Good morning! Here is your news briefing for Friday January 10, 2020

THE DAILY SIGNAL

Jan 10, 2020

Happy Friday from Washington, where House Democrats make a show of scolding President Trump for taking out Iran’s chief terrorist without giving them a heads-up. We’ve got details from Fred Lucas and commentary from Cully Stimson on a leading Senate conservative’s reservations. On the podcast, a filmmaker shares how his sister’s ordeal spurred him to crusade against sex trafficking. Plus: civil rights and school diversity quotas, Planned Parenthood’s abortion record, and a media lawyer’s take on CNN’s libel settlement. On this date in 1946, the United Nations General Assembly, made up of 51 nations, convenes for the first time in London. Enjoy the weekend.

	NEWSMedia Lawyer Explains Why CNN Settlement in Libel Case Is Big Deal By Jarrett Stepman What is particularly interesting and mostly overlooked about the CNN case is the legal arguments the cable news organization was using to avoid legal repercussions.MoreCOMMENTARYNo, Sen. Mike Lee Isn’t Breaking With the President on Iran. But He Has a Point.By Cully Stimson The Utah Republican has been consistent in his position over the years that the Constitution assigns to Congress the power to authorize war. He was critical of the Obama administration’s military activities in Yemen and Libya and Syria, and was public about it at the time.MoreANALYSISHis Sister Was Sex-Trafficked for 6 Years. Here’s How He’s Devoted His Life to Fighting It.By Rachel del Guidice Ilonka Deaton was trafficked into sex slavery at the age of 12. She suffered for six years before finally getting free. Now, her brother, Jaco… Read More MoreNEWSHouse Democrats Pass War Powers Resolution Criticizing Trump’s Killing of Suleimani By Fred Lucas The Democrat-controlled House approves a resolution aimed at reining in President Trump’s future actions on Iran and condemning him for not notifying Congress before the drone strike that killed Iran’s top terrorist.MoreNEWSTrump Touts New Rule as Way to Improve Roads, Bridges Faster By Fred Lucas President Trump announces a new administration policy to boost the nation’s infrastructure without spending more tax dollars.MoreCOMMENTARYPlanned Parenthood Sets New Record for Abortions in a Single Year By Melanie Israel Planned Parenthood’s increased emphasis on abortion has proved lucrative. The abortion giant received $616.8 million in taxpayer funding, up from $563.8 million in 2018.MoreCOMMENTARYThis Legendary Civil Rights Advocate Is Taking on School Diversity Quotas By Kenny Xu Terrence Roberts, who entered a segregated Arkansas high school under National Guard protection in 1957, appeared in front of a Connecticut parents union to criticize the local school board for instituting blatant racial quotas in magnet school programs.More

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How McConnell Outplayed PelosiBy Matthew Continetti NYPD Makes Just One Arrest for Every Four Anti-Semitic Crimes, Data ShowBy Charles Fain Lehman Dems in Disarray Over Pelosi’s Impeachment StrategyBy Brent Scher Visit the All-New Free Beacon Online Store Iran: Missile Strikes Mark Beginning of ‘Major Operations’ Across Middle EastBy Adam Kredo U.S. Issued No-Fly Order Over Iran, Iraq Hours Before Ukrainian Plane DownedBy Adam Kredo Polling Experts: Democrats More Likely to Nominate ‘No One’ Than Elizabeth WarrenBy Andrew Stiles WaPo Reveals Photoshop Is Problematic If It Targets DemsBy Alex Griswold Trump on Iran’s Embassy Attack: ‘This Was the Anti-Benghazi’By Graham Piro Democrats: Soleimani Was a Bad Guy, But…By David Rutz SIGN UP FOR THE BEACON EXTRA HERE You are receiving this email because you opted in at our website.Copyright © 2020 Free Beacon, LLC, All rights reserved. To reject freedom, click here.Is this email not displaying correctly? View it in your browser.

DAYBREAK

Your First Look at Today’s Top Stories – Daybreak InsiderHaving trouble viewing this email? View the web version.SPONSORED BYDaybreakInsider.com  @DaybreakInsiderFRIDAY, JANUARY 10, 20201.Buttigieg Blames Trump for Iran Shooting Down Airliner
In this bizarre tweet:  Innocent civilians are now dead because they were caught in the middle of an unnecessary and unwanted military tit for tat. My thoughts are with the families and loved ones of all 176 souls lost aboard this flight (Twitter). From Andrew Egger:  This is lunacy. If today’s reporting is true, innocent civilians weren’t “caught in the middle of” anything between the U.S. and Iran. They were shot down by Iran, full stop (Twitter). From Jerry Dunleavy: If these reports are true, it means this airliner filled with hundreds of people was shot down by Iran just after Iran fired upon bases housing U.S. soldiers in Iraq. The U.S. did not fire back that night or since. There was no “in the middle.” It was Iran. Iran did this. Period (Twitter). Also of note: Airlines were warned by the FAA not to fly “due to the potential for miscalculation or mis-identification.” Even after they downed airliner, some continued to fly (Washington Times). From Ari Fleischer: Blame America first has reached a new level of depravity (Twitter). Meanwhile, Iran is pretending they meant to launch over a dozen missiles and somehow miss everyone (Hot Air).

2.Media Also Blame Trump for Airliner Shot Down by Iran
An AP White House Reporter coughed up this tweet: An Iranian general dies in U.S. attack, and innocents suffer (Twitter). From Katie Pavlich:  This headline is complete garbage 1) Iran shot down commercial airliner in their country, within their borders, hours after missile strike on U.S. in Iraq 2) U.S. didn’t send missiles into Iran 3) Iran solely responsible for the shoot down, which they’re lying about/covering up (Twitter). Then the New York Times retweeted this: Some Canadians are pointing fingers at President Trump for creating the volatile situation that led to this week’s plane crash in which 63 Canadians died. Could Canada’s relations with its most important ally suffer? (Twitter). Never-Trumper Tom Nichols blisters those who blame Trump in a series of tweets (Twitter). Perhaps the media is merely embarrassed that this didn’t turn into WWIII after all (Red State). From David French regarding this AP tweet: “What began with a drone attack” No. Tell that to the families of hundreds of slain Americans, to his tens of thousands of victims across the region. The strike on Suleimani was completely justified. Iran’s tragic incompetence with its own missiles is its own fault (Twitter).

Advertisement3.Pelosi Continues to Hold Articles as Democrats Lose Patience
And she is doing all she can to keep them in line (Fox News). From Steve Scalise: Dems used to claim impeachment was urgent. But 22 DAYS after passing the articles, Pelosi is still making pathetic excuses for not sending them to the Senate. It’s clear what’s going on: Dems know their sham case will be exposed and are trying to avoid national embarrassment (Twitter). From David Harsanyi:  Pelosi has no standing to dictate the terms of a Senate trial; no constitutional right or political leverage. Why she has put herself in a position that will ultimately end, one way or another, with her surrendering to McConnell is perplexing (National Review).

4.House Passes Meaningless War Powers Resolution
On a mostly party-line vote (Fox News). The Wall Street Journal notes “Democrats want to go on record against war with Iran as long as their vote doesn’t mean anything. They’re conscientious objectors to their own conscientious objections” (WSJ).

5.Supreme Court Begins Looking at Several Significant Cases
The Alliance Defending Freedom looks at 6, from school choice to the case with Arlene’s Flowers.

ADF

Advertisement6.Hanukkah Party Stabber Indicted on Hate Crimes
Five counts (ABC News). From Tom Cotton: The rise in anti-Semitic attacks is a symptom of a larger breakdown of public order in our nation’s cities. The solution to crime is the same as it always has been: More and better policing (Twitter). Dozens of anti-Semitic playlists were found on Spotify (NY Post).

7.Biden Said to Have 2 in 5 Chance of Gaining Nomination
Next is Sanders with 1 in 5 (FiveThirtyEight). Meanwhile, billionaire Tom Steyer qualified for Thursday’s Democratic debate (WTOP). And Buttigieg leads in New Hampshire (Hot Air).

8.Percentage of Americans Saying They are “Liberal” Drops in 2019As the percentage saying they are conservative increased.

Gallup

Advertisement9.Leftists Scientists: We Must Cut Back on Meat After 2030They want fewer animals and more land to plant trees.

CBS News

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THE WASHINGTON TIMES

MORNING EDITION

Friday, January 10, 2020

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Pelosi defiant as Democrats grow restless over impeachment delayHouse Speaker Nancy Pelosi defiantly held on to the articles of impeachment Thursday despite cracks in support from congressional Democrats … more

POLITICO Playbook: Will impeachment matter in 2020?

By ANNA PALMER and JAKE SHERMAN

01/10/2020 05:56 AM EST

Presented by

DRIVING THE DAY

President Donald Trump is pictured. | Getty Images — There could be nine full months between the end of impeaching President Donald Trump and Election Day. In this environment, that’s at least 270 news cycles. | Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images

HERE’S A QUESTION WORTH PONDERING: We are 298 DAYS until the election. Are you at all convinced that impeachment will remain as poignant a political issue as it is now? Republicans feel confident they’ve put red-district Democrats in a bad spot for supporting impeachment — but they’re equally confident it will be very difficult to keep them in that bad spot for the next 10 months, and privately concede the issue might soften over time.

THINK ABOUT THE LAST WEEK IN POLITICS: The U.S. killed Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani, allies got nervous, the world wondered if Iran would strike back, Iran did, President DONALD TRUMP said he wouldn’t escalate further, Speaker NANCY PELOSI was in the middle of holding the impeachment articles, now she’s at the end of holding them, and you have to wonder: What else will happen between now and November that will make impeachment seem like ancient history?

THIS IS SOME BACK-OF-THE-NAPKIN MATH, but bear with us: If impeachment starts next week, you should expect it to end in late January. That leaves nine full months between the end of impeachment and Election Day. In this environment, that’s at least 270 news cycles.

BURGESS EVERETT: “‘Don’t tell me it doesn’t matter’: Impeachment trial hurts presidential campaigns”: “[W]hile the Massachusetts senator has said for months that ‘some things are more important than politics’ — like impeachment — she now admits that with three weeks to go before the Iowa caucuses, there’s simply no substitute for being there.

“‘Of course it matters,’ Warren said in an interview this week. ‘We just did a three-and-a-half-hour selfie line. Don’t tell me it doesn’t matter to do face-to-face.’ … ‘There are lots of ways to reach out and talk to people,’ Warren added. ‘But the best and most important one is the face-to-face, handshake, a hug and being able to hold up the children so they can take pictures with you, to ask a question to do a pinky promise. And all of that is lost is if we can’t be there in person.’” POLITICO

MIDDLE EAST OVER, ONTO 2020! … NYT’S ANNIE KARNI and MAGGIE HABERMAN: “Kushner’s Global Role Shrinks as He Tackles Another: The 2020 Election”: “When senior administration officials gathered in the Situation Room on Tuesday for a meeting to discuss the repercussions of the killing of Maj. Gen. Qassim Suleimani, Vice President Mike Pence had a seat at the table. So did Robert O’Brien, the national security adviser, and Mark T. Esper, the defense secretary.

“But the White House aide whose portfolio is the Middle East was notably absent from the meeting. Jared Kushner, President Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser, was sitting for a photo shoot for a planned Time magazine cover story. He was also absent from the Situation Room later in the day when it was clear Iran was launching an attack on American forces and the same officials rush backed, joined by Mr. Trump and West Wing aides like Mick Mulvaney, the acting chief of staff, and Stephanie Grisham, the press secretary.”

— JARED turns 39 today.

TAKING THE SOLEIMANI KILLING ONTO THE TRAIL … ANITA KUMAR in Toledo, Ohio, with the president: “‘He was a bad guy,’ Trump said of Soleimani. ‘He was a bloodthirsty terrorist, and he’s no longer a terrorist. He’s dead, and yet now I see … the radical-left Democrats have expressed outrage over the termination of this horrible terrorist. And you know, instead they should be outraged by Soleimani’s savage crimes and the fact that his countless victims were denied justice for so long.’” POLITICO

224 TO 194 … That was the vote Thursday on the War Powers Resolution, seeking to force the president to seek approval from Congress for armed conflict with Iran. There were eight Democratic noes: Reps. Joe Cunningham (S.C.), Anthony Brindisi (N.Y.), Max Rose (N.Y.), Josh Gottheimer (N.J.), Kendra Horn (Okla.), Elaine Luria (Va.), Ben McAdams (Utah) and Stephanie Murphy (Fla.). There were three Republican yeses: Reps. Thomas Massie (Ky.), Francis Rooney (Fla.) and Matt Gaetz (Fla.).

NEW: TODD MCMURTRY is launching a primary campaign against MASSIE. McMurtry is the lawyer for the Covington Catholic student Nick Sandmann, who recently settled his defamation case against CNN. McMurtry’s pitch: The president can’t count on Massie’s support. Massie raised more than $121,000 and has $242,000 cash on hand as of his last campaign finance report.

Good Friday morning.

HAPPENING TODAY … NEW JOBS REPORT: “U.S. job growth seen slowing in December after robust gains,” by Reuters’ Lucia Mutikani: “U.S. job growth likely slowed in December, but the pace of hiring probably remains more than enough to keep the longest economic expansion in history on track despite a deepening downturn in a manufacturing sector stung by trade disputes.

“The Labor Department’s closely watched monthly employment report on Friday could buttress the Federal Reserve’s assessment that both the economy and monetary policy are in a ‘good place.’ It would extend the run of upbeat data such as consumer spending, trade and housing that have suggested the expansion, now in its 11th year, is not in immediate danger of being derailed by a recession.” Reuters

A message from Energy for Progress:

CO₂ emissions are at the lowest levels in a generation. Net oil imports are at 50-year lows. This is the kind of progress can we achieve when we work together. Learn more

BIG WSJ STORY … “Trump’s New National Security Team Made Fast Work of Iran Strike,” by Mike Bender, Michael Gordon, Gordon Lubold and Warren Strobel: “The new team was cohesive and less inclined than its predecessors to push back against the president’s wishes, according to administration officials and others consulted by the White House. They were also less likely to consult in advance with other administration, Pentagon or State Department officials, congressional leaders or foreign allies, some of these officials said.”

HOW IT HAPPENED … REUTERS: “Informants in Iraq, Syria helped U.S. kill Iran’s Soleimani”: “Iranian General Qassem Soleimani arrived at the Damascus airport in a vehicle with dark-tinted glass. Four soldiers from Iran’s Revolutionary Guards rode with him. They parked near a staircase leading to a Cham Wings Airbus A320, destined for Baghdad.

“Neither Soleimani nor the soldiers were registered on the passenger manifesto … Soleimani avoided using his private plane because of rising concerns about his own security …

“The Iraqi investigation into the strikes that killed the two men on Jan. 3 started minutes after the U.S. strike … Investigators have focused on how suspected informants inside the Damascus and Baghdad airports collaborated with the U.S. military to help track and pinpoint Soleimani’s position, according to Reuters interviews with two security officials with direct knowledge of Iraq’s investigation, two Baghdad airport employees, two police officials and two employees of Syria’s Cham Wings Airlines, a private commercial airline headquartered in Damascus.” Reuters

THE LATEST IN IRAN — “Iran denies missile hit plane, calls on West to share data,” by AP’s Nasser Karimi in Tehran and Joseph Krauss in Dubai: “Iran on Friday denied Western allegations a Ukrainian jetliner that crashed outside Tehran was brought down by an Iranian missile and called on the U.S. and Canada to share any information they have on the crash, which killed all 176 people on board.

“Western leaders said the plane appeared to have been unintentionally hit by a surface-to-air missile near Tehran, just hours after Iran launched a series of ballistic missiles at two U.S. bases in Iraq to avenge the killing of its top general in an American airstrike last week. ‘What is obvious for us, and what we can say with certainty, is that no missile hit the plane,’ Ali Abedzadeh, head of Iran’s national aviation department, told a press conference. ‘If they are really sure, they should come and show their findings to the world’ in accordance with international standards, he added.

“Hassan Rezaeifar, the head of Iranian investigation team on Friday told the same press conference that recovering data from the black box flight recorders could take more than a month and that the entire investigation could stretch into next year. He also said Iran may request help from international experts if it is not able to extract the flight recordings.” AP

OH MY GOODNESS … NYT: “Boeing Employees Mocked F.A.A. and ‘Clowns’ Who Designed 737 Max,” by Natalie Kitroeff: “Boeing employees mocked federal rules, talked about deceiving regulators and joked about potential flaws in the 737 Max as it was being developed, according to over a hundred pages of internal messages delivered Thursday to congressional investigators.

“‘I still haven’t been forgiven by God for the covering up I did last year,’ one of the employees said in messages from 2018, apparently in reference to interactions with the Federal Aviation Administration.

“The most damaging messages included conversations among Boeing pilots and other employees about software issues and other problems with flight simulators for the Max, a plane later involved in two accidents, in late 2018 and early 2019, that killed 346 people and threw the company into chaos. The employees appear to discuss instances in which the company concealed such problems from the F.A.A. during the regulator’s certification of the simulators, which were used in the development of the Max, as well as in training for pilots who had not previously flown a 737.

“‘Would you put your family on a Max simulator trained aircraft? I wouldn’t,’ one employee said to a colleague in another exchange from 2018, before the first crash. ‘No,’ the colleague responded.”

Playbook PM

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CAMBRIDGE READ … BOSTON GLOBE: “At Harvard Law, reluctance to apply for clerkships with Trump-appointed judges,” by Deirdre Fernandes: “Used to be that the promise of earning a sterling line on a resume and connections to stars of the legal profession was enough to lure Harvard law students to federal clerkships.

“But recently, when Harvard Law School was urging its students to apply to work for one of President Trump’s newly appointed judges, it felt the need to offer further incentives: ‘Next to Lake Tahoe and great skiing!’ the job alert read.

“But that apparently wasn’t enough. Two days later, in mid-December, the law school again nudged its students to apply for clerkships with federal judges, noting that some judges, including two Trump appointees, had received no Harvard applications — calling them ‘wasted opportunities.’”

2020 WATCH …

— “Elizabeth Warren’s surprising closing argument,” by Alex Thompson: “Elizabeth Warren is often portrayed in media as a figure of the left-wing, locked in a battle with Bernie Sanders for the progressive base of the party. In fact, polling frequently shows she’s the second choice not just of Sanders voters, but of Joe Biden and Pete Buttigieg supporters, too.

“Seeking a spark heading into the Iowa caucuses, Warren and her allies are making a surprising closing argument: That she’s best positioned to unite and excite the party — and is therefore the most electable.

“It’s the first time Warren’s orbit has made the electability pitch so overtly. But the campaign has been quietly implementing that strategy since 2018, when Warren raised or donated $11 million to Democratic candidates and began drawing subtle distinctions with Sanders (She described herself as a ‘capitalist to my bones,’ in contrast to Sanders’ preference for democratic socialism). Warren has also mostly abstained from attacking other Democrats in an attempt not to alienate supporters of other candidates. Her campaign staff reflects the approach, with a mix of officials from Sanders, Barack Obama, and Hillary Clinton’s past campaigns.” POLITICO

— RYAN LIZZA: “Biden and Bernie duke it out on war and peace”: “The Democratic primary could come down to a simple question: Do voters want Biden’s promise of a steady hand, or Bernie’s revolutionary zeal?”

A message from Energy for Progress:

From energy security to reducing emissions, no challenge is too big when we work together on solutions.

TRUMP’S FRIDAY — The president will meet with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo at 1:45 p.m. in the Oval Office.

— POMPEO HEADS TO THE BAY AREA ON MONDAY. Via Carla Marinucci: “On the heels of the Iran crisis, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is hitting the liberal bastion of the SF Bay Area Monday — with a high-profile stop in Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s House district. In addition to a morning talk at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, Pompeo is scheduled to star Monday at an already sold-out ‘fireside chat’ at the headquarters of the Commonwealth Club of California, where he’ll sit down with Silicon Valley Leadership Group CEO Carl Guardino to talk ‘foreign policy challenges and issues of economic security.’ That 4 p.m. PST event — in the heart of downtown San Francisco — should draw not only some crowds, but likely some protests. The club will offer his talk livestreamed.”

SUNDAY SO FAR …

CBS“Face the Nation”: Defense Secretary Mark Esper … John Kerry … Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) … Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah).
ABC“This Week”: Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
CNN“State of the Union”: Panel: Rep. Chrissy Houlahan (D-Pa.), Rick Santorum, Wajahat Ali and Mia Love.
NBC“Meet the Press”: Panel: Yamiche Alcindor, David French, Steve Inskeep and Andrea Mitchell.
FOX“Fox News Sunday”: Panel: Jonah Goldberg, Donna Brazile, Gillian Turner and Juan Williams.
CNN“Inside Politics”: Panel: Julie Pace, Vivian Salama, Jeff Zeleny and Karoun Demirjian.
Sinclair TV“America This Week with Eric Bolling”: Stephanie Grisham … Alan Dershowitz … Anthony Shaffer … Amber Phillips.
Gray TV“Full Court Press with Greta Van Susteren”: Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) … Sen. Angus King (I-Maine).

PLAYBOOK READS

President Donald Trump is pictured. | AP Photo — **PHOTO DU JOUR:** President Donald Trump heads into a campaign rally in Toledo, Ohio, on Thursday. | Jacquelyn Martin/AP Photo

BRYAN BENDER: “General denies request for pardoned Special Forces soldier to regain elite patch”: “The Army’s top Special Forces commander has denied a request from a former soldier who was pardoned of war crimes charges by President Donald Trump to have his elite ribbon returned — and the case is now set to go before the service’s highest personnel review board.

“Lawyers for former Maj. Matt Golsteyn requested the Army reinstate his Special Forces Tab, which was revoked in 2014 after he was accused of premeditated murder of a civilian in Afghanistan.

“The move could set up a new clash with Trump, who pardoned Golsteyn in November as he was facing a court martial — along with former Chief Petty Officer and Navy SEAL Eddie Gallagher, who was convicted of posing with the corpse of a dead fighter in Iraq, and former Army Lt. Clint Lorance, who was convicted of two counts of second-degree murder in Afghanistan for ordering his soldiers to fire on three civilians.

“Trump subsequently ordered the Navy to return Gallagher’s coveted Trident pin over the objections of military leaders, including then-Navy Secretary Richard Spencer, who resigned over the decision and accused Trump of undermining the military justice system and encouraging lawlessness in the ranks.” POLITICO

THE END — “Justice Dept. winds down Clinton-related inquiry once championed by Trump. It found nothing of consequence,” by WaPo’s Devlin Barrett and Matt Zapotosky: “John Huber, the U.S. attorney in Utah, was tapped in November 2017 by then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions to look into concerns raised by President Trump and his allies in Congress that the FBI had not fully pursued cases of possible corruption at the Clinton Foundation and during Clinton’s time as secretary of state, when the U.S. government decided not to block the sale of a company called Uranium One.

“As a part of his review, Huber examined documents and conferred with federal law enforcement officials in Little Rock who were handling a meandering probe into the Clinton Foundation, people familiar with the matter said. Current and former officials said that Huber has largely finished and found nothing worth pursuing — though the assignment has not formally ended and no official notice has been sent to the Justice Department or to lawmakers, these people said.”

— NOTE: This story was breaking as POTUS was leading chants of “Lock her up” in Toledo.

BEYOND THE BELTWAY … LAT: “Trump and Garcetti, enemies in public, are quietly working out a deal on homelessness,” by Noah Bierman, Benjamin Oreskes and Dakota Smith: “Senior Trump administration officials have made quiet but significant progress toward a potential deal with Los Angeles officials that would provide federal funds and land to help shelter the city‘s and county’s growing homeless population.

“The movement follows a series of phone calls involving Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti and Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger. …

“But the political impasse appeared to break in recent days. Garcetti sent a formal letter to Carson and Trump on Thursday requesting federal help to address homelessness in Los Angeles.”

FOR YOUR RADAR — “As EU stumbles, Putin and Erdoğan take charge in Libya,” by POLITICO Europe’s David Herszenhorn

A message from Energy for Progress:

Let’s work together toward a future powered by cleaner American energy.

AYFKM? — “Video in apparent Epstein suicide attempt is lost, U.S. says,” by AP’s Jim Mustian and Michael Balsamo: “Video footage of the area around Jeffrey Epstein’s jail cell on a day he survived an apparent suicide attempt ‘no longer exists,’ federal prosecutors told a judge Thursday.

“Officials at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York believed they had preserved footage of guards finding Epstein after he appeared to have attempted suicide, but actually saved a video from a different part of the jail, prosecutors said.

“The FBI also has determined that the footage does not exist on the jail’s backup video system ‘as a result of technical errors,’ Assistant U.S. Attorneys Maurene Comey and Jason Swergold wrote in a court filing.” AP

AP/SEOUL: “South Korea said Friday it conveyed a message by President Donald Trump to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un wishing him a happy birthday, which is believed to be Jan. 8.”

POLITICO Playbook newsletter

MEDIAWATCH — “Anti-immigration author sues NYT over ‘white nationalist’ label,” by Josh Gerstein: “Peter Brimelow, an anti-immigration activist who hosts a website that has published the writings of white supremacists, is suing the New York Times for $5 million for labeling him an ‘open white nationalist’ in an article last year.

“The characterization of Brimelow that triggered the libel lawsuit appeared in a Jan. 15, 2019 article by Times political reporter Trip Gabriel that offered a chronology of racist and inflammatory comments by Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa). The story mentioned Brimelow in passing while noting that the two men appeared on a panel together at the 2012 Conservative Political Action Conference.

“The suit says that after Brimelow complained about the description of him, the Times performed a ‘stealth edit’ on the online version of the story, removing the word ‘open’ but still branding him as a white nationalist. Brimelow rejects that label, preferring to be called a ‘civic nationalist.’” POLITICO … The suit

— Desmond Butler is joining WaPo as an investigative reporter on the national desk’s climate and environment team. He previously was an international investigations reporter for the AP.

— Marina Walker Guevara will be executive editor at the Pulitzer Center. She currently is director of strategic initiatives and network at the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists.

— PALACE INTRIGUE … NYT’S MARK LANDLER in London:“The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, as they are also known, felt forced to disclose their plans prematurely after they learned that the Sun, a tabloid owned by Rupert Murdoch, got wind of the internal discussions about their status and was preparing a story, two people with ties to the family said.” NYT

— TV THIS MORNING: Both Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and his doppelganger Larry David are due to appear on NBC’s “Today” show.

PLAYBOOKERS

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

IN MEMORIAM — “Frederick Richmond, 96, Dies; Congressman Undone by Corruption,” by NYT’s Katharine Seelye: “Frederick W. Richmond, a New York philanthropist and civic leader who helped save Carnegie Hall from demolition but whose tenure in Congress — and public life — ended abruptly in 1982 when he pleaded guilty to corruption charges, died on Dec. 28 at a nursing home in Manhattan. He was 96. …

“A liberal Democrat, he was elected to the House of Representatives from Brooklyn in 1974 as part of a congressional class of post-Watergate reformers. As a member of the House Agriculture Committee, he helped expand the food stamp program, promoted urban gardens and held hearings to investigate Latin American coffee cartels. Ahead of his time, he grew an organic vegetable garden on the roof outside his House office building. And with a net worth of $34 million, he was one of the wealthiest members of Congress.” NYT

SPOTTED: Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas) having dinner at Hill Country Barbecue Market on Thursday night. Pic … Reps. Seth Moulton (D-Mass.), Jason Crow (D-Colo.), Mikie Sherrill (D-N.J.) and Max Rose (D-N.Y.) at Valor Brewpub in Eastern Market at a HillVets event. Pic … Joaquin Phoenix on an American Airlines flight from LAX to DCA on Thursday afternoon. … Martin Sheen having lunch at Hank’s Oyster Bar in Dupont Circle on Thursday.

