Good morning!

Blessings on you and your family, and from all the Huckabee staff!

Today's newsletter includes:

• Bible Verse Of The Day
• Why "Fort Pelosi" and Nancy's "9/11-style" commission?
• President Trump Blasts President Biden All The Way Back To His Basement Safe Space
• No Longer An Asset
• Freshman Republican Offers An Alternative COVID Relief Bill
• Unanimously Approved
• Liberal MORONS Want to Boycott CPAC Hotel Chain
• RIP To Giants of Two Music Genres
• A Reader Writes Back...
• America The Beautiful

Sincerely,

Mike Huckabee

BIBLE VERSE OF THE DAY 

Why "Fort Pelosi" and Nancy's "9/11-style" commission? 

By Mike Huckabee

Speaker Pelosi is obsessed with linking Trump supporters to domestic terrorism and QAnon. Never mind that most Trump supporters have either never heard of QAnon or are hazy on its conspiracy claims. And never mind that they would not have supported an assault on the U.S. Capitol.

Freshman Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado referred to the Capitol complex, surrounded by 7-foot fencing topped with razor wire and populated with almost 5,000 National Guard troops, as “Fort Pelosi” in her CPAC speech on Saturday.

"I wouldn’t be surprised if we started quartering soldiers in the committee hearing rooms,” she quipped.

Careful --- don’t give Nancy any more ideas.

"There’s plenty [of National Guard] in the parking garages of ‘Fort Pelosi,’” she said. "Maybe we can start unreasonably searching and seizing members of Congress. Oh, wait, we’re already doing that in the House chambers.” That was a reference to newly-installed metal detectors and the guards now posted at each entrance to the House chamber. It’s been almost two months since the assault, and the Speaker is just getting started in her attempts to milk it.

Boebert wasn’t the first to call it “Fort Pelosi.” A former U.S. Army Green Beret and current National Guard officer who is now in Congress, Rep. Michael Waltz of Florida, said the same thing earlier this month on FOX BUSINESS NEWS.

He described Pelosi’s order as an effort to use them as her “private security force” and said she’d delivered them an “open-ended mandate.”

"I’ve repeatedly asked,” he said, “and so have a number of my colleagues, the Army, the National Guard Bureau, the Department of Justice, what is the threat that is so large, specifically, that requires more soldiers on Capitol Hill than we have in Iraq and Afghanistan combined? And then what are we going to go about it? What are we going to do going forward?”

Democrats claim the security measures remain due to ongoing threats, but is there any evidence of such threats? No, said Rep. Dunes, ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, in an interview with Maria Bartiromo on SUNDAY MORNING FUTURES. “This is nothing compared to the threats that we’ve seen for the last two decades since 9/11, 2001, of radical Islamic, potential, attacks on the Capitol and the targeting of politicians in other government buildings."

He went on: “...What this is really about, this is a Hollywood production scene. So, nobody’s in Washington DC, you can’t find anybody, nobody’s on the streets, the restaurants are mostly closed. And, what they did is, they put up fencing that should have been there in the first place." [NOTE: We know he meant some type of appropriate fencing, not of the razor-wire variety.]

"So, one of the basic rights that we've had in this country, for over 200 years," he said, "has been the freedom to assemble. And I’ve been through many protests while I’ve been in Washington...it happens all the time…

"...This is all about narrative-building...they want to label every conservative and Republican across this country as some type of dangerous domestic terrorist threat." Nunes added that he didn’t think it would work and would come off as the ridiculous stunt it is.

"It looks worse than a third-world country,” he said. “I’ve been to third-world countries during my time in Congress...and to see this fencing, this razor wire, is completely absurd when we’ve had over the past real serious threats that continue to this day in terms of FOREIGN intelligence, looking at radical Islamic problems that we still face.”

Nunes said there was no “intelligence failure” and that the security issue isn’t hard. There have been many mass protests at the Capitol, and every time --- till this one --- they've had proper fencing in place. This time they had a flimsy 3’ portable fence. Nunes said it’s “preposterous,” a “joke,” that we have to have this massive security overkill.

