On Thursday the House of Representatives passed a worthless resolution telling President Trump that he could not take out terrorists like Iranian General Qassem Soleimani without permission from Congress.

Why do I say the resolution is worthless? Because it was a purely symbolic, non-binding resolution with no legal impact. In fact, at least one House Democrat, Rep. Max Rose of New York, opposed the measure precisely because it was meaningless. Rose said:

Unfortunately, today’s War Powers resolution is a non-binding resolution that simply restates existing law… I refuse to play politics with questions of war and peace and therefore will not support this resolution.

Just like the impeachment fiasco, this is another example of progressives wasting time trying to score cheap political points rather than doing the people’s business. But liar-Pelosi’s resolution will be applauded in Tehran, where the mullahs are betting on Trump being restrained because of opposition like this.

Nevertheless, there was heated debate over the resolution. One statement that stood out to me was delivered by Rep. Brian Mast (R-FL). I recall first meeting Brian at a rally against the 2015 Iranian nuclear deal. He was then a candidate for Congress, and I pledged to support his campaign.

Mast told his colleagues that Soleimani was a terrorist just like Osama bin Laden or al-Baghdadi. He noted that Soleimani’s super IEDs were responsible for burning our soldiers alive in their Humvees, for blowing their arms and legs off, and sending our young men home totally unrecognizable to their loved ones.

Mast said that we would have been justified in killing 100 Soleimanis for just one of our heroes he killed.

Of course, many conservatives made similar arguments Thursday. But they had much more power coming from Congressman Mast because as he stood to give those remarks, he wasn’t standing on his own legs, but on two artificial legs.

Prior to his election to Congress, Brian Mast served in the U.S. Army and lost both his legs to an IED blast in Afghanistan. As someone who literally sacrificed parts of his body for our country, Mast brings a much-needed perspective to debates about foreign policy and national security.

I have no doubt that our country is economically and militarily strong enough to deal with Iran. What I do worry about is whether we can overcome the moral rot that is so prevalent on the left today, with so many commentators and politicians sounding like apologists for the Iranian regime.

Soleimani Was No Elvis

If you need an example of the moral rot I described above, look no further than MSNBC host Chris Matthews, who waxed poetic about the dead terrorist, Qassem Soleimani. Here’s what he said on his show Wednesday night:

When some people die, you don’t know what the impact is going to be. When Princess Diana died there was a huge emotional outpouring. Elvis Presley in our culture. It turns out that this general [Trump] killed was a beloved hero of the Iranian people.

Here’s a reality check for Mr. Matthews and anyone else who needs it:

• President Trump said Thursday that we killed Soleimani because “they were looking to blow up our embassy.”

• The German newspaper Bild wrote this about Soleimani: “President Trump has freed the world of a monster whose aim in life was an atomic cloud over Tel Aviv.” (By the way, I took the opportunity during this week’s hearing of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom to note how the Iranian regime is built on anti-Semitism and constantly threatening a second Holocaust against the state of Israel. Watch the exchange here.)

• Journalist Oz Katerji, who has written extensively on the Middle East, described Soleimani this way: “The only way to understand Qasem Soleimani’s legacy is to trace the trail of bloodshed in his wake across the Middle East… Soleimani made his mark through his unrestrained barbarity towards civilians in Syria and Iraq… Soleimani was brutal, merciless … slaughtering his way across the Middle East.”

That’s not the legacy of Princess Diana or Elvis Presley. Anyone who sees Soleimani as a “hero” is an enemy of the civilized world and should be prepared to meet a similar fate. Assuming, of course, that progressives like Chris Matthews aren’t responsible for protecting the civilized world.

liar-Pelosi Blinks

Speaker liar-Nancy Pelosi announced Friday that she is planning to transmit the articles of impeachment against President Trump to the Senate next week. The speaker is facing growing pressure from within her own caucus to stop her stalling, and polling shows that the public is overwhelmingly against it.

Her announcement comes on the heels of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell signing on to a resolution to dismiss the articles of impeachment if they are delayed longer than 25 days.