SPOTTED at a farewell for Charlie Firestone of the Aspen Institute at the National Press Club on Thursday night: Mickey Edwards, Madeleine Albright, David Cohen, Juan Williams, Dan Porterfield, Jana Plat, Walter Isaacson, Jackie Puente, Suhail Khan, Dan Glickman, Charlie Sykes, Meryl Chertoff, Reed Hundt, Norm Ornstein, Christine Varney and Eric Motley.

TRANSITIONS — Zach Martin will be director of government affairs at Growth Energy. He previously was senior legislative assistant for Rep. Collin Peterson (D-Minn.). … Anastasia Dellaccio is joining the corporate affairs team at Booz Allen, where she will manage community impact and philanthropy initiatives. She previously was on the public affairs team at WeWork. … Janine Brady is now VP of public affairs at Edelman. She previously was account director at Dini von Mueffling Communications and is an NBCUniversal and MSNBC alum.

ENGAGED — Ricki Eshman, communications director at Guild Education and a Maggie Hassan alum, and Eric Buras, lead data scientist for D.C.-based Savi, recently got engaged.

BIRTHDAY OF THE DAY: Rep. Greg Walden (R-Ore.). How he’s celebrating: “Members who celebrate their birthday on Jan. 10 have gotten together for lunch each year. Our merry band has shrunk to Sens. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) and Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), and me. Roy’s our lunch leader, since he has the most experience celebrating this day! After that, it’s a coach seat on Alaska Airlines to Oregon to complete my 625th roundtrip. Over the weekend, we’re hosting friends for dinner and hope to ski at Mt. Hood Meadows.” Playbook Q&A

BIRTHDAYS: Jared Kushner is 39 … FCC Chairman Ajit Pai is 47 … Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) is 7-0 … Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) is 61 … Beth Fouhy, senior politics editor at NBC News and MSNBC … Joanna Rosholm … Michelle Fields … Nick Calio, president and CEO of Airlines for America, is 67 … Glover Park Group’s Lauren Edmonds … Freddie Tunnard, WH producer for NBC News … POLITICO’s Maya Parthasarathy and Kristen Miller … Esther Whieldon … AP national security reporter Robert Burns … Luke Johnson … former Sen. Mark Pryor(D-Ark.) is 57 … former Rep. Bill Shuster (R-Pa.) is 59 … former Rep. Lois Capps (D-Calif.) is 82 … Benjamin Hackett … Adam Walinsky is 83 … Jeremy Button … Blake Adami … Nat Wienecke … Chris Westfall, RT America producer, is 3-0 … Barnett Rubin … Sally Gray Lovejoy … Caroline Hakes …

… Morgan Finkelstein, associate director for media relations at CAP’s Moscow Project (h/t Shana Mansbach) … Liesl Hickey, partner at Ascent Media … Joseph Petrzelka, legislative assistant for Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) … Katherine Afzal … The Hill’s Julia Manchester … AEI’s Caitlin Summers … Nat Sillin … Lauren Coape-Arnold … Robby Goldsberry … Aaron Buchner, COS at Organizing for Action … David Hallock … Liz Chadderon … Steve Marchand … Dante Scala … Vaughn Ververs, political editor at NBC, is 51 … David Horowitz is 81 … Jonathan Sarna is 65 … Joe Lacob is 64 … Jessica Mudditt … Stacy Hawkins Adams … Myranda Tanck … Braxton Marcela … Lanny Wiles … Hugh Livengood is 35 … Ryan Dierker … Blake Hopper … Adam Weissmann … Samuel Negatu … Cheryl Benton … AnnMaura Connolly (h/t Teresa Vilmain)

A message from Energy for Progress:

We may have different views on the best path forward, but we all want practical and long-term solutions on issues like climate change and energy security. America’s natural gas and oil companies have teamed up with the country’s brightest minds to lower CO2 emissions to the lowest levels in a generation, all while reducing our dependence on foreign energy to record lows. Imagine the progress we can continue to make when we work together to find common ground. Learn how we can power innovation together at

Anna Palmer @apalmerdc
Jake Sherman @JakeSherman

THE WASHINGTON POST MORNING HEADLINES

Sign up for this newsletter Read online The morning’s most important stories, curated by Post editors. House votes to limit Trump’s ability to attack IranThe resolution was put forward by House Democrats amid continued fallout from President Trump’s order to kill a senior Iranian general. A similar resolution is expected to come up for a vote in the Senate as soon as next week.By Karoun Demirjian ● Read more » Tensions with Trump over Iran expose concerns on role of Congress in making warThe clash between the legislative and executive branches on military intervention has gradually deepened since 9/11, but the debate took on a fresh intensity this week.By Seung Min Kim ● Read more » Inside Elizabeth Warren’s effort to court her vanquished rivals — and why it’s worth her timeWarren has made a point of wooing ex-rivals such as Julián Castro, Kirsten Gillibrand, Kamala D. Harris, Seth Moulton and Jay Inslee — even embracing their policies to show she can be a unifierCampaign 2020 ● By Annie Linskey and Amy Wang ● Read more » ‘True peril’: More than 1 billion animals may have been caught in Australia’s fires. Some may go extinct.Although scorched koalas and kangaroos have become the iconic images from the Australian wildfires, of greater ecological concern is the possibility of losing unusual animals on a continent with the highest rate of mammal extinction.By Karin Brulliard and Darryl Fears ● Read more » Opinions Trump wins his standoff with IranBy Marc Thiessen ● Read more » The dark side of Harry and Meghan’s fairy-tale escapeBy Alyssa Rosenberg ● Read more » When did it become OK to kill a leader of a country we aren’t even at war with?By Jim Webb ● Read more » This is what a real Iran strategy would look likeBy David Ignatius ● Read more » It’s time for some red states to do the right thing and accept refugeesBy Catherine Rampell ● Read more » Ben Carson’s disturbing retreat on fair housingBy Editorial Board ● Read more » More News Iranian missile hit Ukrainian plane in possible unintentional firing, Western officials sayU.S. officials expressed “high confidence” that the jet was targeted by air-defense systems as Iranian forces were on high alert. President Trump said the downing of the aircraft was probably a “mistake.”By Isabelle Khurshudyan, Missy Ryan, Dan Lamothe and Paul Sonne ● Read more » Justice Dept. winds down Clinton-related probe sought by Trump after finding nothing of consequenceU.S. Attorney John Huber was tasked with reviewing the FBI’s work on the Clinton Foundation and Uranium One. He has found nothing worth pursuing, according to people familiar with the matter.By Devlin Barrett and Matt Zapotosky ● Read more » Army general declines to reinstate Special Forces tab to officer pardoned by TrumpMaj. Mathew L. Golsteyn faced a murder trial this year. The decision comes after President Trump intervened in a similar case involving a Navy SEAL last year that created an uproar.By Dan Lamothe ● Read more » ‘Soon,’ Pelosi promises, as some Democrats grow restless over delay in Trump’s impeachment trialThe House speaker bristled at repeated questions about her plans: “We need to see the arena to which we are sending our managers. Is that too much to ask?”IMPEACHMENT ● By Mike DeBonis and Rachael Bade ● Read more » How much did the British tabloids’ brutal coverage of Harry and Meghan impact their decision to ‘step back’?The Duke and Duchess of Sussex said they will be taking a “revised media approach” in their new roles.By Emily Yahr ● Read more » Video from Jeffrey Epstein’s first apparent suicide attempt lost due to ‘technical errors,’ prosecutors sayJail officials initially said they had located the footage, but now have confirmed it “no longer exists.”By Reis Thebault ● Read more » What Australia’s fires tell us about climate changeKate Shuttleworth and Sarah Kaplan on the wildfires ravaging Australia. Colby Itkowitz breaks down how President Trump has reshaped the most important courts in the country. And Jennifer Hassan gives context to Britain’s “Megxit.”Post Reports | Listen Now ● By The Washington Post ● Read more » We think you’ll like this newsletter Check out Carolyn Hax for Post columnist Carolyn Hax’s latest advice column every day. Sign up »

Manage my email newsletters and alerts | Privacy Policy | HelpYou received this email because you signed up for Today’s Headlines or because it is included in your subscription.©2020 The Washington Post | 1301 K St NW, Washington DC 20071

AXIOS

Axios AMSubscribe

By Mike Allen

Happy Friday. It’s 24 days to the Iowa caucuses … 32 days to the New Hampshire primary … 298 days to Election Day.

Today’s Smart Brevity™ count: 1,179 words … 4½ minutes.

1 big thing: China meddles in Taiwan elections

llustration of a map of the coast of China and Taiwan, with a giant shadow of Xi Jinping looming over it — Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios

Ahead of tomorrow’s presidential election in Taiwan, the Chinese government is spreading disinformation and taking coercive political maneuvers aimed at convincing voters Taiwan is helpless without Beijing, Axios China reporter Bethany Allen-Ebrahimian writes.

China has largely failed at attempts to build closer mainland ties with Taiwanese citizens, who are functionally independent of Beijing. So China has turned to coercion, co-optation and disinformation.
Beijing paid five Taiwanese news outlets to publish articles casting China as a land of opportunity for entrepreneurs, according to Reuters.

Why it matters: China is meddling in numerous countries around the world.

“This could be the last meaningful election in Taiwan if we are not careful,” a senior Taiwanese government official tells Axios.

The backstory: The Chinese government is deeply opposed to another term for Tsai Ing-wen, the current president of Taiwan.

She has rejected the “one country, two systems” model for unification that China has used in Hong Kong.

Analysts expect a Tsai victory.

But her opponent, Han Kuo-yu of the China-friendly Kuomintang (KMT), may still have a shot.

Share this story.

2. Western leaders say Iran shot down airliner

Satellite view of the crash site near Shahedshahr, Iran — southwest of the capital, Tehran. Photo: Maxar Technologies via AP

Iran today denied Western allegations that an Iranian missile downed a Ukrainian jetliner outside Tehran, killing all 176 people, per AP.

Western leaders said the plane appeared to have been unintentionally hit by a surface-to-air missile, just hours after Iran launched a series of ballistic missiles at U.S. bases in Iraq.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, whose country lost at least 63 citizens in the crash, said “intelligence from multiple sources, including our allies,” shows “that the plane was shot down by an Iranian surface-to-air missile.”

3. Team of allies

Situation Room meeting Tuesday about Iran’s attack. Photo: The White House via Reuters

The administration’s internal debate over the targeted killing of Iran’s #2 official showed that some members of President Trump’s war cabinet are more reluctant than their predecessors to push back at him.

The current lineup is also “less likely to consult in advance with other administration, Pentagon or State Department officials,” the Wall Street Journal reports (subscription).

Why it matters, per the Journal:”The group … backed the president’s decision to kill the top Iranian military commander and moved swiftly to carry it out.”

These advisers include “new Secretary of Defense Mark Esper, new chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley and new national security adviser Robert O’Brien, along with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.”

4. Focus group: Pennsylvania swing voters with Trump on Iran

Swing voters at a focus group Axios attended in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., said they back President Trump’s decision to kill Iranian general Qasem Soleimani, Axios’ Alexi McCammond writes.

But if the drone strike leads to all-out war, these voters would question the president’s wisdom and handling of national security.

Why it matters: The comments suggest these voters back Trump on Iran more solidly than the public at large. But some are weary of foreign wars, and made it clear they want them to end.

The Engagious/FPG focus group, which included 11 people who flipped from Barack Obama in 2012 to Trump in 2016, was held on Monday — a day before Iran’s retaliatory strikes.
While a focus group is not a statistically significant sample like a poll, these responses show how some voters are thinking and talking.

Share this story.

5. Boeing employees mocked FAA

A 737 Max production line at the Boeing factory in Renton, Wash., in December. Photo: Stephen Brashear/Getty Images

“In an exchange from 2015, a Boeing employee said that a presentation the company gave to the F.A.A. was so complicated that … ‘it was like dogs watching TV,'” the N.Y. Times reports in its account of 150 pages of devastating internal emails and text messages delivered to congressional investigators yesterday:

“I still haven’t been forgiven by God for the covering up I did last year,” an employee wrote in 2018, apparently in reference to the FAA.
“Would you put your family on a MAX simulator trained aircraft? I wouldn’t,” one employee said to another in 2018, before the first crash. “No,” the colleague responded.
“This airplane is designed by clowns, who are in turn supervised by monkeys,” an employee wrote in 2017.

Boeing said in a statement: “We regret the content of these communications, and apologize to the FAA, Congress, our airline customers, and to the flying public.”

“[T]he company is taking appropriate action in response. This will ultimately include disciplinary or other personnel action.”

6. 📉 Mushrooming number of companies in the red

The percentage of U.S. public companies losing money over 12 months is “close to 40%, its highest level since the late 1990s outside of postrecession periods,” the Wall Street Journal’s James Mackintosh writes (subscription).

The Journal points to three causes: 1) investors backing disruptive companies as they build sales … 2) “companies struggling to make money from traditional businesses” … 3) “small companies being squeezed by … giant corporations.”

7. Pelosi “at the peak of power”

Photo: Philip Montgomery for TIME

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi began mulling her curveball — declining to immediately transmit the impeachment articles to the Senate — when “she heard former Nixon White House counsel John Dean float the idea on CNN,” an aide told Molly Ball for TIME’s cover story.

“Somebody said to me today that he may not even take up what we send. [But] then [President Trump] will never be vindicated,” Pelosi told top caucus members, according to the aide in the room. “He will be impeached forever. Forever. No matter what the Senate does.”

Ball writes that Pelosi “established herself as counterweight and constrainer of this divisive president. She outmaneuvered Trump on policy … She oversaw an unprecedented litigation effort against the executive branch … And she was the tactician behind the investigation that resulted in Trump’s impeachment.”

Keep reading.

🥊 The House voted 224-194 yesterday in favor of a symbolic war powers resolution directing Trump to halt the use of military force against Iran unless he obtains approval from Congress. Go deeper.

8. Never mind! Another Clinton probe fizzles

Hillary and Bill Clinton pose backstage at a Broadway musical in December. Photo: Bruce Glikas/WireImage

“A Justice Department inquiry launched more than two years ago to mollify conservatives clamoring for more investigations of Hillary Clinton has effectively ended with no tangible results,” the WashPost’s Devlin Barrett and Matt Zapotosky report on A1.

Why it matters: “[C]urrent and former law enforcement officials said they never expected the effort to produce much of anything.”

The backstory: “John Huber, the U.S. attorney in Utah, was tapped in November 2017 by then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions to look into concerns raised by President Trump and his allies in Congress,” the Post adds.

9. “Latter-day Metternich”: MBZ’s first Western interview

Photo: Michele Tantussi/Getty Images. Cover courtesy The New York Times

Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan — ruler of the United Arab Emirates, and one of the most powerful men on Earth — had never given an on-the-record interview to a Western journalist when he spoke to Robert F. Worth for the N.Y. Times Magazine’s cover story.

MBZ, “as he’s mostly known outside his country, … remains a rare figure in the Middle East: a shrewd, secular-leaning leader with a blueprint of sorts for the region’s future and the resources to implement it.”
“Despite his country’s small size (there are fewer than a million Emirati citizens), he oversees more than $1.3 trillion in sovereign wealth funds, and commands a military that is better equipped and trained than any in the region apart from Israel.”

Keep reading.

10. Plug-in school buses

Utility companies are helping cash-strapped school districts replace diesel buses with electric ones that have a secondary purpose: helping to manage electricity demand, Axios’ Joann Muller writes.

Why it matters: Electric buses are cleaner, but cost about three times more. Using them for energy storage can help smooth out energy demand on the electric grid.

Less than 1% of America’s 480,000 school buses are electric, but that’s beginning to change.

Communities in California, Massachusetts and a few other states are testing electric school buses and charging infrastructure.

Keep reading.

📬 Thanks for starting 2020 with us. Please tell a friend about AM/PM.

THE DISPATCH


	The Morning Dispatch: The House Says ‘No Thanks’ to War With IranPlus, more on Mike Lee, and Democrats get testy over the articles of impeachment.The Dispatch StaffJan 10 Happy Friday! As our launch week draws to a close, it appears the news is taking a little breather: Things are seemingly slowing down a bit with Iran, and the Senate is still waiting around for Nancy Pelosi to send over articles of impeachment. Here’s hoping the lull keeps through the weekend so your Morning Dispatchers get a spare minute to see their families (or watch the Packers l̶o̶s̶e̶ ̶t̶o̶ beat the Seahawks).Quick Hits: What You Need To KnowThe commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’s Aerospace Force said that Tuesday’s missile strikes on U.S. forces in Iraq were intended to destroy military infrastructure, not to kill. There were no casualties.The passenger aircraft that crashed in Iran Tuesday night, killing all 176 passengers, was shot down by Iranian anti-aircraft fire, American officials said. Iran denies shooting down the plane, while President Trump said it could have been “a mistake” on Iran’s part.Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has signed on to a plan introduced by Sen. Josh Hawley that would change Senate rules and allow lawmakers to dismiss impeachment articles before the House sends them over.The first New Hampshire poll of 2020 shows a dead heat between the four top-tier candidates: 20 percent for Pete Buttigieg, 19 percent for Joe Biden, 18 percent for Bernie Sanders, 15 percent for Elizabeth Warren.The Department of Justice is closing an inquiry into Hillary Clinton and the Clinton Foundation that began two years ago after it found “nothing of consequence.” A general denied recently pardoned Army Maj. Matthew Golsteyn’s request to have his Special Forces tab reinstated. Golsteyn was awaiting trial for murder when President Trump pardoned him in November. The House Says ‘No Thanks’ to War With IranAfter a very uneasy week in the Middle East, things have seemingly settled down. Following the killing of Qassem Suleimani and subsequent Iranian missile attack on U.S. bases in Iraq, both sides are signaling their desire to let the matter rest, at least for the time being.But while the anxiety that we might be on the precipice of war may be receding, congressional Democrats aren’t taking any chances. The House of Representatives on Thursday voted to approve a war powers resolution, introduced by freshman Rep. Elissa Slotkin, disapproving of Trump’s strike last week on Suleimani and urging him not to engage in further hostilities. Senate Democrats hope to force a vote on a similar measure soon.It’s worth taking a minute to stop and explain what exactly these resolutions are and mean. To begin with, they’re non-binding: On their own, they don’t compel the president to change his behavior or strategy a bit.But that doesn’t mean such resolutions are toothless. They take their political force from the War Powers Act of 1973, which dictates that a president cannot commit U.S. forces to a military conflict for more than 60 days without going to Congress to obtain a declaration of war or—more frequently these days—an authorization for the use of military force. Congress wouldn’t vote on that, of course, unless and until Trump actually wanted to commit forces into Iran, which he has so far not opted to do. (The strike on Suleimani, you’ll recall, took place in Iraq, against a military commander who has opposed us in Iraq. On that basis, the Trump administration has argued that that action did not call for a new authorization, as the conflict in Iraq is still authorized under the AUMF passed by Congress in 2002.)Thursday’s resolution thus served a clear purpose: It telegraphed to the White House that Congress, as things stand now, has no inclination to authorize further hostilities with Iran. That doesn’t necessarily make a difference now, but if things get worse it may matter very much indeed.One Word on Mike LeeAs we noted Thursday, Sen. Mike Lee got a pile of media attention Wednesday when he pledged to support Senate Democrats’ version of the war powers resolution after coming out of a White House briefing on Iran. Speaking to the press after the meeting, Lee torched it as a patronizing and unilluminating affair in which administration officials were more interested in wheedling lawmakers not to make a public fuss than in actually sharing critical information to justify the attack on Suleimani. “I found offensive their refusal to acknowledge any set of circumstances in which they would need to come back to Congress for authorization,” Lee told The Dispatch on Thursday. “Somebody asked, ‘What if you organized a strike against the Supreme Leader? That would involve a significant military action; would you agree that that would require affirmative authorization for the use of military force?’ They refused to answer that one.” What this doesn’t mean is that Mike Lee is about to rejoin the ranks of the Never Trumpers. In interviews both with us and others Thursday, he took pains to point out that his opposition was to the president’s staff in a specific briefing, not the president himself: “I support the president, and I applaud what he’s done. More than any other president in my lifetime, this president has respected and restrained his use of commander-in-chief power afforded to him under Article II of the Constitution.”Lee isn’t backing off of his resolve to vote with Senate Democrats on their war powers motion—once they agreed to strip all specifically anti-Trump language out of the resolution. The sponsor of that measure in the senate, Tim Kaine, did agree. The result is that, unlike the House bill, it will be impossible to denounce the updated Senate version as a piece of partisan editorializing: just a simple resolution that the president—any president!—ought not carry out unauthorized military strikes in Iran. Don’t be surprised if you see a few more Republicans jump ship over the weekend. Pelosi’s Impeachment GambleIn “The Gambler,” Kenny Rogers reminded listeners that “you’ve got to know when to hold ’em, know when to fold ’em, know when to walk away, and know when to run.”We wrote over the holidays that we had underestimated Nancy Pelosi’s gambit in withholding of the impeachment articles—she clearly struck a nerve with President Trump, and her delay provided space for more moderate Republican senators like Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins to voice their displeasure with Mitch McConnell’s seemingly predetermined trial parameters.But that was December 27, eons ago in the age of Trump. Since then, Murkowski and Collins have both come home, agreeing to the framework McConnell laid out. Senate Democrats have begun to get testy.Even one of her own House chairmen, Adam Smith—the congressman from Washington who steers the House Armed Services Committee, not the father of capitalism—went on CNN and admitted it was time to throw in the towel. “I understand what the speaker was trying to do,” Smith said. “But at the end of the day, just like we control it in the House, Mitch McConnell controls it in the Senate. I think it was perfectly advisable for the speaker to try to leverage that to get a better deal. At this point, it doesn’t look like that’s going to happen.”In other words:Pelosi has publicly stuck to her guns, telling reporters in a press conference on Thursday McConnell isn’t getting his hands on the articles of impeachment just yet. “I’ll send them over when I’m ready,” she said. But cracks in the facade are beginning to show. “That will probably be soon,” she continued. “I’m not holding them indefinitely.”(Smith, for his part, reversed himself in a tweet a short time after challenging Pelosi. “I misspoke this morning,” Smith wrote. “I do believe we should do everything we can to force the Senate to have a fair trial. If the Speaker believes that holding on to the articles for a longer time will help force a fair trial in the Senate, then I wholeheartedly support that decision.”)Pelosi’s retention of the articles has not proved to be as detrimental to her cause as some thought it might. But with McConnell locking down his conference as he so often does, and Trump resisting the temptation to insist publicly on the Senate trial, Pelosi’s time seems to be up. Worth Your TimeWe’ll admit to being suckers for a good magazine. As such, this bleak Baffler essay from James Pogue caused us a certain amount of anguish. It’s a compelling description of how the Internet’s hollowing out of professional journalism, combined with Hollywood’s insatiable thirst for new content for streaming services, have created a perverse new incentive structure for highbrow longform narrative writing: The real money isn’t in writing a good story, but in optioning the movie rights to that story afterwards.The more things change, the more they stay the same. Take a gander at this New York Times report from 2012: “The Iranian military was so apprehensive about the threat of an Israeli airstrike on its nuclear installations in 2007 and 2008 that it mistakenly fired on civilian airliners and, in one instance, on one of its own military aircraft, according to classified American intelligence reports.” New York Times columnist David Brooks offers a brutal assessment of the Trump-obsessed #Resistance. “Donald Trump is impulse-driven, ignorant, narcissistic and intellectually dishonest. So you’d think that those of us in the anti-Trump camp would go out of our way to show we’re not like him — that we are judicious, informed, mature and reasonable. But the events of the past week have shown that the anti-Trump echo chamber is becoming a mirror image of Trump himself—overwrought, uncalibrated and incapable of having an intelligent conversation about any complex policy problem.”We all know that guy—heck, some of us even are that guy. In The Atlantic, Ashley Fetters attempts to answer the age-old question: Why does every school have a boy who wears shorts all winter?Ken Fuson, a longtime feature writer for the Des Moines Register, filed a memorable obituary that ran this week. His own. “No, he didn’t win a Pulitzer Prize, but he’s dead now, so get off his back.”Presented Without Commentabby@naivemelody83i simply cannot cope with this man January 9th 20201,643 Retweets10,752 LikesSomething FunPaul Graham@paulgNo social media platform has had a longer ascent than reddit. It was founded in 2005, and in 2019 interest still hasn’t peaked. (Image via @PlanMaestro.) January 9th 2020386 Retweets1,879 LikesToeing the Company LineIn yesterday’s French Press, David French offered a heartening assessment of the week’s Iran news: the Trump administration, it seems, struck a successful blow against Iran’s state sponsorship of terrorism without pushing us closer to outright war. David also joined AEI’s Banter podcast to discuss The Dispatch, the future of conservatism, the Democratic presidential primary, and his own near presidential run back in 2016. Give it a listen!David isn’t just writing newsletters. On the home page today, he takes a deep deep dive on how Christians enjoy more liberty than ever before, but feel under attack because they have lost power. And our Sarah Isgur explores all the ways the Supreme Court could affect the 2020 election.Tune in or set your DVRs this weekend as both Jonah and David appear on Sunday talk show roundtables to discuss this week in the news. Jonah will be on Fox News Sunday and David on Meet the Press.Let Us KnowEarlier in the week, we asked you what features you’d like to see in our brand spankin’ new website, jokingly including more ads, autoplay videos, and dog content. Reader Yeshaya Clair actually requested more ads, letting us know of a time clickbait proved to be incredibly useful.There’s an ad-supported sports site I visit that would constantly tempt me with the knowledge of “which celebrity is the tallest.” For years I was strong and didn’t click, but one day my strength wavered and I clicked the picture of Taylor Swift to see if she was, in fact, the tallest. After 25 arduous clicks I finally arrived at the knowledge of which celebrity was in fact the tallest: not Taylor Swift. To this day I remember that Taylor Swift is not the tallest, and I hope this knowledge stays with you as well. So while accurate reporting and insightful commentary are all well and good, let’s not discard the unique knowledge that can be only obtained by internet ads.Taylor Swift: Not the tallest.Reporting by Declan Garvey (@declanpgarvey), Andrew Egger (@EggerDC), and Steve Hayes (@stephenfhayes).Photograph of anti-war protesters at a Moveon.Org rally at the U.S. Capitol on January 9, 2020 in Washington, D.C., by Leigh Vogel/Getty Images for MoveOn.org.You’re on the free list for The Morning Dispatch. For the full experience, become a paying subscriber.Subscribe© 2020 Steve Hayes Unsubscribe PO Box 720263, San Francisco, CA 94172

IJR

Trump Uses Campaign Rally to Trumpet Soleimani Killing as ‘Justice’By Reuters, Friday, January 10, 2020 7:33 AM“Last week the United States once again took the bold and decisive action to save American lives and deliver American justice.” More Comments » Iraqi Cleric Condemns U.S. and Iran as Fears of Wider Conflict PersistBy Reuters, Friday, January 10, 2020 7:32 AM“The use of over-the-top methods by different sides which possess power and influence … will only entrench the crisis and prevent a solution.” More Comments » Trump Cites Plot to ‘Blow up’ U.S. Embassy as Element in Decision to Kill SoleimaniBy Reuters, Friday, January 10, 2020 7:31 AM“We did it because they were looking to blow up our embassy.” More Comments » Iran to Download Plane Black Box After Missile Blamed for CrashBy Reuters, Friday, January 10, 2020 7:30 AM“We prefer to download the black boxes in Iran.” More Comments » Trump Loses Bid to Dismiss Rape Accuser’s Defamation Lawsuit in New YorkBy Reuters, Friday, January 10, 2020 7:29 AM“Although defendant Trump, through his counsel, claims lack of personal jurisdiction, notably, there is not even a tweet, much less an affidavit by defendant Trump in support of his motion.” More Comments » Trump Says China Trade Deal May Be Signed Shortly After January 15By Reuters, Friday, January 10, 2020 7:19 AMTrump announced the Jan. 15 signing date in a tweet on Dec. 31. More Comments »

