MORNING NEWS BRIEFING – FEBRUARY 7, 2020

Posted By: Rick Bulow February 7, 2020

Good morning! Here is your news for Friday February 7, 2020.

THE SUNBURN
Could the race to lead the Republican Party of Florida into 2022 already be heating up? Sources from Tallahassee to Lehigh Acres say Matt Caldwell wants the title of state chair and will challenge sitting Chair Joe Gruters to get it.

According to more than one Florida GOP executive committee member, all of whom asked to remain anonymous, Caldwell has been reaching out to exec. committee members and not so subtlety telling them he will challenge Gruters if the Sarasota Republican runs for re-election as party chair. And, according to our sources, Caldwell is also suggesting that if President Donald Trump loses Florida, it will be because of the RPOF.

Plenty took notice when the former lawmaker announced his candidacy for Lee County Property Appraiser AND Republican state committeeman by trashing the state party. He continues to toss aside questions — with dismissals that sound a lot like he’s running. “I am focused on running for state committeeman,” he said Thursday night, “and I’m interested in making sure the party is ready to be victorious in 2022.”

Matt Caldwell

Matt Caldwell might seek the RPOF chair, challenging Joe Gruters to get it.

Wait, when? Because Gruters said he’s “100% laser-focused on getting our President reelected.” And Donald Trump will appear, in case any politicos wondered, on the 2020 ballot.

Now, most realize if Trump loses reelection, or even loses Florida, that’s terrible news for Gruters, who rose to statewide prominence primarily after co-chairing Trump’s 2016 campaign in Florida to a surprise win. And sources say Caldwell has turned some heads suggesting Trump lose and prompt a party redirect.

Besides, Caldwell must take care of some business at home as he’s challenging incumbent committeeman Chris Crowley, who has not so subtly raised Caldwell’s aggressive campaigning in 2016 for Marco Rubio over Trump in the primary.

“I supported Trump in the primary. I went door to door for him,” Crowley said. “I hope to be a delegate at the convention … He said he would never vote for Trump in the general election.”

But then Caldwell said he considers the President “well-positioned for reelection.” He plans, as he has done for years, to work at a precinct level knocking on doors rallying support for Trump.

As for 2022, he said he’d like as a committeeman to improve the party’s infrastructure to help Gov. Ron DeSantis win reelection and develop a strategy to win all Cabinet posts.

“I have a unique perspective having seen that process from stem to stern,” said Caldwell, the 2018 GOP Agriculture Commissioner nominee.

Gruters believes there’s “no way Matt wants Trump to fail” and welcomed the pol back into state-level politics.

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Photo of the day:

Tampa Mayor Jane Castor, Hillsborough State Attorney Andrew Warren, Hillsborough Sheriff Chad Chronister and Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried ride the big slide, a longtime tradition to open the Florida State Fair.

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The race to be the next leader of the House Democrats is about to heat up.

This morning Jennifer Webb will officially file her paperwork to run to be the leader of the House Democrats from 2024-2026. Leadership elections are under a year away and Webb’s entry makes her a strong competitor from the start.

With an impressive amount of pledge cards already, Webb is an early favorite to win.

It’s easy to see why.

In her first term Webb has shown that she knows how to get her bills moving, even as a House Democrat. She was even able to secure a bipartisan group of 45 co-sponsors for HB 161, her bill to prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

Webb was elected to the Florida House in 2018, following term-limited Republican Kathleen Peters. This Pinellas-based seat was one of 8 that flipped for House Democrats that same year.

Only recently getting out of the super minority, Democrats need all the experience they can get if they ever want to take back the chamber.

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The nation’s only African American news network, based in Tallahassee, will launch nationwide Monday.

Founded by chairman J.C. Watts Jr. and CEO Bob Brillante, the Black News Channel (BNC) represents the African American community in mainstream media. The network plans to target unique challenges facing urban communities and the “image gap” that exists today between the negative black stereotypes in the media.

“The launch of Black News Channel will be not only historic but also transformational,” Brillante said. “We will shed more light on the stories that demonstrate our commonality, rather than those that highlight our differences.”

“I have traveled around the country participating in interviews, serving on panel discussions, and sharing BNC’s mission and commitment to telling a more complete story of the African American community,” Watts said. “There is growing interest and anticipation about the Black News Channel, as well as a palpable level of excitement about our launch.”

While Watts is a Republican, he said the channel will be about African American culture and won’t cater to political ideologies. Former Democratic Tallahassee Mayor John Marks is part of its management team.

“We’re not looking to be Republican or Democrat. Obviously, there will be current affairs, but we are culturally specific to the African American community. MSNBC, Fox News, CNN, they may have African American faces on their news shows. Still, they are not necessarily covering the community from a cultural perspective,” Watts told The Associated Press in October. “We’re not looking to be left or right.”

The launch also coincides with the 45th national Black History Month. Historian Carter G. Woodson, a founder of the Association for the Study of African American History, created the first celebration that became the annual tradition.
Today’s Sunrise
Florida’s Senate has approved the highly controversial bill requiring parental consent for abortion.

Also, on today’s Sunrise:

— The Education Committee in the Florida House advances a bill allowing college athletes to cash in on their fame without losing scholarships.

— The new Commissioner of the Florida Office of Financial Regulation might not be starting his new job any time soon … if at all.

— State Rep. Carlos Guillermo Smith talks about finding himself under attack for calling out private schools that accept vouchers but refuse to accept gay and lesbian students.

— The latest on Florida Man, who finally beat city hall — with the help of the U.S. Supreme Court.

To listen, click on the image below:
Situational awareness
—@RealDonaldTrump: Had failed presidential candidate @MittRomney devoted the same energy and anger to defeating a faltering Barack Obama as he sanctimoniously does to me, he could have won the election. Read the Transcripts!

—@AaronBlake: Hard to overstate how simple this is: If you run afoul of Trump, you get what McCain, Corker and Flake got — and Romney is getting. If you defend him to the hilt and go further than other GOPers, you get a shout-out on national TV, like Jordan, Gaetz, Lesko and Stefanik.

—@DWSTweets: [Barack] Obama protected Bears Ears & Grand Staircase, land with cultural history for the Hopi Tribe, Navajo Nation, & more. Trump plans to drill & mine there even amid ongoing litigation. We can’t put profits over Earth & trust responsibilities.

—@RepDMP: Today, @SpeakerPelosi, my colleagues & I met w/ Venezuela’s legitimate President @jguaido. We reaffirmed our full support. And talked #VenezuelaTPS & the need for allies to join in sanctioning actors propping up [Nicolás] Maduro’s authoritarian regime. We all want a #VenezuelaLibre.

—@MarcoRubio: .@politico story on efforts to bully donors to no longer support Florida’s school choice program is textbook example of narrative bias in media A supporter of program pointed out who is most hurts by this bullying. But Politico decided to cut out “mostly children of color”

—@Fineout: With all due respect sir — this is the quote right before the one you highlighted from the same person — “It’s not social justice to hold thousands of low-income, mostly black and Hispanic students hostage because you can’t get your way. But that’s exactly what is going on here.”

—@AGGancarski: Where do you go when you want to get away from the Capitol press corps? “Governor Ron DeSantis to Make a Major Announcement in Jacksonville”

—@GloverLaw: What a joke. Like voters in 2022 will care that the Commissioner of Agriculture won’t be able to tout achievements from the “Florida Energy Office.” Voters don’t know what that is. No reason to play this game — just focus on good government.

—@FLSecofState: Were it not for the contributions of women who fought for suffrage, I would not be able to vote, let alone serve as our state’s Chief Elections Official. What an honor to talk about #WomensHistory & #WomensSuffrage with this group of women at the annual @fcswomen LEAD Summit.

Tweet, tweet:

—@CarlosGSmith: Had a great meeting w/@StepUp4Students, Reps. @AnnaForFlorida, @ShevrinJones & @equalityfl‘s @1NadineSmith. We all care about protecting our most vulnerable kids including low-income, black, brown and LGBTQ and can fix policies like the one below by working together!

—@JaredEMoskowitz: The character of my friend @ShevrinJones is unquestioned. His devout faith is unbounded. His leadership is unbridled. His counsel is required.

—@LargeWilliamW: Letters of protection are extremely rare outside of the personal injury context … But the converse is untrue in personal injury cases, and plaintiffs attorneys have an incentive to send their clients to doctors who use letters of protection.

Tweet, tweet:

—@SteveSchale: Tallahassee weather freak outs … Sleet/Freezing temperature > Bad thunderstorms in February > Hurricanes
Days until
Capitol Press Corps press skits — 3; New Hampshire Primaries — 4; Pitchers and catchers begin reporting for MLB Spring Training — 4; South Beach Wine and Food Festival — 12; Ninth Democratic presidential debate in Las Vegas — 12; Roger Stone’s sentencing — 13; Nevada caucuses — 15; “Better Call Saul” Season 5 premiers — 16; 10th Democratic presidential debate in Charleston — 18; South Carolina Primaries — 22; Super Tuesday — 25; Last day of 2020 Session (maybe) — 35; Florida’s presidential primary — 39; “No Time to Die” premiers — 59; Florida TaxWatch Spring Board Meeting begins — 68; TaxWatch Principal Leadership Awards — 69; Florida Chamber Summit on Prosperity and Economic Opportunity — 98; “Top Gun: Maverick” premiers — 140; Democratic National Convention in Milwaukee begins — 157; Christopher Nolan’s “Tenet” premiers — 161; 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo start — 168; Florida primaries for 2020 state legislative/congressional races — 193; First Presidential Debate in Indiana — 235; Republican National Convention begins in Charlotte — 199; First Vice Presidential debate at the University of Utah — 243; Second Presidential Debate scheduled at the University of Michigan — 251; Third presidential debate at Belmont — 258; 2020 General Election — 270.
Top story
“Associated Press unable to declare winner of Iowa caucuses” via The Associated Press — The Associated Press said Thursday that it is unable to declare a winner of Iowa’s Democratic caucuses. With 97% of precincts reporting, former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg leads Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders by three state delegate equivalents out of 2,098 counted. That is a margin of 0.14 percentage points. However, even as the Iowa Democratic Party’s effort to complete its tabulation of the caucus results continues, Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez asked the Iowa Democratic Party to conduct a recanvass. The Iowa Democratic Party suggested it may not comply with Perez’s request, issuing a statement that said it would conduct a recanvass if one was requested by one of the candidates.

While not official, it seems Pete Buttigieg has a minuscule lead in Iowa.
Dateline: Tally
Assignment editors — DeSantis will make a major announcement, 10:30 a.m., Operation New Hope, 1830 Main Street North, Jacksonville.

“Why won’t Florida ban LGBTQ workplace discrimination? José Oliva says it isn’t a major problem.” via Skyler Swisher of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel — A bipartisan group of Florida lawmakers wants to add gay and transgender people to the state’s anti-discrimination law. But despite that support, their effort hasn’t gotten a hearing and likely will not receive a vote this year. One obstacle standing in its way is House Speaker Oliva, who fears that prohibiting LGBTQ discrimination in the workplace could lead to a flood of litigation. A person’s sexual orientation isn’t evident like it is for race or gender, presenting a challenge for employers, he said. “It is very possible that an employer does not know of a person’s sexual orientation,” said Oliva. “Then you could get in an event where somebody could lose their job, and then they might claim it is based on something that somebody did not know to begin with.”

“Oliva, DOE weigh in on school voucher controversy” via Sarah Mueller of Florida Politics — The House Speaker expressed concern that if the state dictates terms to religious schools, it could face a lawsuit. “The one thing that we are not going to do is have a situation where children who now finally have (a) great opportunity are now going to be ripped from those schools,” he said. What touched off this latest firestorm was a recent investigation, which identified more than 100 private schools with anti-gay views or policies that are part of the state-funded Tax Credit Scholarship program. The Department of Education is also taking issue with the Sentinel’s reporting. In a statement, the agency also suggested the paper is biased against the voucher program.

José Oliva defends the Tax Credit Scholarship program,

“This legislator is gay, black and trying to quell the anti-LGBTQ school voucher fight” via Emily Mahoney of the Tampa Bay Times — The evolving debate over anti-LGBTQ policies in private voucher schools is now framed as an unavoidable dilemma. Either allow these policies that discriminate against LGBTQ students and their families, or take vouchers away from low-income, mostly black and Hispanic families who are already attending private schools with these funds. Enter: the state’s first and only out gay black lawmaker. Democrat Rep. Shevrin Jones, a former Broward County public school teacher who also attends a church that accepts voucher students at its school, decided that his role in this fight is to try to broker a peace. “Someone has to be there to be the moderator, hopefully, to bring both sides together and bring what’s best for kids,” Jones said.

“Protests canceled against lawmakers’ calls to stop funding anti-LGBTQ schools” via Annie Martin of the Orlando Sentinel — Step Up For Students, which administers the bulk of the state’s largest voucher program, sent an email inviting Orlando parents to protest at the offices of Democratic Reps. Anna Eskamani and Carlos Guillermo Smith, who have asked companies to halt contributions to the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship unless discrimination against gay and transgender students is banned. But the Orlando Police Department said Thursday morning a group that had planned “a peaceful demonstration and rally,” at Eskamani’s office had canceled it. Two women standing outside Eskamani’s Orlando office said they were there for the protest. A few minutes after the scheduled start time for the protest at Smith’s east Orange County office, just one parent had shown up, his staff said.

“Florida’s tourism industry is behind a bill to block local laws that could create more benefits for workers” via Chabeli Carrazana of the Orlando Sentinel — Florida’s top tourism and business interests are putting their combined political might behind a bill moving through the Legislature that would prevent cities and counties from forcing companies to provide their workers with better benefits or more predictable schedules. Proponents say the bill fosters a pro-business environment and will set a single standard across the state, rather than allow local governments to create a patchwork of different rules. Opponents worry the bill could cancel out local laws such as an Orange County ban on discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in the private sector or a wage recovery ordinance in Osceola County that helps workers when an employer doesn’t pay what the worker is due.

“Business leaders push for tax incentives ahead of economic development week” via Renzo Downey of Florida Politics — State business leaders and the Florida Economic Development Council (FEDC) issued an early kickoff for economic development week at the state Capitol. Florida Economic Development Week, beginning Sunday, is an opportunity for advocates to highlight business initiatives like the qualified target industry tax refund program or VISIT FLORIDA. “Economic development, in all of its various disciplines, is vital to Florida’s competitiveness and prosperity,” said FEDC chair Kelly Smallridge. “The FEDC and our business workforce and education partners believe that, as an engine for progress, economic development should be recognized through a dedicated week.” And Andra Cornelius, senior vice president of CareerSource Florida, said securing high-skilled jobs is an economic necessity in the modernizing economy.

“Coalition forms to ‘combat misinformation’ on independent practice for nurses” via Florida Politics — More than 50 county medical and specialty societies are joining forces to push back against the “false and vitriolic narrative” surrounding a bill that would allow nurses and physician assistants to practice independently of physicians. The Florida Patient Protection Coalition plans to make the argument against the independent practice bill, HB 607, by educating the public on the benefits of physician-led, team-based care. “The Florida Patient Protection Coalition seeks to counter the propaganda being disseminated by the nursing and physician assistant groups pushing for independent practice legislation,” said FMA President Ronald F. Giffler. FPPC also pointed to survey data from the American Medical Association that shows 91% of people believe a physician’s years of education and training are vital to optimal patient care, especially in the event of a complication or medical emergency.

“Moffitt’s push for state money is clouded by China investigation” via Justine Griffin of the Tampa Bay Times — A scandal that recently forced six Moffitt Cancer Center employees to resign has not dampened the center’s push for nearly $400 million in state money to fund a major expansion. Moffitt’s plans for a new hospital in Tampa and a research center in Pasco County rely on the Legislature increasing the center’s share of the state’s cigarette tax. But the request comes as lawmakers investigate how top professionals at Moffitt and other Florida institutions became entangled in a strategy by China to exploit U.S.-based research for its own use. Nothing about that controversy has eased demand for the center’s work, argues interim CEO Tim Adams. Moffitt’s allies in the Legislature are staying positive, while also acknowledging the awkward timing.

The China scandal has put a cloud over budget requests for Moffitt Cancer Center.

“Plastics ‘monster’ haunts Capitol to call for waste reduction” via Laura Cassels of Florida Phoenix — A 15-foot-tall monster made of thousands of pieces of plastic litter was in the Capitol this week to illustrate how much plastic enters the oceans: more than 18 billion pounds per year. Greenpeace, Oceana and others came to Tallahassee to put plastics pollution in plain sight for legislators. “There’s no way they’re not seeing this,” said Rep. Anna Eskamani, who is co-sponsoring legislation with Rep. Mike Grieco, to permit local governments to restrict single-use plastics and other disposable items. The plastics monster, created by Greenpeace, is traveling to major cities in Florida with ocean advocates calling on retailers to stop using single-use plastic shopping bags, which are very slow to degrade and dangerous to marine life.
Legislation
“Parental consent abortion bill clears Florida Senate on party-line vote” via John Kennedy of the GateHouse Capital Bureau — Following emotional debate, a divided Senate approved requiring girls under age 18 to get permission from a parent, guardian or a court before having an abortion, defying a three-decades-old court ruling that declared a similar law unconstitutional. The 23-17 vote broke strictly along party lines, and now moves to the House, where an even larger GOP majority is expected to approve the change, sending it to DeSantis, who has indicated he will sign the restriction. “This is not a pro-choice, pro-life bill, it really isn’t,” said Sen. Kelli Stargel, sponsor of the bill (SB 404). “It’s about whether or not you’re going to have adults be involved in difficult decisions for children … we want parents to be involved.”

Kelli Stargel’s controversial parental consent abortion bill passes the Senate by a largely party-line vote.

E-Verify to get Senate hearing next week — Senate President Bill Galvano said Wednesday that an E-Verify bill that would apply to both public and private employers would get a hearing in the Senate Judiciary Committee next week. The proposal, SB 664 by Thonotosassa Republican Sen. Tom Lee, is one of DeSantis’ priorities. Galvano said the bill could see some changes before it is taken up in the committee, chaired by Sen. David Simmons. “Simmons is working with the sponsor and the interest holders involved to reach a balance to allay some of the concerns myself and others in the chamber have had,” Galvano said.

“’Sunshine’ exemption sought for presidential searches” via Ana Ceballos of the News Service of Florida — The House State Affairs Committee approved a leadership-backed bill (PCB SAC 20-04) that would create a public-records and public-meetings exemption for information related to presidential searches. In the Senate, an identical bill (SB 774) is being pushed by Senate Education Chair Manny Diaz Jr., who says the proposal would help universities and colleges attract more talented pools of candidates. “I don’t want to call the pool of candidates that we are getting weak,” Diaz said. “I am just saying we’ve had seven openings in the last eight years, and we have not even had a sitting president considered.” But opponents said making the process less transparent would not attract better candidates, but well-connected insiders getting the jobs.

“School board term limits head to House floor” via Florida Politics — The bill (HJR 157), sponsored by Republican Rep. Anthony Sabatini, passed the House Education Committee. Democratic Reps. Bruce Antone, Susan Valdez, Patricia Williams and Delores Hogan Johnson voted no. Sabatini’s measure to amend the state Constitution would cap the amount of time people could serve on a school board to eight years. There’s no limit on how long a school board member can currently stay in office. It would only apply to terms that start on or after Nov. 3, 2020, so school board members re-elected to a consecutive term could serve another eight years.

“Church gun bill on the move” via the News Service of Florida — A controversial effort to allow people with concealed-weapons licenses to bring guns to religious institutions that share a property with schools advanced through the House Education Committee. The measure (HB 1437) would allow religious institutions to authorize people with concealed-weapons licenses to carry guns at any location “owned, rented, leased or lawfully used” by the institution. Opponents have argued the measure would also allow people licensed to carry concealed weapons to bring the guns to public schools that make space available to religious groups, even when the religious groups aren’t meeting. Before the committee’s 15-1 vote in favor of the measure, Rep. Jayer Williamson said religious institutions will decide what is best for them.

“Student-athletes promoting strip clubs, casinos, beer and cigs? Not if the House has anything to say about it” via Jim Turner of the News Service of Florida — Strip clubs, casinos, breweries and cigarette makers could be benched from a proposal that would let Florida college athletes market themselves off the field. The House Education Committee on Thursday approved a bill (HB 7051) that would allow athletes to get paid for the use of their names, images and likenesses. But before the vote, sponsor Chip LaMarca, a Lighthouse Point Republican, said he had discussions with officials at several state schools about branding requirements. “There’s not anything in the language of this bill, but in speaking to a lot of the universities, the University of Florida comes to mind, Florida Atlantic, both had concerns about the types of companies or contracts that might be entered into, somewhat similar to a morality clause,” LaMarca said.

Development bill moves after tree-cutting amendment pulled — A proposal that would give certain development rights to landowners cleared the House Judiciary Committee after a contentious amendment restricting municipal governments’ authority to regulate tree removal was withdrawn, Bruce Ritchie of POLITICO Florida reports. The affirmative vote pushes HB 519 to the House floor. The bill would require local governments to treat properties that are “similarly situated” in the same manner for development. Florida League of Cities counsel David Cruz criticized “similarly situated” as a vague term that would open the door for lawsuits against local governments.

“Bill would repeal law requiring governments to post legal notices in newspapers” via Mary Ellen Klas of the Times/Herald Tallahassee Bureau — The newspaper industry was on the defensive Thursday as a House committee approved a bill that could strip legacy newspapers of an important revenue source by no longer requiring local governments to buy ads to publish legal notices about public business. The House State Affairs Committee voted 14-9 to give local governments the option of publishing legally required notices on publicly accessible websites instead of in newspapers, if that would result in cost savings to the governmental entity. The public notice ads are intended to alert the public to things like tax increases, zoning changes, seized property, government meetings, special elections and hazardous waste sites.

“Gift ban exemption proposal expanded to allow GoFundMe solicitations” via Scott Powers of Florida Politics — The question of whether Florida’s state workers battling cancer or other major health crises should be allowed to accept helpful gifts from lobbyists and others was also expanded to consider whether those workers should be allowed to solicit such gifts. The House Public Integrity and Ethics Committee amended and then unanimously approved HB 1435 to ease prohibitions against state employees who are going through major health crises so that they might ask for and receive gifts of help, including money, including from state lobbyists and vendors. Specifically, the bill would apply to a state employee or nonelected official, or their child, who has suffered serious bodily injury or has been diagnosed with a serious disease or illness.

Bill would upgrade recount tech — A proposal moving through the House and Senate could speed up the recount process by allowing the use of digital imaging and automated tabulating machines, Matt Dixon of POLITICO Florida reports. Currently, Florida only allows those machines to be used during an election audit. The machines can create images of ballots for canvassing boards to use when looking for over- or under-votes or when checking for irregular marks. “I had the opportunity to view this system at the supervisor’s office. It’s simply amazing,” said Rep. Tracie Davis, a Jacksonville Democrat who worked at the Duval County Supervisor of Elections’ office for 14 years. “The machine I saw was able to view 100 ballots per minute.”
Statewide
“Ashley Moody, pharmacy chains tangle in opioid lawsuit” via the News Service of Florida — Castigating the tactic as a “publicity stunt,” Attorney General Moody is asking a judge to reject an effort by the nation’s two largest pharmacy chains to add 500 unidentified physicians to the state’s lawsuit against the pharmaceutical industry over the opioid epidemic. CVS Pharmacy Inc. and Walgreen Co. filed what is called a third-party complaint against 500 “John and Jane Doe” doctors, alleging that the prescribing physicians — and not the drugstores — are to blame for faulty prescriptions. The state’s lawsuit against the chains “is nothing more than unsupported speculation” that pharmacists “filled prescriptions for opioid medications that they should not have filled” despite the state’s “inability to support its claim with even one instance of an improperly filled prescription.”

“Florida cops who use force keep names secret with Marsy’s Law” via Tony Marrero of the Tampa Bay Times — Shortly after two officers shot a man, Tampa police Chief Brian Dugan approached them with a request. Dugan told them he wanted to release their names after they wounded the 34-year-old man who brandished a handgun. That used to be standard practice when an officer was involved in a shooting or other use-of-force incident. But because the man they shot threatened them with a gun, the officers had a right to privacy under a state constitutional amendment known as Marsy’s Law. The officers initially declined. At that point, Dugan said, his hands were tied by a law that he doesn’t think should apply to officers acting in the line of duty. “There is a sense of frustration,” Dugan said.

Tampa police Chief Brian Dugan is frustrated by the secrecy of Marsy’s Law.

“State fires latest salvo in major pot case” via the News Service of Florida — In a case that could create a major upheaval in the state’s pot industry, health officials asked the Florida Supreme Court to uphold a 2017 law that carried out a constitutional amendment broadly legalizing medical marijuana. Lawyers for the Department of Health argued that, in creating and passing the law, the Florida Legislature carried out its “constitutional prerogative to serve as the state policymaker and to protect the welfare of the citizenry.” The controversy is centered on a key component of the law that established a “vertical integration system,” in which a limited number of companies that receive medical marijuana licenses must handle all aspects of the business, including growing, processing and distributing products.

“How long would it take for all Florida public school teachers to get starting pay of $47,500?” via Lloyd Dunkelberger of Florida Phoenix — The Senate’s $92.8 billion budget bill (SB 2500) earmarks $500 million for teacher raises, with the bulk of the money aimed at increasing the minimum salaries to $47,500 a year. That would take some time, according to Sen. Stargel, who oversees education spending in the Senate. She said the earmarked funds “requires (school) districts to use 80 percent of their total allocation to increase minimum classroom salaries toward the governor’s goal of ($47,500), with the intent that this goal would be met statewide over the next several years.” The House’s $91.4 billion budget bill (PCB APC 20-01) includes $650 million earmarked for increasing teacher salaries.

“Why is car insurance so high in Florida? Let’s count the reasons.” via Graham Brink of the Tampa Bay Times — A huge number of uninsured drivers doesn’t help. The Insurance Research Council found that more than a quarter of Florida’s drivers don’t carry insurance, the most of any state. That drives up costs for everyone. So does the fact that a lot of claims in Florida involve lawyers, according to Insure.com. The state’s scourge of bogus broken windshield cases doesn’t help either. State insurance officials blame severe weather for higher comprehensive premiums, which pay to repair vehicles damaged by something unrelated to an accident. Tourists unfamiliar with our roads create more fender benders, they say. And the state has a high percentage of college-aged drivers and those over 75-years old, both of whom can pay more for insurance.

“Who is inspecting the inspectors of smaller amusement parks in Florida?” via Masha Saeidi of News Channel 8 — There are only 17 people in charge of inspecting the more than 230 amusement parks, fairs and traveling shows in the state. Preliminary accident reports come from the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services; the Department oversees the Bureau of Fair Rides Inspection. In two years, more than 300 people went to the hospital after being hurt at one of these amusement parks or traveling shows. The majority of these incidents were minor and would not have been prevented by an inspection. However, 8 On Your Side did spot serious accidents during 2018 and 2019. No one has audited the work of inspectors in approximately 20 years.
Mother Nature
“Conservationists buy Florida lake with Gulf Oil Spill funds” via The Associated Press — The Nature Conservancy acquired Lake Wimico, a 20,161-acre piece of land in the Florida Panhandle calling it one of the largest conservation wins in over a decade. The organization said safeguarding Lake Wimico will help preserve and protect the water quality of Apalachicola River, Apalachicola Bay and the Gulf of Mexico. It also creates a protected refuge for resident and migratory wildlife, including many federally and state listed imperiled species. Conservationists had repeatedly identified the freshwater wetland habitat as an area of critical conservation significance for preservation. The land was identified as a priority parcel with the state’s Florida Forever Program. The acquisition was paid with funds from Deepwater Horizon criminal penalties designated for the benefit of natural resources.

Conservationists used Gulf Oil Spill money to buy Lake Wimico.

“Eve Samples has left the building … or has she?” via Nancy Smith of The Capitolist — Tuesday should have been liberation day for Samples‘ Treasure Coast readers. Note, I said SHOULD have been. Dare I hope we might one day see an investigative piece on billionaire John Tudor Jones II’s powerful Everglades Foundation, its history, its money, what exactly are its real accomplishments? Sadly, I doubt I’ll live to see any such stories. Samples, new executive director of Stuart-based Friends of the Everglades, may have left the building, but she’s been an outstanding Everglades Foundation-style advocate for the environment and a powerful influence in the TCN newsroom. I don’t see her giving that up until new leadership at the newspaper makes a conscious effort to change the culture and move toward balance.
2020
“The billion-dollar disinformation campaign to reelect the President” via McKay Coppins of The Atlantic — Every presidential campaign sees its share of spin and misdirection, but this year’s contest promises to be different. In conversations with political strategists and other experts, a dystopian picture of the general election comes into view — one shaped by coordinated bot attacks, Potemkin local-news sites, micro-targeted fearmongering, and anonymous mass texting. Both parties will have these tools at their disposal. But in the hands of a President who lies constantly, who traffics in conspiracy theories, and who readily manipulates the levers of government for his own gain, their potential to wreak havoc is enormous. The Trump campaign is planning to spend more than $1 billion, aided by a vast coalition of partisan media, outside political groups, and enterprising freelance operatives.

“DNC chair calls for Iowa recanvass as Bernie Sanders declares victory” via Nolan McCaskill and Zach Montellaro of POLITICO — DNC Chair Perez‘s announcement came shortly before Sanders claimed victory in a race that officially remains too close to call. “Enough is enough,” Perez tweeted. “In light of the problems that have emerged in the implementation of the delegate selection plan and in order to assure public confidence in the results, I am calling on the Iowa Democratic Party to immediately begin a recanvass.” The parallel developments underscored the chaos that has gripped the party in the aftermath of Iowa’s caucus debacle. Though Perez later clarified that the state party will continue reporting results, his call comes after the public release of the results has been delayed for days, with reports of errors and inconsistencies.

DNC head Tom Perez calls for a ‘full canvas’ of the Iowa caucus.

“Iowa caucus results riddled with errors and inconsistencies” via Nate Cohn, Josh Katz, Denise Lu, Charlie Smart, Ben Smithgall and Andrew Fischer of The New York Times — In some cases, vote tallies do not add up. In others, precincts are allotting the wrong number of delegates to certain candidates. In at least a few cases, the Iowa Democratic Party’s reported results do not match those reported by the precincts. Some of these inconsistencies may prove to be innocuous, and they do not indicate an intentional effort to compromise or rig the result. But not all the errors are minor, and they raise questions about whether the public will ever get a completely precise account of the Iowa results. The race could easily grow close enough for even the most minor errors to delay a final projection or raise doubts about a declared winner.

“Joe Biden campaign agonizes over Iowa shellacking” via Natasha Korecki and Marc Caputo of POLITICO — Biden’s unexpectedly weak performance — he’s in fourth place with 16 percent with 97 percent of precincts reporting — has provoked frustration and recriminations within the campaign staffers began pointing fingers over what exactly went wrong. The campaign parted ways with its Iowa field director, Adrienne Bogen. Outside the campaign, Biden’s Iowa train wreck revived questions about the durability of his candidacy and threatened to slow a fundraising operation that was already showing signs of stress. “We had precinct captains who didn’t know how to run a caucus. And a few didn’t even show. We lost friggin’ people on the second ballot of voting in the caucus. Someone’s head had to roll,” said a top-level Biden campaign staffer.

“First head rolls after Biden’s weak Iowa finish” via Natasha Korecki and Marc Caputo of POLITICO — Bogen, who headed field operations for Biden, will not stay on the campaign, even as other members of senior leadership were asked to head to other early states or to assist in Super Tuesday operations. Bogen is the first staff casualty following Biden’s disappointing showing in the state. But friends of Bogen said she was being scapegoated by a floundering campaign, adding that she had complained about its dysfunction, which she blamed on higher-ups. “The Biden campaign is desperate to blame everyone for his problems in Iowa — the state party, Trump, Adrienne — and that’s bullshit,” a friend, a Democrat who is not aligned with another candidate, said.

“Biden endorsed by five African American lawmakers in Florida” via Steven Lemongello of the Orlando Sentinel — The list includes two legislators from Orange County, state Reps. Bruce Antone, the chair of the Florida Legislative Black Caucus, and Geraldine Thompson; two from Hillsborough County, state Reps. Dianne Hart and Fentrice Driskell; and a lawmaker from St. Lucie County, Delores Hogan Johnson. “As vote-by-mail gears up across Florida, we feel energized by the growing support we have across the state,” said Jackie Lee, Florida senior adviser for the Biden campaign. “These legislators are well-known, influential leaders that know Joe Biden is the candidate best-positioned to beat Donald Trump in the critical state of Florida.”

“Biden kinda, sorta, almost endorses legalizing marijuana” via Natalie Fertig of POLITICO — Biden’s opposition to fully legalizing marijuana is well known, but on the campaign trail in New Hampshire this week he appeared to change his position. “I think it is at the point where it has to be, basically, legalized,” Biden said. But Biden wouldn’t be willing to legalize marijuana right away, unlike other 2020 contenders. Sanders has said he’ll remove the federal ban on marijuana during his first 100 days as president. Biden, however, remained firm that he wants scientific research to support his decision, saying he is “not prepared to [legalize] as long as there are serious medical people saying, ‘We should determine what other side effects would occur.'”

“Amid frustration over Iowa, Sanders posts huge fundraising numbers” via Holly Otterbein of POLITICO — Sanders’ campaign raised $25 million in January from nearly 650,000 people, a third of whom were new donors. That makes it his best fundraising month of the 2020 campaign, according to his team. Sanders’ aides also said that he is using the small-dollar cash infusion to place a $5.5 million TV and digital ad buy in nine Super Tuesday states and South Carolina. Sanders’ Iowa state director, Misty Rebik, sent a memo to staffers and supporters on Wednesday night that said the campaign has “a viable path forward to achieve a clean sweep and retake the lead in state delegate equivalents and national pledged delegates.”

With the chaos in Iowa, Bernie Sanders posts a solid fundraising period.

“Sanders campaign names Brevard Democrat as Florida field director” via Steven Lemongello of the Orlando Sentinel — Sanjay Patel, an official with the Brevard County Democratic Party, has been appointed the Florida field director for the Sanders presidential campaign. Patel, the state committeeman for the county party, was the Democratic candidate for Congress against Republican Bill Posey in 2018. His wife, Stacey, is the Brevard County party chair. “As many of you know, I was initially inspired to get involved in politics because of Sen. Sanders and his selfless, unwavering commitment to economic, social, racial and environmental justice for all of us,” Patel said in a Facebook post. “I was humbled to receive his endorsement when I ran for U.S. Congress in 2018, and now I’m honored to be a part of the team that will help elect him to the White House this November.”

“Andrew Yang fires dozens of staffers after Iowa debacle” via Eugene Daniels of POLITICO — Among those dismissed were the national political and policy directors of the campaign, as well as the deputy national political director — all senior-level positions. The people who were fired worked across Yang’s organization, from his headquarters in New York to the now-disbanded Iowa operation. The Yang campaign insists it had planned to reduce the size of his organization after Iowa. According to FEC reports released last week, the Yang campaign had more than 230 people on staff. “As part of our original plans following the Iowa caucuses, we are winding down our Iowa operations and restructuring to compete as the New Hampshire primary approaches,” campaign manager Zach Graumann said.

“An unsettling new theory: There is no swing voter” via David Freedlander of POLITICO — What if there is no such thing as “the center,” and the party in power can govern however it wants for two years, because the results of that first midterm are going to be bad regardless? What if the Democrats’ big 41-seat midterm victory in 2018 didn’t happen because candidates focused on health care and kitchen-table issues, but simply because they were running against the party in the White House? To the political scientist Rachel Bitecofer, all that is almost certainly true. Her model tells her the Democrats are a near-lock for the presidency in 2020, and are likely to gain House seats and have a decent shot at retaking the Senate.
Bloomberg’s big Florida bet
While other Democratic presidential candidates focus on early states, Mike Bloomberg has been betting big on Florida this winter.

The billionaire and former New York City Mayor, whose campaign reported spending $188 million overall through the end of 2019 — all of it from his own wallet — has begun 2020 with spending millions of dollars specifically in Florida, specifically at local television stations.

Bloomberg’s campaign spending in major Florida markets since Christmas has totaled more than $11.5 million, according to a review of advertising contracts filed by TV stations with the Federal Communications Commission.

Mike Bloomberg doubles down in Florida.

