Trump Secures Release of American Hostage in Yemen

On Monday, President Donald Trump announced that he had secured the release of Danny Burch, a U.S. citizen from Texas who was held hostage in Yemen for 18 months.

Burch was an employee for the Yemeni Safer oil company when Houthi rebels reportedly abducted him from the capital in broad daylight while dropping his children off at a school event in September 2017, the National Review reports.

“It is my honor today to announce that Danny Burch, a United States citizen who has been held hostage in Yemen for 18 months, has been recovered and reunited with his wife and children,” Trump tweeted. “I appreciate the support of the United Arab Emirates in bringing Danny home.” . . .

“Danny’s recovery reflects the best of what the United States & its partners can accomplish. We work every day to bring Americans home. We maintain constant and intensive diplomatic, intelligence, and law enforcement cooperation within the United States Government and with our foreign partners. Recovering American hostages is a priority of my Admin, and with Danny’s release, we have now secured freedom for 20 American captives since my election victory. We will not rest as we continue our work to bring the remaining American hostages back home!”

“In 2017, U.S. citizen Danny Burch was taken hostage from Sanaa, Yemen. Today he is safe and secure, and is reunited with his wife and children,” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement, USA Today reports. “The family has asked for privacy as they recover from this ordeal.” (Read more from “Trump Secures Release of American Hostage in Yemen” HERE)

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‘EXECUTING BABIES’: Trump Unleashes on Democrats Voting Against Bill Preventing Newborns From Being Killed

President Donald Trump slammed Democrats on Monday evening for refusing to support legislation that would prevent innocent newborn babies from being killed if they were born alive after surviving an abortion.

“All but three Democrats voted against a procedural motion on the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act, denying it the necessary 60 votes to proceed,” The Mercury News reported. “The final vote count was 53 in favor and 44 opposed.”

“Senate Democrats just voted against legislation to prevent the killing of newborn infant children,” Trump tweeted. “The Democrat position on abortion is now so extreme that they don’t mind executing babies AFTER birth.”

“This will be remembered as one of the most shocking votes in the history of Congress,” Trump continued. “If there is one thing we should all agree on, it’s protecting the lives of innocent babies.”

The Mercury News added: “Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has sought to put Democrats – and 2020 candidates in particular – on the record on the issue after recent comments made by Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam of Democrats. McConnell also plans to hold a vote in the coming weeks on the Green New Deal climate-change legislation as he has cast the Democrats as extreme.” (Read more from “‘EXECUTING BABIES’: Trump Unleashes on Democrats Voting Against Bill Preventing Newborns From Being Killed” HERE)

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HATE CRIME HOAX? Trans Person Burned Down Own Home Due to LGBT Issues Not Getting Enough Attention

Michigan prosecutors charged 54-year-old Nikki Joly — a transgender person — for allegedly burning down their own home in 2017 in what investigators appear to believe was intended to be a fake hate crime. . .

While an official motive has not yet been established, The Detroit News noted that an investigative police report shed light on a possible motive:

Two people who worked with Joly at St. Johns United Church of Christ, where the Jackson Pride Center was located, said he had been frustrated the controversy over gay rights had died down with the passage of the nondiscrimination law, according to the report.

The church officials, Barbara Shelton and Bobby James, when asked by police about a possible motive for the fire, said Joly was disappointed the Jackson Pride Parade and Festival, held five days before the blaze, hadn’t received more attention or protests.

Elmer Hitt, Jackson’s director of police and fire services, said on Monday that members of the community perceived the blaze to be a hate crime, but after a year of investigating the crime, prosecutors “ended up issuing charges” for first-degree arson on Joly. (Read more from “HATE CRIME HOAX? Trans Person Burned Down Own Home Due to LGBT Issues Not Getting Enough Attention” HERE)

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13 States Plus D.C. Where a Teenage Girl Can’t See an R-Rated Movie About Abortion — but Can Get One by Herself

There are actually places in the U.S. where teenagers not old enough to see an R-rated pro-life movie by themselves can get abortions without parental involvement.

