Senators Call on Republicans to Stop Acting Like Democrats

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Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, and Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., are calling on their fellow Republicans to “act like Republicans,” to offer a clear alternative to the Democratic Party in the final weeks before the midterm elections.

In an op-ed written for Fox News, the lawmakers note that political experts and electoral history both suggest that Republicans are set to lose the House of Representatives in November.

“The truth is, over the next 25 days if our party doesn’t show the sharp contrast in each party’s vision for America, then the ‘experts’ will be right,” they write.

Showing that “clear difference” means exposing how “the Democratic Party of 2018 has adopted the most extreme positions in American history.”

The character assassination of Justice Brett Kavanaugh, the harassment of conservatives encouraged by Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., and others, impeaching President Trump, raising taxes, abolishing ICE, and passing single-payer “Medicare for All” make their list of extreme leftist positions. “These radical positions aren’t shared by the country,” they emphasize.

But what is the Republican agenda to counter these leftist positions? Jordan and Meadows list several of President Trump’s accomplishments, but voters tend not to care what you’ve done for them. They want to know what you will do after the election. For these conservatives, that agenda means keeping the Republican promise to replace Obamacare, add work requirements to welfare, and secure the southern border with a wall to combat illegal immigration, violent gangs, and drug trafficking.

“It’s time for Republicans to act like us,” the lawmakers conclude. “It’s time for Republicans to be bold, not timid. It’s time for Republicans to show the American people how radical the left has become. It’s time for Republicans to campaign with confidence and win.”

The problem confronting Republicans who want to champion these issues is that the Republican Party under its current leadership has failed to paint a contrast with Democrats. Congress failed to repeal Obamacare. House Republicans have surrendered conservative priorities to Democrats in spending bills no less than six times. Now Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., who wants to succeed Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wisc., as speaker of the House, is championing a stand-alone bill to fund the wall that everyone knows cannot pass the Senate. Given the opportunity to attach conservative policies to must-pass budget legislation to force a fight, Republicans punted. Now they ask for re-election, but for what? To keep punting?

Jordan is also a candidate for speaker. As this op-ed makes clear, his conservative leadership vision for the Republican Party is to keep promises and have the fights that will draw clear contrasts with the Democrats. If Republicans want to win in November and beyond, they should pay attention. (For more from the author of “Senators Call on Republicans to Stop Acting Like Democrats” please click HERE)

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If Trump Champions ‘Criminal Justice Reform,’ He Betrays Crime Victims

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In 1997, Devin Lombardi’s 16-year-old brother, Erik Ingebretsen, was savagely and ruthlessly murdered in Colusa, California, by his childhood friend, Nathan Ramazzini. Through the unimaginable pain of the ordeal and the endless time it took to finally secure justice, Devin and her family at least took solace in the fact that they wouldn’t have to think about Ramazzini again. Justice is supposed to be final. That all changed with the “bipartisan criminal justice reform” movement. With no regard for public safety, law enforcement, or victims, California passed, among a slew of pro-criminal bills, a law reopening sentencing for juvenile murderers like Ramazinni, and Devin will now have to face him at a new hearing on October 23.

You might think this is some fringe agenda confined to left-wing California, but this is, in fact, just a modest part of the “de-incarceration at all costs” agenda being supported in every state by politicians and outside groups of both political parties. And codifying these same provisions that California recently passed on the national level is a top priority of Senate Republicans if they maintain the Senate. They might even pass the sentencing reduction bill or the back-end jailbreak bill in the lame-duck session. Section 208 of the sentencing bill offers a rehearing for juveniles serving more than 20 years in federal prison. By definition, if they are in a federal prison (as opposed to state) for more than 20 years, they are likely MS-13 murderers.

To add Orwellian insult to this injury, Chuck Grassley and other top GOP leaders plan to work with the very Democrat members of the Senate Judiciary Committee who mercilessly vitiated due process with Bret Kavanagh to pass bills letting out juvenile murderers who were convicted with due process and evidence. So much for Democrats being concerned about justice for juvenile crimes.

With much anxiety headed into the re-sentencing hearing, Lombardi reached out to me because almost nobody else in the political system gives a damn about victims. The same Democrats on the committee who said we need to care about the feelings of an alleged victim from 36 years ago with no evidence refuse to exhibit a shred of compassion for victims of crimes that were definitely committed and the perpetrators convicted. Yet rather than calling out their hypocrisy on criminal justice, Republicans plan to reward Senators Durbin, Hirono, Booker, and Harris by passing their bill to unleash hell on victims of violent crime. Both parties just don’t care about victims of real violent crime.