Netflix’s Latest

Here’s Netflix’s latest contribution to our culture: “AJ And The Queen.” And no, I don’t mean the queen of England.

According to The Washington Post, the movie is about “a drag queen who takes on a 10 year-old runaway as a traveling companion while embarking on a cross-country trip in an attempt to open his own drag club.”

I think I can safely say that this movie is in a category all by itself. I was not aware that Americans were clamoring for a movie about a drag queen traveling the country with a young boy.

End of an ERA

Liberals all over America celebrated Wednesday as Democrats assumed full control of the Virginia government for the first time in a generation. But why would liberals in California care about what is happening in Richmond, Virginia?

Among other things, progressives are hoping to resuscitate the Equal Rights Amendment by getting Virginia to approve the ERA. That’s right — the same pro-abortion constitutional amendment that the late great Phyllis Schlafly battled back in the early 1970s is still kicking. Sort of.

If the Virginia General Assembly approves the ERA, it would become the 38th state to do so, precisely the number needed to ratify constitutional amendments. But there’s a catch.

When Congress passed the ERA in 1972, it included a time limit for the states to approve it. That time limit expired in 1982, but that’s not stopping the left from pursuing its radical pro-abortion agenda. Friday, a Virginia State Senate committee approved the Equal Rights Amendments.

Anticipating the left’s push to have Virginia ratify the ERA, the Justice Department issued an opinion this week officially declaring the ERA dead and prohibiting its recognition.

Now, just imagine for a minute that scumbag/liar-Hillary Clinton had prevailed in November of 2016. Imagine that “Attorney General lowlife-Kamala Harris” or “Attorney General Elizabeth dinky/liar-Warren” is running the Justice Department.

I guarantee that this week’s opinion on the ERA would have been very different, and the country would have been on the verge of abortion on demand being enshrined in our Constitution.

This is just one more example of the Trump/Pence team defending the values of men and women of faith. Just one more example of why it is so important for them to win four more years this November! 

~The Patriot Post

https://patriotpost.us/opinion/67849?mailing_id=4798&utm_medium=email&utm_source=pp.email.4798&utm_campaign=snapshot&utm_content=body  

According to a December 2019 analysis by the American Enterprise Institute’s Daniel Cox, four in 10 Millennials (individuals 23 to 38 years of age) cite that they are religiously unaffiliated. Writing around Pew Research data that point to the fact that this age group is a product of parents who raised their children without the influence or connection to religion or faith, Cox declares, “Millennials are leaving religion and not coming back.”

AEI’s own data show that 17% of Millennials surveyed acknowledged the absence of a faith-based belief system in their upbringing. Contrast that to only 5% of Baby Boomers — aged 55 to 75 years old — who reported a lack of a religious influence in their nurtured years. Further, just one in three Millennials noted attendance in a weekly religious service during their childhood compared to half of Baby Boomers.

Over the last 10 years, according to Pew, there has been a 12% decline in adults who identify as Christians with individuals who label themselves as having no particular beliefs at 26% and the aggregate of Christians down to 65%.

That Law of the Harvest is more than theory — seeds sown do bring forth a crop. Parents erroneously believing their hands-off manner permitted their offspring to find their own way and even pursue some “enlightened” value system honoring the Secular Trinity of Me, Myself, and I were instead sewing seeds that today demand an intellectual approach to faith rather than, well, simple faith to a simple Gospel of grace and the forgiveness of sin.

Inarguably, every single person has a belief system based on exposure to information or through experience. We all believe in something and adhere to some set of mores. It’s just a matter of the object of that belief system whether it’s the monotheistic God of the Judeo-Christian faith, or some other framework that drives a personal definition of morality.

And, that personal definition of morality is growing more relevant in not only the generational divide of faith but is literally dividing the flocks of the faithful and churches.

Look no further than the separation just announced in the Methodist denomination. The split is based on whether Holy Scripture is to be honored in sanctioning marriage as holy matrimony between one man and one woman — treated as a covenant modeled after Christ and His Bride the Church — or whether same-sex marriage is permitted. It’s a manifestation of cultural approvals transcending Biblical Truth. Some personally view same-sex marriage as without consequence and others say what God says, which is that sexual sin — of all sorts — is still sin, but still covered by grace when confessed.