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NBC

From NBC’s Chuck Todd, Mark Murray and Carrie Dann. FIRST READ: For the upcoming Iowa contest, pay close attention to age and ideologyWith 24 days to go until the Iowa caucuses, two of the most important forces at play in that contest will be age and ideology. In 2016, according to the entrance poll, nearly two-thirds of participants in the Democratic caucuses were 45 years or older, and Hillary Clinton easily beat Bernie Sanders among that demographic. Clinton bested Sanders by more than 40 points (!!!) among those 65 or older, and by more than 20 points among those 45 to 64. By comparison, 37 percent of participants in 2016 were 44 or younger, and Bernie Sanders cleaned house with those Iowa Democrats. He beat Clinton by 70 points (!!!) among those ages 17 to 29. And the spread was more than 20 points among those 30 to 44.Photo by Scott Olson/Getty ImagesSo Iowa Democrats are disproportionately older. But the youngest heavily broke for Sanders over Clinton in 2016. When it comes to ideology, more than two-thirds of Iowa Dem participants identified themselves as liberals, per the same entrance poll. But there were two different groups of liberals: 28 percent said they were “very liberal,” and Sanders won them by nearly 20 points, 58 percent to 39 percent. Yet a larger share – 40 percent – said they were just “liberal,” and Clinton narrowly beat Sanders among these voters, 50 percent to 44 percent. An additional 28 percent described themselves as moderates, and Clinton won them by more than 20 points, 58 percent to 35 percent. So Iowa Dems are disproportionately liberal, but only a quarter of all participants called themselves “very liberal.” Bottom line: When you’re trying to game out how Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders, Pete Buttigieg and Elizabeth Warren will fare on Feb. 3, pay close attention to age and ideology.DATA DOWNLOAD: And the number of the day is… 25 percent25 percent. That was the share of likely Iowa Democratic caucus-goers who chose frontrunner Pete Buttigieg in the LAST Des Moines Register/CNN poll, back in November. The Register will release its next highly-anticipated survey at 5:00 pm CT /6:00 pm ET. In November, here’s how the last poll shook out:

Buttigieg: 25 percent
Warren: 16 percent
Biden: 15 percent
Sanders: 15 percent
Klobuchar: 6 percent
Booker: 3 percent
Gabbard: 3 percent
Harris: 3 percent
Steyer: 3 percent
Yang: 3 percent
All other candidates: Less than 3 percentWill the Supreme Court take up “faithless electors”?NBC’s Pete Williams says the U.S. Supreme Court could decide as early as today if it will take up the cases whether electors in the Electoral College can side with a DIFFERENT presidential than the one who won the popular vote in their state. The question at hand, says Williams: Are the electors who cast the actual ballots for president and vice president required to follow the results of the popular vote in their states? Or are they free to vote as they wish? A decision that they are free agents could give a single elector – or a small group of them – the power to decide the outcome of a presidential election, if the popular vote results in an apparent Electoral College tie or is close to one.2020 VISION: Make that a Party of SixYesterday, we wrote that five Democrats had qualified for Tuesday’s presidential debate in Iowa – all ahead of today’s qualification deadline. Well, make it six. Tom Steyer, who was two polls away from qualifying, got them yesterday when Fox News polls of Nevada and South Carolina showed him in DOUBLE DIGITS in both states, per NBC’s Ben Kamisar. So the six Dems who have qualified for Tuesday’s debate: Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Pete Buttigieg, Amy Klobuchar and Tom Steyer. As for those Fox polls, the results in Nevada: Biden 23 percent, Sanders 17 percent, Steyer 12 percent, Warren 12 percent, Buttigieg 6 percent and Yang 4 percent. The Fox results from South Carolina: Biden 36 percent, Steyer 15 percent, Sanders 14 percent, Warren 10 percent, Buttigieg 4 percent. By the way, if you want to know why/how Steyer jumped into double digits in Nevada and South Carolina, check out these ad-spending stats as of today in both states. NevadaSteyer: $10.4 millionTrump: $859,000Sanders: $147,000Buttigieg: $83,000 South CarolinaSteyer: $14.1 millionButtigieg: $1 millionBloomberg: $829,000Trump: $549,000SOURCE: Advertising Analytics Bottom line: Steyer has owned the airwaves in both states. NBC’s Andrea Mitchell will interview Steyer on MSNBC in the noon ET hour on “Andrea Mitchell Reports.”On the campaign trail today: Joe Biden stumps in Nevada… Bernie Sanders hits Iowa, where he holds town halls in Perry and Nevada… Amy Klobuchar and John Delaney also are in the Hawkeye State… Elizabeth Warren, in New Hampshire, has town halls in Dover and Milford… Andrew Yang and Deval Patrick are also in the Granite State… … Pete Buttigieg campaigns in California… And Michael Bloomberg travels to Georgia and Tennessee. Dispatches from NBC’s campaign embeds: Steyer discussed those Fox poll results with NBC’s Julia Jester in New Hampshire yesterday. “I am someone who is talking explicitly about race. I am for reparations. I talk a lot about immigration I have a long history of supporting immigrants. Of spending money to make sure that undocumented people get fair representation. And I have a long history of standing up for what’s right and to stand against racial prejudice. And I’ve called it out repeatedly with regards to immigration. I’ve talked a lot about the need for an explicit formal commission on race to retell the story of the United States over 400 years with on a solution basis. So I don’t know why people are supporting me, but I have a message that appeals to every American as far as I’m concerned.” Cory Booker’s event in Iowa was disrupted by a group of activists who said they were from Jewish Voice for Peace Action, a Palestinian rights group. NBC’s Ben Pu reports, “Students asked Booker a variety of questions that related to the Boycott, Divest, and Sanction movement, including asking him to commit as president to divert foreign aid away from Israel’s military and on President Trump’s latest executive action meant to strengthen protections against anti-Semitism on college campuses. Booker calmly addressed the students but was repeatedly shouted at by the activists.”TWEET OF THE DAY: Owning the airwavesSHAMELESS PLUGDon’t miss this week’s Chuck ToddCast, which included a deep dive into how impeachment could affect the 2020 Senate stakes.ICYMI: News clips you shouldn’t miss Former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s massive campaign apparatus and an army of some 500 staffers will march on through the general election in November even if he loses the Democratic nomination, campaign officials tell NBC News. U.S. evidence appears to suggest that an Iranian missile shot down a Ukrainian passenger plane by accident. Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti is backing Joe Biden. The Justice Department probe into the “Uranium One” issue pushed by anti-Clinton conservatives has ended without significant findings. Kansas has a deal to expand Medicaid.Thanks for reading.

If you’re a fan, please forward this to a friend. They can sign up here. We love hearing from our readers, so shoot us a line here with your comments and suggestions. Thanks, Chuck, Mark and Carrie.

THE HILL

© Getty Images 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! The Senate is gearing up to kick off its impeachment trial next week as it continues to wait for Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to send the two articles of impeachment across the Capitol after holding onto them for more than three weeks. Three Senate Republicans told The Hill’s Jordain Carney that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) told the Senate GOP conference during a closed-door lunch on Thursday that they should not plan on returning to their home states next weekend, an indication that the trial will get underway next week. “We thought, we as the body, that the Speaker will … shortly send that over, so [he] said next weekend don’t go anywhere,” said Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.), characterizing McConnell’s message as a heads-up that the Senate would be in session. According to Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), McConnell said that he expects the two articles to be transmitted to the Senate in the “next day or two.” “There’s no reason for us to stay this weekend, but don’t expect to be home next weekend was the basic message,” Cramer said following the lunch. McConnell’s remarks came shortly after Pelosi told reporters that she plans to send the articles to the Senate “soon,” but declined to say when that would happen specifically. The comment came after weeks of pressure by Democrats to McConnell and the GOP to allow witnesses to appear at the Senate trial. Instead of passing one resolution laying out the rules and an agreement on witnesses, McConnell announced that the Senate will follow the precedent laid out in the 1999 impeachment of former President Clinton to pass a resolution on the rules, with a subsequent resolution on witnesses coming later on. “I’m not holding them indefinitely,” Pelosi said during her weekly press conference. “I’ll send them over when I’m ready, and that will probably be soon.” The Speaker has said throughout the week that she wants more details about the Senate trial before she sends the articles over, including potentially viewing the Senate resolution (The Hill). “We need to see the arena in which we are sending our managers. Is that too much to ask?” Pelosi added. The Hill: McConnell backs measure to change Senate rules, dismiss impeachment without articles. The Washington Post: “Soon,” Pelosi promises, as some Democrats grow restless over delay in Trump’s impeachment trial. The Hill: Senate GOP resolution calls Pelosi’s impeachment delay a “flagrant violation.” Pelosi’s remarks come after taking on criticism from some Democratic lawmakers in recent days who believe she should stop waiting and just send McConnell the impeachment articles now that the GOP leader has the votes to begin the trial. Among those who called on the Speaker to do so were Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) and Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.). Strikingly, one prominent House Democrat agreed with the Senate Democratic trio, before almost immediately walking back his stance. After telling CNN’s “New Day” that it was “time to send” the articles to the Senate, House Armed Services Committee Chairman Adam Smith (D-Wash.) issued a statement saying that he “misspoke” and would “wholeheartedly support” Pelosi if she feels continuing to withhold the articles would “help force a fair trial in the Senate” (The Hill). Despite having lost in the first round of negotiations over witnesses, Carney reports that Senate Democrats are preparing for a second battle on the topic. Democrats are planning to force votes on witnesses and documents multiple times during the opening phase of the trial. Something to watch when that happens is where key Senate Republicans fall in line as most of them have not taken a position on whether they will support witnesses after the initial phase. The Associated Press: Analysis: Pelosi’s delay tests public opinion on impeachment. © Getty Images LEADING THE DAYCONGRESS: Pelosi, arguing there are “real teeth” in a House resolution that would rein in Trump’s say-so to order military action against Iran, led her caucus on Thursday to approve a war powers measure on a largely party-line vote of 224-194 (The Hill). A concurrent resolution, which does not need Trump’s signature and is customarily seen as non binding, would direct the president to steer clear of military hostilities with Iran unless he has congressional authorization or unless the country faces an “imminent armed attack.” The language, approved a day after lawmakers in both parties complained about the administration’s intelligence behind Trump’s drone killing of an Iranian general last week, continues the debate since at least 2001 about the legislative underpinnings relied on by presidents to order military operations in an age when terrorists do the work of armies. The Hill: Here are the members who bucked their parties on the war powers resolution. The House action on Thursday left Democrats vulnerable to criticism they want to pressure Trump in an election year and would weaken national defense. Some Republicans, including Trump and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), argued the Speaker took the side of the Quds Force leader killed more than a week ago. Pelosi is “defending a monster,” the president said. He repeated his criticisms hours later in Ohio. Pelosi rejected the president’s assertion and said her aim, along with her Democratic colleagues, is to prevent war. Reliance by the legislative branch on a nonbinding resolution to try to cut off military hostilities under the War Powers Act has not been tested in court. > Election security: The CEOs of the three largest U.S. voting equipment companies on Thursday said they support a list of disclosure and security requirements included in pending House legislation, marking a major step for Congress and for an industry that has come under close scrutiny because of concerns that voting machines are vulnerable to tampering and hacking as a means to alter elections (The Hill). > Drug prices: McConnell won’t take up a House-passed bill that would let Medicare negotiate lower drug prices for beneficiaries. The majority leader also won’t consider a bipartisan bill dealing with drug prices supported by Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) because he worries it could divide Republicans before November. In an election year, the GOP foot-dragging could become a political liability (The Hill). > Budget: Democrats who are looking for ways to avoid an intra-party fight are likely to skip passage of a budget resolution this year (The Hill). *** IRAN: The 176 people aboard a Ukrainian passenger jet departing Tehran bound for Kiev this week were killed by an Iranian surface-to-air missile that may have struck the Boeing 737 by mistake, U.S. and Canadian officials said on Thursday (The Hill). Iran today denied a missile hit the plane and called on the United States and Canada to share any information they have (The Associated Press). “What is obvious for us, and what we can say with certainty, is that no missile hit the plane,” Ali Abedzadeh, head of Iran’s national aviation department, told a press conference. “If they are really sure, they should come and show their findings to the world” in accordance with international standards, he added. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Thursday said his country reviewed its own and allied intelligence to determine that the plane, with 63 Canadians aboard, did not have mechanical problems, as initially asserted by Iran, but instead became a fireball and dropped out of the sky after being hit by an Iranian missile. Trudeau said the conclusion was preliminary and he called again for a full aviation investigation “to be convinced beyond all doubt” (The Associated Press). The Associated Press: Canadians grieve and some blame Trump. Earlier on Thursday, Trump said he did not believe the plane crashed because of mechanical troubles, adding that he hoped Iran would agree to turn over the plane’s black boxes and cockpit recordings to Boeing, or to an intermediary country such as France for a full investigation. “It’s a tragic thing when I see that. Someone could have made a mistake on the other side,” he told journalists (The Hill). Reuters reported that a U.S. review of satellite data by officials concluded with a high degree of certainty that anti-aircraft missiles struck the plane, which was seen on fire soon after takeoff. One U.S. official said the jet had been tracked by Iranian radar and was most likely hit accidentally. The crash this week revives bitter Iranian memories of the 1988 downing of Iran Air flight 655 by a U.S. Navy surface-to-air missile, described as an accident that 290 people. The Associated Press reports how that tragedy continues to inflame anti-American sentiment in Iran today. > New sanctions: The president also said on Thursday that in response to Iranian ballistic missile strikes against two U.S. bases in Iraq, additional sanctions he announced on Wednesday have been levied against Tehran. “It’s already been done,” Trump told reporters. ”We’ve increased them. They were very severe, but now it’s increased substantially. I just approved it a little while ago with Treasury.” He offered no details and said the department would unveil the latest sanctions (Reuters). © Getty Images IN FOCUS/SHARP TAKESPOLITICS & CAMPAIGNS: Holding his first campaign rally since the escalation and subsequent de-escalation in tensions with Iran, Trump trained his fire on Democrats over their criticisms for him not going to Congress to approve the strike that killed Gen. Qassem Soleimani. “The radical left Democrats have expressed outrage over the termination of this horrible terrorist. And you know, instead, they should be outraged by Soleimani’s savage crimes and the fact that his countless victims were denied justice,” Trump told supporters in Toledo, Ohio. Specifically, Trump went after Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Pelosi, arguing that the latter figure isn’t “operating with a full deck” and sarcastically saying she is a “real genius.” “And we have Bernie and Nancy Pelosi, we have them all, they’re all trying to say, ‘How dare you take him out that way? You should get permission from Congress. You should come in and tell us what you want to do. You should come in and tell us so that we can call up the fake news back there and we can leak it,’” Trump continued, saying he didn’t have time to notify congressional leaders due to the last-minute nature of the decision. “We had to make a decision. We didn’t have time to call up Nancy, who is not operating with a full deck,” Trump said (The Hill). On top of his criticisms of Pelosi and Sanders, Trump tried to make the case to his supporters that his moves in the Middle East were the correct ones, saying they were (and continue to be) guided by a “peace through strength” philosophy. “Last week, the United States once again took the bold and decisive action to save American lives and deliver American justice,” Trump said. “Soleimani was actively planning new attacks and he was looking very seriously at our embassies and not just the embassy in Baghdad. We stopped him and we stopped him quickly and we stopped him cold” (The Hill). Reuters: Trump uses campaign rally to trumpet Soleimani killing as “justice.” The New York Times: Jared Kushner’s global role shrinks as he tackles another: The 2020 election. © Getty Images > Debate: The seventh Democratic primary debate is set to include at least six candidates after Tom Steyer qualified by notching requisite support levels in a pair of early voting state polls that were released Thursday evening. In Fox News polls in South Carolina and Nevada, Steyer earned support from 15 percent and 12 percent, respectively, qualifying him for Tuesday’s debate in Des Moines. The billionaire entrepreneur has been spending heavily on the airwaves in the two early vote states. “This campaign is not about me,” Steyer tweeted after the polls were released.. “It’s about the hard-working Americans who want clean air and water, a just economy, and a Washington that works for them. That’s who I’ll be talking about Tuesday night and who I’ll be fighting for every single day in the White House.” Steyer is slated to appear alongside Sanders, former Vice President Joe Biden, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), former South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg and Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.). The deadline to qualify is Friday night at midnight (The Washington Post). The Associated Press: Steyer wants climate change refugees to enter U.S. legally. The Hill: Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti endorses Biden. The New York Times: Around the country in 17 Hours with Michael Bloomberg. ABC News: Bloomberg won’t release women who sued him from secrecy agreements. OPINIONChina has a new SARS-like virus. How serious is it? by Amesh Adalja, opinion contributor, The Hill. https://bit.ly/2QF2DsL The Iran crisis presents counterterrorism risks and opportunities, by Javed Ali, opinion contributor, The Hill. https://bit.ly/2N8iVIk Correction: Allan Lichtman is the American University professor and opinion contributor who wrote about impeachment in Thursday’s Morning Report. WHERE AND WHEN📺 Hill.TV’s “Rising” program features Fred Fleitz, former chief of staff in the White House National Security Council, talks about Iran. Fleitz is president and CEO of the Center for Security Policy. Jamie Finch, formerly with the National Transportation Safety Board, discusses the latest intelligence and investigative options tied to the Boeing 737 passenger jet that fell out of the sky this week in Tehran. Bob Cusack, editor-in-chief at The Hill, delivers his weekly DeBrief segment at the end of a decidedly newsy week. Coverage starts at 9 a.m. ET at http://thehill.com/hilltv or on YouTube at 10 a.m. at Rising on YouTube. The House meets at 9 a.m. The Senate convenes at 3 p.m. on Monday. The president meets with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo at 1:45 p.m. Economic indicator: The Bureau of Labor Statistics at 8:30 a.m. reports on U.S. employment in December. The nation in November saw the lowest level of unemployment since 1969, and labor conditions are expected to look similarly upbeat as 2019 ended. ELSEWHERE➔ U.S. & North Korea: Trump sent Kim Jong Un a birthday greeting that was delivered to North Korea’s leader on Thursday. Kim’s birthday is believed to be Jan. 8, and he is thought to be 36 years old this year (Reuters). ➔ Environment: The White House on Thursday unveiled regulatory changes tied to the 50-year-old National Environmental Policy Act, one of the nation’s bedrock environmental laws, seeking to let federal agencies sidestep reviews of climate effects when calculating the environmental impacts of major infrastructure projects (The Hill). Democratic lawmakers and environmental advocates blasted Trump for the changes they argue put business and development interests ahead of species, habitat and environmental protections (The Hill). Asked on Thursday about climate change and whether it’s a hoax, the president said “nothing’s a hoax about that. It’s a very serious subject” (The Hill). In recent months, Trump has modified his rhetoric but not his policy approach to global warming and the effects of greenhouse gases (E&E News). ➔ Politics & sports: Boston Celtics center Enes Kanter, 27, says he wants to try his hand at politics as he navigates roles as a defender of human rights and critic of President Recep Tayyip Erdoǧan of Turkey, leader in his home country. Kanter hopes to become a U.S. citizen in 2021 and tells The Hill he’s thinking about a career in American politics: “I’ve been talking to a lot of congressmen, congresswomen, presidential candidates. So I’m like, you know what, why not just become one?” ➔ State Watch: Kansas is expected to become the 37th state to expand Medicaid as Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly (D) and the top Republican in the state Senate announced Thursday that they have reached a deal to provide health care coverage to more than 100,000 people in the state with the expansion. State Sen. Jim Denning announced he endorsed Kelly’s plan, which she hopes to pass through the state legislature to take effect a year from now (NBC News). ➔ More “Jeopardy!”: What is victory? Ken Jennings, best known for his record 74-day run on the quiz show, is one match away from being crowned the greatest of all time after handily defeating James Holzhauer and Brad Rutter on Thursday night. Jennings won in a runaway on Thursday, setting up Friday’s fourth and potentially final match as he leads Holzhauer with two match wins to one. The winner of the competition takes home $1 million (The New York Times). ➔ Olympic news: Japan will furnish cardboard beds for athletes at this year’s Olympic games. Creators say the recyclable cardboard furniture is stronger than wooden beds and can support the weight of hefty competitors up to 440 lbs. Largely missing from the bed spin: endorsements about comfort (The Associated Press). © Twitter THE CLOSERAnd finally … 👏👏👏 Kudos to the winners of the first Morning Report Quiz of 2020! In a nod to Puerto Rico’s building-toppling natural disaster this week, we explored earthquakes. These puzzle masters dug deep for some tectonic trivia — and the right answers: Patrick Kavanagh, Tim Aiken, Donna Nackers, John Donato, Ron Wolfarth, Luther Berg and Carol Katz. They knew that Puerto Rico is squeezed between the Caribbean and North American tectonic plates, which create an undersea fault zone (The New York Times). California and Alaska have experienced the most recorded earthquakes in the United States since the 1700s (LiveScience.com). The National Earthquake Information Center (NEIC), where seismologists work around the clock, is part of the federal U.S. Geological Survey (Nature). Former President Obama never felt a magnitude-3.4 earthquake that hit Washington in July 2010 and a magnitude-5.8 quake that shook the nation’s capital in August 2011 because he said he was asleep for the first, and was playing golf on Martha’s Vineyard during the 2011 event (Christian Science Monitor). © 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! TO VIEW PAST EDITIONS OF THE HILL’S MORNING REPORT CLICK HERETO RECEIVE THE HILL’S MORNING REPORT IN YOUR INBOX SIGN UP HERE MORNING REPORT SIGN UP FORWARD MORNING REPORT Privacy Policy | Manage Subscriptions | Unsubscribe Email to a friend | Sign Up for Other NewslettersThe Hill 1625 K Street, NW 9th Floor, Washington DC 20006©2020 Capitol Hill Publishing Corp., a subsidiary of News Communications, Inc.

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CAFFEINATED THOUGHTS

Connect: Facebook Twitter YouTube View this email in your browser “but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, ‘You shall be holy, for I am holy,’” (1 Peter 1:15-16, ESV).We Don’t Need Paternalistic Public PolicyBy Kelvey Vander Hart on Jan 10, 2020 04:00 am
Kelvey Vander Hart: Our government is never going to be able to save us from ourselves, nor should it be trying to do so.
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Iran Shoots Down Airliner, Buttigieg Suggests Trump Shares BlameBy Shane Vander Hart on Jan 09, 2020 05:45 pm
Iran shoots down a Ukrainian airliner shortly after its missile attack on U.S. targets and Pete Buttigieg suggests President Trump shares the blame.
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Grassley on Iranian Aggression: ‘Sometimes You Have to Stand Up to the Bully’By Caffeinated Thoughts on Jan 09, 2020 10:23 am
U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley: “Sometimes you have to stand up to a bully to get him to back off or else you invite further aggression.”
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Ernst: U.S. Must Remain Vigilant Against IranBy Shane Vander Hart on Jan 09, 2020 09:57 am
U.S. Senator Joni Ernst: “We must continue our maximum pressure campaign against the Iranian regime and remain vigilant against the world’s largest state sponsor of terrorism.”
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Recent Articles:
Legislative Priorities for 2020
Hinson Raises Nearly $1.1 Million in Iowa’s 1st Congressional District Race
Franken on Impeachment: Let Voters Decide
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Iowans Deserve a Better Tax System NowLaunched 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. Caffeinated Thoughts
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CONSERVATIVE DAILY NEWS

