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In 2018, the redoubtable Candace Owens started a movement called Blexit, encouraging American blacks to leave the Democrat(ic) Party:
Black People Don’t Have to be Democrats. #BLEXIT
The video in the tweet below shows the remnants of the latter years of segregation in the Democrat-controlled South:
Candace Owens has been involved with TurningPointUSA, headed by Charlie Kirk, founded to encourage a libertarian form of conservativism at American colleges and universities.
Through TurningPointUSA, Owens met a young Englishman, George Farmer, who has now launched TurningPointUK with the same objectives in mind at British universities.
TurningPointUK launched officially last week with three events in London, Nottingham and Brighton which took place between March 10 and 13, 2019.
Here’s a short video from February about what the organisation supports:
Owens and Farmer are engaged to be married. On Monday, March 11, they visited the House of Commons as the guests of pre-eminent Brexiteer, Jacob-Rees Mogg (C-North East Somerset).
This is when Blexit met Brexit:
I do hope Candace is right about ‘a free-speech takeover’ in Britain. We sorely need it.
Best wishes for both Blexit and Brexit — two movements I definitely support.
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The part of then-candidate Donald Trump’s platform I had the most concerns about in 2016 was a barrier along the southern US border.
Yet, by the end of 2017, I was convinced that something must be built.
However, I had not yet seen the following set of figures from that year, enumerating just how much illegal immigration is costing America, state by state. These are staggering numbers:
The comments in the tweet are illuminating in that many Americans say they are in siege mode: tense, tired, afraid and suspicious.
Others point to the better ways in which such money could be used to improve the lives of American citizens.
Mega-MAGA Young Republican, Scott Presler of Virginia, recently wrote a letter to the editor asking why illegals get better treatment than American citizens. He is not wrong:
Notice that Democrats do not support funding a secure border or a wall. Consequently, not only are the states are paying for illegals’ upkeep, the federal government is, too.
Meanwhile, drugs, gangs and other criminals pour into the United States harming innocent people — law-abiding, tax-paying American citizens and their families. South of the border, amongst the illegal aliens, women and children are subject to trafficking and rape.
How can a Democrat wilfully ignore that?
This absurdity has run its course. President Trump is doing his best to get the wall built and beef up security along the border. Yes, declaring a national emergency for the United States — rather than for a foreign country, for once — was the right thing to do.
Let us pray this situation is resolved, at least partially, by the end of the year.
Last week, I posted a summary of President Donald Trump’s 2019 State of the Union (SOTU) address.
In case you missed the event, CBS has a video and full transcript.
It created such a buzz that I have more bookmarks than would fit into one post.
What follows are America’s views of the SOTU as seen online.
Polling
Trump got high marks from viewers at home:
The CBS reporter seemed shocked that Americans side with Trump on immigration. He can barely get the words out:
Trump’s much vaunted ‘wall’ is gaining traction. This was the issue that the media said would lose him votes in 2016. In the end, he won the election, and now a clear majority of voters agree with him on this most controversial issue.
Here is a breakdown by political party:
Note that nearly one-third of Democrats approve and — just as importantly for 2020 — 82% of Independents do, too.
CNN also conducted a poll. The results must have upset them greatly:
Adding both positive percentages together gives Trump’s SOTU a 76% approval rating — the same as CBS’s. There appears to be a rounding error in CNN’s:
The Republican National Committee (RNC) calls it ‘Spirit of 76%’ (an association with 1776):
Television ratings
Trump’s speech was a huge televisual draw.
On February 6, The Hollywood Reporter provided the ratings (emphases mine below):
The State of the Union was a slightly bigger draw than it was in 2018.
Just under 46.8 million people — 46.79 million, to be precise — watched President Trump’s address to Congress across 12 networks, about 3 percent more than watched a year ago.
The 2018 address drew 45.55 million viewers. Trump’s first address to Congress in 2017 — not technically a State of the Union, as he had only been in office a few weeks — drew the largest audience of his term to date with 47.74 million.
Fox News led the field 11.27 million viewers from 9-10:30 p.m. ET, off slightly from the 11.5 million who watched the 2018 SOTU. NBC topped broadcast networks with 7.14 million viewers, followed by CBS (6.68 million) and ABC (5.91 million). The Fox broadcast network’s 4.2 million viewers beat out both MSNBC (3.79 million) and CNN (3.47 million).
The four broadcast networks and big three cable news outlets combined for 42.46 million viewers. PBS, Telemundo, Univision, Fox Business and CNNe combined to averaged 4.33 million.
Tuesday’s address drew more viewers than the comparable ones in the first terms of Barack Obama (42.79 million in 2011) and Bill Clinton (42.2 million in 1995) but fell well short of George W. Bush’s 2003 State of the Union, which drew 62 million as Bush made a case for invading Iraq. That address is the most-watched State of the Union in this century.
In earlier metered-market ratings, the State of the Union averaged a 16.3 household rating across ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC, up about 10 percent from a 14.8 last year. The SOTU was also slightly higher in metered markets than Trump’s 2017 address, which is not technically considered a State of the Union speech as he’d only been in office a few weeks.
Two anti-Trumpers’ positive verdicts
At least two anti-Trump pundits praised him for a great speech.