The current split in the religion that was originally founded to reform the Church of England from within by John Wesley is, ironically, taking the similar path faced during the original days of Reformers in the 16th and 17th centuries.

Wesley’s teachings based on the “methodical” devotion and study applied to one’s life that all should have access to God’s salvation through love fell within the Protestant Reformation that declared that the Bible be the standard of teaching and worship.

Today, many Methodists have sacrificed the standard of Truth on the altar of personal whim.

So, in addition to parents without a commitment to faith raising children of the same philosophy, the cultural influences on the definition of right versus wrong have eclipsed the Gospel. But churches themselves have some responsibility in the loss of membership.

If teachings in the church say, “You’re ok, I’m ok, we’re all ok” and “We’ve got grace, so let’s just live as we so desire,” it is no different than the opinions shared at the neighborhood bar, nonprofit, or secular organization. Why would young adults need a community of faith when they’ll hear the same advice and opinions and get the same acceptance at their favorite watering hole among friends who will commiserate and honor the time-tested truth that misery loves company?

In a series on the decline of religion in America, The Washington Times wrote of doctoral candidate Rev. Stephen Koeth at Columbia University teaching one of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.‘s sermons, which included references to the road to Jericho and the Good Samaritan. Not only did the class have no knowledge of the dangerous setting of the famous parable of ministry, but they didn’t have any understanding of the basis of the parable itself — the Good Samaritan — whose actions transcended cultural and economic constructs.

Do you think this same group could articulate details about climate change or the need for “safe spaces” from harmful speech?

Again, those churches reflecting and echoing cultural norms and teaching a social-justice agenda rather than Truth from the Bible are not remarkable, inspirational, or courageous. But churches that do boldly teach the hope of Christ in each of us through the forgiveness of sin are indeed the beacons of light daring to say the same thing that God Himself says about our past, our present, and our future.

So where will Americans of all ages find their hope? The brilliant and fearless Paul sums it all up in Galatians 6:8, “For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life.”   ~The Patriot Post

https://patriotpost.us/articles/67713?mailing_id=4783&utm_medium=email&utm_source=pp.email.4783&utm_campaign=snapshot&utm_content=body  

Meanwhile, what is Iran doing?

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani threatened, “The great nation of Iran will take revenge for this heinous crime.” That apparently includes placing an $80 million bounty on Trump’s head. We suppose the mullahs are using the cash Barack scumbsg/liar-nObama gave them to back that up.

Speaking of scumbag/liar-nObama, Tehran announced it’s officially abandoning his 2015 Iran nuclear deal — as if the mullahs were ever truly abiding by it. Besides, President Trump kept his promise to ditch the deal in 2018.

What is the U.S. doing?

Trump issued a counter threat to Iran: “If Iran strikes any Americans, or American assets …. we have targeted 52 Iranian sites (representing the 52 American hostages taken by Iran many years ago), some at a very high level & important to Iran & the Iranian culture, and those targets, and Iran itself, WILL BE HIT VERY FAST AND VERY HARD. The USA wants no more threats!” This sent leftists like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ilhan Omar caterwauling about Trump’s “war crimes” instead of presenting a united front against Iran, which should be a common enemy. Trump Derangement Syndrome is incredible.

What is Iraq doing?

Iraq’s parliament, over objections by the Trump administration, passed a nonbinding resolution demanding the remaining 5,300 U.S. troops in Iraq leave the nation. President Trump doesn’t want to do so until “they pay us back” for our “very extraordinarily expensive air base that’s there.” If the Iraqis don’t pay up, Trump threatened “sanctions like they’ve never seen before ever.” We suspect that’s Trumpian bluster. Parliament’s move is a political facade giving some politicians cover with Iraqi factions; material changes in actual Iraqi policy are unlikely.

Trump did the right thing by taking out a murderous terrorist ringleader who had more power and influence than Osama bin Laden or Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi at the time they were terminated. That doesn’t mean there won’t be reprisals, but it does mean an American president just stood up for America in an important way.   