CDN’s Daily News Blast delivers the day’s news first!View this email in your browserCDN Daily News Blast01/10/2020Excerpts:President Donald Trump’s Schedule for Friday, January 10, 2020By R. Mitchell -President Donald Trump will meet with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Keep up with Trump on Our President’s Schedule Page. President Trump’s Itinerary for 1/10/20 – note: this page will be updated during the day if events warrant All Times EST 1:45 PM Meet with the Secretary of State – …President Donald Trump’s Schedule for Friday, January 10, 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.
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Buttigieg Suggests US Bears Some Blame For Iran Blowing Up AirplaneBy Chuck Ross -Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg suggested on Thursday that the United States bears some of the blame for the Iranian military shooting down a commercial airliner while it was at the same time firing ballistic missiles at an Iraqi military base that houses American troops. “Innocent civilians are now dead …Buttigieg Suggests US Bears Some Blame For Iran Blowing Up Airplane 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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Medication Is Destroying Careers, Ruining Marriages And Increasing Violence, Researcher WarnsBy Mary Margaret Olohan -Researchers who study the effects of medication and painkillers warn that these drugs may be negatively affecting users’ brains. University of California at San Diego researcher Beatrice Golomb explained to the BBC that reports from patients across the U.S. show alarming reactions to “statin” drugs: drugs intended to lower cholesterol. …Medication Is Destroying Careers, Ruining Marriages And Increasing Violence, Researcher Warns 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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After GOP Congresswoman Posts A Filtered Photo Of Nancy Pelosi, WaPo Accuses Her Of ‘Altering’ ItBy Chuck Ross -The national media’s obsession with the spread of doctored photos of Democratic politicians reached a fever pitch on Thursday, when The Washington Post published a story accusing GOP Rep. Elise Stefanik of posting an “altered” image of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Twitter. The photo in question was indeed altered, …After GOP Congresswoman Posts A Filtered Photo Of Nancy Pelosi, WaPo Accuses Her Of ‘Altering’ It 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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Ruh-Roh: Dark Money Bolstered Bernie’s Campaign From Beginning; Maybe IllegallyBy Andrew Kerr -Bernie Sanders has denounced Super PACs, but he’s been supported by a dark money group since launching his presidential campaign in February. Sanders founded Our Revolution in 2016, and now the group is leveraging its resources to do the “deep organizing necessary to elect President Bernie Sanders.” Sanders praised Our …Ruh-Roh: Dark Money Bolstered Bernie’s Campaign From Beginning; Maybe Illegally 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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36% Of Young Americans Think Other Countries Are Greater Than The USBy Mary Margaret Olohan -Younger Americans are more likely than older adults to think other countries are greater than the United States, poll results show. Polling conducted by the Pew Research Center found that 36% of 18- to 29-year-old Americans think other countries are greater than the United States — the highest share of …36% Of Young Americans Think Other Countries Are Greater Than The US 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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AMERICAN RENEWAL: The Supreme Court Should Step In To Rule This Impeachment UnconstitutionalBy Rudy Giuliani -The Democrats’ obsession from day one to impeach President Donald J. Trump, without regard to substance or process, led them to change the grounds for impeachment every couple of months. In doing so they have gone from Russian collusion to obstruction of justice, to quid pro quo, to bribery. House …AMERICAN RENEWAL: The Supreme Court Should Step In To Rule This Impeachment Unconstitutional 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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Pentagon, Ukrainian Officials Believe Airliner Shot Down by IranBy R. Mitchell -Iran may have accidentally shot down Ukraine flight PS762, according to reports from Fox News, CBS News and Ukrainian news agencies. From Fox News: The Ukrainian plane that crashed shortly after taking off from Tehran’s international airport was shot down by mistake by an Iranian anti-aircraft missile, Pentagon officials told …Pentagon, Ukrainian Officials Believe Airliner Shot Down by Iran 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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Trump Is Completely Remaking A Law Enviros Often Use To Stymie Oil Pipeline ConstructionBy Chris White -President Donald Trump announced Thursday his plans to dramatically change an environmental law activist groups and their attorneys often use to wrap oil projects in years of bureaucratic red tape. Trump plans to exempt privately funded projects from undergoing environmental reviews, a significant change that would make building mines and …Trump Is Completely Remaking A Law Enviros Often Use To Stymie Oil Pipeline Construction 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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Iran Saves Face – Grrr Graphics – Ben Garrison CartoonBy Ben Garrison -Iran Saves Face..for now. President Trump continues to dodge a disastrous war with Iran, and my hat is off to him once again. Many have doubted him and even I thought this was it—we were going to war against Iran. It would have been a war we would win, but …Iran Saves Face – Grrr Graphics – 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.
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Ayatollah Khamenei Says They Gave US A Slap In The Face – Trump Begs To DifferBy Jim Clayton -Iran’s Ayatollah Khamenei took to Twitter to celebrate his country’s attack on American bases in Iraq, hinting that more retaliation against the US may be on the way. As The Daily Mail reports: Iran‘s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei today declared it had given its enemy America ‘a slap in the …Ayatollah Khamenei Says They Gave US A Slap In The Face – Trump Begs To Differ 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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Enemies of my Enemy – A.F. Branco CartoonBy A.F. Branco -Trump-derangement-syndrome has the mainstream media defending Iran, the state sponsor of terrorism. Political cartoon by A.F. Branco ©2020. See more Branco toons HEREEnemies of my Enemy – 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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Monica Crowley Vindicated of False Plagiarism Accusations from CNNBy Hanna Heller -Monica Crowley is a former Fox News contributor and current spokeswoman for the United States Treasury Department. Early on the Trump Administration, Monica was being strongly considered to join the National Security Council (NSC) under former White House National Security Advisor retired General Mike Flynn. However, shortly after the announcement …Monica Crowley Vindicated of False Plagiarism Accusations from CNN 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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Watch: President Trump Announces Proposed National Environmental Policy Act RegulationsBy R. Mitchell -President Donald Trump announced his proposed changes to U.S. environmental regulations Thursday morning. The changes to the Nationa Environmental Protection Act streamline the environmental impact study regulations to remove duplication of effort, pure bureaucratic nonsense, and other roadblocks that are used by enviro-extremists to halt infrastructure projects. The president has …Watch: President Trump Announces Proposed National Environmental Policy Act Regulations 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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In Search of a Capitalist PeaceBy Richard R. Biondi -After President Trump took out Major General Qasem Soleimani, Atlanticists were hoping the Islamic Republic of Iran would miscalculate and trigger another regime-change war. These neoconservatives wanted an excuse to resume their pursuit of a democratic peace in the greater Middle East. While Iran no longer has nine lives, democratic …In Search of a Capitalist Peace 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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Watch: President Trump Holds KAG Rally in Ohio Thursday – 1/9/20By R. Mitchell -President Donald Trump will speak at a Keep America Great rally in Toledo, Ohio, Thursday evening. This is the first campaign rally in 2020 for the president. The rally is set to take place at the Huntington Center in Toledo where gates will open approximately 3 hours before the president …Watch: President Trump Holds KAG Rally in Ohio Thursday – 1/9/20 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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Maryland Legislator Wants to Steer Low-Income Housing to Affluent Suburban NeighborhoodsBy Luke Rosiak -Maryland state legislator Vaughn Stewart wants to add high-density, low-income housing to affluent suburban neighborhoods. A tool would use data to find areas where children grow up to earn high incomes and allow high-density housing in an attempt to bring impoverished people to those neighborhoods. It is part of a …Maryland Legislator Wants to Steer Low-Income Housing to Affluent Suburban Neighborhoods 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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Pentagon: Defensive Measures Prevented Casualties in Iranian AttackBy C. Todd Lopez -Although Iranian missiles damaged equipment and infrastructure at U.S. and ally-occupied military installations in Iraq yesterday, training and defensive readiness paid off in no lives being lost, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said. “There’s sirens that go off on these bases. … There’s bunkers and jersey barriers, …Pentagon: Defensive Measures Prevented Casualties in Iranian Attack 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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Alleged Anti-Semitic Arsonist Released With No Bail In New YorkBy Luke Rosiak -James Polite, who was charged with hate crimes and arson after he allegedly set fire to seven Jewish sites and vandalized a synagogue, was released from jail without bail Tuesday, according to court records. Polite allegedly wrote “Die Jew Rats” and “Hitler” at the Union Temple of Brooklyn in November …Alleged Anti-Semitic Arsonist Released With No Bail In New York 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 »

Replay: OAN Three Part Investigative Report on Ukraine, Corruption and Biden FamilyBy Fhz48 -One America News Investigates – interviews several witnesses who destroy Adam Schiff’s baseless impeachment case against President Trump. Rudy Giuliani featured in this report debunks the impeachment hoax and exposes Biden family corruption in Ukraine. As of this post, the current status of the Trump impeachment is – stalled. The US …Replay: OAN Three Part Investigative Report on Ukraine, Corruption and Biden Family 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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See all breaking news, conservative commentary, political cartoons and more posted to CDN at our Home Page. Follow on Twitter Friend on Facebook Add on Google PlusCopyright © 2020 Conservative Daily News, All rights reserved.

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LIBERTY NATION

Daily BriefingCONSERVATIVE NEWS | LIBERTARIAN NEWS | COMMENTARYVISIT LibertyNation.com FROM OUR NEWSROOMThe Rabbit Hole: Retaliation or Revenge?When do we know justice has been served?Listen Now! Mrs. Clinton and the Amazing Amnesia of Delusional DemocratsBy James Fite The left flocks back to Hillary in fear of Trump’s aggression – but don’t they remember her own plans for Iran?Click Here What America’s Thinking39% agree that the Iraq War was the ‘worst decision’ in U.S. history.46% of likely voters believe the president will be re-elected.52% now believe it’s more likely that Jeffrey Epstein was murdered to prevent him from testifying against powerful people with whom he associated.The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Thursday shows that 48% of likely U.S. voters approve of President Trump’s job performance. 51% disapprove. Heartland Glad for Cancer Free RGB and Hope She’s Soon a RetireeBy Sarah Cowgill Flyover folk thank God for Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s recovery – and wish she would retire to enjoy it.Click Here Washington WhispersComing down the pipeline:Nancy Pelosi says she’ll send the impeachment articles to the Senate “soon,” and Mitch McConnell says to expect an impeachment trial next week.With the new ruling from the Fifth Circuit Court, expect construction of the Wall to begin anew soon.In the latest nanny state ramp-up, using a cell phone under the age of 21 may soon be illegal in Vermont.After a ruling by the New York State Supreme Court, writer E. Jean Carroll’s defamation lawsuit against President Trump will go ahead. Liberty Nation GenZBy Liberty Nation Staff Click Here Your Daily Political DevotionalA Glimpse at What’s Hot in the PolitisphereThe House on Thursday approved a measure aimed at restricting President Trump’s ability to go to war with Iran, a day after a number of lawmakers expressed frustration at the briefing where the administration provided its arguments for a drone strike that killed Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani. But despite all the blustering of House Democrats, just how much will this power restrain the president? As a resolution, it can never have the same force of law as an actual bill. It doesn’t restrict the president’s constitutional authority. Liberty Nation On The Go: Listen to Today’s Top News 01.10.20By Liberty Nation Staff Conservative News – Hot Off The Press – Audio Playlist.Click Here News RoundupWe’ve Surfed The Web for YouU.S. Is ‘Confident’ Iran Shot Down Ukrainian Passenger Airliner, Killing 176 People Alan Dershowitz On Epstein, Impeachment, And Clearing His Name In The Era Of #MeToo Congress: More Migration Cuts More Wages Pelosi, a big sports fan, talks a lot about ‘the arena’ when referring to Senate trial Ricky Gervais got it right: Enough politics in Hollywood Direct from the Swamp: Political Brats Raking in the CashBy Andrew Moran How many political brats are getting rich off their parents?Click Here WATCH NOWFEATURED LNTVLNTV: Bernie Closing In On Biden – WATCH NOW!LNTV: 2019 Moments Haunting 2020 Democrats – WATCH NOW!LNTV: Robert Kraft Now Facing Felonies In Prostitution Arrest – WATCH NOW! The Rabbit Hole: Missing Days, Babylonian Monsters and New Year’s Day Check out one of our podcasts!Subscribe and get notified of new arrivals.SUBSCRIBE LNTV: Robert Kraft Now Facing Felonies In Prostitution Arrest – WATCH NOW! Check out one of our videos!View the latest Liberty Nation videos on YouTube.WATCH NOW

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ROLL CALL

Morning Headlines

Meet the lawmakers who bucked their parties on vote to limit Trump’s war powers

The House voted largely along party lines Thursday to adopt a resolution directing President Donald Trump to not use military force against Iran without congressional approval unless it was necessary to defend Americans. But 11 lawmakers, mostly Democrats facing competitive reelections this year, bucked their parties on the vote. Read More…

Businesses hit by mistaken tax penalty seek help from Congress

A one-word drafting error in the 2017 tax code overhaul has sent companies such as specialty retailer PetSmart Inc. and Nissan Motor Co. scrambling to Capitol Hill for relief. Because of the wording mistake, companies whose tax year ended just after the end of calendar 2017 would be penalized for actions taken before the law passed. Read More…

House approves resolution aimed at trimming Trump’s power on Iran

In a sharply partisan 224-194 vote, the House on Thursday adopted a concurrent resolution seeking to curb the power of President Donald Trump to attack Iran. The measure would not bind the White House’s hands even if the Senate were to go along with the resolution because it would never go to Trump’s desk for signature. Read More…Click here to subscribe to Fintech Beat for the latest market and regulatory developments in finance and financial technology.

Trump to Lee: Other people called it ‘best presentation they’ve ever seen’

President Donald Trump disagreed with GOP Sen. Mike Lee’s comments that Wednesday’s Iran briefing was the worst briefing he’d ever seen on a military issue. Watch the video here…

Voting machine makers say yes to congressional oversight

Top executives of U.S. voting machine makers told lawmakers Thursday that they would accept federal regulations requiring the companies to disclose how they handle cyberattacks as well as reveal details of ownership and sources of components. Read More…

President Jed Bartlet could be arrested in front of the Capitol

Former “West Wing” star Martin Sheen is planning to join actress and activist Jane Fonda at a climate change protest Friday on the southeast lawn of the Capitol. In addition to the fictional president, Fonda will have Oscar-nominated actors Maggie Gyllenhaal and Joaquin Phoenix on hand for the protest. Read More…

Appeals court hears arguments over health care cost-sharing subsidies

A panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit heard arguments Thursday over whether the government owes health insurance plans money through subsidies mandated under the 2010 health care law, which created so-called cost-sharing subsidies for insurers to reduce low-income consumers’ out-of-pocket costs. Read More…

Big business lobby to push trade, data, immigration in 2020

Noting the “extraordinary time” of political turmoil and impeachment running alongside the 2020 campaigns, U.S. Chamber of Commerce CEO Tom Donohue nevertheless said his group, the top spender on federal lobbying, would push for a full agenda this year that includes free trade, data privacy and immigration overhaul. Read More…

Citizenship question hangs over census preparations, panel told

Although the Trump administration dropped a citizenship question from this year’s census, minority groups told the House Oversight and Reform Committee on Thursday that the question’s specter has haunted preparations for a national count that could miss millions of residents. Read More…

Appeals court lifts block of funding for border wall

A U.S. appeals court has issued a stay on a lower court ruling that had blocked the Trump administration from reallocating $3.6 billion in federal military funds to construct a wall along the nation’s border with Mexico. Read More…

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BRIGHT

Share with a friend you think would love this!Friday, January 10, 2020

What’s Next for the Equal Rights Amendment?
After the Democrats’ sweeping victory in Virginia’s local elections last year, hope was rekindled among liberal proponents of the Equal Rights Amendment that it could potentially be ratified by a 38^thstate. First introduced in 1923, the ERA seeks to dissolve all distinction between men and women as outlined in the Constitution. Through its various forms and trips through Congress over the last century, many have found that while it sounds like a victory for women looking to break the traditional mold of homemaker and submissive spouse, the implications are far less savory.

The reality is that the ERA erases any legal distinction between men and woman and thereby erases all protections specifically for women under the law. This includes provisions in the Civil Rights Act, the Equal Pay Act, and other the Pregnancy Discrimination Act.

Virginia intends to vote to ratify in the near future, which would technically make them the 38^thstate necessary to legally pass the amendment (despite the fact that five states have since rescinded their approval in the years of inaction). Fortunately for opponents of the ERA, the Department of Justice has said in no uncertain terms that the deadline for ratification passed in 1982 and the amendment was expired. More on the legality and future of the ERA from The Hill:

“Assistant Attorney General Steven A. Engel of the Office of Legal Counsel also said in the issued opinion, ‘We conclude that Congress had the constitutional authority to impose a deadline on the ratification of the ERA and, because that deadline has expired, the ERA Resolution is no longer pending before the States.’

The decision also notes, ‘Should the people of the United States wish to adopt the ERA as part of the Constitution, then the appropriate path is for Congress (or a convention sought by the state legislatures) to propose that amendment once more, in a manner consistent with Article V of the Constitution.’”

House of Representatives Passes Resolution to Curtail Trump’s Military Authority
On Thursday evening, the House passed Concurrent Resolution 83 with a 224-194 vote that was designed to stop the President from taking any more military action against Iran without Congressional approval. Constitutional experts say, however, that the resolution will not do anything to change Trump’s ability to make military decisions. The president was also quite unmoved by the resolution. From ABC 7 WJLA:

“At the White House, the president was unfazed by the House vote condemning his military response to Iran. Trump indicated that he might not seek congressional approval before taking further military action against Iran. “It would all depend on the circumstance. I don’t have to,” Trump said. ‘Because you have to make split-second decisions sometimes. Sometimes, you have to move very, very quickly.’”

Ukrainian Airliner Accidentally Shot Down by Errant Iranian Missile
As my BRIGHT colleague Kelsey reported to you yesterday, a Boeing 737 operated by Ukrainian International Airlines went down just after taking off from Tehran under highly suspicious circumstances. Despite hours of hoping that Iranian State television was deceitfully reporting the crash after a night of firing missiles at Iraqi locations that house U.S. troops, the deadly crash was confirmed early Wednesday morning. All 176 passengers and crew were confirmed dead and although Iran claimed that the plane suffered a mechanical failure that sealed its fate, U.S., Ukraine, and Iraq Intelligence say that a Russian-made anti-aircraft missile was mistakenly fired at the passenger jet which caused it to burst into a fireball and crash to the ground. No distress signal or call was ever made from the doomed flight. More from Fox News:

“The U.S. official told Fox News that a Russian-made SA15 missile, which is part of the Tor surface-to-air missile system, was the kind that brought down the aircraft. Russia delivered 29 Tor-M1 systems to Iran in 2007 as part of a $700 million contract signed in December 2005. Iran has displayed the missiles in military parades as well.”

Sips, Pours, and INSTANT POT MADNESS
Feeling the winter blues setting in? Here’s a great guide to making the Spanish Gin & Tonic, the greatest of all drinks. (Liquor.com)

Lovers of European wine might be faced with some shortages due to the Trump administration spike in tariffs. More about that potential fallout here (VinePair)

I got an Instant Pot for Christmas and I was happy, but I really didn’t think I needed one. I do a lot of home cooking but have always been fine with the stove and burner set up. Well, I fired up that bad boy on Monday and I have been cooking it non-stop ever since. The two biggest miracles I have created, however, have been hard boiled eggs (which peel like a dream after 4-7 minutes depending on how orange you like your yolk) and this insanely good meatloaf recipe from The Wholesome Dish. (For Instant Pot, cook meatloaf in 6” springform cake pan for 25 minutes on high pressure over a trivet and 2 cups of water; use quick release at the end)

Friday Entertainment Center
I saw Cats in the theater for my teenage cousin’s birthday. Here is a story about how well that went. (The Federalist)

After Rian Johnson left fans scratching their heads with “The Last Jedi,” the acclaimed director fully redeems himself with Knives Out. A murder mystery thriller and exactly the kind of film worthy of your money for snacks, a recliner, and a big screen. More from the Wall Street Journal.

If you aren’t sick of reading and hearing about the March sisters in Louisa May Alcott’s “Little Women,” and you aren’t jaded by the media brow-beating you into thinking you aren’t feminist enough if you don’t want to see the Greta Gerwig Little Women movie, I have to admit: It’s actually pretty good. More from the Chicago Reader. 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 Copyright © BRIGHT, All rights reserved.

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TOWNHALL

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Columnists Trump’s Handling of Iran Deserves Praise
Tucker Carlson and Neil Patel Pelosi’s Democrats Threaten Democracy in the Name of Protecting It
David Limbaugh The Democrats’ 2020 Vision: America Last
Paul Curry The Democrat’s Hatred of President Trump and America Itself Is Appalling
Sheriff David Clarke, Ret.Mitch McConnell Stands with President Trump and the Rule of Law
Jenna Ellis The Culture War Comes to the Old Dominion
Pat Buchanan Hollywood Gets an Education
Brent Bozell and Tim Graham Trump Responds to Iran’s Act of War
Michael Barone Pelosi’s Embarrassing Impeachment Blunder
David HarsanyiADVERTISEMENT The Obama Administration’s Guerrilla War
Erick Erickson Hatred Slashes the Bonds of Brotherhood
Armstrong Williams Video Gov. Evers: Saying Abortionists ‘Execute Babies’ Is ‘Blasphemy’Trump blasts Schiff as ‘political hack’Pelosi’s condescension offers some laughs Pelosi open to border infrastructure INVESTING Australia Is Burning: Blame The Greens And The Arsonists Getting the Goods on Schiff HEALTH The Keys to Healthy Blood Pressure B Vitamins for Circulation & Other Solutions Salmon Dip with Crunchy Romaine Leaves

Tipsheet What This Ohio Voter Said About Union Workers And Trump Should Worry Democrats
Matt Vespa Indiana Woman Finally Sentenced For Killing Three After Horrific Bus Stop Crash
Matt Vespa Flashback: Pelosi Said Obama Did Not Need Authorization to Attack Libya
Bronson Stocking Rep. Omar Defends Supporting BDS Movement Against Israel While Denouncing Iran Sanctions
Julio Rosas McCarthy on Pelosi: ‘Did She Say That With A Straight Face?’
Bronson Stocking McConnell Backs Hawley’s Measure to Change Impeachment Rules Without Articles
Reagan McCarthy Pollsters: Liz Warren Less Likely To Win Nomination Than ‘No One’
Bronson Stocking Critics Slam Buttigieg for Appearing to Blame America in Statement About Ukrainian Plane Crash
Leah Barkoukis Facepalm: That’s Where Nancy Pelosi Got The Idea To Execute Trench Warfare On Trump Impeachment
Matt Vespa Former Obama Official Explains How Trump’s Economic Sanctions are Hurting Iran
Cortney O’BrienADVERTISEMENT Political Cartoons Bearing Arms Spokane Sheriff’s Office Offering Women’s Self-Defense Class | Tom Knighton Virginia Dem Admits NRA Range A Target Of His “Gun Safety” Bill | Cam Edwards Cleveland Cops, ATF Offer Reward For Gun Store Burglary Info | Tom Knighton Vermont Democrat Proposes Banning Cell Phones For Under-21s | Cam Edwards Biased Media Continues To Present Gun Control As Mass Shooting Answer | Tom Knighton

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NOQ REPORT

NOQ Report Daily

Liz Wheeler demolishes Virginia’s gun control push in under three minutesPosted: 10 Jan 2020 05:39 AM PSTIn most circumstances, complicated issues such as the gun control debate require a fairly long time to break down and properly contest points from the opposition. I’ve seen documentaries that still barely scratched the surface simply because the elements are far too complex individually, combining to form an overarching set of facts and suppositions that […]The post Liz Wheeler demolishes Virginia’s gun control push in under three minutes appeared first on Conservative Christian News.

Ted Cruz offers Democrats a chance to prove they’re still patriotic AmericansPosted: 10 Jan 2020 04:22 AM PSTThe death of Qasem Soleimani in an airstrike by U.S. military forces on the order of President Trump last week should be as unambiguously positive for America as the killing of Osama bin Laden. In fact, one can argue Soleimani’s death was more consequential as he was still the driving force behind both militia opposition […]The post Ted Cruz offers Democrats a chance to prove they’re still patriotic Americans appeared first on Conservative Christian News.

President Trump: Radical Democrats are ‘stone cold crazy’Posted: 10 Jan 2020 03:38 AM PSTThose of us who are old enough to remember what the Democratic Party used to be like often scratch our collective heads over what it is today. Notions like socialism, open borders, single-payer healthcare, and supporting our enemies in Iran would have been anathema to the party less than two decades ago. They’ve changed, and […]The post President Trump: Radical Democrats are ‘stone cold crazy’ appeared first on Conservative Christian News.

Allen West: To hold this nation, we must hold TexasPosted: 10 Jan 2020 03:06 AM PSTFor the first time in over four decades, Texas seems to be fully in play politically. Years of mismanagement by the state GOP, recent scandals, and an electorate that is growing increasingly blue has transformed the once-solid-red state into a deep shade of purple. It would be catastrophic for conservatives across the nation if Texas […]The post Allen West: To hold this nation, we must hold Texas appeared first on Conservative Christian News.

Gavin Newsom’s homelessness solution: Spend more on programs that only make the problem worsePosted: 09 Jan 2020 11:53 PM PSTInsanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. This quote, often wrongly attributed to Albert Einstein, needs to be revised to fit California Democrats’ formula for problem solving. California insanity is taking the same failed policies and “fixing” them by throwing more money at them. Governor Gavin Newsom is […]The post Gavin Newsom’s homelessness solution: Spend more on programs that only make the problem worse appeared first on Conservative Christian News.

Flag officer rage about Trump’s ‘failings’Posted: 09 Jan 2020 01:28 PM PSTBy Retired U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel Bob Maginnis Evidently what five-star General Douglas McArthur famously said in his farewell address at West Point is no longer true: “Old soldiers never die; they just fade away.” Today’s “old soldiers” refuse to fade away. Some of them are using their retired bully pulpits to criticize President Trump’s […]The post Flag officer rage about Trump’s ‘failings’ appeared first on Conservative Christian News.

Confirmed: Iran took down Ukrainian plane, likely by mistakePosted: 09 Jan 2020 08:42 AM PSTThere’s little solace that comes in being proven correct when the implications are so terrible. My “conspiracy theory” from yesterday that Google and Facebook decided to suppress has been confirmed by Pentagon sources to Newsweek. Unless Big Tech believes reporters at the long-time mainstream media outlet are all wearing tinfoil hats, it’s time to stop […]The post Confirmed: Iran took down Ukrainian plane, likely by mistake appeared first on Conservative Christian News.

President Trump’s handling of Iran is historic foreign policy unfolding before our eyesPosted: 09 Jan 2020 07:24 AM PSTLet me make one thing crystal clear. I support President Trump, but I’m not a sycophant who blindly supports everything he does or believes he’s above reproach. I call it how I see it, which is why I have no problem criticizing some of his biggest moves. The bump stock ban and the gargantuan budgets […]The post President Trump’s handling of Iran is historic foreign policy unfolding before our eyes appeared first on Conservative Christian News.

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REDSTATE

Babylon Bee Relentlessly Hammers CNN After Journalist Frets Over Their Higher Social Media Share Counts

READ STORY

Democ(rats) Fleeing Sinking Impeachment Ship

    READ STORY    This One Man’s Video on Ricky Gervais’s Golden Globes Smack Down Is Masterful

    READ STORY    Reza Aslan Deletes Tweet Slamming Covington Kids Right after CNN Settles Defamation Lawsuit

    READ STORY    CNN Analyst Reveals Keyword Being Used to Drag Trump and U.S. Into Ukrainian Plane Being Shot Down

    READ STORY

Don’t Miss the Real Point of Jillian Michaels’ Comments on Lizzo’s Obesity

    READ STORY    Huber Investigation of Hillary Clinton Has Ended After Finding ‘Nothing Worth Pursuing,’ But MAJOR Unanswered Questions Remain

    READ STORY    Another Rogue Judge Is Slapped Down Hard Over Blocking the Border Wall

    READ STORY    What Does Gina Haspel’s Role in the Suleimani Killing Tell Us About the Russia-Hoax Investigation?

    READ STORY

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THE FEDERALIST

Your daily update of new content from The Federalist
Be lovers of freedom and anxious for the fray
January 10, 2020
Left Blames President Trump For Iran’s Decision To Shoot Down A Passenger PlaneBy Erielle Davidson
The crash of Ukrainian Airlines Flight 752 is a tragedy, the culpability for which lies unequivocally with Iran. To suggest otherwise is to cheapen the deaths of hundreds to score political points against the ‘bad orange man.’
Full articleLGBT Activists Shouldn’t Encourage Teens To Use Grindr App Complicit In Gruesome MurderBy Chad Felix Greene
While LGBT advocates focus on hate crimes, discrimination, or other outside negative influences on the LGBT community, they fail to see the dangers within it.
Full articleNew Expose Outs Another Pedophile Among France’s Literary EliteBy Holly Scheer
Vanessa Springora’s spotlight on the crimes of Gabriel Matzneff shows it’s past time for France to stop excusing evil because of the perpetrator’s status.
Full articleContrary To Media Reports, New Abortion Pill Study Finds It Endangers Women And Reversal WorksBy Tara Sander Lee and Michael Valley
The authors of a new study continue promulgating misleading information about the real risks of the abortion pill regimen, instead of emphasizing the safety of using progesterone to try to reverse Mifeprex’s effects.
Full article‘1917’ Reminds Us War Is An Addiction We’ll Never ShakeBy Caroline D’Agati
Sam Mendes’ magnificent epic raises a question stripped straight from today’s headlines: Is war a futile waste of life or the apex of the human experience?
Full articleNot One Senate Democrat Joins Resolution Commending U.S. Military For Soleimani’s DeathBy Erielle Davidson
Commending those who killed a terrorist responsible for the loss of hundreds of American lives should not be a controversial endeavor, but apparently it is.
Full articleThe Murder Of My Beloved IPA And The Rise Of The Great PretenderBy Christopher Bedford
There was a golden age once — lasted maybe two decades — where you could walk into a bar in any good-sized city, order the local IPA, and be satisfied. Those days are gone.
Full articleCovington Settlement Warns Corporations That Bias Can Cost Big BucksBy Scott Shepard
CNN and AT&T have learned expensive lessons about bias that the rest of corporate America would be wise to heed.
Full articleIs Elizabeth Warren Using A ‘Goldilocks’ Strategy To Win The Democratic Nomination?By Christopher Jacobs
If Democrats do end up with a contested convention, it seems unlikely to result in an outcome in which a previously undeclared candidate emerges from the shadows to win the nomination.
Full articleThe Misplaced Moral Panic Over Vaping Is Killing SmokersBy Tristan Justice
Manufactured hysteria about the use of electronic cigarettes is perpetuating a public health crisis more severe than the one it seeks to address.
Full articleThe American Revolution Was Also A Moral RevolutionBy Craig Bruce Smith
In C. Bradley Thompson’s new book, ‘America’s Revolutionary Mind,’ the Clemson professor makes a provocative and persuasive rebuttal to contemporary historians suggesting that the American founding advanced self-serving motives based on slavery, race, and class.
Full article‘Toy Story 4’ Is Too ‘White’ For Hollywood Reporter CriticBy Brad Slager
To launch the new year in appropriately oblivious fashion, The Hollywood Reporter has an article out condemning ‘Toy Story 4’ for a litany of social transgressions.
Full articleThis Week In Weird Twitter, Volume 131By Rich Cromwell
As the moon rises, another shirt and pair of shoes get ruined.
Full articleMitch McConnell Signs Onto GOP Proposal To Dismiss Impeachment TrialBy Tristan Justice
McConnell joins a dozen other GOP co-sponsors who have signed onto the resolution put forward by Republican Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri.
Full articleButtigieg Blames Trump For Iran Shooting Down Ukrainian AirplaneBy Tristan Justice
Former South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg blamed President Donald Trump for the downed Ukrainian passenger jet over Iran on Wednesday night. “Innocent civilians are now Read More (https://thefederalist.com/2020/01/09/buttigieg-blames-trump-for-iran-shooting-down-ukrainian-airplane/)
Full articleBREAKING: U.S., Iraqi Officials Accuse Iran Of Shooting Down European Passenger JetBy Christopher Bedford
A European passenger jet crash that killed all 176 passengers and crew in Iran during Wednesday night’s hostilities is under intense international scrutiny after rapid explanations raised suspicions.
Full articleU.S. Is ‘Confident’ Iran Shot Down Ukrainian Passenger Airliner, Killing 176 PeopleBy Chrissy Clark
U.S. Pentagon officials have confirmed Iran shot down a Ukrainian passenger airliner killing 176 people.
Full articleJoy Behar Is So Trump Deranged She Just Applauded A Neo-NaziBy Melissa Langsam Braunstein
Someone should inform Behar: It’s possible to dislike, or even detest, Trump while also holding the line against extremism.
Full articleWashington Tries, And Fails, To Defend Nancy Pelosi’s Failed Impeachment StrategyBy Ben Domenech
Why did Pelosi choose this pointless gambit which ended up dragging this impeachment process out without any apparent benefit to her conference?
Full article

PELOSI’S CHOICE
In the immediate aftermath of Nancy Pelosi’s decision to hold the Articles of Impeachment rather than send them to the Senate, not even the most pro-Pelosi hacks in existence could make the case for the strategy. The same question pingponged through DC greenrooms: “Is she really doing this?”

