ACTION

HORRIFIC: Mexican cartel massacre: Nine Americans, including six children, from Mormon offshoot murdered (Fox News)

AT LONG LAST: U.S. begins formal withdrawal from Paris climate agreement (National Review)

Government & Politics

IT BEGINS: Elections in four states offer tests of 2020 voter enthusiasm (Associated Press)

DIRTY POLITICS: House releases impeachment transcripts: Top official said he has never seen similar attempt to use State Department to dig up political dirt in 37-year career (The Resurgent)

UKRAINE PROSECUTOR FIRED: Ukraine to fire Kostiantyn Kulyk, the prosecutor at center of loose lips liar-Biden gas-company controversy (National Review)

IMMUNITY REJECTED: New York court rules Trump must turn over tax returns to grand jury (National Review)

“IT WAS WRONG AND IMPROPER”: commie-AOC settles lawsuit after blocking critic on Twitter — yet continues to block prominent conservative women (The Washington Times)

MAGA: Washington Nationals’ Kurt Suzuki, Ryan Zimmerman show support for Trump during World Series White House visit (The Daily Caller)

Business & Economy

TRADE NEGOTIATIONS: China presses Trump for more tariff rollbacks in “phase one” trade deal (Reuters)

BULL MARKET: Dow hits record as stock-market rally extends into fifth week (Associated Press)

Closing Arguments

POLICY: The real reason for the Iran hostage crisis, 40 years later (Washington Examiner)

POLICY: Government’s dictatorial powers under dinky/liar-Warren’s “Medicare for All” should scare you (Issues & Insights)

SATIRE: “Due process” explained, and how it is used to promote rape culture and toxic masculinity (NPC Daily)  

He explained, “If I tweet or hashtag about how you didn’t do something right or used the wrong verb or — then I can sit back and feel pretty good about myself because, ‘Man, you can see how woke I was? I called you out.’” But scumbag/liar-nObama warned, “That’s not activism,” adding, “This idea of purity and you’re never compromised and you always politically woke and all that stuff, that is — you should get over that quickly.”

The Daily Wire’s Ben Shapiro and Matt Walsh were struck by the comment, given the source. And, marveled PJ Media’s Jim Treacher, “Is it just me, or does [scumbag/liar-nObama] really sound like a right-winger there?”

There’s certainly a place for being judgmental, but this progressive “cancel culture” has utterly infected entertainment and politics. And when the mere enjoyment of, say, a certain type of food (Chick-fil-A, for example) is grounds for social ostracism by the “wokescold” Left, we have a serious societal problem.

Shane Gillis, who was recently fired from “Saturday Night Live” due to a years-old video that the woke crowd deemed offensive, might agree. So might comedian Dave Chappelle, whose most recent Netflix special called “Sticks & Stones” has just a 38% Rotten Tomatoes rating among critics, who must be more “woke” than a viewership who clearly love the show. “In the special, nothing is off-limits for Chappelle,” wrote The Daily Wire’s Amanda Prestigiacomo, “hitting on so-called ‘cancel culture,’ abortion, guns, race, the #MeToo movement, Jussie Smollett, Michael Jackson accusers, R. Kelly, Louis C.K., and LGBTQ activism.” Sounds like a sensory overload for the social-justice warriors and the antifa book-burners among us.

What’s not funny, though, are the very real consequences for those who get canceled by their culture: lost jobs and career opportunities, social-media bullying, and business boycotts to name just a few. Far from being limited to the odd Hollywood celebrity who loses a gig, the regular Joe now has reason to worry that his water-cooler conversation might get him fired.

Yet while it was nice of the former president to raise our awareness of cancel culture, he’d do well to reflect on his own role as an early adopter. Or has he forgotten that that he told supporters, “If they bring a knife to the fight, we bring a gun”? Or that he weaponized the IRS against Tea Party groups and used the nation’s intelligence apparatus against an opposing political campaign? We’ll take the core message without the heaping serving of hypocrisy, thanks.   ~The Patriot Post

https://patriotpost.us/articles/66505?mailing_id=4625&utm_medium=email&utm_source=pp.email.4625&utm_campaign=snapshot&utm_content=body  

Suddenly, commie-Bernie Sanders’s version of Medicare for All is a comparative bargain, whether at the initially estimated $32 trillion or his later figure of $40 trillion.

“When fully implemented,” Warren says, “my approach to Medicare for All would mark one of the greatest federal expansions of middle class wealth in our history. And if Medicare for All can be financed without any new taxes on the middle class, and instead by asking giant corporations, the wealthy, and the well-connected to pay their fair share, that’s exactly what we should do.”

When the top 1% already pays the lion’s share of income taxes while the bottom half pays roughly nothing beyond payroll taxes, what exactly does “fair share” mean?