Pro-lifers have been pushing back against the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) since it gave a surprise R rating to the upcoming film “Unplanned” last week. The movie’s story focuses on Abby Johnson, a former Planned Parenthood clinic director who became pro-life after being confronted with the truth while assisting with an ultrasound-guided abortion. The MPAA cited “some disturbing/bloody images” as the reason for the restrictive rating.

The R rating means that children under the age of 17 across America will not be able to see the movie in their local theater by themselves. But according to Planned Parenthood’s own website, there are 13 states (and one district) where a teenage girl could get an abortion by herself after being turned away at the box office:

Alaska

California

Connecticut

The District of Columbia

Hawaii

Maine

Nevada

New Jersey

New Mexico

New York (where a girl could now also get an abortion right up till birth)

Oregon

Vermont

Washington

Of course, abortion is a gruesome, violent act. In this video (warning: Disturbing content may be unsuitable for some audiences), a former abortionist describes (with diagrams and illustrations) a second-trimester surgical abortion. A movie that discusses the taking of an innocent child’s life in utero (especially through a graphic, ultrasound-guided procedure) isn’t exactly something you’d take younger kids to see.

But if a staged abortion is too violent and “disturbing” for a teenager to see by herself, then why in the world would our laws let her get the real thing without talking to their parents first? That’s the brave new world of “reproductive freedom” for you. (For more from the author of “13 States Plus D.C. Where a Teenage Girl Can’t See an R-Rated Movie About Abortion — but Can Get One by Herself” please click HERE)

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Another Media Hoax: Anti-Trump Letter’s 58 ‘Bipartisan’ Signers Are Mostly Obama Officials

A so-called “bipartisan” letter from 58 national security officials condemning the president’s use of an emergency declaration for border security has almost nothing “bipartisan” about it. In fact, it’s a document signed by a who’s who of top Obama administration officials and fiercely anti-Trump figures. But that didn’t stop the media from reporting the story as if there were actual bipartisan consensus.

The letter made the rounds through the legacy media on Monday, castigating the president’s use of an emergency declaration to enhance U.S. border security measures. It claims that there is “no factual basis for the declaration of a national emergency,” adding that there is no justification for “reprogramming billions of dollars in funding to construct a wall at the southern border.”

Teeing up an anti-Trump, open-borders narrative, Politico reported: “President Donald Trump — already facing opposition on his national emergency declaration from House Democrats and a collection of state attorneys general — will on Monday have to contend with a rebuke by a bipartisan group of 58 former national security officials denouncing the White House’s directive.”

Countless media publications, including CNN, Politico, the Washington Post, the Associated Press, and many more, claimed that the letter was bipartisan, offering credibility to the argument that these former national security officials are somehow neutral in their outlook.

But just looking at the group of 58 makes it quite clear that this “bipartisan” label is incredibly misleading, and the document has been reported with gross negligence concerning the signatories’ political beliefs and associations. The notion that the letter is bipartisan could not be further from the truth.

Running the numbers on the so-called national security experts shows that the group is hardly bipartisan: 47 of 58 signatories to the letter served in the Obama administration. The roster is a who’s who of several high-profile Obama personnel, including:

Former Secretary of State John Kerry

Former CIA Director John Brennan

Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper

Former National Security Adviser Thomas Donilon

Former DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano

Former UN Ambassador Samantha Power

Former CIA Director Leon Panetta

Former National Security Adviser Susan Rice

Another six of the signatories to the letter served in the Clinton administration. That leaves just five who served in the Bush 43 administration. All of the self-identified Republicans who served in the Bush administration — John Bellinger, Nicholas Burns, Eliot Cohen, Jendayi Frazer, and John McLaughlin — have publicly denounced President Trump and/or signed letters opposing him. A few of the 47 Obama officials who were carried over to the Trump administration have publicly attacked the sitting president. There is not one pro-Trump voice among the 58 signatories.

It still remains unclear what organization was behind gathering the signatures. For reasons unknown, none of the dozens of well-sourced national security reporters who wrote about the document disclosed where it came from. However, the letter does state that the signatures are on file with Yale Law School Professor Harold Koh, who was a political appointee under President Obama.