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THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

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HIGHLIGHTSEight Democrats vote against curbing Trump war powers in Iran Tom Steyer qualifies for January debate with huge surge in state polls Trump: Democratic debates ‘like watching death’ Biden nightmare scenario: How Bernie Sanders wins the Democratic nominationBernie Sanders’s path to the Democratic presidential nomination looks more viable than ever. Despite making enemies within the party establishment because of his 2016 run, polls paint a nightmare scenario for Joe Biden and the rest of the Democratic presidential field that puts the Vermont senator up against President Trump.  Trump faces uphill battle on Iran deal after losing Boris Johnson President Trump suffered a setback in his efforts to persuade allies to abandon the Iran nuclear deal once and for all when British Prime Minister Boris Johnson signaled that the United Kingdom remains committed to the agreement.  ‘Slim opportunity’: It’s sink or swim in Iowa for Klobuchar Amy Klobuchar is touting her late surge in Iowa, but there’s still a month until the 2020 Democratic primary’s opening contest.  Warren bankruptcy plan aims to close loophole for police brutality Elizabeth Warren’s new bankruptcy plan aims to stop police officers from using bankruptcy as a “loophole” to protect against civil rights claims. ADVERTISEMENT
Trump campaign sees political win on Iran strikeThe Trump campaign lost no time in touting the president’s decision to kill Iran’s most senior and most feared military leader. “Thanks to the swift actions of our Commander-in-Chief, Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani is no longer a threat to the United States, or to the world,” runs the wording that appeared in more than 600 advertisements running on Facebook.  Successful Soleimani strike cements Pompeo’s status as de facto secretary of defense In the end, there was a consensus.  New U-Haul anti-smoking policy could keep working-class people out of a job A new U-Haul hiring policy disqualifies applicants who use nicotine products, which public health experts call discrimination against working-class men and women.
  Trump’s overhaul of environmental permitting could help clean energy build-out The Trump administration’s new effort to speed permitting reviews for infrastructure could allow for an easier build-out of massive clean energy projects envisioned by Democrats to decarbonize the economy, such as wind farms and interstate power lines.  Key phase two goal of US-China trade talks is explaining what’s in phase one When President Trump travels to China later this year to begin phase two of trade talks with Beijing, there’s one thing that a lot of people are hoping to see come out of the negotiation: clarity on what happened in phase one.  Election diet of red meat President Trump obscures his best arguments — on the economy — with pep rallies.  ‘Not humane’: PETA rips AOC for buying and caging a dogAnimal rights organization PETA wagged its finger at Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for buying a dog instead of getting one from a shelter.  Former top labor official boosts parents group as counterweight to teachers unions Delegates will meet next week in New Orleans in an effort to solidify the National Parents Union, an effort by education reformers to create a national counterweight to the influence of teachers unions. THE ROUNDUPPelosi says she will send impeachment articles ‘soon’House votes to limit Trump’s ability to attack Iran Elizabeth Warren’s surprising closing argument: ElectabilityADVERTISEMENT

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THE BLAZE

View this email in your browser January 10, 2020Trending now Trump hater orders man to remove MAGA hat; he refuses. So Trump hater makes threat, takes swing at hat — and victim pulls out his gun. VIDEO: Rep. Ilhan Omar laughs while colleagues talk about US casualties in Iraq War, then turns around and condemns sanctions on IranMore from TheBlaze Video shows the moment a missile strikes Ukrainian plane over Iran Mitch McConnell signs on to resolution allowing dismissal of impeachment without articles Jillian Michaels will not apologize for ‘fat-shaming’ Lizzo: ‘Not a lie I’m willing to tell because it’s politically correct’ College professor jokes on Facebook about Iran attacking the US to dunk on Trump — and loses his job over itListen live to Blaze RadioTune in to the next generation of talk radio, featuring original content from hosts like Glenn Beck, Pat Gray, Stu Burguiere, Steve Deace and more!Start listeningOne last thing …MSNBC’s Chris Matthews compares Soleimani to Princess Diana, Elvis. Iranians say he’s dead wrong and pushing ‘propaganda.’MSNBC anchor Chris Matthews on Wednesday compared Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani’s death to the deaths of American rock legend Elvis Presley and the United Kingdom’s Princess Diana. Presley died in 1977 following a fatal heart attack. Princess Diana was killed in 1997 following a fatal car accident in Paris. The U.S. conducted an … Read more Got friends?FORWARD THIS EMAIL © 2020 Blaze Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.You are receiving this email because you opted in to receive emails from Blaze Media.Privacy Policy | Manage your preferences | Unsubscribe8275 S. Eastern Ave, Ste 200-245Las Vegas, Nevada, 89123, USA

THE WASHINGTON POST MORNING MIX

Sign up for this newsletter Read online Stories from all over. LAGUNA NIGUEL, CA – OCTOBER 02: Megyn Kelly speaks onstage at the Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit 2018 at Ritz Carlton Hotel on October 2, 2018 in Laguna Niguel, California. (Photo by Phillip Faraone/Getty Images for Fortune)‘I do wish I had done more’: Megyn Kelly tearfully reacts to ‘Bombshell’ and the fallout of the Fox News sexual harassment scandalThe conversation offered a rare, and very public, reflection of what victims of sexual harassment at the workplace are feeling as their #MeToo stories are adapted for the big screen and pop culture entertainment.By Katie Shepherd ● Read more » Getting rid of ‘Redmen’ sparked an uproar. So school officials voted to reinstate the ‘demeaning’ team name.The decision came just months after Killingly High School’s sports teams were rebranded as the “Red Hawks,” sparking fury among longtime residents and sweeping a Republican supermajority into office during November’s school board election.By Antonia Farzan ● Read more » He became the 22nd worker at a German factory to die young. Police suspect a serial sandwich poisoner.Klaus O. had been secretly poisoning his colleagues for years. Three victims are known. Many others are suspected.By Meagan Flynn ● Read more » Matt Gaetz, the ‘Trumpiest Congressman,’ cites principles for bucking president on war powers. Kevin McCarthy is ‘very shocked.’“If the members of our armed services have the courage to go and fight and die in these wars,” said Florida’s Matt Gaetz, “as Congress, we ought to have the courage to vote for them or against them.”By Fred Barbash ● Read more » Professor who jokingly said Iran should list 52 U.S. cultural sites to bomb has been fired“Ayatollah Khomenei should tweet a list of 52 sites of cultural American heritage that he would bomb,” his post said.By Teo Armus ● Read more » We think you’ll like this newsletter Check out The Trailer for news and insight on political campaigns around the country, from David Weigel. 435 districts. 50 states. Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday evenings. Sign up »

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CHICAGO TRIBUNE

VIEW IN BROWSERJANUARY 10, 2020CHICAGOTRIBUNE.COMDAYWATCH1Source: Federal authorities ask Speaker Michael Madigan confidant to cooperate in probeFRIDAY, JAN 10Federal authorities have asked a longtime confidant of House Speaker Michael Madigan to cooperate with a wide-ranging investigation that reaches from Chicago to Springfield, a source familiar with the probe said Thursday. It’s the latest development involving powerful former lobbyist Mike McClain. The Tribune previously has reported that authorities have recorded McClain’s phone calls and raided his home in Downstate Quincy.Gov. J.B. Pritzker denounced as “horrific” an email from McClain that hinted at a rape cover-up, but said he’ll await the outcome of an investigation to find out if any wrongdoing was committed.2Thousands of coyotes live in the Chicago area, but attacks — like the one on the boy in Lincoln Park — are extremely rareFRIDAY, JAN 10With the city’s attention fixated on several highly visible interactions between coyotes and people in Chicago this week, officials and experts emphasized that attacks by the animals are extremely rare and that there is no cause for alarm.Bystanders rushed to the scene of a coyote attack in Lincoln Park on Wednesday, where they found a woman carrying a bleeding boy and a “limping” animal with a shoe hanging from its jaws. 3Winter storm watch declared as forecasters look at increasing odds of snow this weekendFRIDAY, JAN 10A wintry mix of freezing rain and sleet is expected to hit the Chicago area tonight, with accumulations of up a quarter inch before snow begins to fall, according to a bulletin for a winter storm watch. Snowfall totals were expected to be highest in northwest suburbs, with the latest forecasts calling for about 6 inches of snow in parts of McHenry County and other counties farther west. Cook County was expected to get around 3 inches, although the forecast for Chicago as of Thursday afternoon didn’t call for rain to give way to snow completely until early Sunday.Visit the Tribune’s weather page for the latest forecast and updates.4Chicago pastor charged with bilking federal program to feed needy kids, spending $142,000 on a Bentley for himselfFRIDAY, JAN 10The slogan once plastered outside the Rev. Clarence Smith Jr.’s storefront church on Chicago’s West Side promised to make the ”ministry meaningful to the imperfect man.” It turns out Smith has been far from perfect himself, federal authorities allege. Smith, who has led the New Life Impact Church in the Lawndale neighborhood for years, has been indicted on charges alleging he stole hundreds of thousands of dollars from a federal program intended to feed needy children, spending the money on a $142,000 Bentley luxury vehicle and other personal expenses.. 5Chicago has a new place to power nap. Here’s how it works and the difference between good and bad napsFRIDAY, JAN 10Forget New Year’s resolutions. For many people, trying to get more sleep is a constant goal. In downtown Chicago, a new business offers workers the opportunity to sneak in some sleep during the day, with napping suites available in increments of 30 minutes, 60 minutes and 90 minutes.6A Chicago-area sportswriter disappeared 31 years ago in Colorado. The search for him continues on a new Travel Channel series.FRIDAY, JAN 10Keith Reinhard was on a three-month sabbatical from his job covering prep sports for the Daily Herald in 1988 when he left for a solo mountain hike in Colorado and never returned. The 49-year-old Algonquin resident had been staying in a small mining town west of Denver and writing a novel inspired by Tom Young, who had gone missing from that same town the year before. Filmmaker J.J. Kelley and journalist Kinga Philipps try to figure out what happened to Reinhard and Young on an episode of their new Travel Channel series, “Lost in the Wild,” that’s scheduled to air at 10 p.m. Sunday. Philipps describes the eight-episode series as a “true crime podcast come to life.”. 7Column: Want to stop the central Loop exodus? A LaSalle Street ‘High Line’ is not the answer.FRIDAY, JAN 10A new plan proposes building a “High Line” on LaSalle Street, creating a two-tiered street in an effort to stop office tenants from fleeing the center of downtown. The idea would be a “hideous quick fix,” says Tribune architecture critic Blair Kamin. Check out some renderings of the elevated walkway here.8Column: Hey, Illinois, stop smoking all the legal marijuana. I need it for when Trump starts a war: The Week in ReviewFRIDAY, JAN 10America’s most-beloved Week in Review was on hiatus over the holidays. But it’s back, and Tribune columnist Rex Huppke is tasked with wiping the dust off the desk at What-the-(BLEEP) headquarters and wading into the weekly news trough to separate the good slop from the bad, asking, as always: “What the (BLEEP) just happened?”advertisement
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AMERICAN THINKER

View this email in your browserRecent ArticlesUkrainian 752 Shoot-Down Mirrors Fate of TWA 800Jan 10, 2020 01:00 am
Let the Iranians worry about Iranian screw-ups. It is past time we investigate our own. Read More…
Susan Rice Lies Again — Obama and SoleimaniJan 10, 2020 01:00 am
Barack Hussein Obama had the opportunity, if he wanted to, to kill Soleimani. Instead, he protected Soleimani and sought to provide him and Iran the means and opportunity to kill Americans and make “Death to America” a chilling reality. Read More…
The Fantasy War That Never WasJan 10, 2020 01:00 am
War, inevitable! Oh, how the news and nets shuddered at news of President Trump’s demise of Iran’s top terrorist. Actually, it’s more a case of Pee-wee Herman punching out Mike Tyson and seeing what comes next. Read More…
Killing Civilization: The Great Equality FarceJan 10, 2020 01:00 am
Why assume that “equality” is any kind of good at all? Let’s take a look at all the hullabaloo around so-called pay equality… Read More…
Trump’s MasterstrokesJan 10, 2020 01:00 am
Like Reagan’s defeat of the USSR, Trump’s campaign against Iran is a master class in how to undermine a recalcitrant enemy. Read More…
Strange Gloom and Doom about Trump Taking Out SoleimaniJan 10, 2020 01:00 am
Even if you agree with Tucker Carlson and Ann Coulter that America should get out of the Middle East, it’s still hard to understand their immediate negative reactions to Trump’s fatal air strike on Qassem Soleimani. Read More…

Recent Blog Posts

Trump wows the crowd at Toledo rally – and takes no prisoners.
Jan 10, 2020 01:00 am
In Toledo, Trump wowed the crowd as he talked up his accomplishments, attacked his opponents, and promsed to make America even greater for all Americans.  Read more…
‘Wise Latina’ Sotomayor heaps praise on San Francisco’s new far-left DA, Chesa Boudin
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Lionizing as a victim a child of privilege.  Read more…
Democrats are calling a Republican state rep a domestic terrorist. Is it true?
Jan 10, 2020 01:00 am
The devil is in the details.  Read more…
Tucker Carlson looks at the horrors in Pelosi’s own district of San Francisco.
Jan 10, 2020 01:00 am
Nancy Pelosi’s San Francisco was once one of America’s most beautiful cities. It’s Leftist politics have turned it into an unaffordable dystopia.  Read more…
Terrorists run for their lives in aftermath of Soleimani killing
Jan 10, 2020 01:00 am
Terrorists don’t want to be around for President Trump’s next takeout.  Read more…
Eye-popping video exposes brazen junk science by federal climate assessment program
Jan 10, 2020 01:00 am
Federal agencies are not disinterested players in the great game of promoting climate hysteria.  Read more…
Thank Trump: GM and Ford make nearly a thousand temporary workers permanent
Jan 10, 2020 01:00 am
A vote of confidence in the continued growth of the Trump economy is why these companies are now seeking to give their workers permanent status.  Read more…
Who we are
Jan 10, 2020 01:00 am
The latest reactions by the left to the warranted assassination of Qassem Soleimani widen the already deep divide our country faces.  Read more…
Let’s stand up for the girls
Jan 10, 2020 01:00 am
The left’s transgender agenda is unfair to girls.  Read more…
Killing terrorists is how you…kill off terrorism
Jan 10, 2020 01:00 am
The media and establishment hand-wringers lamenting the Iranian terrorist chieftain’s rub-out would have you think otherwise.  Read more…
Buttigieg and other Democrats blame the U.S. for the downed Ukrainian plane.
Jan 10, 2020 01:00 am
Democrats, including candidate Pete Buttigieg, twist both language and facts to blame America for the downed Ukrainian plane.  Read more…
Even before reforms, food stamp use declined drastically under Trump
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Trump kept his promise to change regulations keeping able-bodied adults on the food stamp program, but the soaring economy had already shrunk the rolls.  Read more…
Some worrisome aspects of the Iranian missile attack
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Caution is in order on the American side of this conflict.  Read more…
Our enemies are not the Incredible Hulk
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The truth is that when someone becomes angry, his strength remains the same, but his thoughts become irrational.  Read more…
Cocaine Mitch pounds Nancy Pelosi into a powder
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Over in the Senate, Democrats are breaking with Pelosi and begging for mercy.  Read more…
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DESERET NEWS

View this email in your browser Friday, Jan. 10, 2020Tensions with Iran have calmed, but all religious sites remain at risk Anti-vaccine stereotypes are misleading. Here’s who’s really most likely to resist vaccines ‘The Witcher’ is trying to be the next ‘Game of Thrones.’ But is that really a good thing?10 more phrases that signal you’re most likely from Utah (Sponsored)McAdams joins other Dems calling for Pelosi to let impeachment trial begin Jazz win over Knicks provides respite for starters and confidence for bench MORE NEWSSouth Salt Lake police receiving more calls than expected from new homeless shelter GOP candidates for governor agree they don’t like tax reform in first joint appearance House approves measure to restrain Trump’s actions on Iran
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REALCLEARPOLITICS

01/10/2020Share: Carl Cannon’s Morning NotePresented by Partnership for America’s Health Care Future: Iran’s Long Game; Informants’ Role; Quote of the Week

Good morning. It’s Friday, Jan. 10, 2020, the day of the week when I unearth a quote intended to be inspiring or evocative. Today’s comes from Herbert Hoover, the 31^st president of the United States, a Republican destined to be denigrated by two generations of Democrats.This wasn’t always the case. Hoover had grown up on an Iowa farm and knew a great deal about agriculture and food distribution. He was also an engineer by training and someone with an uncanny talent for logistics. When World War I broke out, he was in England. His intrepid efforts at getting American expats back home from Europe morphed into heroic efforts feeding the starving civilian population in German-occupied France and Belgium.He had been Woodrow Wilson’s natural choice to be the U.S. government’s wartime food administrator, a key government position that doesn’t exist anymore, and his successes saved millions of lives.His task was to vastly increase food production, and send it farther than ever before, in much less time. He did all this and more, cajoling wheat growers and bakeries to produce 10.5 million metric tons of bread in 1918 and 1919, three times the amount before the war.Hoover urged Americans to go without meat twice a day, cut their sugar consumption and, more than anything, quit wasting food. That sounds contemporary, doesn’t it? But this wasn’t about health, per se, and it certainly had nothing to do with climate change: It was about making sure that children in war-ravaged Europe (and, yes, soldiers, too) would eat every day. Hoover worked so seamlessly with President Wilson that many Americans assumed he was a Democrat.This proved not to be the case, but it didn’t matter to Hoover’s popularity, at least in 1928 when he was elected in a landslide over Al Smith. Less than a year into his presidency, however, the Great Depression hit like a tsunami.Neither Hoover nor his policies caused the stock market to crash and the economy to crater, but the president’s response was almost universally judged to be wanting. He had no answers and lacked the charisma of Franklin Roosevelt, the man who would replace him after one term.By 1931, Hoover was so desperate for answers that he wondered aloud if humor wasn’t the answer. “What the country needs is a good big laugh,” he told journalist Raymond Clapper. “If someone could get off a good joke every 10 days, I think our troubles would be over.”I get what he was saying, but this was a far cry from “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” Neither of those lines is today’s quote of the week, though. I’ll have that in a moment, after pointing 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:* * *Iran Can Play the Long Game. In RealClearWorld, Kenneth Pollack warns that Tehran could inflict real harm on the United States and its interests in the years to come. Informants in Iraq, Syria Helped U.S. Kill Soleimani. RealClearInvestigations spotlights the details.Natural Gas Prices Could Explode if Iran Crisis Worsens. Irina Slav has the story in RealClearEnergy.Why Millennials Go Big for Sanders. Paul Brandus explains in RealClearMarkets.* * *Herbert Hoover’s career in public service did not end with his crushing defeat to Franklin Roosevelt in 1932. He offered his help during the transition, assistance that was rebuffed by a new president wanting nothing to do with the man who embodied what historian Arthur Schlesinger called “the crisis of the old order.” This was better politics than policy — and a dubious historical precedent thankfully ignored by Barack Obama in the winter of 2008-2009. But it wasn’t personal on FDR’s part. In 1920, Under Secretary of the Navy Franklin Roosevelt had this to say about his future nemesis: “He certainly is a wonder and I wish we could make him president of the United States.”When Roosevelt himself made Hoover the ex-president of the United States, the defeated incumbent did not take that personally, either. After losing a bruising campaign, he sent a most gracious telegram:“I congratulate you on the opportunity that has come to you to be of service to the country, and I wish for you a most successful administration. In the common purpose of all of us, I shall dedicate myself to every possible helpful effort.”There’s been a lot of loose talk in the last three years speculating that our current chief executive would not leave office so gracefully — and might not leave at all. This is an absurd fear. It’s simply not the American way. But I digress. Herbert Hoover’s second stint in government, as a politician, hadn’t been a success. But he was a one-man rebuttal to F. Scott Fitzgerald’s famous quip about second acts: Herbert Hoover would have third, fourth, and fifth acts in his life. And after World War II, President Truman tapped him to reprise his efforts at feeding Europe.Fulfilling his own whimsical longing for a “good joke,” Hoover learned to laugh at himself, too. In 1935, he signed his name for a young autograph seeker six times, quipping that he realized it took five “Herbert Hoover” signatures to get one “Babe Ruth.”Like the Babe, Hoover was always good with kids. “The thing I enjoyed most were visits from children,” he wrote three decades after leaving the White House. “They did not want public office.”In that same book, a compendium of Hoover’s letters to and from the boys and girls of America, Hoover wrote: “Being a politician is a poor profession. Being a public servant is a noble one.”And that’s your quote of the week. Carl M. Cannon
Washington Bureau Chief
RealClearPolitics
Twitter: @CarlCannon We should build on what’s working in our health care system and fix what’s broken – not start over with a one-size-fits-all, new government health insurance system American families can’t afford. Click here to read more of this message, brought to you by Partnership for America’s Health Care Future.

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ARRA NEWS SERVICE

ARRA News Service (in this message: 18 new items)

The Rising Tide of Anti-Semitism Can’t Be IgnoredPosted: 09 Jan 2020 08:48 PM PST by Arielle Del Turco: Five teenagers from Berlin made international news earlier this week when they brutally attacked and sexually assaulted a 68-year-old Jewish man on his way to visit the Putlitzbrücke Holocaust memorial. This came just a day after a Jewish man was subjected to antisemitic slurs and physically attacked on the Berlin subway. Such alarming antisemitic attacks are on the rise across the globe and especially in Europe, posing a serious threat to Jewish communities everywhere. The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) yesterday sought to address this issue in a congressional hearing on Global Efforts to Counter Anti-Semitism.

Anti-semitic attacks like those in Germany are increasing throughout Europe. At yesterday’s hearing, Rabbi Abraham Cooper noted the sharp increase in antisemitic attacks in Germany, Sweden, and France in recent years.

Anti-Semitism has a long and troubling history in Europe, and it’s a history Europeans seem intent on forgetting. In 2018, a sweeping CNN survey conducted in Europe found a surprising degree of ignorance concerning the Holocaust. Particularly striking is the statistic that one out of five people in France between the ages of 18 and 34 said they’d never even heard of the Holocaust. France is a hotspot for anti-Semitism, and it shows.

Yet, poor education isn’t the only problem. The response of European governments to antisemitic violence has been woefully inadequate. Rabbi Cooper argued that the French judiciary “has exposed itself again and again as unwilling and unfit to protect French Jewry.” He cited several recent examples of French courts failing to bring those who committed crimes against Jews to justice. In one example, a French court released the murderer of a Jewish kindergarten teacher because he claimed to have smoked marijuana before he strangled her in her apartment while shouting about Allah before throwing her over a balcony.

In her statement, Sharon Nazarian urged European governments to “support the security of local Jewish communities, to address potential threats, and to hold perpetrators of attacks fully accountable.”

However, anti-semitism is a complex problem and public policy is only part of the solution. Former Pakistani Ambassador Akbar Ahmed told listeners, “You need to challenge the hearts of the people.”

USCIRF Chair and FRC President Tony Perkins recognized the unique importance of confronting anti-Semitism. “This is the issue that affects so many others,” he said. “It is a canary in the coalmine when it comes to religious persecution, and we would be negligent as a nation… to ignore what is happening around us.”

At its core, religious freedom is the freedom to choose and live out one’s faith. For religious freedom to be the norm, Jews must be able to live freely without fear of violence. Antisemitic discrimination and attacks on the Jewish community carried out simply because they are Jewish is fundamentally evil and must not be allowed to go unchecked at home or abroad.

Anti-semitism is an old hatred that has had devastating affects throughout world history. At the hearing, Dr. Deborah Lipstadt testified that anti-semitism “takes many different forms, and it persists.” In response, political leaders, advocates, and citizens must be vigilant and speak out against anti-semitism wherever it surfaces. The threat of anti-Semitism is too real to ignore, and the consequences will be severe should we fail act.

Watch the full hearing here:
————————
Article by Arielle Del Turco and shared by Tony Perkins (@tperkins) is President of the Family Research Council . This article was on Tony Perkin’s Washington Update and written with the aid of FRC senior writers.
Tags: Arielle Del Turco, The Rising Tide of Anti-Semitism, Can’t Be Ignored To share or post to your site, click on “Post Link”. Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service and “Like” Facebook Page – Thanks!

Threat To America . . .Posted: 09 Jan 2020 08:29 PM PST. . . Via Iran Leaders!

Editorial Cartoon by Michael Ramirez (@Ramireztoons)Tags: Threat to America, editorial cartoon, Michael Ramirez To share or post to your site, click on “Post Link”. Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service and “Like” Facebook Page – Thanks!

Who Decides Who Gets In?Posted: 09 Jan 2020 07:49 PM PSTMichelle Malkinby Michelle Malkin: My plan to “Keep America Great” is very simple:1) Stop exporting American soldiers to countries that hate our guts.

2) Stop importing people from countries that hate our guts.When I voted for Donald Trump in 2016, I thought this was the plan. The “America First” champion rightly assailed Barack Obama for recklessly endangering the lives of our soldiers to pursue politically driven endless wars. President Trump promised to build an effective wall on the southern border. He enacted tough travel restrictions, upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court, on visitors from countries whose terror-coddling governments pose national security threats.

Yet, here we are at the dawn of 2020 with thousands of U.S. troops headed back to the Stone Age Middle East maw, Mexican drug cartels on the loose while our Border Patrol hands out diapers to illegal immigrants and refugees from around the world — including nearly 1,400 welcomed just last year from the very high-risk countries the Trump travel ban was supposed to block — transforming the nation without the consent of the governed. The leaky block list includes Syria, Iraq and Iran, which launched multiple missiles at U.S. airbases late Tuesday in retaliation for our deadly airstrike last week that killed Quds General Qassem Soleimani.

Now, we are on heightened alert here in our homeland with authorities nervous that Hezbollah sleeper cells (which I’ve documented since writing “Invasion” in 2002) might strike from within.

Some of you still wonder why I write so frequently and vehemently about our failed immigration and entrance policies. It’s because nothing matters more right now to the survival of our country than the right to determine who gets in and the ability to enforce it.

