House officials about the real number of U.S. troops in Syria. “We were always playing shell games to not make clear to our leadership how many troops we had there,” Jeffrey told the Defense One reporter.

The Establishment Wants War in Syria

To say that the D.C. foreign policy establishment wants a U.S. ground presence in Syria is an understatement. During the Obama administration, partisan former Central Intelligence Agency Director John Brennan spent $1 billion from taxpayers per year trying to arm “moderate” rebels in Syria. What Brennan got was loads of American weapons in the hands of jihadists, including ISIS affiliates. In one example, a particular program trained 15,000 rebels in Jordan and returned them to Syria. Only “four or five” recruits out of the 15,000 turned up to fight. The rest either joined jihadist forces, including ISIS, or sold their American weapons to these forces.

The futility of regime change efforts didn’t deter official Washington, however. Western media raved about “the white helmets.” They also glossed over the fact that there were few moderate rebels and that many of America’s preferred rebels to take on the dictatorship of Bashar al-Assad were guilty of unspeakable brutalities.

Meanwhile, a civil war pitting Muslim Sunnis against Shias — which was partly fueled by American money and weapons and certainly fueled by weapons and money from Gulf Sunni states, including Saudi Arabia — caused a humanitarian crisis. Millions of refugees flooded Europe. Into this chaos and power vacuum stepped ISIS, which at its pinnacle had amassed a huge amount of territory in Iraq and Syria.

On the campaign trail in 2016, Trump repeatedly promised to destroy ISIS and then get U.S. troops out of Syria. This was a large difference between Trump and his Republican primary opponents and then later Hillary Clinton, who argued that U.S. involvement in Syria should not be limited to destroying the Islamic State and that the United States should topple Assad.

Trump’s view was that if Assad was toppled, the power vacuum would be greater, and the jihadist problem would worsen. He also argued that such a move was not in America’s interest, had no clear exit strategy, and would cause an even greater humanitarian disaster, including thousands of dead American troops.

As president, Trump routinely called Syria a place of “sand and death.” Multiple times he attempted to pull the United States out of Syria, only to be met with Assad allegedly striking civilians and official Washington clamoring for a response. Finally, in December 2018, Trump gave a withdrawal order. This led to the resignation (or firing) of Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, along with Brett McGurk, the former special envoy for Syria. Trump repeated that order in October 2019.

Jeffrey called Trump’s decision to fulfill his campaign promise and remove U.S. troops from Syria “the most controversial thing in my fifty years in government.” Each time Trump gave the withdrawal order, according to Jeffrey, Trump was “convinced to leave a residual force in Syria and the fight continued.” In reality, officials kept troops behind far above the “residual force,” unbeknownst to the president.

“What Syria withdrawal? There was never a Syria withdrawal,” Jeffrey bragged. “When the situation in northeast Syria had been fairly stable after we defeated ISIS, [Trump] was inclined to pull out. In each case, we then decided to come up with five better arguments for why we needed to stay. And we succeeded both times. That’s the story.”

Officially, America has 200 to 400 troops on the ground in northeast Syria, ostensibly to guard the oil fields in that area held by U.S. Kurdish allies. Anonymous officials say the number is more like 900 today, however, and Jeffrey told Defense One that the number of troops in Syria is “a lot more than” the roughly 200 troops that Trump agreed to leave behind there in October 2019.

Defense One concluded its story by noting that Jeffrey didn’t support Trump but agrees with Trump’s “realpolitik” Middle East foreign policy and efforts to make North Atlantic Treaty Organization members pay more for defense. Jeffrey also said he views Joe Biden favorably. In fact, after signing a letter in 2016 that said Trump was unfit for the presidency, it appears as if Jeffrey still opposes Trump: “I know what I did in 2016, I do not disagree with that,” Jeffrey said.

While Defense One quoted colleagues who said Jeffrey is a “consummate apolitical public servant,” many others were upset by Jeffrey’s admissions. Republican Rep. Jim Banks of Indiana, a member of the House Armed Services Committee, is furious and called for Jeffrey to be “punished.”

Who Has the Power in America?

People in Middle America should be enraged by Jeffrey’s interview. Washington, D.C., should be terrified that the American people might realize people like Jeffrey are only the tip of the iceberg. Jeffrey might be completely right about his view of the world and probably thinks he was doing the right thing, but that doesn’t matter. It doesn’t make Jeffrey’s behavior any less abhorrent.

People didn’t elect Jeffrey to anything. They elected Trump in 2016, and one factor in a bunch of working-class Americans opting for Trump was his promise not to start a new war in the Middle East. A large majority of Americans don’t want U.S. ground troops in Syria. Even a large chunk of Democrats who abhor Trump technically agree with his Syria policy. Labeling Jeffrey a “public servant” is a sick joke. Jeffrey is serving himself, or at least serving his ideology — and he does have an ideology.

Yes, it was Trump’s fault he hired people like John Bolton, a neoconservative ideologue who thought it was his job to stop Trump from following through with his campaign promises. Yet Trump isn’t ideological, and he often filled positions based on the recommendations of those around him, many of whom were card-carrying members of the Republican establishment.

Either way, Trump took a lot of heat for his order to pull troops out of Syria. Mattis resigned, and Democrats, media outlets, and Republicans such as Liz Cheney attacked Trump. Detractors hurled constant accusations that Trump wanting to get U.S. troops out of Syria was yet further proof he was a stooge of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Trump’s differences on foreign policy compared to the D.C. establishment, including over Syria policy, was even a significant factor in the FBI’s decision to legitimize baseless conspiracy theories that Trump was an agent of Russia.

Let’s step back for a second. Millions of working-class Americans, who also voted for Barack Obama, voted for Trump in 2016 because they wanted a change to policy. Now assume Trump is gone, and, truthfully, not much has changed on a fundamental level for many of these working-class citizens. What will happen when a large chunk of the American people realize their votes don’t affect policy?

Trump was considered norm-breaking and obnoxious to these D.C. insiders. Have these insiders not considered that the same people who sent Trump to the White House to shake things up might eventually opt for someone even more norm-breaking than Trump?

Willis L. Krumholz holds a JD and MBA degree from the University of St. Thomas. The views expressed are those of the author only. You can follow Willis on Twitter @WillKrumholz.
Photo Staff Sgt. Noel Gerig/U.S. Central Command

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Military, Political

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Whistleblower had ‘professional’ tie to 2020 Democratic candidate


Written by Byron York  | October 08, 2019 03:04 PM

URL of the original posting site: https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/whistleblower-had-professional-tie-to-2020-democratic-candidate

In an Aug. 26 letter, the Intelligence Community’s inspector general, Michael Atkinson, wrote that the anonymous whistleblower who set off the Trump-Ukraine impeachment fight showed “some indicia of an arguable political bias … in favor of a rival political candidate.”

A few weeks later, news reports said the whistleblower’s possible bias was that he is a registered Democrat. That was all. Incredulous commentary suggested that Republicans who were pushing the bias talking point were so blinded by their own partisanship that they saw simple registration with the Democratic Party as evidence of wrongdoing.

“Give me a break!” tweeted whistleblower lawyer Mark Zaid. “Bias? Seriously?”

Now, however, there is word of more evidence of possible bias on the whistleblower’s part. Under questioning from Republicans during last Friday’s impeachment inquiry interview with Atkinson, the inspector general revealed that the whistleblower’s possible bias was not that he was simply a registered Democrat. It was that he had a significant tie to one of the Democratic presidential candidates currently vying to challenge President Trump in next year’s election.

“The IG said [the whistleblower] worked or had some type of professional relationship with one of the Democratic candidates,” said one person with knowledge of what was said.
“The IG said the whistleblower had a professional relationship with one of the 2020 candidates,” said another person with knowledge of what was said.
“What [Atkinson] said was that the whistleblower self-disclosed that he was a registered Democrat and that he had a prior working relationship with a current 2020 Democratic presidential candidate,” said a third person with knowledge of what was said.

All three sources said Atkinson did not identify the Democratic candidate with whom the whistleblower had a connection. It is unclear what the working or professional relationship between the two was.

In the Aug. 26 letter, Atkinson said that even though there was evidence of possible bias on the whistleblower’s part, “such evidence did not change my determination that the complaint relating to the urgent concern ‘appears credible,’ particularly given the other information the ICIG obtained during its preliminary review.”

Democrats are certain to take that position when Republicans allege that the whistleblower acted out of bias. Indeed, the transcript of Trump’s July 25 call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is a public document, for all to see. One can read it regardless of the whistleblower’s purported bias.

Nevertheless, Republicans will want to know more about the origins of the whistleblower complaint, especially given the unorthodox use of whistleblower law involved. There is more to learn — like who the Democratic candidate is — before Republicans will say they know enough about what happened.

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Political

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US sending 1,000 more troops to Middle East


Written by Zachary Halaschak | June 17, 2019 08:22 PM

The U.S. is sending an additional 1,000 troops to the Middle East amid increasing tension between the U.S. and Iran. Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan announced the additional forces in a statement Monday evening, saying that the increase came at the urging of U.S. military leaders in the Middle East.

“In response to a request from the US Central Command for additional forces, and with the advice of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and in consultation with the White House, I have authorized approximately 1,000 additional troops for defensive purposes to address air, naval, and ground-based threats in the Middle East,” Shanahan said in a statement.

“The recent Iranian attacks validate the reliable, credible intelligence we have received on hostile behavior by Iranian forces and their proxy groups that threaten United States personnel and interests across the region,” Shanahan said.

“We will continue to monitor the situation diligently and make adjustments to force levels as necessary given intelligence reporting and credible threats,” he added.

A pair of oil tankers were attacked earlier this month in the Gulf of Oman. The U.S. and the U.K. have placed blame for the attack on Iran. The move came just hours before Iran reportedly fired a surface-to-air missile at a U.S. drone. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo blamed the tanker attacks on the “maximum pressure campaign” that the U.S. is waging against the Iranian regime, targeting its financial industry.