In 2012, Gov. Jerry Brown signed SB9 as part of a series of pro-criminal laws to reopen sentencing for those convicted of life in prison without parole before they were 18. One of the biggest lies of the “prison reform” movement, particularly among pseudo-conservative apologists, is that this is just for the phantom “low-level, nonviolent offender.” They milked the case of Alice Johnson for all it was worth as a poster child for over-incarceration, while they ignored the hundreds of people that likely died from her top-level cocaine trafficking, the biggest case in Tennessee at the time. They ignore the fact that she had numerous opportunities to avoid the mandatories and cooperate with prosecutors. They ignore the fact that most of these drug traffickers commit other violent crimes.

This tactic of putting out home videos from people who are already elderly and sitting in prison is not limited to drug trafficking. Nathan Ramazzini and the political movement behind him are now doing the same thing even for murderers. As I warned before, Nathan Ramazzini is already out with a PR campaign to say he’s a changed man. This industry is bigger than any of us have realized, and Kim Kardashian West has now gotten Trump to empower it. This will set off a revolution to focus exclusively on criminals in a vacuum without considering the victims, deterrent, rising crime rates, or the spectacular failures of jailbreak.

And what does this do for victims? I can’t imagine the pain, but Devin Lombardi explained to me her feelings ahead of the October 23 hearing, which will likely last a full week:

When we are forced to go through these resentencing hearings and parole board hearings, when we’ve been living under the safety of never having to, we are sucked right back into our trauma. We suffer flashbacks, anxiety, depression, and debilitating triggers that affect how we function every day. I wasn’t prepared as a wife and now mother to be thrown back into the anguish I experienced back in 1997. It’s been a very rough time for my whole family, and we are all suffering because of it. None of us deserve this. We’ve suffered enough.

Devin was just 13 years old at the time of Erik’s murder and was his only sibling. Her parents suffer from depression over the murder and don’t have the energy to deal with seeking justice, so Devin is on her own. There were others involved in the murder, but they were released a long time ago because she lacked the capacity to fight so many battles. “I’m fighting alone an uphill battle; I don’t have the strength or mental capacity to fight the other offenders.”

As hard as it is to cope with the murder of a brother, it’s almost a full-time job to seek justice. Devin is a special education teacher with a two-year-old daughter, but has to find the time to fight this lonely battle so that her daughter can be safe from Nathan and those like him. Because she is not a politically correct victim, she doesn’t have endless funds, lawyers, Hollywood figures, and the media championing her cause. They are all on the other side.

So who is standing with law and order? (For more from the author of “If Trump Champions ‘Criminal Justice Reform,’ He Betrays Crime Victims” please click HERE)

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Democratic Candidate Who Attacked Opponent on ‘Bigfoot Erotica’ Says We Should Negotiate With the Taliban

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There’s a new controversy brewing in the House of Representatives race in Virginia’s 5th Congressional District between Republican candidate Denver Riggleman and Democratic candidate Leslie Cockburn, and this one has nothing to do with Bigfoot.

At a Monday night debate, the Washington Free Beacon reports, Cockburn actually said that the United States needs to negotiate with the Taliban if we want to get out of the war in Afghanistan — which turned 17 on October 7 this year.

“One problem is that the patron of the Taliban is Pakistan,” Cockburn said. “We have to negotiate with the Taliban and Pakistan in order to leave that war, and I think that this should be a matter of diplomacy, and it needs to happen now.”

Cockburn says this opinion is informed by her time as a journalist covering three separate wars at different times in Afghanistan’s history.

Riggleman, by contrast, served as an Air Force intelligence officer during the early days of the War on Terror and said in a recent ad that his team helped plan some of the initial bombing runs over Afghanistan after 9/11.

To push back against Riggleman’s resume, Cockburn asserted that because, as an intelligence officer working from the Afghan theater at a naval support station, he had a minor role, the Free Beacon continues. To her claims, he responded, “I’m not going to defend my military service.”

You may remember this race from the previous media attention it received following Cockburn’s claims that Riggleman was into “Bigfoot erotica” over some Instagram photos that Riggleman later explained were the result of a running inside joke between him and his Air Force buddies. (For more from the author of “Democratic Candidate Who Attacked Opponent on ‘Bigfoot Erotica’ Says We Should Negotiate With the Taliban” HERE)

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Football Legend Calls for CNN Host to Be Fired for Racist Comments About Kanye West

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Football legend-turned-activist Herschel Walker is calling for CNN to fire Don Lemon after the “CNN Tonight” host laughed when rapper Kanye West was referred to as “the token negro of the Trump administration” during a segment that aired Tuesday night.