As I reported last year, thanks to an executive order signed by Trump in September, local communities were given the explicit opt-in rights to stem the lucrative tide of refugees coming largely from Third World countries and jihadist breeding grounds. This Wednesday, religious “charities” that profit the most from this multi-billion-dollar racket will be in court to assert blanket, open-borders veto power over the people.

The U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland will hear arguments from vested refugee resettlement interests who oppose Trump’s order requiring government contractors to obtain written consent from all localities and states in which they plan to resettle refugees. The Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, Church World Service and Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service — three of the nine State Department partners who resettle all refugees — argue that the federal government should prioritize family reunification of foreign refugees over local control. Translation: Americans come last.

The lawsuit assails the White House executive order for threatening “to systematically dismantle the organizations — including Plaintiffs — that have spent decades developing networks, expertise, and resources to carry out the American ideal of welcoming refugees.” Those “resources” come from you and me: Tax subsidies that constitute the vast majority of these nonprofit activists’ budgets. Over the past decade, according to an analysis by immigration researcher James Simpson, the three plaintiff groups have raked in the following amounts from the federal refugee resettlement program:– Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services: $471.6 million (94% from of its budget).

– Church World Service: $433.3 million (72% of its budget).

– Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society: $186.1 million (54% of its budget).The refugee resettlement contractors, in turn, spread their massive wealth — from both public and private sources — to a galaxy of subcontractors looking to register Democratic voters, fill their pews and recruit new clients and constituents.

The “Interfaith Immigration Coalition” holding a protest event after the hearing on Wednesday to support the refugee pipeline includes:Columban Center for Advocacy and Outreach;
Congregation of Our Lady of Charity of the Good Shepherd;
U.S. Provinces; Daughters of Charity;
Disciples Refugee & Immigration Ministries;
Franciscan Action Network;
Interfaith Immigration Coalition;
Jewish Council for Public Affairs;
Leadership Conference of Women Religious;
National Advocacy Center of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd;
National Council of Jewish Women;
Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism;
Rise for Refuge;
Sisters of Mercy of the Americas – Institute Leadership Team;
T’ruah; The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights;
The United Church of Christ;
and We Are All America.Thanks to pressure from these groups with bottomless budgets and clout, 18 Republican — yes, Republican — governors are also standing against Trump and self-determination in favor of increased refugee settlement, including:Doug Ducey of Arizona,
Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas,
Eric Holcomb of Indiana,
Kim Reynolds of Iowa,
Brad Little of Idaho,
Mike Parsons of Missouri,
Larry Hogan of Maryland,
Charlie Baker of Massachusetts,
Mike DeWine of Ohio,
Kevin Stitt of Oklahoma,
Pete Ricketts of Nebraska,
Chris Sununu of New Hampshire,
Doug Burgum of North Dakota,
Kristi Noem of South Dakota,
Bill Lee of Tennessee,
Gary Herbert of Utah,
Jim Justice of West Virginia, and
Phil Scott of Vermont.The names must be named and the sellouts must be shamed, especially as war breaks out on all fronts. What’s the point of sending young American troops to fight enemies “over there” if we are welcoming them by the tens and hundreds of thousands over here?
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Michelle Malkin is mother, wife, blogger, conservative syndicated columnist, and author. She shares many of her articles and thoughts at MichelleMalkin.com.
Tags: Michelle Malkin, Who Decides Who Gets In? To share or post to your site, click on “Post Link”. Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service and “Like” Facebook Page – Thanks!

Iran’s Options in a Showdown with America Are All BadPosted: 09 Jan 2020 07:26 PM PSTVictor Davis Hansonby Dr. Victor Davis Hanson: Trump governs the tempo of the confrontation.

After losing its top strategist, military commander, and arch-terrorist, Qasem Soleimani, the Iranian theocracy is weighing responses.

One, Iran can quiet down and cease military provocations.

After attacking tankers off its coast, destroying an oil refinery in Saudi Arabia, shooting down a U.S. drone, and being responsible for the killing and wounding of Americans in Iraq, Iran could now keep quiet.

It might accept that its strategy of escalation has failed to lead to any quantifiable advantage. Trump did not prove a passive “Twitter tiger,” as his critics mocked. Instead, he upped the stakes to Iran’s disadvantage and existential danger.

The chances, however, for such a logical and passive readjustment by Iran are nil.

Iran believes that Trump’s beefed-up sanctions have all but destroyed its economy and could now extend to secondary boycotts of nations trading with Iran. U.S. sanctions have also squeezed Iranian expeditionary efforts to forge a permanent hegemony and a Shiite crescent extending to the Mediterranean.

If unchecked, American economic pressure could eventually lead to a popular rebellion that would topple the theocracy. In sum, a return to the status quo is unlikely.

Two, Iran can agree to reenter talks about its nuclear program and offer a few concessions.

Iran could concede that the prior agreement was designed to bank Iranian cash and nuclear expertise that would eventually lead to its developing nuclear weaponry after a period of feigned good behavior.

Yet a return to direct negotiations with Washington is also unlikely, especially since Iran once enjoyed a lopsided gift from the United States. Renegotiating anything less would be too humiliating for the revolutionary regime to endure.

Three, Iran can escalate its military operations and its use of terrorist surrogates. The death of Soleimani is Iran’s most grievous setback in decades, and Iran seeks vengeance.

The theocracy will view his death not just in terms of a strategic loss, but as a humiliation that cannot stand. Governments elsewhere in the Middle East are gloating over Soleimani’s killing, and especially over the thought of Iran’s inability to do much about it.

In reaction, Iran could strike American bases and allies in the region. The possibilities are endless. It might send more drones and missiles against other nations’ refineries. Hezbollah could shower Israeli cities with missiles. Iran might close the Strait of Hormuz in hopes of seeing the rest of the world suffer as it has.

Iran could also unleash its terrorist appendages to stage attacks on American and Israeli assets throughout Europe and the U.S., including military bases, airliners, and soft civilian targets.

Yet this choice is also unlikely.

The U.S. would not have to invade Iran to end it as a modern state. A strike against the U.S. or its overseas military installations would result in a devastating response. The theocracy knows that in hours, U.S. air power could take out all of Iran’s oil refineries, power stations, and military bases while suffering few if any causalities.

Given U.S. oil independence and the global adjustments to existing sanctions on Iranian oil, the near-permanent loss of Iran’s oil would not greatly damage the world economy.

Iran will bluster and threaten, but waging an all-out war with the U.S. would be suicidal, and Iran knows it.

Four, Iran can continue its periodic attacks on U.S. allies and on troops and contractors in the region.

Constant provocation is a not a good alternative, but it’s probably seen as preferable to the other poor choices. The strategic aim in such endless tit-for-tat would be to wear down the patience of the U.S. public in an election year.

Given the quick criticism of Soleimani’s killing from Trump’s progressive domestic opponents, and given the Obama administration’s past appeasement in response to Iranian provocations, Tehran might conclude that a hit-and-pause strategy is preferable.

It could incite Trump’s political opponents to brand him a warmonger who acted illegally by “assassinating” Soleimani.

Iran’s hope would be that Trump would lose the support of the anti-war members of his base in key swing states.

If such periodic attacks continued until Election Day, Iran might hope for a President Elizabeth Warren or President Bernie Sanders. Either one would likely resurrect the flawed Iran deal and ignore Iranian aggression in Syria and Iraq.

Iran’s goal might be something like re-creating the melodrama of the 1979–81 hostage crisis, Saddam Hussein’s rope-a-dope strategy, or Bill Clinton’s three-month bombing campaign in Yugoslavia. Tehran hopes for American strategic ossification that could prove politically toxic.

But that scenario, too, is unlikely. As long as Trump replies with air power disproportionate to any Iranian attacks, he, not Tehran, governs the tempo of the confrontation.

Iran created the current crisis. It has choices, but for now, they are all bad.
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Victor Davis Hanson (@VDHanson) is a senior fellow, classicist and historian and Illie Anderson Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution where many of his articles are found; his focus is classics and military history. He has been a visiting professor at Hillsdale College since 2004. Hanson was awarded the National Humanities Medal in 2007 by President George W. Bush. H/T National Review
Tags: Victor Davis Hanson, Iran’s Options, in a Showdown with America, Are All Bad To share or post to your site, click on “Post Link”. Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service and “Like” Facebook Page – Thanks!

Airliner Shot Down, Law Enforcement Appreciation Day, Fighting Anti-SemitismPosted: 09 Jan 2020 07:10 PM PST by Gary Bauer, Contributing Author: Airliner Shot Down
U.S. officials are saying it is “highly likely” that a Ukrainian jetliner that crashed in Tehran early Wednesday morning was shot down by Iranian anti-aircraft systems. More than 170 people were killed, including 82 Iranians.

Of course, the Iranian regime is blaming the crash on engine failure and refusing to hand over the plane’s black boxes, which could provide investigators with significant details about what happened.

Their refusal to cooperate will further isolate the regime. Most international airlines won’t want to do business in a trigger-happy country that refuses to cooperate with legitimate crash investigations.

Law Enforcement Appreciation Day
Today is National Law Enforcement Appreciation Day. Let’s hope that 2020 turns out to be a better year for law enforcement appreciation than 2019.

Sadly, there is a growing phenomenon of police officer assassinations. As 2019 was coming to a close, Officer Stephen Carr was shot ten times while sitting in his parked patrol vehicle.

Deputy Sheriff Chris Dickerson was the last officer killed in the line of duty last year. He was making a traffic stop in Gary City, Texas, in the early morning hours of December 31st when he was shot six times.

Unfortunately, one officer has already been killed this year. Officer Jackson Ryan Winkeler was gunned down Sunday attempting to make a traffic stop at the Florence Regional Airport in Florence, South Carolina.

Politicians in urban areas often seem more interested in courting the progressive mob rather than supporting the officers on the Thin Blue Line. It’s not going very well for them. While I’m all for second chances, being weak on crime only hurts innocent people, most often the minority communities progressive politicians claim they’re trying to help.

For example, New York’s recent bail reforms, pushed by the progressive left, are coming under serious scrutiny. California’s criminal reform efforts have led to a surge of thefts and vandalism. Baltimore continues to struggle with a horrendous murder rate.

Thankfully there aren’t that many jobs in America where a man or woman leaves home in the morning never knowing if it is the last time they will hug their spouse and kids. But for many law enforcement officers and other first responders, that’s what they live with each and every day.

The only time we hear about the police is when they have done something wrong or dramatically captured a criminal. But there are more than 10 million arrests every year. That’s more than 27,000 arrests every day, and 99% of those are for the good of society.

In the overwhelming majority of cases when a police officer takes a life, it is justified. But I marvel whenever I see celebrities who lament having to speak to their children about how they have to interact with police.

Being respectful to the police shouldn’t be a burden. In fact, I think every family should have that conversation. All of us should be teaching our children to respect the law and the people who enforce the law.

Sadly, the only way to overcome this growing disrespect for law enforcement, especially among young people who are being taught that the police are bad, may be to go a week without cops. If that happened, I am confident that Americans generally, and young women especially, would have a new appreciation for the police.

So, if you see a police officer today, say, “Thank you.” Post a short note of thanks on social media to the police department in your community.

Police have been given ugly notes or have been denied service at various stores. If you see an officer in a restaurant today, give them a note saying how much you appreciate them or offer to pay for their bill.

Fighting Anti-Semitism
As you many of you know, President Trump appointed me to serve on the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom in 2018. Yesterday, the Commission held an important hearing on Capitol Hill about rising anti-Semitism around the world.

While the focus of the Commission is promoting religious liberty overseas, I made a special point at the beginning of the hearing to say that America must take the lead by fighting anti-Semitism here at home. (Click here to watch the hearing.)

To have any credibility in calling out anti-Semitism in Great Britain, Germany, France, and throughout the Islamic world, we need to combat anti-Semitism here in America — in our churches, in mosques, in our schools and in our homes.

If someone on the right engages in anti-Semitism, conservatives need to confront that individual. If someone in the progressive movement engages in anti-Semitism, then progressives must call them out. If an imam is preaching Jew-hatred in an American mosque, then peace-loving Muslims must confront that imam.

And the same is true of Christians. In fact, I believe Christians have a special obligation to fight anti-Semitism. After all, Jesus was a Jew! His disciples were all Jews.

I am angry every time a mainline church denomination passes a resolution condemning Israel, the homeland of the Jews, while ignoring regimes like communist China, Islamist Iran and Stalinist North Korea. That is anti-Semitism, and it is wrong.

Cotton Confronts Anti-Semitism
Kudos to Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR)! The senator delivered a powerful speech yesterday confronting anti-Semitism in its various forms. Here’s a brief excerpt of his remarks:

“[Anti-Semitism] festers on Internet message boards and social media. It festers in Washington think tanks like the Quincy Institute, an isolationist ‘blame-America-first’ money pit for so-called ‘scholars’ who’ve written that American foreign policy could be fixed if only it were rid of the malign influence of Jewish money.

“It festers even on elite college campuses, which incubate the radical Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement — a movement to wage economic warfare against the Jewish state.”

It is particularly noteworthy that Cotton called out the Quincy Institute. It is a new organization funded by billionaires George Soros and Charles Koch. Yes, that Charles Koch, a man who has previously funded many Republican candidates. Various Koch entities spent more than $8 million helping to elect Sen. Cotton in 2014.

I commend Sen. Cotton for having the courage to call out anti-Semitism, especially when it risks offending those on the libertarian right who have supported him in the past.
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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, Airliner Shot Down, Law Enforcement Appreciation Day, Fighting Anti-Semitism To share or post to your site, click on “Post Link”. Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service and “Like” Facebook Page – Thanks!

Pelosi’s Delaying Games Generate Growing Democratic BacklashPosted: 09 Jan 2020 06:53 PM PSTSpeaker Pelosi Is Under Increasing ‘Pressure From Democrats To Deliver Impeachment Charges To [The] Senate’ Now That Senate Republicans Have Demonstrated Her Tactics Have Failed
SENATE MAJORITY LEADER MITCH McCONNELL (R-KY): “Now, this is a challenging time to create bipartisan agreement in the Senate. On any subject. But the Speaker of the House has managed to do the impossible. She has created this growing bipartisan unity in the United States Senate… in opposition to her own reckless behavior. Senators may not agree on much, but it appears most of us still recognize a threat to our institution when we see one. Article I, Section 3 says: ‘The Senate shall have the sole power to try all impeachments.’ Period. The House can begin the process, and Speaker Pelosi’s majority has certainly done that. But the Senate alone can resolve it. And yet for weeks now, the House majority has blocked the Senate from fulfilling our constitutional duty. In a precedent-breaking display of partisanship, the Speaker has refused to let her own allegations proceed normally to trial unless she gets to hand-design various elements of our Senate process.” (Sen. McConnell, Remarks, 1/09/2020)
SEN. McCONNELL: “Supposedly, the explanation for this shameless game-playing is that Speaker Pelosi wanted ‘leverage’ to reach into the Senate and dictate our trial proceedings to us. I’ve made clear from the beginning that no such ‘leverage’ exists. It’s nonexistent. And [Tuesday] we made it clear it will never exist.” (Sen. McConnell, Remarks, 1/08/2020)‘McConnell Takes Round One In Impeachment Battle … Announcing Tuesday That He Has The Votes To Adopt Rules’
The Hill: “McConnell takes round one in impeachment battle”(“McConnell Takes Round One In Impeachment Battle,” The Hill, 1/07/2020)

“Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has won round one of the Senate impeachment fight, announcing Tuesday that he has the votes to adopt rules … Now the pressure is on Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to send the articles of impeachment to the Senate, even though there isn’t a bipartisan deal on how to proceed.” (“McConnell Takes Round One In Impeachment Battle,” The Hill, 1/07/2020)Politico: “McConnell rejects Pelosi’s request for impeachment trial demands” a href=”https://www.politico.com/news/2020/01/08/mitch-mcconnell-pelosi-impeachment-trial-096158“rel=”nofollow” target=”new”>(“McConnell Rejects Pelosi’s Request For Impeachment Trial Demands,” Politico, 1/08/2020)
“Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell rebuffed Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s demands for him to immediately sketch out the procedure for President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial, dragging out the stalemate between the two congressional leaders and leaving no end in sight.” (“McConnell Rejects Pelosi’s Request For Impeachment Trial Demands,” Politico, 1/08/2020)The New York Times: “McConnell, Rebuffing Pelosi, Declines to Budge on Impeachment Trial Terms” (“McConnell, Rebuffing Pelosi, Declines To Budge On Impeachment Trial Terms,” The New York Times, 1/08/2020)
“Senator Mitch McConnell, the majority leader, insisted on Wednesday that Speaker Nancy Pelosi accept his terms for President Trump’s impeachment trial and promptly deliver the charges from the House, as a growing number of Senate Democrats signaled that they, too, were eager to begin the proceeding.” (“McConnell, Rebuffing Pelosi, Declines To Budge On Impeachment Trial Terms,” The New York Times, 1/08/2020)Meanwhile: ‘Pelosi Under Pressure From Democrats,’ ‘Democratic Senators Growing Impatient With Pelosi On Impeachment,’ ‘Pressure Building On Pelosi’
ABC News: “Pelosi under pressure from Democrats to deliver impeachment charges to Senate” (“Pelosi Under Pressure From Democrats To Deliver Impeachment Charges To Senate,” ABC News, 1/09/2020)
“House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Thursday faced new pressure from Democrats to deliver the House impeachment articles to the Senate in order to begin President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial, after a week’s long standoff with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell over the terms of the Senate proceedings…. A growing number of Senate Democrats called on Pelosi to name impeachment managers to deliver the charges to the Senate …” (“Pelosi Under Pressure From Democrats To Deliver Impeachment Charges To Senate,” ABC News, 1/09/2020)Politico: “Senate Democrats break with Pelosi over impeachment trial” (“Senate Democrats Break With Pelosi Over Impeachment Trial,” Politico, 1/08/2020)
“Democrats are finally acknowledging that their efforts to extract concessions from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial are coming to an end. Though Speaker Nancy Pelosi is still withholding the House’s impeachment articles from the Senate, Democrats’ hopes of swaying the GOP leader have dimmed after McConnell secured the votes in his caucus to move forward…”(“Senate Democrats Break With Pelosi Over Impeachment Trial,” Politico, 1/08/2020)“Still, there is an emerging consensus that Pelosi’s request on Tuesday for McConnell to further lay out his plans for the trial showed that the Democratic tactics are no longer producing results.” (“Senate Democrats Break With Pelosi Over Impeachment Trial,” Politico, 1/08/2020)The Hill: “Pressure building on Pelosi over articles of impeachment” (“Pressure Building On Pelosi Over Articles Of Impeachment,” The Hill, 1/08/2020)
“Pelosi is holding on to the articles despite some impatience from Democrats in the Senate, who say they are ready to begin a trial. It’s unclear how much longer Pelosi will hold off, and what she hopes to accomplish through further delay…” (“Pressure Building On Pelosi Over Articles Of Impeachment,” The Hill, 1/08/2020)The Washington Post: “More Democrats say Pelosi should send over articles as McConnell accuses speaker of ‘shameless game-playing’” (“More Democrats Say Pelosi Should Send Over Articles As Mcconnell Accuses Speaker Of ‘Shameless Game-Playing,’” The Washington Post, 1/08/2020)
“A growing number of Senate Democrats on Wednesday called on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to send articles of impeachment to the Senate, while Republicans seized on their remarks to ramp up pressure on the California Democrat. The developments came as Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) accused Pelosi of ‘shameless game-playing’ for vowing not to send over the articles until she has seen the proposed rules for a trial of President Trump.” (“More Democrats Say Pelosi Should Send Over Articles As Mcconnell Accuses Speaker Of ‘Shameless Game-Playing,’” The Washington Post, 1/08/2020)The Wall Street Journal: “Some Democratic Senators Call on Pelosi to Send Over Articles of Impeachment” (“Some Democratic Senators Call On Pelosi To Send Over Articles Of Impeachment,” The Wall Street Journal, 1/08/2020)
“A growing number of Senate Democrats are calling for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) to send over the articles of impeachment against President Trump, saying the party had little to gain from further delay.” (“Some Democratic Senators Call On Pelosi To Send Over Articles Of Impeachment,” The Wall Street Journal, 1/08/2020)NBC News: “Some Democratic senators say it’s time for Pelosi to submit Trump impeachment articles” (“Some Democratic Senators Say It’s Time For Pelosi To Submit Trump Impeachment Articles,” NBC News, 1/08/2020)

The Hill: “Democratic senators growing impatient with Pelosi on impeachment” (“Democratic Senators Growing Impatient With Pelosi On Impeachment,” The Hill, 1/08/2020)

Axios: “Growing number of Senate Democrats want Pelosi to send impeachment articles” (“Growing Number Of Senate Democrats Want Pelosi To Send Impeachment Articles,” Axios, 1/09/2020)

Growing Chorus Of Democrats In Both Houses To Speaker Pelosi: ‘It Is Time To Send The Impeachment To The Senate’

House Democrats: ‘There Can’t Be An Indefinite Delay,’ ‘I Think It’s Time’
CNN’s JOHN BERMAN: “Is it time, Chairman?”

REP. ADAM SMITH (D-WA), House Armed Services Committee Chairman: “I think it is…. [A]t the end of the day, just like we control it in the House, Mitch McConnell controls it in the Senate. I think it was perfectly advisable for the Speaker to try to leverage that to get a better deal. At this point it doesn’t look like that’s going to happen and yes, I think it is time to send the impeachment to the Senate …” (CNN’s “New Day,” 1/09/2020)

REP. DUTCH RUPPERSBERGER (D-MD): “There gets to be a time that, I think, you might as well move forward with the process because things are evolving to a point that people will not even understand where we are, what we did … How much longer will Nancy have that leverage? It seems she’s starting to lose that leverage, so let’s move ahead with the process.” (The Washington Post, 1/09/2020)

REP. JAMIE RASKIN (D-MD): “There can’t be an indefinite delay. Obviously there’s a constitutional and political clock ticking at this point. We’re very eager to see that things move forward.” (CNN’s Manu Raju, @mkraju, Twitter, 1/09/2020)

REP. BEN McADAMS (D-UT): “I think it’s time.” (The Washington Post, 1/09/2020)
“Another House Democrat broke with Pelosi on withholding the articles of impeachment, as Rep. Ben McAdams (Utah) said he believes the speaker should go ahead and send them to the Senate.” (The Washington Post, 1/09/2020)Senate Democrats: ‘I Do Think It Is Time To Get On With It,’ ‘If It’s Serious And Urgent, Send Them Over,’ ‘Let Us Do What We Have To Do Over Here’
SEN. DIANNE FEINSTEIN (D-CA): “The longer it goes on the less urgent it becomes…. So if it’s serious and urgent, send them over. If it isn’t, don’t send it over.” (“Senate Democrats Break With Pelosi Over Impeachment Trial,” Politico, 1/08/2020)
SEN. FEINSTEIN: “If we’re going to do it, she should send them over…. I don’t see what good delay does.” (“Pelosi Under Pressure From Democrats To Deliver Impeachment Charges To Senate,” ABC News, 1/09/2020)
“Asked if colleagues are starting to get impatient, Feinstein said, ‘If it’s going to happen, yes,’ referring to the likelihood of a trial taking place.” (“Pressure Building On Pelosi Over Articles Of Impeachment,” The Hill, 1/08/2020)SEN. CHRIS COONS (D-DE): “… I do think it is time to get on with it.” (“Senate Democrats Break With Pelosi Over Impeachment Trial,” Politico, 1/08/2020) SEN. RICHARD BLUMENTHAL (D-CT): “We are reaching a point where the articles of impeachment should be sent.” (“Some Democratic Senators Say It’s Time For Pelosi To Submit Trump Impeachment Articles,” NBC News, 1/08/2020)
SEN. BLUMENTHAL: “We were ready on the day the articles were voted to conduct the trial…. At some point, it’s appropriate to send them and in effect pass the baton to senators …” (“Senate Democrats Break With Pelosi Over Impeachment Trial,” Politico, 1/08/2020)SEN. CHRIS MURPHY (D-CT): “I think the time has past. She [Speaker Pelosi] should send the articles over.” (The Washington Post’s Mike DeBonis, @mikedebonis, Twitter, 1/07/2020)
SEN. MURPHY: “… I would hope she sends them over sooner rather than later.” (“The Mood On Capitol Hill: Let’s Just Get To The Senate Impeachment Trial,” CNN, 1/07/2020)SEN. JOE MANCHIN (D-WV): “I think it needs to start, I really do. … Let us do what we have to do over here.” (“Democratic Senators Growing Impatient With Pelosi On Impeachment,” The Hill, 1/08/2020)

MSNBC’s ANDREA MITCHELL: “… is it time for Nancy Pelosi to send over the articles of impeachment and go ahead with it?”

SEN. ANGUS KING (I-ME): “I think it is time for the Speaker to send the articles over. I think — I don’t think her holding them puts any particular pressure on Mitch McConnell. I think the key vote will come in the middle of the trial.” (MSNBC’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports,” 1/07/2020)

SEN. DOUG JONES (D-AL): “I’m hoping they will come over here soon. I think most people are ready to get moving on this.” (“The Mood On Capitol Hill: Let’s Just Get To The Senate Impeachment Trial,” CNN, 1/07/2020)
“The rules are going to be what they are…. She should know that now, so let’s just go ahead and see what we’ve got.” (“Pressure Building On Pelosi Over Articles Of Impeachment,” The Hill, 1/08/2020)SEN. JON TESTER (D-MT): “… I’m ready…. I don’t know what leverage we have.” (“Senate Democrats Break With Pelosi Over Impeachment Trial,” Politico, 1/08/2020)
Tags: Pelosi, Delaying, Games, Generate, Growing Democratic Backlash 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 Iran Cringe of the ProgressivesPosted: 09 Jan 2020 05:21 PM PST. . . Fear-mongering is their favorite motif.
by Bruce Thornton: The progressives’ reactions to President Trump’s elimination of Qassem Soleimani, Iran’s blood-soaked chief of their foreign adventurism, covered the whole range of clichés we can predict whenever this country acts vigorously to defend its interests and security. Iran, however, is a special case. For forty years, with a few exceptions our leaders have preemptively cringed in the face of Iranian aggression, conjuring up the specter of a wide-scale war in order to justify inaction. This bad habit has led to appeasing policies that have emboldened the mullahs into ever-increasing aggression in the region from Iraq to Syria to Yemen.

We will pass over the tedious virtue-signaling and juvenile comments of celebrities, antiwar activists with their trite jingles, and Democrat Media, Inc. As Churchill said of the Bolsheviks, the activists and media “hop and caper like troops of ferocious baboons amid the ruins” of our political culture. But the responses of some Democrats reveal just of how fossilized their foreign policy thinking is.

The Democrats questioned the legality of the killing, or claimed it was a wag-the-dog distraction from impeachment. But fear-mongering is their favorite motif. Joe Biden, who opposed killing Osama bin Laden, claimed “we could be on the brink of a major conflict across the Middle East.” His fellow primary candidate, Elizabeth Warren, read from the same script: Taking out Soleimani was “reckless,” and “our priority must be to avoid another costly war.” Ben Rhodes, an Obama minion, linked Soleimani’s killing to Trump’s withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal, which “averted a war,” a claim redolent of Neville Chamberlain’s “peace in our time.” He claims Trump’s withdrawal from the deal “started this dangerous cycle of escalation that we are still on.” And don’t forget the buffoonish AOC, who fretted, “The President engaged in what is widely being recognized as an act of war against Iran, one that now risks the lives of millions of innocent people.”