“Iran is lashing out because the regime wants our successful maximum pressure campaign lifted,” Pompeo told reporters last week. “The international community condemns Iran’s assault on the freedom of navigation and the targeting of innocent civilians.”

Last month, four other tankers were targeted by Iran in what Pompeo described as an Iranian attempt to inflate international oil prices.

The U.S. also recently deployed the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group and a bomber task force to the Middle East.

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Military

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Today’s Politically INCORRECT Cartoon by A.F. Branco


A.F. Branco Cartoon – Tariff Man

A.F. Branco | on

Mexico decides to help Trump stop the mass invasion at the U.S. southern border after threats of tariffs. Media typically misinforms the public.

Mexico Concedes to Trump Tariff Threats
More A.F. Branco cartoons at Flag And Cross.com here.

An adult children’s Book for all ages APOCALI NOW! brilliantly lampoons the left. ODER >  HERE

Donations/Tips accepted and appreciated –  $1.00 – $5.00 – $10 – $100 –  it all helps to fund this website and keep the cartoons coming. – THANK YOU!

A.F. Branco has taken his two greatest passions, (art and politics) and translated them into the cartoons that have been popular all over the country, in various news outlets including “Fox News”, MSNBC, CBS, ABC and “The Washington Post.” He has been recognized by such personalities as Dinesh D’Souza, James Woods, Sarah Palin, Larry Elder, Lars Larson, the great El Rushbo, and has had his toons tweeted by President Trump.

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Classified Iran briefing becomes heated as Trump team clashes with Democrats


Reported by Joel Gehrke | May 21, 2019

A classified Senate briefing on Iranian plots against the United States turned into a tense clash between top U.S. officials and lawmakers frustrated with President Trump’s strategy toward Tehran.

“I would say there was a lot of heat in that room,” Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, told the Washington Examiner following the Tuesday afternoon briefing.

Key congressional Democrats suggested that President Trump’s administration was preparing for military conflict with the regime based on faulty intelligence or even false pretenses after ambiguous U.S. warnings that Iranian proxies might attack American personnel in Iraq. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan sought to allay that suspicion in separate meetings, first with House lawmakers and then the Senate Tuesday afternoon.

“Today I walked them through what the Department of Defense has been doing since May 3, when we received credible intelligence about threats to our interests in the Middle East and to American forces, and how we acted on that credible intelligence,” Shanahan told reporters after the Senate briefing. “That intelligence has borne out in attacks, and I would say it’s also deterred attacks. We have deterred attacks based on our re-posturing of assets, deterred attacks against American forces.”

The controversy shifted in the briefing to complaints that they didn’t communicate with Congress enough in recent weeks and a broader protest against the administration’s withdrawal from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal. Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, a top contender for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, was among the most aggressive in raising the specter of being misled into a conflict with Iran.

“Most Americans know way back when we were lied to about the situation in Vietnam and we went into a war which ended up costing us 59,000 lives, based on a lie,” he said. “In 2003, we were lied to in terms of Iraq supposedly having weapons of mass destruction.”

Sanders refused to answer whether he believes such lies are being told now. “I won’t talk about what we heard in the meeting,” he said. “But let me just say that I worry very much that, intentionally or unintentionally, we create a situation in which a war will take place.”

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer avoided that controversy entirely, focusing only on the frustration that the administration didn’t provide more information to lawmakers over the last three weeks.

“I told the people who were briefing us that I thought the consultation with the American people and the Congress was inadequate,” the New York Democrat told reporters in a brief appearance, without taking additional questions. “Both the American people and the Congress read about a lot of actions in the newspapers and had no idea what was going on. I told them they had to make it better next time.”

Shanahan acknowledged that desire for more information. “We heard feedback that they’d like more conversation,” he said. “They’d also like us to be more communicative with the American public, and we agreed to do more of that.”

Maryland Sen. Ben Cardin, a senior Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee, conceded that the meeting was a “very helpful” survey of the intelligence reports and U.S. responses. Another lawmaker confirmed that the meeting was testy, but in this telling the confrontation was bipartisan and focused more on the administration’s policies than suspicions that they are fabricating intelligence.

“A number of them questioned the conclusions of the administration about the reaction of the Iranians and what it might lead to,” a Democratic senator, speaking on condition of anonymity, said after the briefing. “I think there’s a lot of us with real misgivings about how serious this is and how much is a creation of the administration’s own provocative policy.”

Shanahan stressed that the administration, which has deployed an aircraft carrier strike group to the Persian Gulf and threatened devastating consequences for attacks on Americans, is trying to avoid a conflict.

“Our biggest focus at this point is to prevent Iranian miscalculation,” he told reporters. “We do not want the situation to escalate.”

Cruz kept the focus on Democratic hostility to Trump and their fidelity to the nuclear agreement that former President Barack Obama’s team negotiated with Iran.

“Far too many congressional Democrats are invested in appeasement for Iran, which manifests in effectively defending the mullahs against maximum pressure,” he told the Washington Examiner.

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Establishment Media Silent: Trump Gets Unexpected Surprise Courtesy Of Singapore Citizens


Reported By Ben Marquis | June 11, 2018 at 1:43pm

URL of the original posting site: https://www.westernjournal.com/ct/establishment-media-silent-trump-gets-unexpected-surprise-courtesy-of-singapore-citizens/

Since President Donald Trump’s first day in office, the liberally biased mainstream media has perpetuated the narrative that Trump is largely despised both at home and abroad, and that in other nations he is almost universally viewed as an embarrassment to the American people.

Thus, it came as no surprise whatsoever when the U.S. media essentially ignored the reception Trump received from cheering supporters upon his arrival Sunday in Singapore ahead of a high-stakes summit with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un. Coverage of the cheering crowds greeting Trump would directly contradict the “Trump is hated” narrative the mainstream media outlets push every day, so they simply ignore it and choose not to cover it.

According to a series of photos published by The Daily Caller, the president received a boisterous welcome from not just U.S. citizens who live in Singapore, but also from Singaporean citizens as well.

A couple photos show a pair of young American women wearing red MAGA hats and waving American flags, with one of the girls even wearing a pair of patriotic socks emblazoned with Trump’s name.

Other photos show citizens of Singapore, young and old alike, waving U.S. flags and holding signs expressing support for Trump and appreciation for his efforts at securing peace for the Korean Peninsula and broader Asian region.

Fans of the president had gathered at the airport to greet his arrival, and lined the streets of the route used to transport him via presidential motorcade to the Shangri-La Hotel, as well as the Singaporean prime minister’s residence, the Istana Palace.

According to The U.K. Independent, Trump landed in Singapore at about 8:20 p.m. local time, and proceeded directly to the hotel.

“It’s exciting, but I am also anxious,” a Trump-supporting woman, identified only by her first name as Kim, told the Independent. “Kim (Jong Un) can change his mind at any time. Mr. Trump also likes to get his own way.

“But if it works, it’s for the good of the whole world. It will make history,” she added.

That view was echoed by a 16-year-old U.S. citizen student named Christine McDougal, who lives in Singapore and cheered the president’s arrival with a friend.

“This is a such an important moment,” McDougal told the Independent, in what can only be described as an understatement.

Meanwhile, apart from the cheering crowds and pomp and circumstance of a major geopolitical summit, Christian leaders across Singapore were urging their church members and attendees to pray for God’s will to be reflected upon the high-stakes meeting, according to the Washington Examiner.

Anglican and Catholic church leaders alike asked that God provide wisdom and guidance to both Trump and Kim and prayed that they would find success as they sought to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula and bring closure to a state of war that has been technically in effect since the 1950s.

Whether you fall into the category of those wildly cheering for Trump to emerge victorious from the meeting with a fierce communist rival or are praying that God’s hand will touch both leaders and guide them during the meeting — or both — there is no doubt that all eyes are on Singapore right now.

It would be nice if the U.S. media would cover all aspects of the summit — including the warm reception given to Trump — instead of not so subtly hoping for his failure, if only to rob the president they despise of yet another “win” he can tout with voters ahead of the 2020 election.

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Hostile Media Desperate to Derail Trump’s Foreign Trip. Press scanning tweets, dredging anonymous sources to disrupt focus on overseas tour


disclaimerReported by Eddie Zipperer | Updated 22 May 2017 at 6:31 AM

URL of the original posting site: http://www.lifezette.com/polizette/hostile-media-desperate-to-derail-trumps-foreign-trip/

Rest in peace, lead-from-behindism! The new American president doesn’t bow to anyone, he doesn’t apologize for America, and — as it turns out — he doesn’t get deserted at the airport. So long, and good riddance to the Obama administration’s disastrous foreign policy, which eroded the world’s respect for America. That’s the consequence of projecting weakness on the world stage. That’s the consequence of a fearful, feckless foreign policy built on the sinkhole foundation of peace through weakness.

The logic of the previous administration went something like this: If America willfully weakened itself, the rest of the world would love us. For eight years we endured a strategy of scaling down the U.S. military, infecting it with politically correct nonsense, apologizing for America’s past, denying that America is exceptional, waffling on red lines, enabling the birth and proliferation of ISIS, and allowing rogue regimes such as Iran and North Korea to run amok.

As each “controversy” surfaces for its moment in the sun, bear in mind, these are the same outlets who thought reckless, feckless Obama could do no wrong.
Unfortunately, love — even if it were attainable — is of no geopolitical value. Only respect has value. Peace through strength is back, thanks to President Trump.

And respect was on display when King Salman of Saudi Arabia greeted President Trump at the airport in Riyadh, and he received red carpet treatment. It was a far cry from President Obama’s last visit where King Salman sent his distant nephew to pick up Obama at the airport. That disrespect was a result of President Obama’s willingness to trash our relationship with the Gulf State “sheikists” in order to make a ridiculous deal with the Shiite, death-to-America regime in Iran.

Now, President Trump is using his ambitious foreign trip — where he’ll visit the holy lands of three major world religions — to send the message that America is back and stands by its traditional allies.