Here is Bret Baier from Fox News:
And the Wall Street Journal‘s Peggy Noonan, who wrote Bush I’s ‘Thousand Points of Light’ acceptance speech for the Republican nomination in 1988:
As for those who watched at home:
Favourite SOTU themes
Many of the tweets I saw were supportive of Trump’s views on socialism, abortion and human trafficking.
Socialism
Trump firmly denounced socialism. If you think that is unfair, look at how Venezuela, once South America’s jewel in the crown, has deteriorated:
A number of people picked up on Bernie Sanders’s reaction:
Here’s a graphic — meme — to circulate:
The Dems have a plan of attack, though. In fact, they already previewed a new lie of theirs on a Sunday news show:
Abortion
Stephen Miller did a marvellous job writing the speech, but the part on abortion was especially moving:
The following day, House Republicans re-introduced the Born Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act, sponsored by Ann Wagner (R-Missouri) and Steve Scalise (R-Louisiana). Unfortunately, the measure failed to pass for consideration, as the vote had to be unanimous.
Ann Wagner had this to say:
Behind the scenes
According to The Daily Caller‘s Benny Johnson, someone fainted during the speech:
Benny also liked Trump’s speech:
Democrats
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and her freshmen Representatives received rightful criticism.
However, all the Democrats deserve the public’s censure for booing Trump when he introduced the critical subject of border security by mentioning the migrant ‘caravans’. The Daily Caller reported conservative commentator Michelle Malkin’s reaction:
“When you have the Democrats booing because President Trump was exposing and continuing to hammer the fact that these caravans are endangering the country and posing enormous costs to people at the border, let alone in the interior, this is a message I think is going to resonate all the way through 2020, and it’s going to pose a huge optics problem for the Democrat party,” Malkin said …
“I think it underscores an important point that President Trump himself has made in the face of this debate and the intransigence of the open borders Democrats — and that it’s not just about a wall. As long as you have these magnets drawing people here and everybody’s aware of it around the world, it’s not going to stop,” she said earlier in the interview.
“And that is a point that President Trump made during the address last night. … President Trump delivered very defining moments that contrast the differences between the parties.”
I hope she is right.
Joe Manchin
There was only one Democrat who stood with the president, at least on energy and abortion: Senator Joe Manchin from West Virginia. He’s delighted to see the revival of coal mines in his state. On abortion, he had this to say:
Nancy Pelosi
Pelosi, a notional Catholic, invited the president of Planned Parenthood as a special guest:
Then, there was Pelosi’s jewellery.
She wore a long gold brooch, a tiny version of the Mace of the United States House of Representatives. The Mace is modelled on the Roman-era fasces, which has always represented authority:
AlterNet has a photo of Pelosi and a bit of history on how the Mace has been used in the House of Representatives. It is on regular display when the House is in session (emphases mine):
At each daily session, the Sergeant at Arms carries the mace in procession, ahead of the speaker in to the rostrum. While the House is in session, the mace stands on a pedestal at the speaker’s right hand. The mace is almost four feet in length and made of silver and 13 ebony rods (representing the original states in the union).
It’s the people’s house, and the people have entrusted it to Speaker Pelosi for this term. Along with it comes the power to maintain order in the House.
The Roman authorities used fasces on criminals and people disturbing the peace. Lictors — officials similar to law enforcement officers — could beat miscreants and criminals with the whole fasces or untie the bundled rods and go after several at a time. They also had the authority to use the axe inside the fasces to put them to death, when necessary.
Later in history, fasces became a symbol representing national unity and indivisibility: many rods bundled together make a single entity.
This American Intelligence Media video purports that Pelosi wore the mace pin to signal that she is the equal to President Trump. That’s a very real possibility.
Whatever the case, there were times when it was clear she does not want Americans to succeed:
Democrat women
The only time Democrat women rose was to cheer Trump’s stats on women in the workforce and in Congress.
That’s right, gals, applaud yourselves:
As TurningPoint USA’s Candace Owens pointed out:
The Daily Wire‘s Ryan Saavedra tweeted this in response to AOC (Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez from Queens):
Senator Kamala Harris (D-California) seemed to deny the crime going on at the southern border:
Prescription drug prices
There is one important SOTU topic that has not received much coverage — the cost of prescription drugs:
I found this response to the tweet interesting:
Democrat rebuttal
Since President Reagan’s tenure, Democrats believe it is their duty to provide a short SOTU rebuttal to Republican administrations.
Before I return to and conclude on the SOTU, it is worth mentioning the 2019 rebuttal.
The Democrats who give these short speeches are not exactly la crème de la crème. Last year’s was a young member of the Kennedy clan who did not do well at all, either visually or rhetorically.
This year, it was the turn of Stacy Abrams, who unsuccessfully ran for governor of Georgia last year and indirectly complained about her loss:
According to the Gateway Pundit (emphases in the original):
Stacey Abrams opened the Democrat Party response to President Trump’s State of the Union Address by wishing everyone a happy Lunar New Year.
Stacey Abrams: “Good evening my fellow Americans and Happy Lunar New Year.”
And it went down hill from there.
And they wonder how they lost the working class and Middle America?