Fox News explains, “The campaign’s detailed Medicare-for-all proposal … insists that the costs can be covered by a combination of existing federal and state spending on Medicare and Medicaid, as well as roughly $20 trillion in taxes on employers, financial transactions, the ultra-wealthy, large corporations and more. This includes what is essentially a payroll tax increase on employers, something economists generally say can hit workers in the form of reduced wages.” Ah, there it is — tax increases for the middle class. dinky/liar-Warren has finagled the numbers to avoid an income tax increase for the middle class, while disguising the real cost in the payroll tax. Those taxes are technically split between employer and employee, though even the leftist Tax Policy Center acknowledges the economic reality of reduced wages: The “employee bears the burden of both the employer and employee portions of payroll taxes.”  Just Tuesday, we added up dinky/liar-Warren’s “freebies,” concluding her plans would cost $4.2 trillion on top of the current federal budget of $4.75 trillion. But her new Medicare numbers blow that out of the water, as that alone would add $5.2 trillion per year.

Did we mention that even she admits her healthcare plan could kill two million jobs? We suppose the middle class won’t pay higher taxes if they’re not earning a paycheck.   ~The Patriot Post

https://patriotpost.us/articles/66508?mailing_id=4625&utm_medium=email&utm_source=pp.email.4625&utm_campaign=snapshot&utm_content=body  

Why are House Speaker liar-Nancy Pelosi and her fellow Democrats so against following historical practices in their impeachment inquiry regarding President Trump?

And why — with their resolution introduced Tuesday to continue their “ongoing investigation” of the president — don’t the Democrats want to provide Republican members with the ability to fully participate in the probe?

What are the Democrats who control the House so afraid of? Do they fear the American people will discover that the Democrats are conducting an unfair, partisan investigation?

The Democratic resolution is expected to be approved by the full House on Thursday — despite strong Republican objections.

Republicans contend there is no “existing” impeachment inquiry because the full House has never voted to approve one — and even the new resolution doesn’t explicitly open such an investigation. This is a dramatic departure from what happened when the full House voted to open impeachment inquiries of Presidents Richard Nixon and scumbag/liar-Bill Clinton.

President Trump and Republicans have raised strong objections to the fact that the current impeachment inquiry of Trump began with the approval of only a single person — Speaker liar-Pelosi. She directed six different House committees to launch the impeachment probe.

Crucially, the Constitution gives the “sole Power of Impeachment” to the House of Representatives — not the speaker of the House. This is a major point that Democrats are glossing over as an insignificant technicality.

In the impeachment inquiries of Presidents Nixon and scumbag/liar-Clinton, Democrats and Republicans took a very different position than liar-Pelosi, D-Calif., is taking today. That’s why there were votes by the entire House putting every member on record on whether an impeachment inquiry should be opened.

Those resolutions were approved and authorized the House Judiciary Committee — not six different committees — to conduct impeachment inquiries.

Page 614 of the 2017 manual on the “Rules, Precedents, and Procedures of the House” — written by the three individuals who have been the parliamentarians of the House of Representative since 1994 — states that under “the modern practice, an impeachment is normally instituted by the House by the adoption of a resolution calling for a committee investigation of charges against the [federal] officer in question.”

This means that liar-Pelosi has violated the modern practice of the House by not having the entire body vote on such a resolution.

So what about the resolution that is expected to come to a vote of the full House on Thursday? This resolution doesn’t say it is to authorize the start of an impeachment investigation, as House Res. 581 did in the case of scumbag/liar-Bill Clinton.

Instead, the new resolution directs the six committees of the House to “continue their ongoing investigations.” But why schedule a vote on a resolution to tell committees to keep doing what they are already doing?

The new resolution also falls short of providing the type of fairness and right to participate in the investigation that the minority party — the Republicans — are asking for and are entitled to.

One of the other criticisms of liar-Pelosi’s lack of a full House vote has been that there was no resolution setting out the rules under which the impeachment inquiry would proceed, including the rights of the minority party. Both the scumbag/liar-Clinton and Nixon resolutions did that.

Again, this is not a minor technicality. It is a major issue.

The new resolution lays out rules governing the discovery process — issuing subpoenas, submitting questions, etc. — but only for two of the six committees: the Intelligence and Judiciary Committees.

So the other four committees — Financial Services, Foreign Affairs, Oversight and Reform, and Ways and Means — can continue to operate however they want to, in secret, denying the minority members the ability to fully participate.

Even in the rules set out for the Intelligence and Judiciary Committees, liar-Pelosi has changed the rules from the Clinton inquiry to, in essence, give the Democrats a one-sided advantage.

Under the scumbag/liar-Clinton resolution, H.R. 581, the chairman of the Judiciary Committee and the ranking minority member could issue subpoenas for witnesses and documents by acting “jointly.” In other words, they acted together to decide who to subpoena and what documents to obtain. If one of them disagreed, the other member had to first refer the matter to the committee before acting on his own.

The House resolution approving an investigation of President Nixon, H.R. 803, had the exact same rule.

But the liar-Pelosi resolution gives the chairmen of the Intelligence and Judiciary Committees the power to act unilaterally — without the approval of the ranking Republican member.

If a Republican wants to issue subpoenas, he or she can only do so with the concurrence of the chairman — that is, the member has to ask: chairman, may I?