Much of the media played a large role in propping up a “bipartisan” letter that is in reality nothing of the sort. Fake news strikes again. (For more from the author of “Another Media Hoax: Anti-Trump Letter’s 58 ‘Bipartisan’ Signers Are Mostly Obama Officials” please click HERE)

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The Media’s Incredible Double Standard for the Mueller Probe and Starr’s Clinton Investigation

On Sunday night’s episode of “Life, Liberty and Levin” on Fox News, LevinTV host Mark Levin spoke with former solicitor general and Clinton-era independent counsel Ken Starr about the differences between his investigation and Robert Mueller’s Russia probe.

While Mueller and his investigative team have been largely free from mainstream media criticism, Levin said that Starr and his investigation were attacked “relentlessly.” Starr noted that the media often camped outside his house. While he wouldn’t wish that invasion of privacy on Mueller, he said, he had to wonder if the Washington-area media just didn’t know where the current special counsel lives.

Levin asked, “Why do you think the distinction, the difference in coverage?”

“There’s got to be a treaty of peace,” Starr explained, “with the networks, platforms, and so forth, they said, ‘We’re going to leave him alone.’”

“They like him,” Levin remarked. “They didn’t like you. Do you think it’s because of who you were investigating and who he’s investigating? I mean, isn’t that a logical conclusion?”

“It’s a very logical conclusion,” said Starr.

(For more from the author of “The Media’s Incredible Double Standard for the Mueller Probe and Starr’s Clinton Investigation” please click HERE)

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Bernie Sanders Won’t ‘Condemn the Genocidal Dictator’ in Venezuela ‘Because He Believes in His Ideology’

Friday on the radio, LevinTV host Mark Levin explained why socialism and collectivism are so effective in winning over American hearts and minds, despite their pernicious effects on society.

Levin read from his book “Rediscovering Americanism” and discussed the political philosophy of Russian-British political theorist and philosopher Isaiah Berlin, who said that not enough concern is given to the political academics and intellectuals, whose ideas determine the future of politics and of humanity itself.

“In fact, ladies and gentlemen … there is no debate,” Levin said. “We never engage, except at a very superficial level. We never explain humanity, nature, individualism, freedom. ‘Who’s gonna pay for that? Who’s gonna pay for that?’ It’s a good question, but we’re not going to win hearts and souls and minds.”

Levin explained that Berlin found this both surprising and dangerous, since so many societies today have been significantly changed or violently upset by fanatical social and political ideas, which Berlin called “dangerous.”

“‘When ideas are neglected by those who ought to attend to them’ — that is, the citizen,” Levin read, “‘That is to say, those who have been trained to think critically about ideas, they sometimes acquire an unchecked momentum, and are irresistible, an irresistible power over multitudes of men and women that may grow too violent to be affected by rational criticism.” And so yesterday when I played Bernie Sanders saying, ‘Well, what we need is a vote, a fair election in Venezuela,’ and I was pointing out they’re beyond that. He will not condemn the genocidal dictator, because he believes in his ideology. Berlin would say that’s preposterous, Bernie Sanders. You’re taking about a vote, when the man is destroying his country.”

Listen:

“It’s not a question of governing yourself, it is the extent to which you can compel other people to do what you want them to do, so you can be all you can be. You see what I’m saying? ‘I want universal healthcare. I want free college. I want this, I want that.’ Well, you’re enslaving other people. You’re denying them their liberty. Maybe they don’t want it,” Levin said. (For more from the author of “Bernie Sanders Won’t ‘Condemn the Genocidal Dictator’ in Venezuela ‘Because He Believes in His Ideology'” please click HERE)

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New Theory Surfaces in Jussie Smollett Hoax

By The Blaze. Actor Jussie Smollett was arrested this week for filing a false police report after Chicago Police say he orchestrated a hate crime hoax against himself. Authorities alleged two Nigerian brothers helped Smollett carry out the hoax.

But on Saturday, a new theory surfaced alleging reality is not what law enforcement say it is. . .

Chicago Police said Thursday that Smollett paid two Nigerian brothers — Olabinjo Osundairo, 27, and Abimbola Osundairo, 25 — $3,500 each for their help in carrying out the fake attack. Authorities said Smollett paid the brothers with checks.

But TMZ reported Saturday that “sources connected to the case” say the money Smollett paid the Osundairo brothers was not for the alleged fake attack. Instead, Smollett paid the brothers to help train him in the gym. . .