But the mainstream media — the same that spent eight years enabling Obama’s sharks in the press poolfecklessness — aren’t having any part of the “America’s back” narrative. They’re beside themselves that the news cycle has shifted away from the anonymous source leaks they’ve been cramming down America’s throat and away from their Trump-Russia collusion fury. These are media determined to manufacture a narrative of failure regarding all aspects of Trump’s presidency.

Over the weekend, Byron York at the Washington Examiner reported on a Harvard study that quantified the anti-Trump bias of several mainstream media outlets. Of course, you don’t have to be a lab-coat-wearing, laboratory-dwelling scientist armed with an electron microscope and a mountain of grant money to figure that out. Just spend two minutes with any of those outlets, and you’ll be swimming in bias. When a supposedly objective news anchor such as CNN’s Anderson Cooper responds to contributor Jeffrey Lord by saying that if Trump “took a dump on his desk,” Lord would defend it, it’s safe to assume there’s bias at work.enemedia

Now, after all the work they’ve done for the past few days digging up anti-Trump gossip from anonymous sources, they have to switch gears and talk about a scandal-free foreign trip.

They’re framing it like it’s just halftime — an opportunity for the resistance to get up and use the bathroom while the marching band takes the field.

All they can do is lie in wait, ready to pounce on any perceived faux pas that Mr. Trump may commit. They almost certainly have an eye on Twitter awaiting any leftwing faux outrage that may surface so they can proliferate it. Already, there have been several stories about the fact that Melanina and Ivanka Trump didn’t wear headscarves. What’s the big deal about that? Well, President Trump tweeted two and a half years ago that “Mrs. Obama refused to wear a scarf” in Saudi Arabia, and the Saudis were “insulted.”

Crisis. Catastrophe. Hysteria. You’d think each individual Trump tweet is one of the nation’s founding documents and that the president himself had taken an oath to preserve, protect and defend all 35,000 of them.

Trump has tweeted 35,000 times. Anyone demanding that his presidency and the policies of his administration be consistent with all 35,000 tweets will probably be disappointed often. But that’s not what this story is about. This story is about trying to thwart the success of the American president on an overseas trip. It’s just part of a pathetic attempt to find a negative angle on everything. CNN and NBC, which — according to Harvard — spend 93 percent of their time trashing the president, both had this story featured prominently on their websites.trump derangement syndrom vacine

These news outlets go Three Mile Island every time Mr. Trump utters the words fake news, but consider the asinine assumptions a story like this rests on:

1.) The assumption that Trump’s 35,000 tweets should be binding on his actions as president.
2.) The assumption that Melania and Ivanka’s choice of clothing belongs to President Trump and not to them.
3.) The assumption that this story is actually newsworthy.

But it’s not about newsworthiness — it’s about unearthing a negative weapon to hurl at the president’s trip. After all, when Trump fired Comey, and the Left had their weekly meltdown, the MSM wasn’t at all interested in trolling through all those #FireComey tweets floating around the Twittersphere to expose Democrat hypocrisy.

So in the coming days, as the president goes about the important business of fixing all the damage President Obama did, watch for the MSM to attempt to undermine him with ridiculous controversies that are hatched from Twitter eggs or divulged by anonymous sources who probably sleep in oversized #ImWithHer t-shirts. But as each “controversy” surfaces for its moment in the sun, bear in mind, these are the same outlets who thought reckless, feckless Obama could do no wrong.

Eddie Zipperer is an assistant professor of political science at Georgia Military College and a regular LifeZette contributor.

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Levin: This BOMBSHELL report on the Iran deal is infuriating


Posted April 24, 2017 07:23 PM by Chris Pandolfo

 

URL of the original posting site: https://www.conservativereview.com/articles/levin-this-bombshell-report-on-the-iran-deal-is-infuriating

Anton Watman | Shutterstock

Anton Watman | Shutterstock

There was a “blockbuster” story in Politico Monday that Conservative Review Editor-in-Chief Mark Levin wants you to know about.

In “Obama’s hidden Iran deal giveaway,” Josh Meyer reports that when President Obama released Iranian-born prisoners to secure Iranian support for his administration’s infamous nuclear deal, he portrayed the released prisoners as simple “civilians.” “In reality,” Meyer writes, “some of them were accused by Obama’s own Justice Department of posing threats to national security.”

Listen:

The bottom line is that President Obama lied to get support for the Iran Nuclear deal. “And his surrogates lied, and therefore the media lied,” Levin said. “And [Obama] surrendered America’s national security to do it!”

There is Democrat and mainstream media hysteria over possible, unproven, connections between President Trump and Russia, and meanwhile, President Obama released dangerous Iranian fugitives to pass a deal that enabled the nuclear proliferation of the world’s number one state sponsor of terrorism. 

And President Trump is somehow undermining American national security? Levin set the record straight:

“Barrack Obama did more damage to our national security, to the United States military, to our border security, to our internal security with our police, than any foreign enemy or opponent could possibly achieve!”

“This is a stunning story! And it gags me to say to Politico, I tip my hat. For once.”

Don’t miss an episode of LevinTV. Sign up now!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Chris Pandolfo is a staff writer and type-shouter for Conservative Review. He holds a B.A. in Politics and Economics from Hillsdale College. His interests are Conservative Political Philosophy, the American Founding, and Progressive Rock. Follow him on Twitter for doom-saying and great album recommendations @ChrisCPandolfo.

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Setting their veils ablaze, Syrian women celebrate their freedom from ISIS [VIDEO]


waving flag disclaimerAuthored By: Jordan Schachtel | February 22, 2017

URL of the original posting site: https://www.conservativereview.com/commentary/2017/02/setting-their-veils-ablaze-syrian-women-celebrate-their-freedom-from-isis-video

Syrian Democratic Forces

Syrian Democratic Forces

Overwhelmed with joy after being freed from the grip of the Islamic State, some Syrian women have taken to burning the veils that they were forced to wear while living under the control of the terror group.

Video of the celebrations emerged Wednesday on a YouTube channel affiliated with the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a Syrian rebel group made up mostly of Kurdish fighters. The video shows men, women, and children all singing and dancing to celebrate their liberation from the Islamic State. Two of the women in the video take off their veil and proceed to light it ablaze in celebration. Two other women celebrate their freedom by lighting up a cigarette, while children are seen dancing in the streets.

Syrian women deciding to torch their burqas and veils has become a common occurrence upon being freed from ISIS rule. To many, it is a symbol of oppression.

“Damn this stupid invention that they made us wear,” a Syrian woman said in August after she was liberated by the SDF. “We’re humans, we have our freedom.”

The Islamic State has ordered women in Iraq and Syria to wear full veils or be subject to “serious punishment.”

The SDF is a critical component of the U.S.-backed coalition battling the Islamic State, as Kurdish forces are engaged in a campaign to cut off ISIS supply lines throughout the country. In recent days, they have continued to push further into ISIS-held territory, liberating many towns and villages along the way. According to Kurdish news outlet Rudaw, the SDF “crossed into Deir ez-Zur province [in Syria] for the first time Tuesday.”

SDF troops plan on continuing their push forward until they reach Raqqa, which is known as the Syrian headquarters of the Islamic State.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Jordan Schachtel is the nationals security correspondent for Conservative Review. Follow him on Twitter @JordanSchachtel

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Levin: ‘For once in their pathetic lives’ will liberals condemn Obama after he let traitor Manning off?


waving flagAuthored By: Chris Pandolfo | January 17, 2017

URL of the original posting site: https://www.conservativereview.com/commentary/2017/01/levin-for-once-in-their-pathetic-lives-will-liberals-condemn-obama-after-he-let-traitor-manning-off?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=011817crcontentemail&utm_campaign=newslettertraffic

Chelsea Manning poster / Timothy Krause | Flickr

Manning is a former American intelligence analyst who received a 35-year sentence for acts of treason against the United States. He leaked classified documents detailing American military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan – among other sensitive information – that put American lives in danger, betraying his fellow soldiers and his country.

He is a traitor. And President Obama commuted his sentence today.

Listen:

Your tax dollars are going to fund this Army prisoner’s sex reassignment surgery

“Manning is a traitor who pled guilty to a lesser offense to avoid the full penalty for his crimes,” Levin read from French’s piece. “He has received too much mercy already. President Obama’s commutation of his sentence is a disgrace.”

Levin invited liberals to call his program and attempt to defend what Obama did today.

“I want some damn liberal to step up to the plate and either defend what Obama did or for once in their pathetic lives to condemn him!” Levin exclaimed.

Meanwhile, over 50 Democratic politicians are going to skip President-elect Trump’s inauguration, Levin noted, and not a one of them have spoken up about this. President Obama committed an “affirmative act of betrayal by commuting the sentence of a treasonous little son-of-a-gun,” Levin said.

Why won’t any Leftists call him out on it?

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Iran Wants More Pallets of Cash


waving flagAugust 9, 2016By

URL of the original posting site: http://commonconstitutionalist.com/current-events/iran-wants-more-pallets-of-cash/
Iran-Cash-600-CI

I wonder if now that the Obama administration has paid the ransom “we owed” the Iranian regime, whether it will set a precedent for others to put their hands out and demand, or at least request funds from the U.S. treasury?

Heck, even before the precedent, the Israeli government asked the U.S. to bump up its annual military stipend from $3 billion to $5 billion. Those dirty, money-grubbing Jews – asking for an additional $2 billion. You might think that, but they are blaming the Obama administration for the fact that they must request it in the first place.

It seems the Middle East is poised to get a lot more dangerous thanks to the huge infusion of cash which was part of the US-Iran nuclear agreement. So thanks to Obama, Israel expects to have to spend a lot more on defense. They do have a point.

Now in, we’ll call the post-ransom period, another has come forward asking for cash. Our old buddy, “former Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is asking President Obama to release nearly $2 billion in Iranian assets frozen in a New York bank account.”

The Hill reports that Mahmoud is back and may be considering dealanother run for president next year.

I guess he plans to return to the election circuit as the conquering hero, with $1.75 billion in tow.