If the chairman refuses to agree, the Republican can submit his or her request to the entire committee. But since the Democrats control both committees, is there really anyone out there who thinks they would override Chairmen scumbag-Adam Schiff, D-Calif., or scumbag liar-Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y.?

One final note. There has been a great deal of discussion about witnesses being questioned in secret and the fact that members of other committees given jurisdiction over the impeachment inquiry have been barred from participating in the questioning being conducted by the Intelligence Committee.

While it is true that congressional committees sometimes question witnesses behind closed doors, there is no reason to do so here. In fact, in a matter as serious and as important as the possible removal of a duly elected president, fundamental principles of fairness and the democratic process demand that such an inquiry be conducted in as transparent a manner as possible.

Further, there is no reason for the Intelligence Committee to question witnesses in secret when there is no classified information being discussed — and the details of the telephone conversation that President Trump had with the president of Ukraine are not classified. And why are members of other committees being barred from participating?

If Democrats want the American people to believe they are conducting an objective, nonpartisan investigation, they need to start acting as if they are. The latest resolution they are proposing falls far short of doing that.   ~The Patriot Post

https://patriotpost.us/opinion/66461?mailing_id=4623&utm_medium=email&utm_source=pp.email.4623&utm_campaign=snapshot&utm_content=body  

HISTORIC DEBT: Federal government debt surpasses $23 trillion for first time as annual deficits once again near $1 trillion (The Hill)

AND YOU THINK THE DEBT’S BAD NOW… In empty warning, liar-Nancy Pelosi claims she’s worried 2020 candidates are on wrong track with healthcare and wealth-tax rackets (Bloomberg)

Government & Politics

GUN-CONFISCATION SPOILER EXITS: Anti-Second Amendment crusader R. Francis socialist-O'Rourke drops out of the presidential race (The New York Times)

THE PROBE THAT NEVER ENDS: First batch of Mueller-probe interview notes involving Rick Gates, Steve Bannon, and Michael Cohen have been released (The Daily Caller

RUSE SHUT DOWN: Rep. Jim Jordan rejects whistleblower’s offer to provide written answers to GOP questions (Fox News)

JUDICIAL ACTIVISM: scumbag/liar-nObama-appointed judge blocks healthcare rule for immigrants (The Daily Caller)

DEREGULATION: EPA rolling back scumbag/liar-nObama-era anti-coal regulation (The Daily Signal)

National Security

DHS CHIEF: Trump names Chad Wolf acting DHS secretary (Townhall)

PUBLIC DEFIANCE: Iran announces new nuke-deal violations during commemoration of 1979 U.S. embassy seizure (Fox News)

SEPARATING WHEAT FROM CHAFF: Thousands of migrants sent back to Mexico under Trump policy have given up their asylum claims (Fox News)

NO PERMANENT FIX: Smugglers are sawing through new sections of Trump’s border wall (The Washington Post)

Closing Arguments

POLICY: The dinky/liar-Warren plan to paper over the costs of Medicare for All (E21)

POLICY: How the Left is weaponizing cancel culture to politicize children’s books (The Federalist)

HUMOR: socialist-Beto drops out of race to spend more time taking guns from his family (The Babylon Bee)  

There’s a lot to unpack in that statement. While it’s important to note that no president truly controls the economy or is solely responsible for its growth or stagnation, Barack scumbag/liar-nObama oversaw the slowest recovery in history. It was slow because of his Big Government “stimulus” and massive regulation, all of which very nearly brought another recession in 2015 and 2016. By the way, the whole reason for the recession that began under George W. Bush was Democrat housing policies put it place a decade prior.

Candidate Trump talked a big game about the economy, and as president he has in many ways delivered. Record-low unemployment and solid wage gains for workers are in part spurred by his significant deregulation and across-the-board tax cuts, as is GDP that finally reached 3% for the first time in a decade.

So, why the lackluster GDP growth lately? For one thing, full employment is great for workers, but it’s harder to grow a business when there aren’t many workers to add and retaining the ones you have costs more money. (Tomorrow’s unemployment report will reveal more.)

And then there’s the elephant in the room. As National Review notes, “The lackluster numbers come amid concerns that the economy is slowing down as trade battles with China and other countries continue to burden American companies and consumers.”

The Wall Street Journal also blames the slowdown on Trump’s tariffs. “The strong evidence is that trade policy is the main growth culprit. U.S. manufacturing has slumped, which is related to slowing exports. Slower growth in China from the trade war has reduced the exports of U.S. farm, industrial and construction equipment,” says the Journal. (Manufacturing is now the smallest share of the economy in 72 years.) “A study by Federal Reserve economists this year looked at two waves of trade policy ‘shock,’ first in 2018 and then in the first half of 2019, and estimated the impact reduced GDP growth by about one percentage point.”

While not arguing for Trump’s tariffs, we have endeavored to explain his strategy in a trade war that he did not start. In short, he’s using a strong economy as leverage to correct a lot of long-term trade abuse by other nations, and we think Rust Belt voters are among those who are grateful that someone is finally fighting for the U.S. instead of for the globalists. Whether Trump’s strategy pays off is yet to be determined.

