Mike Huckabee

Remember when we learned Hillary and her aides had erased their hard drives with BleachBit software and literally hit phones with hammers to destroy the information on them? James Comey said on July 5, 2016, that “no reasonable prosecutor” would charge Hillary after the “Mid-Year Exam” investigation because it wasn’t her INTENT to skirt the law.

We all laughed until we cried at that one, but now we’ve learned, thanks to a release of documents from the Department of Justice, that a large number of high-level people who SURELY knew better destroyed their communications, too. Coincidentally, these were all members of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigative team.

What are the odds that the devices of over 20 of Mueller’s team members would have been “wiped” in a variety of creative ways before they were to be handed over to the DOJ for review?

There are numerous methods for achieving this: by just “accidentally" wiping, by inputting an incorrect password too many times, or by leaving a device in “airplane” mode with either incorrect or no passwords provided.

Or, as with Lisa Page’s phone, the device could simply be reset to factory settings (no reason given, as far as we know), in effect wiping the device clean of all Information before it was handed over to the Office of the Inspector General.

Gosh, it happened with lead prosecutor Andrew Weissmann’s phone, too, after he entered his password too many times in doing so. You’d think someone smart enough to be the lead prosecutor on a case of this magnitude would know how to open his own phone without wiping off all the data. On the other hand, he surely would be smart enough to know how TO wipe the data, if he so desired.

Some of the phones apparently just “wiped themselves.”

Over a dozen Mueller team members lost their data by putting their phones into “airplane” mode, locking them and then forgetting their passwords or otherwise “accidentally” wiping them.

It is yet to be seen if anyone has been able to recover the data, but at the very least, we learn from this that the people investigating President Trump were not keen on going by the book and didn’t care about the requirements for documenting their activities. Given what we know, it seems much more likely that they were actively hiding those activities.

Sean Davis at THE FEDERALIST posted 87 pages of documents relating to the lost phone content (be glad you don’t have to slog through that), leading to this comment.

Actually, Weissmann had THREE phones that went down. One was wiped “accidentally.” The other two were wiped by entering the wrong password too many times. Maybe someday his phone records will turn up; if so, they’ll probably be in the same place as the rest of Mike Flynn’s exculpatory evidence. (In case leftists are reading this, I’m joking.)

As often as these high-level government officials must have traveled by air, it seems unlikely they’d have been thrown for a loop by the prospect of turning their phones off and on. Hillary could at least try to pass for a ninny when it came to electronic devices (“You mean, like, with a cloth?”), but these people just can’t, not credibly.

But, as Davis tweeted, “The newly released DOJ records from the OIG investigation of corruption during the Mueller probe shows that a key tactic used by the Mueller team was to put the phones in airplane mode, lock them, and then claim they didn’t have the password.”

Lindsay Graham said on Thursday’s HANNITY, “If you can’t manage your own phone, why should we trust you to investigate a crime?...I guess they just ran out of hammers and ‘bleaching’ material. So the question is, did they obstruct justice? Did they INTENTIONALLY [emphasis mine] delete information from their phones because Horowitz was on the case?”

This is a developing story. Graham’s committee is not involved with criminal prosecution, but regarding that, he said, “I would be shocked if the only person prosecuted is [Kevin] Clinesmith.” Clinesmith, you’ll recall, has been indicted for falsifying evidence against Carter Page, changing a document to say he was not an asset for the CIA when he actually had been.

Graham said Thursday that he has “made an invitation” to James Comey, Andrew McCabe and Peter Strzok to come before the Senate Judiciary Committee to answer questions raised by the Horowitz report. “None of them have testified since Horowitz issued his report,” Graham said. “I’m working with their lawyers to try to get them into the committee...They may have good answers, but they need to be asked the questions.” I should add that, unlike Graham, Durham has subpoena power.

So, did the special counsel team deliberately erase their devices before turning them over to the IG? Judging by the circumstantial evidence we know, yes, they did. Can this be proved? That’s up to investigators, and we don’t know everything they know. But we do know this, in Graham’s words: “We cannot live in a country where this is tolerated. ‘Trump/Russia’ –- look how much money they spent, how many agents were involved investigating...how many subpoenas issued, how many lives turned upside down. The question for me –- was there a double standard here? –- it’s pretty obvious to me there was.”

His Cheshire-cat expression also suggested he knows more than he’s telling now. “You think you’re mad about the phones being wiped? Stay tuned. We’ll talk in about ten or twelve days and we’ll see if there’s something else you could get mad about. Just stay tuned.”

Well, Senator, we're not exactly going anywhere. I can’t imagine being much madder, given what we already know. But, sure, we’ll be waiting.