~The Patriot Post

https://patriotpost.us/articles/67716?mailing_id=4783&utm_medium=email&utm_source=pp.email.4783&utm_campaign=snapshot&utm_content=body  

Boldly, Soleimani traveled to Iraq to oversee the Iran-backed Shiite militia assault on our embassy there, thinking that his forces could overtake it much as his boss, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, had done with our Tehran embassy in 1979. Recall then, 52 American diplomats and citizens were taken hostage and held for 444 days — and released immediately after Ronald Reagan took his oath of office on January 20, 1981. Fortunately, Jimmy Carter was no longer president then, but Soleimani was operating as if Barack scumbag/liar-nObama was still president now — a fatal flaw in his plan.

Apparently Soleimani thought he was more bomb-proof than Islamic State terrorist leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who we sent to hell last October.

President Donald Trump responded swiftly and decisively to the embassy attack, sending in rapid-force Marine units and Army air reinforcements to repel the militants. He then ordered the death of those who planned it. To suggest this was a “shot across the bow” of Iran’s regime would be grossly understated. This was not a feckless “line in the sand” threat like scumbag/liar-nObama issued in Syria.

As OIF veteran and frequent Trump critic David French noted, “This was no Benghazi. … There was no American defeat. The embassy still stands.” That was a reference to Obama’s failure to defend our embassy officials in Libya and the subsequent political coverup ahead of his 2012 election.

As I have noted for years, our operations in the Middle East since the 9/11 attack have been quietly but primarily focused on preventing Iranian-backed terrorists from detonating a fissile weapon in an East Coast urban center.

For context, after George W. Bush launched Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003, many U.S. military casualties were the direct result of Iranian-backed militias. The Bush administration made slow but steady progress to contain the Islamic threat in the region, but when scumbag/liar-nObama entered the diplomatic debate in 2009, all the blood and treasure expended in Iraq became nothing more than political fodder for his regime’s policy of appeasement.

Recall that in 2012, scumbag/liar-nObama centered his reelection on his “success” in the Middle East, declaring that al-Qa'ida was “on the run” and using that false claim to initiate a politically expedient withdrawal from Iraq. Predictably, a Middle East meltdown followed, which led to the most catastrophic humanitarian crisis in recent history as millions of Syrian refugees fled into the desert.

How did scumbag/liar-nObama respond to that crisis?

In a feat of Middle East policy malfeasance unmatched in generations, scumbag/liar-nObama, scumbagt/liar-Hillary Clinton, and her understudy, hanoi-John Kerry, empowered Iran’s nuclear capacity with a “Nuke Deal” that advanced the threat of an “Islamic Bomb” detonation in the U.S. And they followed that up by lifting sanctions against Iran and flying in $400 million in cash that, arguably, bolstered its terrorist operations.

Fortunately President Trump put an end to that insanity, restoring sanctions against Iran, supporting pro-democracy movements in the region, and, in the last 24 hours, responding to Iranian aggression with force. The message this sent to pro-democracy leaders in Iran can’t be understated.

Of course, much saber-rattling followed, with Iran’s Foreign Minister Javad Zarif laughably calling the strike an “act of international terrorism” and insisting that Tehran would “exhaust all its political, legal and international capacities … to hold the terrorist and criminal regime of the United States responsible regarding this obvious crime.”

Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi played along, issuing a politically necessary statement condemning the attack as a violation of the terms agreement for maintaining U.S. troops in Iraq. But Abdul-Mahdi clearly understand the Iranian threat to his country and the necessity to abate that threat.

Most assuredly, an escalation of Iranian aggression will follow, but that was inevitable.

Deeply mired in their Trump impeachment mess, the current crop of Democrat Party leaders criticized our military operation as reckless and unconstitutional. Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) protested, “Did America just assassinate, without any congressional authorization, the second most powerful person in Iran?” Yes, he declared Soleimani was “assassinated.” As for constitutionality, David French laid those Demo claims to rest in a series of social-media posts.