“Pelosi is the ‘mayor’ of the Capitol,” he said, responsible for the lack of security when it was needed. But she's deflecting that responsibility by having her “commission” look into it. As enlightening as it might be to have a commission look into why Nancy refused Trump’s approval of more security, including the National Guard, that’s not what this commission is going to examine. Its purpose is to further the anti-Trump narrative.

How do we know? I’ve said the tip-off was her choice of retired Lt. Gen. Russel Honore, a viciously anti-Trump partisan, to head Pelosi’s security review. He’s already planning to ask Congress for MORE security around the Capitol: 1,000 more police officers and even more barriers, to the tune of $100 million. Your tax dollars at work.

Pelosi herself needs to provide answers, specifically to questions laid out in mid-February in a letter signed by Rep. Jim Jordan, ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee; James Comer, ranking member of the House Oversight and Reform Committee; Devin Nunes, ranking member of the Intelligence Committee; and Rodney Davis, ranking member of the House Administration Committee. Their detailed letter is a must-read.

As for Trump supporters being members of QAnon, we’re getting letters from our own readers asking what this is all about. On Saturday, for example, we received a letter from Jean asking, “Governor, we must know the truth about all the satanic and child porn and trafficking in our government. Is any of it true and factual? I will trust you, and only you, to give us the truth.”

Nothing like a little pressure! I quote this letter not because I have all the answers, but because it illustrates how far most conservatives are from believing these wild conspiracy theories. They want to know the truth. The most consequential and widespread conspiracy story of all, that Trump was an agent of Russia who won in 2016 with Putin’s help, was a fiction created by the LEFT and circulated by the media with absolutely no real evidence, just deliberate fakes. And now, the left has replaced one insane hoax with another; namely, that Trump supporters are domestic terrorists, largely members of this QAnon group, and bent on a violent overthrow of America. Heck, most of us wouldn’t even know about QAnon if the left weren’t always talking it up.

My staff and I will find out as much as we can about QAnon and what they apparently believe about this alleged international circle of satanic, cannibalistic (not kidding) anti-Trump child abusers. We have no evidence of any of it. We understand this shadowy figure “Q” has not been identified and might not exist. But, to tell you the truth, this just hasn’t been part of our world.

One thing we do know, however: there is no evidence of any uprising being planned for March 4 (formerly the date for presidential inaugurations). It’s just a pretext for turning DC into an armed camp and blaming that on Trump. And when the uprising doesn’t happen, what then? Pelosi and Lt. Gen. Honore get to pat each other on the back for “stopping” it.

President Trump Blasts President Biden All The Way Back To His Basement Safe Space

By Mike Huckabee

Former President Trump reemerged onto the political scene Sunday with his speech at CPAC. And if Democrats were hoping all their false charges of insurrection and their second failed impeachment had bullied him into silence, boy, do they not know who they’re dealing with.

Trump came loaded with a rhetorical bazooka and blasted President Biden all the way back to his basement safe space. In a speech that I would call partisan red meat if it weren’t so accurate, Trump said, “Joe Biden has had the most disastrous first month of any President in modern history. Already, the Biden administration has proven that they are anti-jobs, anti-family, anti-borders, anti-energy, anti-women, and anti-science. In just one short month, we have gone from America first to America last.”

He said Biden brags about the education being provided to illegal immigrant children on the border while enforcing anti-science school closures on American children, and that his loosening of immigration laws has triggered a “new and horrible crisis on our southern border” that’s enriching child smugglers and putting “the vile coyotes back in business.”

He also said, “Biden has failed in his number one duty as chief executive, enforcing America’s laws. This alone should be reason enough for Democrats to suffer withering losses in the mid-terms and to lose the White House decisively four years from now.”

And he was just getting warmed up.

As to whether he intends to be the candidate in 2024, Trump remained coy. But he did clear up one major misconception: he called the idea that he’s going to form a third party “fake news.” Judging from the cheers and chants of “We love you” (never has an invocation of love so chilled the hearts of ex-hippies), he already owns a political party, so why form another? As I’ve been arguing here for weeks, Trump said, “Wouldn't that be brilliant? Let's start a new party, and let's divide our vote so that you can never win. No, we're not interested in that."