UPDATE late Thursday --- Apparently, the way some of those phones were set up, it took entering an invalid password TEN TIMES before the information would be wiped. But they still managed to do it!

Mike Huckabee

Investigative reporter Paul Sperry has just come out with a “developing” story about investigators learning that Obama’s CIA Director John Brennan set up a task force to target then-candidate Donald Trump. Such a task force would certainly explain a lot of what happened with the “Russia Russia Russia!” story, and we’ve been hypothesizing something similar for quite some time, as it's obvious that Brennan’s in deep. Former CIA analyst Larry C. Johnson reported on the task force about a year ago. Here’s what Johnson has to say about it now, in light of Sperry’s latest revelation.

A retired CIA colleague told Johnson in October of 2019 that Brennan had set up a task force, hand-picking the group himself instead of going through the usual posting. Apparently not everyone accepted the invitation, which “could be a problem for John Brennan,” Johnson wrote.

"I am not talking about an informal group of disgruntled Democrats working at the CIA who got together like a book club to grouse and complained about the brash real estate guy from New York,” Johnson said, though I imagine they did that sort of thing, too. “It was a specially designed covert action to try to destroy Donald Trump.”

The way Johnson explains it, a CIA task force, as designed and first used in 1947, can be “expanded” to include personnel from other intel agencies such as the FBI, DIA (Defense Intelligence Agency) and NSA (National Security Agency). It operates outside the CIA organizational chart. A typical and appropriate use for it might be to go after foreign terrorists or drug traffickers; it would certainly NOT be used to go after a U.S. presidential candidate! But Johnson was told that’s exactly what Brennan did, with the blessings of then-Director of National Intelligence James Clapper. (The director of national intelligence coordinates the various intel agencies.)

Johnson’s friends in the CIA have told him that the task force was operating in early 2016 and possibly even in summer 2015. (This would explain a lot of what we’ve already learned from the reporting of Lee Smith and others.)

According to Johnson, the anti-Trump task force included CIA case officers (“handlers” for overseas spies), intel analysts and administrators. Importantly, personnel from the FBI might also have been invited, including Michael Gaeta, the FBI’s “handler” for “confidential human source” (SPY) Christopher Steele, a former member of British spy organization MI-6.

CIA case officers on the task force would have been able to work with foreign intelligence, such as Steele in MI-6 and diplomat Alexander Downer from Australia. They could have used someone like Joseph Mifsud to target George Papadopoulos. They could also have used the NSA to do “targeted collections”; that is to say, to intercept their communications. Let me again stress, all of these activities are legal when used against foreign terrorists or drug traffickers; they are NOT legal when used against a U.S. citizen, and most especially against a major party nominee for President.

Johnson hopes there’s also been an investigation into the so-called impeachment “whistleblower,” ERIC CIARAMELLA (yes, we still dare to use his name around here), to see if he was a part of the task force or perhaps reporting to them.

If this is the way Brennan were using a CIA task force, it was illegal. But even with all he was trying to do to tie Trump to the Russians, he was never able to do it. And no one ever will –- because (say it with me) Trump wasn’t conspiring with the Russians.

Moving ahead to Paul Sperry’s tweet, it makes news because he says not only that Brennan did this, but that “investigators “HAVE LEARNED” he did this.

I assume he’s referring to John Durham’s investigators. Here’s what Sperry tweeted:

"DEVELOPING: Investigators have learned that Obama CIA Director John Brennan ran a secret task force out of Langley with its own separate budget to investigate Trump campaign and alleged ties to Russia. Taskforce set up before FBI officially launched its own probe on 7/31/16.”

Ah, it had its own separate budget. Your tax dollars at work.

Another journalist, Adam Housley, responded, “He’d been doing this well before Trump. As I have reported. Remember I’ve been saying John Brennan ran his own op and had been doing that. I’ve reported/said this for 3 years...”

According to the WASHINGTON EXAMINER, Brennan was questioned by Durham’s team at Langley, his old stomping ground, but Brennan’s spokesperson has said he was told he’s not “a subject or a target” of Durham’s investigation. At the same time, according to ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee Devin Nunes, Brennan is NOT in the clear, as he lied under oath to Congress about not including the Steele “dossier” in the Intel Community Assessment of Trump/Russia collusion in January of 2017. (Recall that he laughably said it was not in the “corpus” of information they used.)

If investigators have suddenly found evidence of Brennan’s task force, he can become a subject or target with the snap of a finger. Brennan, who loathes President Trump and has even called him a traitor, is up to his eyeballs in this. And it seems these off-the-book task forces were his M.O., even before he cranked one up against the future President. It’s almost inevitable that some participants are going to skate in this, but let’s hope that justice will finally be served to the one who led the whole thing.