However, as you may recall – this is the same $1.75 billion that the supreme Court voted 6-2 to disperse over 1,000 victims of various terrorist atrocities perpetrated on Americans over the years, “including the 1983 bombing of a Marine barracks in Beirut and the 1996 attacks on Saudi Arabia’s Khobar towers…”

“Iran is appealing the case at the international Court of Justice.” Court of Justice. Sounds like a place where superheroes gather. Not quite – more like super-leftists.

pallets-of-cash-to-iranBut Mahmoud isn’t content to leave it in the hands of the courts. He instead has penned an open letter to Obama.

After a full paragraph of praising Allah and Mohammed, he gets down to it, spending the next couple paragraphs buttering up Obama – telling him that basically nothing is his fault. Birds of a feather, I suppose, as Obama has said the same for years.

However, Mahmoud doesn’t mention Bush specifically as does Obama – just past administrations that have been responsible for “about 60 years of oppression and cruelty by different American governments against the Iranian nation…”extra bowl of stupid

He then cites the supreme Court case which he claims illegally seized Iranian assets. He asks for “his Excellency,” Obama to “quickly fix” the problem and “that not only the Iranian nations must be restored, and the seized property released and returned, but also the damages caused be fully compensated for.”

Iran-ATM-600-LIWow – he sure knows the American legal system. If he loses his bid for the presidency, Mahmoud could no doubt become a slip and fall lawyer. And he also knows Obama, the leftist, as he plays to Obama’s legacy. “I passionately advise you not to let the historical affirmation and bitter incident be recorded under your name,” writes Mahmoud.

I don’t know whether Obama has the authority to release the funds the court has already allocated. Of course I also don’t think the court should have the authority, regardless of the good cause.

In my opinion, if Obama does “find” the authority, he would certainly get out the forklift again and load up the unmarked jet with more pallets of Euros. Anything for his pals in Iran.

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World War III Anyone?


waving flagJuly 25, 2016 By

URL of the original posting site: http://commonconstitutionalist.com/political-stuff/world-war-iii-anyone/#more-31855
putin_cartoon1002

That's Nothing Watch ThisA 25 page document recently released by the Atlantic Council (AC), based in the U.S., states that Russia could “attack Poland overnight.” The report claims that Russia could take advantage of NATO “being distracted by another crisis” or by misinterpreting activities NATO is involved in. After the annex of Crimea in 2014, the Baltic States have become legitimately nervous, wondering who Ruusia’s next target may be.

Many of these think tanks are employed from time to time to hash out war-game scenarios, as it were. But this is noStand-Off-590-LA game. The Atlantic Council is deadly serious, even going so far as to suggest possible counterattack targets should Russia decide to move on Poland – targets including the Kaliningrad and Metro Moscow.

They warned that “Even if Moscow currently has no immediate intent to challenge NATO directly, this may unexpectedly change overnight.” The Council also recommends that the Obama administration authorize more shipments of missiles to the Baltic region.

In recent years Poland has had a tough time holding onto its citizens. Young men of fighting age have been pulling up stakes and leaving to find work elsewhere. The report recognizes this to be a potential problem and urges Poland to find a way to halt the exodus. They give no suggestion of how this should be accomplished – only that it needs to be a priority.

Sanctions-Bear-LittleVladimir Putin seems to think the escalation between Russia and the West was and is inevitable and claimed in a speech from earlier this year that, “Russia does not wish for the chaos to spread, does not want war, and has no intention of starting one.putin However, today Russia sees the outbreak of global war is almost inevitable, is prepared for, and is continuing to prepare for it.”

Do you believe him? Neither do I. I’m not sure he wants to start World War III and I don’t think he thinks war is inevitable. Escalation of tensions yes – war – I’m not so sure.  I do however believe that Putin thinks the West is weak and has grown cowardly.

But I also believe he has a bit of a hotheaded streak and could be prone to overreaction. He is also, for good or bad (mostly bad), bold and does not go in for the covert.

The report states that, “Russia rarely disguises its true intentions. On the contrary, it has proclaimed to them very publicly on various occasions, but, in general, the West is chosen not to believe Russia’s declarations and disregards its willingness to carry them out.”

Needless to say Poland is not thrilled by the report. Not that they don’t believe it, but they are tired of the whole thing – after centuries of being ruled by others. First by the Russian Empire – then Germany and the Soviet Union in 1939. After World War II, it was back under the Soviet boot until 1989 and now this again.

Putin over ObamaWhether it’s a coincidence or due in part to the AC report, four NATO countries, the United States, Canada, Germany and Britain will send 1000 troops each to the region. Naturally Russia took this as a provocation and warned if NATO dispatched the 4000 troops, “Moscow would respond by posting three new divisions of its own close to the frontier.”

Although many still believe Putin is bluffing about his intentions, the defense minister of Lithuania is certainly not. When questioned on the feasibility of a Russian attack he said: “We cannot exclude it. They might exercise on the borders and then switch to invasion in hours.”

This situation is as serious as it gets. Much more so than ISIS or other terrorist networks. And who do we have as commander-in-chief? The feckless Obama. As long as he remains at the helm, Putin believes he can act without regard. And Putin is not prone to bluffing. He may take a while to set up his chess pieces, but don’t be surprised if you wake up one morning and find he’s made his first move (or second if you count Crimea).

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Hezbollah Says It Gets All Its Money From Iran (Thank You Obama, Clinton, And Kerry)


waving flagby | Jun 26, 2016

URL of the original posting site: http://lidblog.com/hezbollah-says-it-gets-all-its-money-from-iran-thank-you-obama/#

Hezbollah Says It Gets All Its Money From Iran (Thank You Obama, Clinton, And Kerry)

In a speech broadcast by the Shiite party’s Al-Manar station, Nasrallah brushed off assertions that Hezbollah would be hurt by US sanctions on Lebanese financial institutions that work with the group.

“We do not have any business projects or investments via banks,” Nasrallah said, insisting the group “will not be affected.”

“We are open about the fact that Hezbollah’s budget, its income, its expenses, everything it eats and drinks, its weapons and rockets, are from the Islamic Republic of Iran,” he added.

In December, the US Congress voted to impose sanctions on banks that deal with Hezbollah, considered a “terrorist group” by the US. And last month, Lebanon’s central bank instructed the country’s banks and financial institutions to comply with the new measure against the Lebanese Shiite group. 

But none of that really matters:

“We totally reject this [U.S.] law until the Day of Judgment. … Even if the law is applied, we as a party and an organizational and jihadi movement, will not be hurt or affected,”

Nasrallah said: “As long as Iran has money, we have money… Just as we receive the rockets that we use to threaten Israel, we are receiving our money. No law will prevent us from receiving it…” 

As Al Arabia pointed out, the Nasrallah speech is a major embarrassment to the Obama muslim-obamaAdministration, since it appears that by approving the thawing of Iranian funds in return for a dubious nuclear agreement the US is now “playing a critical role in assisting and facilitating the ways through which Hezbollah receives this significant aid from the Iranian government.”

Two of the major beneficiaries of the [Iranian] sanctions relief have been Hezbollah and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Iran has also been able to increase its military budget by $1.5 billion from $15.6 billion to $17.1 billion.

Although it’s something most observers already knew, this is the first time ever that Nasrallah publicly confirmed his group is receiving full monetary and arms support from the Iranian government.  And thanks to the negotiating weakness of the Obama/Clinton administration, Iran has much more money to turn into terrorist attacks throughout the world, but especially Israel. But then again Jewish lives are never a concern of the Democratic Party and Barack Obama.

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ANOTHER Politically INCORRECT Cartoon for Today


waving flagMichael Ramirez – Friday, May 13, 2016

URL of the original posting site: http://townhall.com/political-cartoons/michaelramirez

Political Cartoons by Michael Ramirez

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Former Intelligence Chairman Warns ‘Stealth Jihad’ Is Moving Through The West


waving flagReported by Ginni Thomas, Contributor 01/17/2016

URL of the original posting site: http://dailycaller.com/2016/01/17/former-intelligence-chairman-warns-stealth-jihad-is-moving-through-the-west

Iranians burn US flags outside the former US embassy in Tehran on November 4, 2013, during a demonstration to mark the 34th anniversary of the 1979 US embassy takeover. Thousands of Iranians shouted "Death to America" as they demonstrated 34 years after Islamist students stormed the embassy compound in Tehran, holding 52 American diplomats hostage for 444 days. AFP/Getty Images

Iranians burn US flags outside the former US embassy in Tehran on November 4, 2013, during a demonstration to mark the 34th anniversary of the 1979 US embassy takeover. Thousands of Iranians shouted “Death to America” as they demonstrated 34 years after Islamist students stormed the embassy compound in Tehran, holding 52 American diplomats hostage for 444 days. AFP/Getty Images ∧

Former House Intelligence Chairman Pete Hoekstra is genuinely worried about the fundamental changes President Barack Obama has made to American foreign policy, according to this 28-minute exclusive video interview for The Daily Caller News Foundation.

A Michigan congressman for 18 years, the native-born Dutchman is a man of integrity and candor who has seen American statecraft up close. His years in politics gives Hoekstra the perspective that “the ruling elite in Washington is becoming disconnected from citizens.”

Hoekstra said when former President George W. Bush and Obama claim “Islam is a religion of peace,” many citizens are taken aback. Americans think, “’Whoa. They’re beheading Christians. They’re suicide bombers. They’re taking gays and lesbians and throwing them off the tops of buildings and they’re selling women into sex slavery. That doesn’t kind of look like a religion of peace to me,’” Hoekstra said in the interview.

Tying this cognitive dissonance to the rise of presidential candidate Donald Trump who sounds authentic, passionate and patriotic, Hoekstra said, “people are just frustrated and angry and this may be the election where they go out and say, I want something totally different.”American women respond

The former congressman watches the bellwether of embedded Islamafication in Europe and is worried what this could mean for safety in America. Hoekstra warned that accusations of Islamophobia are weapons used to intimidate Americans so that we close our eyes and ears to the “stealth jihad” strategy moving through the West. Islamists “use our laws, our customs to change who we are and to change us into something we don’t want to become.”