The segment — which has been slammed as “racist” — began with Lemon asking if President Donald Trump is simply “using Kanye as a prop to win over black voters before the midterms.” . . .

Sellers’ remark prompted laughter from Lemon and fellow panelist Tara Setmayer, who followed up by saying West is “the token negro of the Trump administration.”

Walker, who has openly supported Trump, is also an outspoken advocate for mental health issues – which were also mocked during the segment. Walker took to Twitter to express his disbelief.

“Went to bed appalled over Don Lemon’s despicable behavior laughing at Tara Setmayer and Bakari Sellers’ awful remarks about Kanye West’s visit with [Trump]! Woke up wondering why CNN doesn’t take all three off the air?” Walker tweeted, adding the hashtag “#Shameful.” (Read more from “Football Legend Calls for CNN Host to Be Fired for Racist Comments About Kanye West” HERE)

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Pope Accepts the Resignation of U.S. Cardinal but Downplays Sex Abuse Cover up Allegations Against Him

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Pope Francis accepted the resignation of embattled D.C. Cardinal Donald Wuerl Friday months after allegations of sexual abuse cover-up against him surfaced in a Pennsylvania Grand Jury report. The allegations date back to when he was bishop of Pittsburgh from 1988 to 2006. Wuerl was named 170 times in the report and many of the faithful in the Archdiocese of Washington have been clamoring for his resignation.

The pope downplayed the allegations against Wuerl in his letter. He praised the cardinal’s “nobility” and asked him to remain as an Apostolic Administrator for the Archdiocese until his successor is named.

“You have sufficient elements to ‘justify’ your actions and distinguish between what it means to cover up crimes or not to deal with problems, and to commit some mistakes,” the pope claimed. “However, your nobility has led you not to choose this way of defense. Of this, I am proud and thank you.”

The pope’s claim is odd given that Wuerl did vigorously defend himself in this manner, initially denying wrongdoing in his handling of the cases in an August letter to priests arguing that “a just assessment of my actions, past and present, and my continuing commitment to the protection of children will dispel any notions otherwise made by this report.” . . .

The Archdiocese of Washington also attempted to defend Cardinal Wuerl in this way by publishing a website called the Wuerl Record which praised him for his overall record on dealing with abusive priests. The archdiocese also attempted to explain away specific examples of Wuerl reassigning abusive priests. However, the website was taken down after wide criticism and the archdiocese admitted that it had been a “mistake.” (Read more from “Pope Accepts the Resignation of U.S. Cardinal but Downplays Sex Abuse Cover up Allegations Against Him” HERE)

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Rand Paul Question to FBI Director Reveals Something Stunning About Monitoring of Trump’s Phone Calls

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During a Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee hearing on Thursday, Senator Rand Paul asked FBI Director Christopher Wray if the Bureau or other intelligence agencies have listened to President Trump’s phone calls.

According to Wray, at least in an open hearing, the question couldn’t be answered.

(Read more from “Rand Paul Question to FBI Director Reveals Something Stunning About Monitoring of Trump’s Phone Calls” HERE)

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Behold the Media Meltdown Over Kanye West’s Visit to the Oval Office

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Kanye West stopped by the Trump White House today to discuss prison reform, among other things. He mentioned the right to bear arms, the problem of illegal firearms, and a whole host of issues that certainly triggered the elite news media. The clip will be featured down below. Kanye then walked over and hugged President Trump. You knew once that happened, West was going to be torched by liberals who cannot stand him saying nice things about Trump and his message. The Daily Caller’s Amber Athey was there to list the grocery list of meltdowns that occurred, the worst being from MSNBC, who claimed this visit was an “assault on our White House.”

(Read more from “Behold the Media Meltdown Over Kanye West’s Visit to the Oval Office” HERE)

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UK Supreme Court Makes Unanimous Decision, Backs Bakery That Refused to Make Gay Marriage Cake

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By The Guardian. A Belfast bakery run by evangelical Christians was not obliged to make a cake emblazoned with the message “support gay marriage”, the supreme court has ruled, overturning a £500 damages award imposed on it.

The unanimous decision by the UK’s highest court was greeted as a victory for free speech but condemned by gay rights groups and the Equality Commission of Northern Ireland as a backward step in combating discrimination.

Ashers had refused to produce the cake, featuring the Sesame Street puppets Bert and Ernie, in 2014 for Gareth Lee, who supports the campaign to legalise same-sex marriage in Northern Ireland. He wanted to take it to a private function marking International Day Against Homophobia.