UPDATE LATE WEDNESDAY

As reported in the DAILY WIRE, Attorney General Bill Barr gives us reason to anticipate more criminal indictments in the Durham investigation.

Mike Huckabee

I almost hate to get out of bed these days because apparently, each new sunrise between now and the election is going to bring yet another phony, anonymously-sourced anti-Trump “BOMBSHELL!” fable that some Democratic Party mouthpiece with a byline has been sitting on for two or three years, waiting to launch it within two months of the election. And the rest of the media will dutifully rush to jawbone over it, as if it were the most important story of the day, thinking it’s somehow going to convince Trump voters to violate every principle they hold and go vote for Biden, despite having had four years to watch how Trump actually governs while fielding endless daily attacks of fake news and made-up quotes.

Wednesday’s came to us courtesy of Bob Woodward, who used to be a journalist in the Watergate days of 45 years ago, but has since given us widely-denounced potboilers like the John Belushi hatchet job “Wired;” “Veil,” the CIA expose in which he claimed to hear former CIA Director William Casey’s deathbed confession, even though he was barred from the room and Casey could no longer talk; and now, two anti-Trump books. The controversy du Wednesday came from Woodward’s claim that in a March 19th phone call, Trump told him about the coronavirus, “I wanted to always play it down.” He conveniently didn’t play up the rest of the quote: “I still like playing it down because I don't want to create a panic."

Woodward concludes his book with this quote: “Trump is the wrong man for the job.” You know, like reliable, objective journalists do.

At this link, Matt Vespa covers the latest hair-on-fire “controversy”….

…and also points out that no matter what Trump did, the media and the Democrats (but I repeat myself) would have said he was wrong. If he had played up the dangers, they would’ve accused him of inciting panic. If he didn’t, he would be accused of not taking it seriously. Even Dr. Anthony Fauci responded to Woodward’s claims by saying that there was never a time that Trump contradicted what the top doctors were telling him. It was a new disease and it took awhile for people to learn what we were dealing with. At least Trump’s instincts, like shutting off travel from China immediately, were correct, even while Biden and other Democrats were calling him a racist and a xenophobe for doing it.

Of course, Biden immediately cited the book to slam Trump because if there’s one thing we’ve learned about Joe Biden, it’s that he never waits to find out whether an accusation is true or not before he condemns someone for it. Exactly what you want in a guy who has his finger on the nuclear button.

But Woodward himself is also facing backlash, with questions like, “If you had evidence that Trump was downplaying a deadly airborne disease months ago, why did you wait until close the election and the release of your book to tell anyone?” I guess for the same reason that Democrats who now claim they would have taken it more seriously than Trump were denouncing him for overreacting while telling everyone to ignore it and come on down to Chinatown. Or as late as this summer, telling people that it was fine to ignore safety procedures and go to BLM protests.

As long as we’re playing 20/20 hindsight and blaming political opponents for deaths, here’s a MUST-READ article by Matt Margolis that blows away the laughable claim that if only Biden had been in charge, the pandemic wouldn’t have been so bad. No, it’s not about the H1N1 pandemic that happened under Obama/Biden and that only good luck and the grace of God kept from killing millions of Americans because of their lack of action. This is about the VA scandal. Remember that?

Did you know that more than 300,000 veterans died because of the long waiting lists for care at VA clinics under Obama/Biden, which is 120,000 more Americans than have died of the coronavirus nationwide? Did you know that the problem was improving until they took over, and then it got worse (processing times increased 40% from 2011 to 2013)? Did you know that people who caused the problem and falsified records to cover it up were not investigated and even got promoted while there were complaints of retaliation against whistleblowers who exposed it in 28 states? And this problem was definitely fixable, because when Donald Trump was elected, he FIXED IT!

I hope I don’t have to deal with fresh garbage deliveries by the media every day between now and the election. I think most people have figured out this game by now. At this late date, we’ve lived through this so many times already that nobody’s going to vote for the donkeys because their sheep in the media keep crying wolf.

Mike Huckabee

We hear a lot of talk from politicians about values…but do we truly value work and the people who do it?

Companies should pay employees as generously as they can, because good workers have worth. This is why you should always be skeptical of any politician who claims to “care” about workers, but also wants to raise taxes, both on workers and businesses. When taxes are high, it’s a sign that the government disrespects the worker by believing that what it will do with their salary is better than what the person who earned it will do. When we see employees as having worth, we see their work as valuable. That’s the value of work. I believe YOU are valuable and therefore what you DO has value.

I think a lot of politicians don’t understand that a job is more than just a way to put bread on the table. From man’s beginnings as recorded in the book of Genesis, we were hard-wired for labor. God told us to earn our bread by the sweat of our brow. It’s natural for us to want to prove our value by producing.