The chairwoman of the Republican Party — Mitt Romney’s niece — tweeted:
I’m not sure what universe Abrams is living in, but what she said is patently untrue:
The Wall Street Journal‘s Kimberley Strassel put it this way:
SOTU fact checking
Some readers might wonder how wrong Stacy Abrams was.
The Daily Signal posted a well sourced article supporting Trump’s speech content: ’13 Fact Checks on the State of the Union Address’, which three of their journalists compiled.
The Q Tree has more facts backing up Trump’s speech: ‘The State Of Our Union’.
Unity
The SOTU theme of ‘Choosing Greatness’ points to Trump’s call for national — and political — unity.
Recall that the motto for the United States is E Pluribus Unum: Out of Many, One.
Brad Parscale, Trump’s 2020 campaign manager tweeted:
Former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee — father of Trump’s press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders — made a political observation:
And, socially, the Trumps’ ingenious choice of special guests showed national unity, with young and old from so many different backgrounds and personal experience. I won’t show this year’s White House tweet in full, because the photo included was from 2018, however, the text reads as follows:
President @realDonaldTrump and @FLOTUS‘ #SOTU guests all come from different walks of life. No matter their story, each has something important in common: They represent the very best of America.
They are an impressive group of people.
Matthew Charles exemplifies the good results that come when politicians put party differences aside and work together, as Kellyanne Conway, Trump’s victorious 2016 campaign manager explains:
Matthew Charles deserved his release, as BreakPoint.org explains in ‘Restoring All Things — One Person At A Time’, a moving account of Charles’s personal transformation.
Conclusion
I am very much looking forward to seeing what the next year brings for the Trump Administration — and for the United States, as well as the world.
With Donald Trump, we are witnessing history in the making. This era will be written about for generations to come. Enjoy it and embrace it while it lasts.
On Tuesday, February 5, 2019, President Donald Trump gave his second State of the Union (SOTU) address.
His theme was ‘choose greatness’.
His able speechwriter and adviser, Stephen Miller, wrote an inspiring, fact-filled address.
Special guests
The president had an incredibly varied group of special guests, all of whom were mentioned in his speech and who sat with First Lady Melania Trump:
– a retired astronaut (Buzz Aldrin),
– three Second World War veterans (Herman Zeitchik, Joseph Reilly and Irving Locker),
– two law enforcement officers (DHS investigator Elvin Hernandez and Pittsburgh SWAT team member Timothy Matson),
– a survivor of the Holocaust as well as the Pittsburgh synagogue attack last year (Judah Samet, whose birthday it was),
– a concentration camp survivor (Joshua Kaufman),
– the father of a Navy Seaman who was killed on the USS Cole (Tom Wibberley),
– an Angel Family whose elders were murdered in their home by an illegal immigrant (Debra Bissell, Heather Armstrong, and Madison Armstrong),
– two reformed ex-convicts (Alice Johnson and Matthew Charles),
– a lumber mill manager (Roy James),
– a young mother who overcame drug addiction (Ashley Evans),
– two children (cancer survivor Grace Eline and a boy bullied for his name [no relation] Joshua Trump [please pray for this lad]).
On February 4, Big League Politics said that the guest list was Trump’s way of sending a clear message to Democrats about his priorities.
Everyone sang ‘Happy Birthday’ to Judah Samet, the Holocaust survivor. What a treat that must have been for him:
Meanwhile, some of the Democrats invited illegal immigrants.
Here is the video. The speech is very long: 1 hour and 22 minutes:
That said, I highly recommend watching the video, because in urging Congress and the American people to ‘choose greatness’, President Trump showed himself to be a unifier. As one viewer at home put it:
Before I go into the speech, it is worth pointing out that not everyone attends, in the event the worst case scenario occurs. This year’s designated survivor was Energy secretary Rick Perry:
Truth v speculation
So many people expected fireworks. Some expected Trump to declare a state of emergency. Others wanted revelations on FISA:
Think about it. The greatest US president in living memory wants to be re-elected in 2020. He’s going to play the long game.
There was also speculation as to whether Trump prepared two different speeches.
Some people think that Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-California) got the wrong speech. She did spend a lot of time perusing whatever she received during Trump’s SOTU delivery.
Recall that Pelosi did not want Trump to deliver his SOTU at all, under spurious grounds of security, when the Secret Service and Homeland Security were already well prepared, as this event is an annual one.
Interestingly, the House of Representatives, which Pelosi heads, has been historically known as ‘the People’s House’, and is not defined by political party. The leader of the Republicans in the House of Representatives, Kevin McCarthy (R-California), wanted the SOTU to go ahead on January 29.
Some think that Pelosi might be ill or duly influenced by an outsider.
Nonetheless, Trump remained undeterred, despite Pelosi’s attempts to control the date of the SOTU, which should have taken place on January 29.
On January 28, Pelosi wrote Trump to say that the rescheduled date was Tuesday, February 5. The US president duly accepted in writing that same day.
In the end, she won. But, was it a Pyrrhic victory?
Let us not forget that another shutdown could start on February 15.