In Florida’s five major markets — Miami-Fort Lauderdale, Tampa Bay, Orlando, West Palm Beach, and Jacksonville — Bloomberg paid to air more than 11,000 television commercial spots on local TV.

And that is just on the most significant commercial network broadcast stations, those affiliated with CBS, NBC, ABC, Fox, CW, and Univision. It does not include advertising in Florida’s other six full TV markets from Fort Myers to Pensacola. Nor does it include digital advertising targeting Floridians through social media posts.

The number of Florida local television commercials from all other 2020 presidential candidates combined through the first week of February: Zero.

“Bloomberg seizes on chaos in Democratic presidential race to escalate his campaign” via Paul Schwartzman of The Washington Post — On the morning after the Iowa caucuses, as the nation awoke to news of another electoral debacle, Bloomberg stood on a stage in an old warehouse in Detroit, feigning little concern. “I hear something happened in Iowa — or didn’t happen; I don’t know which,” the billionaire and former New York City Mayor told the crowd, adding that he had been asleep on a plane to Michigan as the results were supposed to be coming in. When he awoke, Bloomberg recalled, he asked someone the outcome, “and the guy said, ‘Nothing.’ I still can’t figure it out.” While the rest of the Democratic field tries to recover from Iowa and pivot to New Hampshire, Bloomberg is seizing the moment to gain an advantage.

“Biden stares down Bloomberg in Florida after Iowa ‘gut punch’” via Matt Dixon of POLITICO Florida — With Bloomberg making a strong play for the Sunshine State, the Biden campaign added five new Florida endorsements to the candidate’s already long list. Still, Biden’s supporters were blunt about their mounting concerns in the wake of his fourth-place finish in the first-in-the-nation vote in the Democratic presidential primary. “There remains a lot of Joe Biden support here, but Mike Bloomberg has spent a lot of money in Florida, that can’t be ignored,” said state Rep. Joe Geller, a Biden supporter. “It is not a state he is sleeping on.” Bloomberg has spent $30 million on TV so far in Florida, which began mailing absentee ballots in preparation for the state’s March 17 Democratic primary.
D.C. matters
“Donald Trump unleashes impeachment fury in acquittal ‘celebration’” via Jill Colvin, Jonathan Lemire And Zeke Miller of The Associated Press — Exulting in his impeachment acquittal, a defiant President Donald Trump took a scorched-earth victory lap, unleashing his fury against those who tried to remove him from office and pointing ahead to his reelection campaign. Triumphantly waving newspaper front pages that declared him “ACQUITTED,” Trump denounced the impeachment proceedings as a “disgrace” and portrayed himself as a victim of political foes he labeled “scum,” “sleaze bags” and “crooked” people. Hours earlier, he unleashed broadsides that stunned the crowd at an annual bipartisan prayer breakfast.

Donald Trump takes a nasty victory lap.

“Democracy in inaction: How Trump beat the rap” via John Harris of POLITICO — The consensus view — shared by nearly all Democrats and even a decent number of Republicans — is that the United States Senate did nothing to acquit itself. Wednesday’s vote has yielded a new indictment: The partisan divisions that saved Trump are an expression of deeper and malignant trends that are a threat to constitutional democracy. The fundamental problem of modern political culture is the erosion of accountability. Politicians have shown repeatedly the ability to escape consequences by reframing almost any controversy away from the particulars of misbehavior to the familiar question: Which side are you on, mine or my enemies?

“Miami-Dade Democrats file bar complaint against Matt Gaetz for alleged obstruction of impeachment process” via Ryan Nicol of Florida Politics — The Miami-Dade Democratic Party is filing a bar complaint against U.S. Rep. Gaetz, alleging he violated House rules during Trump‘s impeachment inquiry by attempting to enter secure rooms. Before Trump’s impeachment, the House assigned a group of committees to investigate his actions regarding Ukraine. As part of the investigation, those committees interviewed witnesses. The interviews were open to those committees only, though Democrats and Republicans sat on each committee. The complaint cites two instances where Gaetz attempted to enter those restricted interview hearings. The complaint cites the House rules, which limited members of Congress who could sit in on those depositions. It also references a pair of Bar rules Gaetz allegedly violated. Gaetz did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the complaint.
The trail
“Adam Hattersley takes fundraising lead in congressional race” via William March of the Tampa Bay Times — Hattersley raised $159,877 during three months, leaving him with $171,314 cash in the bank. But both Hattersley and his Democratic primary opponent, Alan Cohn, raised more during the quarter than the Republican incumbent they hope to challenge, Ross Spano. For the campaign overall, Spano has raised more than half a million dollars, but heavy spending and debts left him with less cash than either of the two Democrats. The spending and debts include $38,000 on legal fees as Spano faces investigations over alleged campaign finance improprieties; and $59,500 from loans Spano made to his campaign during the 2018 race when he won the seat. Cohn raised $117,644 during the quarter, finishing with $85,312 in cash.

“Randy Henderson in new ad addresses Ilhan Omar: ‘I’ll get that key back.’” via Jacob Ogles of Florida Politics — Fort Myers Mayor Henderson in a campaign video confronts head-on the time he treated Omar as a dignitary. An introductory ad for his campaign touts his record over 19 years in city government. But the ad also addresses a moment as mayor critics have used to dog his candidacy. Before Ilhan’s election to Congress in 2018, the Minnesota Representative visited Fort Myers as a guest of the African Network of Southwest Florida. The group asked Henderson at the time to give her a key to the city, and he did. He understands why the video of him with Omar upsets voters now. “I’m done playing nice with people who won’t show respect to Trump.”

To watch the ad, click on the image below:

“Andrew Gillum political committee sends $75K to group backing Senate Democrats” via Ryan Nicol of Florida Politics — Senate Victory is partnering with Gillum‘s political committee ahead of the 2020 election. Forward Florida, shipped $75,000 to Senate Victory to invest in campaign operations. The donation came in before the start of the 2020 Legislative Session. “With redistricting right after the 2020 election, it is vital that we elect more Democrats to the Florida Senate to ensure that our citizens get the fair districts they deserve,” Gillum said in announcing the donation. “Senate Victory has a proven track record of success, picking up seats, winning campaigns, and engaging the grassroots. I am excited to partner with Sen. Gary Farmer to advance our shared vision of a brighter, more progressive future for Florida.”

Happening today — The Republican Women’s Club of Sarasota will hold a GOP forum for candidates in HD 72, including Donna Barcomb, Fiona McFarland and James Miller, 11:30 a.m., Michael’s on East, 1212 South East Ave., Sarasota.
Local
“Belvin Perry, former chief judge, enters race to replace Aramis Ayala as Orange-Osceola state attorney” via Monivette Cordeiro of the Orlando Sentinel — Ayala is not running for a second term this year because of her continuing opposition to the death penalty and a Florida Supreme Court ruling that upheld former Gov. Rick Scott’s decision to remove 29 capital cases from her office, due to her refusal to consider capital punishment. Perry filed to run as a Democrat, according to the Florida Division of Elections records. He changed his registration from the Republican Party Jan. 16, 2019, Orange County Supervisor of Elections Bill Cowles previously told the Orlando Sentinel. Perry retired as chief judge of the Ninth Judicial Circuit in 2014.

Belvin Perry is getting back in the game.

“Infant mortality rates have improved across Florida, but Orange County’s has not changed in a decade. Why?” via Naseem Miller of the Orlando Sentinel — Access to care, medical complications, and economic factors can lead to a baby’s death in the first 364 days of life. It’s a complex issue, yet, like a canary in a coal mine, infant mortality rates can signal when and where a community is failing to take care of its most vulnerable populations, including moms and babies. Despite a few dips over the years, Orange County reported the same infant mortality rate last year as it did in 1999: 6.1 infant deaths per 1,000 live births. “[Infant mortality] is certainly not on the [local officials’] radar as a high priority,” said Linda Sutherland, executive director of the Healthy Start Coalition of Orange County.

“South Florida judge tosses surprise emergency room fees lawsuit against HCA hospitals” via Ben Conarck of the Miami Herald — Claims in a 2019 lawsuit that HCA Florida hospitals were billing patients surprise facility fees for emergency room visits were overblown and inaccurate, according to a South Florida federal judge. The hospitals did, in fact, charge facility fees, U.S. Judge Roy K. Altman said in an order dismissing the lawsuit on Monday, but they were disclosed on the internet on lists known as chargemasters, which list the costs of various goods and services. The proposed class-action sought to represent anyone financially responsible for patients who were charged surprise extra fees at all HCA-affiliated emergency rooms in Florida in the last four years. The suit did not name HCA affiliates in Miami-Dade County.

“Mets’ $57 million stadium renovation won’t be finished for the beginning of spring training” via Keona Gardner of TCPalm — The $57 million overhaul of the 7,100-seat stadium is only 62% complete, according to a December quarterly report the county sent to the state. County officials now hope to have work on the stadium done by Feb. 24, two days after the Mets’ spring training home opener. The entire project — including landscaping and other aesthetic items — is to be completed by June 3, the report states. The county did not provide updated completion figures, nor could they provide reasons for the delay. Despite the stadium being two-thirds completed, the Mets say they are “100% confident” the stadium will be ready Monday for pitchers and catchers and Thursday for fans to watch player-workouts.
Top Opinion
“Adam Goodman: God help America” via Florida Politics — The State of the Union address is traditionally the moment when a President shares with America their view of the world. This year broke with much of that tradition and shone a spotlight on the shards of partisan bitterness that threaten to overwhelm the good of the nation and consume the emotions of the nation. Some pejoratively compared the President’s approach to Oprah Winfrey, and yes, there were many made-for-television moments we will not soon forget. Yet it put a face on accomplishments and on priorities that numbers can neither measure nor capture and made this State of the Union an emotional pitch for America to continue its current path.
Opinions
“Rick Scott: Rein in House partisan impeachment power” via USA Today — Our Founding Fathers feared that impeachment would be used as a partisan tool by partisan actors. In Federalist No. 65, Alexander Hamilton warned that “in many cases (impeachment) will connect itself with the preexisting factions and will enlist all their animosities, partialities, influence and interest on one side or the other.” In the impeachment of Trump, their fears have been realized. I believe it’s time to raise the simple majority threshold in the House of Representatives to approve impeachment articles and send them to the Senate for trial. I’m introducing a constitutional amendment that would require a supermajority vote of three-fifths in the House to impeach a public official.

“Spencer Roach: One set of rules for elected officials, another for you?” via Florida Politics — Last week I was the only Republican on the Criminal Justice Subcommittee to vote no on HB 183, which permits elected officials to carry concealed weapons in public meetings over which they preside, such as city council and county commission meetings. Several elected officials also testified in support of the bill, stating that at times they feared for their personal safety at public meetings. Having recently received a death threat myself, I believe their concerns are credible and highlight the risk of harm that exists. How can we ask our constituents to assume a risk that we ourselves are not willing to assume? Are their lives less valuable or less worthy of protection than those of elected officials?

“Peter Navarro: ‘Under-mining’ strategic mineral security” via Florida Politics — We cannot afford to take our self-sufficiency in indispensable mineral and metal production for granted. The United States needs to ensure its production of indispensable minerals and metals such as copper and molybdenum continues, and accelerate production of critical materials, such as rare earth elements, in order to meet demand for emerging, high-performance technologies. Copper is a very important metal for today’s technologies and tomorrow’s. The United States Geological Survey explains that “copper has become a major industrial metal, ranking third after iron and aluminum in terms of quantities consumed.” Prior administration’s failures to combat China’s economic aggression created a strategic risk in the productions and availability of rare earth elements.

“Forget Iowa. Make Florida the first in the nation primary.” via the Tampa Bay Times editorial board — With any luck, the Iowa caucus results might be nailed down before the first spring thaw. The caucuses already were terribly flawed, and this week’s fiasco should finally knock Iowa off its perch as the first state to vote in picking nominees for President. In 2024, why not make Florida the first state to vote? Here are six reasons the Sunshine State would be so much better than the Hawkeye State to kick off the voting for presidential candidates.

“Biden’s campaign has a problem, and it begins with the candidate” via Dan Balz of The Washington Post — Biden has a problem, and it’s not just that no Democrat has finished a weak fourth in the Iowa caucuses and gone on to become the party’s presidential nominee. The problem is Biden, the candidate. Biden has been a lackluster advocate for his own candidacy, and the weakness of that advocacy was an unwelcome element of his campaign. In Iowa, it came crashing in on him. If he truly wants to be President, he doesn’t have to look far for answers as to what happened. His organization certainly failed him, but he contributed significantly to what happened there.

“Boost, don’t cut, education grants that help women, vets, minorities in Florida” via Teri Christoph of the Miami Herald — At a time when DeSantis is actively promoting his workforce initiative, a program designed to produce educated, qualified workers and more opportunities for employment in Florida, education committee officials are floating the idea to cut funding drastically — Effective Access to Student Education (EASE) grants — to students who hope to attend a private college or university. Why are some of the governor’s allies undermining his efforts by reducing grant money to college students? Florida’s private college and university graduates are consistently filling Florida’s workforce shortage in nursing and other areas of health care, engineering, technology and environmental science. Last year, however, state grant funds available for students were cut by $22 million, or almost 20 %.

“Crystal Stickle: Hospitals are anchors in their communities” via Florida Politics — Florida’s nonprofit hospitals serve as essential community resources. Every day, hospitals are reaching out to address their communities’ immediate and long-term needs. This commitment, outlined by a recent survey of hospitals conducted by the Florida Hospital Association, is part of the annual $4 billion in services, programs and activities hospitals provide that benefit the health and well-being of their communities. Community health needs assessments to ensure resources are targeted to develop hyperlocal, community-driven and truly impactful programs. Hospital community benefit partnerships are as large and diverse as Florida itself. From children and the elderly to veterans and people with disabilities, Florida’s hospitals are actively engaged in activities to improve health, strengthen their communities and reduce financial, social and geographic barriers to care.

“UCF’s Greek problem: Out-of-control fraternities and sororities” via the Orlando Sentinel editorial board — The University of Central Florida’s code of conduct includes a long list of offenses that can get a student or an organization in trouble: Disruptive behavior, sexual misconduct and violence, alcohol misuse, hazing … it goes on and on. Here’s what else goes on and on: The number of times UCF’s fraternities and sororities keep violating those rules. But despite all the resulting suspensions, probationary periods, warnings and finger-waggings, nothing changes. This isn’t harmless fun. And yes, we’re fully aware of how much that might sound like the cheerless Dean Wormer character from “Animal House.” But in real life, people get hurt, emotionally and physically. Sometimes they die. They have, right here in Florida.

“Bob McClure: Congratulations, Patrick Mahomes … you have the right to remain silent” via Florida Politics — I read with great dismay the report that Mahomes facilitated the commission of a crime while in Miami for the Super Bowl — a misdemeanor of the second degree. Florida Statute (476.194) expressly prohibits unlicensed barbers from performing services in the state, with the crime designated as a second-degree misdemeanor punishable by up to 60 days in a correctional facility. Mahomes’ barber is licensed in Missouri, and Florida doesn’t have license recognition. No license in Florida; no haircut. What I am pointing out is the sheer and utter stupidity of state regulation. The second thing is we can laugh because it is the Super Bowl MVP, and that highlights the absurdity of the regulation scheme in place.
Movements
New and renewed lobbying registrations:

Davis Bean, Mark Pinto, The Fiorentino Group: Chance Partners

Ellyn Bogdanoff, Nicholas Matthews, Becker & Poliakoff: National College Players Association, Southern Citrus Nurseries

Angela Bonds, Dean Mead: Florida Association of RV Parks and Campgrounds

Christopher Coker, Coker Consulting: Live Advantage Bait

Kalynn Cook: Hopewell Fund

Joshua Funderburke, Roscoe Green, Cotney Construction Lobbying: Florida RACCA, Time Out Systems

Nick Iarossi, Megan Fay, Andrew Ketchel, Ron LaFace, Daniel Newman, Christopher Schoonover, Capital City Consulting: College of Florida Keys Foundation, Florida Pet Retailers

Jerri Norris: Cengage

David Sigerson, Capital Hills Consultants: Professional Opticians of Florida

Shellie Solomon: Children of Inmates

Sean Stafford, McGuireWoods Consulting: Rosetta Stone/Lexia Learning

Derek Whitis, Whitis Consulting: Florida Family Fairness

“Attorney Daniel Uhlfelder no longer representing Florida Beaches for All” via Tom McLaughlin of the Northwest Florida Daily News — Uhlfelder’s Twitter following soared since November from less than 500 to nearly 105,000, thanks primarily to former presidential candidate and South Walton resident Mike Huckabee’s decision to file a bar complaint against him. He’s used that newfound platform to champion his primary cause of establishing customary use in Walton County, but also to rail against Republican Party politics. But even as his national, and even international, Twitter presence has grown, Uhlfelder’s stake in the actual customary use battle in heavily Republican Walton County is dwindling.
Listen up
Battleground Florida with Christopher Heath: Documentary film director Billy Corben shakes off the Super Bowl hangover and joins the podcast to discuss tax giveaways, school vouchers, and bags full of drugs … Florida.

Fluent in Floridian: Dr. Jeffrey Sharkey is a serial entrepreneur, visionary, and director of a wide variety of organizations and associations. He’s now a leader in Florida’s growing medical cannabis industry and guiding the expansion of legislative policy as the founder of the Medical Marijuana Business Association. He has worked to position himself and this association at the forefront of this new frontier in the nation’s third most populous state.

Gradebook from the Tampa Bay Times with hosts Marlene Sokol and Jeffrey Solochek: If you ever had any question whether education is important in Florida, look no further than Tallahassee. Year after year, lawmakers and the Governor have spent hours crafting policy ideas — good and bad — and even longer arguing about them. Even in the sessions when they announce they’ll be giving the issue a rest. And 2020 is no different. So many controversies in The Capitol center on schooling subjects. Tampa Bay Times Tallahassee bureau reporter Emily Mahoney joins education reporter Solochek to talk about the latest battles over vouchers, teacher pay, the Common Core and more.

REGULATED from hosts Christian Bax and Tony Glover: In the Weeds with Samantha Gross of the Miami Herald talks about her new cannabis newsletter.

The Rotunda with Trimmel Gomes: Alan Abramowitz, the executive director of Florida’s Guardian ad Litem program, discusses policy priorities and tactics by child advocates to ensure lawmakers address the needs of Florida’s children in the state budget. In honor of Black History month, Gomes profiles the Rev. C.K. Steele, who led the Tallahassee Bus Boycott in 1956 after two Florida A&M University students were arrested for sitting in the “whites only” section of a segregated bus. Throughout Black History Month, The Rotunda will highlight notable African Americans and related topics in Florida’s history.
Weekend TV
Facing South Florida with Jim DeFede on CBS 4 in Miami: The Sunday show provides viewers with an in-depth look at politics in South Florida, along with other issues affecting the region.

In Focus with Allison Walker-Torres on Bay News 9: A one-on-one interview with Florida Attorney General Moody on the opioid crisis, teen vaping, human trafficking, and police-community relations.

Political Connections on CF 13 in Orlando and Bay News 9 in Tampa/St. Pete: A preview of the 2020 New Hampshire primary and a look back the 2020 Iowa caucus; a recap of the acquittal of Trump by the Senate and his third State of the Union address, and a one-on-one interview with Democratic presidential candidate Bloomberg’s campaign manager.

The Usual Suspects on WCTV-Tallahassee/Thomasville (CBS) and WJHG-Panama City (NBC): Host Gary Yordon talks with Robin Safley from Feeding Florida.

This Week in Jacksonville with Kent Justice on Channel 4 WJXT: Guests include Chris Hand, author and attorney, to discuss the impeachment trial (Hand was a staffer for Sen. Bob Graham during the Bill Clinton impeachment trial), Iowa caucuses and the upcoming Florida primary. The Jacksonville Jaguars added a second “home” football game in London; there was some strong local reaction to that decision. Also, Jacksonville District 4 City Council Member LeAnna Cumber talks Ordinance 2020-74, to prevent human and sex trafficking, as well as recently attending the White House Sex Trafficking Summit.

This Week in South Florida on WPLG-Local10 News (ABC): Co-hosts Michael Putney and Glenna Milberg will speak with U.S. Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell.
Aloe
“The night sky will never be the same” via Marina Koren of The Atlantic — Since last spring, SpaceX has launched into orbit dozens of small satellites — the beginnings of Starlink, a floating scaffold that the company’s founder, Elon Musk, hopes will someday provide high-speed internet to every part of the world. SpaceX sent a letter — in a way. After filing for permission to build its constellation in space, federal regulators held the required comment period, open to the public, before the first satellites could launch. These satellites have turned out to be far more reflective than anyone, even SpaceX engineers, expected. Before Starlink, there were about 200 objects in orbit around Earth that could be seen with the unaided eye. In less than a year, SpaceX has added another 240.

The only story that matters — “WarnerMedia nears deal with ‘Friends’ cast for reunion special” via the Wall Street Journal — “WarnerMedia’s HBO Max is completing agreements with the cast of ‘Friends’ for a reunion special that will likely be used to launch the streaming service this spring, people familiar with the matter said. … Each of the stars would receive between $2.25 million and $2.5 million for the show” under the terms currently being discussed.”

“Review: ‘Birds of Prey’ lets a Joker-free Harley Quinn shine” via Justin Chang of the Los Angeles Times — Mercifully, the Joker is nowhere to be seen in “Birds of Prey,” a sleek, diverting, hyperviolent new caper that arrives bearing the cheeky subtitle “(and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn).” She isn’t the only one who’s been emancipated. You might say that the whole movie — a fast, cheap and carefully controlled distraction from the bigger, heavier goings-on at the DC Comics blockbuster factory — has successfully emancipated itself from the dead weight of Jared Leto’s Joker, a cinematic non-starter that was recently eclipsed by Joaquin Phoenix’s superior, soon-to-be-Oscar-winning upgrade. The filmmakers haven’t exactly imbued the character with untold depths or done much to embellish her fascinatingly grim back story.

“Chris Rock’s ‘Saw’ reboot offers up first twisted trailer” via Ryan Parker of The Hollywood reporter — The first trailer for Rock‘s Saw reboot titled Spiral dropped — and it looks twisted. Starring Rock (also the executive producer) and Samuel L. Jackson, Spiral is a reboot of the now-iconic 2004 horror film Saw, which spawned a large, gory franchise. Almost two minutes in length, the Spiral trailer introduces Rock’s police character, detective Banks, and shows that someone is hunting and brutally murdering cops. At one point, Rock’s character is seen chained up in a room, holding a hacksaw; the image reminiscent of Cary Elwes‘ character in Saw, who had to cut off his own foot to escape.

To view the trailer, click on the image below:
Happy birthday
Celebrating today are two North Florida politicos: state Rep. Brad Drake and Dr. Rachel Pienta. Happy birthday to our friend Josh Burgin. Celebrating on Saturday is U.S. Rep. Gus Bilirakis.
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THE DAILY SIGNAL
Feb 07, 2020

Good morning from Washington, where President Trump is thanking all but one GOP lawmaker for opposing his removal from office and giving his chief congressional enemies a piece of his mind. Fred Lucas reports, while Hans von Spakovsky assesses history’s verdict. Conservatives look to make a difference in better days ahead, Rachel del Guidice finds. Plus: legislation that favors union bosses, and the president’s shoutout to a pastor who overcomes. On this date in 1962, President John F. Kennedy orders a trade embargo on communist Cuba that will tank the island nation’s economy for decades.
COMMENTARY
Photo
By Hans von Spakovsky
History is often an unforgiving critic.
NEWS
Photo
By Rachel del Guidice
“We are producing a playbook that we intend to run when the Republicans return to the majority,” says Rep. Mike Johnson, chairman of the Republican Study Committee.
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By Fred Lucas
President Trump, throwing what he called a “celebration” at the White House, says the nation could have accomplished more by now if not for the time put into his impeachment and legal defense.
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By Jarrett Stepman
A bill in the House of Representatives would make sweeping changes to American labor laws and give union bosses an enormous amount of power.
NEWS
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By Mary Margaret Olohan
Pelosi fails to specifically mention Christians during her prayer, though Christians are severely persecuted around the world for their beliefs.
NEWS
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By Fred Lucas
President Trump recognizes a pastor from one of three black churches that an arsonist set on fire last year in Louisiana: the Rev. Gerald Toussaint of Mount Pleasant Baptist Church.
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THE EPOCH TIMES
Red Rock Secured—A Trusted Leader in Gold IRAs. Protecting Your Retirement: Our Mission is to protect our clients’ retirement through a safe and secure investment diversification

“Have enough courage to trust love one more time and always one more time.”MAYA ANGELOU
Trump SOTU Speech: ‘No Parent Should Be Forced to Send Their Child to a Failing Government School’

DNC Chairman Calls for Recanvass of Iowa Caucus Results

Hillary Clinton Comments on Potentially Joining Democratic Ticket as VP Nominee

Trump and Pelosi Trade Barbs on Heels of Senate Acquittal
President Donald Trump vowed to protect religious liberty, at the 68th national prayer breakfast in Washington, using his first public remarks since the Senate acquitted him a day earlier to also speak out against the impeachment trial. Read more
States are facing more than $1 trillion in unfunded future liabilities related to health and life insurance benefits for their retired employees, a growing shortfall that amounts to about $3,100 for every person in the United States, according to a new report by the American Legislative Exchange Council. Read more
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced on Feb. 5 the official launch of the International Religious Freedom Alliance, a global network formed to continue the fight for religious freedom around the world. Read more
U.S. Attorney General William Barr on Feb. 6 urged the United States to quickly find an alternative to leading Chinese 5G supplier Huawei, saying the nation’s future prosperity depended on it. Read more
The U.S. military’s vision of the unmanned wingman—dogged, unflappable, and ready to make the ultimate sacrifice—has moved a step closer to reality with the successful test of two autonomously piloted Navy jets. Read more
The source of the novel coronavirus that has led to the lockdown of 34 Chinese cities, and has now spread to 35 countries outside China, is still unknown. Initial reports from China claimed the source was a live food market in Wuhan… Read more
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After a year of trade worries, market volatility, inverted yield curves, political upheaval, and soaring consumer debt uncertainty clouds the 2020 economic outlook. In 2020 retirement accounts, savings accounts, and financial portfolios will be at the mercy of global turmoil and dramatic political change. Amid all of this uncertainty, gold has once again become the center of the investing world. It is a universal hedge against unilateral risk and a coveted safe haven for central banks across the globe. Today we are giving away a special gift to all subscribers that have an IRA, 401(k) or Retirement Account. Protect your money with this Free Copy of The #1 Retirement Playbook.

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Trump’s Middle East Doctrine Stands in Stark Contrast to Previous Administration
By Brian CatesLast week, President Donald Trump released his long-awaited Middle East peace plan. As I wrote in a recent column, Trump’s foreign policy initiatives, especially when it comes to the Middle East, stand in stark contrast to those of his predecessor. Read more
SOTU: A Political and Economic Appraisal
By Mark HendricksonYesterday, I reviewed President Donald J. Trump’s State of the Union address as a U.S. citizen rather than as a professional economist. I found it uplifting to be reminded of the many positive developments in our country… Read more
See More Opinions
How Can a Billionaire Go Bankrupt?
By Valentin Schmid
(November 18, 2014)“I pointed to a homeless man and said: This guy is worth $900 million more than me,” said Donald Trump after the real estate bust in the early 1990s. Former number seven of the world’s richest people Eike Batista can soon say the same thing. Read more
Just how widespread is sex trafficking in America? Why is it so incredibly difficult for the victims to ever truly recover and have healthy relationships? How are sex trafficking and pornography connected? And, what can we do to protect our children from sex trafficking? 
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POLITICO PLAYBOOK

POLITICO Playbook: The mess in the Democratic Party

Presented by Amazon

DRIVING THE DAY

WILL ROGERS FAMOUSLY once said this: “I’m not a member of an organized political party. I am a Democrat.” HE WAS A HUMORIST, so he was joking. But his words ring pretty true today.

LET’S REVIEW THE SITUATION DEMOCRATS find themselves in 270 days before Election Day.

THE RESULTS FROM THE FIRST NOMINATING CONTEST of the presidential race are in dispute. The DNC has ordered a recanvassing. Bitter recriminations are volleying back and forth from the candidates to the DNC to party officials in Iowa to the creator of an app that didn’t perform up to snuff.

THE PUTATIVE FRONTRUNNER — 36-year Senate veteran and former VP JOE BIDEN — made a dismal showing in Iowa, and has no clear immediate prospect for raising enough money to keep his creaking operation afloat.

THE RACE’S NEW LEADER, BERNIE SANDERS, is not even a member of the Democratic Party, and Republicans are salivating at the prospect of competing against an actual socialist after years of tagging all Democrats as socialists.

SANDERS’ TOP RIVAL PETE BUTTIGIEG, the former mayor of the fourth-largest city in Indiana, is bracing for a fresh round of press scrutiny and stepped-up attacks from other campaigns that have largely kept their powder dry until now.

THE IMPEACHMENT PUSH IN THE HOUSE led to a predictable acquittal in the Senate, and now President DONALD TRUMP seems determined — and, in fact, freed — to do whatever he wants. He’s vanquished nearly all dissent in the party, and grown his approval numbers.

NEW … PETE RISING AGAIN … BOSTON GLOBE: “Pete Buttigieg continues to surge in N.H. polling,” by Jeremy Fox: “Former South Bend, Ind., mayor Pete Buttigieg, building on his strong showing in the Iowa caucuses, continued his surge among likely Democratic New Hampshire presidential primary voters, putting him and Senator Bernie Sanders in a statistical dead heat in a Boston Globe/WBZ-TV/Suffolk University poll released Thursday night.

“Former vice president Joe Biden, whose campaign is stumbling after a disappointing fourth-place finish in Iowa, saw another modest dip in his numbers. That put him in fourth place behind Senator Elizabeth Warren in Thursday’s poll, the fourth of seven the Suffolk University Political Research Center is conducting in the run-up to the nation’s first primary on Tuesday.

“Sanders held steady at 24 percent, while Buttigieg nipped at his heels with 23 percent. Biden slipped to 11 percent, below Warren’s 13 percent.” Full results

YOWZA … BERNIE SANDERS to ANDERSON COOPER at a CNN town hall Thursday night … COOPER: “Given what happened in Iowa, and that the results still are not in, the DNC has now said they should recanvass. Do you want — are you going to call on the …”

SANDERS: “I think we should — we have got enough of Iowa.” (LAUGHTER) SANDERS: “I think we should move on to New Hampshire. The people — it really did distress me, because I went all over the state of Iowa, and the people there are really great people who take their responsibility of the first caucus in the country very, very seriously. And it is really sad that the Democratic Party of Iowa, if I may say so, screwed up the counting process quite so badly.” More from Stephanie Murray on Sanders in Manchester, N.H.

SNIPPET FROM JONATHAN MARTIN and REID EPSTEIN from NYT, A1: “James Carville, who has said [DNC Chairman Tom Perez] should resign, pointed to another controversy this week that has been overshadowed by the Iowa chaos: the ouster of the top aides who had been planning the party’s nominating convention in Milwaukee. He cited it as another sign of the party’s disarray. ‘We can’t count votes, put on a convention or deliver a winning message,’ said Mr. Carville, the longtime Clinton strategist.”

WHAT BLOOMBERG IS DOING … NYT’S ALEX BURNS and NICK CORASANITI in Manchester: “Bloomberg Pursues Wealthy Donors, but Not Their Checkbooks”

BIDEN M.I.A. — “His campaign on the line, Joe Biden goes missing in New Hampshire,” by WaPo’s Matt Viser, Cleve Wootson Jr. and Michael Scherer in Nashua, N.H.

… AND HOW PETE DID IT: “Behind the chaos: How a small-city mayor and a democratic socialist finished on top in Iowa,” by WaPo’s Michael Scherer, Holly Bailey, Sean Sullivan and Annie Linskey in Des Moines.

— MORE FROM ELENA SCHNEIDER: “Inside Buttigieg’s Iowa comeback”

WHAT THEY’RE READING IN MANCHESTER … UNION LEADER: “Friday’s debate a last chance to break through in New Hampshire” … “NH officials on the primary: We got this”

WHERE THEY ARE …

— BIDEN: Manchester for the debate.

— BLOOMBERG: Norfolk, Va., where he will appear with Richard Spencer, the Navy secretary Trump pushed out. NYT

— BUTTIGIEG: Manchester for the debate.

— SANDERS: Politics and Eggs at Saint Anselm College at 9:30 a.m.

— WARREN: Nothing public.

NEW … THE DCCC raised a half-million dollars online in the 24 hours after the State of the Union. The fundraising solicitation did not include the mention of Speaker NANCY PELOSI ripping the paper.

— THE NRSC has its weekend retreat at the Breakers in Palm Beach this weekend.

Good Friday morning. WHAT A YEAR this week has been.

BIG NYT TICK TOCK … CARL HULSE, NICK FANDOS and EMILY COCHRANE: “How Mitch McConnell Delivered Acquittal for Trump”: “The story of how Mr. McConnell held Republicans together — even in the face of stunning revelations about the president’s conduct and uneasiness in his party about Mr. Trump’s actions — reflects how a master Senate tactician deployed his command of procedure and keen political instincts to lock down a process that posed an existential threat to the president.

“In doing so, he may have cemented the president’s hold on his office and provided a defiant campaign message to propel him to re-election, uniting the party around a figure who brooks no dissent and dealing a death blow to Democrats’ hopes of removing him.

“‘If this was all about politics, and it was, at least at the moment I think it is fair to conclude that we won and they lost,’ Mr. McConnell said in an interview on Thursday in his Capitol office, before he headed to the White House, where he was effusively thanked by the president and received a standing ovation in the East Room.”

— QUOTE OF THE DAY: “‘What I have consistently said to [Trump] is I think I know more about the Senate than you do, which he usually concedes,’ Mr. McConnell recalled, saying he told the president to keep public commentary about impeachment to a minimum. ‘My consistent advice to him with regard to this subject was to avoid it — and for the most part, for the most part, he did.’”

VINDMAN UPDATE … BLOOMBERG’S JENNIFER JACOBS and NICK WADHAMS: “White House Weighs Ouster of Aide Who Testified Against Trump” … More from WaPo

BURGESS EVERETT SCOOP: “Bullock meets with Obama as Montana Senate deadline nears”: “Former President Barack Obama met privately with Montana Gov. Steve Bullock on Thursday in Washington, an adviser confirmed, as Democrats hold out hopes that the red-state governor makes a surprise, last-minute splash into the state’s Senate race.

“Bullock has consistently said he will not run for the Senate after dropping his own White House bid last year. And even after meeting with the former two-term president, Bullock is undeterred. ‘As he has said repeatedly, there will be a candidate for U.S. Senate in Montana against Steve Daines. It will not be Steve Bullock,’ said Matt McKenna, a longtime adviser for Bullock. McKenna said he had no knowledge of the details of the private conversation between the two.” POLITICO

107 HOUSE DEMOCRATS have signed a letter to the president, disapproving of the new Middle East peace plan. The letter

TRUMP’S FRIDAY — The president will leave the White House at 11 a.m. en route to Charlotte. He will travel to Central Piedmont Community College and speak at 1:20 p.m. at the Opportunity Now Summit. Afterward, he will fly back to Washington. Trump will leave the White House at 7 p.m. to travel to the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium. He will speak at the Republican Governors Association’s finance dinner at 7:30 p.m. Afterward, he will return to the White House.

SUNDAY SO FAR …

  • FOX

    “Fox News Sunday” (live from Bedford, N.H.): Pete Buttigieg. Panel: Karl Rove, Julie Pace, Dana Perino and Juan Williams. Power Player segment: Lonnie Bunch.

  • ABC

    “This Week”: Joe Biden. Panel: Yvette Simpson, Jon Karl, Barbara Comstock, Matthew Dowd and Jen Psaki.

  • NBC

    “Meet The Press”: Panel: Joshua Johnson, Kasie Hunt, John Sununu and Claire McCaskill.

  • CNN

    “State Of The Union”: Panel: Rick Santorum, Mia Love, Karen Finney and Wajahat Ali.

  • CNN

    “Inside Politics”: Mike Shear, Jackie Kucinich, Catherine Lucey and Toluse Olorunnipa.

  • CBS

    “Face the Nation”: Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) … CBS’ Anthony Salvanto. Panel: Jamal Simmons, Jeffrey Goldberg, Gerald Seib and Salena Zito.

  • Gray TV

    “Full Court Press With Greta Van Susteren”: Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.).