From the time we are children, we imitate our parents in their work. It’s part of our DNA to want to be grown up, and one sure way to feel grown up is to work. That’s why the loss of a job is far, far more than an economic setback. It’s de-humanizing to want to be productive and not be able. There is pride and dignity in sitting down to a meal that your work provided.

The CDC studied suicide rates since 1928 and found that they mirrored the economy. Suicides took a big uptick during the Great Depression. They plunged during World War II, and spiked again in the recessions of the mid-70’s and early 80’s. Suicides dropped to their lowest levels ever in the year 2000, when the tech boom dropped unemployment to just 4 percent. But after the dot-com bubble burst, America's suicide rate began steadily climbing. Recently, because of the endless shutdowns forcing people not to be able to go back to work, we’re seeing a new spike in suicides.

It’s a stark reminder that employment is more than an economic issue. Good jobs and rewarding labor save lives by making us feel that we're valued and needed. A government handout might provide bare sustenance, but it doesn’t feed the soul. It only demoralizes us.

Mike Huckabee

For six decades, Labor Day meant an American tradition: the Jerry Lewis Labor Day Telethon for the Muscular Dystrophy Association. MDA ended its association with Lewis in 2010, although the telethon continued in ever-shorter form until its final broadcast in 2014. But the association of Labor Day with helping the MDA continues. Some local areas still host telethons, and firefighters across America are out this holiday weekend at intersections, collecting cash for their “Fill the Boot” drive. If you see them, I hope you’ll dig into your pocket and give generously.

And the national organization this year is bringing back the Telethon in a new “COVID-19/Zoom”-friendly way. You can learn more and donate directly at their website: https://www.mda.org/telethon

Although Jerry Lewis passed away a few years ago at 91, active right up until the end, I’m sure that he would want you to continue giving generously and remember that it’s about helping the kids. In fact, while Jerry made the telethon the success that it became, he wasn’t the one who started it all rolling. He gave credit for sparking his six-decade mission to wipe out muscular dystrophy to another man -- a man you’ve probably never heard of. Jerry kept the story secret for many years, until the publication of his memoir, “Jerry Lewis in Person.”

Jerry recalled that it was in 1948. He was 22, and he and Dean Martin were the hottest comedy team in show business. His good friend and press agent, Jack Keller, had helped make them stars, but never requested a single thing for himself -- until one day, he came to Jerry and begged a favor. He had a friend who was in trouble and asked if Jerry would talk to him. His name was Paul Cohen. He’d had MD since childhood, and he’d started a group called the Muscular Dystrophy Association to fight it. They had a few patients, their parents and nothing much else.

By chance, Jerry knew someone whose nephew had had MD. He said he’d watched helplessly as that child had withered like a leaf in the winter, and the effect of seeing that would never leave his mind until a cure was found. So he agreed to meet with the handful of doctors who knew anything about MD at the time. They weren’t encouraging. They warned him that research was in the Dark Ages. Nobody even knew what caused MD, and no known medicines helped. It was like fighting an invisible killer. But that just made Jerry more determined to take it on.

He and Dean began hosting fundraisers…until one night, Jerry jokingly ad-libbed at the end of their TV show that viewers should each send in two dollars. He was stunned when over $2,000 arrived in the mail. And that’s when it hit him: the power of television to raise money for charity. So in 1951, Jack Keller put together a special hosted by Dean and Jerry. It aired on just one station and raised $68,000 (over $671,000 in today’s dollars), and the MDA telethon was off and running.

Over the next six decades, Jerry Lewis’ tireless work on his Labor Day telethons helped raised well over a billion dollars to fight neuromuscular diseases and help the victims and their families. He also inspired millions of Americans to join in the effort. That’s why so many Americans will always associate him with Labor Day.

But let’s also salute an unsung hero. If you think one person can’t make a difference, remember that the Labor Day tradition that raised over a billion dollars to help children with MD started because a man you’d never heard of, Jack Keller…for the first time in his life…asked someone for a favor. And as Jerry observed, it was no surprise to him that the favor was a request to help someone else.

So when you see a firefighter out collecting for MDA, doing his or her bit to help the kids, please do your bit and toss something into the boot. You'd be amazed how all those individual efforts add up.

Mike Huckabee

OUT IN THE OPEN NOW

It was awfully sporting of a Democratic data and analytics firm to tell us in advance how the Democrats plan to steal the Presidential election.

According to them, Trump may “appear” to have won on Election night, even by a landslide. But that will just be a “red mirage,” because so many Democrats will vote by mail that days later, the race will shift to Biden.