Are there economic warning signs? Yes, but caveat emptor: Democrats and the Leftmedia would love to undermine consumer confidence by playing up those signs. Maintaining perspective is incredibly important.   ~The Patriot Post

https://patriotpost.us/articles/66470?mailing_id=4623&utm_medium=email&utm_source=pp.email.4623&utm_campaign=snapshot&utm_content=body  

Thomas Gallatin:  Evidently within the Washington Beltway the identity of the anti-Trump “whistleblower” — the hack who submitted a complaint over President Donald Trump’s July 25 phone call with the president of Ukraine — has been an open secret for some time. However, due to House Democrat demands that the whistleblower remain anonymous in order to “protect” him from Trump, the mainstream media has dutifully complied. And House Republicans’ hands have largely been tied by Rep. scumbag-Adam Schiff (D-CA), who has forbidden public comments on the specifics of the closed-door hearings.

Thanks to reporting from RealClearInvestigations, however, the secret is out: The anonymous “whistleblower” is likely a 33-year-old government official named Eric Ciaramella. When the Washington Examiner sought to verify the “whistleblower’s” identity with House Republicans, none were willing to give a straightforward confirmation, but several did offer tacit approval.

Tellingly, Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) stated, “Well, as far as that particular person, regardless of whether or not he’s a whistleblower, he apparently worked for [former CIA Director scumbag/commie-John] Brennan. He worked for H.R. McMaster. He worked for [loose lips liar-Joe] Biden. He was tasked to the National Security Council on Ukraine.” Gohmert then added, “And, gee, sounds like he’s got bigger problems than being a whistleblower, regardless of whether he is or not.”

Rep. Mark Meadows (R-NC) suggested that reporters should ask scumbag-Schiff. “I can’t tell you what happens in the depositions,” he said, “but I can tell you there’s one person in one’s group of staff members who know who the whistleblower is and that is scumbag-Adam Schiff, and so you need to ask him whether this guy is the real deal.” Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ) echoed Meadows, stating, “Hey, you need to ask scumbag-Adam Schiff. Don’t ask me.” And Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) made it clear that while many Republicans strongly suspect that Ciaramella is the whistleblower, only scumbag-Schiff can confirm it.

With the revelation that Ciaramella is most likely the “whistleblower,” the evidence of this being another deep-state coup attempt is strengthened. Ciaramella, says RealClearInvestigations, is “a registered Democrat held over from the scumbag/liar-nObama White House, previously worked with former Vice President loose lips liar-Joe Biden and former CIA Director scumbag/commie-John Brennan, [and is] a vocal critic of Trump who helped initiate the Russia ‘collusion’ investigation of the Trump campaign during the 2016 election.” He also worked with a DNC “operative who dug up dirt on the Trump campaign during the 2016 election.”

Ciaramella worked in the Trump White House until June 2017, when he left and returned to CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia, after “he was accused of working against Trump and leaking against Trump,” a former NSC official claimed. Another NCS official said that Ciaramella “didn’t exactly hide his passion with respect to what he thought was the right thing to do with Ukraine and Russia, and his views were at odds with the president’s policies.”

Furthermore, scumbag-Schiff is more deeply tied to the plot than was previously known. Indeed, RealClearInvestigations reports, “Earlier this year, scumbag-Schiff recruited two of Ciaramella’s closest allies at the NSC — both whom were also scumbag/liar-nObama holdovers — to join his committee staff. He hired one, Sean Misko, in August — the same month the whistleblower complaint was filed.” Is it any wonder Democrats have been so adamant over keeping the identity of the “whistleblower” secret?

Again, House Democrats, led by Speaker liar-Nancy Pelosi (CA) and scumbag-Schiff, have orchestrated this impeachment charade in a secretive manner in order to control the political narrative surrounding it. Their vote to approve a resolution this morning does little to change that.   ~The Patriot Post

https://patriotpost.us/articles/66472?mailing_id=4623&utm_medium=email&utm_source=pp.email.4623&utm_campaign=snapshot&utm_content=body  

Vote harvesting gives party activists, campaign consultants, and other political guns for hire the ability to manipulate election outcomes either through coercion of voters or outright ballot theft and forgery. Yet, in places such as California and the District of Columbia, vote harvesting is perfectly legal.

Vote harvesting occurs when third parties — campaign workers, for example — collect absentee ballots from voters and deliver them to election officials.

Most people had never heard that term until the 2018 elections. In North Carolina’s 9th Congressional District, the Republican candidate was accused of illegal vote harvesting and, ultimately, the state election board overturned the election.

Meanwhile, on the West Coast, concerns about vote harvesting were raised in California after unexpected losses by Republicans in several congressional races. Concerns were especially acute in Orange County, where the registrar of voters reported that individuals were dropping off hundreds of absentee ballots each.

All states allow an individual to vote with an absentee ballot, often referred to as a mail-in ballot. The completed ballots are usually mailed back to local election officials, although voters can personally deliver their ballots, too.