  • Sinclair

    “America This Week With Eric Bolling”: Alan Dershowitz … Hogan Gidley … Rudy Giuliani … Brad Parscale. Panel: Sebastian Gorka and Ameshia Cross.

SPOTTED at a book party for Phil Rucker and Carol Leonnig in honor of “A Very Stable Genius” ($18.36 on Amazon) at Sally Quinn’s house in Georgetown on Thursday evening: Marty Baron, Fred Ryan, Steve Ginsburg, Dan Balz, Seung Min Kim, Paul Kane, Wes Lowery, David Fahrenthold, Bob Costa, Josh Dawsey, Karen Tumulty, Peter Baker and Susan Glasser, George Conway, Mark Leibovich, Elisabeth Bumiller, Carl Hulse, Mike Shear, Katie Rogers, Annie Karni, Bill Hamilton, Andrea Mitchell, Kasie Hunt and Matt Rivera, Eli Stokols, Alan Berger, Rachel Adler, Julie Hirschfeld Davis, Ashley Parker and Mike Bender, and Michael Beschloss.

— PHIL AND CAROL’S book is in its SIXTH printing, and is on the NYT bestseller list for the second week in a row, clocking in at No. 2. CAA is selling the rights for TV/film adaptation.

PLAYBOOK READS

ROMNEY BACKSTORY … MERIDITH MCGRAW and NANCY COOK: “In the weeks leading up to the Senate trial, Trump gave Romney space to make a decision. He did not court or pressure him, or phone him directly and frequently as he often does with Republican lawmakers. Both Romney allies on Capitol Hill and advisers close to the White House told the president they believed Romney would ultimately vote to acquit him. With less than 24 hours to go until the impeachment vote, Romney allies kept signaling to Republican lawmakers and the White House that Romney was leaning toward acquittal. All the while, Romney’s office avoided contact with the White House.

“Then, on Tuesday afternoon, the chatter about Romney went silent, a fact White House aides reported to the president.

“Trump and White House officials later learned that Romney had given embargoed interviews to the Atlantic, The New York Times, and the Washington Post on his decision to convict Trump. Trump felt hoodwinked. And it showed.” POLITICO

PROBABLY NOT THE LAST TIME THEY’LL DISAGREE! … MEL ZANONA: “‘I don’t think Romney is effective in any shape or form,’ [Kevin] McCarthy told a group of reporters outside the House chamber. … While Republican Conference Chairwoman Liz Cheney of Wyoming said she disagreed with Romney’s decision, she had a different take than McCarthy: She called him a ‘man of conscience’ and said he is a ‘real value for us to have in the Senate.’ ‘Senator Romney is a good and honorable man,’ Cheney, the No. 3 House Republican, said in an interview. ‘And I don’t think anybody ought to question his faith.’” POLITICO

NYT’S ANNIE KARNI: “What It’s Like to Be the Face of Trump’s Super Bowl Ad”

CHARLIE MAHTESIAN in POLITICO MAGAZINE: “How Trump Rewired the Electoral Map: This presidential race will be fought on electoral terrain that would have been unthinkable four years ago, before everything blew up.” From the Mag’s latest issue, “The New Rules”

CORONAVIRUS UPDATE … AP: “Cruise ship turned away as virus alarm doctor dies in China,” by Ken Moritsugu and Mari Yamaguchi in Beijing: “Japan on Friday reported 41 new cases of a virus on a quarantined cruise ship and turned away another luxury liner while the death toll in mainland China rose to 636, including a doctor who got in trouble with authorities in the communist country for sounding an early warning about the disease threat.

“Following an online uproar over the government’s treatment of Dr. Li Wenliang, 34, the ruling Communist Party said it was sending an investigation team to ‘fully investigate relevant issues raised by the public’ regarding the case. Two docked cruise ships with thousands of passengers and crew members remained under 14-day quarantines in Hong Kong and Japan.” AP

— A GRIM NYT DISPATCH FROM WUHAN: “With the sick being herded into makeshift quarantine camps, with minimal medical care, a growing sense of abandonment and fear has taken hold in Wuhan, fueling the sense that the city and surrounding province of Hubei are being sacrificed for the greater good of China.” NYT

— WH deputy press secretary @JuddPDeere45: “Today [Thursday], @realDonaldTrump spoke with President Xi Jinping of China. President Trump expressed confidence in China’s strength and resilience in confronting the challenge of the 2019 novel coronavirus outbreak.”

THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION … SECOND-TERM PLANS … WSJ’S ANDREW RESTUCCIA: “Senior aides — led by Chris Liddell, the White House’s deputy chief of staff for policy coordination — have been meeting since late last year to chart an agenda for the second term, according to administration officials. The discussions are in their initial stages, the officials said.

“The early outlines of the agenda are starting to emerge, but aides said Mr. Trump hasn’t yet signed off on the final details of the plan, though he is receiving regular briefings on the discussions. Among the issues under consideration: continuing the administration’s efforts to lower prescription drug prices, pushing for a broad infrastructure bill and taking another crack at reforming the country’s immigration system, the officials said.

“White House aides are still holding out hope that some of these things can get accomplished before the end of the first term, but lawmakers and some in the administration are pessimistic about the chances of finding common ground with Democratic lawmakers this year.

“Senior aides have also begun discussing ways to lower the deficit — which is projected to reach $1 trillion in 2020 — and cut taxes for the middle class, as well as roll back more Obama-era regulations. The president’s coming budget blueprint, set to be released Monday, is expected to shed more light on his policy priorities.” WSJ

MEDIAWATCH — Galina Espinoza is now president and editor-in-chief at Rewire.News. She previously was a senior director of digital enterprises at NBCUniversal.

PLAYBOOKERS

Send tips to Eli Okun and Garrett Ross at politicoplaybook@politico.com.

TRANSITIONS — Jamie Smith is now chief communications officer at Ellucian. She previously was chief marketing officer at the Linux Foundation and is an Obama White House alum. … Rachel Goldberg is now head of U.S. government affairs at TransUnion. She previously was VP of government affairs at Guardian Life. … Luke Strange is now director of government relations at AEI. He previously was a director of government relations for foreign and defense policy.

WELCOME TO THE WORLD — Jessica Schneider, CNN justice correspondent, and Adam Harrison, project manager for John Moriarty & Associates, on Tuesday welcomed Lincoln Michael Robert Harrison, who came in at 7 lbs, 10 oz and 21 inches. Pic … Another pic

BIRTHDAY OF THE DAY: Invariant’s Mary Beth Stanton. A fun fact about her: “I love to see women succeed on the biggest stages. I’ve seen Selena, Taylor, Demi, Nicki, Kesha, Britney, Ariana, Janelle, Charli, Robyn, Katy, Cher, Lizzo, J. Lo and Rihanna multiple times.” Playbook Q&A

BIRTHDAYS: Former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper, now running for Senate, is 68 … Gay Talese is 88 … Roberta McCain is 108 … Dave Levinthal, editor-at-large for The Center for Public Integrity … former Sen. Herb Kohl (D-Wis.) is 85 … POLITICO’s Laura Barrón-López … Jessica Kershaw … Beth Frerking … Matt Aiello … Jeff Kearns, Bloomberg’s U.S. economy editor … Sterling Emerling … Jennifer Diamond Haber … Monica Medina, founder and publisher of Our Daily Planet (h/ts husband Ron Klain, Jon Haber and Miro Korenha) … Jim Burns … Robert Howard of North Carolina Democratic Party comms … former Rep. Allen West (R-Fla.) is 59 … former Rep. Stephen Fincher (R-Tenn.) is 47 … former Rep. Doc Hastings (R-Wash.) is 79 … former Rep. Michael Grimm (R-N.Y.) is 5-0 …

… James Gilbert, chief administrative law judge of the U.S. Postal Service … Carleton Bryant … Patrick Ferrise, producer of “The Press Pool” on SiriusXM POTUS … Veronica Molina, social media manager at J Strategies (h/t Adam Morey) … Jasmine Nazarett, senior comms manager for Community Change (h/t Molly Fluet) … Deborah Bodin Cohen … Julie Thomas … Frank Binzoni … Emily Hampsten, communications director for Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) … Bloomberg’s Colleen Murphy … Cameron Langford … Miguel L’Heureux … Jeanne McCann … Cappi Williamson … Jeff Marschner, director of media relations at the Hoover Institution, is 42 … Tiffany Win … Christine Grimaldi … John Criscuolo, a public policy advisor for Squire Patton Boggs … Marielle Kress … Sean Elsbernd

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THE WASHINGTON POST MORNING HEADLINES

DAYBREAK

Your First Look at Today’s Top Stories – Daybreak Insider
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FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 2020
1.
Sanders Wins Iowa Popular Vote, AP Won’t Call It, CNN Sees Something Fishy

More fun in Iowa for the Democratic party.  Both Sanders (popular vote) and Buttigieg (“state delegate equivalents”) are claiming victory (PJ Media).  From Byron York: AP says it cannot declare winner in Iowa Democratic caucus, based on arcane SDE calculations. But with 99% reporting, Sanders has 6,114-vote (3.5 percentage point) lead in first vote, 2,631-vote (1.6 point) lead in second vote. Neither is too close to call. Sanders won (Twitter).  From Jake Tapper: A CNN analysis shows errors in the count reported by the Iowa Democratic Party. Multiple counties have reported a different number of state delegate equivalents than they were supposed to have, even though all precincts in the county have been tallied (Twitter).
2.
Iowa Precinct Chairs Mailed Results to Party Officials

When the system broke down, some chose to snail mail the results the next day, causing more delays (NY Post).  The DNC chief called for a recanvass. The Iowa Democratic party said no (NY Post).  From Jim Geraghty, prior to the final tally: Not only can the state party not provide the full results, not only can they not say when they will be able provide full results, but they also cannot explain why they cannot provide full results. The unnerving possibility from this inexplicable refusal to give answers is that the party doesn’t actually know if their data are accurate and that perhaps some staff in some precincts made errors during the recording of votes. Who entrusted the Iowa state party with that privilege and responsibility? The Democratic National Committee, which controls and runs the nominating process (National Review).
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3.
Polls Show Narrow Lead for Sanders in New Hampshire

Up one on Buttigieg in one poll (CBS Boston) and up 4 in another (Monmouth).  From Liam Martin: Buttigieg has surged TWELVE points in three nights in our New Hampshire poll (Twitter).  Meanwhile, from Noah Rothman: Biden’s fourth-place finish has put his campaign on its heels. Despite early efforts to downplay the results, the candidate isn’t sugarcoating anything. “We took a gut punch in Iowa,” Biden confessed on Wednesday. “But look, this isn’t the first time in my life I’ve been knocked down” (Commentary Magazine). And Elizabeth Warren minority staffers are complaining of a “toxic work environment” (Politico) that Warren is blaming on America in general (Twitter).
4.
Buttigieg Defends Late Term Abortion

Challenged by Meghan McCain, Buttigieg said “I don’t know what to tell them morally about what they should do. I just know that I trust that her decision isn’t going to be any better, medically or morally . . . because the government is telling her to do it a certain way” (Fox News). From Alexandra Desacntis: the central question of the debate over abortion policy isn’t whether we should trust women or government officials. The question is whether and what abortion kills. If, as pro-lifers argue, every abortion intentionally ends the life of a unique human organism, our policy debate must acknowledge and address that fact. The former mayor of South Bend, Ind., prefers to disguise his radical position by dressing it up with fictions (National Review). From Liz Wheeler: Pete Buttigieg defends late-term abortion. He claims late-term abortions are due to fetal abnormalities. That’s FALSE. Less than 10% are for fetal issues. Let’s not pretend a disabled baby is a good excuse to kill a baby anyway. Buttigieg is radical (Twitter). From Bethany Mandel: Let’s also not pretend that late term abortions are always a tough choice that women make with the best of intentions. The data indicates late term abortions happen for the same reasons that they happen in the beginning of pregnancy: Inconvenience (Twitter).
5.
Poll: 76 Percent of Americans Approve of Trump’s State of the Union

Of those who tuned in (CBS News).  Which makes Speaker Pelosi’s actions all the more problematic.  Peggy Noonan explains “Speaker Nancy Pelosi shattered tradition, making faces, muttering, shaking her head as the president delivered his State of the Union address. At the end she famously stood, tore the speech up and threw down the pieces.” Later: “Those who didn’t come were unprofessional, but it was also a practical failure. They abandoned the field and let the Congress of the United States look like one big, cheering, unified bastion of boisterous Republicans, with a few grim women dressed in white in the corner. That’s what you want America to see?” (WSJ).
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6.
Poll: 90 Percent of Americans are Satisfied with Personal Life

Another new high for Gallup.

Gallup
7.
Publisher of “American Dirt” Repents, Promises More “Latinx” Titles and Staff

As Macmillan Books gets pushed around by the hostile progressives (Twitter).  From Rod Dreher: …this is actually happening. First Prada, now this. We really are sliding into a soft form of totalitarianism (Twitter).
8.
China’s Secrecy Delayed Fight of Coronavirus

From the story:  The government’s initial handling of the epidemic allowed the virus to gain a tenacious hold. At critical moments, officials chose to put secrecy and order ahead of openly confronting the growing crisis to avoid public alarm and political embarrassment (NY Times). The death toll in China is now well over 600 (NY Times).  There are now 61 cases of the coronavirus on one quarantined cruise liner near Tokyo (WSJ).
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9.
Corey Feldman: Pedophilia is Hollywood’s Biggest Problem

And he has a documentary coming out about it.

NY Post
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THE WASHINGTON TIMES

 

THE HILL

The Hill's Morning Report

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Welcome to The Hill’s Morning Report. TGIF! Our newsletter gets you up to speed on the most important developments in politics and policy, plus trends to watch. Alexis Simendinger and Al Weaver are the daily co-creators, so find us @asimendinger and @alweaver22 on Twitter and recommend the Morning Report to your friends. CLICK HERE to subscribe!
President Trump threw a party and invited Republicans (minus Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah) to the White House on Thursday to celebrate the Senate’s decision that he won’t be removed from office for allegations he abused his powers and obstructed a congressional investigation (The Hill).

 

The Senate’s vote on Wednesday was not a surprise, nor was Trump’s display of relief and resentment about the impeachment drama he declares was made up by congressional Democrats and devoid of any evidence of wrongdoing.

 

“This is really not a news conference, it’s not a speech. It’s not anything,” Trump said. “It’s just, we’re sort of, it’s a celebration because we have something that just worked out….It’s called total acquittal.”

 

Speaking to a cheering audience in the East Room for more than an hour without a script, the president held aloft newspapers with bold headlines that declared “Trump acquitted” (The Hill).

 

In 1999, after former President Clinton was acquitted by the Senate on impeachment charges, he spoke for 10 minutes in the Rose Garden and apologized to the American people for what he’d put the nation through. There was no apology from the 45th president, who suggested the country should be grateful he was willing to thwart what he called “tremendous corruption,” “evil,” “dirty cops” (a reference to former FBI Director James Comey), and “dirty politics,” which he blamed on Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Democratic investigators.

 

Trump’s grievances, familiar on Twitter and Fox News for months, roping in the Russia probe and his 2016 victory, were signs that he has no intention of turning the page as he seeks a second term.

 

Mark Leibovich: “We’ve been through hell,” the president said, victorious.

 

The president thanked his family and gave shoutouts to some of his more prominent defenders in Congress, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) and Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), among others.

 

Despite the historic black mark of being the third president in history to be impeached, it has been something of a high-five sort of week for Trump. As Scott Wong points out, the president delivered a State of the Union address on Tuesday that was hailed by GOP lawmakers and his loyal base of supporters. He and fellow Republicans took advantage of the Democratic Party’s debacle in Iowa on Monday, and U.S. economic indicators and the financial markets continued to soar.

 

“Through a combination of unforced errors and political maneuvering, Trump had one of his best weeks,” one House Democrat involved with the impeachment effort acknowledged to The Hill.

 

Since his presidency began, Trump’s approval numbers have been consistently underwater and underwhelming. However, Gallup this week said Trump’s approval rating climbed to the highest mark of his presidency at 49 percent. The survey made headlines hours before Trump delivered his address to a combined audience of 37 million people on Tuesday night.

 

According to the latest RealClearPolitics average of polls, Trump’s approval rating sits at 45.3 percent, one of the highest marks of his presidency.

 

McConnell said he’s eager to put impeachment behind the Senate and to shift back to confirming conservative judges and Trump’s executive nominees with a focus on getting Republicans reelected in November.

 

But Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), a staunch Trump defender, is flirting with investigating the activities half a dozen years ago of former Vice President Joe Biden, his son Hunter Biden and the Ukrainian energy company Burisma (The Hill).

 

House Democrats, desultory about the public’s opposition to ousting Trump months before an election, have promised to keep digging into the president’s actions and those of his associates. There are plenty of Democratic political analysts who have advised the Democratic Party to use legislative levers other than impeachment to focus on progressives’ goal of putting a Democrat in the Oval Office in January.

 

“I’m sure they’ll try to cook up other things,” the president protested. “They want to destroy our country and we’re not going to let it happen.”

 

The Washington Post: Trump lambastes, reassigns critics who testified during the impeachment hearings. Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, who had requested to move out of the White House National Security Council at the end of this month, will be moved out sooner than that at the president’s behest.

 

The Hill: McConnell displays mastery of Senate with impeachment victory.

 

The New York Times: Democrats, knocked back by Trump’s acquittal, ponder their next steps.

 

The Hill: Pelosi defends her actions: Trump State of the Union address “beneath the dignity of the country.”

 

The Hill: House Republicans move Jordan to the Judiciary Committee, Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) to the Oversight panel.

 

© Getty Images

 
LEADING THE DAY
POLITICS & 2020 CAMPAIGNS: Unfortunately for all parties, the Democratic Party can’t get past Iowa.

 

Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez called Thursday for a recanvass of the Iowa caucuses as the state continues to deal with fallout from Monday’s debacle.

 

By Thursday night, with 100 percent of Iowa precincts reporting, former South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) emerged neck and neck (The Hill). While Buttigieg said he’d won, doubts about the integrity and accuracy of the Iowa data continue to undermine confidence in the tally.

 

“Enough is enough. In light of the problems that have emerged in the implementation of the delegate selection plan and in order to assure public confidence in the results, I am calling on the Iowa Democratic Party to immediately begin a recanvass,” Perez tweeted early Thursday afternoon.

 

A DNC official told The Hill that a recanvass, distinct from a recount, would be a hand audit of caucus math worksheets and reporting forms to ensure they were properly tallied and reported.

 

However, Perez’s call was met with resistance from the Iowa Democratic Party (IDP). Troy Price, chairman of the IDP, said in a statement that the campaigns, not Perez, could request a recanvass. The candidates have until noon today.

 

The Hill: The Associated Press is unable to declare a winner in Iowa caucuses.

 

Dan Balz: Joe Biden’s campaign has a problem, and it begins with the candidate.

 

© Getty Images

 

 

Looking ahead, the debacle in Iowa has only exacerbated tensions between Sanders and the DNC, which were already fraught to begin with after the tenuous 2016 cycle.

 

As Jonathan Easley writes, Sanders’s supporters and allies have grown increasingly frustrated over the historic screw-up in Iowa, with many complaining that the Vermont independent has been deprived of momentum he should have had coming out of the first-in-the-nation caucus. They also argue that the chaos consuming the state party is emblematic of the establishment figures at the controls whose unchecked power has bred incompetence and laziness.

 

There has been no indication of any wrongdoing — on purpose or not — in the vote counting, but that hasn’t stopped Sanders supporters from getting agitated over the ongoing victory tour by Buttigieg in the aftermath of Monday’s caucuses. They believe the former mayor is the beneficiary of party processes, with the entire situation giving more fuel to their anti-DNC sentiment.

 

With Iowa still fresh in the mind, one would be forgiven if it slipped the mind that there is a debate tonight, the eighth of the 2020 cycle and the only one to take place before Tuesday’s primary. Seven Democratic candidates will take the stage — Sanders, Buttigieg, Biden, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Andrew Yang and Tom Steyer. 

 

The Hill’s Max Greenwood takes a look at five things to watch tonight in Manchester, N.H., including whether Sanders and Buttigieg clash, how the rest of the centrists treat Sanders, and the million-dollar question about the decision to hold the debate on a Friday: Will anyone watch?

 

The Associated Press: Democrats prepare for New Hampshire debate with sense of urgency.

 

The Washington Post: His campaign on the line, Joe Biden went missing in New Hampshire to huddle with advisers at his home in Delaware.

 

Notably, this debate could be the last one for a while to exclude former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who has not qualified for debates since he entered the race in November due to the need to reach donor thresholds. Starting with the Feb. 19 debate in Las Vegas, that threshold is no more, giving Bloomberg the chance to make the stage.

 

Politico: Women of color bolt Warren’s Nevada campaign in frustration.

 

The New York Times: Bloomberg pursues wealthy donors, but not their checkbooks.

 

Bloomberg News: Trump 2020 manager Brad Parscale moves to Washington after criticism.

 

© Getty Images

 
IN FOCUS/SHARP TAKES
INTERNATIONAL: Yemen: The White House said on Thursday that the United States killed al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) founder Qassim al-Rimi in what it described as a “counterterrorism operation in Yemen.” Killing al-Rimi — who claimed responsibility for last year’s deadly shooting at the Naval Air Station Pensacola where a Saudi aviation trainee killed three American sailors — “further degrades AQAP and the global al Qaeda movement,” according to the statement. It did not elaborate about how or when the operation took place. In late January, a suspected U.S. drone strike destroyed a building that housed al Qaeda militants in eastern Yemen. Also, on Feb. 1, Trump retweeted several other tweets and media reports that seemed to offer confirmation that the strike had killed al-Rimi (The Associated Press).

 

© Getty Images

 

 

> Coronavirus: From the death on Friday of eye doctor Li Wenliang, who communicated an early alarm about the virus in Wuhan, China, to the confirmed infection of a newborn just 36 hours old, the mysterious virus continues to challenge governments and medical experts (The Associated Press).

 

It has killed 638 people and infected at least 31,515, according to the latest data. A dozen people with the virus are being treated in the United States.

 

President Xi Jingping assured Trump by phone that China can halt the epidemic with no long-term consequences for economic development, according to state television (Reuters). Trump confirmed their conversation on Twitter at 5:30 a.m. today: “Great discipline is taking place in China, as President Xi strongly leads what will be a very successful operation.”

 

In Japan, another 41 people tested positive on a quarantined cruise ship (The Washington Post).

 

Scientists are racing to create a vaccine, but it may not come in time (The Associated Press).

 

Officials in China have told 11 million residents of Wuhan, which currently looks like a ghost town, that they must report their body temperatures daily to health officials (Business Insider).

 

Americans flown out of China because of the virus, and who are not expected to be ill, will be temporarily housed in Texas and Nebraska in military quarters. Officials said on Thursday that about 70 Americans will be flown into Omaha and quarantined at a nearby Nebraska National Guard training base. In Texas, Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio was preparing to quarantine as many as 250 people who could arrive as soon as today (The Associated Press).

 

Reddit is encouraging its users to combat sensationalist misinformation about the coronavirus on its platform, prompting medical experts on Reddit to take matters into their own hands. The unpaid curators of the website’s largest coronavirus-related discussion groups are working to ensure verified information rises to the top of the platform (The Hill).

 

> United Kingdom: Trump had a heated conversation last week with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson while discussing Chinese tech giant Huawei, reported the Financial Times. Trump’s “apoplectic” exchange with Johnson took place after the United Kingdom said it would allow Huawei to have a role in the country’s 5G cellphone networks, which the Trump administration sees as an intelligence risk (The Hill).

Meanwhile, Attorney General William Barr said at a conference on Thursday that the United States and its allies should be so determined to counter Huawei Technology Co.’s dominance in next-generation 5G wireless technology that they should consider taking a “controlling stake” in Finland’s Nokia and Sweden’s Ericsson, “either directly or through a consortium of private American and allied companies” (Reuters).

 

> Syria: President Bashar Assad’s forces entered a strategic town in the country’s last rebel stronghold Thursday after fierce clashes with opposition fighters, even as Turkey sent reinforcements seeking to curtail the offensive, Syrian state media reported. The push into the northwestern Idlib province has displaced more than a half million people in just over two months, compounding a massive migration and humanitarian disaster in the region that Turkey is eager to halt (The Associated Press).

 

> Venezuela: The Trump administration on Thursday condemned the “cruel and indefensible” detention in Caracas of executives from Houston-based refiner Citgo and also warned Russia over its support for Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro (Reuters) Six American oil executives are now under house arrest in Venezuela after being rounded up by police hours after Trump met on Wednesday at the White House with Maduro’s chief opponent, Juan Guaidó, hailed by Trump as Venezuela’s true president (The Associated Press).

 

> Trade: Trump trade adviser Peter Navarro escalated an administration feud with Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos (a favorite Trump target because Bezos owns The Washington Post). The Hill’s Emily Birnbaum interviewed Navarro on Thursday and reported on the latest rift, which ostensibly has to do with Amazon’s struggles to combat the sale of counterfeit merchandise, but also seems to be about R.E.S.P.E.C.T. and a meeting.
OPINION
Seven things the Iowa caucuses taught us, may they rest in peace, by former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell (D), opinion contributor, The Hill. https://bit.ly/373pMKf

 

Impeachment is over — or is it? by Andrew McCarthy, opinion contributor, The Hill. https://bit.ly/2UysjcD
WHERE AND WHEN
📺 Hill.TV’s “Rising” program features coverage at http://thehill.com/hilltv or on YouTube at 10:30 a.m. ET at Rising on YouTube. Hill.TV’s Krystal Ball and Saagar Enjeti co-authored “The Populist’s Guide to 2020: A New Left and New Right are Rising,” out this weekend.

 

The House meets at 9 a.m. Lawmakers are expected to consider bills on emergency disaster relief assistance for Puerto Rico and Medicaid funding.

 

The Senate will convene at 3 p.m. on Monday to consider the nomination of Andrew Brasher, 38, to be a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit.

 

The president heads to Charlotte today to address the North Carolina Opportunity Now Summit at 1 p.m., and he’ll be back at the White House three hours later. At 7:30 p.m., Trump will address the Republican Governors Association finance dinner in Washington while the National Governors Association holds its winter meeting.

 

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo meets at 9 a.m. at Foggy Bottom with Josep Borrell, the European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, and also the vice president of the European Commission.

 

Economic indicator: The Bureau of Labor Statistics at 8:30 a.m. will report on U.S. unemployment in January. In the midst of a remarkable stretch of robust employment and at the start of an election year, analysts are expected to take a close look at the latest data (The Associated Press).

 

The Hill’s Campaign Report newsletter is now daily, with reporting from our colleagues on the politics team. Sign up to receive the latest news in your inbox: http://www.email.thehill.com/thehillreg/thehillreg/pref.action
ELSEWHERE
➔ Boeing: Boeing found a new software problem on the grounded 737 Max. The plane  continues to be plagued with problems as the company works toward getting its fleet into the air again. The airplane giant said the new problem will not set it back as it aims for return to service in mid-2020. Boeing said it notified the Federal Aviation Administration last month about the latest issue (Bloomberg News).

 

➔ Space: On Sunday, NASA plans to launch an orbiter into space to study the sun. The effort to capture images of the star’s poles with the probe requires a ride atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida (Fox News).

 

➔ Hollywood: The Oscars are Sunday night, and based on the preliminary controversies, debates and complaints, an evening dedicated to celebrating the arts and sciences in film won’t please everyone. Female directors have been snubbed by the Academy (The Associated Press), and the films nominated in the Best Picture category launched much hand-wringing about the current direction of the industry (The New York Times). The nominees this year are HERE.

 

One part of the evening sure to have Academy members recalling Hollywood’s golden age is the anticipated tribute for the late Kirk Douglas, 103, who died this week. In 1996, he was awarded an honorary Oscar and was the proud father of Oscar-winning actor and director Michael Douglas (The Associated Press).

 

© Getty Images

 
THE CLOSER
And finally … 👏👏👏 Congrats to the Morning Report quiz masters!

 

With the efficiency of paper and pen, we counted the savvy readers who correctly answered our questions about the Iowa caucuses — and report our tally here: Daniel Bachhuber, Patrick Kavanagh, Phil Kirstein, Tim Aiken, Lawrence Keane, Steve Juarez, William Chittam, Chuck Schoenenberger, John Donato, Randall S. Patrick, Donna Minter, Rose Soriano, Enzo De Palma, Walter Pflaumer, Tim Burrack, Carol Katz, Dara Umberger, John Hayden and Lauren Bobek. 

 

They knew that the first Democratic caucus held in Iowa took place in 1972.

 

It was a defective smartphone app that delayed reporting of precinct results in Iowa this week. 

 

Trump tweeted many, many thoughts about the Democratic Party’s travails in Iowa and the correct answer among some lively choices: “All of the above.”

 

Iowa goes first among states during the presidential nominating calendar because of rules adopted by the national parties, strengthened by tradition (and state pride) over many years (The Des Moines Register).

 

© Getty Images

 
The Morning Report is created by journalists Alexis Simendinger and Al Weaver. We want to hear from you! Email: asimendinger@thehill.com and aweaver@thehill.com. We invite you to share The Hill’s reporting and newsletters, and encourage others to SUBSCRIBE!
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AXIOS

THE FLIP SIDE

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Friday, February 7, 2020

Senate Acquits Trump

On Wednesday, “President Donald Trump won impeachment acquittal in the U.S. Senate.” The votes were along party lines with the exception of Mitt Romney (R-UT), who voted for conviction on the first charge, abuse of power. AP News

From the Left
The left criticizes Republicans who voted for acquittal and worries about the consequences for Trump’s future behavior.
“In his closing argument, the White House counsel Pat Cipollone did not make it easy for the senators. ‘The President has done nothing wrong,’ he said, as he rested his case. On Wednesday, fifty-two of the fifty-three Republican members of the Senate, no matter what contorted rationales they offered the public, voted to accept that proposition. [Democratic Senator Joe] Manchin had tried to interest the Republicans in a censure motion that would at least register some disapproval. He had no takers.”
Susan B. Glasser, New Yorker“The clearest measure of how far the Republican Party has strayed from good governance may be Mr. Romney’s explanation for his vote… Mr. Trump’s behavior in relation to Ukraine ‘was a flagrant assault on our electoral rights, our national security, and our fundamental values,’ Mr. Romney said Wednesday on the Senate floor. ‘Corrupting an election to keep oneself in office is perhaps the most abusive and destructive violation of one’s oath of office that I can imagine.’… Just eight years ago, Mr. Romney was the Republican nominee for president; today, his vote will cast him as a pariah.”
Editorial Board, New York Times

“That some Democrats were overly eager to impeach had nothing to do with whether these particular charges (and the president’s overall behavior) meant he should be removed from office… The impeachment power is weak, but it will be weaker in the wake of how Senate Republicans conducted this trial and how they explained themselves… [This] puts the U.S. Constitution in grave jeopardy. In particular, it puts the integrity of the 2020 election in serious doubt. Even if nothing else happens, it will already tend to undermine the strength of U.S. democracy. Does anyone think Trump will hesitate to seek further foreign interference in the election?”
Jonathan Bernstein, Bloomberg

“Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski acknowledged that the president had committed wrongdoings in the Ukraine scandal. At the same time, she made the circular assertion that she couldn’t vote for a partisan impeachment, thereby ensuring that it would remain partisan. Maine Senator Susan Collins went even further to defend her vote for acquittal. While also faulting Trump for his actions, she made the risible assertion that Trump ‘has learned from this case,’ as if to suggest that he won’t do anything like it again. The president, for his part, has continually asserted that he did nothing wrong and acted perfectly in all respects.”
Matt Ford, New Republic

“Trump got himself acquitted without even a token gesture of contrition. Bill Clinton survived his sex and perjury scandal, but part of him doing so was to concede in public that what he did was wrong. Ronald Reagan survived Iran-Contra, but disposing of the situation involved identifying fall guys and an internal personnel shake-up. Trump didn’t distance himself from Rudy Giuliani, hail internal dissenters for cutting short an inappropriate mingling of politics and foreign policy, or concede that there was any problem with holding up the aid in the first place, even though he eventually released it…

“Before acquittal, members of the Trump administration had to worry at least a little that getting caught doing something wrong would lead to consequences. And potentially, whistleblowers had to hope at least a little that spilling the beans would lead to positive change. Now we know that none of that is the case.”
Matthew Yglesias, Vox

From the Right
The right is critical of the impeachment effort as a whole and generally disapproves of Romney’s vote.
“In the bitter end, what has all of this accomplished? The House has defined impeachment down to a standard that will now make more impeachments likely. ‘Abuse of power’ and ‘corrupt motives’ are justifications that partisans in both parties can use. Mr. Trump remains in office, but he will now claim vindication and use it as a rallying cry for re-election against what he will call an attempted insider coup. The partisan furies have intensified, and this election year will be even more bitterly fought. Mr. Trump’s political standing has even improved during the impeachment struggle… We doubt this is what Nancy Pelosi hoped for, but it is what her partisan impeachment has wrought.”
Editorial Board, Wall Street JournalAt the end of the day, “The Democrats… failed to convince the Senate that Trump’s alleged abuse of power was impeachable. Presidents abuse power all the time, and the answer is rarely impeachment. Trump’s legal defense team went a step further and argued abuse of power is too vague an accusation to warrant impeachment. The constitutional framers would beg to differ — they did, after all, leave room for ‘crimelike’ actions. But even so, Trump’s team made a good point: Impeachment is a serious instrument that should be used only as a last resort.”
Kaylee McGhee, Washington Examiner

Regarding Romney, “A Senator who wanted to lead and believed deeply that Trump deserved conviction would have worked tirelessly to convince his fellow Republican Senators to join him in this vote. Instead, Romney waited until after the decisions made by all his fellow Republicans were announced to take his stand – ineffective as the protesters outside. Except to the extent it is helpful to the campaigns of Democratic candidates running against Cory Gardner and Susan Collins.”
Ben Domenech, The Federalist

“Had Romney stuck with his caucus, Democrats still would have attacked Susan Collins, Cory Gardner, and other Senate Republicans for their acquittal votes, but Romney’s vote to acquit makes them all look a little more like Trump’s handmaidens. There’s no doubt Romney made it more difficult for them to compete in November…

“It might not have mattered as much if [Democratic Senators] Joe Manchin or Kyrsten Sinema had gone the other way. Both of them issued statements after Romney, and one has to wonder whether they might have decided differently had Romney voted to acquit. We’ll never know until we read their memoirs, but Romney’s big reveal two hours before the vote effectively tore away any political cover either would have had to break from their own caucuses.”
Ed Morrissey, Hot Air

Some argue, “Spare me the argument that Romney did it because he wanted praise from the media. He’s a 72-year-old multimillionaire senator who’s not up for reelection until 2024, and few Americans know better just how vicious the mainstream media can be. Romney lived through it in 2012; he knows how easily they will smear, deride, and attempt to destroy a good man in service of a political goal…

“The only plausible reason for Romney to vote for removal on one count is because he genuinely believed it was the right thing to do — and did so knowing the avalanche of rage that would come his way from his usual Republican allies.”
Jim Geraghty, National Review
On the bright side…

Mumbai tests traffic lights that stay red if you honk your horn.
CNN
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CAFFEINATED THOUGHTS

 

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“And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him—a threefold cord is not quickly broken,” (Ecclesiastes‬ ‭4:12‬, ‭ESV‬‬).

Buttigieg, Sanders Virtually Tie in Complete Iowa Democratic Caucus Results

By Shane Vander Hart on Feb 06, 2020 09:59 pm
With 100 percent of precincts reporting, Pete Buttigieg edges out Bernie Sanders in the complete count of statewide delegates, with Sanders earning more votes.
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Caucuses, Constitution, and Chips

By Steven Holt on Feb 06, 2020 06:34 pm
State Rep. Steven Holt, R-Denison, highlights week 4 of the 2020 legislative session in the Iowa House that was highlighted by Caucuses, the Constitution and Chips.
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Iowa Secretary of State Names Jeff Franklin as Chief Cybersecurity Officer

By Caffeinated Thoughts on Feb 06, 2020 06:16 pm
Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate announced the hiring of Iowa’s interim CIO Jeff Franklin to bolster the state’s election cybersecurity.
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Episode 94: A Conversation With Bret Richards

By Caffeinated Thoughts on Feb 06, 2020 04:43 pm
On this episode of the Caffeinated Thoughts Podcast, Shane Vander Hart speaks with Bret Richards, a Republican candidate running in Iowa’s 4th Congressional District.
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My Three Favorite Moments From Trump’s Third State of the Union Address

By Shane Vander Hart on Feb 06, 2020 12:51 pm
Shane Vander Hart’s favorite moments in President Trump’s 2020 State of the Union Address is when he recognized Charles McKee, Janiyah Davis, and Ellie Schneider.
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Recent Articles:
Ernst Votes to Acquit President Trump on Both Impeachment Articles
U.S. Senate Votes to Acquit President Donald Trump
President Trump Brings Prosperity to Iowa Women
Scalise, Stefanik Stump for David Young in Iowa’s 3rd Congressional District
Grassley: House’s Impeachment Case is Constitutionally Flawed
Launched in 2006,  Caffeinated Thoughts reports news and shares commentary about culture, current events, faith and state and national politics from a Christian and conservative point of view.