That’s the innocent-sounding version. Those of a more suspicious nature might read it as “We’ll find out on Election night how many bogus mail-in ballots we’ll need to manufacture to overcome Trump’s lead. Then if anyone questions those ballots, we’ll accuse the Republicans of trying to ‘suppress the minority vote” and send our BLM/Antifa shock troops out to burn down cities unless Trump concedes and hands over the White House.”

Again, if you think this can’t happen, I’ll refer to you this article that just appeared in the New York Post, in which a Dem operative described how easy it is to steal elections and how he’s been rigging them in the New Jersey area for years.

I hope the RNC is making plans to fight this, since it’s been reported that the Democrats have already lined up at least 600 lawyers to challenge the vote. This could be an open war, so our side had better be prepared.

Of course, the best way to insure this doesn’t happen is to vote in massive numbers, far beyond the potential “margin of fraud.” Go vote in person (not by mail-in ballots that can be intercepted) and take everyone who would vote GOP with you.

I must be getting old: I remember when people won elections by espousing policies that the majority of people agreed with. I even recall when one Democratic Presidential candidate called it appalling and un-American to refuse to accept the results of a Presidential election – before she went on to spend the next four years refusing to accept the results of the Presidential election.

DEMOCRATS ARE FOMENTING VIOLENCE WITH THEIR RHETORIC

According to Joe Biden, or whoever is putting words on his prompter these days, President Trump is to blame for fomenting all the violence in cities that have been run 100% by Democrats since Joe Biden was in knee pants. This statement isn’t so much a political argument as it is an IQ test. After all, as this column reminds us, the Democrats completely ignored all the riots (sorry: “peaceful protests”) throughout their convention. If they really believed Trump was responsible for them, wouldn’t they have hammered him for that every night? They certainly blamed him for everything else, from the Chinese virus to the heartbreak of psoriasis.

So just to remind us who has really been “resisting” the peaceful transfer of power since 2016, here’s a compilation video of top leftwing politicians and media figures urging political violence and civil unrest in the streets. (Warning: contains disturbing violent imagery that even CNN would have a hard time describing as “mostly peaceful.)

And just to hammer home what’s actually happening and who’s behind it, here’s Sen. Rand Paul making it crystal clear.

Mike Huckabee

I was on Laura Ingraham’s Fox News show last night, talking about how, at his advanced age, Joe Biden has only now realized that protesting and rioting are not the same thing. And no, people weren’t looting the Louis Vuitton store because they needed a loaf of bread. You can see the video here.

The question put before us on the show was, “Is Joe Biden plagiarizing the Trump campaign?” Well, you go with your strengths, and plagiarism was always Joe’s chief strength. After months of making excuses for rioters and looters, and hosting an entire convention where they weren’t even mentioned, suddenly, the Democrats noticed the polls were cratering (Don Lemon let the cat out of the bag: they didn’t care at all about the victims of the riots; it only became a serious problem when it started hurting their election chances.) And suddenly, Joe Biden denounced the violence, just as Trump has been doing all along because it was obviously the right thing to do.

But this is hardly the first or only example of Biden following Trump (since the Democrats have jettisoned the “Me, Too” movement, maybe this will give “me, too” a new meaning.) Biden’s entire plan for dealing with COVID-19 is mostly a lot of stuff that Trump’s already done, back when it was timely enough to actually help. Biden wasn’t going to campaign until after Labor Day until Trump mocked him for hiding (“Ten days is an eternity in Trumpville!”), and suddenly, Joe comes out and makes a speech. Biden wasn’t going to go to Kenosha, but Trump went, and now Biden is going.

It’s an interesting new definition of “leadership”: doing whatever Trump does first.

Biden will be in Kenosha today, but I think that may prove to be a strategic blunder. We all saw the photos of Trump talking to devastated business owners in the rubble of their former businesses. How is it going to look for Joe to stand in the same setting and try to ooze “empathy” when everyone knows he and his Party have spent the past weeks standing by, letting it happen and denying it even existed? If I were one of those business owners, I would definitely ask him why he employs 13 campaign staffers who donated to a fund to bail out the people who burned down and looted my business.

Mike Huckabee

Monday was like Groundhog Day in summer, as Punxsutawney Joe emerged from his burrow 10 days ahead of schedule, saw his Teleprompter in Pittsburgh, and signaled that there will be two more months of campaigning after all.

Not that it went that well. Having been goaded by President Trump into not hiding out for another 10 days (Trump called that "an eternity in Trumpville"), Biden did prove once again that he’s still capable of reading words off of a screen, but he seemed to get tired and confused toward the end, resulting in some indecipherable tossed word salad.