Nine states also allow a member of the voter’s family to hand-deliver the voted ballot; another 13 states don’t specify whether someone other than the voter can hand-deliver the ballot on the voter’s behalf.

The vote-harvesting issue arises in the District and the 27 states that allow anyone to pick up an absentee ballot from a voter and deliver it to election officials. The contrast between these two approaches can be seen in North Carolina and California.

North Carolina allows “a voter’s near relative or the voter’s verifiable legal guardian” to return an absentee ballot. California had a similar law that allowed a relative or household member to return an absentee ballot. The law was amended in 2016, effective in the 2018 election, and now allows a voter to “designate any person to return the ballot.”

Allowing individuals other than the voter or his immediate family to handle absentee ballots is a recipe for mischief and wrongdoing.

Neither voters nor election officials can verify that the secrecy of the ballot was not compromised, or that the ballot submitted in the voter’s name by a third party accurately reflects the voter’s choices and was not fraudulently changed by the vote harvester. And there is no guarantee that vote harvesters won’t simply discard the ballots of voters whose political preferences for candidates of the opposition party are known.

It also gives campaign and political party intermediaries the ability to influence voters while they are casting a ballot out of election officials’ sight and without any supervision by them.

Thus, there is no one present to ensure that voters are not being coerced, intimidated, threatened, or paid for their vote.

The Heritage Foundation’s election fraud database contains cases illustrating this problem. They include the conviction in 2017 of the former mayor of Eatonville, Florida, for coercing absentee voters to cast ballots for him — ballots that won him the election.

Then there is the former mayor of Martin, Kentucky, who (along with her husband and son) was convicted in 2014 for threatening and intimidating poor and disabled citizens into casting absentee ballots for her, including ballots that the mayor had filled out.

Obviously, there needs to be a way for individuals who cannot vote in person on Election Day due to illness or some other valid reason to cast a vote, and absentee ballots are the easiest way to make that possible. But the rules governing absentee ballots should not make them susceptible to theft, forgery, or coercion.

That is exactly what states are doing when they allow vote harvesting. Giving third parties who have a stake in the outcome of an election unsupervised access to voters and their absentee ballots is not wise.

Indeed, it is a proven threat to the integrity of our elections.   

~The Patriot Post

https://patriotpost.us/opinion/66426?mailing_id=4620&utm_medium=email&utm_source=pp.email.4620&utm_campaign=snapshot&utm_content=body  

JOB GROWTH PREVAILS: October job creation comes in at 128,000, easily topping estimates even with GM auto strike (CNBC)

RAISING THE STAKES: dinky/liar-Warren reveals $52 trillion Medicare for All plan, absurdly claims no middle tax increase necessary (National Review)

Impeachment Charade

COUNTERING THE NARRATIVE: Latest impeachment witness contradicts Alexander Vindman’s claim that key details were left out of Ukraine call transcript (National Review)

PRIMER: Four keys to understanding a Trump impeachment trial in the Senate (The Daily Signal)

Government & Politics

WORLD’S SMALLEST VIOLIN: Katie Hill’s farewell speech: I’m the victim here, America (Hot Air)

“I HAVE BEEN TREATED VERY BADLY”: Trump makes Florida his primary residence, but says New York will “have a special place in my heart” (Fox News)

National Security

PLAYING WITH FIRE: Trump admin again gives Iran green light to conduct sensitive nuclear work (The Washington Free Beacon)

NUCLEAR OVERTURES: North Korea launches missile test, prompting escalation fears (U.S. News & World Report)

AID BLOCKED: U.S. withholding $105 million in security aid for Lebanon (Reuters)

Culture

“THIS CASE NEVER SHOULD HAVE HAPPENED”:  Kentucky Supreme Court sides with Christian T-shirt maker in free-speech case (The Daily Signal)

Closing Arguments

POLICY: The shameless hypocrisy of cities suing for climate-change “damages” (Issues & Insights)

POLICY: States can use funny math on Medicaid expansion economic claims (The Heartland Institute)

HUMOR: scumbag/liar-nObama canceled after activists dig up old presidential campaign where he opposed gay marriage (The Babylon Bee)  

Let me begin today’s report by expressing a sentiment you did not hear from any Democrat this weekend: “Thank you, Mr. President!”

Late Saturday night, the president tweeted, “Something very big has just happened.” Many were on the edge of our seats here in Washington. Then reports began breaking that 100 courageous U.S. special forces took down Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of ISIS. The operation was named after murdered American aide worker Kayla Mueller. (More on that below.)

For several months now, while progressives and socialists in Congress have been plotting to take down the duly elected president, the president of the United States was planning his operation to take down the vicious serial rapist and murderer who led the Islamic State in recent years. What a contrast in competing priorities!

But, of course, no Trump victory can be applauded or allowed to stand without attempts to sabotage it. Several times over the past 24 hours, the left showed how deep its sickness goes. Here are some examples.

Trump Didn’t Notify Us

There were complaints by some on the left that Speaker liar-Nancy Pelosi, Senate Democrat Leader Chuck scumbag-Schumer, and House Intelligence Committee Chairman scumbag-Adam Schiff were not notified in advance of the operation. There has never been any obligation for the president to tell congressional leaders about sensitive military operations before they take place. This is a completely made-up assertion. 