Meanwhile, in the Republican-controlled Senate, on the morning of the SOTU, to be delivered that evening, Trump tweeted about Chuck Schumer (D-New York):
Departure for the Capitol
First Lady Melania Trump left the White House separately, as she did in 2018. Up to that time, the first ladies accompanied their husbands:
Meanwhile, the president’s limousine was waiting:
The Trump children, except for Barron, were in attendance.
Note the CIA director’s fabric pattern:
Along with a few other Supreme Court members, Justice Kavanaugh arrived:
As people took their places, Dem presidential hopeful Senator Kamala Harris (California) took it upon herself to give a ‘pre-buttal’ SOTU message on Facebook, which Dem voters did not like one bit.
Democrat identity politics
There was no rerun of last year’s kente cloth and black clothing.
This year, many of the female Democrats wore all white, in tribute to the Suffragettes.
The address
As is customary at SOTUs, the Vice President sits behind the President to his right and the Speaker of the House to his left. Mike Pence had a simple glass of water in front of him whilst Nancy Pelosi had an ornate water display:
Normally, the Speaker introduces the President, but Trump took no chances and immediately began his speech, excerpted below, emphases mine.
Trump received many standing ovations. Townhall has an article with tweets stating when the Dems did not stand, some of which are below. They definitely do not want American greatness, that’s for sure.
He was careful to introduce political and national unity at the beginning:
The agenda I will lay out this evening is not a Republican agenda or a Democrat agenda. It is the agenda of the American people …
There is a new opportunity in American politics, if only we have the courage to seize it. Victory is not winning for our party. Victory is winning for our country.
He mentioned the 75th anniversary of D Day and mentioned his aforementioned special guests who were there on the Normandy beaches:
Here with us tonight are three of those heroes: Private First Class Joseph Reilly, Staff Sergeant Irving Locker, and Sergeant Herman Zeitchik. Gentlemen, we salute you.
He also mentioned the 50th anniversary of the moon landing:
Half a century later, we are joined by one of the Apollo 11 astronauts who planted that flag: Buzz Aldrin. This year, American astronauts will go back to space on American rockets.
The retired astronaut immediately rose to his feet to salute his Commander In Chief:
It’s obvious that Trump really wants national unity:
Together, we can break decades of political stalemate. We can bridge old divisions, heal old wounds, build new coalitions, forge new solutions, and unlock the extraordinary promise of America’s future. The decision is ours to make.
We must choose between greatness or gridlock, results or resistance, vision or vengeance, incredible progress or pointless destruction.
Tonight, I ask you to choose greatness.
Freshman Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York) — AOC — remained seated:
He went on to discuss his administration’s economic success — an incredible feat, considering where the US was in January 2017:
In just over 2 years since the election, we have launched an unprecedented economic boom — a boom that has rarely been seen before. We have created 5.3 million new jobs and importantly added 600,000 new manufacturing jobs — something which almost everyone said was impossible to do, but the fact is, we are just getting started.
Wages are rising at the fastest pace in decades, and growing for blue collar workers, who I promised to fight for, faster than anyone else. Nearly 5 million Americans have been lifted off food stamps. The United States economy is growing almost twice as fast today as when I took office, and we are considered far and away the hottest economy anywhere in the world. Unemployment has reached the lowest rate in half a century. African-American, Hispanic-American and Asian-American unemployment have all reached their lowest levels ever recorded. Unemployment for Americans with disabilities has also reached an all-time low. More people are working now than at any time in our history –- 157 million.
But someone broke rank. Uh oh:
Trump went on to describe tax cuts, removal of the Obamacare mandate as well as regulatory cuts.
Then he discussed energy production:
We have unleashed a revolution in American energy — the United States is now the number one producer of oil and natural gas in the world. And now, for the first time in 65 years, we are a net exporter of energy.
Senator Joe Manchin (D-West Virginia) was practically the only Dem who applauded:
He spoke about criminal justice reform — the First Step Act — and discussed Alice Johnson:
Alice’s story underscores the disparities and unfairness that can exist in criminal sentencing — and the need to remedy this injustice. She served almost 22 years and had expected to be in prison for the rest of her life.
In June, I commuted Alice’s sentence — and she is here with us tonight. Alice, thank you for reminding us that we always have the power to shape our own destiny …
Inspired by stories like Alice’s, my Administration worked closely with members of both parties to sign the First Step Act into law.
Matthew Charles followed:
We are also joined tonight by Matthew Charles from Tennessee. In 1996, at age 30, Matthew was sentenced to 35 years for selling drugs and related offenses. Over the next two decades, he completed more than 30 Bible studies, became a law clerk, and mentored fellow inmates. Now, Matthew is the very first person to be released from prison under the First Step Act. Matthew, on behalf of all Americans: welcome home.
Immigration and border security came next:
Tonight, I am asking you to defend our very dangerous southern border out of love and devotion to our fellow citizens and to our country.
The Dems booed.
Trump continued:
No issue better illustrates the divide between America’s working class and America’s political class than illegal immigration. Wealthy politicians and donors push for open borders while living their lives behind walls and gates and guards.
Meanwhile, working class Americans are left to pay the price for mass illegal migration — reduced jobs, lower wages, overburdened schools and hospitals, increased crime, and a depleted social safety net.
Tolerance for illegal immigration is not compassionate — it is cruel. One in three women is sexually assaulted on the long journey north. Smugglers use migrant children as human pawns to exploit our laws and gain access to our country.