The “press conference” then ended with him turning and exiting the stage, ignoring the questions called out by the handful of reporters who were allowed to be in the huge room with him (each one corralled far back, inside “social distancing” circles that reminded me of the "Cone of Silence" from "Get Smart"...)

The thrust of the speech was partly for Biden to finally…FINALLY…suggest that riots, looting and murder of cops and Trump supporters aren’t cool, but mostly to float the idea that it’s all Trump’s fault. Trump is to blame for creating the atmosphere of divisiveness because he refused to accept the results of the 2016 election…oh, wait, that was them. Well, because he encourages his supporters to physically assault people who don’t agree with them. No, that’s them again...Okay, his supporters are to blame because a small handful of them (so far) have armed themselves to fight back against mobs attacking them and destroying their homes and businesses instead of just standing there like sitting ducks and taking it. How dare they?!

I don’t know about you, but when I think of “Trump’s America,” I think of Manhattan, Chicago, Portland, Seattle (cue grunge guitar riff), Minneapolis and other cities that have been under solid Democratic control since before Trump bought his first monogrammed hankie -- the kind of GOP hotbeds where people share unfunny Stephen Colbert video clips every day, think that Rachel Maddow is an actual journalist, and drive Priuses with “Not My President!” bumper stickers on them.

If that’s “Trump’s America,” then what’s “Biden’s America”? Fantasyland at Disney World?

Anyone who’s been paying any attention at all over the past few years knows that this level of mindless partisan vitriol was not caused by a few rude Trump tweets. It’s the poison fruit of the “Resistence” movement and leftist politicians like Maxine Waters, Ayanna Pressley, Nancy Pelosi and others, demonizing Trump and his supporters and urging civil unrest in the streets (or worse – ask Rep. Steve Scalise how Bernie Bros demonstrate their political opposition with rifles.) Only a few brainwashed potheads online could possibly believe that all the BLM/Antifa looting, arson and assaults on cops are secretly the doing of Trump supporters.

Tucker Carlson at Fox News summed up Biden’s speech well, calling it possibly “the most thoroughly dishonest speech ever given by a major presidential candidate," one in which “virtually every word of it was the opposite of the truth. It was literally beyond belief."

I couldn’t agree more, but what else are the Dems going to do? I can only imagine how awful their internal polls must look to scare them into taking on this emergency rescue mission. Especially after last week’s conventions, where the Dems spent all their time badmouthing Trump and America and paying homage to the “peaceful protesters” who are destroying our cities while Trump offered days’ worth of traditional, pro-American messaging about restoring law and order, putting aside racial differences and working together to make America great again.

(Here’s Rush Limbaugh’s commentary on how Trump is running to save us from a race war. It contains some really eye-opening poll data.)

(And a new Zogby poll showing that Biden’s support among blacks has dropped by 15 points and Trump’s support is up to 20 percent, or 9 points more than campaign officials believe he would need to win reelection.)

Biden’s handlers faced a Hobson’s choice: They could condemn the violent, racist radical rioters and risk alienating their far-left, pro-violence base…or they could embrace them and alienate all the sane people. They can’t win with no votes from sane people, and they need their insane base, so they’re trying to split the difference with a “Hail Mary” pass: finally acknowledge that the violence exists (now that it’s devolved into murdering a Trump supporter and celebrating that), but somehow blame it on Trump and his supporters. As if they somehow had it coming, what with thinking they had a First Amendment right to express their opinions in public without fear of being shot.

Trump has, in fact, made it clear that he doesn’t want his supporters to confront these people. He wants to send in the professionals to restore order, but the Democrat Mayors and Governors would rather put their TDS first and put on a public display of snuffing Trump than let him help stop the destruction of their own cities and the violence against their own people. That’s why the “D” in TDS stands for “Derangement.”

Buck Sexton summed up the latest excuse to spin away reality quite well:

The Democrats obviously think the big winning message of Biden’s speech is this, which they sent out in a tweet under his name: “Does anyone believe there will be less violence in America if Donald Trump is reelected?” Mollie Hemingway quite rightly replied, “The ‘blackmail Americans into voting for me by threatening more violence unless I win’ strategy is so impossibly evil and strategically unwise.”

Mike Huckabee

Forces on the Left seeks to fundamentally change our nation by disregarding the principles upon which it was founded. Members of the media and liberal politicians seek to damage our economic, political, and educational systems for their gain. The Three Cs That Made America Great: Christianity, Capitalism, and the Constitution: Huckabee exposes the Left's plan to undermine the Christian values on which the nation was built

• reveals how attacks on Christianity are part of the political agenda of Liberals
• provides a clear understanding of capitalism and how free markets benefit all people
• reveals how Liberals undermine capitalism with their socialistic policies
• shows how the Constitution’s purpose to restrain government and protect individual liberty
• unmask the efforts of the liberal Left to subvert the power and relevance of the Constitution
• exposes the current corruption in government and culture
• which undermines the principles on which the nation was founded

America faces a war of values that will determine its future and likely decide if it will continue as a great nation on the world stage. Mike Huckabee and Steve Feazel sounds a needed alarm to Christians and conservatives to answer the call to action and push back against the forces that desire to move America from its heritage and founding principles. It is time for God's people to take an active role in the political arena, not with violence, but with votes and voices that proclaim and defend the values that made our nation the brightest light of freedom the world has ever known.