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CONSERVATIVE DAILY NEWS

 

CDN’s Daily News Blast delivers the day’s news first!
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CDN Daily News Blast

02/07/2020
Excerpts:

President Donald Trump’s Schedule for Friday, February 7, 2020

By R. Mitchell –

President Donald Trump will travel to North Carolina where he will deliver a speech at the NC Opportunity Now Summit. Later, the president will deliver remarks at the Republican Governors Association Finance Dinner. Keep up with Trump on Our President’s Schedule Page. President Trump’s Itinerary for 2/7/20 – note: this  …

President Donald Trump’s Schedule for Friday, February 7, 2020 is original content from Conservative Daily News – Where Americans go for news, current events and commentary they can trust – Conservative News Website for U.S. News, Political Cartoons and more.

Read on »

The Dangerous and Moronic Idiocy Of AOC

By Jim Clayton –

Ever since Alexandria Ocasio Cortez entered politics everything out of her mouth speaks of immature moronic idiocy. Her voice sounds like a ten year old girl and her mentality is not much further than that. There have been many memes with jokes about her. One  being of her  saying, “I …

The Dangerous and Moronic Idiocy Of AOC is original content from Conservative Daily News – Where Americans go for news, current events and commentary they can trust – Conservative News Website for U.S. News, Political Cartoons and more.

Read on »

First The SOTU Speech Text Is Shredded, Then The Constitution

By Dave King –

No sensible person can doubt that Democrats have been tearing up the fabric of America for many years with their unconstitutional healthcare take-over, their sexual self-identity farce, their calling everyone that disagrees with them racists, their open border immigration policy, their sanctuary city idiocy, their insistence that men can have …

First The SOTU Speech Text Is Shredded, Then The Constitution is original content from Conservative Daily News – Where Americans go for news, current events and commentary they can trust – Conservative News Website for U.S. News, Political Cartoons and more.

Read on »

DHS Suspends New Yorkers From Its Trusted Travelers Programs In Wake Of Illegal Alien ID Law

By Jason Hopkins –

The Department of Homeland Security is suspending New Yorkers from enrolling in Global Entry and other Trusted Traveler Programs in response to a new state law that bans information sharing with the federal government. Acting Deputy DHS Secretary Ken Cuccinelli went into detail in a conference call Thursday with reporters …

DHS Suspends New Yorkers From Its Trusted Travelers Programs In Wake Of Illegal Alien ID Law is original content from Conservative Daily News – Where Americans go for news, current events and commentary they can trust – Conservative News Website for U.S. News, Political Cartoons and more.

Read on »

‘Enough Is Enough’: DNC Chair Wants Iowa Democrats To Recanvass Caucus Results

By Chuck Ross –

Tom Perez, the chairman of the Democratic National Committee, called on the Iowa Democratic Party to recanvass its caucus results, which have been delayed by a series of technical difficulties. “Enough is enough,” Perez declared on Twitter. “In light of the problems that have emerged in the implementation of the …

‘Enough Is Enough’: DNC Chair Wants Iowa Democrats To Recanvass Caucus Results is original content from Conservative Daily News – Where Americans go for news, current events and commentary they can trust – Conservative News Website for U.S. News, Political Cartoons and more.

Read on »

Pelosi Omits Christians As She Lists Religious Persecutions Around The World

By Mary Margaret Olohan –

Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi omitted mentioning Christians as she listed those persecuted for their religious beliefs around the world Thursday. The House speaker specifically prayed for people of Muslim, Jewish and Buddhists faiths. Her omission comes as Christians endure severe persecutions around the world, facing near “genocide” levels. Democratic …

Pelosi Omits Christians As She Lists Religious Persecutions Around The World is original content from Conservative Daily News – Where Americans go for news, current events and commentary they can trust – Conservative News Website for U.S. News, Political Cartoons and more.

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Benedict Romney – Ben Garrison Cartoon

By Ben Garrison –

Romney is neither Mittens nor Pierre Delecto anymore. He’s now Benedict Romney–a turncoat and traitor. Like Judge Andrew Napolitano, Romney didn’t receive spoils from the president and so he turned against him. Romney is a notorious flip-flopper who has changed his positions repeatedly. His ‘GUILTY’ vote against Trump was a …

Benedict Romney – Ben Garrison Cartoon is original content from Conservative Daily News – Where Americans go for news, current events and commentary they can trust – Conservative News Website for U.S. News, Political Cartoons and more.

Read on »

Trump Derangement Syndrome – A.F. Branco Cartoon

By A.F. Branco –

The better President Trump does the worse he’s hated by the left, it’s called Trump-derangement-syndrome. Political cartoon by A.F. Branco ©2020.

Trump Derangement Syndrome – A.F. Branco Cartoon is original content from Conservative Daily News – Where Americans go for news, current events and commentary they can trust – Conservative News Website for U.S. News, Political Cartoons and more.

Read on »

Rod Rosenstein Asked McCabe Whether Opening Trump Probe Would Be Seen As ‘Revenge’

By Chuck Ross –

Former Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe discussed whether opening an investigation of President Donald Trump days after he fired James Comey would be perceived as an act of revenge for getting rid of the FBI director, according to interview notes from the special …

Rod Rosenstein Asked McCabe Whether Opening Trump Probe Would Be Seen As ‘Revenge’ is original content from Conservative Daily News – Where Americans go for news, current events and commentary they can trust – Conservative News Website for U.S. News, Political Cartoons and more.

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Operation silent predator – child sex crimes arrests

By R. Mitchell –

PHOENIX, Ariz. – U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations’ (HSI) Phoenix office recently partnered with multiple law enforcement agencies to include the Phoenix Police Department, Mesa Police Department, Tempe Police Department, Chandler Police Department and the Arizona Attorney General’s office to identify and arrest alleged sexual predators. The …

Operation silent predator – child sex crimes arrests is original content from Conservative Daily News – Where Americans go for news, current events and commentary they can trust – Conservative News Website for U.S. News, Political Cartoons and more.

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Supreme Court To Weigh Democrats’ Last-Ditch Bid To Resolve Obamacare Challenge By Summer

By Kevin Daley –

US Supreme Court

The Supreme Court will discuss a challenge to the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) individual mandate in private conference on Feb. 21.  Democrats who are defending Obamacare in court want the justices to hear the case immediately so it can be resolved by June. The Trump administration says the high court’s …

Supreme Court To Weigh Democrats’ Last-Ditch Bid To Resolve Obamacare Challenge By Summer is original content from Conservative Daily News – Where Americans go for news, current events and commentary they can trust – Conservative News Website for U.S. News, Political Cartoons and more.

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Nancy the Ripper – A.F. Branco Cartoon

By A.F. Branco –

Nancy couldn’t contain her rage at the State of the Union speech and riped up Trump’s speech. Political cartoon by A.F. Branco ©2019. See more Branco toons HERE

Nancy the Ripper – A.F. Branco Cartoon is original content from Conservative Daily News – Where Americans go for news, current events and commentary they can trust – Conservative News Website for U.S. News, Political Cartoons and more.

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‘Mayor’ Pete Buttigieg Wins Monday’s Iowa Caucus, Bernie Sanders Wins Popular Vote: Democrats Are AGAIN to Blame for Voting Issues

By Greg Holt –

I love this: “Handsy” Joe Biden, the glorified Democratic frontrunner scored a dismal 15.6% of state delegates behind Buttigieg, Sanders, and Warren. Doncha just love dissension in the Party of Fools? With 62% of state precincts counted (finally), Buttigieg managed to eke out a win, barely.  Sanders is not far …

‘Mayor’ Pete Buttigieg Wins Monday’s Iowa Caucus, Bernie Sanders Wins Popular Vote: Democrats Are AGAIN to Blame for Voting Issues is original content from Conservative Daily News – Where Americans go for news, current events and commentary they can trust – Conservative News Website for U.S. News, Political Cartoons and more.

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Southern Border Apprehensions Drop For Eight Straight Months

By Jason Hopkins –

Enforcement actions along the U.S.-Mexico border fell for the eighth month in a row, a result of the Trump administration’s various directives aimed at controlling the illegal immigration crisis that peaked last year. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents conducted roughly 36,000 enforcement actions — which includes apprehensions and denying …

Southern Border Apprehensions Drop For Eight Straight Months is original content from Conservative Daily News – Where Americans go for news, current events and commentary they can trust – Conservative News Website for U.S. News, Political Cartoons and more.

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Seriously??? Climate Change Alarmist Extraordinaire Greta Thunberg Has Just Been Nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize

By Greg Holt –

WOW. Greta Thunberg the teenage climate change hoaxer queen who has done nothing of real value was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.  Being the Left’s darling has its benefits. What exactly has Greta done to deserve the award of such a (formerly) prestigious award?  I said formerly prestigious because …

Seriously??? Climate Change Alarmist Extraordinaire Greta Thunberg Has Just Been Nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize is original content from Conservative Daily News – Where Americans go for news, current events and commentary they can trust – Conservative News Website for U.S. News, Political Cartoons and more.

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Wray: FBI Agents Involved In FISA Debacle Have Been Referred To Bureau’s Disciplinary Office

By Chuck Ross –

Christopher Wray

FBI Director Christopher Wray said Wednesday that the FBI agents involved in the surveillance of Carter Page who are still at the bureau have been referred to the FBI’s Office of Professional Responsibility for possible disciplinary action. During a House Judiciary Committee hearing, Wray noted that most of the FBI …

Wray: FBI Agents Involved In FISA Debacle Have Been Referred To Bureau’s Disciplinary Office is original content from Conservative Daily News – Where Americans go for news, current events and commentary they can trust – Conservative News Website for U.S. News, Political Cartoons and more.

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REPORT: DOJ Turns Up The Heat On Google, Will Investigate Tech Giant’s Ad Tools

By Chris White –

The Department of Justice is reaching out to dozens of Google’s largest rivals to determine how the tech giant’s advertising business model is impacting the industry, The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday. DOJ officials are asking Google’s rivals about how the company’s third-party advertising model affects advertisers, the report noted, …

REPORT: DOJ Turns Up The Heat On Google, Will Investigate Tech Giant’s Ad Tools is original content from Conservative Daily News – Where Americans go for news, current events and commentary they can trust – Conservative News Website for U.S. News, Political Cartoons and more.

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‘Ripped Our Hearts Out’: SOTU Guest Whose Brother Was Murdered Reacts To Pelosi Ripping Up Speech

By Jason Hopkins –

A guest at the State of the Union address whose brother was killed by an illegal alien said it was heartbreaking to watch House Speaker Nancy Pelosi rip up President Donald Trump’s speech. Appearing on “Fox and Friends” Wednesday morning, Jody Jones, whose brother was shot and killed by an illegal …

‘Ripped Our Hearts Out’: SOTU Guest Whose Brother Was Murdered Reacts To Pelosi Ripping Up Speech is original content from Conservative Daily News – Where Americans go for news, current events and commentary they can trust – Conservative News Website for U.S. News, Political Cartoons and more.

Read on »

GOP Senators Waste No Time Investigating Hunter Biden After Impeachment Acquittal

By Chuck Ross –

The Republican chairmen of two Senate committees wasted no time after President Donald Trump’s impeachment acquittal Wednesday before opening up a new area of inquiry related to Hunter Biden’s foreign business activities. Minutes after the Senate voted to acquit Trump, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley of Iowa and Senate …

GOP Senators Waste No Time Investigating Hunter Biden After Impeachment Acquittal is original content from Conservative Daily News – Where Americans go for news, current events and commentary they can trust – Conservative News Website for U.S. News, Political Cartoons and more.

Read on »

Watch: President Trump Addresses the Nation After Being Exonerated by the Senate

By R. Mitchell –

Donald Trump speech

President Donald Trump will address the nation the day after the Senate voted to acquit him of the charges leveled at him by Democrats during their purely partisan impeachment in the House. The president is scheduled to speak at 12:00 p.m. EST. Content created by Conservative Daily News and some content …

Watch: President Trump Addresses the Nation After Being Exonerated by the Senate is original content from Conservative Daily News – Where Americans go for news, current events and commentary they can trust – Conservative News Website for U.S. News, Political Cartoons and more.

Read on »
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THE DISPATCH

The Morning Dispatch: DHS Spars With New York Over Immigration

Plus, reporting from the road in New Hampshire.

The Dispatch Staff 1 min

Happy Friday! Man, what a week it’s been, both inside D.C. and out—from the president’s acquittal to the (still!) ongoing insanity that was (is!) the Iowa caucuses. We’re sure next week will be much smoother.

Quick Hits: Today’s Top Stories

  • Ahead of next week’s New Hampshire primary, the New Hampshire debate will take place tonight. Seven candidates have qualified: Bernie Sanders, Pete Buttigieg, Elizabeth Warren, Joe Biden, Amy Klobuchar, Tom Steyer, and Andrew Yang.
  • The Yang campaign laid off dozens of staffers this week after a poor showing at the Iowa caucuses Monday.
  • One day after his acquittal, President Trump spent his Thursday in a sequence of public appearances in which he alternately took victory laps, praised the lawmakers who helped carry him safely through the process, and uttered maledictions against those who stood in his way. His most frequent targets: Nancy Pelosi and Mitt Romney. Speaking at the National Prayer Breakfast, Trump questioned the sincerity of the faith of both politicians, saying that “I don’t like people who use their faith as a justification for doing what they know is wrong.”
  • The alleged perpetrator of the El Paso shooting that left 22 dead last August has been indicted with 90 federal hate-crime charges, with prosecutors arguing the attack amounted to “domestic terrorism.”

Want Sanctuary Cities? Say Goodbye to Global Entry.

This week, the Trump administration announced its latest effort to curb the rise of so-called sanctuary city laws that seek to block the federal government’s use of state and local resources to combat illegal immigration.

In December, New York State’s Green Light Law went into effect, allowing illegal immigrants without a Social Security number to obtain New York driver’s licenses and barring federal immigration authorities access to the state’s DMV records without a court order. Immigration enforcement officials argued that the law prevented them from accessing information that they use to “investigate and build cases against terrorists, and criminals who commit child sexual exploitation, human trafficking, and financial crimes.”

Now, the Department of Homeland Security has announced that it will bar New York residents from enrolling in Global Entry and other Trusted Traveler programs that require background checks to ease airport security, and that it will remove 1750,000 current New Yorkers from its rolls by year’s end. DHS argues that without the DMV data they are unable to “make an evidence-based assessment that those individuals who seek this benefit are low risk and meet the eligibility requirements.” (TSA Pre-check is not affected.)

New York officials are still considering their legal options but argued that the policy is punitive and retaliatory. And Ken Cuccinelli, the Department of Homeland Security’s acting deputy secretary, did little to quell that notion when he said other states considering such laws “should know that their citizens are going to lose the convenience of entering these Trusted Traveler Programs, just as New York’s did.”

This isn’t the first attempt to crack down on jurisdictions that bar federal immigration authorities access to state and local resources. The Department of Justice sued the state of California over its 2017 California Values Act, which it argued “openly seeks to undermine federal immigration enforcement.” The Supreme Court is currently deciding whether to hear arguments in that case this term.

But will this latest move pass constitutional muster? Maybe.

In 1987, the Supreme Court decided in South Dakota v. Dole that Congress could withhold highway funds from states that refused to raise their drinking age. But, as we all know, Congress gets a lot of leeway on how to spend its money. The executive branch is another story.

In 2017, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced that he would block two different sources of federal grant money from jurisdictions that didn’t share information with immigration authorities. This past year, the 9th Circuit upheld one because the department was only giving preference to cities that would use the money to focus on illegal immigration, and struck down the other, holding that the department couldn’t add special grant conditions not imposed by Congress.

Mayor Pete Is Having a Moment

Declan has been traipsing through the snows of New Hampshire this week in order to keep us up to date on the fast-changing race for the Democratic nomination, where Pete Buttigieg is surging. He reports on the zero-sum relationship between Buttigieg and Joe Biden in the Granite State. Much like Harry Potter and Lord Voldemort, “Neither can live while the other survives.” (Neither Buttigieg nor Biden is an evil, genocidal wizard—it’s just a fitting expression.) When a Buttigieg campaign event reached capacity before it began…

Buttigieg briefly addressed the disappointed crowd before a black SUV whisked him around to an alternate entrance. “I’m so sorry, it sounds like we have more than filled up and won’t be able to fit everybody into the space,” the candidate lamented, before launching into a 30-second pitch for his campaign. “We are taking no vote for granted. Obviously we feel a lot of momentum coming here, but I know how New Hampshire is never told what to do. Folks here think for themselves, and I’ll be doing everything that I can to earn every bit of support.”

Mayor Pete’s comments once inside the American Legion focused on military and veterans’ issues. “Every one has given so much, and raised their right hand and made a promise that amounts to a blank check to the people of the United States of America,” Buttigieg said of the country’s service members, pacing around in a navy suit and royal blue tie. “So when we talk about taking care of veterans, we are not talking about doing anybody a favor. We are talking about America’s way of keeping its promise that is made in return, and that is to look after you for the rest of your life.”

A topic that did not come up at the American Legion on Thursday afternoon? Joe Biden. For his part, after he placed a distant fourth in Monday’s disaster of an Iowa caucus, the former vice president’s campaign decided to do something he’s mostly avoided thus far: go on the offensive. The polls might be forcing his hand. The Monmouth poll out Thursday shows Biden in third with 17 percent, trailing Sanders (27 percent) and Buttigieg (22 percent). A WBZ/Boston Globe/Suffolk University poll that came out late Thursday is worse for Biden: Buttigieg (23 percent) is in a virtual tie with Sanders (24 percent) with Biden (11 percent) fourth behind Warren (13 percent).

“Mayor Pete likes to attack me,” Biden had said at an event in Somersworth, New Hampshire on Wednesday. “He calls me part of the old, failed Washington. Well really? Was it a failure that I went to Congress to get Obamacare passed into law? Was it a failure when I got passed the implementation of the Recovery Act that prevented an economic collapse, another Great Depression?”

Biden continued ticking off accomplishments: the Iran deal, the Paris Climate Accords, the Violence Against Women Act, the chemical weapons treaty, the Brady Bill. “I have great respect for Mayor Pete, and his service to this nation,” he said, a pair of teleprompters in front of him. “But I do believe it’s a risk—to be just straight up with you—for this party to nominate someone who’s never held a [sic] office higher than mayor of a town of 100,000 people in Indiana.”

Buttigieg responded in an interview on MSNBC. “As to the achievements of the Obama administration, I have enormous regard for those achievements. … But I think the bulk of the credit for the achievements of the Obama administration belong with President Obama.”

Nice Primary You’ve Got There …

Also up on the site today, Andrew has a look at recent Republican efforts to influence Democratic contests in Iowa, North Carolina, and South Carolina:

In South Carolina, which has open primaries and where the GOP canceled its own, a group of state GOP officials have decided to encourage their supporters to vote for Sen. Bernie Sanders, who, in the words of Greenville GOP Chairman Nate Leupp, is “the most socialistic, liberal candidate” in the race. The intent is both to help the primary chances of a candidate they feel will likely match up poorly against Trump and to demonstrate why the state should move to a closed primary.

In North Carolina, a GOP PAC called Faith and Power is spending upward of $1 million on ads supporting Senate candidate Erica Smith—a state senator waging an upstart campaign against establishment pick Cal Cunningham. The ad brags that Smith is the only candidate “endorsed by progressives and unions,” calls her “the No. 1 supporter of the Green New Deal,” and insists she is the race’s “only proven progressive.” Faith and Power hasn’t said anything publicly, but the aim is clearly to drag out the primary, to the benefit of GOP incumbent Thom Tillis in the general.

And the Iowa Democratic Party said Thursday that its troubles collecting and reporting the results of its caucus—which have caused a days-long national scandal—stemmed in part from Trump supporters who coordinated online to swarm the reporting hotline with prank calls supporting the president.

These various efforts—led, respectively, by GOP state politicians, GOP strategists, and a GOP-supporting online gang—underscore the degree to which Republican voters increasingly see politics as a zero-sum game in which a weaker Democratic party translates directly to a stronger America. Unsurprisingly, Democrats aren’t thrilled by the overtures.

“I definitely think it’s tacky and sloppy,” said Antjuan Seawright, a Democratic strategist from South Carolina. “I think that Republicans have gotten bold with wanting to interfere and influence elections for their own benefit.”

For campaigns to meddle in each other’s primaries isn’t new, although it isn’t exactly common. The most notable example came in 2012, when Missouri’s embattled Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill cut faux-attack ads on Republican challenger Todd Akin during his primary, which blasted him as “too conservative.” The ads worked: Akin won the primary, then promptly imploded in the general, and McCaskill punched her ticket to another term in D.C.

For the original deployment of the strategy, many people point to California governor’s race in 2002. In that race, unpopular Democratic incumbent Gray Davis managed to win re-election by torpedoing the strongest Republican opponent, Richard Riordan, in his primary, spending millions on ads pointing out Riordan’s flip-flopping history on abortion policy.

“What Riordan chose to do was run in the primary against Governor Davis, acting like this was a general election campaign, ignoring his Republican opponents, running ads against Governor Davis, shooting his mouth off about Governor Davis, and acting as if he was already the Republican nominee,” Garry South, who ran the Davis campaign that year, told The Dispatch. “So we said, okay, if he wants to play that game, we’ll run in the primary against him.”

Worth Your Time

  • We touched on Trump’s remarks at the National Prayer Breakfast up top, but it’s worth re-emphasizing how much of a break from tradition they were at an event that has typically strived for bipartisanship and mutual grace. This Washington Post column by Michael Gerson is a good read on the subject.
  • Remember the app that broke the Iowa caucuses? By a great stroke of luck, the New Yorker’s Andrew Marantz was already reporting on the company behind it—D.C.-based tech nonprofit consultancy Acronym—so he turned this interesting piece around pretty quickly. “[CEO Tara] McGowan doesn’t seem reckless or sinister enough to intentionally rig an election. Rather, she seems like a starry-eyed techno-utopian, prone to believing that a wide array of societal ills can be cured by another innovation, another round of investment, or another app.”

Presented Without Comment

Steve Guest@SteveGuest

Wolf Blitzer: “The Senate has clearly spoken now. @realDonaldTrump was acquitted.” Dem Sen Mazie Hirono: “Wolf, he wasn’t acquitted…” Blitzer: “There was a role call, guilty or not guilty. Not guilty was the majority. & the [Chief Justice]… announced that he was acquitted.”

February 6th 2020

2,035 Retweets

Something Fun

Okay, look. Your Morning Dispatchers have strong feelings about the insidious power that the temptation of going viral wields over too many of our lives, causing busloads of Americans each day to do dumb things to themselves and each other in the hopes that a bunch of strangers will be able to see a recording of it and laugh. That’s particularly true when it’s parents doing dumb things to their kids, or letting their kids do dumb things to themselves, in pursuit of those sweet sweet internet points.

And yet—call us hypocrites, but we can’t help it: This video is hilarious.

🇧🇧@rahm3sh

It was at that moment she knew she messed up 🤣🤣oZz

February 6th 2020

131,269 Retweets

Toeing the Company Line

  • On Wednesday, Thomas Joscelyn’s latest Vital Interests newsletter took a deep dive at the persistent threat presented by al Qaeda and like-minded jihadists. Joscelyn reported on the death of Qasim al-Raymi, a top figure in al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, believed to have been taken out by a U.S. strike. Joscelyn wrote: “It is likely that Raymi played a leadership role not just in AQAP, but also in al-Qaeda’s global management team.” Yesterday, the White House confirmed al-Raymi’s killing and disclosed his senior role in the global terror group. “The United States conducted a counterterrorism operation in Yemen that successfully eliminated Qasim al-Rimi, a founder and the leader of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) and a deputy to al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri.” To add Vital Interests to your inbox each week, go to your preference page.
  • For the latest episode of The Remnant podcast, Jonah was joined by “person from the internet/verified nobody” Bridget Phetasy to discuss meeting on Twitter, the culture wars, drug legalization, writing for Playboy, and the #MeToo movement. Give it a listen!
  • In the latest French Press, David drills down on an odd quirk of contemporary political thought: the way our country continues to hand presidents more and more unchecked executive power while simultaneously insisting that having a good man be president isn’t that big of a deal.

Let Us Know

Due to the longevity of Pete Buttigieg and Amy Klobuchar, the 2020 race has featured its fair share of Midwest Nice. Midwesterners are so naturally kind that they find it difficult to turn on the nasty. Their political shots often come across as passive aggressive — or just passive. Which of these thinly veiled affronts embodies that sentiment the most?

  • “I have not denigrated your experience as a local official. I have been one. I just think you should respect our experience.”—Amy Klobuchar to Pete Buttigieg (Link)
  • “You’re likable enough, Hillary.”—Barack Obama to Hillary Clinton (Link)
  • “I will not make age an issue of this campaign. I am not going to exploit, for political purposes, my opponent’s youth and inexperience.”—Ronald Reagan to Walter Mondale (Link)

Reporting by Declan Garvey (@declanpgarvey), Andrew Egger (@EggerDC), Sarah Isgur (@whignewtons), and Steve Hayes (@stephenfhayes).

Photograph of Pete Buttigieg by Win McNamee/Getty Images.
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THE BLAZE

ROLL CALL

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Morning Headlines

ImageSpeaker Nancy Pelosi’s decision to rip up President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address on live television enraged House Republicans. But it was Rep. Kay Granger, who once said Trump doesn’t deserve to be in the same room as war veterans, who led the effort to defend the president. Read More…

The president’s fiscal 2021 budget will not include funding for the licensing of Nevada’s Yucca Mountain as a nuclear waste repository, a senior administration official confirmed to CQ Roll Call on Thursday. President Donald Trump tweeted earlier what appeared to be a rejection of the long-debated plans for the federal site about 100 miles northwest […] Read More…

House Democrats shut down GOP attempt to admonish Pelosi over ripping SOTU

 

ImageHouse Democrats on Thursday backed Speaker Nancy Pelosi in voting to kill a Republican resolution to disapprove of her ripping up President Donald Trump’s State of the Union speech.  Read More…

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House Judiciary Democrats eye campaign finance measures

 

ImageHouse members and political money experts debated comprehensive new campaign finance overhaul measures on Thursday, but they heard testimony from a Federal Election Commission member who suggested they might first want to address the existing campaign regulatory infrastructure.  Read More…

Interior moves to speed energy development on formerly protected Utah land

 

ImageMining, logging and drilling in areas of southern Utah once part of two national monuments would be allowed under plans finalized Thursday by the Interior Department, igniting the anger of conservation groups and congressional Democrats.  Read More…

Watch: Suspicious substance investigated outside Schiff’s office

 

ImageCapitol Police closed off the hallway outside Rep. Adam B. Schiff’s office Thursday due to reports of a suspicious substance. The media was kept from approaching the corridor, but some lawmakers and staff were allowed through. Read More…

Scholar urges ‘great’ debates to improve Hill discourse

 

ImageIf the Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress takes the advice of one congressional scholar, then regular Oxford-style debates may make their way to the House floor one day. Read More…

Democrats pan, Republicans applaud Kraninger’s tenure at CFPB

 

ImageAt a hearing Thursday, Democrats castigated Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Kathleen Kraninger, who wasn’t willing to say that her agency needs to exist.  In contrast, Republicans applauded her lighter regulatory and enforcement touches. Read More…

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Friday, February 7, 2020

House Passes PRO Act Bill Which Could End Freelance, Right-to-Work, and Gig Work
As expected, the Democratic-led House of Representatives passed H.R. 2474, or the PRO Act, a bill that would redefine what it means to be an independent contractor. The bill was fervently opposed by many groups concerned that noted the bill’s drastic changes to the definition of independent contractors, greatly curtailing individuals’ freedom to work jobs and hours as they desire.

The Act also targets the gig economy, much like Dynamex v. the Superior Court of California. It specifically targets large companies like Uber and Lyft that allow their drivers to work their own hours and choose how much to earn. This bill also ends the Right-to-work laws currently in place in more than two dozen states which protect employees from having to sign unproductive union contracts and paying exorbitant fees, allowing them to work freely and keep the maximum amount of their income.

H.R. 2474 echoes a similar measure, Assembly Bill 5, in California which was enacted at the beginning of the year. Freelance workers, including writers, photographers, tradesmen, musicians, and scores of other professions, have railed against AB5 in hopes of having it repealed or greatly modified.

The bill was passed Thursday nearly along party lines and is destined to die on the Senate floor, but the message is important for Democrats whose relationship with cash-laden union is more important than ever heading into the 2020 elections.

The PRO Act is the most wide-sweeping, anti-worker freedom piece of legislation that has been introduced to Congress in decades, and promises to redefine life in America for millions should it ever clear both chambers of Congress and be signed into law. Libby Emmons details in the Federalist exactly how important it is for us to protect our right to work when and how we please by speaking out against the PRO Act, AB5, and other pieces of legislation threatening Americans:

“Freelancers need to fight it. The PRO Act would create restrictions that freelancers have been fighting on the state level, and New York is on the front lines. If New York’s elected Democrat representatives in the House have their way, freelancers will be out of a job. These are jobs they created for themselves, on their own terms.

They work from home offices, using their own equipment and supplies, and take all the risk of their own employment on themselves. They are not beholden to anyone; they work when they want to work, and take days off when they want to. Many of these freelancers can pick their kids up from school, and prioritize parenting over work when they need to, not when their employer says so.”

Woke Internet Forgets Puerto Rico is Part of the United States
After J.Lo and Shakira’s politically charged and NSFW Super Bowl halftime show performance this past weekend, it became abundantly clear that many people were confused about whether Puerto Rico was a foreign country. My take on the crisis of ignorance for the Federalist:

“You see, those hailing from Puerto Rico who wish to participate in work and activities in the States aren’t referred to as “immigrants” because they are already citizens of the United States­­, and have been since birth. In fact, every person born in Puerto Rico for more than 100 years has been a citizen of the great USA since birth. Their choice to come to any U.S. state is referred to simply as “travel,” or “moving,” if they make it permanent.

For those still confused by this: Not every part of the USA is a state. Some may recall from history lessons long ago that we actually only started out with a dozen or so states and then acquired territories and adjusted legal statuses along the way. Now we have 50, but we also have Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa, and yes, Puerto Rico, among others.

And one of the most amazing things about becoming a U.S. territory is that every inhabitant becomes a U.S. citizen and enjoys every right and protection that comes with that. This fact made Lopez’s choice to cover the great American singer Bruce Springsteen while proudly showing both flags the perfect choice for such a truly American person. Still, some missed the point. “Singing ‘Born in the USA’ while draped in a Puerto Rican flag is an excellent flex,” noted Greenpeace executive Matt Browner Hamlin.”

Sips, Pours, and Nibbles
Taco Bell’s Secret Weapon Has Always Been the Humble Potato (Eater)

The 20 Best Bourbons for Every Budget (VinePair)

How to Understand (Almost) Everything on a Wine Label (Wine Enthusiast)

15 Soups That Are So Hot Right Now (Bon Appetit)

The Best Fried Eggs Are Made with Water (Food & Wine)

Wine Super Fan: Huey Lewis and the CRUS (Wine Spectator)

Friday Entertainment Center
‘Birds Of Prey’ Is A Fun, Fast, Feathery Mess (NPR)

Kirk Douglas, one of the last greats of Hollywood’s Golden Era, dies at 103: ‘Spartacus’ And A Whole Lifetime Of Movie Memories (Deadline)

Oscars: Who Will Win, Who Should Win (The Hollywood Reporter)

Final List of Every Oscar Presenter for This Sunday’s Awards Ceremony (Oscars.com)

Study Undercuts Hollywood Whining About Moviegoers’ Racism And Sexism (The Federalist)
BRIGHT is brought to you by The Federalist.
Today’s BRIGHT Editor

Ellie Bufkin is a breaking news reporter at The Washington Examiner and a senior contributor to The Federalist. Originally from northern Virginia, Ellie grew up in Baltimore, and worked in the wine industry as a journalist and sommelier, living in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Washington, D.C. A fanatic for movies and TV shows since childhood, she currently reviews movies and writes about many aspects of popular culture for The Federalist. She is an avid home cook, cocktail enthusiast, and still happy to make wine recommendations. Ellie currently lives in Washington D.C. You can follow her on Twitter @ellie_bufkin
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DAYWATCH

1

Chaos at Lincoln Park High School as students protest again and new misconduct claim emerges

FRIDAY, FEB 7
Tensions at Lincoln Park High School resulting from a widening misconduct scandal were heightened Thursday by student walkouts, sit-ins and, in a few instances, physical altercations.
Amid the upheaval of multiple misconduct investigations and the removal of the school’s top administrators, concerns for students safety grew on Thursday as videos made the rounds on social media showing sometimes violent confrontations among students. That prompted school officials to release a statement to families saying they would bring in additional student support.
Yet as CPS officials seek to regain order at Lincoln Park High, another misconduct claim surfaced. Here’s a look at how the scandal has unfolded.
  • Column: Tight-lipped CPS officials are spraying gasoline on the flames of scandal at Lincoln Park High School, writes Eric Zorn.

2

Buttigieg holds very slim lead over Sanders in Iowa with 99% of the results in — but still no winner declared

FRIDAY, FEB 7
Following the Iowa Democratic Party’s release of new results late Thursday night, Pete Buttigieg leads Bernie Sanders by two state delegate equivalents out of 2,152 counted. That is a margin of 0.09%.
However, there is evidence the party has not accurately tabulated some of its results, including those released late Thursday that the party reported as complete. The Associated Press is unable to declare a winner.

 

 

3

Nurse practitioners have nearly tripled in Illinois. Here’s why some medical providers are wary.

FRIDAY, FEB 7

As the number of nurse practitioners in Illinois skyrockets, some begin to work independently of doctors under licenses that became available in June.

More nurse practitioners can mean more access to care amid a national shortage of primary care physicians. Nurse practitioners can handle many of patients’ most common complaints, but at a lower cost, their supporters say. But the profession’s growth has come with controversy.

4

In the Prairie State, little prairie land remains. But Cook County is working to save what’s left.

FRIDAY, FEB 7

Illinois is nicknamed the Prairie State, but less than 1% of its original prairie remains, experts say. In Cook County, only a fraction of a percent of original prairie is intact.

Now, the county is reversing course, more than 20 years after earlier attempts at restoration sparked controversy. One of the larger projects underway is in Northbrook, where crews are working on land that surrounds 12 acres of pristine prairie, untouched in the centuries since settlers arrived in Illinois.

 

 

5

Column: A former North Side public housing project is beautifully remade, but at what cost?

FRIDAY, FEB 7

When the remake is done, the redeveloped Lathrop Homes on Chicago’s North Side will have a total of 1,116 housing units, but just 400 of them will be public housing — 525 fewer than before. And the CHA has yet to keep its promise to replace the lost units.

That shortcoming raises broader questions for Tribune architecture critic Blair Kamin: Is a mixed-income development like this one a form of gentrification, shifting poor people out of desirable locations? Or, in the long run, is it smart policy?
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REALCLEARPOLITICS

02/07/2020
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Carl Cannon’s Morning Note
Presented by Partnership for America’s Health Care Future: Victory Lap; the True Crisis; Quote of the Week

Good morning. It’s Friday, Feb. 7, 2020, the day of the week when I pass along a quotation meant to be uplifting. Today’s comes from Ernest Hemingway, who on this date in 1923 was traveling by train with his wife Hadley from the Swiss mountain town of Chamby to the Italian Riviera to meet Ezra Pound and his wife, Dorothy.

Ernest and Hadley had been married year and a half by then; it was on this trip that Hadley informed her husband that she was pregnant.