Tyler O’Neil at PJ Media has more quotes from Trump’s speech and the full video if you want to watch it all.

For those pressed for time, here are five key moments.

And for those who just like reading, here’s a full transcript.

No Longer An Asset

By Mike Huckabee

Now that New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is facing accusations of covering up a policy that killed thousands of nursing home residents and bullying other politicians to keep quiet about it, and not one but two allegations of sexual harassment, it appears the Democratic Party may have decided he’s no longer an asset worth covering for.

You can also tell that there’s blood in the water when members of the mainstream media suddenly…finally…start to come out of their comas and notice that this guy deserves an impeachment, not an Emmy Award.

Freshman Republican Offers An Alternative COVID Relief Bill

By Mike Huckabee

The House narrowly passed the Democrats’ massive $1.9 trillion COVID relief/stimulus bill, which will not survive the Senate entirely intact (the Parliamentarian has already ruled that a $15-an-hour minimum wage hike is major legislation that can’t be included in a budget reconciliation bill that only requires a simple majority vote.) But it’s likely that without a filibuster threat, the Senate will pass something quite similar, stuffed with non-COVID-related wish list items, bailouts to mismanaged blue states, giveaways to entrenched Democrat interest groups like teachers’ unions and Planned Parenthood, and pork, like a bridge for Chuck Schumer’s state and a subway for Nancy Pelosi’s district (will people hide from the virus in the tunnel?)

Not that it will do any good, but freshman Republican Rep. Peter Meijer of Michigan calls the current bill “an institutional abomination” and he’s offered an alternative bill. It cuts out the non-COVID-related spending, increases aid to those who really need it (including $2400 to lower-paid Americans instead of $1400) and still costs $1 trillion less.

Rep. Meijer says he hopes that once the Senate kicks the bill back to the House, “my Democratic colleagues will refocus and direct money where it matters.” I fear he hopes that because he’s a freshman. I have a feeling that by stiffing working Americans who voted for Trump and funneling tax dollars to their donors and cronies, his Democratic colleagues think they’re already directing money where it matters.

Unanimously Approved

By Mike Huckabee

Friday, an FDA panel voted unanimously to approve Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use. After full FDA approval, this will mark the third vaccine on the market. More details at the link.

Also, a study by the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis found that giving the antidepressant drug fluvoxamine to COVID-19 patients with mild-to-moderate symptoms may help reduce complications and prevent the need for them to be hospitalized.

So if we now have three vaccines to prevent the disease, and better procedures and drugs to treat those who do catch it, why are some people still talking about wearing masks and keeping up all the draconian lockdowns and government control until at least 2022? Because that’s the soonest that we can start voting out Democrats.

Liberal MORONS Want to Boycott CPAC Hotel Chain

By Mike Huckabee

Despite disagreeing with him on nearly every issue, I’ve always liked and defended Bill Maher because he’s one of the last of a dying breed: a genuine, old school, small-l “liberal” who has the guts to tell you exactly what he’s thinking in defiance of the modern totalitarian left “cancel culture.” And a great example is what he just had to say on his show directly to the purveyors of cancel culture. (Warning: contains some “only suitable for HBO” language.):

Sample quotes: Warning those on the left that “cancel culture is real,” and “it’s coming to a neighborhood near you.” And to those who try to destroy anyone who ever said or did anything that they disapprove of, including “canceling” Abraham Lincoln, Maher said, “Memo to social justice warriors: when what you’re doing sounds like an ‘Onion’ headline, stop.”

I might have said “The Babylon Bee,” but he’s right on. And speaking of becoming self-parodies, the latest crusade by the Keyboard Crybaby Corps is a “boycott Hyatt Hotels” move because they dared to host the CPAC conference in Orlando. For the record, hosting all kinds of conferences is what Hyatt does. They’re in the “hospitality” industry, “hospitality” being a term that I’m sure SJW’s are as unfamiliar with as they are the term “free speech.”