TO BUY MIKE HUCKABEE'S NEW BOOK GO HERE>>>

Mike Huckabee

This is a thought-provoking piece on what “Black Lives Matter” (the radical organization, not the inarguable sentiment) really is. It also offers evidence that many problems in the black community don’t stem from “systemic racism” but from the chronic lack of two-parent households, which has been encouraged and subsidized by liberal policies.

On this subject, one of my guests on “Huckabee” this weekend was Dr. Rick Rigsby, creator of the speech and now book, “Lessons From a Third Grade Dropout.” It’s about his father, a black man with no higher education but with a phenomenal amount of common sense, wisdom and strength of character that he insured he passed on to his sons. His parents didn’t raise boys or black men, he raised Godly men.

Here is that interview: https://youtu.be/YIdkdBHdeN4

Here’s Dr. Rigsby’s speech: https://youtu.be/Bg_Q7KYWG1g

And if you seriously think that BLM is going to help improve the lives of African-Americans, note that not only are they setting back race relations by at least 50 years, but one of their stated goals is the destruction of the nuclear family. In that regard, supporting BLM because you want to help black Americans have better lives is like hiring Jack the Ripper as your barber.

Mike Huckabee

Brandon Straka, founder of the #WalkAway movement, was sitting just two rows in front of me at President Trump’s speech Thursday night. I’m sickened to have to report that he was also among those attacked by leftist thugs when he and a friend returned to their hotel. He said it was almost identical to what Jussie Smollett reported, except this attack really happened.

Straka noted that he hadn't endured an anti-gay attack like that in 10 years, and worse, they couldn’t even fight back because the media would accuse them of being racists. He wrote, “At least back in the day when gay-bashing was common, the media didn’t blame the gay people.”

Sadly, that’s because the media, like much of the Democratic Party leadership, have thrown in their lot with a group of radical leftists who don’t care about gay rights, women’s rights, black rights or even human rights. The only right they care about is their own delusion that they have the right to exert power over everyone else. If you disagree or challenge them in any way, they will attack you with anything from vile racist, sexist or homophobic slurs and profanity to physical violence. And if you fight back, as Brandon says, you’re a “racist,” even if you’re black and the person you’re fighting is a white punk calling you the n-word.

I hate to see this for a number of reasons, but one of them is that I consider real racism to be a terrible sin that’s an insult to God, who created us all in His image. That’s why exploiting the condemnatory power of the word by falsely affixing to people who simply disagree with your politics is also a sin and an insult to God.

And if you’re surprised that a conservative Christian would be defending a gay man against homophobic attacks on him by alleged “social justice workers,” then you need to stop watching fake news sources.

Mike Huckabee

Ordinarily, I would have written extensively about Friday’s 57th anniversary of the March on Washington led by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. He was a huge inspiration to me as a kid growing up in the South, and his dream of a land in which all the races live together in peace, judged by the content of their characters and not the color of their skin, was an inspiration to my life and those of countless others.

Unfortunately, this year’s observance of that anniversary in Washington, organized by Al Sharpton, in many ways betrayed the spirit of the Rev. King’s message with gratuitous racial slanders for political purposes (i.e., Sharpton calling the President “Bull Trump” – Bull Connor was a Democrat, it needs to be noted again and again) and divisive, anti-American rhetoric. Some speakers couldn’t have perverted the Rev. King’s message more if they’d literally declared that we must judge people by their skin color, not their character.

One praiseworthy exception worth mentioning is the Rev. King’s 10-year-old granddaughter, Yolanda Renee King, who said, “My generation has already taken to the streets – peacefully and with masks and social distancing – to protest racism.” I wish some of the adults there had her wisdom and sense of responsibility.

Before anyone starts accusing me of only saying this because I’m white, read the words of this longtime Democratic Tennessee state Representative and veteran of the civil rights movement who calls it “appalling” and “heartbreaking” to associate the non-violent protests of the Rev. King with “burning and looting and stealing.” He said, "It's like we're trying to live up to the worst of stereotypes, the worst of behavior, the worst of perceptions.”