Hoekstra confirmed political correctness, such as that exposed by Department of Homeland Security whistleblower Phil Haney in a December video interview, is endangering Americans. All federal agencies, and now even the New York Police Department, are fundamentally shifting their policies with dangerous consequences, he said.cause of death

He discussed the refugees who attacked German women on New Year’s Eve in Cologne and elsewhere, and said America can’t vet any refugee or asylee from failed states. America especially can’t vet asylum seekers since the Islamic State is seeding the refugees with Islamic jihadists.

Hoekstra gives a C grade to Republican oversight in Congress, knowing from experience what successful oversight can accomplish. 

The new movie “Thirteen Hours: the Secret Soldiers of Benghazi” is reigniting conversations about the mishandled 2012 Benghazi attack that killed four Americans, including an ambassador.Benghazi Remebrence

Further from the truthHoekstra said, “Libya is a huge disaster.” He added it was a planned strategy by the Obama administration to work with the Muslim Brotherhood, rather than former Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi — who maintained stability in northern Africa and who helped control radical jihadists. After Obama and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton insisted in taking out Gadhafi, Hoekstra said Libya became a failed state. It exports ideology, fighters, and weapons. He continued that it spawned what became ISIS, and serves now to help frame up attacks on Europe.

Adding insult to injury, our attackers in Benghazi in 2012, he said, were most likely those who were “trained and equipped by NATO.”

As to why Obama and Clinton did not send help to those under attack on the anniversary of 9/11, Hoekstra said the administration appears to have made a tragic judgment call in that “sending help was going to be more risky than allowing those people to survive on their own.”

“Almost everyone of this administration’s readjustments in foreign policy, whether it’s North Korea, Iran or engaging with radical jihadists like the Muslim Brotherhood, has been a total and utter failure. They’ve seen it as weakness; they’ve used it to leverage and move their programs forward,” he said.

Fired from a  Washington, D.C. law firm last year for writing and speaking publicly of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in a way that displeased some of the partisan lawyers, Hoekstra is determined to pursue litigation in defense of his right to freedom of speech in the District of Columbia.

Today, Pete Hoekstra is a fellow with the Investigative Project on Terrorism and author of a book on Libya titled “Architects of Disaster.”  Follow him on Twitter @petehoekstra. Follow the Investigative Project on Terrorism on Facebook.

Watch the interview for much more.

daily

Mrs. Thomas does not necessarily support or endorse the products, services or positions promoted in any advertisement contained herein, and does not have control over or receive compensation from any advertiser.

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Something Fishy About Iran’s Catch and Release of Navy Boats


waving flagPosted 9 hours ago by

URL of the original posting site: http://godfatherpolitics.com/27899/something-fishy-about-irans-catch-and-release-of-navy-boats

muslim-obamaTalk about a snow job. Even for the Obama Administration, thanking the Iranian government for capturing two Navy boats and 10 sailors is low.

The whole incident, in which the Iranian government publicly castrated President Obama hours before his self-aggrandizing State of the Union speech, is now being spun by the White House as some sort of positive for U.S.-Iranian relations.

Secretary of State and all-around tough guy John “I Fought in Vietnam” Kerry called the matter a “testament to the critical role diplomacy plays in keeping our country safe.”Partyof Deceit Spin and Lies

Baloney.

If anything, it was the promise of billions of dollars from the impending lifting of international sanctions against Iran that got those sailors released, not anything John Kerry did. Even the obtuse leaders of Iran weren’t going to jeopardize that payday.

The funniest lie of all, though, came from Vice President Joe Biden, who responded to Iranian officials’ statement that the sailors were released after apologizing by saying, “There was no looking for any apology.” Then what pops up? A video of the senior Naval officer apologizing to the Iranians at their request. Biden even went so far as to claim the entire embarrassing incident was “standard nautical practice,” that Iran was rescuing two boats in distress and acted as “ordinary nations would do.”Lies Lies and More Lies

Sure, releasing photos of rescued foreign sailors with their hands behind their heads, forcing the lone female to wear a hijab, then detaining the crews overnight — all standard. 

White House spokes-monkey Josh Earnest insisted that the sailors were “afforded the proper courtesy that you would expect.” Especially the part where they dressed up our female sailor like a Burka Barbie.

The coup de grace, however, was Kerry actually thanking the Iranians for their “cooperation.”

Thanks for the swirly, guys. Maybe next time you could give our country a wedgie, too.

The whole incident smells rotten and seems to defy the U.S. Armed Forces Code of Conduct, particularly the part about never surrendering of your own free will.

I’m no expert on military procedure, but from what I’ve been given to understand, if those boats truly broke down in enemy waters, those crews should have immediately issued a distress call to any nearby Navy vessel, then manned the guns on their boats in a defensive posture until rescued or until they could get under weigh again.

The government of Iran is an enemy power. So why would a Navy crew surrender unless there was an order from higher up to do so? There’s also the matter of the video apology by the Navy officer, which I’m told is also prohibited under the Code of Conduct. Again, why did this happen?

Then there’s the whole question of what those boats were doing there and why they both “broke down.”**

No, there are a lot of questions that need to be answered, and the Obama Administration, as it has done so often in the past, has gone into coverup mode.

My two centsSince this happened, I was immediately reminded of the following information. There is NOTHING coincidental about this incident. Please read and consider the following and then ask yourself, “Does Iran, or their Russian partner, possess this technology?

Electromagnetic pulse

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electromagnetic_pulse
This article is about the phenomenon in general. For nuclear EMP weapons, see Nuclear electromagnetic pulse.

An electromagnetic pulse (EMP), also sometimes called a transient electromagnetic disturbance, is a short burst of electromagnetic energy. Such a pulse’s origination may be a natural occurrence or man-made and can occur as a radiated, electric or magnetic field or a conducted electric current, depending on the source. The term “electromagnetic pulse” is commonly abbreviated EMP (which is pronounced by saying the letters separately, “E-M-P”).

EMP interference is generally disruptive or damaging to electronic equipment, and at higher energy levels a powerful EMP event such as a lightning strike can damage physical objects such as buildings and aircraft structures. The management of EMP effects is an important branch of electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) engineering.

The damaging effects of high-energy EMP have been used to create EMP weapons. These are typically divided into nuclear and non-nuclear devices. Such weapons, both real and fictional, have become known to the public by means of popular culture.

General characteristics[edit]

An electromagnetic pulse is a short burst of electromagnetic energy. Its short duration means that it will be spread over a range of frequencies. Pulses are typically characterised by:

  • The type of energy (radiated, electric, magnetic or conducted).
  • The range or spectrum of frequencies present.
  • Pulse waveform: shape, duration and amplitude.

The last two of these, the frequency spectrum and the pulse waveform, are interrelated via the Fourier transform and may be seen as two different ways of describing the same pulse.

Types of energy[edit]

Main article: Electromagnetism

As with any electromagnetic signal, EMP energy may be transferred in any of four forms:

In general, only radiation acts over long distances, with the others acting only over short distances. There are a few exceptions, such as a solar magnetic flare.

Frequency ranges[edit]

A pulse of electromagnetic energy typically comprises many frequencies from DC (zero Hz) to some upper limit depending on the source. The range defined as EMP, sometimes referred to as “DC to daylight”, excludes the highest frequencies comprising the optical (infrared, visible, ultraviolet) and ionizing (X and gamma rays) ranges.

Some types of EMP events can leave an optical trail, such as lightning and sparks, but these are side effects of the current flow through the air and are not part of the EMP itself.

Pulse waveforms[edit]

The waveform of a pulse describes how its instantaneous amplitude (field strength or current) changes over time. Real pulses tend to be quite complicated, so simplified models are often used. Such a model is typically shown either as a diagram or as a mathematical equation.

" "
Rectangular pulse		 " "
Double exponential pulse		 " "
Damped sinewave pulse

Most pulses have a very sharp leading edge, building up quickly to their maximum level. The classic model is a double-exponential curve which climbs steeply, quickly reaches a peak and then decays more slowly. However, pulses from a controlled switching circuit often take the form of a rectangular or “square” pulse.

In a pulse train, such as from a digital clock circuit, the waveform is repeated at regular intervals.

EMP events usually induce a corresponding signal in the victim equipment, due to coupling between the source and victim. Coupling usually occurs most strongly over a relatively narrow frequency band, leading to a characteristic damped sine wave signal in the victim. Visually it is shown as a high frequency sine wave growing and decaying within the longer-lived envelope of the double-exponential curve. A damped sinewave typically has much lower energy and a narrower frequency spread than the original pulse, due to the transfer characteristic of the coupling mode. In practice, EMP test equipment often injects these damped sinewaves directly rather than attempting to recreate the high-energy threat pulses.

Effects[edit]

Minor EMP events, and especially pulse trains, cause low levels of electrical noise or interference which can affect the operation of susceptible devices. For example, a common problem in the mid-twentieth century was interference emitted by the ignition systems of gasoline engines, which caused radio sets to crackle and TV sets to show stripes on the screen. Laws had to be introduced to make vehicle manufacturers fit interference suppressors.

At a high voltage level an EMP can induce a spark, for example from an electrostatic discharge when fuelling a gasoline-engined vehicle. Such sparks have been known to cause fuel-air explosions and precautions must be taken to prevent them.[1]

A large and energetic EMP can induce high currents and voltages in the victim, damaging electrical equipment or disrupting its function.

A very large EMP event such as a lightning strike is also capable of damaging objects such as trees, buildings and aircraft directly, either through heating effects or the disruptive effects of the very large magnetic field generated by the current. An indirect effect can be electrical fires caused by heating. Most engineered structures and systems require some form of protection against lightning to be designed in.

The damaging effects of EMP have led to the introduction of EMP weapons, from tactical missiles with a small radius of effect to nuclear bombs tailored for maximum EMP effect over a wide area.