“I am too young to be a father,” the 23-year-old writer complained to Gertrude Stein, a remark she found ridiculous — and passed on to Hadley. The youngest of five children, Hadley Richardson had been a shy and sensitive girl sheltered by an overprotective mother to the point where wasn’t allowed to learn how to swim. Tragedy found the family anyway. Her father committed suicide when Hadley was a teenager; and while she was at Bryn Mawr, her eldest sister perished in an apartment fire while pregnant with her third child.

But now, in Europe, Hadley was blossoming. Eight years older than Ernest, Hadley was not only ready for a baby, she was delighted at the prospect. In any event, and as we all know, children (and grandchildren) come into our lives when they are ready, not when the relevant adults in their orbit deem it convenient.

Ernest Hemingway would be reminded of this truism many years later in New York, courtesy of an international film star with a knack for reinventing herself. I’ll explain all this in a moment. First, I’d point you to RealClearPolitics’ front page, which presents our poll averages, videos, breaking news stories, and aggregated opinion pieces spanning the political spectrum. We also offer original material from our own reporters, columnists, and contributors, including the following:

*  *  *

Trump’s Post-Impeachment Victory Lap. Phil Wegmann recaps the president’s dual speeches yesterday in which he seemed uninterested in healing the nation’s political divide.

Partisanship: The True Constitutional Crisis. Nick Troiano warns that the political duopoly exacerbates division, dysfunction, and distrust in our democratic institutions.

How Pols Will Spin Five Key 2020 Issues. In RealClearPolicy, Joseph Minarik lay outs the ducks and dodges we can expect from the candidates.

Iranian Missiles and American Exposure. In RealClearDefense, Rebeccah Heinrichs cites vulnerabilities that shouldn’t be glossed over.

We Cannot Bomb Afghanistan Into Peace. In RealClearWorld, Bonnie Kristian sees mixed — and unproductive — messages in the Trump administration’s policy.

Sooner or Later, This Fake Economic Boom Will End. In RealClearMarkets, Jeffrey Snider explains why his view differs from the president’s.

America Needs a Comprehensive Energy Strategy. In RealClearEnergy, Jakob Puckett looks beyond the gains the U.S. has made toward becoming energy independent.

*  *  *

As their train made its way south from the Alps to the sea, Elizabeth Hadley Richardson carried the seed that would become Jack Hemingway. I’ve wondered whether the seed that would cause the couple’s eventual breakup was on that train, too, burrowed in Hadley’s remorse over a simple mistake and her young husband’s brooding temperament.

In December, you see, Ernest was covering the Lausanne Peace Conference for the Toronto Star, and he asked Hadley to meet him there. He apparently asked her to bring some manuscripts from their apartment in Paris and she complied, but at the Lyon train station, she momentarily lost sight of one of her suitcases, and it was stolen. Initially, Ernest told her not to be distraught because he had copies, but those were gone, too. It was a blow for a writer who felt he was on the verge of making it and I’m not sure he ever quite forgave Hadley even after he became the most famous author in the world.

That great career, and that life, came to an end on July 2, 1961. That morning, Hemingway arose from bed in his home outside Ketchum, Idaho, went to his gun locker and selected a double-barrel shotgun. Sitting in the kitchen while his fourth wife, Mary, was asleep, he put the gun to his head and pulled the trigger.

“Papa” Hemingway, as he was known by friends and fans alike, was just shy of his 62nd birthday, and had many scars — from combat in World War I, automobile wrecks, plane crashes, hunting accidents, you name it. He had scars no one could see, too: Among them, his memory was fading. And, like Hadley Richardson’s father, his dad, Clarence Hemingway, had also taken his own life.

It must have been awful for Mary to become a widow like that on an early summer morning in  Idaho’s Sawtooth Mountains — and cruel of Hemingway to make her find the body — but she would make a point of dwelling on the many other memories of her husband.

Others who loved him, and those who love his writing still, also found ways of remembering the writer whom John O’Hara described long ago in the New York Times as “the most important author living today, the outstanding author since the death of Shakespeare.”

Ostensibly, O’Hara was reviewing Hemingway’s 1950 novel, “Across the River and Into the Trees.” What he was really doing was settling scores with Lillian Ross, who’d written a profile of Hemingway for The New Yorker that O’Hara found disloyal and disrespectful. Funny thing about that, though. I love Hemingway, too, but I cherish Ross’s New Yorker piece about hanging out with Papa and Mary in New York. O’Hara objected to the article’s focus on Hemingway’s drinking, which he said was presented “in the manner of a gleeful parole officer.”

Perhaps. But drinking is part of the story, and not only because Hemingway was a prodigious imbiber. What he did while visiting New York — a city he claimed to despise — was connect with old friends. The Papa in Ross’s portrait proved to be an affectionate man and a swell friend. And alcohol was a friendship lubricant.

Lillian Ross’s 1950 New Yorker piece opens with the Hemingways’ arrival at Idlewild (now John F. Kennedy International) Airport, along with 14 pieces of luggage and a man named Myers whom the author had let read his new manuscript on the flight from Havana.

Ross had written Ernest in Cuba to see if he wanted to get together while he was in New York before the Hemingways sailed to Europe for an extensive post-book-writing getaway.

Pape was amenable, but with caveats:

“I don’t want to see anybody I don’t like, nor have publicity, nor be tied up all the time,” he wrote. “Want to go to the Bronx Zoo, Metropolitan Museum, Museum of Modern Art, ditto of Natural History, and see a fight. Want to see the good Breughel at the Met, the one, no two, fine Goyas and Mr. El Greco’s Toledo. Don’t want to go to Toots Shor’s. … Not seeing news people is not a pose. It is only to have time to see your friends.”

In pencil, he added, “Time is the least thing we have of.”

Hemingway’s visit was brief, but full of adventure. His shopping trip to Abercrombie & Fitch was a hoot. While searching for a belt, a clerk guessed Hemingway’s waist size at 44 or 46 inches.

“Wanta bet?” Papa replied, taking the clerk’s hand and punched himself in the stomach with it.

“Gee, he’s got a hard tummy,” said the clerk.

“Thirty-eight!” the tailor gushed after measuring. “Small waist for your size. What do you do — a lot of exercise?”

The most charming interactions were with Marlene Dietrich, whom Papa referred to in the third person as “The Kraut,” but whom he called “Daughter” when she arrived at the hotel for lunch.

It turned out the great actress was a grandmother in 1950, and to her own surprise and delight, she was finding it to be a role that agreed with her immensely. Her daughter had an 18-month-old toddler with a second child on the way, and when Dietrich left her digs at The Plaza Hotel to go out in public with the baby she was sometimes mistaken for the nanny.

“Everything you do, you do for the sake of the children,” she told Hemingway.

“Everything for the children,” he replied, refilling Dietrich’s glass with champagne.

“Daughter, you’re hitting them with the bases loaded,” Hemingway added.

The two old friends talked about the years they spent in Europe during World War II — Papa was a war correspondent, Dietrich a USO volunteer entertaining the troops.

“I’ve finally figured out why Papa sometimes gets mean now that the war is over,” Mary Hemingway said. “It’s because there is no occasion for him to be valorous in peacetime.”

“It was different in the war,” Dietrich commented. “People were not so selfish and they helped each other.”

This got Papa to musing about old age.

“What I want to be when I am old is a wise old man who won’t bore,” he said. “I’d like to see all the new fighters, horses, ballets, bike riders, dames, bullfighters, painters, airplanes, sons of bitches, café characters, big international whores, restaurants, years of wine, newsreels, and never have to write a line about any of it. I’d like to write lots of letters to my friends and get back letters. Would like to be able to make love good until I was 85…”

He fantasized about retiring at 75, owning a major league baseball team, and on his deathbed making the most attractive corpse “since Pretty Boy Floyd.”

None of that would come to pass, but let’s leave our heroes in the moment — the precise moment being when Lillian Ross looked at her wristwatch, and discovered it was nearly 3 in the afternoon:

The waiter started clearing the table, and we all got up. Hemingway stood looking sadly at the bottle of champagne, which was not yet empty. Mrs. Hemingway put on her coat, and I put on mine.

“The half bottle of champagne is the enemy of man,” Hemingway said. We all sat down again.

And that’s your quote of the week.

Carl M. Cannon
Washington Bureau chief, RealClearPolitics
@CarlCannon (Twitter)
ccannon@realclearpolitics.com
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MANHATTAN INSTITUTE

 
 February 7, 2020
Featuring the latest analysis, commentary, and research from Manhattan Institute scholars

ENERGY & ENVIRONMENT
Photo: tonda/iStock

Many of the Democrats Want to Ban Fracking. That Would Trigger a Global Recession

“In this political season, the proposal to ban fracking is fast becoming a de facto feature of the Democratic Party platform. But just as elections have consequences, so do policies. That’s especially true when it comes to how we power entire economies. If implemented, a ban on a major share of US oil and gas production would wreak economic havoc.”
By Mark P. Mills
CNN Business
February 7, 2020
Based on an Issues 2020 issue brief

HIGHER ED
Photo: gsbarclay/iStock

Uproar Over Essays Turns MLK’s Dream Inside Out

The University of Montana judged contest submissions on content instead of the writers’ race. Big mistake.
By Heather Mac Donald
The Wall Street Journal
February 7, 2020

PUBLIC SECTOR
Photo: Pgiam/iStock

Want a Relatively Painless Way to Curb Retiree Health Care Costs? Look to North Carolina

Retiree medical costs were phased out in an orderly and predictable fashion
By Daniel DiSalvo
MarketWatch
February 6, 2020
Based on a new report
Photo: fizkes/Kruck20/iStock

North Carolina OPEB Reform: A Case Study for Tackling State Debt

Legacy retirement costs are contributing to debt crises across the country, constraining state and local governments’ ability to provide key public services. The root of the problem lies in back-loaded employee compensation, including retiree health care, also known as OPEB (Other Post-Employment Benefits), and governments that fail to set aside enough funds to pay for these growing costs. In a new report, Daniel DiSalvo examines how North Carolina passed legislation to eliminate OPEB for future employees, positioning the state to tackle its debt and begin to realize savings.

HOUSING POLICY
Photo Reptile8488/iStock

The Wrong Solution for New York’s Housing Crunch

Comptroller Scott Stringer’s Universal Affordable Housing proposal will discourage private investment and worsen the problem.
By Eric Kober
City Journal Online
February 6, 2020
Photo: Andrei Stanescu/iStock

How to Make Housing Markets Fairer for All

“Too many communities across this country limit the ability of Americans to freely and fairly choose where and how they live by enacting onerous regulations that restrict housing growth and drive up costs.”
By Michael Hendrix
Economics21
February 6, 2020
Photo: House Oversight Committee/YouTube

Testimony Before the U.S. House Oversight Committee’s Subcommittee on Civil Rights and Civil Liberties

Michael Hendrix testified before the U.S. House Committee on Oversight & Reform Subcommittee on Civil Rights and Civil Liberties in a hearing entitled “A Threat to America’s Children: The Trump Administration’s Proposal to Gut Fair Housing Accountability.”

NEW YORK CITY & STATE
Photo: Kena Betancur/Getty Images

De Blasio’s Ridiculous Attempt to Save New Yorkers From… Santacon

“SantaCon is annoying, sure. But for the city’s elected officials, it’s a useful foil, and now a year-round one.”
By Nicole Gelinas
New York Post
February 7, 2020
Photo: Kena Betancur/Getty Images

Modern Transit for Rye?

“App-dispatched micro-transit might make it possible for households to own fewer cars and for those who don’t drive to be able to get around town.”
By Howard Husock
The Rye Record
February 6, 2020

INFRASTRUCTURE & TRANSPORTATION
Photo: gsbarclay/iStock

Dallas-Fort Worth’s Sprawling Rail Networks Haven’t Worked, so Here’s a Better Idea

“High public-transit ridership depends on dense, large-scale development, but DFW rail lines stretch into sparse suburbs and other areas with little demand.”
By Connor Harris, Nathaniel Barrett
The Fort Worth Star-Telegram
February 7, 2020

ARTS & CULTURE
Photo: Kirkikis/iStock

Drain the Swamp of Ugly Architecture

Trump plans a welcome executive order requiring federal buildings to be built in the classical style.
By Myron Magnet
The Wall Street Journal
February 7, 2020
Photo: The Print Collector/Getty Images

Son of a Radical

Springfield Diarist
By David Black
City Journal
Winter 2020 Issue

CIVIL SOCIETY
Photo: Sean-Pavone/iStock

Wanted: Better Neighborhoods

New research shows the importance of high-amenity districts for a healthy civil society.
By Ryan Streeter
City Journal Online
February 6, 2020

OVERCRIMINALIZATION

More Laws, Less Freedom

Rafael A. Mangual joins John Stossel to discuss how overcriminalization—specifically, the expansion of state and federal criminal laws—puts well-meaning citizens at risk of serious prosecution. Mangual warns, “People commit crimes all the time without knowing it. It’s impossible to know what sort of behavior is criminal.” 

PODCAST
Photo: gorodenkoff/iStock

The Digital Economy’s Voracious Energy Demand

Mark Mills joins Brian Anderson to discuss the enormous energy demands of the world’s modern information infrastructure—or “the Cloud”—the subject of his new book, Digital Cathedrals.
Photo: Manhattan Institute

Digital Cathedrals

In Digital Cathedrals, Mark Mills explores the new digital infrastructure through the lens of energy demand, and the implications for policymakers and regulators, who will be increasingly tempted—or enjoined—to engage issues of competition, fairness, and even social disruptions, along with the challenges of abuse of market power, both valid and trumped up.
Buy Now

CIVIL SOCIETY AWARDS
Nominations are open for the Manhattan Institute’s 2020 Civil Society Awards. This fall, four winners will each receive a $25,000 award for their efforts to keep our social fabric from fraying, assist those who need it most, and help people change the course of their lives. Nominate an outstanding nonprofit by March 20, 2020. Learn more at civilsocietyawards.com.
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Toxic coal ash is making its way to Florida from Puerto Rico

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Heart attacks during pregnancy are on the rise

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Buttigieg has a ‘women problem’ in New Hampshire after Iowa speech demonstrated ‘white male privilege’

Posted: 07 Feb 2020 05:48 AM PST

There were many complaints about South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg’s caucus-night declaration that he was moving onto New Hampshire “victorious.” Most thought it was presumptuous because a winner had not been declared in the Iowa caucus debacle. Some questioned his confidence since he had connections with Shadow Inc, the company that made the failed caucus app. Now, he’s facing a new round of criticism as prominent Democratic female leaders in New Hampshire are pointing their finger at his “white male privilege” that allowed him to even make such a claim.

Even as of today, nobody is fully aware of what the outcome is in Iowa. It seems as if it was essentially a tie between Buttigieg and Senator Bernie Sanders, but officially nobody is willing to make the call, not even the Associated Press. Both campaigns are now claiming victory in the convoluted affair. This new issue hits the Buttigieg campaign just a few days before the New Hampshire primary.

‘White male privilege’: Top N.H. women fume over Buttigieg’s Iowa speech

“In a moment where he should show composure and measure, he’s not doing that,” said Jenn Alford-Teaster, a Sen. Elizabeth Warren supporter and Democratic activist running for state Senate. ”But he’s going to get away with it because that’s what happens when you’re a man. You can do whatever you want. For women, we’re held to a different standard and it’s demoralizing as a candidate and it’s demoralizing as a voter.”

In his speech to supporters in Des Moines on Monday night, Buttigieg went beyond where any of his rivals were willing to go in the wake of the vote-counting debacle, essentially claiming first place based on what his campaign said were internal numbers showing him edging out Sen. Bernie Sanders. He might be right — the Iowa Democratic Party is still trying to figure out the official winner. But even without those results, his performance exceeded expectations.

“We don’t know all the results,” is how he started his speech, looking downwards with a slight grin. “But we know by the time it’s all said and done, Iowa, you have shocked the nation, because by all indications, we are going on to New Hampshire victorious.”

To his critics — nearly all of whom were prominent supporters of Warren and Sen. Amy Klobuchar — the presumption that he had won in the absence of any official data left a bad impression.

By no means do we support Buttigieg, but we do find it humorous that he’s being attacked in such a petty way from the radical progressives in his party. Things have gotten to the point that literally anything a white male does can be attributed to white male privilege. The far-left (and if we’re being honest, even the “moderate” left lately) has unhinged itself from reality in an effort to build their post-truth society.

It’s all about being “woke,” and so far Sanders is the only male candidate who seems to qualify enough. Perhaps it’s his extreme ideology that shields him from scrutiny. After all, Buttigieg is considered to be a “moderate” among his candidate peers.

What this really comes down to is election positioning. Those in New Hampshire calling him out, as POLITICO noted, are supporters of Amy Klobuchar and Elizabeth Warren. With the possible exception of Joe Biden, nobody would benefit more from a Buttigieg collapse than the “moderate” Klobuchar and chameleon-like Warren who is trying (and failing) to pull support from both the far-left and moderate middle.

Democrats have mastered the art of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. Nobody, not Pete Buttigieg and not even Bernie Sanders, is truly “woke” enough to appease the bulk of the radical progressives making up the Democratic base today.

American Conservative Movement

Join fellow patriots as we form a grassroots movement to advance the cause of conservatism. We have two priorities until election day: Stopping Democrats and supporting strong conservative candidates. We currently have 7500+ patriots with us in a very short time. If you are interested, please join us to receive updates.

 

The post Buttigieg has a ‘women problem’ in New Hampshire after Iowa speech demonstrated ‘white male privilege’ appeared first on NOQ Report – Conservative Christian News, Opinions, and Quotes.
Democratic disaster: The Associated Press is ‘unable to declare’ a winner in Iowa

Posted: 07 Feb 2020 04:55 AM PST

The Associated press just announced that they won’t be able to declare a winner in Iowa. Meanwhile, Tom Perez, chairman of the Democratic National Committee called for a “recanvass” of the results of the Iowa caucuses. Party chairman Perez declared ”Enough is enough” and called for this results to assure public confidence in the results.

The latest release of the results from the Iowa Democratic Party had Mayor Pete Buttigieg leads Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders by two state delegate equivalents out of 2,152 counted. That is a margin of 0.09 percentage points.

However, there is evidence the party has not accurately tabulated some of its results, including those released late Thursday that the party reported as complete.

It should be noted that Pete Buttigieg paid Shadow Inc, the Iowa caucus app company, tens of thousands of dollars in recent months.

American Conservative Movement

Join fellow patriots as we form a grassroots movement to advance the cause of conservatism. We have two priorities until election day: Stopping Democrats and supporting strong conservative candidates. We currently have 7500+ patriots with us in a very short time. If you are interested, please join us to receive updates.

 

The post Democratic disaster: The Associated Press is ‘unable to declare’ a winner in Iowa appeared first on NOQ Report – Conservative Christian News, Opinions, and Quotes.
U.S. military takes out another terrorist leader: Qasim al-Raymi of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula

Posted: 06 Feb 2020 05:02 PM PST

After days of speculation, the White House confirmed today that Qasim al-Raymi, emir of the terrorist group Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), was killed in airstrikes last week. The news was held for a week while U.S. intelligence sought confirmation of the terrorist leader’s demise.

Last week, President Trump retweeted links speculating about the emir, but did not confirm with a Tweet of his own. Today, the White House released confirmation. There is no word whether anyone will receive the $10 million bounty for delivering information that alerted the United States to his whereabouts.

Qasim al-Raymi has a history of terrorist activities dating back to the 1990s. He was linked to the 2008 attack on the U.S. Embassy in Sanaa and the 2009 “underwear bomber.” Recently, his group claimed responsibility for last year’s deadly shooting at Naval Air Station Pensacola by a Saudi National.

Yemen Al-Qaeda leader al-Raymi killed by US strike

He took over the leadership after his predecessor was killed by a US drone strike.

AQAP was formed in 2009 from two regional offshoots of Al-Qaeda in Yemen in Saudi Arabia, with the goal of toppling US-backed governments and eliminating all Western influence in the region. It has had most of its success in Yemen, prospering in the political instability that has plagued the country for years.

Rumours of al-Raymi’s death in a US drone strike began circulating in late January. In response, AQAP released an audio message with al-Raymi’s voice on 2 February, which may have been recorded earlier.

This marks another major win for the Trump administration’s efforts against terrorists in the Middle East. Despite the accomplishments, mainstream media continues to suppress or downplay his success out of concern he will win reelection in November.

American Conservative Movement

Join fellow patriots as we form a grassroots movement to advance the cause of conservatism. We have two priorities until election day: Stopping Democrats and supporting strong conservative candidates. We currently have 7500+ patriots with us in a very short time. If you are interested, please join us to receive updates.

 

The post U.S. military takes out another terrorist leader: Qasim al-Raymi of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula appeared first on NOQ Report – Conservative Christian News, Opinions, and Quotes.
Six women of color left Elizabeth Warren’s campaign after feeling ‘tokenized’

Posted: 06 Feb 2020 04:30 PM PST

In November, at a time when there was still a semblance of hope for Elizabeth Warren’s chances of being the Democratic nominee for president, six of her staffers working for the Nevada branch of her campaign resigned. All six were women of color. All six felt their presence was taken for granted, that they were “tokenized” specifically based on their races and sex.

Three of the women spoke out to POLITICO in a bombshell report that should sink Warren’s already-dismal hopes in the third race for the nomination. It’s an important race because it will be the first that has a strong minority population after mostly-Caucasian Iowa and New Hampshire. It’s also the one she once had the best chances of winning before Super Tuesday on March 3, but now those chances have slipped away.

Her primary competitor in the radical progressive lane, fellow Senator Bernie Sanders, is looking like he’s the man to beat. But Warren has been trying to challenge his hyper-leftism while keeping a foot planted on the “unity” side of the Democratic Party. She wants the best of both worlds and she’s not gaining traction in either. Now, this report could be an existential threat that takes her out of the race before the end of the month.

Women of color bolt Warren’s Nevada campaign in frustration

“During the time I was employed with Nevada for Warren, there was definitely something wrong with the culture,” said Megan Lewis, a field organizer who joined the campaign in May and departed in December. “I filed a complaint with HR, but the follow-up I received left me feeling as though I needed to make myself smaller or change who I was to fit into the office culture.”

Another recently departed staffer, also a field organizer, granted anonymity because she feared reprisal, echoed that sentiment. “I felt like a problem — like I was there to literally bring color into the space but not the knowledge and voice that comes with it,” she said in an interview.

She added: “We all were routinely silenced and not given a meaningful chance on the campaign. Complaints, comments, advice, and grievances were met with an earnest shake of the head and progressive buzzwords but not much else.” A third former field organizer who was also granted anonymity said those descriptions matched her own experience.

Warren’s biggest challenge isn’t overcoming her competitors. They have generally avoided taking shots at her other than the during the fourth and fifth debates. Otherwise, a short-lived feud with Sanders and an ongoing back-and-forth against Michael Bloomberg are the only challenges she’s faced externally. Internally, her campaign is proving to be laden with many holes.

Assuming she follows up a distant third-place finish in Iowa with a similar loss in New Hampshire, Nevada would have been her best shot. But she has a bigger problem than losing six staffers. According to reports, the campaign is not functioning properly in the state, bringing Spanish-language assets in late and failing to deliver on Spanish-speaking events. Nevada is nearly 1/3rd Hispanic with the vast majority of them being Democrats. These problems do not bode well for her potential to do well there.

As her campaign crashes and burns following a promising start, Elizabeth Warren is faced with a serious question. Should she start making a play to be Sanders’ like-minded VP or even Bloomberg’s radical counterbalance? She won’t be the nominee either way.

American Conservative Movement

Join fellow patriots as we form a grassroots movement to advance the cause of conservatism. We have two priorities until election day: Stopping Democrats and supporting strong conservative candidates. We currently have 7500+ patriots with us in a very short time. If you are interested, please join us to receive updates.

 

The post Six women of color left Elizabeth Warren’s campaign after feeling ‘tokenized’ appeared first on NOQ Report – Conservative Christian News, Opinions, and Quotes.
John Harwood embraces CNN’s style of ‘journalism’ with ridiculous analysis of Trump speech

Posted: 06 Feb 2020 04:13 PM PST

When John Harwood took the job as White House Correspondent for CNN, he was stepping out of the unambiguously biased world of CNBC and into the far-left wacky world of Jeff Zucker’s Trump-hating monstrosity. He has the experience to know exactly what would have been expected of him and it didn’t take long for him to fall into place exactly as Zucker wanted. He made that abundantly clear today following President Trump’s post-impeachment speech.

Watch the video. Truly listen to what he’s saying. From analyzing how the lighting in the room was intentional based upon the darkness in the President’s mind to spinning the impeachment rationale of Republicans against them, he flashed his new CNN credentials like a seasoned, unhinged professional Trump-hater.

There are two requirements to appear on CNN. The first is they must devote their hearts to taking down President Trump. The second is they must sacrifice their professional integrity to accomplish the first. Welcome to CNN, John Harwood.

American Conservative Movement

Join fellow patriots as we form a grassroots movement to advance the cause of conservatism. We have two priorities until election day: Stopping Democrats and supporting strong conservative candidates. We currently have 7500+ patriots with us in a very short time. If you are interested, please join us to receive updates.

 

The post John Harwood embraces CNN’s style of ‘journalism’ with ridiculous analysis of Trump speech appeared first on NOQ Report – Conservative Christian News, Opinions, and Quotes.
Former Kentucky Deputy Jailer sentenced for repeatedly tasing suicidal inmate to punish him for cursing

Posted: 06 Feb 2020 03:53 PM PST

James Eakes, a former deputy jailer with the Fulton County Detention Center in Hickman, Kentucky, was sentenced today to 48 months in prison and one year of supervised release for willfully depriving a Kentucky citizen of his constitutional rights under color of law.

On April 29, 2019, a federal jury convicted Eakes, 54, of willfully depriving an inmate of the right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment by assaulting him with a dangerous weapon. According to evidence and testimony, Eakes repeatedly tased inmate L.B. after L.B. cursed at him.

‘The Department of Justice is committed to protecting victims from cruel and unusual punishment,’ said Assistant Attorney General Eric Dreiband of the Civil Rights Division. ‘As demonstrated by this sentencing the Civil Rights Division will relentlessly pursue justice on behalf of those whose rights were abused.’

‘Each of us in law enforcement take an oath to uphold the rights of all; we don’t get to pick and choose,’ said U.S. Attorney Russell Coleman for the Western District of Kentucky. ‘Victims will be protected, and those found to be violating the law will be prosecuted regardless of their position or what office they hold.’

‘The FBI will not tolerate correctional officers who violate a person’s civil rights,’ said FBI Louisville Special Agent in Charge James Robert Brown Jr. ‘Former deputy jailer, Eakes, took an oath to protect the inmates under his control. Not only did he abuse his position of authority, but he also betrayed the public’s trust. As civil rights and color of law violations are a top priority of the FBI, we will continue to aggressively pursue law enforcement officials who abuse their power.’

The jury heard evidence that Eakes was first called to L.B.’s cell because L.B. told guards he was suicidal. As required by the jail’s procedures, Eakes and two other female deputy jailers then removed all of L.B.’s possessions from his cell and made L.B. strip naked. Eakes left the cell and closed the door, which automatically locked, leaving L.B. in his cell with only an anti-suicide garment.

The evidence and testimony showed that, after he was locked in his cell, L.B. cursed at Eakes from behind the cell door. Eakes then ordered that the door be unlocked, removed his Taser from his holster, opened the door, and immediately shot L.B. with his Taser. Eakes then entered L.B.’s cell, and, while activating the Taser, repeatedly yelled at L.B. not to curse at him again. Despite the fact that L.B. took no aggressive action towards Eakes and remained slumped against the cell wall, Eakes tased L.B. two additional times.

The FBI Louisville Field Office, Hopkinsville Resident Agency conducted the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Madison Sewell of the Western District of Kentucky and Trial Attorney Zachary Dembo of the Civil Rights Division prosecuted the case.

American Conservative Movement

Join fellow patriots as we form a grassroots movement to advance the cause of conservatism. We have two priorities until election day: Stopping Democrats and supporting strong conservative candidates. We currently have 7500+ patriots with us in a very short time. If you are interested, please join us to receive updates.

 

The post Former Kentucky Deputy Jailer sentenced for repeatedly tasing suicidal inmate to punish him for cursing appeared first on NOQ Report – Conservative Christian News, Opinions, and Quotes.
Hunter Biden’s confidential banking records released to Senate for investigation

Posted: 06 Feb 2020 01:44 PM PST

Why was Hunter Biden, the son of former Democratic presidential frontrunner Joe Biden, paid millions of dollars to sit on a board for a corrupt energy company despite knowing nothing about the industry? We may be on the verge of finding out as confidential bank records have been released to the Senate based on a November request.

The irony, of course, is that the House of Representatives was deep into their impeachment inquiry of President Trump. House Democrats and their mainstream media puppets were claiming that neither Joe nor Hunter Biden did anything wrong despite clear quid pro quo by the former Vice President on behalf of his son. Now, Senate Republicans may have information to allow them to dig deeper into the Bidens. Of course, Democrats are already crying foul.

Confidential banking records related to Hunter Biden in Senate hands: Report

The U.S. Treasury Department has started turning over confidential banking records related to Hunter Biden in response to requests from Senate investigative committees.

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley and Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Ron Johnson asked the treasury in November for “suspicious activity reports,” banking alerts involving money laundering or fraud, related to Biden and his associates.

A spokeswoman for Sen. Ron Wyden, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, told Yahoo News that the department has already started turning over records. The Wyden spokeswoman criticized the Treasury Department for “rapidly complying” with the requests, calling the Republican-led Senate investigation of Biden a “sideshow.”

Democrats claimed vigorously the Bidens did nothing wrong and there was no reason to investigate them. Perhaps now, finally, we’ll get to see if that’s true.

American Conservative Movement

Join fellow patriots as we form a grassroots movement to advance the cause of conservatism. We have two priorities until election day: Stopping Democrats and supporting strong conservative candidates. We currently have 7500+ patriots with us in a very short time. If you are interested, please join us to receive updates.

 

The post Hunter Biden’s confidential banking records released to Senate for investigation appeared first on NOQ Report – Conservative Christian News, Opinions, and Quotes.
Grab your popcorn: The DNC is in full-blown panic over Bernie Sanders

Posted: 06 Feb 2020 12:42 PM PST

The moment it became clear Senator Bernie Sanders actually won Iowa, Democratic National Committee Chair Tom Perez sprung into action. The only reason his Tweet didn’t come out sooner is because his phone was blowing up with terrified Democratic Establishment mega-donors demanding he take action.

Conspiracy theories that the “gold standard” poll that mysteriously never came out because it showed Sanders in the lead were reignited by the debacle of the Iowa caucus itself. This drew more conspiracy theories that the company behind the app, Shadow Inc, was getting the results to Perez and the DNC first. It was at that point, the conspiracy theories postulate, that Perez or his puppetmasters called for caucus chaos to blunt the blow a Sanders victory in Iowa would create.

These theories are wild, unimaginable… and totally plausible considering just how desperate the Democratic Establishment is right now. Preventing a Sanders nomination is their first and possibly only priority at this point, which makes the last two Tweets from Perez even more suspicious under examination than it is prima facie.

A recanvass is a review of the worksheets from each caucus site to ensure accuracy.

The IDP will continue to report results.

— Tom Perez (@TomPerez) February 6, 2020

Many on Twitter on both sides of the aisle simply aren’t buying it.

Translation: Bernie Sanders won and we want a do over in Iowa. https://t.co/pmVmGZA2vZ

— Carmine Sabia (@CarmineSabia) February 6, 2020

That sound you hear is everyone in the Democrat-Media Alliance hyperventilating when they realize the first two states of their primary are gonna go to Bernie Sanders.

My word, it’s glorious to be a Republican right now. https://t.co/8QUtNt9Iy6

— Jesse Kelly (@JesseKellyDC) February 6, 2020

Of course it was the satellite caucuses where sanders was dominant that were of the utmost concern. Until then everything was going perfectly! https://t.co/uoci8bG4kE

— Krystal Ball (@krystalball) February 6, 2020

I don’t have a dog in this fight, but this is truly BS

The Sanders people poured immense time and energy into organizing around satellite caucuses, THAT is why they’re winning them overwhelmingly

This is just an attempt at muddying real results https://t.co/O6nEn8GOrB

— Saagar Enjeti (@esaagar) February 6, 2020

Pete went on stage, claimed an unearned victory, media ran with it for an entire week leading to an uptick in media coverage, donations & polling numbers for Pete then at the 11th hour when it looks like Sanders actually won, the DNC steps in to delay it even more. Incredible.

— jordan (@JordanUhl) February 6, 2020

If this was @TomPerez‘s actual reason this is nothing other than corrupt. I reported yesterday that the satellite caucuses could make the difference for Sanders. This didn’t come out of nowhere. To order a re-canvass because Sanders surged at satellites is staggering. Get over it https://t.co/nlCwII7oWr

— Ryan Grim (@ryangrim) February 6, 2020

Let me help translate this: the wrong guy won, our boy got hammered, and we’ve got to figure out how to stop the Sanders’ momentum. https://t.co/CLWbcWU4Ab

— Ned Ryun (@nedryun) February 6, 2020

As badly as the DNC wants Sanders gone, their efforts aren’t translating how they’d hoped. He’s gaining momentum despite their attempts to slow him down. Even FiveThirtyEight is putting him as the frontrunner in ALL remaining primaries.

If Bernie Sanders miraculously “loses” Iowa or if the results are delayed for another week or more, the “revolution” we keep hearing about from Sanders supporters won’t rage against the GOP. They will tear down the DNC brick-by-corrupt-brick.

American Conservative Movement

Join fellow patriots as we form a grassroots movement to advance the cause of conservatism. We have two priorities until election day: Stopping Democrats and supporting strong conservative candidates. We currently have 7500+ patriots with us in a very short time. If you are interested, please join us to receive updates.

 

The post Grab your popcorn: The DNC is in full-blown panic over Bernie Sanders appeared first on NOQ Report – Conservative Christian News, Opinions, and Quotes.
FiveThirtyEight projects Bernie Sanders to win EVERY remaining primary

Posted: 06 Feb 2020 09:43 AM PST

Polls are stupid. We learned that clearly in 2016 when all of the major polls except one predicted Hillary Clinton would be the winner of the presidential election. But as long as we’re a people that tries to look forward, we’ll always turn to the polls to see what they’re predicting.

One of the most complex predictive models (which allegedly makes them superior to others) is FiveThirtyEight. Before 2016, they had an amazing track record of accuracy, but President Trump’s victory has been a scar on just about every predictive model, including FiveThirtyEight which gave Hillary Clinton a huge chance of winning. Nevertheless, we still look to them as arguably the most reliable model available, and that’s great news for Bernie Sanders.

The Democratic Socialist has overcome his heart attack last year to jump into the lead by a mile, according to FiveThirtyEight. In fact, following what may or may not be a narrow loss in Iowa (we STILL don’t know for sure), FiveThirtyEight is projecting Sanders having the advantage in all remaining primaries and caucuses.

Things can change quickly and their model is fluid, changing daily based on new data. Moreover, there’s the DNC and the Democratic Establishment which seems hellbent on subverting a Sanders nomination. They’ve called on everyone from President Obama and John Kerry to CNN and the Washington Post to try to not-so-subtly convince Democrats a Sanders nomination is bad news for the party.

Apparently, voters aren’t heeding their warnings. They shouldn’t.

Before the Iowa caucus on Monday, Joe Biden had a slight edge in the FiveThirtyEight model. But an utterly abysmal 4th-place showing turned the model sour for Biden. He’s still technically the second-most-likely candidate to win, but FiveThirtyEight now has a brokered convention as more likely than a Biden victory.

As a conservative, my preference would be to see Sanders win the nomination. It has nothing to do with whether or not he’s the best opponent against President Trump or what would happen down-ballot. Anyone who claims to know either of those answers is delusional. But America needs a reckoning of sorts. We need to have the discussion about conservatism versus socialism and there’s no better time for that to happen than during a contentious presidential election cycle. Until that happens—and it WILL happen at some point—radical progressives will continue to wonder if their message would resonate with the masses if the DNC would simply get out of the way.

Obviously, I’m supportive of President Trump’s agenda, but I believe America needs to see his ideas up against a Democratic Socialist sooner rather than later. I don’t want to wait for Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to come of age or Cenk Uyger to make his move. I want to see the grandfather of modern American socialism against the populist currently in the Oval Office.