Human traffickers and sex traffickers take advantage of the wide open areas between our ports of entry to smuggle thousands of young girls and women into the United States and to sell them into prostitution and modern-day slavery.
Here’s the aforementioned Kamala Harris:
Trump then mentioned the Bissell family:
Here tonight is Debra Bissell. Just three weeks ago, Debra’s parents, Gerald and Sharon, were burglarized and shot to death in their Reno, Nevada, home by an illegal alien. They were in their eighties and are survived by four children, 11 grandchildren, and 20 great-grandchildren. Also here tonight are Gerald and Sharon’s granddaughter, Heather, and great‑granddaughter, Madison.
Afterwards, he introduced ICE Special Agent Elvin Hernandez:
When Elvin was a boy, he and his family legally immigrated to the United States from the Dominican Republic. At the age of eight, Elvin told his dad he wanted to become a Special Agent. Today, he leads investigations into the scourge of international sex trafficking. Elvin says: “If I can make sure these young girls get their justice, I’ve done my job.” Thanks to his work and that of his colleagues, more than 300 women and girls have been rescued from horror and more than 1,500 sadistic traffickers have been put behind bars in the last year.
The Dems stood to applaud, although AOC remained seated:
The Dem women did get on their feet for three standing ovations when Trump mentioned females in the workforce and Congress:
No one has benefitted more from our thriving economy than women, who have filled 58 percent of the new jobs created in the last year. All Americans can be proud that we have more women in the workforce than ever before — and exactly one century after the Congress passed the Constitutional amendment giving women the right to vote, we also have more women serving in the Congress than ever before.
He discussed trade then healthcare, introducing young Grace Eline:
Last year, Grace was diagnosed with brain cancer. Immediately, she began radiation treatment. At the same time, she rallied her community and raised more than $40,000 for the fight against cancer. When Grace completed treatment last fall, her doctors and nurses cheered with tears in their eyes as she hung up a poster that read: “Last Day of Chemo.” Grace — you are an inspiration to us all.
He briefly discussed his support of school choice, then moved on to the dignity of human life, particularly that of the unborn:
There could be no greater contrast to the beautiful image of a mother holding her infant child than the chilling displays our Nation saw in recent days. Lawmakers in New York cheered with delight upon the passage of legislation that would allow a baby to be ripped from the mother’s womb moments before birth. These are living, feeling, beautiful babies who will never get the chance to share their love and dreams with the world. And then, we had the case of the Governor of Virginia where he basically stated he would execute a baby after birth.
To defend the dignity of every person, I am asking the Congress to pass legislation to prohibit the late-term abortion of children who can feel pain in the mother’s womb.
Let us work together to build a culture that cherishes innocent life. And let us reaffirm a fundamental truth: all children — born and unborn — are made in the holy image of God.
Two days later, on February 7, Congress once again — twice now — defeated that legislation.
Trump discussed the great progress being made internationally.
In talking about Venezuela, he attacked socialism:
We stand with the Venezuelan people in their noble quest for freedom — and we condemn the brutality of the Maduro regime, whose socialist policies have turned that nation from being the wealthiest in South America into a state of abject poverty and despair.
Here, in the United States, we are alarmed by new calls to adopt socialism in our country. America was founded on liberty and independence –- not government coercion, domination, and control. We are born free, and we will stay free. Tonight, we renew our resolve that America will never be a socialist country.
Vermont senator, Bernie Sanders (who has returned to being an Independent), was the most furious. Many years ago, during the Cold War, he and his wife spent their honeymoon in Russia:
He mentioned Tom Wibberley:
Eighteen years ago, terrorists attacked the USS Cole — and last month American forces killed one of the leaders of the attack.
We are honored to be joined tonight by Tom Wibberley, whose son, Navy Seaman Craig Wibberley, was one of the 17 sailors we tragically lost. Tom: we vow to always remember the heroes of the USS Cole.
He discussed anti-Semitism and introduced Timothy Matson, Judah Samet, Joshua Kaufman and Herman Zeitchik:
Just months ago, 11 Jewish-Americans were viciously murdered in an anti-semitic attack on the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh. SWAT Officer Timothy Matson raced into the gunfire and was shot seven times chasing down the killer. Timothy has just had his 12th surgery — but he made the trip to be here with us tonight. Officer Matson: we are forever grateful for your courage in the face of evil.
Tonight, we are also joined by Pittsburgh survivor Judah Samet. He arrived at the synagogue as the massacre began. But not only did Judah narrowly escape death last fall — more than seven decades ago, he narrowly survived the Nazi concentration camps. Today is Judah’s 81st birthday. Judah says he can still remember the exact moment, nearly 75 years ago, after 10 months in a concentration camp, when he and his family were put on a train, and told they were going to another camp. Suddenly the train screeched to a halt. A soldier appeared. Judah’s family braced for the worst. Then, his father cried out with joy: “It’s the Americans.”
A second Holocaust survivor who is here tonight, Joshua Kaufman, was a prisoner at Dachau Concentration Camp. He remembers watching through a hole in the wall of a cattle car as American soldiers rolled in with tanks. “To me,” Joshua recalls, “the American soldiers were proof that God exists, and they came down from the sky.”