And a final note: Recall that in October of last year, President Trump was subjected to a barrage of criticism from armchair media experts for his agreement with Turkey regarding the Kurdish lines on the Turks’ southern border in Syria. Amid all the criticism, we noted in “The REAL U.S./Turkey Strategic Endgame — Iran” that “formulating foreign policy and military strategy is akin to a complex multi-dimensional chess match — except the objectives are rarely black and white, and the targets are constantly moving.” We noted further, “Turkey provides the U.S. with strategic airbase access, which will be essential in any regional operations, most notably those against Iran. … In other words, there exists a more pressing but unmentioned objective: containing or eliminating the Iranian nuclear threat.”   

 ~The Patriot Post

https://patriotpost.us/alexander/67683?mailing_id=4779&utm_medium=email&utm_source=pp.email.4779&utm_campaign=snapshot&utm_content=body  

Last week alone, eight anti-Semitic attacks were initially reported in New York City. All but one occurred in Orthodox Jewish neighborhoods in Brooklyn. Those attacks were followed by one in Monsey, where a man walked into a rabbi’s home during a Hanukkah celebration and attacked five people with a machete, critically injuring two. (He has been charged with a federal hate crime.) And late Tuesday, reports surfaced of yet another savage assault against an Orthodox Jewish man by a group of seven black teenagers, and an incident where two men flashed a knife and yelled “Hey Jew boy” at a 17-year-old teen.

Unsurprisingly, Democrat Mayor Bill de Blasio blamed  President Donald Trump and the hate “emanating from Washington.” Democrat New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo blamed the incidents on a “pattern of hate in this nation” that “starts at the top.”

That would be the same Mayor de Blasio who has  championed anti-police rhetoric to the point where officers are being assaulted in broad daylight, and the same Gov. Cuomo who once asserted that “extreme” conservatives “have no place in the state of New York, because that’s not who New Yorkers are.”

Predictably, both men are staunch supporters of the bail-reform law that kicked in on New Year’s Day, but demonstrated its “effectiveness” prior to its official start date, precipitating the no-bail release of most of the suspects involved in the initial eight attacks. Why were they released before the law took effect? “The de Blasio administration has made it clear that we all need to get into compliance with bail reform now,” a law-enforcement source explained.

The law also engendered the resignation of NYC police commissioner James O'Neill, who warned the legislation would release thousands of dangerous inmates.

O'Neill wasn’t exaggerating. “Courts are in the process of case-by-case reviews that by New Year’s Day will release at least 3,800 people from county jails across the state,” the New York Post reported in mid-December. “Some officials estimate that a quarter to a third of their jail populations will be back on the street. The city’s looking at about 900 releases, with an estimated 170 defendants sprung on Staten Island alone.”

One of the early “springees” was Tiffany Harris. She was released without bail, despite admitting she slapped and cursed at three Orthodox women in Brooklyn, and despite having another open harassment and assault case on the court docket since November. Harris also received a no jail sentence for committing felony criminal mischief in Manhattan.

How did her release work out? One day later, she was re-arrested for punching another woman in the face.

Harris is the tip of a highly inconvenient iceberg. Despite leftist assertions that every attack is due to the “Anti-Semite-in Chief” in the Oval Office, Tablet columnist Armin Rosen reveals that “the perpetrators who have been recorded on CCTV cameras are overwhelmingly black and Hispanic,” a reality that “inverts the perpetrator-victim dynamics with which most national Jewish organizations and their supporters are comfortable,” he adds.

Comfortable? Ideologically compromised is more like it. In a devastating account published in The Lid, columnist Jeff Dunetz chronicles Democrats’ increasing acceptance of anti-Semitism, abetted by leftists who are not anti-Semitic but “cowardly refuse to expose and/or fight the Antisemitism rampant in their ranks.”