Then there are the usual calls for “diplomatic engagement” and “dialogue,” the corner-stone of the “postmodern” foreign policy promoted by the “rules-based international order” that, as Oxford’s Kalypso Nicolaides put it, favors “supranational constrains on unilateral polices” and “civilian forms of influence and action” over military ones. We saw these dubious, worn-out ideals in the criticism of George Bush for starting a war with Iraq in 2003, after a decade of Saddam Hussein’s violations of the “rules-based international order.” Short-lived presidential primary candidate Howard Dean chastised Bush’s “unilateralism,” and Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle said he was “saddened that this president failed so miserably at diplomacy that we’re now forced to war.”

So of course, we are hearing the same bromides from the font of all received wisdom, the New York Times, which advised that Trump “lessen tensions by opening some form of dialogue with Iran,” and stop demonizing the world’s worst state-sponsor of terrorism “as the premier evildoer in the Middle East.” As if Obama’s diplomatic outreach to Iran––which poured $150 billion into the mullahs’ war chest and put the regime on a glide-path to nuclear-tipped missiles––had been such a success. On the contrary, as the Federalist’s Ben Weingarten writes, “The irony is that those now hysterical in adamantly arguing that President Trump’s strike is going to lead to a massive conflagration in the Middle East were directly responsible for aiding, abetting, and enabling Iran to such an extent that it could pose such a threat.”

But we shouldn’t exaggerate Iran’s military prowess, as we have done from the beginning of our conflict with Iran, and as antiwar Democrats and Leftists have done in subsequent conflicts like the First Gulf War in 1991, the second in 2003, and Afghanistan in 2001. Jimmy Carter set the tone in 1979 with his flabby reaction to the hostage crisis, partly because of his naïve human rights campaign and American guilt over its Cold War foreign policy of supposedly coddling dictators.

Thus was established the Iran Cringe: conditioning our foreign policy regarding the theocracy on fear of how they might react, and the unknown consequences that might follow. It’s true that during the Cold War, we had to calculate the possible responses of the nuclear-armed Soviet Union. But while we cringed during the hostage crisis, fearful to respond with force, the Soviet Union boldly invaded Afghanistan, no doubt encouraged by our reticence and indifferent to our, or the UN’s, scolding.

We see the same contradiction today with Iran. While we fret over possible reactions to our destroying the assets and leaders of a country that has declared war on us and killed our troops, tiny Israel has launched over a 1000 airstrikes at will against Iranian troops and matériel in Syria––59 attacks in 2019. What’s been Iran’s response? So far, their proxies launch missiles easily intercepted by Israel’s antimissile defense systems, while the mullahs launch braggadocios threats.

The difference is Israel is feared because it always punishes aggression with force, whereas for decades we have accepted Iran’s murder of our soldiers and citizens, responding at best with bluster at the UN and flabby economic sanctions. The one exception was the Tanker War of the late Eighties, when Ronald Reagan sent our navy to destroy Iranian naval vessels and mine-layers, and Revolutionary Guards bases on oil platforms to stop Iran’s targeting of international shipping during its war with Iraq. The success of that intervention in changing Iran’s behavior should be a model of how to respond to its aggression.

In any case, Iran is in no condition to fight a war with the most powerful military in history. The regime is weak, its economy battered by tough sanctions that have cut its oil exports by two-thirds, reduced its GDP by 10%, raised unemployment to 17%, cut in half its currency’s value, and raised the cost of living 35%. Iran is also globally isolated, its ally of convenience Russia unlikely to go to war on its behalf, just as it done nothing about Israel’s attacks in Syria. Its people have been regularly protesting in the streets against the mullahs, with the regime’s goons killing over 1500 of them. The people in the streets are unlikely to rally around the regime because its Luca Brasi has been vaporized. The threat to use oil as a weapon, which was so effective until the last decade, won’t work today, since Iran’s exports are down drastically, and the fracking revolution in the U.S. has made Middle East oil imports problematic for the EU and China, but not for us. And if Trump ratchets up secondary sanctions, which proscribe U.S. trade with countries doing business with Iran, its economy will plummet even faster.

More important, war isn’t even necessary for deterring Iran from further aggression. As long as Trump understands that retaliation to be effective should be disproportionate and serially escalate, eventually the Iranians will have to cry Uncle Sam. A good place to start would to target an oil refinery, or one of their three terminals for shipping oil, which would further damage the Iranian economy.

More immediately, we should respond to the launching of more than a dozen missiles against two Iraqi bases housing U.S. troops on Tuesday. Contrary to speculation that they were intended to avoid American casualties, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs and the Defense Secretary credited the military’s early-warning system and normal defensive procedures saved lives. Either way, those missile batteries should have been destroyed. Iran has a long record of interpreting our restraint as weakness and inducement to further attacks––a game we’ve been playing for 40 years, with the result that Iran continues its aggression and moves closer and closer to possessing nuclear weapons. Restraint now just once again delays the inevitable reckoning Iran must suffer to stop its pursuit of nuclear weapons.

Finally, as Trump has said repeatedly, he does not want a war or regime change in Iran. He campaigned against “endless wars” in Middle Eastern dysfunctional countries riven by premodern tribal, clan, and sectarian conflicts. The problem with this stance, apart from telling the enemy your limits, is that we already are at war with Iran––one it declared 40 years ago and reaffirms with regular public chants of “Death to America” and the murder of our citizens.

And that war is not just a war of revenge for the U.S.’s support of the Shah and his modernizing, liberalizing policies. Nor is it a conflict that more negotiation, as Trump keeps suggesting, is going to end. That conflict is a front in Iran’s larger jihad against the West and what the faithful see as its aggression against Islam. The Quds Force once led by Soleimani is the vanguard of this jihad begun by the Ayatollah Khomeini. “We shall export our revolution to the whole world,” Khomeini announced. “Until the cry ‘There is no god but Allah’ resounds over the whole world, there shall be struggle.” Hence Iran has created numerous proxy militias and terrorists across the Middle East and beyond to achieve this aim. One of its first was Hezbollah, which murdered 241 of our military personnel in 1983––an act of war, by the way, that Ronald Reagan failed to punish.

Moreover, a strategy of retaliation that becomes increasingly disproportionate necessarily has to accept that a full-blown war is the final move if the enemy remains stubborn. Iran has many proven ways and means of retaliating: taking foreign hostages; hacking our government computers; attacking military bases, oil infrastructure, and embassies; targeted assassinations of our civilian and military leaders; and terrorist attacks on our allies in the region and the homeland. Any and all of these will have to be answered much more severely than we have responded to such aggression in the past.

And that brings us to the most important question of all: Are the American people ready to accept the unforeseen consequences, the inevitable collateral damage, and the casualties that will follow a strategy of incrementally severe retaliation? Can they accept what Lincoln called the “awful arithmetic,” the tragic calculus that some must die today so that more don’t die later? A loss of morale that makes isolationism attractive is the only way Iran can win in this conflict and force us from the region, which would endanger our security and interests. Whether we like it or not, we are the indispensable power in this interconnected world, our two oceans no longer sufficient for keeping us secure, and free from “foreign entanglements.”

We can’t gamble with American lives that “something will turn up” to keep nukes out of the mullahs’ hands, or the regime will collapse under its own corrupt weight, or some diplomatic magic will secure a peace-deal with murderous fanatics. With Iran imploding economically and facing internal resistance, now is the best opportunity for kicking away the last rotted timbers of the mullahcracy. The first step is to stop cringing in the face of its aggression.
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Bruce Thornton is a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center and writes for FrontPage Mag.
Tags: The Iran Cringe, Progressives, Bruce Thornton To share or post to your site, click on “Post Link”. Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service and “Like” Facebook Page – Thanks!

Iranian Sleeper Cells Have Been Hiding in AmericaPosted: 09 Jan 2020 05:09 PM PST. . . They’ve already been uncovered in New York City
Image Addedby Gregory Hoyt: National headlines today have focused on the tension between Iran and America. But the conversation we need to also be having is about the threat here on the homefront.

The Big Apple is being a host to more terrorists than you’d imagine, with three sleeper agents from Hezbollah, the deadly Iranian-controlled terrorist organization, having been arrested since 2017.

With the apprehension of Alexei Saab last year in the city, it’s telling of what Hezbollah might be planning. Also, despite all the fake news mourning the death of Qassem Soleimani, the Iranian major general that Trump eliminated was as thick as thieves with one of America’s greatest terroristic threats.

Back in July of 2019, Alexei Saab had what was thought to be a run of the mill interview with a New York City Police Detective and an FBI agent.

Saab was seemingly well prepared to be interrogated by investigators. After all, what terrorist organization plant wouldn’t be?

Authorities made it seem like they were trying to get Saab to let information slip out during the questioning. The truth was that Saab was trying to see how much the investigators legitimately knew about him and his activities.

But Saab didn’t know that while he was being interviewed at a hotel by police and the FBI, a separate team was already inside his home executing a search warrant. Once the team gathered what they needed, investigators told Saab that it was time to cuff up.

While that was one potential crisis averted, it’s disturbing to know what Saab was doing here while in the United States.

Saab’s terrorist leaders set him up to look like an everyday immigrant living in New Jersey. He worked as a software engineer and made his way back to Lebanon to give his handlers from the ranks of Hezbollah detailed information on how to target New York landmarks, critical infrastructure, government buildings and Israeli targets.

Prior to 9/11, Hezbollah was America’s most tangible terrorist threat, having killed more Americans than any other terrorist organization before it. The group had bombed U.S. embassies, kidnapped and killed U.S. diplomats, and deployed car and truck bombs that decimated a U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut and a Jewish community center in Buenos Aries.

Even after the 9/11 attacks, Hezbollah was still trying to enact terror attacks within the United States. In 2011, they plotted to employ Mexican drug gangs to bomb an Italian restaurant in Washington, just to kill the Saudi ambassador to the United States. More on that below.

Considering all the terrible acts that Hezbollah has done and continues to try to do, why are people in the mainstream news media crying about Qassem Soleimani? This man, since 1998, has helped develop, finance and direct Hezbollah, along with many other Iranian proxy organizations, to commit acts of terrorism that benefit Iran.

Soleimani managed to use these terrorist groups to attack Iranian adversaries, while managing to leave enough distance between these groups and the Iranian military so that he could claim that it wasn’t an effort on the direct behalf of Iran.

Honestly, the death of Soleimani is something to be celebrated, as it puts an end to two decades of murders against Americans all over. The use of sleeper agents to study major cities to find vulnerabilities is something that commanded the swift action against him.

However, there are still looming threats, as someone was quick to replace Soleimani in the wake of his death.

It seems that the successor will likely employ the same kind of tactics that Soleimani used over the years, using groups like Hezbollah to target the United States and Israel.

The fact of the matter is that we’ll never be able to measure just how much potential devastation was avoided with the apprehension of sleeper agents within New York City, but it’s comforting to know that they were apprehended before they could strike.

Thanks to the amazing work by both the FBI and the NYPD, countless terrorist plots have been thwarted based upon the joint efforts.

Now back to the plot for Washington D.C. in 2011.

In that year, secret talks were held in Mexico between a member of a Mexican drug cartel, Los Zetas, and an operative of the Quds Force, Manssor Arbabsiar.

The purpose of the meeting was to discuss planning a detonation of C-4 explosives at a restaurant in Washington, D.C. which was a popular choice of Saudi Ambassador to the United States, Adel-al-Jubeir. The meeting was actually part of a DEA operation, which was being recorded.

Several further meetings were held over the next few months in Mexico to discuss planned strikes against the Israeli Embassy in Washington, in addition to the Saudi and Israeli embassies in Argentina. They also discussed new trafficking lanes for the movement of opium between the Middle East and Mexico.

In July of that year, Arbabsiar returned to Mexico and continued meeting with the DEA informant. He reiterated that his leaders in Iran had plans for additional violence in addition to the Saudi ambassador’s assassination.

The informant informed the DEA that Arbabsiar had recruited four men to carry out the plot and would charge $1.5 million. Nearly $50,000 in advance payments were wired to an FBI-controlled bank account, which validated the conspiracy.

In October 2011, Arbabsiar and an Iran-based member of Quds Force, Gholam Shakuri, were arrested by federal agents, according to a report in the New York Times.

Both men were charged with conspiracy to murder a foreign official, use weapons of mass destruction and conspiracy to commit an act of terrorism, among several other charges. Arbabsiar confessed to the charges and cooperated with federal authorities.

The foiled terrorist plot was deemed at that time to be a success for the DEA, FBI and Mexican authorities, while some noted that the United States had been lucky that the person recruited by agents of Quds Force under the direction of Soleimani had been a federal informant.

What the operation did confirm is that state sponsors of terror such as Quds Force had a propensity to work with non-state actors in Mexico such as drug cartels to carry out their dirty work.

So, as we have confirmed, Soleimani was a bad dude, having not only been responsible for the deaths of hundreds of American troops, but who had also plotted to carry out the assassination of the Saudi ambassador on American soil, as well as bombing the Israeli Embassy in Washington and the Saudi and Israeli Embassies in Argentina.

At the time, Attorney General Eric Holder announced the murder plot at a news conference in Washington, D.C. and said it was “directed and approved by elements of the Iranian government and, specifically, senior members of the Quds Force.”

He added that “high up officials in those agencies, which is an integral part of the Iranian government, were responsible for this plot.” Thank you, Mr. Holder. Holder of course was the attorney general under Barack Obama.

So as far back as 2011, the American government, including the president at that time, Obama, was aware of Soleimani’s involvement in terrorist activities.

Back to present time. After the strike in Iraq which killed Soleimani, the Democrats acted like Trump had taken out Gandhi.

Sleepy Joe Biden woke up from his typical stupor to tweet the following:
My statement on the killing of Qassem Soleimani. pic.twitter.com/4Q9tlLAYFB— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) January 3, 2020Bernie Sanders said in a tweet:
“Trump’s dangerous escalation brings us closer to another disastrous war in the Middle East that could cost countless lives and trillions more dollars. Trump promised to end endless wars, but this action puts us on the path to another one,” he said.
When I voted against the war in Iraq in 2002, I feared it would lead to greater destabilization of the region. That fear unfortunately turned out to be true.

The U.S. has lost approximately 4,500 brave troops, tens of thousands have been wounded, and we’ve spent trillions.— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) January 3, 2020Senator Elizabeth Warren left the teepee to issue the following tweet:
“Soleimani was a murderer, responsible for the deaths of thousands, including hundreds of Americans.

But this reckless move escalates the situation with Iran and increases the likelihood of more deaths and new Middle East conflict. Our priority must be to avoid another costly war.”Pete Buttigieg, who was mayor of a small town somewhere, had his press secretary issue the following statement, which said in part:“As a former military intelligence officer on the ground in Afghanistan, I was trained to ask the hard questions before acting. A commander-in-chief must do the same.

Before engaging in military action that could destabilize an entire region, we must take a strategic, deliberate approach that includes consultation with Congress, our allies, and stakeholders in the Middle East,” he said.We could go on, but you get the point. The contrast between the killing of Soleimani and that of Osama bin Laden and how the “opposition” parties treated the two is striking.
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Gregory Hoyt writes for Law Enforcement Today.
Tags: Gregory Hoyt, Iranian Sleeper Cells, Hiding in America, Law Enforcement Today To share or post to your site, click on “Post Link”. Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service and “Like” Facebook Page – Thanks!

Enemies of My Enemy . . .Posted: 09 Jan 2020 04:25 PM PST. . . Trump-derangement-syndrome has the mainstream media defending Iran, the state sponsor of terrorism.
Editorial Cartoon by AF “Tony” BrancoTags: Editorial Cartoon, AF Branco, Enemies of My Enemy, Trump-derangement-syndrome, mainstream media, defending Iran, the state sponsor, terrorism. To share or post to your site, click on “Post Link”. Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service and “Like” Facebook Page – Thanks!

Capitol Hill War Powers Dust-Up — Symbolism Over SubstancePosted: 09 Jan 2020 04:17 PM PST. . . GOP senators Lee and Paul fight for Congress following Trump admin Soleimani briefing.
by Thomas Gallatin: Much of the mainstream media made hay over comments from two Republican senators — Mike Lee (UT) and Rand Paul (KY) — following the Trump administration’s briefing of lawmakers over the airstrike that took out Iran’s top terrorist, Gen. Qasem Soleimani.

“It was probably the worst briefing I’ve seen at least on a military issue in the nine years I’ve served in the United States Senate,” Lee complained, adding that he found the responses from administration officials “insulting and demeaning.” Though Lee supported taking out Soleimani, he declared he’s now in favor of the Democrats’ recently introduced resolution on war powers, which is designed to prevent President Donald Trump from further military action against Iran without explicit authorization from Congress.

However, other Republican senators disagreed with Lee and Paul’s assessment. Marco Rubio (FL) argued that the brief was “compelling,” before asserting, “Anyone who walks out & says they aren’t convinced action against #Soleimani was justified is either never going to be convinced or just oppose everything Trump does.”

So, what’s going on here? There are two important things to note. First, both Lee and Paul are well known for their libertarian bent, which informs their noninterventionist instincts — and those instincts arise from their laudable concerns for adherence to the constitutional separation of powers. The trouble is, as we have repeatedly argued, Congress long ago abdicated much of its war power to the executive branch. That was most particularly done via the 1973 War Powers Act, which ostensibly was designed to rein in the executive branch’s authority to engage in armed conflict. Yet, in practice, the law has proved to be a convenient way for Congress to avoid political accountability by passing its own responsibilities to the executive branch.

Second, Wednesday’s briefing was not designed or intended as a forum for senators to carry on a debate over the question of war powers. Its purpose, as Rubio cogently pointed out, was to inform members of Congress on the specifics surrounding the decision to take out Soleimani. Administration officials weren’t going into the meeting with the mindset of defending the question of war powers; their job was to explain and defend the merits of the decision. It’s a significant distinction that the mainstream media failed to note.

Given the fact that the House will vote on a war powers resolution that Speaker Nancy Pelosi and company ridiculously argue is necessary to prevent Trump from starting a war with Iran, it’s understandable to view Lee and Paul’s comments as only lending support to the Democrats’ anti-Trump efforts. However, the reality is that even if the Senate were to pass the Democrats’ resolution, it would do so by a slim margin and would not be able to overturn Trump’s certain veto. Lee and Paul know this, so their comments serve more as a symbolic expression of their principles than any serious threat to limit Trump’s ability to confront Iran.

Footnote: Regarding the dispute over Iranian missile funding… Trump said during his remarks Wednesday, “The missiles fired … at us and our allies were paid for with the funds made available by the last administration.” Mark Alexander noted yesterday that this is essentially correct, as it falls under the “take Trump seriously, not literally” maxim. Money is fungible, as even The Washington Post “fact checker” conceded … before proceeding to take Trump literally in order to “disprove” his assertion. But anyone with any sense knew what Trump meant. Barack Obama gave the Iranians billions of dollars in appeasement cash, which, along with his overall policy toward Iran, made those missiles possible. No one will find an invoice specifically tying those Obama bucks to those missiles, but Trump means to say those days are over.
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Thomas Gallatin is a Features Editor at The Patriot Post.
Tags: Thomas Gallatin, The Patriot Post, Capitol Hill, War Powers, Dust-Up, Symbolism Over Substance To share or post to your site, click on “Post Link”. Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service and “Like” Facebook Page – Thanks!

Globes OffPosted: 09 Jan 2020 04:02 PM PST by Paul Jacob, Contributing Author: They cannot help themselves. The actors and filmmakers who give and receive awards are driven against all advice to do two things:
Express their political opinions when receiving awards andTurn off vast swaths of the movie- and TV-viewing public when they do so.Ricky Gervais, hosting the Golden Globes last weekend, put them in their place, rubbing their noses in Hollywood sexual misconduct (with Dead Jeffrey Epstein jokes) and greed (Chinese sweatshops) and tagging on an admonishment: “So if you do win an award tonight, don’t use it as a platform to make a political speech. You’re in no position to lecture the public about anything. You know nothing about the real world. Most of you spent less time in school than Greta Thunberg.”

The implied equation of “real-world knowledge” with school-time notwithstanding, the advice was sound. Later in the week Gervais explained. He shares their politics, he tweeted, but he “roasted them for wearing their liberalism like a medal.”

Gervais didn’t go deeper than that, but as a comedian — an actual funny one — I think he can see how poisonous many Hollywood stars are to their cause.

The futility of Hollywood Hyper Holiness can be seen in the earnest religiosity of Michelle Williams, who did not, alas, follow Gervais’s advice. In a stellar foray into pure cringe, she talked about women and choices and all but unfurled a banner for abortion.

A banner’s worse than a mere medal.

Suffice it to say, she didn’t do her “pro-choice” cause any good.

Maybe she should hire Gervais as a political consultant.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.
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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, Globes Off To share or post to your site, click on “Post Link”. Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service and “Like” Facebook Page – Thanks!

Hollywood Needs to Change its Messaging on FatherhoodPosted: 09 Jan 2020 03:53 PM PSTLloyd Marcusby Lloyd Marcus: During his heartfelt Golden Globes speech, Tom Hanks said his five children are braver, stronger, and wiser than him. Please do not think I am beating up on Tom Hanks. I am simply pointing out that Hanks downplaying his fatherly position is a mindset we see reflected in practically every family movie and sitcom today.

We have gone from TV shows like Father Knows Best to countless shows in which Father is portrayed as an idiot — the butt of jokes, spoken to with disrespect from his wife and children.

As a child, my black family loved watching The Andy Griffith Show. Like Andy’s son Opie in the show, my four siblings and I had great fun with our dad. And yet, we knew our place, never daring to speak to him with disrespect.

I have turned off movies and TV shows because I could not stomach the disrespectful way children speak to their fathers, lecturing Dad and displaying arrogant disobedience.

Hollywood, Democrats, and fake news media believe that children are wiser than their parents, especially their heterosexual white fathers. Children are told to steal their parents’ guns and turn them over to schoolteachers. Michelle Obama told students to monitor family discussions for racism. Leftist school administrators say children should be allowed to have abortions and even pretend to change their sex through bodily mutilation without parental consent.

California leftist lawmakers believe that due to the backward, outdated thinking of parents, government must make homeschooling illegal. Leftist demand that children be handed over to government schools for LGBT indoctrination, taught to hate America, instilled with guilt for their white privilege, and taught to hate Christianity. Despicably, leftists have robbed children of hope for their future, teaching the absurd lie that the Earth will be unlivable in 12 years because America is destroying the planet.

Leftists have transformed far too many children into socialist/progressive terrorist sleeper cells, taught that they are wiser than their parents on every crucial political issue.

I remember an awesome moment with my late preacher dad in the early 1960s. It was a Sunday evening. Dad was in the living room, studying his Bible. I interrupted, telling Dad that I was terrified about going to school the next day. All of us kids from our tiny black suburban community in Maryland were being bused to Brooklyn Park, an all-white junior-senior high school. I was afraid that I may not be able to do 7th-grade work. I was fearful of attending school with whites for the first time, and I stuttered. Dad calmed my fears by assuring me that God was with me. “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13).

As I stated, I am not attacking Tom Hanks. His mindset regarding his position as patriarch reflects the dominant view of fatherhood in Hollywood.

The same way producers are copying Hallmark-style movies to cash- in on their popularity, there is a gold mine awaiting producers of movies and TV shows that restore fathers to their rightful position.
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Lloyd Marcus (@LloydMarcus) is an “Unhyphenated American” and an internationally renowned conservative columnist, singer/songwriter and author. He is Chairman of the Conservative Campaign Committee Political Action Committee. He is a prominent voice of the American Tea Party movement and the singer/songwriter of the ”American Tea Party Anthem.”
Tags: Lloyd Marcus, Hollywood, Needs to Change, Messaging, on Fatherhood To share or post to your site, click on “Post Link”. Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service and “Like” Facebook Page – Thanks!

Unjust Flynn Sentencing Is The Last StrawPosted: 09 Jan 2020 03:40 PM PSTLieutenant General Michael Flynnby Rick Manning: America’s eyes turned to Iraq and Iran over the past few days as President Trump made a bold decision to take out one of the world’s most dangerous terrorists and faced down the Iranian government and their proxies at MSNBC, CNN, the Democratic Congress and Hollywood.

However, it is another overshadowed story arc which signals an on-going failure of our justice system, and it is this failure that threatens Americans’ basic faith that the federal judicial system is not permanently rigged for the house.

In 2015, Lt. General Michael Flynn made the grievous mistake of becoming a national security advisor to GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump, and since then he was targeted by the FBI due to his determination to clean up the nest of vipers that is the National Security Council.

Without rehashing the entire story, when General Flynn became the National Security Advisor to the President in the first days of the Trump Administration, the FBI, led by Deputy Director Andrew McCabe conspired to take advantage of the new White House by sending agents to interview Flynn about a conversation he had with the Russian ambassador during the transition period after the election and before the inauguration.

The FBI had taped the conversation, so they knew its content and the only purpose of the interrogation was to try to entrap Flynn by seeing if he would lie about the call. Unlike normal protocol, Flynn did not have White House attorneys with him during the interview as Flynn assumed the meeting was about setting security procedures for the new administration.

Upon returning to the FBI, the agents both reported that they believed Flynn thought he was telling them the truth. Byron York of the Washington Times reported on former FBI Director James Comey’s Congressional testimony on the meeting with Flynn writing, “According to two sources familiar with the meetings, Comey told lawmakers that the FBI agents who interviewed Flynn did not believe that Flynn had lied to them, or that any inaccuracies in his answers were intentional.”

This information was withheld from Flynn as the FBI pursued a manufactured perjury case against him. What was also withheld was the fact that another high ranking FBI official changed the original report to make the perjury case against Flynn.

Now, almost three years later the Trump team at the Justice Department not only have failed to drop the ill-gotten charges, but are pursuing the imposition of a six month sentence against Flynn.

With all of the hope that Attorney General William Barr would take on the rats nest at DOJ, it is clear that he is failing. While the Obama holdovers continue to pursue legal vendettas against the Trump team to the fullest extent that the law allows. The plodding investigation by U.S. Attorney John Durham into the weaponization of our nation’s intelligence services is running out of time as the 2020 election season unfolds. And it is guaranteed that if President Trump loses his election, those Obama officials responsible for the greatest political abuse of power will walk away scot free — or worse, do it again.

After three years of expressing outrage at the abuse of power by the FBI, State Department, Department of Justice, CIA and others hoping against hope that our system of justice will be restored, DOJ’s continued attack on General Flynn, just confirms my worse fears — those who broke all the rules for political gain are still in charge.

So Attorney General Barr, please spare me any updates or tough statements about investigations moving forward. Until those who led the attempted coup against this President of the United States are being perp-walked in handcuffs, the idea that justice will be done at the DOJ has been shattered — the bad guys won and justice is an illusion.

As for Lt. General Flynn, President Trump should immediately use his Executive power to expunge the prosecution and free this American warrior from the shackles of those who sought to destroy the presidency.
And in his first act after he gets re-elected, the President should pardon everyone who was prosecuted based upon this poisonous tree. After all, if justice is not blind, there is no excuse for not using presidential powers to end obvious abuses by the rogue, unaccountable federal prosecutors.
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Rick Manning is the President of Americans for Limited Government.
Tags: Rick Manning, Americans for Limited Government, Unjust Flynn Sentencing, Is The Last Straw To share or post to your site, click on “Post Link”. Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service and “Like” Facebook Page – Thanks!

‘Fast And Furious’ Gunman Who Killed US Border Patrol Agent Is Sentenced To Life In PrisonPosted: 09 Jan 2020 03:24 PM PSTBorder Patrol Agent Brian Terryby Josh Hopkins: One of the Mexican gunmen who killed a U.S. Border Patrol agent, consequently sparking the Obama administration’s “Fast and Furious” scandal, was sentenced to life in prison.

U.S. District Judge David C. Bury on Wednesday sentenced Heraclio Osorio-Arellanes to life in federal prison for first-degree murder. The sentencing follows Osorio-Arellanes’ involvement in a 2010 border shootout between Mexican gunmen and U.S. officials, resulting in the death of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry.