Newt Gingrich blasted liar-Pelosi’s whining, saying:

I was speaker of the House just like liar-Nancy Pelosi… The idea that politicians need to be briefed on a military operation while young men and women are risking their lives is just stupid. liar-Nancy Pelosi ought to know better… No politician has a right to know information that could get young men and women killed during the operational phase.

Trump’s Rhetoric Was Wrong

Several critics complained that Trump’s description of the raid was inappropriate. scumbag/liar-nObama’s deputy CIA director, Michael Morrell, said, “You don’t want a locker room kind of feel to this. That was the one thing we worked really hard on after the bin Laden raid — don’t make those kinds of statements, because it does inspire other people.”

Morrell is wrong. Numerous experts have noted that among his jihadi followers, a legend was emerging that Baghdadi was “immortal.” No matter how many times we thought we had him, he always managed to escape and survive. His image was larger than life. 

The president was right to expose Baghdadi as a coward, who died running from dogs and crying in a tunnel. He was right to tell the world that this man was so evil that he murdered three of his own children in the process.

Trump Didn’t Respect Islam

As misguided as Morrell’s remarks were, I was infuriated by retired Admiral James Winnefeld, who said:

This fight is all about religious freedom. It’s about respect for other religions, and if you look back to the bin Laden raid … we treated his body with respect that is due under Islam and this was a little bit tough.

This is the mindset that prevailed for eight years under Barack scumbag/liar-nObama. We were constantly told that people like Osama bin laden and Baghdadi do not represent Islam. “They are not representatives of the religion of peace,” progressives insist. “The terrorists are trying to hijack the religion of peace.”

Well, you can’t have it both ways. If they are not really Muslims, then we are under no obligation to give them Islamic burials. 

But this is the bizarre mindset of the left, where too many elites are more interested in appeasing CAIR and the editorial pages of The New York Times and The Washington Post than they are in ensuring America’s victory in the existential crisis presented by these barbarians.

Payback for Mueller

To the progressives worried about how Baghdadi’s body was treated, where were they when Kayla Mueller, a 26 year-old Christian aide worker, was kidnapped in Aleppo, Syria, and repeatedly raped and abused by Baghdadi and his men? Her body apparently didn’t matter. By the way, through it all, Kayla refused to convert to Islam as her captors demanded. 

Kayla’s parents thanked President Trump for his resolve. Her mother, Marsha, suggested that if scumbag/liar-nObama “had been as decisive as Trump” Kayla might be alive today.

“A Scholar Dies”

If you needed another example of the left’s bizarre mindset, you got it with this Washington Post headline: “Austere Religious Scholar At Helm Of Islamic State Dies At 48.”

Really? Well, if Baghdadi was a religious scholar, then I suppose he did represent Islam when he was cutting off the heads of infidels, raping infidel women, and setting infidels on fire. 

Needless to say, the social-media backlash against the Post’s nonsense was brutal. Some suggested it would be like referring to Adolf Hitler as “a local painter” or “renowned orator.” It would be laughable if it wasn’t so disturbing. 

Baghdadi didn’t die at 48. He was taken out by the U.S. military for his war crimes. I suppose we should be thankful that the Post headline didn’t read: “Renowned Religious Scholar And Dedicated Father Dies During Home Invasion.”

Whoever wrote the Washington Post headline is either an Islamist sympathizer or someone who so hates America that they should have no place anywhere near the operation of the newspaper of the nation’s capital.

In other low points for the press, NBC on Sunday attacked Trump for taking a “victory lap.” Of course, NBC is only interested in political leaders doing apology tours for America. CNN also cut short its coverage of the president’s press conference. This from the network that complains Trump doesn’t do enough press conferences!

scumbag-Clapper’s Claptrap

scumbag/liar-nObama’s Director of National Intelligence scumbag-James Clapper warned that the murder of Baghdadi could “galvanize ISIS.” I can see why scumbag-Clapper’s concerned. 

If ISIS is galvanized, it might start committing genocide against Middle East Christians. It might start raping infidel women. It might start blowing up mosques, churches, synagogues, and historical monuments. 

Oh, wait. That’s what they already do. 

What on Earth is scumbag-Clapper talking about?!

Bad Timing Award

The progressives at “Saturday Night Live” were getting cheers from their progressive audience for mocking Donald Trump by suggesting that he is soft on ISIS. Unbeknownst to them, the pathetic skit ran about the same time that U.S. special forces were getting orders from Trump to take out Baghdadi. Whoops!  ~The Patriot Post 

 https://patriotpost.us/opinion/66398?mailing_id=4616&utm_medium=email&utm_source=pp.email.4616&utm_campaign=snapshot&utm_content=body 

As we noted back then, Mueller’s report was notable for what wasn’t there: Proof of collusion with Russia. This was after the FBI’s counterintelligence powers had been turned on the presidential campaign of the party not in power. It would have been one thing had the Mueller probe or the FBI discovered smoking-gun evidence of wrongdoing, but that was not the case. Mueller came up empty on the most salacious and serious charges.