He cites several collaborators, including Barack scumbag/liar-nObama, who “allied himself with Al Sharpton who was a leader of the anti-Semitic pogrom in Crown Heights and incited the anti-Semitic firebombing of Freddy’s Fashion Mart in Harlem.” He notes that rabid anti-Semite scumbag-Louis Farrakhan was supported by members of the Congressional Black Caucus, and that Israel hater and anti-Semite Linda Sarsour has shared platforms with “scumbag liar-Jerrold Nadler, Nydia Velasquez, Brad Sherman, Mike Quigley, scumbag-Al Green, Robin Kelly, Jamie Raskin, Donald McEachin, and New York Governor Andrew Cuomo.”

He reminds us of the Democrat Party’s cowardly refusal  to condemn worthless-Ilhan “It’s All About the Benjamins Baby” worthless-Omar for that slur and another tweet where she asserted that “Israel has hypnotized the world.” He notes that Democrat presidential candidate commie-Bernie Sanders has two anti-Semites on his staff, the aforementioned worthless-Linda Sarsour and James Zogby, a man who has referred to Israelis as “Nazis,” and sitting members of Congress as “Israel Firsters.”

What about our “anti-Semitic” president? Trump “recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital” (in stark contrast to the chorus of boos that idea received at the Democrats 2012 National Convention), supported the the “Taylor Force Act to withhold U.S. taxpayer dollars from the Palestinian Authority until they stop rewarding terrorists with blood money,” pulled America out of the disastrous Iran deal, and “became the first president in US history to issue an official definition of Antisemitism” and “an executive order to fight the hatred of Jews.”

Trump signed that order to counter the increasing acceptance of anti-Israel and anti-Semitic activity on college campuses. It instructed each agency tasked with enforcing Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to embrace the definition of anti-Semitism adopted by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA).

A welcome development? Not for the Washington Post. “It is important to take measures to protect Jewish students from anti-Semitism on campus, but not at the price of classifying Jews as a nationality,” the paper asserts. “This contradicts the feelings of most American Jews and opens up a dangerous discussion that really never existed in this country. In the end, in the name of protecting Jews from anti-Semitism, such a maneuver might lay the groundwork for a much more serious anti-Semitic threat.”

More serious than what? According to FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting Program, Jews and Jewish institutions remain the biggest target of religion-based hate crimes, accounting for 59% of the overall total.

And again, what’s going on in New York cannot be ignored. “Nobody wants to talk about it, but something is going on between the black and Jewish communities in the New York City area that needs to be addressed,”  warns columnist David Marcus.

Why won’t it be? “The problem for all the silent elected officials is that the perpetrators of these violent crimes don’t fit neatly into their political-enemies list,” columnist Karol Marcowicz explained last May, following a series of previous attacks. “They aren’t MAGA-hat-wearing white supremacists.”

Indeed. Thus, Jewish Americans can expect the Left to continue embracing its moral meltdown, driven by an all-consuming hatred of President Trump.

Will it get worse? “From the streets of Chicago to the city council of Seattle, and in the pages of academic journals ranging from the Cardozo Law Review to the Harvard Law Review and of mainstream publications from the Boston Review to Rolling Stone, advocates and activists are building a case not just to reform policing — viewed as an oppressive, violent, and racist institution — but to do away with it altogether,” columnist Christopher F. Rufo reports.

What could possibly go wrong? Tragically, Jews are statistically the most likely group of Americans to find out.   ~The Patriot Post

https://patriotpost.us/articles/67633?mailing_id=4776&utm_medium=email&utm_source=pp.email.4776&utm_campaign=snapshot&utm_content=body 

TERRORIST NEUTRALIZED: Iran vows “harsh” response to U.S. killing of top general, Qassem Soleimani; meanwhile, Americans are implored to leave Iraq “immediately” (Associated Press)

SANITY: Marine Corps authorizes concealed carry on bases following recent shootings (National Review)

Government & Politics

CIRCLING THE WAGONS: Media struggle to explain recent wave of anti-Semitic attacks without blaming Jews, Trump (The Washington Free Beacon)

LIMITED VAPING BAN: Trump administration declares ban on mint, fruit-flavored vaping products (The Hill)

Virginia

GUN-GRAB PROPOSAL: Virginia governor’s call for 18-person gun-ban force comes under fire (Washington Examiner)

STOCKING UP: Guns and ammo “flying off the shelves” in Virginia as Democrats pursue confiscation (The Daily Wire)