If the DNC doesn’t steal the nomination (again) away from Bernie Sanders, it seems like he’s in the driver’s seat to be the one to take on President Trump. I welcome this as we’ll get to see a proper contrast and stark debate from now until November.

American Conservative Movement

Join fellow patriots as we form a grassroots movement to advance the cause of conservatism. We have two priorities until election day: Stopping Democrats and supporting strong conservative candidates. We currently have 7500+ patriots with us in a very short time. If you are interested, please join us to receive updates.

 

The post FiveThirtyEight projects Bernie Sanders to win EVERY remaining primary appeared first on NOQ Report – Conservative Christian News, Opinions, and Quotes.
Dinesh D’Souza annihilates the NY Times’ contrasting coverage of two impeachment acquittals

Posted: 06 Feb 2020 08:42 AM PST

When President Clinton was acquitted in his Senate impeachment trial, the NY Times took great pains in crafting the perfect headline that properly highlighted the fact that “no majority” voted to remove him from office. This was technically correct as the second Article for Obstruction of Justice was a tie, 50-50. There was “no majority” voting to remove President Trump from office, either. In fact, the majority voted to acquit. One might think a self-proclaimed fair and unbiased news outlet would highlight this in their headline since they did so the last time this situation arose.

Nope. They didn’t. And conservative filmmaker Dinesh D’Souza called them out for it.

Contrast how the @nytimes headlined Clinton’s acquittal versus Trump’s acquittal. Here is #FakeNews in full display pic.twitter.com/6G7UA8syto

— Dinesh D’Souza (@DineshDSouza) February 6, 2020

The headline choice by the left-leaning editorial board of the NY Times went with this divisive headline instead: “Split Senate clears Trump on each count in finale of a bitter impeachment battle.” Let’s break that down with the same care the NY Times used to craft it. They picked the right words to convey their narrative, so let’s see what narrative they delivered this time compared to the one they delivered before.

Here’s the Clinton headline: “Clinton acquitted decisively: No majority for either case.” They used the word “acquitted” because it’s a powerful legal term that invokes feelings of innocence. They, of course, didn’t use that word in the Trump headline, opting for the non-legal and more questionable term “cleared.”

How did they characterize the two votes? President Trump had a “split Senate” while President Clinton’s vote was “decisive.” These are very different phrases with nearly opposite meanings, but here’s the problem. The combined votes for each trial were equal: 105 to acquit versus 95 to remove from office. How is one “split” and the other “decisive” if the same totals came out of the trials? The only difference: the NY Times loves Democrats and hates Republicans. More specifically, they adored Bill Clinton and revile Donald Trump, and that bias was evident in their headline.

Let’s go back to their use of the word “decisively” in the Clinton headline. This was properly crafted to not only improve perceptions of the vote totals but more importantly to invoke closure to the topic altogether. For Trump’s headline, they used the word “finale” in reference to “a bitter impeachment battle.” Of all the wordsmithing they did, this was their masterstroke. Finales are most often associated with television shows. When a show is over, the conversation lives on. This is exactly what they hoped to achieve, that the “bitter impeachment battle” would continue, at least in the minds of voters. Just as there are still opinion pieces being posted regularly about shows like Breaking Bad and The Wire, so too does the NY Times editorial board hope that the topic of impeachment itself will live on until, at the very least, November 3, 2020.

The NY Times has made a mockery of the profession of journalism many times in recent years. This is one of their most disingenuous attempts to work their agenda into their propaganda. Kudos to Dinesh D’Souza for point out their hypocrisy.

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At Prayer Breakfast, Trump Slams ‘Dishonest and Corrupt’ Politicians Who Pushed Impeachment

Posted: 06 Feb 2020 08:50 PM PST

President Donald Trump Holds Up Headline: Acquitted

by Fred Lucas: President Donald Trump didn’t let a prayerful audience stop him Thursday morning from calling political opponents who tried to remove him from office “dishonest and corrupt,” but he also didn’t accuse two major newspapers of running fake news on this particular day.

Coming to the stage before speaking at the National Prayer Breakfast—one day after the Senate voted mostly along party lines to acquit him in the impeachment trial—the president held up copies of The Washington Post and USA Today with their banner headlines.

The gesture prompted laughter from the audience.

In a 26-minute speech at the Washington Hilton hotel, Trump emphasized his administration’s work to protect religious freedom at home and abroad.

But the president also talked about the impeachment trial in which House Democrats accused him of abusing his power and obstructing Congress by connecting military aid to Ukraine with its agreement to investigate Democrats and election interference.

“My family, our great country, and your president have been put through a terrible ordeal by some very dishonest and corrupt people,” Trump said at the 68th annual bipartisan event.

“They have done everything possible to destroy us and by so doing, very badly hurt our nation. They know what they are doing is wrong, but they put themselves far ahead of our great country.”

It’s not easy to like someone “when they impeach you for nothing,” Trump said.

“I’m working very hard for you, I will tell you, and sometimes you don’t make it easy and I certainly don’t make it very easy, and I will continue that tradition, if I might, this morning,” he told the audience.

“Weeks ago and again yesterday, courageous Republican politicians and leaders had the wisdom, fortitude, and strength to do what everyone knows was right,” the president said, referring to House and Senate lawmakers’ opposition to impeaching him.

All but one, of course, as Trump made a less than subtle poke at Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, without mentioning his name.

Romney invoked God and his faith Wednesday when explaining why he would become the only Republican to vote for the article of impeachment accusing Trump of abuse of power.

“I don’t like people who use their faith as justification for doing what they know is wrong,” Trump said at the prayer breakfast. “Nor do I like people who say, ‘I pray for you,’ when they know that that’s not so. So many people have been hurt, and we can’t let that go on.”

The second half of the president’s comment seemed to be a shot at House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., who was sitting at the head table. Pelosi routinely has said that the impeachment process was a time to be “prayerful” and that she was praying for Trump even as she got behind the effort to impeach him in the House.

“In everything we do, we are creating a culture that protects freedom, and that includes religious freedom,” Trump said in his main remarks at the prayer breakfast, adding to bursts of applause:
To protect faith communities, I have taken historic action to defend religious liberty, including the constitutional right to pray in public schools. …

I also recently took executive action to stop taxpayer dollars from going to colleges and universities that spread the poison of anti-Semitism and bad things about Christianity.

We are upholding the sanctity of life—sanctity of life. …

And we’re pursuing medical breakthroughs to save premature babies, because every child is a sacred gift from God. …

And to give former prisoners a second chance at life, which so many people in this room have worked on for so long, we passed criminal justice reform into law, and I signed it nine months ago.

And it’s proving more and more that America is indeed a nation that believes in redemption. What’s happened with [former] prisoners is a miracle. …

Something which wasn’t done nearly enough—I could almost say wasn’t done at all—we are standing up for persecuted Christians and religious minorities all around the world—like nobody has ever done.

Last year, at the United Nations, I was honored to be the first president to host a meeting [on] religious freedom. … That was the first meeting of its kind ever held at the United Nations. There I called upon all nations to combat the terrible injustice of religious persecution. And people listened. …

Religion in this country and religion all over the world—certain religions in particular—are under siege. We won’t let that happen. We are going to protect our religions.Near the end of his remarks, Trump, who grew up as a Presbyterian, drew appreciative laughter and applause after expressing gratitude for the work of those in the room and “for the love they show to religion”:They are brave. They are brilliant. They are fighters. They like people. And sometimes they hate people. I’m sorry. I apologize. I’m trying to learn. It’s not easy. It’s not easy. When they impeach you for nothing, then you’re supposed to like them? It’s not easy, folks. I do my best.Pelosi, who Tuesday night made a public spectacle of ripping up her copy of the president’s State of the Union address, spoke earlier at the prayer breakfast without addressing political developments.

“We pray that moral clarity of faith moves us to demand justice for those who are suffering and we pray that commercial interests never blind us to the ongoing human rights struggle fought by so many throughout the world,” Pelosi, a Catholic, told the audience.

Speaking later to reporters during her weekly press briefing, Pelosi said it was “inappropriate” for Trump to hold up the newspaper headlines and to get into partisan politics at the annual National Prayer Breakfast.

“He’s talking about things that he knows little about—faith and prayer,” she said of the president.
———————–
Fred Lucas (@FredLucasWH) is the White House correspondent for The Daily Signal. Ken McIntyre contributed to this report.
Tags: Fred Lucas, The Daily Signal, President Trump, At Prayer Breakfast, Trump Slams, ‘Dishonest and Corrupt’ Politicians, Who Pushed Impeachment To share or post to your site, click on “Post Link”. Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service and “Like” Facebook Page – Thanks!
Mom of Transgender Child Praises South Dakota Legislation

Posted: 06 Feb 2020 08:20 PM PST

In South Dakota, the first-ever bill to put an age restriction
on gender transition surgery and treatments is moving
through the Legislature. (Pictured: South Dakota Capitol)

by Tony Perkins: “It’s an absolute nightmare for a mother to live through.” Elaine Davidson’s voice shook as she talked. “I found out about the surgeries after the fact,” she says haltingly.

It was social media, she explained, where she first saw the photo of her daughter’s chest—bloody bandages covering the places where her breasts had been cut off.

Elaine’s daughter was 17. She had a double mastectomy and hysterectomy without her parents ever knowing—and without a single psychologist signing off.

In Oregon, Elaine says, kids as young as 14 can make this same decision without ever calling home. “These surgeries are done on an outpatient basis, which only required a few visits to a therapist with a master’s in social work. No psychologist, no psychiatrist, no years of therapy like many people think.”

And these young, innocent bodies, she struggles to explain, are “permanently marred.” “This is a very, very mutilating surgery.”

“I had previously raised concern to a therapist that I believe she’s on the autism spectrum. And I still do. But they dismissed it and instead just really pushed her toward medical transition. And I found out about the surgeries after the fact.”

When her daughter decided to have a phalloplasty, Elaine started to cry. “I flew to Portland twice. I begged everyone I could. I begged her. I couldn’t stop it. All I could do was be there for her.”

She watched, helplessly, as her daughter changed the course of her life forever. And she is determined that no parent should ever have to suffer that agony without a say again.

She joined the Kelsey Coalition, a movement of parents from all across the political spectrum, who are pleading with schools, lawmakers, and doctors to stop pushing children into a lifestyle they can never escape.

“I’m speaking out because I love my daughter … She has been a victim of ‘gender affirming’ medical procedures, and I was powerless to stop doctors from harming her.”

“Why we are letting children make life-altering, permanent, irreversible decisions about their bodies and about their health when we have enough sense not to let them get tattoos until they’re 18 or drink until they’re 21?” Elaine wants to know.

She, like the rest of the Kelsey Coalition, has been asking this question in South Dakota, where the first-ever bill to put an age restriction on gender transition surgery and treatments is moving through the Legislature.

“I think this law in South Dakota is a good start,” she agrees. “Sixteen, though, is still extremely young … “

At this point, though, states need to start somewhere. And South Dakota’s Vulnerable Child Protection Act is a commonsense law that would make it illegal to mutilate gender-confused children.

It’s time, Elaine insists, to help children “learn to love the bodies in which they were born. Isn’t that what the body-positivity movement is all about? Transgender-identifying children need our compassion, and they need our help. They need responsible adults to gently question their beliefs, not blindly affirm them. They need proper therapy and guidance, not drugs and surgeries.”
———————–
Tony Perkins (@tperkins) is President of the Family Research Council . This article was shared on The Daily Signal.
Tags: Tony Perkins, Family Research Center, FRC, Family Research Council, The Daily Signal, Mom of Transgender Child, Praises, South Dakota Legislation To share or post to your site, click on “Post Link”. Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service and “Like” Facebook Page – Thanks!
National Prayer Breakfast, “Trump Acquitted,” Pelosi’s Planned Stunt

Posted: 06 Feb 2020 07:58 PM PST

Rep. Kevin McCarthy Leads Opening
Prayer At National Prayer Breakfast

by Gary Bauer, Contributing Author: National Prayer Breakfast
This morning, President Trump and Vice President Pence addressed the 68th annual National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, D.C. Every president since Dwight Eisenhower has spoken at this annual bipartisan event. But this year was different, coming on the heels of the bitter sham impeachment.

As he always does, Mike Pence spoke eloquently about the country’s respect for faith. He said, “I believe that prayer and faith are the thread that runs through every era of American history.”

Pence noted that President Trump “has made it a practice of opening every Cabinet meeting in prayer.” And he repeated the president’s remarks from Tuesday’s State of the Union address that America does “not punish prayer, tear down crosses or muzzle our pastors.”

The president’s speech was also excellent. He recalled America’s deep religious heritage, and our founding principle that our liberty comes from God, not government.

President Trump recalled the faith of George Washington and the courageous patriots at Valley Forge, how the families of New York built St. Patrick’s Cathedral long before the city’s first iconic skyscrapers and how America’s civil rights movement was sustained by men and women of faith.

Trump added that America is “eternally in the debt of our African American churches. . . For generations, they bravely fought for justice, and lifted up the conscience of our nation. And we are grateful beyond any measure.”

The president also noted that his administration has dramatically increased efforts to combat Christian persecution overseas. As a presidential appointee to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, I can attest to the administration’s commitment to this critical issue.

Yesterday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced the formation of the International Religious Freedom Alliance. More than two dozen nations have already pledged to join the United States in this effort to defend religious freedom worldwide.

The president once again condemned the “poison of anti-Semitism,” and reiterated his strong commitment to the sanctity of life, saying, “Every child is a sacred gift from God.”

Two lines in the president’s remarks, however, have attracted most of the media’s attention, and I believe the president felt compelled to say them.

There were a number of people he could have been referring to, but Nancy Pelosi stands out for the almost mocking way she repeatedly said she was “praying for the president” as she tried to destroy him and his family.

Trump said, “I don’t like people who use their faith as justification for doing what they know is wrong. Nor do I like people who say, ‘I pray for you’ when they know that’s not so.”

“Trump Acquitted”
A victorious President Trump spoke to the nation today, celebrating the end of the sham impeachment trial. The president slammed the left for dragging the country through pointless partisan investigations for the past three years.

“It was evil. It was corrupt. It was dirty cops.” Trump said. “It was leakers and liars. This should never, ever happen to another president, ever.”

He held up a copy of today’s Washington Post with it’s bold headline, “Trump Acquitted,” and jokingly said, “Maybe we’ll frame it. It’s the only good headline I’ve ever had in the Washington Post.”

By the way, Senator Rick Scott (R-FL) is introducing a constitutional amendment to require a super-majority vote in the House to impeach a president, rather than just a simple majority. The point of Scott’s amendment is to ensure true bipartisan support for impeachment, which was Nancy Pelosi’s own standard.

And I’m pleased to report that following the conclusion of the impeachment trial, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell immediately moved to begin confirming more of President Trump’s conservative judges!

Depressed Democrats
Democrats are in the dumps. But you don’t have to take my word for it. A top House Democrat source told Fox News yesterday, “We all knew how this was going. But everyone’s depressed.”

The long knives are out too, as the recriminations and finger-pointing begin. Referring specifically to the impeachment fiasco, another Democrat source said that the leadership was “steamrolled by the progressive wing of the party.”

I’m with the president on this – I can’t feel sorry for Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer, not after what they just put the country through. They should have had the courage to stand up to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s mean tweets, especially after Special Counsel Robert Mueller found nothing. But they caved to the pressure and the country suffered needlessly.

And many Democrats are furious. For example:

  • Don Peebles, a top Obama fundraiser, said today, “Look, I just don’t recognize the Democratic Party right now. I mean, the party has turned so far-left.” He blasted Pelosi’s speech-ripping stunt as “unprofessional,” “undiplomatic” and “disrespectful to the country as a whole.” (More on that below.)
  • Famed Clinton strategist James Carville said this week that he’s “scared to death” that his party is going down the path of the British Labour Party, which just got trounced for its radicalism and anti-Semitism. Carville worried that Bernie Sanders and the Squad were turning the Democrat Party into an “ideological cult,” pushing extreme issues like open borders and “people voting from jail cells.” He’s not wrong.
  • Progressive activist and commentator Van Jones said that Trump is making a serious play for black support, and that he has an effective message that his policies have helped historically black colleges and black workers.

Pelosi’s Planned Stunt
Yesterday, I wrote about Speaker Nancy Pelosi tearing up the president’s State of the Union address immediately following his remarks. Of course, her progressive allies and the left-wing media loved it. Politico ran this headline: “Pelosi Gave Democrats’ Real Response To The State Of The Union.”

But it seems she planned this stunt. Video has emerged that appears to show Pelosi pre-ripping a few pages of the president’s speech while the first lady is presenting Rush Limbaugh with the Medal of Freedom.

Pelosi knew exactly what she was doing. As CNN‘s Brian Stelter put it, her stunt was “aggressively rude, and unapologetically meant to rile up her base. It was divisive, but effective.” Stelter wrote that Pelosi did it to take attention away from Trump’s speech.

Speaking of which, a poll conducted by CBS News found that the president’s address was a home run. Seventy-six percent of those who watched the State of the Union liked what they heard, including 82% of independents and even 30% of self-identified Democrats. Here are other key findings:

  • 56% felt the president’s speech would help unite the country.
  • 74% supported the president’s statements on the Middle East.
  • 72% supported the president’s positions on immigration.
  • 71% agreed with President Trump’s view that there is a crisis on the southern border.

By the way, several House Republicans filed a resolution disapproving of Pelosi’s actions. They wanted to hold Pelosi to the same standard as Joe Wilson, who was formally reprimanded for his State of the Union outburst. But House Democrats voted it down.

The Chaos Continues
More results trickled out from the Iowa Democrat caucuses. With 97% of the votes counted, the results show Pete Buttigieg and Bernie Sanders virtually tied. Sensing momentum, Sanders declared victory. So now we have two self-declared winners.

Speaking in New Hampshire yesterday, Joe Biden said he couldn’t “sugar coat” his fourth-place showing, calling it “a gut punch.”

Meanwhile, Tom Perez, chairman of the Democrat National Committee, today ordered a complete recanvassing of the Iowa results. Perez declared:

“Enough is enough. In light of the problems that have emerged . . . and in order to assure public confidence in the results, I am calling on the Iowa Democrat Party to immediately begin a recanvass.”
——————-
Gary Bauer (@GaryLBauer)  is a conservative family values advocate and serves as president of American Values and chairman of the Campaign for Working Families
Tags: Gary Bauer, Campaign for Working Families, National Prayer Breakfast, “Trump Acquitted,” Pelosi’s Planned Stunt To share or post to your site, click on “Post Link”. Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service and “Like” Facebook Page – Thanks!
Why Are Democrats So Unhappy?

Posted: 06 Feb 2020 07:23 PM PST

by Bill Donohue: The Democrats are an unhappy people. This has nothing to do with their hatred of President Trump: it’s who they are.

Gallup released a poll on February 6 measuring personal life satisfaction. The survey was broken down on the basis of age, sex, income, marital status, family status (e.g. those who have young children), education, race, and political preference.

It was found that those who make over $100,000 a year are the most likely segment of the population to say they are satisfied with their personal life. In second place are Republicans. In last place are those who make less than $40,000. Democrats are second to last.

Similarly, a Gallup poll released last month on happiness found that Republicans are happier than Democrats. Moreover, the gap is widening between Republicans and Democrats on the scale of being “very happy.” No data were collected based on income.

Money may not buy happiness but it clearly has an impact on personal life satisfaction. That is easy to understand. But why are Democrats so unsatisfied and so relatively unhappy?

Some might say that because African Americans are more likely to be Democrats and are more likely to be at the low end of the income scale, that racial discrimination is indirectly causing the outcome. That assumption is wrong. The real reason for this divide is religion, not race.

Surveys done on wellbeing have consistently found that there is a positive correlation between religiosity (religious beliefs and practices) and happiness; the more religious a person is the happier he is likely to be.

This is true worldwide. A survey by the Pew Research Center released last year that measured religion and happiness on a global scale found that “actively religious people are more likely than their less-religious peers to describe themselves as ‘very happy.’”

We know from many surveys that blacks are much more religious than whites. Indeed, they have more in common with Republicans when it comes to religiosity than they do with white Democrats. The latter are the most secular segment of the population.

So when religion is factored in, we are left with the conclusion that it is white secular Democrats who are the most dissatisfied and the least happy. It is not race and party preference that makes one happy or unhappy. What matters is religiosity.

“Why Are Democrats So Unhappy?” The answer lies more with their lack of religious beliefs and practices—driven by white Democrats—than any other factor.
————————-
Bill Donohue (@CatholicLeague) is a sociologist and president of the Catholic League.
Tags: Bill Donohue, Catholic League, Why Are Democrats, So Unhappy? To share or post to your site, click on “Post Link”. Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service and “Like” Facebook Page – Thanks!
What Is Wrong With Speaker Pelosi?

Posted: 06 Feb 2020 07:05 PM PST

Editorial Cartoon by AF Branco

by Marvin Covault, Lt.Gen (Ret): For 82 minutes during President Trump’s State of the Union address, 4 February, 2020, Speaker Pelosi shuffled the papers, chewed on her lip, mumbled at lot at Vice President Pence, scowled and mostly kept her seat as the chamber erupted in applause over 100 times.

Let’s make sure we accurately define the venue. This was not a republican campaign speech or political debate. President Trump was there because Section 3, Clause 1 of the U.S. Constitution requires the President to periodically “give to the Congress Information of the State of the Union, and recommend to their Consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient.”

Of the last 12 Presidents (Eisenhower through Trump) the Speaker of the House was of the opposite political party during 9 of those administrations. But, they all seemed to find it in their heart to honor the office of the president with a traditional and proper introduction, “Members of Congress, I have the high privilege and distinct honor of presenting to you the President of the United States.”

Speaker Pelosi sent an instant, clear message that civility was out the door with her introduction, “Members of Congress, the President of the United States.”

Keep in mind the requirement is to, “…. give to the Congress Information of the State of the Union….” With that in mind the content of the address should, therefore, be factual. To meet that requirement, the president proceeded to report to us that over the past 36 months:

  • There are seven million new jobs; lowest average unemployment rate in history; African-American poverty declined to lowest rate ever recorded; women’s unemployment rate lowest in 70 years;
  • last year women filled 72% of all new jobs;
  • veteran unemployment is at a record low
  • disabled American unemployment at an all-time low;
  • non-high school graduates have lowest unemployment in recorded history;
  • a record number of young Americans are now employed;
  • 7 million Americans have dropped out of food stamps;
  • 10 million have been lifted off of welfare;
  • three and a half million working-age people have joined the workforce;
  • net worth of the lower-half wage earners has increased 47%;
  • lowest income workers have seen a 16% pay increase;
  • median household income is now at the highest level ever recorded;
  • $12 trillion added to our nation’s wealth. 401K and pensions increases of 60-100%;
  • wealthy companies are pouring money into needy communities;
  • passed a justice reform law;
  • relentless regulatory reduction campaign;
  • now number one producer of oil and natural gas in the world;
  • now energy independent;
  • under Bush and Obama, 60,000 factories moved overseas, 12,000 have returned to the US;
  • thousands of new plants are planned;
  • new trade deal with Mexico and Canada increasing US productivity (100,000 in auto industry alone);
  • groundbreaking trade deal with China;
  • rebuilt US military;
  • US leading 59-nation diplomatic coalition against Nicolas Maduro, Venezuela;
  • defeated the ISIS caliphate;
  • NATO members financial input up $400 billion;
  • created Space Force;
  • illegal immigrant crossings are down for the eighth straight month;
  • new border wall is under construction.
  • Last year ICE arrested more than 120,000 criminal aliens charged with nearly 10,000 burglaries, 5,000 sexual assaults, 45,000 violent assaults, and 2,000 murders.

And so it went for 82 minutes, factual data describing today’s state of the union.

Back to the title question, What is Wrong with Speaker Pelosi?

Since 2007, Pelosi has been either the minority leader in the House or, when in the majority, the Speaker of the House.   From 2007 through 2016, all of the economic, foreign policy, trade and national security issues enumerated in the long “facts” paragraph above were real problems. The economy was awful, illegal immigration was out of control, foreign policy was a mess and trade deals were very disadvantageous to the US. This is not to say that those bad old days were Pelosi’s fault but for sure she was not instrumental in adopting solutions to any of them.

Enter President Trump 36 months ago. He forced through the changes necessary to rapidly turn all the problems into success stories.

Pelosi’s role during that period has been to lead the “resistance” and by her own recent admission spent 2 ½ years working to impeach the president.

Special prosecutor Mueller was to take care of getting rid of Trump. Another failure. The Ukrainian fiasco was to deal the Trump presidency a lethal blow. Trump’s overall approval rating is up ten percent since the Pelosi impeachment fiasco began last fall and is higher than President Obama after his first three years in office.

Given all that, how depressing, frustrating, agonizing must it have been for Pelosi to sit there, behind President Trump, listening to the actual state of the union with millions of Americans watching live as she sat on her hands and chewed her lower lip?

Nothing is right in Pelosi’s world right now.

Additionally, during the president’s address she demonstrated to all America how callous and uncaring she can be.

The president’s guest list:

  • Tony Rankins a down-and-out drug addict who lost all his worldly goods and his family and is now sober with a good job and reunited with his family.
  • The touching story of 100-year old Tuskegee Airman, Charles McGee, (promoted by president Trump in the Oval Office that day to Brigadier General) whose great grandson has a vision to be in the new Space Force.
  • Fourth grader Janiyah Davis and her single mom, Stephanie, striving to get into a better school. The president promised her an opportunity scholarship to attend a school of her choice.
  • Renowned radio host Rush Limbaugh, recently diagnosed with phase-four lung cancer, was awarded, on the spot, the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
  • The amazing 2-year old Ellie who was born at 21 weeks and survived was in attendance with her mother Robin.
  • An illegal immigrant in a sanctuary city in a sanctuary state murdered Rocky Jones, an innocent bystander. His grieving brother Jody was there as a guest of the president.
  • The president honored military spouse Amy Williams and her two young children who were suddenly joined by their husband/father Sergeant First Class Townsend Williams, home from his fourth deployment. It was the longest and loudest applause of the evening.

Every story was heart-wrenching, yet Pelosi sat on her hands unsmiling, not looking at those being honored. It was both disgusting and discouraging to watch.

When President trump finished his address, Speaker Pelosi promptly stood up, ripped her copy of the speech in half (a clear violation of 18 U.S.C. 2071 and the Presidential Records Act of 1978.) and departed the House Chamber.

On her way out a reporter asked her why she had ripped up the speech. She replied, “It was the courteous thing to do considering the alternatives.” Courteous? Alternatives?

Pelosi is in a failed state of mind. While she has spent years in the nation’s senior leadership position (second in line to the presidency) her leadership skills are almost nonexistent. She is not a leader; she is a person obsessed with power in a leadership position. A frightening thought considering her position today. It is her way or the highway.

There is a serious culture of blame and hate in this country. Every day in the mainstream media we can see, hear and read the hatemongers throwing gas on the hate fire.

By most accounts Pelosi is vindictive, power hungry, obsessed with hate and is leading many democrats in exactly the wrong direction.
Pelosi is a leader only to the extent that her example influences her followers. Unfortunately, her unforgivable behavior at the State of the Union has further influenced millions of progressive democrat Trump-haters. She and they are blinded by hate to the positive things going on across our great country. She has moments of intelligent good thoughts like last Spring when she said, “Impeachment is so divisive to the country that unless there’s something so compelling and overwhelming and bipartisan, I don’t think we should go down that path, because it divides the country…….”. Unfortunately, a few months later all those thoughts vanished; hatred and obsession took over and doing what is in the best interest of the American people became a distant after-thought.

Generally speaking, America is fed up with divisiveness. However, going forward we will automatically consider that actions speak louder than words. If and when she advocates for a bi-partisan approach to some issue, her demonstrative ripping up of the speech at the State of the Union on live TV for all to see will rule the day. Whatever effectiveness she had following the impeachment debacle, will now certainly be diminished.

After taking an objective look at the actual State of the Union today, if you are a disciple of Speaker Pelosi, I have two questions for you.

  1. One, can you recite a specific list of positive accomplishments for the nation that Pelosi has advocated for over the past 36 months?
  2. Secondly, to you personally, can you find it in your heart to love your country more than you hate President Trump?

—————————-
Marvin Covault, Lt.Gen, U.S Army (Ret) shared this article. He is the author of Vision to Execution. H/T McIntosh Enterprises & Turning Point USA.
Tags: Marvin Covault, Lt.Gen, What Is Wrong, With Speaker Pelosi, To share or post to your site, click on “Post Link”. Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service and “Like” Facebook Page – Thanks!
Virus Censorship

Posted: 06 Feb 2020 05:45 PM PST

by Kerby Anderson, Contributing Author: Here’s a trivia question. Why was the massive flu epidemic in 1918 called the Spanish flu? The pandemic originated in France and other countries. But news of it was censored during World War I. The pandemic only received greater press attention when it arrived in Spain in November. Spain was not involved in the war and had not imposed any wartime censorship.

During that same time, the US government also tried to play down the Spanish flu lest it hurt the war effort. Paul Wolfowitz and Max Frost remind us that a Los Angeles health official declared there was “no cause for alarm.” An Arkansas newspaper described the disease as merely the “same old fever and chills.” All of this was happening while people were dying by the thousands. By the time three waves of the flu spread across the nations, 50 million people died.

Perhaps you can see where I am going with this commentary. Censorship and secrecy make a deadly flu virus even more devastating. That is what seems to be happening in China. The Chinese Communist Party is all about social control and censorship. We really don’t know what is happening on the ground. We do know that the Chinese government has been taking extraordinary measures to restrict movement and thus the spread of the disease.

Perhaps the current actions are due to China’s experience with the SARS outbreak that killed more than 700 people in 34 countries around the world. But we do have to wonder if we are getting accurate information from a government that assured us last month that the virus was “under control” and merely a “mild condition.”

Censorship back in 1918 took a deadly virus and made it more lethal because common sense actions were implemented too late. We can only hope and pray this time that we are getting good information.
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Kirby Anderson is an author, lecturer, visiting professor and radio host and contributor on nationally syndicated Point of View and the “Probe” radio programs.
Tags: Kerby Anderson, Viewpoints, Point of View, Virus Censorship To share or post to your site, click on “Post Link”. Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service and “Like” Facebook Page – Thanks!
The Political Tragedy of Mitt Romney

Posted: 06 Feb 2020 05:29 PM PST

. . . The Utah senator’s vote to convict Trump is an example of why he lost in 2012.
by Harold Hutchison : With his vote to convict President Donald Trump on one of the two dubious articles of impeachment, Mitt Romney became the first senator in U.S. history to vote to convict a president of his own party. He also managed to cement himself as arguably the biggest tragedy in American politics in recent years.

Romney has served his country, including saving the 2002 Winter Olympics while working for free and serving a term as governor of Massachusetts, also forgoing his salary. He twice ran for president, which takes an enormous commitment of time and energy that, in Romney’s case at least, indicates a deep love for the country and a desire to make it better. The same can be said for Trump’s decision to run for the office. Had Romney won in 2008 or 2012, our nation would have been spared all or some of the woeful Barack Obama years.

As we noted in 2016, Romney was right about Trump’s numerous flaws. (If President Trump’s personal life had been closer to Romney’s, the GOP would potentially be in a much better position in the suburbs.) And Romney has been correct about our departure from the principles of the Founders.

That said, despite grasping the problem, Romney is a deeply flawed messenger who is unable to bring himself to do what needs to be done in order to get back to those principles — partly because he has been on both sides of every important issue. Trump, character flaws and his own flip-flopping notwithstanding, has been willing to fight the Left.

Arguably, Romney’s “good guy” persona has rendered him unable to deal with the realities we currently face. In 2012, he was viciously attacked as a tax cheat by Harry Reid and accused of wanting to put African Americans back in chains by Joe Biden. Had a fraction of the fire and energy Romney aims at Trump been directed at Reid and Biden in the 2012 election, Romney would have won and rendered Trump unnecessary. Instead, he’s relegated to throwing barbs at Trump from the Senate, even if he does support the president’s agenda 80% of the time (more than several other Republicans).

While turning the other cheek may be good for the soul, in politics, it is unilateral disarmament.

Romney’s vote to convict burned a lot of bridges and, in 2024, he will have to face the voters of Utah, who will render their verdict. He may well end up a one-term senator when he could have been a good president. That is the real tragedy.
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Harold Hutchison has 15 years of experience covering military issues for a number of outlets, and two decades of professional involvement with Second Amendment issues and writes for the Patriot Post. He also has been published by Soldier of Fortune, National Review, and the Washington Examiner, among others.
Tags: Harold Hutchison, Patriot Post, The Political Tragedy, Mitt Romney To share or post to your site, click on “Post Link”. Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service and “Like” Facebook Page – Thanks!
To Boldly Go Where No Islamist Racist Has Gone Before

Posted: 06 Feb 2020 05:09 PM PST

by Daniel Greenfield: Even before Picard had aired, CBS All Access’ latest pathetic attempt to compete with Netflix by monetizing the Star Trek brand, had telegraphed that it would be another social justice disaster.

Patrick Stewart had described the streaming series as “me responding to the world of Brexit and Trump”. The response is a social justice tantrum that, like its STD predecessor, is a train wreck that takes the obligatory shots at President Trump, FOX News, Brexit, and our refusal to admit Islamic terrorists.

The latest ‘Woke Goes Broke’ entry though will still help finance the Roddenberry Foundation. And the Foundation, named after the original creator of the Star Trek TV series, will continue financing radicals.

The Roddenberry Foundation has already announced its 2020 class of ‘fellows’. The criteria are not scientific research or literary excellence, but shrill leftist tantrums and identity politics bigotry.

And the ‘class’ of those getting a $50,000 award includes Linda Sarsour: an Islamist bigot.

Linda Sarsour fills the coveted Roddenberry Foundation ‘anti-Semitic’ slot previously held by Charlene Carruthers, a Women’s March board member, anti-Israel BDS activist, and admirer of Louis Farrakhan. Farrakhan is the leader of the racist hate group, The Nation of Islam, who has praised Hitler.

The Roddenberry Fellowship announced Sarsour’s place in its 2020 class after the outcry over her leadership of the Women’s March due to her support for Farrakhan and anti-Semitism. Around the time of the Roddenberry award, Sarsour had made yet another bigoted remark, claiming that Israel, “is built on the idea that Jews are supreme to everyone else.” Not a problem for the Roddenberry Foundation.

There is a certain irony in a foundation named after a militant atheist promoting an Islamist who defends the abuse of women in Muslim countries. But it’s the same hypocrisy that transformed a leftist movement skeptical of religion into the biggest cheerleaders for a crude and violent belief system.

Where Gene Roddenberry had once ridiculed religious people, “for most people, religion is nothing more than a substitute for a malfunctioning brain” and “if people need religion, ignore them”, the Roddenberry Foundation now funds Islamists who believe that the Koran must rule America.

Last year’s Roddenberry Islamist was Alia Salem: the former head of CAIR’s Dallas-Forth Worth branch. CAIR, a Muslim Brotherhood organization with links to Hamas, has a theocratic vision of the future.

CAIR co-founder Omar Ahmad had declared, “Islam isn’t in America to be equal to any other faith, but to become dominant. The Koran … should be the highest authority in America, and Islam the only accepted religion on Earth.” And, presumably, throughout the galaxy and across the universe. If given a chance.

Salem was named in 2019, the same year that Charlene Carruthers had also been named as one of the Roddenberry fellows. Carruthers had praised Farrakhan as “wise and selfless”, accused Israel of “apartheid” and praised the “righteous fight for BDS.” While Roddenberry was not Jewish, many members of the show’s cast, writing, production, and technical staff were. It is unfortunate that the Roddenberry Foundation is using the proceeds from their creative work to subsidize hatred of Jews.

While Roddenberry has long since passed away, his resentment against the role of the Jewish figures involved in Star Trek had flared up in the past. “Gene was anti-Semitic, clearly,” Leonard Nimoy, the Jewish actor who had portrayed Spock, told a journalist. “I saw examples not only of him practicing anti-Semitism, but of him being callous about other peoples’ differences as well.”

But the Roddenberry Foundation’s funding of bigots has less to do with Roddenberry’s own issues than with its embrace of militant identity politics. Another irony for a foundation funded with the proceeds of a series that had once condemned racial divisions and separatism as reactionary and destructive.

Carruthers is one of a number of black nationalists funded by the Roddenberry Foundation.