With that failure, America had to deal with the fact that under the administration of Barack scumbag/liar-nObama, the FBI was essentially spying on Americans who did not share scumbag/liar-nObama’s political views. Americans deserve answers as to why that spying occurred. What was the evidence that led to the FBI deciding that surveillance of the Trump campaign was warranted? These become more important given allegations centering on the case of former DIA Director Michael Flynn, President Trump’s first national security advisor — with Lisa Page and Peter Strzok in the thick of this case.

This wasn’t an isolated incident, either. Before, during, and after the 2016 election, there also were other cases of questionable, if not abusive, uses of governmental power against opponents of the Left: There was the IRS targeting of the Tea Party, the John Doe investigations in Wisconsin, efforts to turn RICO on opponents of Democrats’ environmental policies, scumbag-Andrew Cuomo’s abuses against the NRA, and Joaquin Castro doxed Trump donors in his district. If twice is a coincidence, six times is a definite pattern of behavior.

Incidentally, many leftists will cite Georgia gubernatorial loser worthless-Stacey Abrams as the victim of a nefarious abuse of power at the hands of now-Gov. Brian Kemp, albeit without any evidence of wrongdoing. When it comes to scumba-Cuomo, who openly declared that his intention was to take out the primary political opposition to his anti-Second Amendment agenda, they have no criticism at all. Imagine if a Republican governor were to execute a similar strategy against Planned Parenthood — can anyone seriously say that the same people who either ignore or justify the actions of Castro, scumbag-Cuomo, and liar-Lois Lerner would feel the same about that governor? They would not only demand an end to any such effort, they would demand accountability, as well they should.

The First Amendment is very clear — Americans have the right to speak out. They have the right to peaceably assemble. They have the right to petition for the redress of grievances. Freedom of the press is protected. But the First Amendment becomes a dead letter if politicians can exploit the power of government to retaliate against people who do nothing more than speak out on an issue. When the power of the government is turned on political opponents of the government, the American people at a minimum deserve an explanation as to why that happened. That explanation should either include irrefutable evidence of extremely serious wrongdoing, or it should detail just exactly who screwed up, and what went wrong, as well as what will be done to ensure similar screw-ups don’t happen again.

The problem is that going back a number of years, cases of questionable or flat-out abusive actions by government under Democrats have not seen that sort of accountability. liar-Lerner, who ran the IRS targeting of the Tea Party, retired with a six-figure pension. Those behind the John Doe investigations saw no repercussions, either. scumbag-Cuomo and Castro continue in office. Spygate has seen some firings, but Americans need to see stronger steps to ensure that the misuse of power is deterred.

We at The Patriot Post have said it before, but it must be said again: America can survive honest mistakes in the exercise of governmental power, but it cannot survive double standards. Accountability for Spygate is desperately needed to ensure that a double standard is not entrenched.   ~The Patriot Post

https://patriotpost.us/articles/66397?mailing_id=4616&utm_medium=email&utm_source=pp.email.4616&utm_campaign=snapshot&utm_content=body  

Johnson was referring to Chicago’s “sanctuary city” policy, which he fully embraces. But he erroneously and intentionally conflates legal immigrants, who can actually become “new Americans,” with illegal aliens, who are by definition law-breaking non-Americans. The irony is stupefying — the city’s top law-enforcement officer, whose primary role is to serve and protect the citizens of the city, is blatantly promoting lawlessness. With attitudes like this, is it any wonder that Democrat-run Chicago is notorious for its high crime rate?

Johnson’s virtue signal was so offensive that even Chicago’s own members of the Fraternal Order of Police voiced their opposition with a vote of “no confidence,” while FOP President Kevin Graham issued a statement deriding Johnson’s self-serving false narrative. “[Donald Trump] is the president of the United States,” he said. “There are plenty of times I’ve sat listening to speeches that I didn’t care for, and I certainly didn’t walk out on them.” Graham also noted how ATF agents have been a big help to “prosecute [violations of] our gun laws because our local prosecutor hasn’t done the job.” That federal help has “driven down the crime,” he said. “Last month we took a thousand [illegal] guns off the street. Last month alone.”

As for Trump’s speech, he loudly condemned Chicago’s feckless Democrat leaders over their refusal to work with Immigration and Customs Enforcement: “Chicago is, unfortunately, the worst sanctuary city in America. Chicago protects criminals at a level few could even imagine. Last year, in Cook County alone, ICE asked local law-enforcement people to ‘…Please detain 1,162 people. Please.’ But in each case, the detainer was denied.” Trump then took aim at Johnson: “People like Johnson put criminals and illegal aliens before the citizens of Chicago. … And, frankly, those values, to me, are a disgrace. I will never put the needs of illegal criminals before … the needs of law-abiding citizens.”