… I began this evening by honoring three soldiers who fought on D-Day in the Second World War. One of them was Herman Zeitchik. But there is more to Herman’s story. A year after he stormed the beaches of Normandy, Herman was one of those American soldiers who helped liberate Dachau. He was one of the Americans who helped rescue Joshua from that hell on earth. Almost 75 years later, Herman and Joshua are both together in the gallery tonight — seated side-by-side, here in the home of American freedom. Herman and Joshua: your presence this evening honors and uplifts our entire Nation.
Democrat reality
The Democrats, by and large, looked sombre. It could be because of this — from over a year ago:
The Trumps say thank you
The US president tweeted a full video of his speech, then followed up with this:
I have much more to follow on this, but will continue next week.
Tomorrow, I hope to feature a detailed post on President Trump’s second State of the Union (SOTU) address, which he delivered to both Houses of Congress on Tuesday, February 5, 2019.
In his speech, the US president spoke persuasively about cherishing life in the womb. From LifeNews.com (emphases mine):
“To defend the dignity of every person, I am asking Congress to pass legislation to prohibit the late-term abortion of children who can feel pain in the mother’s womb,” the president said. “Let us work together to build a culture that cherishes innocent life.”
And:
He added, “Let us work together to build a culture that cherishes innocent life. Let us reaffirm a fundamental truth: all children — born and unborn — are made in the holy image of God.”
This is contrary to the Democrats wanting to legalise abortion in various states up to birth. This is now possible in New York.
Some call that late-term abortion, some call it at-birth abortion, and others of us call it infanticide.
The day after Trump’s SOTU address, an interviewer from The Daily Caller asked Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-California) what she thought of the president’s stance in wanting a ban on late-term abortions.
Speaker Pelosi replied that Trump’s desire to prohibit late-term abortion was ‘sad’. The Daily Caller reported:
“It’s really quite a sad thing when you know that we’ll be talking about something that applies to the health and life — health and ability to have other children of women,” she said when asked by The Daily Caller. “I hope that in his family, he never has to face that crisis and apply his attitude toward it.”
I’m not sure all of that quite makes rhetorical sense, but, despite the word salad, it’s pretty clear she’s against.
The only Democrat to stand and applaud when Trump spoke against late-term abortion was Senator Joe Manchin (D-West Virginia). He told The Daily Caller:
“To me, it shouldn’t be a fight at all. It’s just totally immoral to do that. I think.”
“I just think it’s just horrendous,” Manchin noted. “I don’t know how anyone could even fathom supporting anything such as late-term abortion.”
Like many of today’s Democrats, both Pelosi and Manchin are nominal Catholics. Their views on abortion and Planned Parenthood go against Church teaching.
Interestingly, in 2018, Church Militant featured a profile of both Manchin and his Republican opponent — also Catholic — Patrick Morrissey, described as being ‘100% pro-life’.
The article says that Manchin spoke of an abortion debate in 2017:
“These are social issues, not political issues,” Manchin said of the abortion debate last year. “You are what you are — I was born and raised that way. Life is very sacred to me.”
Yet, we learn from Morrissey — and this is rather surprising for a socially conservative state — that late-term abortion is legal in West Virginia:
In 2014 — his second year as attorney general — he rallied fellow pro-lifers: “In West Virginia, abortion is legally permitted until birth — one of nine states where that is allowed. I will gladly defend new laws that change this terrible fact. Let’s do something about our lack of protection for unborn children now.”
Wow. Who knew?
Manchin holds some contradictory positions. Could he, a former governor of West Virginia (2005-2010), be having a change of heart?
We’ll have to wait and see.
Meanwhile, Speaker Pelosi’s position on the matter seems to be more mainstream among today’s Democrats.
Before I report on the annual March for Life which, this year, took place on Friday, January 18, an excellent citizen journalist, Lady Penquin/Lady Penguin, wrote a sobering essay on abortion, ‘Silent Scream, the Genocide of the Unborn’, the following day.
I would encourage everyone committed to the cause of life to read it in full. It is excellent.
Lady Penquin begins:
In 1962, Rachael Carson published a book, “Silent Spring,” – which was basically a treatise, where Ms Carson contended that the entire ecosystem was adversely affected by the indiscriminate use of pesticides, particularly, DDT. Using “Silent Spring” as a metaphor, her premise was that the adverse environmental effects were so catastrophic that conceivably, some day, spring, when new life begins, would be silent.
It’s likely that few people don’t know the volcanic impact that book had on the social-environmental movement of the 1960’s – but the result was explosive – leading to the banning of DDT, and restricted use of pesticides and chemicals in general. This post isn’t, of course, to debate DDT, but it is to speak of another Silent Spring.
The Silent Spring of the unborn. The cries of babies we’ll never hear.
On Jan. 22, 1973, eleven years, and four months after the world began to worry about Nature’s creatures, the Supreme Court (Jan 22, 1973) issued their decision in “favor” of Roe, from Jane Roe v Henry Wade (Dallas District Attorney). America was now allowed to kill its unborn children.
Since then:
The original Roe v Wade ruling has since been expanded by subsequent court rulings which solidified women’s rights to privacy, and a woman’s “right” to abort – even through the third trimester.