Types of EMP[edit]

An EMP arises where the source emits a short-duration pulse of energy. The energy is usually broadband by nature, although it often excites a relatively narrow-band damped sine wave response in the victim. Some types are generated as repetitive and regular pulse trains.

Different types of EMP arise from natural, man-made and weapons effects.

Types of natural EMP event include:

  • Lightning electromagnetic pulse (LEMP). The discharge is typically an initial huge current flow, at least mega-amps, followed by a train of pulses of decreasing energy.
  • Electrostatic discharge (ESD), as a result of two charged objects coming into close proximity or even contact.
  • Meteoric EMP. The discharge of electromagnetic energy resulting from either the impact of a meteoroid with a spacecraft or the explosive breakup of a meteoroid passing through the Earth’s atmosphere.[2][3]
  • Coronal Mass Ejection (CME). A massive burst of gas and magnetic field arising from the solar corona and being released into the solar wind sometimes referred to as a Solar EMP.[4]

Types of (civil) man-made EMP event include:

  • Switching action of electrical circuitry, whether isolated or repetitive (as a pulse train).
  • Electric motors can create a train of pulses as the internal electrical contacts make and break connections as the armature rotates.
  • Gasoline engine ignition systems can create a train of pulses as the spark plugs are energized or fired.
  • Continual switching actions of digital electronic circuitry.
  • Power line surges. These can be up to several kilovolts, enough to damage electronic equipment that is insufficiently protected.

Types of military EMP include:

  • Nuclear electromagnetic pulse (NEMP), as a result of a nuclear explosion. A variant of this is the high altitude nuclear EMP (HEMP), which produces a pulse of a much larger amplitude and different characteristics due to particle interactions with the Earth’s atmosphere and subsequently the Earth’s magnetic fields driving an oscillation in electric current after the original pulse from the particle and ray interactions on the atmosphere.
  • Non-nuclear electromagnetic pulse (NNEMP) weapons.

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You Say Islamist – I Say Wahhabist


waving flagJanuary 5, 2016 By

URL of the original posting site: http://commonconstitutionalist.com/current-events/you-say-islamist-i-say-wahhabistAmerica are you really paying attention

According to Saudi’s Arabia’s Grand Mufti, Sheikh Abdul Aziz al-Asheikh, both ISIS and al-Qaeda are enemy number one. I guess he couldn’t choose just one. Maybe it’s one of those 1 and 1A kinds of things.

Off topic as it is – who chooses the names for these characters anyway? Do they get to choose? If so, why must they always be so long? Could you imagine having to endorse a check or sign one of the tiny electronic keypads at the grocery store – or signing autographs for the Grand Mufti groupies? Sheesh!

Anyway, the Mufti – oh excuse me – the Grand Mufti stated emphatically that, “The ideas of extremism, radicalism and terrorism … have nothing to do with Islam and (their proponents) are the enemy number one of Islam.”

Yet about the time he was condemning the two terror groups for their barbarism, he was signing off on one of the largest mass executions in the country’s history. They executed 47 “criminals.” Among these criminals was a Shiite cleric, Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr (again with the names). This did not please Shiite Iran, as response to the executions, they attacked and burned the Saudi embassy in Tehran.

No one knows exactly what  their “crimes” were – only that the verdict against the “47 criminals was based on Allah’s Book and the Prophet’s Sunnah.”

The Grand Mufti, or G-Muf to his homies, claims they were tried properly according to Shariah law and found guilty of killing and making explosives. Well, that’s good enough for me, cause we can’t have anyone killing or making explosives. And I’m sure the cleric Nimrod al-Nimrod, being Shiite, where as the Saudi’s are Sunni, was just a happy coincidence.

Grand Mufti

G-Muf

But the 72 old Grand Mufti, complete with gray beard and gnarled eye, is evidently not without a sense of humor as he stated that not only is ISIS enemy numero uno, but that they “are in actuality Israeli soldiers.” Huh – who knew.

“This threat against Israel is simply a lie. Actually, Daesh (ISIS) is part of the Israeli soldiers,” said G-Muf. “The mufti also dismissed the seriousness of the threat declared by self-proclaimed Islamic State caliph Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. If the Islamic State was serious, al-Asheikh said, they would be ‘killing Jews and liberating Palestine.’” He labeled the Islamic State heretics and they were doing damage to Islam and Muslims.

Well G-Muf –ain’t that the pot calling the kettle black. Sure the Saudi royal family and their holy men, like G-Muf, all publically proclaim their disgust of Islamist terror, but there’s a little thing called Wahhabism, the radical Islamic ideology that dates back a lot further than that of the Islamic State. So it’s time for another history lesson that I’ll guarantee the Grand Mufti knows all about and I also bet he’s a big booster.

The radical Wahhabi movement was founded by – here we go again – Muhammad ibn Abd al Wahhab in the 1700’s. Now, we’ve heard that terrorists like ISIS wish to return to the time of the earliest Muslims in the 7th century. Well, that’s exactly what al-Wahhab wished to do.

Al-Wahhab created the “Kitab al-Tawid” or “Book of God’s Uniqueness,” which became the “guiding text for his followers, who consequently speak of themselves as Muwahhidun (total monotheists) or as Salafis (followers of the ways of the first Muslims).”

After being run out of his home town, al- Wahhab found refuge in the city of Diriyah, north of what is now Riyadh, a city then ruled by Muhammad ibn Saud. The two had a commonality of cause and al-Wahhab agreed to help Saud fight his battles and send messengers of the faith out to spread the word and convert Muslims to Wahhabism. Of course those who refused, just as today, didn’t fare well. The messengers declared that, “King Saud, who was presented as Allah’s chosen monarch to whom all Muslims had to pledge baya, or absolute allegiance, so as not to face annihilation as foes of god.” Sound familiar?

Between 1744 and 1818 Wahhabist preachers, and the troops that backed them up, swept across the region securing the first kingdom of the House of Saud, or Saudi Arabia. The Wahhabist beliefs ran so deep that even the mighty Ottoman empire couldn’t wipe them out completely.

In 1824 the Saudi kingdom reemerged. At the throne was Emirate of Nejd, who ruled the kingdom from it’s new capital, Riyadh, between 1824 and 1891. The third Saudi kingdom started in 1932, who’s ruler, Abdulaziz ibn Saud (’32 – ’53) used Wahhabism to unite the many tribes under the Saudi umbrella.

“King Faisal ibn Abdulaziz al-Saud (ruled 1964–75) decided the propaganda of Wahhabism, which proclaims the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia as the sole rightful defender of Islam, would become the long-term strategy for the monarchy’s survival.”

During the Cold War, Fahd bin Abdulaziz Al Saud (ruled 1982 until his death in 2005) saw the opportunity to spread Wahhabism using weaponized jihad. During Fahd’s reign, “Saudi Arabia spent $4 billion per year on mosques, madrassas, preachers, students, and textbooks to spread the Wahhabi creed over the next decades.” But they weren’t/aren’t educating aspiring holy man. They were/are training terrorists – jihadis using Wahhabist theology and oh by the way, American supplied weapons.

And it’s no different today. The Saudis claim to be our friends and allies against terror, but the House of Saud has been quietly funding Wahhabist terror for many decades. They have created the Muslim Brotherhood, al-Qaeda and ISIS and their influence is global through their funding of thousands of Mosques and Muslim Centers, where radical Wahhabist preachers recruit new jihadists. Most of the more than 1200 Mosques in the U.S. were funded by the Saudis.

The Saudis are bad people and certainly not our friends. Their radical Wahhabist ideology, while kept under wraps, is entirely incompatible with America and a free, secular society.

So when we hear old G-Muf state that extremism and terrorism are not Islam, you know for fact, he is lying his a** off.

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Branco Cartoon – Assume the Position

Posted by    Thursday, October 15, 2015

URL of the original posting site: http://legalinsurrection.com/2015/10/branco-cartoon-assume-the-position/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+LegalInsurrection+%28Le%C2%B7gal+In%C2%B7sur%C2%B7rec%C2%B7tion%29

U.S. Foreign Policy

Indenification of Obama ObamaIranian-Flag-WORD-ART Liberals Hate Merchants The Lower you go Demorates B2A_FvyCMAE14px tyrants muslim-obama cause of death freedom Obama Muslim collection Dupe and Chains In God We Trust freedom combo 2

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Fruit Loop Foreign Policy

Posted on March 17, 2015

URL of the Original Posting Site: http://conservativebyte.com/2015/03/fruit-loop-foreign-policy/

Embarrassed-600

Sorry Yet 02 more evidence Dupe and Chains Picture6

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Obama’s Doctrine of Destruction of America as we know it & the March to a New World Order


http://freedomoutpost.com/2014/06/obamas-doctrine-destruction-america-know-march-new-world-order/#kQsAsbSlcrO1F5hl.99

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Trigger the VoteWe could not have a better person in office than President Obama, if you want someone to do everything

Click on image to see movie trailer and more

Click on image to see movie trailer and more

he can to destroy the country that is. This President has gone out of his way to make sure not only just a few of his Socialist policies ruin us, but that his whole time in office is dedicated to the destruction of the United States as we know it.

From supplying terrorist organizations such as Al Qaeda, the Muslim Brotherhood, and countless other Islamic Jihadists in N. Africa, the Mid-East, Indonesia, and Europe with billions of dollars in weapons, billions in financial aid, and actual military help, to purposely busing and flying in hundreds of thousand illegal aliens per day via Homeland Security.

Cloward Pevin with explanationThis President expects his agenda of anti-Americanism to continue with breaking our economy and with the EPA’s anti CO2 regulations, which are based on guess work from UN climate organizations and not concrete scientific evidence.

We also have the countless scandals which amount to crimes perpetrated by this President. From Benghazi to the IRS situation, where Conservatives are targeted by the IRS for their voices of opposition to the Administration, we now have a Socialist Dictator in office who has declared war on any American who stands with the Constitution as the rule of law.