“Today brings us one step closer to justice for Agent Brian Terry’s murder,” Tucson Sector Chief Roy Villareal, who was joined by roughly 20 other agents at the hearing, said in a statement. “The sentencing brings a painful time closer to an end and serves as a reminder of the grave dangers our agents face in their selfless commitment to the safety of their communities and country.”

Terry’s two sisters issued their own statements Wednesday, describing their pain after losing him.

He “was a man filled with so much dedication to keeping our country safe,” said sister Kelly Willis. “You would think the time lessens the heartache, but it doesn’t.”

Terry — a Marine before joining Customs and Border Protection — was a member of an elite, four-man Border Patrol unit that was patrolling the Arizona desert in December 2010. Osorio-Arellanes was part of an armed gang that was looking to rob drug smugglers passing through the U.S-Mexico border.

Terry’s unit encountered the gang in an area north of Nogales. However, when the men refused to stop, they fired bean bags. Osorio-Arellanes and his men, in response, fired AK-47-type assault rifles. Terry, 40 years old at the time, was struck in the back and ultimately succumbed to his injuries.

Osorio-Arellanes fled the scene and evaded justice for many years. However, Mexican authorities arrested him in 2017 in Chihuahua. He was extradited to the U.S. in 2018 and then convicted in February 2019. The Mexican national is the sixth of seven defendants to be convicted for the 2010 shooting so far.

The deadly shootout sparked a massive scandal involving the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ (ATF) “Fast and Furious” operation, which involved the federal government allowing criminals to purchase firearms in Arizona in a bid to track the guns to criminal organizations in Mexico. It was discovered that the U.S. government lost track of most of the guns that were sold. (RELATED: Border Patrol Agents Rescue Migrants Abandoned By Smugglers At The Very Top Of New Border Wall)

Two of the guns from the “Fast and Furious” operation were located at the scene of Terry’s death.

The ensuing scandal brought immense scrutiny onto the Obama administration.
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Jason Hopkins – Immigration & Politics Reporter for The Daily Caller.
Tags: border patrol, Brian Terry, operation, fast and furious To share or post to your site, click on “Post Link”. Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service and “Like” Facebook Page – Thanks!

Arkansas: “High-Tax Roadshow” Coming Near You!Posted: 09 Jan 2020 02:49 PM PST by Conduit for Action: he Arkansas Highway Commission announced it will have a series of twelve meetings across the state to sell you on the need to pass Issue #1 which is a one-half percent (0.05%) sales tax to be used for highways and roads. They said they will also be listening to the public’s suggestions on how to use the extra tax money.

Here are 10 things you need to know about their sales pitch for the tax:

1. The Commission wants to convince you they need more money, but whether more money is needed for highways has nothing to do with whether passing another tax is needed. Having better roads is a question of how Arkansas spends current tax revenue. Every year the state runs a surplus and then says this is fun money let’s spend it. Now Arkansas is collecting record levels of tax revenue which means the surplus will be even greater. State politicians never agree to consider how to cut wasteful or low priority spending and instead look to taxes. The state wants to keep taxes high while spending hundreds of millions of dollars to pick winners and losers in business through economic incentives at a time when studies are showing these giveaways are a poor use of your money.

2. To get you to buy into their sales pitch, the Commission says it will also use the meetings to listen to your ideas about where highway money can best be used. Why does it take a tax proposal before they listen?

3. The same officials who say they want to listen to your highway needs is the same officials who gave $1 million of your highway funds to the University of Arkansas to build a building. Wonder how many potholes $1 million would have filled if they hadn’t given the money away.

4. Expect the Commission to come up with a list of highway projects in order to help sell the tax in certain areas of the state. Such a list might be useful if Issue #1 was about a temporary tax for specific projects, but it is permanent tax and you do not know how the tax will be spent ten, twenty, fifty years in the future. The list will be nothing more than a sales ploy.

5. Expect local officials to endorse the tax. When have you ever seen a local official oppose any state tax that would give them a cut of the proceeds?

6. Expect state legislators, who have no opponents for reelection to endorse the tax claiming, “I am conservative but … we need the tax.” Getting on the Governor’s bandwagon to support the tax is easy for a legislator when the legislator has no opponent or only a weak opponent. Why? Because a legislator with no significant opponent for reelection won’t face a voter backlash.

7. If you vote for Issue #1 you are giving up the tax relief you were promised when a temporary tax was approved for specific projects. The state sales tax is scheduled to go down by one half percent (0.50%) in 2023 when debts are paid off.

8. Arkansas has one of the highest sales taxes in the nation. According to the Tax Foundation, Arkansas’ sales tax rate is the 9th highest in the nation and when they compared the combined state/ local sales tax rates, Arkansas has the 3rd highest combined state/ local rate in the country. Issue # 1 keeps the Arkansas’ sales tax high – one of the worst in the nation.

9. Just last year Arkansas increased your taxes for highways. The tax on gasoline and diesel fuel was increased and the registration fee on hybrid and electric cars was increased.

10. If you pass Issue #1 it will be nearly impossible to repeal the tax because the tax is being put into the Arkansas Constitution.

Hot Springs to host regional highway meet, The Sentinel-Record, 01/08/2020
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Conduit for Action.
Tags: Conduit for Action, Arkansas, “High-Tax Roadshow,” Coming Near You! To share or post to your site, click on “Post Link”. Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service and “Like” Facebook Page – Thanks!

President Trump Should Tell The Nation There is a Trump DoctrinePosted: 09 Jan 2020 01:17 PM PST by Steve Berman: President Trump is set to make a public statement about the Iranian missile response last night. It is becoming clear that the Iranians acted as if they believed escalating their response would bring a world of pain upon them.

We do need a de-escalation, and we need to hear that from the president. “All is well!” is a good message to send to a jittery America. It will calm the markets, and it will put more people at ease given the spiraling events of the past few weeks in Iraq.

But this is also a golden opportunity for the president to initiate the Trump Doctrine–a red line of where and when America will respond if our interests are threatened or attacked. It’s one thing to campaign and act on “America First” with our allies, but it’s quite another to tell one of our primary antagonists that our embassies, our military, our facilities, our companies, our strategic partners in oil and other valuable natural resources, and the interests of America will be vigorously defended and in fact, avenged if they are in the least bit damaged.

Proportionate responses are absolutely wonderful in keeping the “balance of power” from swinging out of control. But an America that won’t respond when tested and bullied is not putting “America First.”

Trump should use this public statement to tell the nation, and the world, that there is in fact a red line, a Trump Doctrine that protects our assets and citizens worldwide. Iran can project its force wherever they like, but when it conflicts with America’s interests, they should know what to expect. They got a taste of this last week, and they’re waiting to see if Trump is serious.

Tweets can only go so far. A strong statement will go beyond simple trolling and make a real difference in this president’s tenure. It is the presidential thing to do, and this is the time for Trump to be “so presidential, you’ll be bored.”

Nobody thinks Iran won’t test us in the future, but we could do with some boring presidential talk right now. The president would do well not to ignore the opportunity.
———————-
Steve Berman writes for The Resurgent. He believes Life begins at conception. Sex is determined by genetics. God pre-exists the universe. In the war of means and ends, means is everything. Live like you’re a miracle living in a sea of miracles, or you’ll miss the most important things in life.
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5 Top Iranian Officials You Should KnowPosted: 09 Jan 2020 12:59 PM PST by Fred Lucas: Tensions between the United States and Iran seem to be deescalating again, but the countries clearly are still at loggerheads.

Much media attention has been focused in recent days on President Donald Trump and his national security team, including Defense Secretary Mark Esper and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

Trump ordered the U.S. drone strike in Iraq early Friday that killed Iranian Maj. Gen. Qassim Suleimani, 62, whom some commentators have called the second most powerful official in Iran.

In the wake of Suleimani’s death, here are five of the key figures in Iran’s Islamist regime to know about going forward.

Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei1. Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as supreme leader, is the top religious and political leader of Iran’s theocratic dictatorship.

Khamenei has held the top spot since 1989 and the death of Iran’s first supreme leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, challenging the policies of five American presidents.

The United States imposed sanctions on Khamenei and his associates last summer after Iran shot down a U.S. drone.

The second supreme leader since the Iranian Revolution in 1979 that overthrew Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, he was Iran’s president from 1981 to 1989.

Khamenei, 80, had brief stints as minister of defense and supervisor of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps before becoming the nation’s third president in the early, chaotic years after the revolution.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani2. President Hassan Rouhani
President Hassan Rouhani was part of the revolutionary movement in the 1970s against the shah. He was a member of Iran’s parliament for about two decades.

Rouhani, 71, was elected president first in 2013 and then reelected in 2017. He has posed as a moderate, but has presided over much of the violence in Iran.

The president of the country is largely a figurehead role, while the religious government—the mullahs—make the decisions.

Rouhani served as secretary of the Supreme National Security Council during the presidencies of Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and Mohammad Khatami.

He resigned as the government of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad took power from August 2005 to August 2013. Rouhani would become Ahmadinejad’s successor that month.

Announcing his candidacy for president in March 2013, Rouhani campaigned as a moderate reformer with the goal of having a more peaceful relationship with the West.

His government moved forward with the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, led by the Obama administration and joined by European allies, Russia, and China. The Trump administration pulled the U.S. out of the agreement in 2017.

Despite his reform image, Rouhani presided over Iran’s increased aggression in the region carried out by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif3. Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif
Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif is his nation’s equivalent of the U.S. secretary of state, conducting foreign policy and diplomacy for Iran. He was appointed to the job in 2013.

Zarif, 60, negotiated the nuclear agreement with the United States, Britain, France, Germany, China, and Russia that also known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.

He resigned earlier this year, but Rouhini didn’t accept his resignation.

He was a career diplomat before taking Iran’s top diplomatic role, holding various positions including representative to the United Nations.

Zarif not only speaks English but can do so with an American accent, The Brookings Institute has noted.

Hossein Salami, commander in chief of
the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps4. Maj. Gen. Hossein Salami
Maj. Gen. Hossein Salami last year became commander in chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which the U.S. considers to be a terrorist group. He reportedly joined the Revolutionary Guard in 1980, when the Iran-Iraq War began.

The Revolutionary Guard, separate from the nation’s military, has the mission of protecting the mullahs and spreading the Islamic revolution. It has 100,000 soldiers and sets up proxy militias and other organizations.

Despite the similar name, Salami is not to be confused with Suleimani, who headed the Revolutionary Guard’s Quds Force, which conducts terrorist and spying operations outside Iran.

The U.S. last year imposed sanctions on Salami among other Iranian figures, and the United Nations imposed sanctions on him in 2007. He is believed to be 60 years old.

During the elaborate Suleimani funeral services, Salami said Iran would exact “the kind of revenge that causes remorse” on the United States.

Defense Minister Amir Hatami5. Defense Minister Amir Hatami
Brig. Gen. Amir Hatami is Iran’s minister of defense, the country’s equivalent of a defense secretary.

Rouhani appointed Hatami to the post in August 2017.

Hatami, 54, had been a Revolutionary Guard officer since 1989 and previously was an Army officer assigned to international relations.
———————-
Fred Lucas (@FredLucasWH) is the White House correspondent for The Daily Signal.
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Forget Gun Free Zones, Virginia Gun Controllers Want Ammunition Free ZonesPosted: 09 Jan 2020 12:05 PM PST by NRA-ILA: There is no such thing as a gun free zone. A person intent on criminal violence will not be deterred from bringing a gun to a location because of a “no guns” sign or an anti-gun statute. The only consequence of such measures is to ensure law-abiding citizens are disarmed and vulnerable. As demonstrated by Texas churchgoer Jack Wilson and the other armed congregants of West Freeway Church of Christ, allowing law-abiding citizens to carry for the defense of themselves and others can prevent harm.

As counterproductive as gun free zones are, Virginia’s Michael Bloomberg-bought General Assembly wants to go even further.

Under VA Code Ann. § 18.2-308.1, the Old Dominion already prohibits firearms on “the property of any public, private or religious elementary, middle or high school, including buildings and grounds.” On December 31, Delegate Kaye Kory (D-38) filed HB318, which would make it a crime to knowingly possess ammunition at such locations. A violation of the ammunition ban would be a Class 1 Misdemeanor punishable by a $2,500 fine and up to a year imprisonment.

Gun owners know just how easy it would be to run afoul of this law. Many gun owners keep ammunition in their vehicles to facilitate quick trips to the range or for hunting. Other gun owners keep additional ammunition for their carry firearms in their vehicles for self-defense purposes.

As it exists, § 18.2-308.1 would seem to provide a small exemption to this prohibition for “a person who has a valid concealed handgun permit and possesses a concealed handgun while in a motor vehicle in a parking lot, traffic circle, or other means of vehicular ingress or egress to the school.” However, given the sloppy drafting, it is not clear if the exemption would only pertain to the concealed firearm or if it would pertain to the concealed firearm and its ammunition.

Moreover, current Virginia law exempts “a person who possesses an unloaded firearm that is in a closed container, or a knife having a metal blade, in or upon a motor vehicle, or an unloaded shotgun or rifle in a firearms rack in or upon a motor vehicle.” HB318 does not extend this exemption to include ammunition.

Therefore, under this legislation, a person who frequently uses their motor vehicle to hunt, shoot, or carry, would need to remove every piece of ammunition from their vehicle before parking and leaving the vehicle on school property, even if they are a concealed handgun permit holder.

Under the proposed legislation, it would not matter if a person was found with only one round of ammunition and it would not matter if the person had no way of utilizing the ammunition. The mere possession of a single round of ammunition by itself would be enough to trigger jail time.

Gun free zones are senseless enough without expanding such mindless prohibitions to ammunition. Ammunition without a firearm to use it in does not pose a threat to anyone.

The irrational nature of HB318 further exposes the truth that the Bloomberg-bought General Assembly’s gun control agenda is not about public safety. Rather, bills like HB318 are about attacking gun owners and discouraging the exercise of Second Amendment rights by placing senseless restrictions on harmless conduct. This legislation is aimed at harassing law-abiding gun owners, not at keeping people safe.

Stay tuned to www.nraila.org for updates. And, in the meantime, please sign up to volunteer to help defeat Bloomberg’s gun control legislation.
——————–
NRA-ILA
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CENTER FOR SECURITY POLICY

Highlighted Articles/InterviewsIran’s red flag of war flies over Jamrakan Fleitz: In terminating Soleimani, Trump ‘laid down a marker’ for Iran’s mullahs How a CIA officer should file a whistleblowing complaint against the President As Iran planned attacks on US, Russia & China held naval maneuvers with Iran Qassem Soleimani ran IED program to kill American & Coalition troops Trump forced Iran to blink – That’s no small feat and makes all of us saferAlthough senior Pentagon officials and Vice President Pence have said Iran’s missile attack was intended to kill U.S. servicemen, Iranian leaders withheld their better, more accurate missiles and fired about a dozen that they knew would fall short of their targets. In addition, there are reports that Iran sent messages through diplomatic channels warning the U.S. and Iraq about this attack in advance.

Read the piece by Center President and CEO, Fred Fleitz here.Democrats’ virtue-signaling ignores hard reality – Iran is at war with usYesterday, the House of Representatives virtue-signaled its opposition to a war with Iran. It adopted a resolution directing the president to terminate the use of American armed forces to engage in hostilities in or against Iran or any part of its government or military unless Congress approves.This direction ignores the fact that we are already at war with Iran – and have been for over forty years. Not because we want or have chosen to be, but because the mullahs actually seek “Death to America.”The House resolution and a pending Senate counterpart moreover are frauds. It takes a statute to prevent the U.S. military from defending us against the Iranian regime and the weapons it’s employing against this country and its people, including Soleimani’s Quds Force.If Congress won’t join the President in protecting America, it should stay out of his way.This is Frank Gaffney.With David Goldman, Fred Fleitz, Chris Farrell, and Gordon ChangDAVID GOLDMAN, Author of How Civilizations Die, Best known for his series of essays in the Asia Times under the pseudonym Spengler:Assessing the options Trump had in dealing with IranHow will the US proceed now that Soleimani is dead?FRED FLEITZ, President and CEO Center for Security Policy, Former CIA analyst, Former Chief of Staff for Amb. John Bolton in the State Dept., Author of The Coming North Korea Nuclear Nightmare: What Trump Must to Reverse Obama’s Strategic Patience (2018):Why the killing of Soleimani was completely justifiedHow our national security is being crippled by Trump hatredIs Iran done with their retaliatory attacks?An overview of the whistleblower’s complaint against President TrumpCHRIS FARRELL, Director of Investigations at Judicial Watch:An update on the impeachment against President TrumpIs there an anti-Trump conspiracy?A review of CrowdStrikeGORDON CHANG, The Daily Beast contributor, Author of The Coming Collapse of China and Nuclear Showdown: North Korea Takes on the World, Latest book: Losing South Korea (2019):North Korea’s links with SoleimaniChinese nationals spying on the US from withinChina banning foreign materials in their school systemTWEET OF THE DAY Retweet, like, and comment!DONATE View this email in your browser Copyright © 2020 Center for Security Policy, All rights reserved.

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MANHATTAN INSTITUTE

January 10, 2020Featuring the latest analysis, commentary, and research from Manhattan Institute scholarsECONOMY & FINANCEPhoto: Adam Glanzman/Getty ImagesDecember Jobs Report“According to this morning’s report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the economy added just 145,000 jobs in December. … While disappointing, the employment figure doesn’t reflect a significant deviation from the growth trajectory expected for this year.”
By Beth Akers
Manhattan Institute
January 10, 2020
CULTURE & SOCIETYPhoto: PredragImages/iStockHow Negativity Can Kill a RelationshipSuccessful marriages are defined not by improvement, but by avoiding decline.
By John Tierney, Roy F. Baumeister
The Atlantic
January 9, 2020
Adapted from a new book
BOOK REVIEWPhoto: Hulton Archive/Getty ImagesThe Forgotten Failures of the Great SocietyFred Siegel reviews Great Society: A New History by Amity Shlaes
By Fred Siegel
National Review
January 27, 2020, Issue
POLITICSPhoto: Drew Angerer/Getty ImagesAgainst Tribal AmericaRacialism, from any side of the political spectrum, is a recipe for disaster.
By Joel Kotkin
City Journal Online
January 9, 2020
HOUSING POLICYPhoto: deberarr/iStockIssues 2020: Rent Control Does Not Make Housing More AffordableAs cities across the country struggle with rising housing costs, left-leaning policymakers like Sen. Sanders and Rep. Ocasio-Cortez have responded with proposals for nationwide rent control. In the latest issue brief in the Issues 2020 series, Michael Hendrix evaluates the effects of rent control, finding that it is ultimately a counterproductive approach to increasing the amount of affordable housing.
Photo: deberarr/iStockRent Control: Unjust and IneffectiveManhattan Institute’s Michael Hendrix interviews Mayer Brown partner Andrew Pincus, the lead attorney in a lawsuit taking on New York State’s sweeping rent-regulation laws.
FEATURED BOOKPhoto: Manhattan InstituteDigital CathedralsToday’s global Cloud is society’s first foundationally new infrastructure in nearly a century. It is comprised of thousands of warehouse-scale computers and history’s biggest network of “information superhighways.” Powering this data behemoth consumes more energy than all global aviation. Yet, as disruptive as the Cloud has already become, we are only at the end of the beginning of what digital masons are building for the 21st century.

In Digital Cathedrals, Mark Mills explores this new 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 NowCIVIL SOCIETY AWARDSNominations 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.SUBMIT A NOMINATION Manhattan Institute is a think tank whose mission is to develop and disseminate new ideas that foster greater economic choice and individual responsibility.
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HOT AIR

Report: Trump furious over House vote to limit his war powers against IranAllahpunditInfrastructure Week returns: White House to revamp enviro regs to fast-track improvements Ed MorrisseyIraqi PM to US: Show us your plans to leave, please. US to Abdul-Mahdi: NaahEd MorrisseyIran: Hey, we didn’t shoot down the Ukraine passenger jetEd MorrisseyADVERTISEMENT Vermont bill would ban cell phones until age 21Jazz ShawMegyn Kelly talks to Fox News ex-staffers: What it was like to be sexually harassed by Roger AilesAllahpunditAre you ready for the Hillary Clinton docuseries on Hulu?Karen TownsendHouse passes resolution to limit Trump’s power to wage war on Iran, 224-194 AllahpunditTrump admin gets a win in court as it prepares to announce 100 miles of border wall completed John SextonIranian commander: We made sure not to inflict casualties on US in missile strikeEd MorrisseyMike Lee: They wouldn’t tell us at the briefing if they thought Trump needed Congress’s approval to assassinate Iran’s supreme leaderAllahpunditVideo shows the moment a missile hit the Ukrainian jetJohn SextonPence: Those of us who saw all the intel know Soleimani was an imminent threat Ed MorrisseyButtigieg: The U.S. shares blame with Iran for that downed Ukrainian jet; Update: Jet is Trump’s “collateral damage,” says SpeierAllahpunditDavid Frum: Soleimani deserved to die but it’s Trump’s fault Iran shot down that jet (Update)John SextonTrump hints: We’ll stop Bolton from testifying at the impeachment trialAllahpunditToday’s hot topics on #TEMS: Iran’s Vincennes, Pelosi extends, War Powers trends, USMCA wends, royal family odds and ends, and more!Ed MorrisseyMatthews: Soleimani’s death was just like Elvis’ and Princess Diana’s for Iranians, or somethingEd MorrisseyHouse of Commons passes Brexit billJohn SextonFeds: The video from Epstein’s first suicide attempt has, er … killed itselfEd MorrisseyHoo boy: New poll shows Buttigieg in lead in New Hampshire AllahpunditWashington Post: A Republican altered a photo of Nancy Pelosi!John SextonShould cousins go to prison for having a baby? Jazz ShawBreaking: Pentagon, Iraqi officials tell Newsweek, CBS: Iran shot down the Ukraine flightEd MorrisseyTop House Dem: It’s time to send over the articles of impeachment. Wait, forget what I just said.AllahpunditA tight Christmas: US adds only 145,000 jobs in DecemberEd Morrissey

LATEST HEADLINESPolitico “Don’t tell me it doesn’t matter”: Impeachment trial hurts presidential campaignsThe Hill “We’re signing a monster. A big, beautiful monster.”Jonathan Bernstein Why Utah’s Mike Lee might actually vote to remove TrumpOlivia Messer College professor out after joke suggesting Iran list U.S. cultural targetsBI Iran using bulldozers at plane crash site, which could make it impossible to prove what happenedMatthew Continetti How McConnell outplayed PelosiDavid Brooks Trump has made us all stupidAndrew McCabe If you think Iran is done retaliating, think againWaPo DOJ winds down Clinton inquiry championed by Trump. It found nothing of consequence.Julio Rosas Ilhan Omar defends supporting BDS movement against Israel while denouncing Iran sanctionsAP Iraqi PM tells U.S. to decide mechanism for troop withdrawalJ.D. Tuccille Young Americans are right to fear a renewed draftLee Smith Offing Soleimani gives Trump an excellent chance to exit IraqRichard Wike How worries about U.S. dominance gave way to worries about U.S. declineJonathan Last Trump vs. Biden: Occam’s electionSheila Blair I am a Republican, and I hope the Democrats pick a candidate I can vote forMatthew Walther The man who would bibbity-bobbity-boo himself into the presidencyNPR U.S. Army alert: You are not being draftedShadi Hamid American self-criticism borders on narcissismYuval Levin Don’t panic, just worryADVERTISEMENT

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NATIONAL REVIEW

WITH JIM GERAGHTYJanuary 10 2020 Give Blame Where It’s Due, PleaseOn the menu today: how the claim that the United States is ultimately responsible for the Iranian military shooting down a passenger airliner is just the latest example of “blame America first,”; the New York Times prepares to endorse a candidate in the Democratic presidential primary; David Brooks offers some painful honesty; and yet another pretty good jobs report.They Always Blame America FirstJeane Kirkpatrick accurately declared : “they always blame Americans first.”Sure, the Iranian air-defense system would not have been on highest alert this week if the United States had not killed Soleimani outside the Baghdad International Airport January 3. But the Iranians made the choice to fire rockets into Iraq that evening, the Iranian government made the choice to permit civilian air traffic in the hours after their rocket attack, and ultimately it was the Iranian … READ MORE

ADVERTISEMENT TRENDING ON NATIONAL REVIEW1. Neither Neocon nor Isolationist2. Was the Soleimani Killing a Policy Success?3. How to Improve Film and TV CriticismTOP STORIESARMOND WHITEUncut Gems: An Adam Sandler Movie for People Who Hate Adam Sandler MoviesThe Safdie brothers traipse through an urban underworld of wastrels, feckless blacks and Jews — thugs and …NR PLUSWestern Politics Changed with the Charlie Hebdo MassacreFive years later, we still have not grappled with the implications. JONAH GOLDBERGMatzneff Flap Is a Cautionary Tale for Cultural AristocratsMatzneff is a good example of what can happen when people who share a self-styled radical worldview capture the …NEWSPompeo Says Administration Is Not Sure ‘Where’ or ‘When’ Soleimani Planned ‘Imminent…Mike Pompeo said that the Trump administration does not know “precisely when” Qasem Soleimani was planning to …KYLE SMITHBeware the Boogeyman AlarmBefore 2010, federal workers at Glacier National Park in Montana put up signs warning that the glaciers would be …KEVIN D. WILLIAMSONTesla’s Success Is the Product of a Healthy Entrepreneurial Culture…NEWSU.S. Adds 145,000 Jobs in December, Capping Ten-Year Stretch of Job GrowthThe U.S. economy added 145,000 jobs for the month of December, while the unemployment rate remained at a historic …WHAT NR IS READINGThe Case for Nationalism: How It Made Us Powerful, United, and FreeBY RICHARD LOWRY“Makes an original and compelling case for nationalism . . . A fascinating, erudite—and much-needed—defense of a hallowed idea unfairly under current attack.” — Victor Davis HansonLEARN MOREPODCASTSEpisode 69: Legal and Strategically… Episode 185: All about the AUMF PHOTOSTop Shots Twelfth Night in London VIDEOBloomberg Slams Trump Tax… Boris Johnson’s Brexit… NRPLUS ARTICLESWe Should Go to Mars Mourning Soleimani, from Hollywood… Ready for Election Season?National Review subscribers get the most out of National Review. Don’t miss out.SEE MY OPTIONSADVERTISEMENTFollow Us & Share 19 West 44th Street, Suite 1701, New York, NY, 10036, USA
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A new post from Bernie.Bernie’s Q&A: Trump/Soleimani, Megyn Kelly, Royal Family Drama, and more! (1/10) — Premium Interactive ($4 members)By Bernard Goldberg on Jan 10, 2020 02:00 am

Below is a sneak peek of this content! Welcome to this week’s Premium Q&A session for Premium Interactive members. I appreciate you all signing up and joining me. Thank you. Editor’s Note: If you enjoy these sessions (along with the weekly columns and audio commentaries), please use the Facebook and… CONTINUE
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More to read:Off the Cuff: Good Journalism vs. Good Racial Manners
Democrats Game Plan for 2020: Bash the Rich
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MORNING NEWS BRIEFING – JANUARY 10, 2020

POLITICO Playbook: Will impeachment matter in 2020?

DRIVING THE DAY

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PLAYBOOKERS

1 big thing: China meddles in Taiwan elections

2. Western leaders say Iran shot down airliner

3. Team of allies

4. Focus group: Pennsylvania swing voters with Trump on Iran

5. Boeing employees mocked FAA

6. 📉 Mushrooming number of companies in the red

7. Pelosi “at the peak of power”

8. Never mind! Another Clinton probe fizzles

9. “Latter-day Metternich”: MBZ’s first Western interview

10. Plug-in school buses