It appears that the Supreme Court no longer has a vested interest in “protecting the potentiality of human life,” or even the needs of the State (survival of society).
We’ve watched for decades failed measure after measure, in the hallowed halls of Congress, defeat of any ability to restrain and pull back the so-called “Safe, legal and rare” mantra the Lefties shouted with glee that dark day in 1973. Safe, legal and rare has turned into 46 years of almost unfettered abortions. Worldwide, abortion was the leading cause of death in 2018, 42 million murdered infants.
In 2012, when I wrote this article: “King Herod, Obama and the Genocide of the Unborn” – the number of aborted American babies was 50 million. Today, 6 1/2 years later, the number stands at 61 million. Go to the counter, and watch it change in real time. It should shock you.
http://www.numberofabortions.com/
Every uptick of those counters represents an innocent life destroyed, a silent scream not heard.
She rightly laments abortions done for convenience, then asks us to think about why the ‘pro-choice’ crowd never show any abortion photos with their written material:
If abortion was a good thing, a clean act and not a horrific one, then they wouldn’t have to hide the stories or prevent the pictures from being shown. They wouldn’t lie in court and say the videos were “doctored.” Only evil deeds have to be kept hidden and in darkness.
Also:
Right now, the state of Virginia has a Democrat, a woman, trying to end required ultrasounds before abortions. What are the pro-abortionists afraid of? That someone might see the image of their baby and decide to choose life? Why are the Democrats so intent on killing children?
I know that a lot of American churchgoers think that the Democrats are political good guys, but, if that were true, why would things such as the following occur?
This past week, Democrats blocked a bill that would have defunded Planned Parenthood. Planned Parenthood’s name is a misnomer. Planning means preparing in advance, and making mature choices. It is not supposed to mean the local factory where you stop by and get an abortion because a baby might be a “mistake” as former President Barack Obama said.
In previous Congresses, efforts were made to pass a fetal pain bill, recognizing that infants can certainly feel pain by 20 weeks, though we actually know they can feel pain much earlier – 10 weeks. Why didn’t it pass? The pro-abortionists in the Senate filibustered it. Republican Senator Lindsey Graham has reintroduced the bill this legislative session.
She points out that, in his address to the 2018 March for Life, President Trump pointed out (emphasis mine):
the United States [is] one of only seven countries to allow elective late-term abortions, along with China, North Korea, and others.
Lady Penquin included two tweets that should cause pro-choice supporters to change their minds. Please circulate these among your children, other family members and friends:
Click on the above graphic to see it in full.
A foetus is far from being a ‘lump of cells’, as most abortion supporters put it.
Fortunately, young Americans are now starting to question Roe v Wade:
That is welcome news, indeed.
But, why is it that President Trump has been the only president to ever address the March for Life?
In 2017, after a week in office, he sent this tweet:
Vice President Mike Pence addressed the crowd that year, as did Kellyanne Conway, Trump’s 2016 campaign manager:
I am pleased to report that, even though Big Media do not report on this annual event, countless thousands continue to attend. Please take a minute to watch the time-lapse footage of this year’s march:
Please pray for those who choose life:
For many, it is not easy.
Did everyone know that, while President Trump was working at the White House the weekend of January 12 and 13, 2019, 30 Democrats were in Puerto Rico on a party junket?
Here’s the headline from the Drudge Report (click on photo to see full image):
That’s Senator Bob Menendez (D-New Jersey), no stranger to the opposite sex.
As Big League Politics explains:
Perhaps Menendez should be more careful about signing himself up for lavish overseas trips. (Puerto Rico is a territory of the United States located in the Caribbean Sea.) The Senator was charged with accepting bribes in the form of gifts, most notably trips to the nearby Dominican Republic, where it’s alleged he was provided underaged prostitutes by a doctor named Salomon Melgen. Despite being charged by prosecutors in regards to the trips themselves, Menendez got off easy in a ‘not guilty’ ruling that left many anti-corruption advocates shaking their heads.
Hopefully Menendez will be inclined to act in a more responsible manner on this trip on account of being surrounded by his Democratic colleagues and corporate lobbyist handlers.
The article has more on the weekend frolics. Note the corporate sponsors (lobbyist list here, emphasis mine):
At least 30 Democrats from the House and Senate are said to be kicking back on the island in a trip sponsored by lobbyists from companies like Facebook, Amazon, Comcast and Verizon. They’ll have a chance to view a showing of the hit musical Hamilton, and get acquainted with the show’s cast.
BOLD PAC, a political component of the ethnic-lobby House Hispanic Caucus, is said to have chartered a Boeing 737 to transport visitors to the Caribbean island, still said to be recovering from the effects of Hurricane Maria.
Hmm.
Anyone responding with a ‘So what?’ might consider this:
Back on the mainland, Senator Mark Warner (D-Virginia) had this to say:
Federal workers and contractors can ring two numbers to assuage their suffering:
President Trump would agree:
He called time on the Dems:
Things could be shifting on the D side:
Because:
Especially as:
Although this looks as it it is a Democrat standoff with Trump, there is a much larger issue here:
One day, all will be revealed. In the meantime, everyone in the West would do well to pay less attention to the spin from the usual media outlets.