REVISIONIST HISTORY: Ralph Northam calls for removing statue of Robert E. Lee from U.S. Capitol (The Daily Wire)

Culture

“A RADICALLY UNSETTLED PRECEDENT”: Two hundred members of Congress are urging the Supreme Court to reconsider Roe v. Wade (The Daily Caller)

MOTHER, DOCTORS DISAGREE: Texas judge rules 11-month-old to be taken off life support against mom’s wishes (The Daily Wire)

“THE LIES … HAVE BEEN FOREVER EXPOSED”: First trans person to obtain legal “non-binary” sex status changes back to birth sex in blow to LGBT movement (PJ Media)

Closing Arguments

POLICY: Qassem Soleimani’s death a “major operational, psychological victory” for the U.S. (The Heritage Foundation)

POLICY: The surprisingly good news about American family life — for kids (American Enterprise Institute)

HUMOR: Racist Democrats kick another minority out of 2020 presidential primary (Genesius Times)  

Iran continues to be provocative in an effort to get Trump to back off his crippling sanctions, while the regime continues its pursuit of building a nuclear weapon. Thus far, Trump has avoided being pulled into a war with Iran, but as the Iranians get more desperate, expect an increase in the number of attacks against U.S. interests and allies.

At the same time, North Korea has once again ramped up its saber-rattling, with Kim Jong-un claiming to possess a “new strategic weapon” while also suggesting he will end the moratorium against testing long-rang missiles. For the moment, Trump seems content to hold the line on sanctions while continuing his charm offensive. He continues to avoid offering any heated criticism of Kim while effectively calling on Beijing’s puppet to uphold the denuclearization agreement “he did sign.”

Finally, the ongoing trade war with China. There was some recent positive news, as the White House announced that a “phase one” deal agreed to last month would be signed on January 15. The deal would cancel a new round of $156 billion in tariffs on Chinese goods as well as slash current tariffs on another $120 billion in goods. While it is undeniable that the trade war has hurt certain sectors of the U.S. economy, it has been necessary to fight against Chinese cheating. However, this fight is far from over, as Beijing would love nothing more than to see Trump lose his reelection bid with an aim to continue its unfair trade practices.

In short, as 2019 passes into 2020, there are some things that haven’t changed and will require continued American vigilance. 

~The Patriot Post 

https://patriotpost.us/articles/67648?mailing_id=4776&utm_medium=email&utm_source=pp.email.4776&utm_campaign=snapshot&utm_content=body  

PROXY WAR: Iran-backed militiamen withdraw from U.S. embassy but Iraq tensions linger (Associated Press)

THANKS, scumbag/liar-nOBAMA: In 2011, scumbag/liar-nObama met with one of the leaders in Baghdad embassy attack (PJ Media)

Government & Politics

CRIMINAL JUSTICE REFORM: Trump honored with “Bipartisan Justice Award” by black leaders (The Western Journal)

TOO GOOD TO IGNORE: CBS News reporter highlights minority improvements under Trump as most underreported story (The Daily Wire)

MASSIVE: commie-Bernie Sanders tops Democrat field with massive $34.5 million haul in fourth quarter (ABC News)

MORE MASSIVE: Trump camp raises $46 million in final quarter; reelect team says impeachment drove best haul to date (The Washington Times)

MAGA: Trump beats own record for fewest new regulations issued in a year (The Washington Times)

POLITICAL FUTURES: New census data suggests previous report wrong: Republican states gaining seats in Congress (The Daily Wire)

DECADE REWIND

PRESENTED IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER: The 24 most absurd PC moments of the 2010s (National Review)

DECADE OF DEBT: Federal debt up more than $10 trillion in 2010s (CNSNews.com)

Closing Arguments

POLICY: A New Year’s revolution for Iran (Issues & Insights)

POLICY: GOP should “double down” on tax cuts 2.0 (The Heritage Foundation)

SATIRE: scumbag/liar-Hillary Clinton slams Trump for not taking a more “hands-off” approach to embassy attack (The Babylon Bee)