That includes Alica Garza, a co-founder of Black Lives Matter, who had declared that, “whiteness has no shame.” In her twisted racist mind, “whiteness” is a mythical evil force which “attempted to de-fang the power of Black Lives Matter as a slogan and a rallying cry with All Lives Matter.”

The idea that all lives don’t matter is central to black nationalism as a supremacist ideology.

Garza had also agreed with Rep. Ilhan Omar’s anti-Semitic comments about Jews.

“My sister Ilhan correctly identified powerful forces, like AIPAC, that are shaping policy and practice not only in this country but all over the globe,” Garza said. “So much so that this president began to attack our sister and call her anti-Semitic.”

This is the sort of gutter bigotry that the Roddenberry Foundation and the Star Trek brand now funds.

And yet it’s another paradox for a foundation named after a former member of the LAPD to embrace racists who hate the police. Gene Roddenberry hadn’t merely worked for the LAPD while trying to kickstart his entertainment industry career, he had based Spock on the LAPD’s Chief William Parker.

Parker, who made the LAPD what it is, has been a favorite whipping boy of contemporary noir LA movies. He’s also the man who called police, the “greatest dislocated minority in America”.

Roddenberry had written speeches for Parker during the Watts Riots and during later riots, had called in favors from old pals at the LAPD to protect his sets, and had even pondered using a phaser rifle from Star Trek to deter potential rioters. During an even later riot, he had reportedly carried an actual rifle.

If Roddenberry were around today, there’s little doubt that the people the foundation named after him funds would violently hate him. And, at some point, his name will have to come off the foundation.

That auto-cannibalism is a fundamental element of progressive politics which devours its founders.

Gene Roddenberry’s secular humanism is unfashionable in an age where progressive means embracing Islamism. His military and law enforcement background gave Star Trek a structure, but would soon be unfashionable even in his own time. His philandering feminism would set off #MeToo alarm bells today. Star Trek’s racial integration is equally outdated in an era when racial separatism is touted instead.

Today the Roddenberry Foundation funds racialist activists who want to dismantle the criminal justice system and consider police officers to be racist murderers. That is the legacy of leftist politics.

There is in the end no country, no planet, and no galaxy for dead lefties. Just their money.

The original Star Trek with its love of naval tradition and disdain for hippies, its vision of racial integration and scientific progress, is as politically unfashionable as its creator. It endures in the great intellectual property garbage bin of Hollywood, which is no longer capable of creating anything new, but obsessively recycles all the old names, Star Wars, Star Trek. Lost in Space, and attaches them to disposable rants about Trump, Brexit, and whatever political meme is ascendant this year.

And the money goes to fund leftist racists boldly going into a future where no bigot has gone before.
——————-
Daniel Greenfield (@Sultanknish) is Shillman Journalism Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center and an investigative journalist and writer focusing on radical Left and Islamic terrorism.
Tags: Daniel Greenfield, Sultan Knish, To Boldly Go, Where No Islamist Racist, Has Gone Before To share or post to your site, click on “Post Link”. Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service and “Like” Facebook Page – Thanks!
Virginia Republicans: Don’t Run, Fight!

Posted: 06 Feb 2020 05:02 PM PST

Virginia Democrats – Vultures

by Richard McCarty: There seems to be a lot of resignation, defeatism, and despair over the damage that Democrats are doing to the Commonwealth of Virginia – which is exactly what the Democrats want – but that is the wrong response. Now is not the time to retreat or surrender; it is time to counterattack. As scandal-plagued Democrats mindlessly check off liberal agenda items to pander to special interest groups, they are handing Republicans issue after issue with which to rout them at the next election.

Here is just some of the radical legislation that Virginia Democrats have proposed or advanced this year:

  • a ban on “assault” weapons;
  • a “red flag” law;
  • a bill allowing anti-gun localities to regulate guns;
  • a limit on gun purchases;
  • a repeal of informed consent for abortions, parental consent, and minimum health and safety standards for abortion facilities;
  • a gas tax hike and increased car registration fees;
  • a massive minimum wage hike;
  • a repeal of the Right to Work law;
  • a “Green New Deal” bill, which would lead to skyrocketing electricity bills;
  • a repeal of the voter ID law;
    a bill allowing illegal aliens to get driver’s licenses; and
  • a mandate that boys be allowed to use girls’ restrooms and locker rooms.

As if their legislative agenda were not bad enough, Democrat politicians are also huge embarrassments to the Commonwealth. For starters, Gov. Ralph Northam (D) admitted to wearing blackface but claims not to know why he had the nickname “Coonman” in college or how a photo of someone wearing a Klan outfit and another person in blackface wound up on his page in his medical school yearbook.

State Sen. Joe Morrissey (D) is a disbarred attorney, who fathered a child with his 17-year-old secretary and served time in jail; unbelievably, Democrats have appointed him to the Judiciary Committee.

Del. Ibraheem Samirah (D) is such an anti-Semite that he posted on social media that he thought it was “worse” to give money to Israel than to the KKK; he also has ties to Hamas, a terrorist organization.

Del. Chris Hurst (D) was just caught drinking and driving, but escaped arrest due to his office.

Del. Dawn Adams (D) was sued by a former staffer who alleged that the delegate required her to do private sector work without additional pay and that the delegate hacked her email account to hide the evidence.

Finally, Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax (D) has been credibly accused by two women of forcible rape, and not a single Democrat – including Del. Eileen Filler-Corn (D), the first female House Speaker – lifted a finger to investigate or impeach Fairfax.

To be sure, many conservatives across the Commonwealth are ready to fight. We have seen that in the massive turnout at many local government meetings where constituents have demanded their officials declare their areas Second Amendment sanctuaries. Those who may be feeling depressed at the current state of affairs in Virginia should take heart from these gun rights activists.

There are no permanent majorities, and Virginia Democrats do not have anything close to huge legislative majorities. Just flipping eight seats, puts them right back where they so richly deserve to be — in the minority. So we should spend less time thinking about how we can split up the Commonwealth, or join another state, or move to a more Republican state; and we should spend more time thinking about how we can recruit more volunteers, appeal to more voters, raise more money, and recruit and train more quality candidates to take our Commonwealth back.

As appalling as the Democrat agenda is, it is hard not to grudgingly respect their determination to conquer solidly Republican states, such as Texas. Republicans need to do much more long-term strategizing and be just as determined and subversive as Democrats are. After we send the Democrats packing in Virginia, who says that we cannot also flip New York, Illinois, or Oregon with enough time and resources?

Virginia Democrats think that they can just buy a narrow legislative majority and turn a moderate, family-friendly, and business-friendly state, overnight, into a cesspool like California. They also think that there is nothing we can do about it. Let’s teach these arrogant Democrats a lesson they will not soon forget. Instead of looking for somewhere to flee from these radicals, we should be working to retake the Commonwealth. Virginia’s worth fighting for. Who’s with me?
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Richard McCarty is the Director of Research at Americans for Limited Government.
Tags: Richard McCarty, Americans for Limited Government, Virginia Republicans, Don’t Run, Fight! To share or post to your site, click on “Post Link”. Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service and “Like” Facebook Page – Thanks!
The Blue Plate Special – Iowa Democratic Caucus Debacle

Posted: 06 Feb 2020 03:22 PM PST

by Paul Jacob, Contributing Author: The biggest stories don’t always come in threes, but they sure did this week.

The Iowa Democratic Caucus debacle, President Trump’s State of the Union Address, and the Senate’s acquittal of the president after the House’s impeachment — big stories of big losses for Democrats.

As I write this, we still lack a “winner” on the Democratic side in Iowa. Blame is publicly given to the goofy “app” the Iowa Democratic Party bought to make the caucusing and counting oh-so-much easier. But I wouldn’t blame Bernie supporters for engaging in a little conspiracy conjecturing — the maker of the app has close ties to the Clinton machine.

And if you cannot sniff a concerted anti-Bernie agenda on the part of establishment Democrats, your sniffer is broken.

Indeed, The Young Turks ably showed how major-media news sources skew stories away from the socialist from Vermont — by emphasizing the candidacies of Biden and Buttigieg.*

One can see why centrist Democrats would want to scuttle a serious socialist movement within their party, but it may be too little too late. After decades of courting the Gimme-Gimme vote with Loot the Rich demagoguery, socialistic attitudes have long been on the menu. So getting a hot, steaming socialism served back at them as a Blue Plate Special?

Priceless.

Literally.

But not costless.

For the cost is reasonability and decorum. After Trump ceased speaking before Congress yesterday, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi ripped up copies of the president’s address just to show her disdain for the president.

But it also shows frustration. The speech is over. Impeachment is over. Iowa is, incredibly, not yet over. And Pelosi’s party — under her guidance — is in complete and utter disarray.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

* Ana Kasparian makes a pretty convincing case that Senator Bernie Sanders is the most popular of the three, and could even bring in independent voters.
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Paul Jacob (@Common_Sense_PJ) is author of Common Sense which provides daily commentary about the issues impacting America and about the citizens who are doing something about them. He is also President of the Liberty Initiative Fund (LIFe) as well as Citizens in Charge Foundation. Jacob is a contributing author on the ARRA News Service.
Tags: Paul Jacob, Common Sense, Blue Plate Special, To share or post to your site, click on “Post Link”. Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service and “Like” Facebook Page – Thanks!
One Woman’s Fight to Ensure No One Has an Abortion Because of Finances

Posted: 06 Feb 2020 03:01 PM PST

by Lauren Evans: Emily Berning, co-founder and president of Let Them Live, shares on “Problematic Women” that she saw a gap in the pro-life movement. “Crisis pregnancy centers are amazing. They do so much work and save so many lives, but a lot of them don’t have the funding to pay for rent for women that come in or car payments for an extended period of time,” she says.

“That’s where we come in,” Berning, our Problematic Woman of the week, adds of her organization. “Because 73% of women who are getting abortions are doing it because of financial reasons.” Read the full interview with Berning, posted below, or listen on the podcast:

Plus, this week we take a deep dive into Taylor Swift’s new documentary “Miss Americana” and her new political activism. We also look at some of the surprising new emojis coming out this year, including a gender-neutral Santa Claus and transgender flag. And we try to figure out what exactly a “classic millennial sex pickle” is.

Lauren Evans: Welcome back to the show. It is now that time of the week, the time to crown our Problematic Woman of the Week.

This week [our Problematic Woman] is someone who is so passionate about the life issue. She spends her livelihood going out and finding women who need help and need assistance and gets them that assistance.

That woman is Emily Berning, the co-founder and president of Let Them Live, an organization whose mission reads, “Defending the defenseless against abortion worldwide.” Emily, you’re on the phone.

Emily Berning: Yeah. Great to talk to you, Lauren.

Evans: Yeah, we’re so excited. Can you tell our listeners a little bit about you?

Berning: Yeah, absolutely. My name is Emily. … When I was in college I really started getting passionate about the life issue and I went to work for the Leadership Institute, and that’s where I met my husband who’s also very passionate about the life issue.

We both live in Fort Wayne, Indiana, which is where our nonprofit Let Them Live is based out of. We are busy with three dogs and running the nonprofit.

It’s a joy to be able to do what I’m passionate about with my husband day to day and know that we’re helping moms and unborn babies.

Evans: That is so great. Emily, when did you really realize that you were pro-life?

Berning: My parents growing up were pro-life. I grew up in the Catholic Church. I think it was always implied that you’re pro-life and I always had that base level, being against abortion, but I didn’t really understand what Roe v. Wade was. I didn’t really form my own opinions.

When I was in college … I actually studied biology in college and I was on track to go to vet school. Then for some reason I sparked an interest in the topic of abortion. That’s when I really started reading a lot of books and forming my knowledge around the subject.

Being a biology major in college, it was basically a no-brainer to be pro-life because being pro-life is pro-science. Really college and then afterward starting work with Leadership Institute, doing the actual activism on college campuses really cemented my belief.

Evans: I want to actually talk a little bit about your time at LI and the activism that you did. What was your role at LI and how did doing activism in college and on college campuses prepare you to start an organization like Let Them Live?

Berning: Yeah. I worked for LI first semester in the fall of 2017, I was a field representative for the North East, New England region. I was in the Massachusetts and Rhode Island and Connecticut area, then I also got moved up to Vermont.

I had a lot of ground to cover and it was really awesome. It was a really great experience. I love LI and I learned so much about organizational leadership.

Morton [Blackwell] taught us so many things about how to go out and be a self-starter and start these groups. I basically became a pro at getting other people’s groups started on college campuses. I think that really led into my ability to be able to start an organization myself.

It also prepared me to handle a lot of the pushback that we get as a pro-life nonprofit on college campuses.

College campuses are extremely hostile to any conservative pro-life viewpoint. Being on college campuses and helping students deal with that has also prepared me to deal with that flack on our end as well.

Evans: There are so many great pro-life nonprofits out there. Why did you specifically want to start Let Them Live?

Berning: Yes. There are definitely a ton of awesome pro-life nonprofits. I think at first glance, it can seem like the pro-life movement is pretty jam-packed already with nonprofits that fill every part of the pro-life movement.

What we realized in forming Let Them Live was that there is an untapped market for financial aid and financial support for women who are on the edge, about to have an abortion, to help bring them back and choose life instead.

Crisis pregnancy centers are amazing. They do so much work and save so many lives, but a lot of them don’t have the funding to pay for rent for women that come in or car payments for an extended period of time. Some of them can’t do that at all. That’s where we come in. Because 73% of women who are getting abortions are doing it because of financial reasons. That’s from the Guttmacher Institute.

We thought, gosh, we can target that easily. Money is no problem … LI’s got the fundraising down. We’ve been to international school fundraising and things like that. We’ve learned so much.

Then we thought we can absolutely fundraise for these moms—something that other organizations haven’t tried yet or haven’t been able to do yet or that’s just not their focus. We wanted to fill that area and supplement the rest of what the pro-life movement is doing.

Evans: How do you do fundraising for these moms? Do you go out and do more direct mail? Do you out meet with donors? Do you fundraise online?

Berning: Yeah, it’s a little bit of all that. We will be working on a direct mail program here pretty soon. My husband is actually … a social media guru.

We built Let Them Live up from the ground on social media from zero likes to I think we have combined on our three social media platforms—Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter—we have probably over 70,000 followers. Because we built that up, we’ve been able to run a really effective crowdfunding campaign.

Typically, what a situation will be is we ended up contacting or getting contact with a mom who’s referred to us possibly by a crisis pregnancy center or a sidewalk counselor. Then if it’s an emergency, which it usually is, the abortion is usually scheduled for the next day or the next week. We will run an emergency fundraiser for her on social media and crowdfund.

We have an amazing donor base that have been so generous. We always contact our donors. They’re always very happy to help. Pro-life people are very eager and excited, for the most part, to contribute to something like this, because it is directly helping a mom choose life. Then we have a few other larger donors that we go to meet, have meetings with, things like that.

It’s few different areas. I would say social media has been the biggest money-maker for Let Them Live and for these moms.

Evans: … The money that you raise and you give to these women, where does that money typically go to?

Berning: We never give money directly to the moms. That’s something that we always clarify and always make sure … all of our donors and everybody knows is that if we raised $25,000, … we’re not mailing a check to the mom for $25,000. We’re taking every step possible to ensure that the donor money is being used wisely.

I feel I am a steward of their money, so I like to make sure that is taken care of. Typically, with a mom we will pay her landlord directly if that’s the problem. Or, gosh, the other day I paid a Verizon bill, I’ll pay gas bills and utility bills, things like that. We’re always paying money directly to where it’s being due.

Evans: You mentioned that you work with crisis pregnancy centers and different folks to find these women, but once you find these women, what is your relationship with them like?

Berning: Yeah. We actually are transitioning right now, which is great. We are bringing on a couple of crisis pregnancy counselors or people to connect with the pregnancy centers and manage the cases, manage the case load of the moms.

For the longest time I’ve been the one and my husband’s been the one talking to the women. We will get to know them, get to know their situation a little bit, figure out their financial situation. It is a very deep, personal relationship because we are asking questions that other nonprofits probably won’t be asking these moms.

We basically want to get to know them as a person. We try not to make it a very businessy because these moms are on the edge.

Essentially, the pro-life movement does have to refocus on these moms because, ultimately, they’re the ones walking into that abortion clinic and they’re the ones who [are] ultimately deciding to do that.

We want to reach them where they’re at. We will counsel them for as long as they need. Talk to them, be available to them. Then once they say, “OK, I can, I think I can accept your help,” we have a contract and an agreement for them to sign and then we can proceed with helping them.

We have to have a verified ultrasound and things like that from our crisis pregnancy center. We do a lot of that back-end stuff as well. We do go visit them sometimes as well.

We just got back from Atlanta a few weeks ago visiting one of the moms that we’re helping. She was just really struggling. Her parents don’t support her, the father of her child left and said, “Here’s money for an abortion.” She was really struggling so we decided to fly down to see her and that really helped nurture that relationship between us.

Evans: How relieved are these women once they find out that this financial burden is taken off of them?

Berning: My gosh. It’s like night and day, really. We have so many stories and comments and testimonies from these moms …

We actually created a banner for CPAC [the Conservative Political Action Conference] because we’ll be tabling at CPAC, little shameless plug there. We have a banner of all these statements from the Let Them Live moms and a lot of them are so clear as day: “If you hadn’t helped me and relieved me of this financial burden, I would have made the worst decision of my life in having an abortion.” It’s just palpable.

These moms … even if we’re just texting, it’s just so obvious that money was clouding their view and the burden of their bills was really hanging over them.

I’m like anybody else, we all understand financial burden, we all understand having bills that have to be paid and maybe understanding that you may not have enough money in the bank to pay for those bills. Any financial help is such a relief and can really, really change a person’s mind.

These women don’t want to have abortions. They don’t want to go in there and do that, but they feel they have no other option. When we come in and step in and help them take over their bills, they feel they are seeing with clear vision.

Evans: Why do you think the financial burden drives so many women to having abortions?

Berning: That’s a great question. I think a more broader look at this is human nature. A lot of people are motivated by money. We see that in our culture today, it’s ingrained in our culture, in American culture today. The having money means you have value and if you don’t have money, you’re going to have to do other things in order to make it work.

I think that money, it’s a huge motivator for things. Lack of money is often the same way. Not having enough money makes you not really think correctly and makes you make drastic decisions. Even though most people would be OK without having an abortion and not having money.

I think money is such a weird influence on human beings in general. That’s why we try to step in and take that burden away because at the end of the day, money is just money. If it’s $2,500 or $15,000, that will help ease a woman’s mind and help her to back out of that abortion, then we’re totally going to do it for her.

Evans: Yeah. What a small value compared to a human life.

Berning: Yeah, yeah. I think a lot of people put so much value on money in our society, but we don’t step back to think, “Well, gosh, what is this human life worth, though?”

If a mom said, “I am $100,000 in debt and I don’t think I can do this,” we would find a way to get rid of that or at least help that burden, take that burden off of her. We would do it, for sure.

Evans: That’s amazing. How does adoption play into what you guys do?

Berning: Adoptions [are] very interesting and awesome. We’re huge, obviously, advocates of adoption. My sister-in-law was adopted from China 13 years ago and so we’re definitely huge advocates of adoption.

We get reached out to all the time by adoptive couples, people ready to adopt saying, “If any of these moms decide that they want to put their baby up for adoption, we will do it. We’ll take care of all their expenses.” Things like that. …

The wonderful part is that there are so many people ready and willing to take on another person’s child.

The sad part is that … something very common that I hear is that, I’ll ask a mom, “Have you considered adoption?” She’ll say something along the lines of, “I couldn’t do that. It’d be too painful to put my child up for adoption. I will either keep it or kill it.” Basically, keep it or have an abortion.

Some moms do consider it and then they don’t end up doing it. They’ll end up parenting. Yeah, sadly what I hear from the moms [is] that they don’t want to do an adoption and that they’ll either, like I said, have an abortion or keep it.

This is definitely conversation that needs to be had. I do my very best to put that out there and in the social media sphere and outside pro-life people because I think a lot of people think it’s a very easy decision. On the outside looking in, sure, but the adoption process is very gruesome or grueling and it’s very difficult. For the moms it’s a very difficult decision, too.

We get a lot of pro-life people that will comment on our posts saying, “Put it up for adoption. Put it up for adoption.” A lot of moms don’t want to make that decision. If it comes down to it and she says, “I would rather have an abortion than do an adoption,” we’re going to do everything we can to ensure that she doesn’t have that abortion and that will involve taking on her financial burden.

I think the pro-life movement does need to shift a little bit and see that sentiment that the moms are having.

Evans: One interesting component of Let Them Live is that you guys work with the pro-choice community, correct?

Berning: Yeah, yeah. Honestly, in our minds, the more moms and babies we can help, the better.

There is, I don’t know how big, but a portion of the pro-choice community that does things to support us and people that have donated to us before that identifies as pro-choice. We’re pretty proud to be a pro-life organization that bridges the gap.

Evans: How do you think that the media and all the coverage that it gives to movements like “Shout Your Abortion,” how does that affect the young women that you guys are counseling and helping?

Berning: I think that the culture, especially with the Shout Your Abortion movement and book, the culture is if you don’t know what to do in a situation, in a crisis pregnancy, it seems the default is to go have an abortion.

It seems that the sentiment is you can just go have an abortion. It’s a quick fix to your problem. No problem at all. It’ll be in and out in a couple of hours and you’re done. You never have to think about it again.

That’s the sentiment that the Shout Your Abortion campaign presented by picking and choosing only women who are masking a lot of the underlying feelings that come after abortion.

Women that are in these crisis pregnancies are only hearing that abortion was amazing and abortion was the best thing they ever did. Things like that. They’re getting a very one-sided perspective.

It’s actually awesome that you brought up “Shout Your Abortion” because after I read that book, I was really angry because I know so many women who are post-abortive that do not feel they want to shout it from the rooftop.

I wrote a book called “Shout Your Abortion Too,” … which is essentially based off of “Shout Your Abortion.”

It’s a platform for women and men who have had abortion experiences that regret it to share their story because they were left out of the conversation completely because they don’t have an abortion story that fits the narrative of the abortion lobby.

“Shout Your Abortion Too” gave a voice and gives a voice to those as women and men as well that obviously were hurt by their abortion experiences. We’ve been circulating that around pregnancy centers, sending that directly to the moms to give them a more balanced view of the actual abortion to date.

That book has actually helped four moms cancel their abortion by reading the book alone. I think it’s important that there’s a more balanced perspective of … how [abortion] can actually affect these moms.

Evans: Wow, that sounds incredible. If any of our listeners want to read the book or buy the book for someone else, can you let us know where they can purchase that?

Berning: Yeah. We are going to be putting it on Amazon pretty soon, but it is on our website letthemlive.org and it’s up there. We just ordered another round. They’re $30. The proceeds is all a donation to Let Them Live for the moms in crisis pregnancies. It’s going toward a good cause and you can be able to participate in the stories that are in there.

Evans: Speaking of stories, before we wrap, I wanted to ask you, do you have one story that really shows the impact that your organization has?

Berning: Yeah, absolutely. Let me pull it up really quick. It’s on one of our banners … I talked about the statements that we had from the moms and I think that some of these are very impactful. Maybe I can read you some of their quotes because there’s so many women that we’ve worked with that have become basically a part of our family.

One mom, her name is Miriam and she was actually given money by the National Abortion Federation to go have an abortion.

That’s another reason why we do it. We do it because there are organizations out there that are giving women money to have abortion. If there’s organizations giving women money to have abortions, there need to be organizations giving money to women to choose life.

Evans: Absolutely.

Berning: Miriam … texted me this, gosh, a couple of months ago and said, “I wouldn’t be this far in my pregnancy if it wasn’t for you. You have done a lot more than others have my whole life and it’s nice to not feel so alone for once.”

That hit because a lot of these moms … don’t have family around, and if they do, they’re typically being pressured into abortion. They don’t really have any support and that breaks my heart because these are human beings trying to make it in life. It made me feel really good that we are there for Miriam.

Atoria is another really great, great story and great save. Atoria lives in California and when she got in contact with us, she was about 19 weeks pregnant. …

It’s really scary when we have moms in California because abortion is paid for. They can have abortion basically up until birth. It’s pretty much free for all in California.

She was very back and forth. She canceled her abortion a few times and then rescheduled. One day she called us and she said, “I’m sorry, I have to have this abortion.”

We knew she was so alone. My husband and I hopped on a red-eye immediately to fly to San Francisco. We went to her and we told her we were there for her and we showed her we were there for her and she started crying to me.

She said, “Emily, I was about to have a two-day abortion and then after my abortion I was going to go to this one parking garage and jump off the parking garage and commit suicide.”

I thought, “My God, if we hadn’t been there, not only would her baby had been aborted, but she would have jumped off a parking garage.”

Evans: Wow.

Berning: In that moment it hit me, there’s a reason we do this work and this is the dirty work that nobody wants to do.

Everybody wants to do a lot of the froofy activism. Yes, it’s great to talk about how abortion is so bad and all these things, but at the end of the day, we have to get down and dirty. We have to get our hands dirty. We have to get into these situations with these moms to save their lives and to save their baby’s lives.

It is not work that is fun. It’s heartbreaking, but it’s also rewarding because Atoria’s baby is going to be due March 1st and Miriam’s baby’s due March 7th.

We’re going to be flying all over the place from coast to coast meeting these babies, seeing these moms enjoying life. That’s what I’m most looking forward to because we’ve been through so much with these moms. They’re our family and … it’s the best work. It really is.

Evans: Wow. That is incredible. I just want to pivot, one last question we ask every guest on our show … is, do you consider yourself a feminist? Yes or no?

Berning: Yeah, yeah. I hate that word though because I am not a feminist in the sense that how the left has taken that over. I hate what they’ve turned it into.

I’m like a Susan B. Anthony, Alice Paul feminist. The real feminists that fought for real rights for women, the right to vote and they were pro-life and they recognized the dignity of a pre-born child and they recognized the dignity of the woman and how abortion destroys that dignity.

If I say I’m a feminist, I’m one of those feminists and not one of the women’s marchers wearing the pussy hat.

Evans: Awesome. I love that. I love that everybody has such a great answer. It’s always different but it’s always so great.

Berning: Yeah, we have to take that word back. Pro-life is pro-woman. There was a great graphic I saw. Our graphic designer for Let Them Live, she did something, it says “If your feminism is pro-abortion, it’s not feminism.” That’s the angle that the pro-life movement has to take.

Evans: Yeah, no, that is great. If our listeners are interested in learning more about your organization, where can they go?

Berning: Social media is the best place. Facebook: Let Them Live, Instagram, Twitter. Our Instagram is pretty popping right now. Also our website, letthemlive.org.

Evans: That’s great. Emily, thank you so much for your time today.

Berning: Yeah, thank you so much, Lauren.
———————
Lauren Evans @laurenelizevans is the multimedia producer for The Daily Signal and The Heritage Foundation.
Tags: One Woman’s Fight, to Ensure, No One Has an Abortion, Because of Finances, Lauren Evans, The Daily signal To share or post to your site, click on “Post Link”. Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service and “Like” Facebook Page – Thanks!
With Trump Acquitted, Will Voters Impeach Dems At The Ballot Box?

Posted: 06 Feb 2020 01:27 PM PST

by J. Frank Bullitt, I & I Editorial Board: The impeachment of President Donald Trump, far from being a long national nightmare, was an extended Washington-based tantrum by Democrats. It’s going to be interesting to see how the public treats them in the November elections.

Many will be reelected without drama. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is safe in her San Francisco seat, as is Rep. Adam Schiff, who won his wealthy, bright blue Los Angeles district with more than 78% of the votes in 2018. Rep. Zoe Lofgren, one of the seven impeachment managers, took nearly three-fourths of the votes from her district, which sits partly in Silicon Valley in the single-party state of California.

Rep. Jerry Nadler will have no trouble in his New York City district. He’s been in the House since 1992 and won two years ago with more than 81% of the vote.

But others who don’t represent exclusive, elitist enclaves might find that voters, weary of the impeachment charade, the promise of permanent impeachment, and the waste of public resources to sate revenge-minded politicians, dole out harsher treatment in 2020.

Naturally the conventional media, and the “analysts” they consult with, believe that it will be the other way around, that the Senate Republicans who didn’t vote to remove Trump from office, and felt they had heard enough without demanding more witnesses, might be in trouble.

“For the handful of senators who face tough reelection battles this year, their vote to acquit or convict Trump, or even to call witnesses in the trial, could loom large when voters consider whether to give them another six-year term,” Reuters said last month.

The hard-left British Guardian was happy to report a few days ago that “grassroots activists are planning a massive ‘payback project’ designed to punish Republican senators at the ballot box.”

Meanwhile, columnist Andres Oppenheimer called American University political historian Allan Lichtman, who told him that impeachment might cost Trump “dearly in the November elections.” For his part, Oppenheimer admitted that he is “afraid” the entire impeachment chapter “may be long forgotten before the election.”

What won’t be forgotten, because Trump won’t let it, nor should he, is on the eve of his acquittal, Pelosi made a show of ripping up her copy of his State of the Union address. It was an act of disrespect not often seen. If it was an attempt to score political points, it failed to produce the effect she was looking for.

“I’m a Democrat, but I no longer will vote Democrat,” a caller told C-Span shortly after the speaker’s theatrics, which were as much about the hatred that ignited the impeachment as they were about Trump’s address.

Another said, “I’ve been a Democrat for 70-some years and what I saw tonight was appalling to me. … What I’ve seen tonight of the Democrat party, I am changing my mind. … I’ll probably stay home.”

Yet another admitted “I used to be a Democrat.” But now she is “no longer.”

The impeachment of Trump was nothing more than ugly partisan politics. And as Republican South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham said from the Senate floor Wednesday, “the people of the United States are fed up with this crap.” Expect the fed-up voters of deep red Alabama to express their anger when Democratic Sen. Doug Jones, who voted for conviction, is on the fall ballot for reelection. Alabama voters favored Trump over Democrat Hillary Clinton in 2016 by a 63-35 margin, but Jones by fewer than 2 percentage points when he won the 2017 special election to replace Jeff Sessions.

“I know that if I’m the senator from Alabama and I vote to throw Donald Trump out of office and off the ballot,” Scott Jennings, a GOP strategist, told the New York Times, “my chances” for reelection “drop from whatever they were to zero.”

The carnage might also spill over to the House, where the Democrats hold a 35-seat majority. They can take no solace in polls that showed the public narrowly split on impeachment and removal. For one, the trend isn’t encouraging for them. Impeachment and removal faded from large support for last fall to a small gap in Trump’s favor. They also know the “fed up” voters are likely to be more motivated to go to the polls than those who might still be sulking that they couldn’t get rid of Trump.

Democrats also have to deal with high congressional disapproval ratings. This is more of a problem for them than Republicans, because they own the House, where every member has to run for reelection every two years.

“We feel very, very confident that come November [voters] are going to make the right decision and Speaker Pelosi’s term as speaker of the House will not go beyond this year,” House Republican Conference Chair Rep. Liz Cheney, Wyoming’s lone House member, said Wednesday.

Odds are good voters will reject, as well, the Democratic presidential nominee in favor of Trump. He or she will simply be an extension of the House Democrats’ get-Trump cabal.

Voters should also oust the likes of Pelosi, Schiff, Nadler, Lofgren, and the other Democrats behind the farce for dragging the country into their filthy hogpen. They of course won’t. But if they did, it would be the start of a better era.
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J. Frank Bullitt writes for the Issues & Insights. I & I Editorial Board’s new site is formed by the seasoned journalists behind the legendary IBD Editorials page.
Tags: J. Frank Bullitt, I & I Editorial Board, With Trump Acquitted, Will Voters Impeach Dems, At The Ballot Box? To share or post to your site, click on “Post Link”. Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service and “Like” Facebook Page – Thanks!
Aussie Government’s Bush Fire Fiasco

Posted: 06 Feb 2020 01:09 PM PST

by Tom Balek, Contributing Author: I just returned from a bucket-list trip to Australia, during the height of the bush fire season, and found the bush was not the only thing burning. The left-leaning news media’s hair is ablaze as well.

TV news channels covered the fires 24/7 with only an occasional break to promote President Trump’s impeachment or to bash Aussie Prime Minister Scott Morrison for vacationing during the fire crisis. Government officials jostled for position in front of the cameras day and night next to the ubiquitous deaf interpreters signing feverishly (why weren’t they obsoleted with the advent of closed-captioning?).

Coverage of the brave firefighters and neighbors who gave their lives trying to save towns, farms and homes from the vicious fires, was absolutely in order. There are many heroes and much destruction. But the elite leftist globalists just could not pass up the opportunity to blast the “climate change” siren over the top.

The state of Victoria on the southeast corner of Australia was particularly hard hit, as was part of New South Wales south of Sydney. We traveled extensively through NSW and Queensland, the adjacent state to the north. While we saw some evidence of burned rural areas, we did not run into any live fires, large burnouts, or damage to buildings. The fire damage we saw actually looked pretty minimal – relatively small areas of grass and undergrowth burned, but with new green grass filling in; a few trees destroyed, but most only lightly charred at the bottoms with indications that the trees remained alive and healthy. And we saw abundant wildlife and birds.

While there was damage to animals, exaggeration was the order of the day in the news, with reports that “up to a billion animals have died“, conjuring up images of stacks of smoldering koalas and kangaroos. That number must include insects. We learned about some “koala hospitals” where people bring in the cute little critters who have been injured, but they care for dozens of animals, not thousands.

Driving through the small towns in the bush and talking to the locals was illustrative. One retired small business owner said, “This is nothing new, we have had drought in this area all my life.” He blamed “the government and the greenies” for policy changes over the last decade that prohibit preventative burning and the clearing of dead brush for the buildup of fuel that, once lit, is very hard to stay ahead of.

For example, one law mandates that for each tree removed from a yard, even dead ones, nine new trees must be planted. If you have a small yard that won’t accommodate nine trees, or if you have a lot of dead trees, forget it.

Piers Akerman, a member of the NSW Rural Fire Service for six decades, wrote a scathing editorial in the Sydney Telegraph, saying the effect of “climate change” on bush fires is so small as to be immeasurable, blaming instead the government red tape that consumes much of the time and money that could be applied to managing fires. According to Akerman, “we’ve had at least 57 inquiries into bushfires since 1939 and each one has highlighted the need to reduce the amount of fuel that naturally accumulates in the bush. That’s a fact.”

Akerman continued, “We know that Aboriginals burned this country for a number of reasons. Farmers used to use fire to preserve their properties and livestock, too, until the bureaucrats and activists got in the way.”

I talked to another fire official from NSW who confirmed Akerman’s observations, and met an American fire official on our flight back to the USA who had been flown to Australia with a large group at taxpayer expense to “fight the fires”. She sure didn’t look or sound like she had been battling any deathly out-of-control blazes. My guess is she was ornamental at best.

The bush fires of 2019-2020 and the persistent drought conditions in Australia are not to be taken lightly. Lives and property have been lost to the frighteningly virulent fires.

Fortunately, it rained much of the time we were there, and the fire threat was greatly reduced. One small town in the Blue Mountains was very worried about the lake that is the source of their public water, but it healed from 9% capacity to 29% almost overnight, a two-year supply. Flooding replaced fires as the main concern in some areas, and we saw rivers and lakes looking pretty healthy. The worst of the extended drought appears to be over.