According to TMZ, even the check’s memo line read, “5 weeks training nutrition plan.” (Read more from “New Theory Surfaces in Jussie Smollett Hoax” HERE)

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Police Say Jussie Smollett Paid Two Men by Check to Stage Attack; ‘This Publicity Stunt Was a Scar That Chicago Didn’t Earn’

By CBS Chicago. Accusing him of slapping the city in the face, Chicago police announced Thursday that “Empire” actor Jussie Smollett had been charged with concocting an attack in Streeterville, because “he was dissatisfied with his salary.”

“Smollett took advantage of the pain and anger of racism to promote his career,” Chicago Police Supt. Eddie Johnson said at a news conference Thursday morning. “This publicity stunt was a scar that Chicago didn’t earn, and certainly didn’t deserve.”

Smollett turned himself in to Chicago police early Thursday morning, hours after he was charged with disorderly conduct for allegedly staging a racist and homophobic attack against himself last month in Streeterville. Smollett turned himself in at the Central District police station at 18th and State streets around 5 a.m., police said. He made no statement to police. (Read more from “Police Say Jussie Smollett Paid Two Men by Check to Stage Attack; ‘This Publicity Stunt Was a Scar That Chicago Didn’t Earn'” HERE)

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Couple Sues Planned Parenthood After Botched Abortion

An Idaho couple that traveled to Albuquerque, New Mexico for an abortion is suing two Planned Parenthood branches and a Boise hospital after a failed chemical abortion left them with a living, health-challenged child, demanding the defendants help pick up the tab for their son’s care.

While six weeks pregnant, Bianca Coons and her partner Cristobal Ruiz went to Idaho for an abortion in 2016, the Albuquerque Journal reports. They claimed they were “destitute and attempting to maintain and limit the size of their family” beyond the two kids they already had, and fearing Idaho’s abortion waiting period would “result in the baby being much more advanced in development.”

According to the lawsuit, Planned Parenthood’s San Mateo facility administered the first half of a “medication” abortion (mifepristone, or RU-486), then instructed Coons to take the second half (misoprostol) later. They went home to Boise, where a day later Coons went to an ER for severe nausea and learned her still-living baby had a “strong heartbeat.” A doctor there consulted Planned Parenthood and relayed its instructions to take the second half of the chemical abortion. . .

Coons and Ruiz’s son was ultimately born one month premature, suffering “jaundice and blood sugar issues.” His parents fear he “may carry a defect or injury into adulthood.”

Their suit is seeking $765,000 in damages to offset the costs of raising “an additional unplanned child,” as well as damages for breach of contract, unfair trade practices, consumer protection violations, and emotional distress. (Read more from “Couple Sues Planned Parenthood After Botched Abortion” HERE)

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Film Industry Gives R-Rating to ‘Unplanned’ Film About Pro-Life Conversion

The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) gave the soon to be released film “Unplanned” an R rating, citing “some disturbing/bloody images.” MPAA states on its website that the R-rating (Restricted) means that the film cannot be viewed in theaters by anyone under the age of 17 unless there is an “accompanying parent or adult guardian.” The film tells the story of former Planned Parenthood manager Abby Johnson’s pro-life conversion.

“UNPLANNED is an ‘R’ rated film which has no MPAA cautions for profanity, nudity, sex or violence … except for violence directly associated with the abortion process,” said writers/directors Cary Solomon and Chuck Konzelman, reported Movieguide.

“Ironically, the MPAA seems to be indirectly endorsing the pro-life position: namely that abortion is an act of violence,” they added. They do not plan to contest the rating. . .

“Even more ironically, as a result of the MPAA’s decision to give us a ‘Restricted’ rating, many teenage women in this country who can legally obtain an actual abortion without parental permission will be prohibited from going to see our film containing simulated images of abortion, without obtaining parental permission,” they said.

“We are pushing the boundaries of what has never been before on such a wide scale by showing America exactly what abortion is — and abortion is disturbing. It’s violent,” said Abby Johnson, whose life and true story the film is based upon. “No one will walk away from seeing this movie and say ‘I didn’t know.'”

(Read more from “Film Industry Gives R-Rating to ‘Unplanned’ Film About Pro-Life Conversion” HERE)

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