We now have the dirtiest most corrupt President ever to hold office, making Richard M. Nixon look like the most honest President we ever had, when comparing the two. At least Nixon loved America; Obama hates the very core of American values of which make us great.

A President, who loves his country, would not aid enemies who have only our destruction in mind. Yet, Obama has made his whole foreign policy about helping terrorist organizations gain control of countries.

Last year, in Obama’s quest to aid Al Qaeda and other terrorist factions fighting in Syria by wanting to bomb the Assad regime, we now see these same Islamic factions taking over Iraq via all the aid in arms, money, and military training we did supply them. It stands to reason that Obama does not want to help the Iraq government since his vision was to see Islamists take power across the Mid-East in the first place.

ConfusedObama and John Kerry have done everything possible to damage beyond recognition the friendship the US has had with key allies such as Israel and Russia. Today, we stand in opposition to Israel because of Obama’s agenda to transform the Mid-East into a region completely run by terrorist organizations, labeling Israel as an oppressive state and doing everything possible short of cutting ties with them altogether.

We now live in a Cold War atmosphere with Russia over events in Ukraine, which were stoked by our own CIA in the first place.

The Benghazi cover up is clear to anyone who has been following US foreign policy. This Administration has to keep these events swept under the rug since it was the very terrorist organizations the Obama Administration is supporting who are responsible for killing Americans on that day.

Because of the massive opposition to the Obama Administration’s desire to grant Amnesty to millions of Illegal Aliens, the President has given orders for all Border Patrol agents to stand down and has Homeland Security busing and flying hundreds of thousands of Illegals into the US daily from Central America with the help of the drug cartels.

The recent Federal land grab in New Mexico is also part of the Obama strategy in creating a flood of illegal immigrants.

So, now, instead of having hundreds cross our southern border each day, we now have thousands getting a free ride here daily.

Obama's IRS GestapoAside from all of this, we are supposed to believe the IRS lost some two years of Lois Learner’s E-Mails. In light of the massive domestic spying by the NSA, CIA, and other clandestine organizations on American citizens, we know this isn’t a problem since these organizations do have these E-Mails.

About Tony Elliott

I am an established writer with articles in over 20 publications of differing topics Political Commentary Columnist for the Cimarron News Press in Cimarron, New Mexico from 2001 to 2003 generating the controversy I was hired for. I also was a regular writer for several small coastal newspapers in Southern Oregon during the early 1990’s. BOOKS:
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Al-Qaeda: ‘Spreading Like Wildfire’


http://blog.heritage.org/2014/04/14/al-qaeda/

Reported by

April 14, 2014 at 3:30 pm

A handout picture released by the official Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) on March 17, 2012, shows fire fighters at the scene following a two bomb attacks on security buildings in the heart of the Syrian capital Damascus which killed several people, state television said. AFP PHOTO/HO

Last week, a House Foreign Affairs subcommittee held a hearing provocatively titled “Is Al-Qaeda Winning?” The answers that the Subcommittee on Terrorism, Nonproliferation and Trade received were profoundly unsettling.

Former Senator Joseph Lieberman (I–Conn.) testified that Syria had become a key focal point of al-Qaeda’s efforts. He noted that there are more foreign militants fighting in Syria today than in Iraq and Afghanistan combined over the past 10 years:  “Put very bluntly, Syria has become the most dangerous terrorist sanctuary in the world today—and the United States has not coherent or credible policy for dealing with it.”

>>> Read More: The Arab Spring Descends into Islamist Winter: Implications for U.S. Policy

Frederick Kagan, director of the critical threats project at the American Enterprise Institute, warned that the Obama Administration has underestimated the threat posed by al-Qaeda’s ideology, which has inspired a global insurgency. He assessed that al-Qaeda’s “brand is spreading like wildfire, the groups affiliating themselves with it control more fighters, land and wealth than they ever have, and they are opening up new fronts.”

Dear Mr President

Heritage Foundation analysts long have warned about the more permissive environment that al-Qaeda and other Islamist extremist groups have exploited in many countries destabilized by the “Arab Spring” uprisings.  Syria, in particular, has been a magnet for foreign militants and a rich recruiting ground for al-Qaeda.

>>> Read More: A Counterterrorism Strategy for the “Next Wave”

Al-Qaeda has made a comeback in Iraq, and gained followers in Egypt, Libya, Mali, East Africa, and Yemen

The chief takeaway from the hearing was that the Obama Administration needs to focus more on the revolutionary threat posed by al-Qaeda and its affiliates in the Middle East and Africa. Furthermore, the administration should alter its narrow definition of the al-Qaeda threat, which it currently holds as the immediate terrorist threat posed by the al-Qaeda core group based in Pakistan.

Related:
Al-Qaeda Seeks American Recruits in Syria
Al-Qaeda Resurges in Iraq
These Words from Obama Are Frightening—and Revealing

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Today’s Politically INCORRECT Cartoon


“No Laughing Matter”

Read more at http://conservativebyte.com/2014/03/laughing-matter/#VxjQWXqsieqEKBLU.99

 

No-Laughing-Matter

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CONSERVATIVE-BYTE-BANNER

“LANDSIDE”

Posted on February 26, 2014

http://conservativebyte.com/2014/02/landslide/

Slide-590-LA

 

Death and Taxes

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“Lurch” Tells the World the Priorities President Obama and the State Department; Killing Christians is Okay, Banning Same Sex Marriage is NOT


Kerry Condemns Nigeria for Ban on Same Sex Marriage Not for Slaughter of Christians

For the past several years, Muslims have been attacking Christians in countries like Nigeria and the United States government has said nothing to condemn the slaughter.

Like many nations in the area and in the Middle East, Nigeria is predominately Muslim.  However, there is a significant Christian population that lives in the northern regions of the African nation.  However, Nigeria’s Muslims are determined to eradicate their country of any and all Christians.

I’ve written in the past of Christians being slaughtered in Nigeria.  In one attack, a Muslim suicide bomber attacked a Christian church during services, killing 15 and wounding 40 others.  Since many Christians attend church on Christmas Day, this has become a favorite time for Muslim attacks.  On one recent Christmas Day, Muslims bombed several Christian churches in northern Nigeria, killing at least 25 and wounding dozens more.  After these Christmas Day attacks, the Obama administration issued an impersonal short condemnation and nothing more was said or done.

In mid-November last year, Ann Buwalda, Executive Director of Jubilee Campaign said that around 1,200 Christians had been killed in northern Nigeria.  She didn’t say how many more had been wounded in the attacks, but surely it was several thousand.  Speaking to the Christian Post, she said:

“We documented 1,200 Nigerian Christians in the North of Nigeria who were killed, some by Boko Haram, some by Fulani herdsmen. These two types of attacks are persistent within several of the Northern Nigerian states.”

“With our statistic of more Christians have been killed in Northern Nigeria than the rest of the world combined.”

“Statistically, we are looking at approximately 60 percent of the world’s Christians that were killed for their faith last year was in Northern Nigeria.”

With Nigeria being the center of Christian genocide in the world, all US Secretary of State John Kerry can condemn Nigeria for is their recent ban on same sex marriages.  After Nigeria passed its law, Kerry released an official statement through the State Department saying:

“The United States is deeply concerned by Nigeria’s enactment of the Same Sex Marriage Prohibition Act.  Beyond even prohibiting same sex marriage, this law dangerously restricts freedom of assembly, association, and expression for all Nigerians.”

What about the freedom of Nigeria’s Christians to assemble, associate and express their faith?  When they do assemble, they always do so in fear of being attacked by members of the religion of peace, or so we are told.

Kerry’s statement condemning Nigeria’s new law suggested that such a law was in conflict with international law.  But isn’t the intentional genocide of any group of people a violation of international law?  Shouldn’t the world community, as well as the US, be up in arms over the murder and wounding of thousands of Christians?

Both Barack Obama and John Kerry claim to be Christians, but they are so busy protecting the sinful and abominable lifestyle of homosexuals that they can’t be bothered to protect Christians who seems to have a much stronger faith than their own.

How many Americans would go to church on Sunday morning if they knew there was a chance that they could be the subject of a bomb attack?  I bet many of our nation’s churches would be nearly empty.  But the Christians in Nigeria hold their faith dearly and are willing to risk their lives just to worship Jesus who died for them.

Secretary of State John Kerry’s actions and lack thereof are sickening to me as are those of President Barack Obama.  Their liberal anti-Christian agendas are more important to them than the lives of Christians.  Obviously gays mean more to them than Christians who hold to God’s Word.  What does that say about their own Christian faith?

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Ron Paul: Syria Intervention Would be “Reckless and Immoral” – The Last Resistance


by

It’s striking how much the media control people’s political opinions without people realizing it. Just a few years ago, only an “isolationist” would be opposed to U.S. military intervention in a foreign country for the sole purpose of “humanitarianism.”

Way back in 2007, this is one of the very few interviews Sean Hannity did with Ron Paul. This particular exchange took place after one of the presidential debates:

Hannity: Are you saying then that the world has no moral obligation, like in the first Gulf War, when an innocent country’s being pillaged, and people are being raped and murdered and slaughtered, or in the case of Saddam, he’s gassing his own people, are you suggesting we have no moral obligation there? Do you stand by and let that immorality happen?

Paul: We have, on numerous occasions.

Hannity: You support that?

Paul: We have, on numerous occasions. If we feel strongly about it, why don’t we declare war —

Hannity: If a woman’s being raped do you stand by and do nothing there either?

Alan Colmes: We’re almost out of time, but the fact is the Reagan administration stood by while the Kurds were being gassed, it happened in 1988, we didn’t do anything —

Hannity: We didn’t do anything about it, for how many years?

Paul: And what did we do with Pol Pot, what did we do with Moscow, what did we do at the time? We stood by while they did it to their people.

Hannity: We got it, Ron, you would stand by and do that, I would not.

Paul: No, you —

Hannity: I think that’s immoral.