Closer to home, our own Bureau of Land Management has been following similar fire protocols, as California has learned. It is only a matter of time before the dead undergrowth in the beetle-killed forests of Montana explode into a deadly fire on a scale that could dwarf the Aussie bush fires.
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Tom Balek is a fellow conservative activist, blogger, musician and contributes to the ARRA News Service. Tom resides in South Carolina and seeks to educate those too busy with their work and families to notice how close to the precipice our economy has come. He blogs at Rockin’ On the Right Side
Tags: Tom Balek, Aussie Government,Bush Fire Fiasco To share or post to your site, click on “Post Link”. Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service and “Like” Facebook Page – Thanks!
House Democrats’ Myopic Impeachment Crusade Undermined The Constitution

Posted: 06 Feb 2020 01:00 PM PST

Through Their Single-Minded Pursuit Of Impeachment, House Democrats Trampled On The Constitution’s Separation Of Powers, Attempting To Elevate The House Majority At The Expense Of The Senate, The Executive Branch, And The Supreme Court

House Democrats Tried To Dictate Procedures To The Senate

HOUSE SPEAKER NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): “[J]ust to get this off the table right away, if we impeach the President immediately, everybody moves on to the next thing. The next thing for us will be when we see the process that is set forth in the Senate, then we’ll know the number of managers that we may have to go forward, and who we would choose…. When we see what they have, we’ll know who and how many we will send over.” (Speaker Pelosi, Press Conference, 12/19/2019)

·         SPEAKER PELOSI: “Clearly, do you understand, when we see what their process is, we will know who and how many we want to send over. Not until then.” (Speaker Pelosi, Press Conference, 12/19/2019)

SPEAKER PELOSI: “[T]his morning, Leader McConnell said, ‘We’ll be glad to show [the resolution] to you when we unveil it.’ It is important that he immediately publish this resolution, so that, as I have said before, we can see the arena in which we will be participating …” (Speaker Pelosi, Letter to House Democrats, 1/07/2020)

·         SPEAKER PELOSI: “As I said right from the start, we need to see the arena in which we are sending our managers…. In October, we put forth H.R. 660, which is House Resolution – which talked about the terms under which we would proceed further – to further proceed with the investigation, so the people knew what the battlefield would look like. We expect to see that here.” (Speaker Pelosi, Press Conference, 1/09/2020)

HOUSE MANAGER REP. ADAM SCHIFF (D-CA): “The desire is to get a commitment from the Senate that they’re going to have a fair trial, fair to the president, yes, but fair to the American people.” (CNN’s “State of the Union,” 1/5/2020)

REP. JIM CLYBURN (D-SC): “I think that we have to ensure that the Senate will come to the table, work out a process through which we can have a fair and impartial trial. That’s what I think.” (CNN’s “New Day,” 12/19/2019)

·         REP. CLYBURN: “Why would the speaker of the House step into that without trying to determine exactly what the majority leader plans to do? So I applaud [the Speaker] for this. In fact, I was one of the ones arguing that this ought to be the case. And until we can get some assurances from the majority leader that he is going to allow for a fair and impartial trial to take place, we would be crazy to walk in there …” (CNN’s “New Day,” 12/19/2019)

·         CNN’s JOHN BERMAN: “As long as it takes — are you willing to hold the articles indefinitely if Mitch McConnell doesn’t concede the points that you’re asking him to? Are you suggesting it’s possible you will never transmit the articles of impeachment?”

REP. CLYBURN: “If it were me, yes, that’s what I’m saying” (CNN’s “New Day,” 12/19/2019)

House Democrats Declared That Only They Could Decide When The President Could Assert Executive Privilege

HOUSE MANAGER REP. ADAM SCHIFF (D-CA): “To say that we are concerned that the White House will attempt to stonewall our investigation, much as they have stonewalled other committees in the past, it’s why I say the White House needs to understand that any action like that, that forces us to litigate or have to consider litigation, will be considered further evidence of obstruction of justice.” (Rep. Schiff, Press Conference, 10/2/2019)

HOUSE MANAGER REP. ZOE LOFGREN (D-CA): “With all the back-and-forth about these documents, we have heard the phrase ‘executive privilege.’ The President and his lawyers keep saying—they talk about a vast legal right to justify hiding the truth, withholding information. But that is a distraction. That is not what the Constitution provides…. Here is the truth. The President, Members of Congress, judges, and the Supreme Court have recognized throughout our Nation’s history that Congress’s investigative powers are at their absolute peak during impeachment proceedings—your powers. Executive privilege cannot be a barrier to give absolute secrecy to cover up wrongdoing.” (Rep. Lofgren, Congressional Record, S.388, 1/21/2020)

·         REP. LOFGREN: “Michael Duffey defied the House’s subpoena. At the President’s direction, he refused to appear. The White House did not assert any privileges or immunities when it directed Duffey to defy Congress’s subpoena. It wasn’t a real exercise of executive privilege. They told him not to appear, and they had no reason why.” (Rep. Lofgren, Congressional Record, S.523, 1/23/2020)

HOUSE MANAGER REP. JERRY NADLER (D-NY): “Make no mistake. President Trump had no legal grounds to block Ambassador Bolton’s testimony in this trial. Executive privilege is not a spell that the President can cast to cover up evidence of his own misconduct.” (Rep. Nadler, Congressional Record, S.426, 1/21/2020)

HOUSE MANAGER REP. HAKEEM JEFFRIES (D-NY): “You will no doubt hear that the reason the President blocked all of these witnesses, including Mr. Mulvaney, from testifying is because of some lofty concern for the Office of the Presidency and the preservation of executive privilege. Let’s get real. How can blocking witnesses from telling the truth about the President’s misconduct help preserve the Office of the Presidency? This type of blanket obstruction undermines the credibility of the Office of the Presidency and deals the Constitution a potentially mortal death blow.” (Rep. Jeffries, Congressional Record, S.410, 1/21/2020)

House Democrats, Aided By Their Senate Colleagues, Tried To Drag The Chief Justice Into Impeachment Proceedings, Predetermine Potential Litigation For The Supreme Court, And Undermine The Court’s Legitimacy

HOUSE MANAGER REP. ADAM SCHIFF (D-CA): “[T]his amendment would … allow the Chief Justice and it would allow senators, the House managers, and the President’s counsel to make use of the experience of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court to decide the questions of the relevance of witnesses.” (Rep. Schiff, Congressional Record, S.430, 1/21/2020)

REP. SCHIFF: “We have a very capable justice sitting right behind me who can make decisions about the materiality of witnesses. We trust the Supreme Court Justice, the Chief Justice, to make those decisions.” (NBC’s “Meet the Press,” 1/26/2020)

·         REP. SCHIFF: “[T]he Senate rules allow the presiding officer to make judgments and to rule on issues of evidence, materiality, and privilege. That is permitted under your own rules. We don’t need to go up and down the courts. We have got a perfectly good judge right here.” (Rep. Schiff, Congressional Record, S.765, 1/31/2020)

HOUSE MANAGER REP. ZOE LOFGREN (D-CA): “[H]ere’s the thing. The Chief Justice of the United States is presiding over this trial. If he signs a subpoena for a witness to come, we’re going to get that witness. We’re not going to be in court for three or four years. We’re going to get that witness promptly.” (CNN’s “State of the Union,” 1/26/2020)

SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): “[W]e had an amendment; it was Chris Van Hollen’s amendment, before McConnell’s resolution was adopted so we could offer it that said Roberts should have to rule. Now, still, the Senate rules would allow the Senate to overrule Roberts, but the weight of his ruling would matter. And we liked that. And we hoped that could happen.” (Sen. Schumer, Press Conference, 1/28/2020)

·         SEN. SCHUMER: “I’d just say this. If it’s a tie, it will be up to the Chief Justice. The Chief Justice knows that every trial has witnesses and documents.” (Sen. Schumer, Press Conference, 1/31/2020)

SEN. SCHUMER: “If the U.S. Senate issues a bipartisan subpoena, signed by the Chief Justice, any lawyer would advise their client to comply. If someone like Mr. Mulvaney still refused, we’d make a motion asking the Chief Justice to order Mulvaney to comply. We could settle any and all potential claims of executive privilege right on the Senate floor.” (Sen. Schumer, Press Conference, 1/29/2020)

·         SEN. SCHUMER: “[M]y belief is, as I said, subpoenas with the Chief Justice’s signature on them with bipartisan support would get right through the courts …” (Sen. Schumer, Press Conference, 1/28/2020)

·         SEN. SCHUMER: “[W]ell if John Bolton wanted to come testify and it was a subpoena signed by the Chief Justice passed in a bipartisan way he would be here in a day. He could go to court but he would be testifying in a day.” (Sen. Schumer, Press Conference, 1/29/2020)

SEN. ELZABETH WARREN (D-MA): “At a time when large majorities of Americans have lost faith in government, does the fact that the Chief Justice is presiding over an impeachment trial in which Republican senators have thus far refused to allow witnesses or evidence contribute to the loss of legitimacy of the Chief Justice, the Supreme Court, and the Constitution?” (Congressional Record, S.717, 1/30/2020)

Left-Wing Special Interest Group Demand Justice, Led By A Former Schumer Staffer, Ran An Ad Campaign Attacking Chief Justice John Roberts

“Demand Justice announced a paid ad campaign calling out Chief Justice John Roberts’ failure so far to ensure a fair impeachment trial, and urging Americans to call the Supreme Court to demand he do so.” (Demand Justice, Press Release, 1/27/2020)

“Brian Fallon is co-founder and executive director of Demand Justice. Fallon worked as the Director of Public Affairs for the U.S. Department of Justice during the Obama administration. Prior to that, he was a top aide in the United States Senate, working for New York Democrat Chuck Schumer. In 2016, Fallon served as the National Press Secretary for Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign.” (“Brian Fallon,” Demand Justice Website, Accessed 2/05/2020)

·         BRIAN FALLON: “I learned from [Chuck Schumer] more than I’ve learned in any other job.” (“How Hillary Clinton’s Press Secretary Self-Radicalized and Became a Resistance Leader,” The Daily Beast, 5/16/2019)

DEMAND JUSTICE: “Senator Warren is right. This trial is a sham, John Roberts is hurting his own legitimacy by enabling it.” (Demand Justice, @WeDemandJustice, Twitter, 1/30/2020)

·         “Now, Roberts might even help Republicans cover up key evidence…. Roberts has the power to subpoena [John Bolton] and other potential witnesses. He has the authority and the responsibility to put truth and law above his party. He needs to hear from us every day until he does. Donald Trump isn’t above the law, and John Roberts shouldn’t be above hearing from the American people when he abuses his office to help Republicans.” (Demand Justice, Email, 1/29/2020)

·         “Republicans are breaking the rules, lying under oath, and suppressing evidence. But they aren’t doing it alone — they’ve had John Roberts’ help every step of the way.” (Demand Justice, @WeDemandJustice, Twitter, 1/30/2020)

·         “Tell John Roberts: Start acting like a judge, not a Republican politician. …” (Demand Justice, @WeDemandJustice, Twitter, 1/30/2020)

·         “Mitch McConnell and Senate Republicans have stolen our democracy and John Roberts is driving the getaway car.” (Demand Justice, @WeDemandJustice, Twitter, 1/30/2020)

·         “John Roberts is enabling the Republican cover-up because he’s a partisan Republican.” (Demand Justice, @WeDemandJustice, Twitter, 1/29/2020)

BRIAN FALLON: “What Warren gets, and few others in that chamber do, is that extending the Chief Justice the benefit of the doubt and sitting back and praying for him to do the right thing – on witnesses, on Roe, voting rights, money in politics – will get us nowhere. He needs to be challenged” (Brian Fallon, @brianefallon, Twitter, 1/30/2020)

·         FALLON: “Warren is the only Democrat so far to put Roberts on the spot.” (Brian Fallon, @brianefallon, Twitter, 1/30/2020)

Tags: House Democrats, Myopic Impeachment Crusade, Undermined, The Constitution To share or post to your site, click on “Post Link”. Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service and “Like” Facebook Page – Thanks!
These Are The Times People Will Remember

Posted: 06 Feb 2020 12:08 PM PST

Frank Miniter

by Frank Miniter: When Michael Bloomberg, former mayor of New York City and the founder of multiple gun-control groups, announced he was running for president, he also said his news service would not investigate him or his rivals who are vying for the Democratic Party’s nomination. He said Bloomberg News, which has over 2,000 employees, would, however, keep investigating and writing opinion pieces about President Donald J. Trump.

This means that the many reporters with Bloomberg News have basically been given marching orders to openly behave as operatives of the Democratic Party.

This prompted David Martosko, the U.S. politics editor for the Daily Mail, to tweet: “I predict Trump rallies will include this: ‘Is there a Bloomberg reporter back there in the fake news section? They fly on Air Force One every day and chase me around but Little Mike won’t let them investigate ANY Democrats. It’s crooked as hell.’”

The possibility of that being said by Trump at a campaign rally was quickly dashed, however, as the Trump administration responded by announcing that Bloomberg’s reporters would not be given press credentials to attend Trump’s campaign events.

The thing is, Bloomberg’s anti-journalistic move is not surprising. His gun-control group Everytown for Gun Safety, for example, already won’t speak with reporters who won’t print its propaganda almost verbatim. Everytown isn’t interested in honest, bipartisan fact-finding on issues related to guns any more than Bloomberg is in this campaign.

Even Bloomberg’s political website states: “Taking on the Gun Lobby: While other elected officials live in fear of the NRA, Mike has led the effort to stop gun violence and keep communities safe.” This declaration is hardly an attempt to bring people together to find the best ways to reduce homicide rates where they are high, such as in areas with stringent gun-control laws. Rather, it’s a political statement, a declaration from Bloomberg that he intends to do all he can to vanquish his political opponents—meaning you and this civil-liberties association.

This is an election in which Bloomberg is all in with his $55-billion fortune. Whether he is the nominee or not, his money will be a big factor as he attempts to fool people into voting away their freedom for perceived security. Bloomberg is selling policies that don’t create better, freer and safer communities.

After Bloomberg declared that his large news company would openly behave as a political machine, he went to Colorado to unveil the basic framework of his gun-control agenda, which (no surprises here) includes: So-called “universal” background checks; a new ban on popular semi-automatic rifles and so-called “high-capacity magazines;” raising the age to buy a gun of any type to 21; a two-day waiting period for all gun purchases; a gun-owner licensing scheme; a repeal of the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act so that anti-gun activists can sue a gun maker out of business if a criminal uses its product illegally; and much more.

These are positions that, unfortunately, all of the leading candidates now hoping to be the Democratic nominee pretty much agree on.

Obviously, if you care about American freedom, this is not an election season to be complacent. This is an election in which our freedom will be on the ballot.
——————
Frank Minter (@frankminter) writes for numerous publications and is editor of America’s 1st Freedom. He is the author of The Ultimate Man’s Survival Guide to the Workplace, a New York Times Bestseller, and This Will Make a Man of You.
Tags: Michael Bloomberg, Everytown For Gun Safety, Democratic Nominee, Presidential Candidate, Frank Miniter To share or post to your site, click on “Post Link”. Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service and “Like” Facebook Page – Thanks!
Pentagon Adds Another Base for Quarantining Coronavirus Evacuees

Posted: 06 Feb 2020 11:54 AM PST

by Oriana Pawlyk: The Pentagon says it will use yet another U.S. military base to host up to 75 people in need of quarantine and possible treatment for the new coronavirus from China.

Defense Secretary Mark Esper and Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts agreed this week that Camp Ashland, a Nebraska National Guard base roughly 30 miles from Omaha, will house the latest evacuees at the request of the Department of Health and Human Services, the Defense Department said Wednesday.

Officials told local news affiliates in Nebraska that the evacuees would arrive at Eppley Airfield in Omaha, where they will be ushered to a remote and isolated aircraft parking area before being brought to the base.

Roughly 1,000 evacuees are being taken to four other bases — Travis Air Force Base and Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in California; Fort Carson in Colorado; and Lackland Air Force Base in Texas.

Those bases are in addition to March Air Reserve Base in California, where nearly 200 evacuees arrived last week.

Charter flights have been leaving China throughout the week to evacuate American citizens from Wuhan in China’s central Hubei province, where the coronavirus is believed to have originated.

Roughly 350 passengers aboard two jetliners landed at Travis on Wednesday morning. Though none of the evacuees is showing symptoms of the virus, they will be quarantined at the base for the next two weeks, according to The Sacramento Bee.

Similar restrictions are in effect at the other installations.

HHS “will be responsible for all care, transportation, and security of the evacuees,” the DoD said in a statement Wednesday. “This includes limiting the movement of the evacuees on Camp Ashland.”

The same policy applies to all bases being used for the quarantine effort, officials said.

Military and DoD personnel “will not be in direct contact with the evacuees and will minimize contact with personnel supporting the evacuees,” according to the statement. “Should routine monitoring of the evacuees identify ill individuals, HHS has procedures in place to transport them to a local civilian medical facility. HHS will also ensure that no evacuated personnel are transferred to any DOD installation if they are infected or ill.”

Earlier this week, Esper spoke with Air Force Gen. Terrence O’Shaughnessy, head of U.S. Northern Command, on new arrangements for the additional evacuees, DoD spokesman Jonathan Hoffman said.

According to the World Health Organization, more than 3,000 new cases were confirmed in China over the last 24 hours, bringing the total to 24,363.

So far, there have been no reports of confirmed cases of coronavirus among the evacuees at March, though a child was recently hospitalized after developing a fever, The Associated Press said.

There are 12 confirmed cases of the coronavirus in the U.S.
——————–
Oriana Pawlyk @Oriana0214 writes for Military.com.
Tags: Oriana Pawlyk, Military.com, Pentagon, Adds Another Base, for Quarantining, Coronavirus Evacuees To share or post to your site, click on “Post Link”. Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service and “Like” Facebook Page – Thanks!
Over 1,500 Aliens With ICE Detainers Released from the Orange County Jail in 2019

Posted: 06 Feb 2020 11:28 AM PST

by ICE: Orange County Sheriff’s Department confirms California’s SB54 has led to more crimes, victims.

WASHINGTON — U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Acting Director Matthew T. Albence has repeatedly expressed concerns about how state or local policies limiting cooperation with ICE can lead to more crime. According to data recently released from the Orange County Sheriff’s Department, in the two years since the implementation of California’s State Bill 54 (SB54), the sheriff’s department has rearrested more than 400 of those they released on whom ICE had active detainers. The aliens who were rearrested include those with charges including: rape, assault with a deadly weapon, child sex offenses, domestic violence, identify theft, and driving under the influence.“I applaud Orange County Sheriff Don Barnes for his continued efforts to explain why these sanctuary policies do not make sense when it comes public safety. This is exactly what ICE has said time and again. These policies do nothing but ensure that criminals are released back into the community, where many re-offend, instead of being turned over to ICE. These are preventable crimes, and more importantly, preventable victims. As the data released by Sheriff Barnes clearly demonstrates, all communities are safer when local law enforcement works with ICE.” – Acting ICE Director AlbenceThe Orange County Sheriff’s Department data showed:

In 2019:

  • A total of 1,507 inmates released from the Orange County Jail had ICE detainers.
    • 492 inmates were released to ICE upon completion of their local sentences in accordance with SB54 regulations.
    • The remaining 1,015 inmates were released without notification to ICE due to limitations by SB54
    • 238 of those individuals were rearrested on additional charges.

In 2018:

  • A total of 1,823 detainers were placed on inmates at the Orange County Jail.
    • 823 inmates were released to ICE upon completion of their local sentences in accordance with SB54 regulations.
    • 1,106 inmates were released without notification to ICE due to limitations by SB54
    • 173 of those individuals were rearrested on additional charges.

The Orange County Sheriff’s Department noted these numbers only reflect those arrested on new charges at the Orange County Jail; these statistics do not account for individuals who may have been released and committed crimes in other jurisdictions.

SB 54 restricts law enforcement from notifying, transferring and communicating with ICE regarding certain offenders. “SB 54 has made our community less safe. The law has resulted in new crimes because my deputies were unable to communicate with their federal partners about individuals who committed serious offenses and present a threat to our community if released,” said Don Barnes, Orange County Sheriff-Coroner. “The two-year social science experiment with sanctuary laws must end. Rather than protect our immigrant community, the law has enabled offenders to be released, often times back into the immigrant communities they prey upon, and create new victims.”

ICE lodges detainers on individuals who have been arrested on criminal charges and who ICE has probable cause to believe are removable aliens. The detainer asks the other law enforcement agency to notify ICE in advance of release and to maintain custody of the alien for a brief period of time so that ICE can take custody of that person in a safe and secure setting upon release from that agency’s custody. When law enforcement agencies fail to honor immigration detainers and release serious criminal offenders onto the streets, it undermines ICE’s ability to protect public safety and carry out its mission.
——————-
ICE Press Release on Enforcement and Removal.
Tags: ICE, Over 1,500 Aliens, With ICE Detainers, Released from, Orange County Jail, in 2019 To share or post to your site, click on “Post Link”. Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service and “Like” Facebook Page – Thanks!
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THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

 

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HIGHLIGHTS

What to watch for at the New Hampshire Democratic debate

What to watch for at the New Hampshire Democratic debate

The stakes have never been higher heading into a 2020 Democratic primary debate.

Biden’s brother Frank dodged paying $1M to daughters orphaned in crash

Biden's brother Frank dodged paying $1M to daughters orphaned in crash

Frank Biden, the younger brother of presidential candidate Joe Biden, has dodged the family of a Florida man who was killed in a hit-and-run incident.

While Trump plays stadiums, Pence tries to woo the heartland one diner at a time

While Trump plays stadiums, Pence tries to woo the heartland one diner at a time

LANCASTER, Pennsylvania — “This is my kind of place,” said Vice President Mike Pence as he looked around Lyndon Diner, its booths packed with supporters and its aisles filled with waitstaff in T-shirts emblazoned with shamrock logos.

Editorial: Democrats have a turnout problem

Editorial: Democrats have a turnout problem

The 2020 campaign season is off to an inauspicious start for Democrats. Iowa’s reporting debacle has left Democrats without a clear result in their first nominating contest, sowing suspicions as to whether there will ever be an accurate count.
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Buttigieg celebrates razor-thin lead in Iowa with 100% of precincts reported

Buttigieg celebrates razor-thin lead in Iowa with 100% of precincts reported

Pete Buttigieg was mum on whether his campaign for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination would request a recanvass after the Iowa Democratic Party declared him the winner of the state’s first-in-the-nation contest.

Trump administration withholding close to $30 million in arms for Ukraine: Report

Trump administration withholding close to $30 million in arms for Ukraine: Report

The Trump administration is withholding approval of close to $30 million worth of arms and ammunition sales to Ukraine. After millions of dollars in down payments, Kyiv has requested the money back.

Bernie Sanders: ‘I don’t want to commit’ to having a minority or woman vice president

Bernie Sanders: 'I don't want to commit' to having a minority or woman vice president

Sen. Bernie Sanders refused to say he would make his vice presidential pick a woman or a minority were he to win the Democratic presidential nomination.

Warren doesn’t hesitate to confirm she’s skipping AIPAC

DERRY, New Hampshire — Elizabeth Warren has vowed to boycott the top pro-Israel confab, the American Israel Public Policy Conference, in March.

‘I apologize’: Warren takes ‘responsibility’ after minority women staff exodus in Nevada

Elizabeth Warren expressed regret that minority women working for her 2020 Democratic presidential campaign in Nevada said they felt like tokens.

Ohio still waiting on Trump’s manufacturing revival

Ohio still waiting on Trump's manufacturing revival

“Don’t move. Don’t sell your house,” President Trump told a cheering crowd in Youngstown, Ohio, in July 2017. The speech was made just 15 miles down the road from a Lordstown General Motors plant that the company was planning to close. Trump repeatedly used the bully pulpit of the White House to try to pressure GM into reversing the decision.

AOC invokes MLK to defend comments calling ‘bootstrap’ meritocracy ‘a joke’

AOC invokes MLK to defend comments calling 'bootstrap' meritocracy 'a joke'

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez defended comments she made about the “bootstrap” meritocracy by invoking Martin Luther King Jr.

‘Free Bill Cosby’: Snoop Dogg rips Gayle King and calls for release of imprisoned comic

Rapper Snoop Dogg called for the release of comedian Bill Cosby in several profanity-laced Instagram posts that attacked Gayle King and Oprah Winfrey for rehashing Kobe Bryant’s 2003 sexual assault charges after the basketball player died in a helicopter crash last week.

THE ROUNDUP
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CENTER FOR SECURITY POLICY
Highlighted Articles/Interviews
David Wurmser sheds light on the Russian historical view of the Middle East
As the new year begins, the Middle East looks eerily similar to the way it has for the last several new years’ eves. Despite civil war in Syria and Libya, those who based their prognosis on the persistence of the reigning paradigm appear vindicated. That paradigm rested on several assumptions.

Read the piece by Center Senior Middle East Analyst, David Wurmser. 

Hail to the CINC for killing al-Rimi

President Donald Trump has just eliminated another top jihadist. The death of Qasim al-Rimi takes off the global battlefield a Sharia-supremacist and senior al Qaeda leader who recently took credit for a murderous attack in Pensacola in December.

Al-Rimi was a close associate of al Qaeda’s founder, Osama bin Laden, a deputy to his successor, Ayman al-Zawahiri, and the leader of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. Some experts believe he would likely succeed al-Zawahiri.

Donald Trump has now liquidated top jihadists of ISIS, the Iranian regime and al Qaeda. Each had American blood on their hands. Each was a mortal threat to more of us, to our allies and to our vital interests. While other presidents have used force to take out enemy operatives, none has done so with such strategic effect as this one.

Hail to the Commander-in-Chief.

This is Frank Gaffney.
“China’s goal is by 2049, the 100th anniversary of the Communist Party, they will dominate the global economy using space,” Air Force Lieutenant General Steven Kwast tells Secure Freeom Radio.

General Kwast outlines why American presence and dominance in space is critical for our nation’s defense.

Listen to the whole interview here.
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NATIONAL REVIEW

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WITH JIM GERAGHTYFebruary 07 2020
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Who Thought a Friday Night Debate Was a Good Idea?

On the menu today: the Democratic National Committee’s inexplicable decision to have one of the most important debates of the cycle on a Friday night; wondering whether Barack Obama could stop Bernie Sanders if he tried, and why he doesn’t even appear to be trying; and good riddance to the execrable and incoherent Joe Walsh.

The Democratic National Committee Hopes You Watch the Debate Tonight. Or Do They?

How well do you remember the 2016 Democratic presidential primary debates? Maybe you remember Bernie Sanders declaring, with Hillary Clinton smiling beside him, “I think the secretary of state is right, the American people are sick and tired about hearing about your damn emails,” effectively forsaking that issue in the primary.

Other than that, you probably don’t remember much, and some would argue that that was by design.

The first Democratic presidential primary debate of that cycle wasn’t held until October of 2015. (The Republicans started in August.) The Democratic National Committee initially announced that only six would be held, roughly one per month. (The Clinton and Sanders campaigns would eventually negotiate expanding the …   READ MORE
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1. While the Local Church Fights Ortega in Nicaragua, Pope Francis Is Silent

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Caucuses In Iowa Run So Poorly That The Associated Press Refuses To Declare A Winner
The Associated Press has been declaring the winner of U.S. elections forever. In fact, most TV networks and newspapers don’t make their own calls until… Read more…
UPDATE FROM HONG KONG: Wuhan Citizens Give The *Real* Whistleblower Dr. Wenliang Li a Moving Tribute Outside Hospital After His Death (VIDEO)
This is a live report from Hong Kong Chinese people mourn death of a *true* whistleblower, Dr. Wenliang Li, who broke the news to the… Read more…
The PERFECT Ending to a Historic Week: Actor James Woods Is Back on Twitter
What an AMAZING week! ** President Trump delivers historic State of the Union Address ** US economy continues to roar — Setting several stock market… Read more…
We Called It: We Were Right and President Trump was Right for Retweeting our Report on “Oconus Lures” in 2018 – And the #FakeNews Media Was Wrong Again
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Brutal. Herald Sun columnist Rita Panahi and her Friday Morning Show hosts on SKY News in Australia completely tore apart Nancy Pelosi and her Democrat… Read more…
JOBS, JOBS, JOBS! US Adds 225,000 More Jobs in January While the Unemployment Rate at Historic Low of 3.6%
The Trump economy continues with arguably the best economy in US history. Job numbers released today through the end of December show an increase of… Read more…
MUST SEE: President Trump Gets Choked Up When Thanking His Beautiful Family for Standing By His Side During 3 Years of Deep State Attacks
President Trump choked up yesterday when he mentioned all the hardships that his family has had to endure since he decided to run for President. … Read more…
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President Trump took a victory lap today after years of harassment and abuse from the deep state and crooked Democrat Party. President Trump did not… Read more…
“They Are Assassins! They’re Working for the Other Team” – Devin Nunes Urges Republicans to Quit Talking to the Corrupt Mainstream Media (VIDEO)
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NATIONAL JOURNAL
What’s News
IA CAUCUSES: With 99.9% precincts reporting, former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg (D) leads with 26.2%, followed by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) at 26.1%, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) at 18%, former Vice President Joe Biden at 16%, and Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) at 12%. (AP) The Associated Press “said Thursday that it is unable to declare a winner … However, there is evidence the party has not accurately tabulated some of its results, including those released late Thursday that the party reported as complete. The AP’s tabulation of the party’s results are at 99% of precincts reporting, with data missing from one of 1,765 precincts, among other issues.” (AP)

NH PRIMARY: A Monmouth poll (Feb. 3-5; 503 RVs; +/- 4.4) found Sanders with 24%, Buttigieg with 20%, Biden with 17%, Warren with 13%, and Klobuchar with 9%. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI) and entrepreneur Andrew Yang (D) received 4%. (release)

YANG: Yang’s “campaign fired dozens of staffers this week after an abysmal finish in the Iowa caucuses … Among those dismissed were the national political and policy directors of the campaign, as well as the deputy national political director.” (Politico)

ENDORSEMENTS: Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-NJ 11) and former Navy Secretary Richard Spencer endorsed former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg (D). (New Jersey Globe/New York Times) Rep. Andy Kim (D-NJ 03) endorsed Buttigieg. (release)

MT SEN: President Obama “met privately with Montana Gov. Steve Bullock (D) on Thursday in Washington … as Democrats hold out hopes that the red-state governor makes a surprise, last-minute splash” into the race against Sen. Steve Daines (R) ahead of the March 9 filing deadline. “Bullock has consistently said he will not run for the Senate after dropping his own White House bid last year.” (Politico)

GA SEN SPECIAL: At his ceremony celebrating his impeachment acquittal on Thursday, President Trump suggested “he’s working on a compromise between” Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R) and Rep. Doug Collins (R-09), “who are clashing over the same seat.” The “remarks triggered immediate talk in Georgia GOP circles that Collins could be in line for a judgeship or another appointment, or that Loeffler could be tapped for a premier position.” Trump, to Loeffler: “Something’s going to happen that’s going to be very good. I don’t know; I haven’t figured it out yet.” (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

VT GOV: Trump “abused his power and shouldn’t be in office,” Gov. Phil Scott (R) said Thursday. Scott: “I believe he abused his position of power; withholding those funds is inappropriate.” (AP)

CO SEN: Trump will appear at a rally in Colorado Springs with Sen. Cory Gardner (R) on Feb. 20 at the Broadmoor World Arena. (Colorado Sun)
Hair of the Dog

“’I hate to retire, but you gotta quit sometime’: 102-year-old Indiana state employee works final day” (WHAS)
Our Call

Trump tried his hand as King Solomon during his acquittal celebration on Thursday, more or less suggesting that he will try to split the baby and end what is set to be a nasty, protracted intraparty battle between Loeffler and Collins in Georgia. Trump’s decision-making is often unpredictable, but there’s a chance the solution he devises will place one of his closest allies into the Senate rather than “a young woman who I didn’t know at all.” Trump’s lack of enthusiasm for some backed by McConnell, such as Loeffler, was also evident with another vulnerable senator: Martha McSally of Arizona. Trump half-heartedly mustered in support, “I think we have to make sure Martha is going to do—I think Martha is going to do … good. We have some states that are going to be not easy.” — Drew Gerber

Two names were noticeably absent from Trump’s list of supporters during his thank-you speech yesterday: Susan Collins and Cory Gardner. They’re the only two Republicans left in the Senate who represent states that Hillary Clinton carried in 2016, and they’re both up for reelection in 2020. However, whether Gardner is actually trying to distance himself from Trump is a separate question. Last night, the Colorado Sun reported that Gardner will appear at a campaign rally on Feb. 20 alongside the man he just voted to acquit in the impeachment trial. While the plan is to keep things local—the event is focused on the administration’s “decision to move the Bureau of Land Management’s Headquarters to Grand Junction”—Trump is known to go on tangents about social and national issues during campaign rallies. — Leah Askarinam 
Fresh Brewed Buzz

Former Rep. Joe Walsh (R-IL) “is ending his uphill challenge” to Trump “after suffering a crushing loss in the Iowa GOP caucuses in which he received only 1% of the vote.” (CNN)

“Jackie Norris, a longtime Iowa Democratic operative who served as Michelle Obama’s chief of staff, is already making calls in an effort to become the next chair of the Iowa Democratic Party.” (Twitter)

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s “reelection campaign is selling ‘End of Impeachment’ T-shirts that celebrate the Senate’s acquittal of” Trump. (Louisville Courier Journal)

“Charleston News Broadcast Confuses U.S. Senate Candidate Jaime Harrison With Shoplifting Suspect: ‘It Is Shocking and Disturbing’” (The Root)

“Fresh off his stunning vote to” convict Trump, Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) “took a red-eye flight to visit with Utah Republican legislative leaders and explain his decision … Tensions on the Hill among Republicans are running high following Romney’s decision, but sources say the meetings between Romney and legislative leadership were cordial and relaxed.” (Utah Policy)

“Was Mitt Romney’s vote the fulfillment of a Mormon prophecy?” (Los Angeles Times)

“A U.S. Senate candidate in Maine has selected an unusual logo for campaign t-shirts—the guillotine—citing the need for a revolution to remove big money from politics.” (Portland Press Herald)

“For Democrats in particular, electoral participation seemed like a matter not worth worrying about,” but Iowa caucus turnout “was roughly around 2016 levels (around 175,000) but way off of the record set in 2008 (236,000).” (Daily Beast)

Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA 15) is writing a book about Trump’s impeachment titled “Endgame,” which will be released in April. (release)

“California lawmakers are speeding a bill through the Legislature” that would “allow voters to change their party preference or residence address within two weeks of election day without having to re-register to vote. … If signed by” Gov. Gavin Newsom (D), “SB 207 would immediately become law, meaning it would apply to the 2020 California primary election, as well as the 2020 general election in November.” (Sacramento Bee)

“Joe Biden kinda, sorta, almost endorses legalizing marijuana” (Politico)

“The Republican Party of Wisconsin is aiming to reach voters in the heart of Milwaukee … opening a campaign office on the city’s north side. The office … will be used for outreach to African American and Latino voters.” (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)

“Ghost offices: Democratic presidential campaigns tearing down Iowa offices, even as caucus count continues” (Des Moines Register)
Rooster’s Crow

The House is in at 9 a.m. The Senate is out.

Trump delivers remarks at the North Carolina Opportunity Now Summit at Central Piedmont Community College in Charlotte at 1:20 p.m. Trump also delivers remarks at the Republican Governors Association Finance Dinner in Washington, DC at 7:30 p.m.
Swizzle Challenge

When, during President Clinton’s impeachment trial, Sen. Robert Byrd (D-WV) offered his motion to dismiss the articles of impeachment, Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI) and Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) voted against the party line to not dismiss impeachment—Feingold deliberately and Mikulski did so by mistake, but quickly corrected herself.

No one won yesterday’s challenge. Here’s our challenge: Which Secretary of War was impeached in 1876?

The 3rd correct email gets to submit the next question.
Early Bird Special

The Democrats’ delicate balancing act
Cook: Was Iowa Joe Biden’s Waterloo?
A Trump ‘celebration’ turns to score-setting
New Medicaid policy could lead to drug-benefit cuts
Against the Grain Episode 61: Tangled webs
Shot…

“Mike Bloomberg Is Paying ‘Influencers’ to Make Him Seem Cool” (Daily Beast)

Chaser…

“I wish that I could be like the cool kids / ‘Cause all the cool kids, they seem to fit in” (Echosmith)
Mary Frances McGowan, Wake-Up Call! Editor

Editor: Leah Askarinam

Digital Editor: Mini Racker
Staff Writers: Madelaine Pisani, Drew Gerber, Matt Holt, Kirk A. Bado

Fellow:  Mary Frances McGowan

Contributor: Alex Clearfield
National Journal
600 New Hampshire Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20037

 

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David French Mitt Romney’s honorable stand reaffirmed the wisdom of impeaching Trump
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Daily Mail Two Democrats confronted Pelosi about ripping up Trump’s speech
Edward-Isaac Dovere How Biden blew it
Alex Griswold No, the Constitution doesn’t allow Romney to be recalled
Zach Parkinson Warren: I’ll boycott next year’s AIPAC conference
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NYT “I keep hearing painful coughs”: Life on quarantined cruise ship
White House White House confirms death of leader of Al Qaeda in Yemen
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Jonathan Chait If you think it looks bad for mainstream Democrats now, just wait
WaPo His campaign on the line, Joe Biden goes missing in New Hampshire
Joe Walsh I’m suspending my campaign
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Edward Foley Impeachment was supposed to protect the 2020 election. Now it’s worse off.
Becket Adams The media love anti-Trump “Republican strategists” and “experts” because the media love drama
Matthew Walther Trump acquitted himself
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