David A Clarke, Jr, the most famous retired sheriff of Milwaukee, has an outstanding Twitter feed.
He tells it like it is.
A selection of his recent tweets follows.
On the December 26 murder of the on-duty police officer, Corporal Ronil Singh, in California:
On the Wall:
On Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-California), who spent her Christmas holiday in Hawaii (while President Trump worked in the Oval Office):
On feminism:
On self-defence:
On voter fraud:
On police killed in the line of duty and policing policy:
On Obama:
On the media:
On Mitt Romney:
On the Democrats’ hypocrisy:
If you enjoyed those, there is more at his website:
Sheriff Clarke has views on a wide range of topics. His site is definitely worth visiting.
On Tuesday evening, January 8, 2019, President Trump made a 10-minute nationally broadcast announcement about the southern US border:
These are some of the top points he made:
Also:
And:
Trump refrained from declaring a national emergency:
His address was largely framed as humanitarian. He also stated that, at the urging of the Democrats, the ‘wall’ will be made of steel rather than concrete. This offers several advantages to border patrol officers, as they can see through the slats.
Ultimately:
The White House site has more.
To those who cannot understand the need for a barrier along the southern border, he said:
Therefore:
Afterwards, the Democrats gave their rebuttal to Trump’s announcement. There is no obligation to rebut, but the Democrats have been doing this since Reagan was president. Here we have the bi-coastal duo of Senator Chuck Schumer (D-New York) and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-California):
So, if a barrier between the US and Mexico is unnecessary, why did the US finance one in … Jordan?
Meanwhile, the shutdown continues. Most Americans will not notice the difference, because Social Security and welfare benefits continue to reach people, but the governor of Maryland, Larry Hogan, is unhappy. Priorities, priorities:
Democrats forget that their stalling on resolving on the border situation with President Trump, who spent all of Christmas and New Year — as well as the present — working at the White House, also has a negative impact on Mexico:
Barriers help to keep undesirables out …
… such as this man, employed at an elite Catholic school:
Breitbart reports that the man (emphases mine):
used a fake name — going by Mario Arguetta — and a fraudulent Social Security Number to obtain employment.
Perez, who had been living in San Pablo, now faces three felony counts of child pornography.
Due to California’s sanctuary state law, illegal aliens — even those who are convicted felons — are shielded from deportation and arrest by federal immigration officials.
Returning to the tweet above about San Diego, this is how well their barrier, which has been operational since the 1990s, works. What had been a crime-ridden border area is now home to shops and restaurants. People can cross by foot along a gated area from Tijuana to reach a pleasant commercial district. Worth watching:
There is a real problem at the border. President Trump is doing what he can to solve it.
But — he needs the Democrats’ help, too.
Over Christmas, I received one message from a loved one worried that President Trump will lead the US into war.
It was a bit surprising, as he had already laid out his policy to withdraw from Syria and would begin a troop draw-down in Afghanistan. That said, my loved one is a faithful MSNBC viewer. I have tried but cannot persuade her to get news from other sources.
As the American president noted yesterday:
As Charlie Kirk, the founder and president of Turning Point USA — an organisation for university-aged Trump supporters — says, President Trump had a very successful 2018 despite his opponents’ best efforts to thwart him:
As an article in today’s Tennessee Star (initially posted on ConservativeHQ.com) pointed out:
President Trump’s been remarkably successful in a short time — through legitimate means. Democrats and the media relentlessly peck at him for his brash personal style and reflexive tendency to punch back via tweet, but if the success of a president is measured in actions performed, Trump rates extremely high.
It’s important to look back at Donald Trump’s personal history through his outstanding career in real estate. He knew anybody who was anybody. He went to all sorts of parties and receptions. People told him all manner of secrets in conversation.
The important thing to remember here is that Donald Trump does not drink. Nor has he ever used drugs. So, he remembers all sorts of details about what people — his friends, at the time — told him.
Shortly before the election on November 8, 2016, he held one of his many campaign rallies. At this particular one, he explained why his notional friends hated him for running for president:
He won the election he was not supposed to win. He became the leader of the free world, in traditional parlance.
It was more than just the media who had it in for him. A coup of sorts has been going on ever since he was elected, so please read the text inside the box:
At some point, however, one has to question the abject hatred. Is it just about President Trump — or is it about something more?
Because it’s about more than Trump.
This visceral hatred from the Left — media included — is also aimed at half of the US population:
President Trump spent all of Christmas and New Year at the White House:
All of the legislators have been on holiday, except for one, a Republican.
President Trump — and this Republican legislator — were hoping for an early return of senators and congressional representatives in order to press ahead with urgent legislation regarding the southern US border. But to no avail. Here is the Speaker-Designate of the House of Representatives:
Meanwhile, the First Lady hosted the Trumps’ New Year party on her own:
So, when the Democrats rail against President Trump come January 3, remember why the media and political elite — including his own Republicans — are doing so. They are being duplicitous in their rants.
Regardless, 2019 promises to be a ‘fantastic’ one for the United States, and, by extension, the world!
Perhaps less so for the president’s detractors.
If we want peace in the world, we need to continue to pray for President Trump’s safety and well-being.