Hannity’s of course singing a much different tune nowadays, since being opposed to unconstitutional military interventions is kind of “cool” now. But Ron Paul was opposed to such interventions long before it was cool, and he’s remained steadfast for decades in his opposition.

A couple days ago, on his Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity website, he wrote that intervening in Syria would be a reckless and immoral use of the military:

“President Obama announced this weekend that he has decided to use military force against Syria and would seek authorization from Congress when it returned from its August break. Every Member ought to vote against this reckless and immoral use of the US military. But even if every single Member and Senator votes for another war, it will not make this terrible idea any better because some sort of nod is given to the Constitution along the way. Besides, the president made it clear that Congressional authorization is superfluous, asserting falsely that he has the authority to act on his own with or without Congress. That Congress allows itself to be treated as window dressing by the imperial president is just astonishing. The President on Saturday claimed that the alleged chemical attack in Syria on August 21 presented ‘a serious danger to our national security.’ I disagree with the idea that every conflict, every dictator, and every insurgency everywhere in the world is somehow critical to our national security. That is the thinking of an empire, not a republic. It is the kind of thinking that this president shares with his predecessor, and it is bankrupting us and destroying our liberties here at home.”

He hasn’t changed one bit. But people’s foreign policy views change depending on what their media channel of choice is feeding them. And the media narratives are written depending on which party holds the White House.

If Bush had decided to attack Syria because the leader was gassing his own people, then conservatives, fed by Fox News, would be all for it; and the liberals, fed by all the other networks, would be denouncing it.

I’m glad that conservatives are coming out in opposition to a war with Syria. What concerns me is that people don’t have any discernment, and that they’ll believe whatever their favorite media network tells them.

What if a Republican becomes president next, and he’s no better than Obama when it comes to foreign policy or the preservation of the 2nd and 4th Amendments (and all the rest) here at home? Will conservatives see through the propaganda that will most certainly be used by the media to sell tyranny to us? They’ll use the same excuses of “security and safety.” And I fear that most people who identify themselves as conservatives will swallow it, hook, line and sinker.

The sooner people get away from this phony “republican vs. democrat” dichotomy, the better off we’ll all be. We should be electing people who want to do the right thing, not the “Republican” thing. Think Rand Paul, Ted Cruz or Justin Amash. Sure, they’re Republicans. But to them, party affiliation is secondary to the Constitution.

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My 2 Cents – Jerry Broussard

  • Who decided that the United States of America is the world’s police?
  • If we are going to come to the rescue of a people, what didn’t we go to the aid of the Christians in the Sudan?
  • The evidence is confirmed many times that those responsible for the gas attack was the accidental mishandling of the chemical weapons give to the Syrian rebels by Prince Bandar of Saudi Arabia, who also was instrumental in confirming the false evidence of Saddam Hussein‘s weapons of mass destruction? Why can’t we see that Saudi Arabia is culpable in the entire mess in the Mid East?
  • The Obama Administration is buying into the same lies the were fed to the Bush Administration. Why aren’t we acknowledging that fact? What does Saudi Arabia have on our government that they always end up with “clean-hands”?
  • Fact: Russia, China and others have stated that they will defend Syria and will retaliate if America uses any military force against the Assad regime. That will cause a larger war American Military is NOT prepared to fight because the Obama Administration has decimated our military.
  • Fact: The only winner is such a conflict would be Saudi Arabia, Iran, North Korea and China.
  • Fact: We cannot afford another war.
  • Fact: 2014 Mid Term Elections are growing in importance every day.
  • Fact: America is in desperate need of a Spiritual revival that will change the spirits, hearts and minds of the people of the United States to use what means are moral and necessary to rid our country of the evil that has such a death-grip on our Federal, State and Local governments.

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US Ready To Enter Negotiations With Taliban?


by

Joyce Brothers said: “Trust your hunches. They’re usually based on facts filed away just below the conscious level.”

Unquestionably, there is merit in trust. Having trust in other people is a basic and necessary part of life. Without trust, we would remain isolated; never able to form relationships with other people. However, just as important as holding trust in someone else, is holding trust in yourself; in your own instincts. In politics, sometimes, trusting your own instincts is all you have.

 There are certainly those in the world with whom you should not deal, or negotiate. There is a basic understanding—at least I have a basic understanding—that one should not trust someone who has not proven worthy of trust. Simple, right? Apparently not. According to breitbart.com, the United States, in conjunction with Afghanistan, is prepared to enter negotiations with the Taliban. Yes, you read that correctly…negotiating with the TALIBAN.

“Taliban Spokesman Mohammad Naim has announced that the Taliban will not accept the use of Afghan soil as a base for military operations, and supports negotiations. The Obama administration stated that US representatives will start bilateral negotiations with the Taliban…Marine General Joseph Dunford, the top US commander in Afghanistan, also celebrated the beginning of talks: ‘My perspective has always been that this war is going to have to end with political reconciliation and so I frankly would be supportive of any positive movement in terms of reconciliation…that would bring reconciliation between the afghan people and the Taliban.’“

So, a terrorist organization is suddenly—with seemingly abundant enthusiasm–willing to enter “peace talks?” Something doesn’t smell right. Actually, that’s generous. This is totally bogus. This is the same organization that called the Karzai administration “stooges” of the West.

I can’t ask much beyond these basic questions: Why would anyone enter negotiations with the Taliban? More than that, why would the Taliban suddenly decide that now is the time to negotiate?

No answer?

An ideologically-driven group of people, a people who want nothing more than to exterminate those who don’t agree with them, cannot be negotiated with. Is it just me, or is this not absolutely, hands down crazy?

However, the part that baffles me the most is the willingness on the part of Afghanistan and the US to deal with these maniacs. Do they actually believe that the Taliban can be trusted; or is this a small move in a much larger game? Is it a fake out?

I am trusting my instincts, and leaning toward the belief that this is a chess move in a much larger game. But I wonder; in the end, which side is actually benefitting? Is this move worth the risk of legitimizing psychopaths? I say no.

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Obama calls Romney ‘new’ to foreign policy, recalling ’08 criticism


Published September 10, 2012: www.FoxNews.com

A little more than four years ago, Hillary Clinton suggested then-Democratic primary opponent Barack Obama was so naïve on the world stage he’d need a “foreign policy instruction manual” should he win office.

Fast forward to the 2012 Democratic National Convention. Obama, now the president, accepted his party’s nomination for a second term by touting his experience as a steady leader in the face of overseas crises and mocked his Republican challenger as “new to foreign policy.”

How times have changed.

But the president’s new tactic — to incorporate into his campaign message the sense that he is the tested leader, and that Mitt Romney is a newbie — could be a risky one. For starters, it recalls the very criticism against Obama, like the above line from Clinton, when he first ran.

“Obama had probably less foreign policy experience (when he first ran for president) than Romney has,” said Steffen Schmidt, political science professor at Iowa State University.

Schmidt also noted that Romney is hardly alone among non-incumbent candidates in not having a tremendous foreign policy background. “The truth of the matter is, presidents learn on the job,” he said.

Obama, in an official sense, may have had a bit more foreign policy experience when he first ran than Romney does today.

Obama, as a first-term senator, was a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. And he took several foreign trips. He traveled in 2005 with Republican Indiana Sen. Richard Lugar to Russia and Eastern Europe to visit nuclear and biological weapons facilities. The following year, Obama traveled to the Middle East. Obama, the senator, made another foreign trip to several African countries in late 2006 as well.

Obama, though, downplayed the value of that experience during his 2008 primary run. “Experience in Washington is not knowledge of the world,” he said in April 2008, according to an account from the time in The New York Times. “This I know. When Sen. Clinton brags, ‘I’ve met leaders from 80 countries,’ I know what those trips are like. I’ve been on them. You go from the airport to the embassy. There’s a group of children who do a native dance. You meet with the C.I.A. station chief and the embassy and they give you a briefing. … And then, you go.”

Obama instead had stressed his time living abroad, as well as a visit to Pakistan back in the 1980s.

Romney, though, also lived abroad — in France as a Mormon missionary — in the 1960s. And both Romney and Obama, as presidential candidates, conducted high-profile overseas tours to bolster their campaigns.

Obama’s, which included an address to a massive crowd in Berlin, was likely better received. Romney stumbled on his summertime tour abroad, most notably when he suggested Britain might not be ready for the 2012 Olympic Games.

Obama seized on that gaffe during his nomination address last Thursday in Charlotte, N.C.

“My opponent and his running mate are new to foreign policy,” Obama said. “But from all that we’ve seen and heard, they want to take us back to an era of blustering and blundering that cost America so dearly. After all, you don’t call Russia our No. 1 enemy — not Al Qaeda — Russia, unless you’re still stuck in a Cold War mind warp.

“You might not be ready for diplomacy with Beijing if you can’t visit the Olympics without insulting our closest ally,” Obama said.

Obama went on to say: “You know, I recognize that times have changed since I first spoke to this convention. The times have changed, and so have I. I’m no longer just a candidate. I’m the president.”

Schmidt said Obama may be trying to inject more foreign policy into the mix, not just to deflect from other issues but to defend his administration against a GOP talking point that the president is “leading from behind” on the world stage.

Indeed, the Romney campaign released a memo over the weekend that highlighted the president’s “manifold failures on foreign policy and national security.” While Obama touts the successful takedown of Usama bin Laden and the official end of the Iraq war under his watch, Republican claims he has done little to slow what they see as Iran’s march toward a nuclear weapon.

Sen. John McCain, the Republican Party’s 2008 nominee, critiqued both Obama and Romney on the foreign policy front in an interview with the Associated Press over the weekend. In the interview, McCain said national security was largely missing from the GOP convention.

“It’s the job of presidents and candidates to lead and articulate their vision for America’s role in the world. The world is a more dangerous place than it’s been since the end of the Cold War, and so I think the president should lead and I think candidates for the presidency should lead and talk about it, and I’m disappointed that there hasn’t been more,” McCain said. He was most critical of the current administration, on issues like Iran and Syria.

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