The judgment, delivered after the supreme court’s first hearing in Northern Ireland in May, reverses earlier decisions in Belfast county court and a court of appeal ruling that the company discriminated against Lee, who is gay, on the grounds of sexual orientation.

The five justices on the supreme court – Lady Hale, Lord Mance, Lord Kerr, Lord Hodge and Lady Black – found the bakery did not refuse to fulfil Lee’s order because of his sexual orientation and therefore there was no discrimination on those grounds. The business relationship between Lee and Ashers did not involve people being refused jobs or services because of their religious faith, the judges added. (Read more from “UK Supreme Court Makes Unanimous Decision, Backs Bakery That Refused to Make Gay Marriage Cake” HERE)

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The Supreme Court’s Ruling on the ‘Gay Cake’ Row Is a Victory for Common Sense

By Telegraph. The decision of the Supreme Court in the great “gay cake” row is a victory not just for common sense but for freedom of expression. The affair began four years ago when a customer ordered a £36 sponge cake from Ashers bakery in Northern Ireland which refused his order.

They did so not because he was gay but because they objected to the political slogan on the cake in support of gay marriage. (Read more from “The Supreme Court’s Ruling on the ‘Gay Cake’ Row Is a Victory for Common Sense” HERE)

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Kanye West Jumped on an Apple Store Table to Talk About Trump After Leaving the White House

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By The Blaze. After Kanye West left his lunch meeting with President Donald Trump, during which he said some truly bizarre things, he had some more to get off his chest. So he jumped on a table and gave a speech at a local Apple Store.

Jack Jenkins, a reporter for Religion News Service, witnessed the surprising scene and live-tweeted it. . .

For reasons unknown, West entered the Apple Store and asked employees if he could give a “keynote speech.” Apparently deciding it didn’t matter whether or not the store staff approved of this speech, West jumped on a table.

According to Jenkins, West told those gathered that he made an updated MAGA hat that left off the word “again,” because that part of the slogan “hurts black people.” He also bragged that Trump had worn the hat, showing people a picture on his phone for proof.

(Read more from “Kanye West Jumped on an Apple Store Table to Talk About Trump After Leaving the White House” HERE)

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Kid Rock and Kanye West Have Both Mused About Running for Office. Now They’re at the White House

By TIME. . .Kid Rock and Kanye West, two of Trump’s most high-profile musician supporters, visited the White House on Thursday for the signing of the Music Modernization Act, which aims to update industry copyright law for the streaming era.

West was already scheduled to meet with both Trump and White House senior adviser Jared Kushner on Thursday to discuss, among other topics, prison reform and the resurgence of manufacturing in America, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters earlier this week.

The news then broke that Rock, who publicly supported Trump in the 2016 election, would join the president and West at the singing ceremony to witness the music legislation become law. . .

Both Rock and West have flirted with the idea of running for office. But while Rock ultimately admitted that his Republican Senate bid in Michigan was a promotional stunt for his 2017 album Sweet Southern Sugar, West seems to still be intent on running for president — just perhaps at a later date. (Read more from “Kid Rock and Kanye West Have Both Mused About Running for Office. Now They’re at the White House” HERE)

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O’Keefe Undercover Video Nails Tennessee Democrat’s Senate Campaign for Lying About Kavanaugh Support

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The latest sting video from journalist James O’Keefe’s Project Veritas exposes Tennessee Democratic candidate Phil Bredesen’s dishonest campaign for U.S. Senate, indicating that he lied about his support for Justice Brett Kavanaugh to win the election.

Captured on video by an undercover reporter, a staffer for Bredesen’s campaign explained that the candidate’s public support for Kavanaugh was a “political move” to boost his support with some moderate Republicans.

“He thinks that, like, we’re down like half a point right now. It’s, like, really close and we’re losing by a point or two. So he thinks that if, like, by saying this he’s appealing to more moderate Republicans and he’ll get more of them to vote for us,” said Maria Amalla, a field organizer for Bredesen’s campaign.

“Phil Bredesen and his campaign have been shown to lie to Tennesseans, saying one thing to persuade voters on the campaign trail but clearly planning to do something entirely different should he get into office,” O’Keefe said in a statement.

Check out the full video.

Republican Senate candidate Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., ought to have a field day with this. (For more from the author of “O’Keefe Undercover Video Nails Tennessee Democrat’s Senate Campaign for Lying About Kavanaugh Support” please click HERE)

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