But screaming about a hotel hosting a conference is so stupid nobody could take it seriously, so they had to reinforce it with an even stupider grievance. And so, they declared that the stage at CPAC was deliberately built to resemble an Odal rune, a design that appeared on some Nazi uniforms. I congratulate them on actually opening a history book (that must be a first!), but it’s too bad they did it only to find something idiotic to pull completely out of context.

First of all, the Odal rune is hardly synonymous with Nazism. It’s been around for centuries and used in many contexts. Unlike the swastika, most people wouldn’t even recognize it as a Nazi symbol. On top of that, it’s a tremendous stretch to try to attach it to CPAC.

The stage was designed as a square with two walkway entrances so that it could hold multiple participants while maintaining social distancing. Finally, Matt Schlap of the American Conservative Union, which designed the stage, called the claim “outrageous and slanderous,” noting that unlike today’s radical leftists, CPAC has a longstanding commitment to the Jewish community and to fighting anti-Semitism, and that stage hosted Jewish speakers.

The Hyatt chain did the usual reflexive corporate virtue signaling, called hate symbols “abhorrent” and said they were taking the Nazi rune claim “very seriously.” I beg to differ. I agree that hate symbols are abhorrent, but nobody should take that ridiculous claim seriously. It should be laughed out of the room. It’s the perfect example of what Bill Maher was saying, and it belongs in the Onion, not any legitimate news outlet.

RIP To Giants of Two Music Genres

By “Huckabee” pop culture guru Pat Reeder (http://www.facebook.com/hollywoodhifibook)

We recently lost two major figures in different musical genres. The news came when we were prepping for and dealing with the winter storm and blackouts here in Texas, so I didn’t cover it at the time, but I don’t want their passing to go without paying respects.

One of the greatest and most influential jazz pianists of the past half-century, Chick Corea, died February 9th of cancer at 79. A master of various styles, he was best known for his pioneering work in jazz fusion, especially as the founder of the jazz supergroup, Return to Forever. Over his lifetime, Corea racked up 60 Grammy nominations and 23 Grammy Awards, and he composed a number of songs that are now considered jazz standards, including “500 Miles High,” “Armando’s Rhumba” and “Spain.”

I have heard Chick Corea a lot over the years, having attended the University of North Texas (where most of my friends were jazz music majors and worshipped him) and being married to Laura Ainsworth, a retro jazz singer whose pianist/producer Brian Piper is a Chick Corea disciple.

There are lots of amazing clips of Chick on YouTube, but here’s one I especially like because he’s playing in just a trio, so you can really hear his astonishing piano skills.

Here’s a fun clip that shows the piano wasn’t the only instrument he mastered:

And here is a heartfelt tribute from fellow musician/producer Rick Beato:

And on February 16, we lost a pioneer of another genre, contemporary Christian music. Carman (born Carmelo Domenic Licciardello) died at 65 following complications of hernia surgery.

Carman first came to public notice in the 1980s, when he established both a ministry and his recording career, achieving his first #1 single, “The Champion,” in 1985, and his first #1 album, “Revival in the Land,” in 1989. He helped create the contemporary Christian music field, scoring four Grammy nominations, six Dove Awards and a Billboard Award and selling 10 million records. Several times, he set new records for the largest Christian music concert ever, most recently with a Chattanooga concert that drew 80,000 people. He was also a frequent guest on the TBN network and even hosted the “Praise the Lord” series for a while.

He credited his faith with helping him survive a life-threatening car accident in 2011 and a cancer diagnosis in 2013 for which he was given only 3-4 years to live (he was cancer-free one year later.)

Here’s his YouTube channel, where you can find his music videos, Q&A’s and more.

Our condolences to both men’s families and their many fans.

A Reader Writes Back...

Thank you for keeping us informed through your daily edition. I just wish everyone could read it. The condition of our leadership in America is heart wrenching.

America The Beautiful

God's creation is all around us. To learn more about Bryce Canyon National Park, visit its website here.