Finally, Trump added, “So when Eddie Johnson, and many other people from lots of other regions and areas, support sanctuary cities, it’s really, in my opinion, a betrayal of their oath to the shield, and a violation of his duty to serve and to protect the courageous police officers of Chicago.” Trump is correct. While Johnson’s virtue signal is cheered by anti-Trump leftists and open-border advocates, everyday Americans are rejoicing in the fact that the president is honestly calling out the corruption and hypocrisy in the Windy City.   ~The Patriot Post

https://patriotpost.us/articles/66412?mailing_id=4616&utm_medium=email&utm_source=pp.email.4616&utm_campaign=snapshot&utm_content=body  

RULES APPROVED: Democrats push impeachment rules package through House (Associated Press)

COLLUSION: Anti-trump “whistleblower” worked with DNC operative who sought dirt on Trump from Ukrainian officials (The Federalist)

Government & Politics

BOLTON SUMMONED: Former national security advisor John Bolton summoned to testify in House impeachment inquiry (Associated Press)

“WEAPONIZED IMPEACHMENT”: liar-Nancy Pelosi targeted in ethics complaint filed by 40 conservative groups (Fox News)

MYSTERY SOLVED: “The co-chairman of a Turkish-American advocacy group with close ties to Ankara contributed $1,500 last month to the campaign for Rep. worthless-Ilhan Omar, who is under fire this week over votes she cast supporting Turkish government positions.” (The Daily Caller)

NO MORE ADS: Twitter bans political ads ahead of 2020 election (Associated Press)

Business & Economy

GROWTH… U.S. GDP rose a better-than-expected 1.9% in the third quarter as consumers continued to spend (CNBC)

…ALBEIT WITH TROUBLING SIGNS: Fed cuts rates again to boost a slowing economy (NPR)

Heartland

SHOT DOWN: Pennsylvania judge throws out Pittsburgh gun-control measures (The Washington Free Beacon)

MIND-BOGGLING: Police blew up an innocent man’s house in search of an armed shoplifter. Too bad, court rules. (The Washington Post)

Other Notables

RAID TAPE: U.S. releases Baghdadi raid video, warns of likely retribution attack (Reuters)

Closing Arguments

POLICY: The Supreme Court should end DACA (National Review)

POLICY: How micro-school networks expand learning options (Foundation for Economic Education)

HUMOR: commie-Ocasio-Cortez applauds California for using natural light from wildfires instead of electric lighting from fossil fuels (Genesius Times)  

Most immediately, liar-Pelosi and her fellow Democrats had a very bad weekend, and she desperately wanted to redirect the Leftmedia’s attention to help her party. Between President Donald Trump overseeing the U.S. military’s mission to send Islamic State terrorist leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi to meet his Maker and Democrat Rep. Katie Hill’s disgraceful exit from Congress, Democrats needed a “reset” button.

(On the latter, make no mistake: liar-Pelosi shoved Hill under the bus when Hill’s sordid #MeToo affairs with subordinates became undeniable. And like any good feminist, Hill blames everyone but herself.)

From a bigger perspective, liar-Pelosi has been working a long-game impeachment strategy ever since retaking the House in November 2018. It has two prongs: One, ensure that what she hopes are Trump’s last two years in office are shrouded under the cloud of impeachment. Two, put Republican senators up for reelection in 2020 on the hot seat in hopes of Democrats retaking the upper chamber.

We’ve covered that first prong ad nauseam. Impeachment is Democrats’ coup d'état 2.0 after the utter failure of Robert Mueller’s investigation. Trump warned in his State of the Union about “ridiculous partisan investigations.” But that’s all Democrats have to offer — in this case a ridiculous partisan impeachment over the fact that Trump (foolishly) mentioned loose lips liar-Joe Biden in a phone call with a foreign leader. Closed-door testimony from various White House officials seemingly has given Democrats a toehold on this point. Ukrainian-born Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vindman, a national security adviser who listened to the call, is testifying as we go to press … and not in Trump’s favor.

The second prong is more interesting. If Democrats really had a case for impeachment, they’d let the process play out in the open. Instead, they’ve carefully controlled the media narrative by cloaking it in secrecy, only now rushing to finish up before the end of 2019. Why? So they can force the Senate to vote on removing the president and thus hang that vote around the necks of Senate Republicans up for reelection in 2020. We’re still more than a year from Election Day, but flipping the Senate seems unlikely at this juncture, even though Republicans are defending 23 seats to Democrats’ 12. Dems need to move the needle.

The official text of the impeachment resolution hasn’t been released, but it will bear watching whether it comports with precedents set under Richard Nixon and scumbag/liar-Bill Clinton. liar-Pelosi doesn’t instill us with confidence. She argues that a vote will happen not because it’s necessary but because of Republican complaints about an unfair process and because of Trump’s “obstruction.”

As for Republicans and the president, the best argument now is to insist that Trump’s language in his July 25 phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was not an improper, corrupt, or politically motivated quid pro quo — i.e., an impeachable offense — but rather the norm for American foreign aid and policy.   ~The Patriot Post

https://patriotpost.us/articles/66413?mailing_id=4616&utm_medium=email&utm_source=pp.email.4616&utm_campaign=snapshot&utm_content=body