As I often like to remind people, especially those who forget or try to obscure this fact, the Rev. King was, first and foremost, a great preacher of the Gospel. Some of his most inspiring words came in the form of sermons. I urge you to honor his legacy by reading those, not listening to people who would distort his message for their personal political motives. You can start with this, the final sermon he ever gave on April 3, 1968 in Memphis. You will search in vain to find any encouragement of violence or incitements of race hatred in it.

Laura Ainsworth, Staff Writer

One thing I loved about this year’s Republican National Convention that was missing from the Democrats’ glumfest the previous week was its generous display of WIT, life and humor.

For example, at my house, we were laughing and cheering when the fireworks after Trump’s speech spelled out “TRUMP 2020.” Oh, not just once --- it had to happen twice in case anybody missed it the first time! I had no idea this was even possible, but Trump’s fireworks show somehow had it.

Makes me think he really might reach his goal of putting a woman on Mars. (I’ve heard the joke that the woman will be Hillary. My money’s on Nancy Pelosi.)

Also, there was the soaring operatic aria that closed the event. Thanks to the popularization of this piece by Luciano Pavarotti, we’ve all heard it many times. But why this particular aria for this occasion?

I doubt the choice of this music to end the convention was arbitrary. Either Trump or some clever person with the campaign chose it at least partially for the little inside joke. The aria is “Nessun Dorma,” from the opera “TURNADOT” by Puccini, sung by the character Calaf. It’s a tribute to resilience, to boldness, to surviving great risk to meet a challenge and obtain a goal, and those last three notes that go up and up...in Italian “Vincero...vincero...vincero….” are, translated into English, “I will win...I will win...I will WIN…!”

Nice touch. I wonder if most leftists, who wouldn’t recognize subtlety if it hit them in the head with a two-by-four, get this.

I understand Pavarotti’s widow has complained about Trump using the Pavarotti version of this aria on the soundtrack for his campaign events. She has even said Trump’s “values” are not compatible with those of her late husband. Nicoletta Mantovani, in a letter co-signed by three of Pavarotti’s daughters, said, “We remind you that the values of brotherhood and solidarity that Luciano Pavarotti upheld throughout his artistic career are incompatible with the world vision of the candidate Donald Trump.”

Wow. Judging from the assumptions they make about Trump’s values, I think these women must have been watching WAY too much MSNBC.

This version, of course, was sung by the tenor Christopher Macchio. And he did such a beautiful job, perhaps his version is the one that should be on Trump’s campaign soundtrack, as that might resolve the issue to everyone's satisfaction. The reference to victory can be taken as a reference to America winning at a time of great challenge and conflict, and also to Trump winning the election, because at this point in our history, those two “wins” can easily be seen as intertwined.

After all the President has been through --- a fake impeachment and endless lies and personal attacks, the unleashing of a pandemic and the resulting economic catastrophe, and the deliberate fanning of racial fires by those in “blue” cities who would just as soon see them burned down if they could blame him for it --- Trump has shown that he still has the boundless energy and strength to endure and overcome them all. Little touches like the ones on display at the convention tell me that if anyone can bounce back from all this and bring the country right along with him, it will be President Trump.

He will win, he will win, he will win. Trump 2020.

A postscript: At Trump’s first rally after the convention, he carried on with that same sharp humor and verve, by noting that Joe Biden had announced he’d be coming out of the basement and making some campaign appearances “in ten days.” “TEN DAYS?!” Trump exclaimed hilariously. “TEN DAYS?! That’s like an eternity in Trumpville!” And so it is.

Mike Huckabee

Wednesday was night three of the GOP virtual convention, and while it’s hard to compare, this might have been the best night yet. Michael Goodwin of the New York Post said that Trump is producing the greatest reality show on Earth, and I would second that. If you aren’t watching it (and if you’re watching on a liberal network where they yak over 90% of the speeches, you aren’t really watching it), then be sure to watch the final night tonight, and go to YouTube to catch up on the previous nights uninterrupted from CSPAN. It makes the Democrats’ Convention look like a Zoom meeting set up by 14-year-olds, not that that would be too hard.

Funny, everyone was talking about all the severe limitations put on the convention, yet Trump has delivered possibly the best convention ever. But then, over-delivering despite having severe limitations put on him could describe his entire Administration.

Here’s a link to the full live-stream of night three that starts after CSPAN's opening with a WaPo reporter repeating Democrat talking points – disappointing, since CSPAN had been simply airing the event with no editorializing up until now to let viewers make up their own minds.

And here are last night’s live blogs by PJ Media…

And Townhall.com…

Plus a good article on five important parts of night three, although the author correctly admits that there were so many inspiring stories and great speeches that it was hard to narrow it down to only five.

Night three’s theme was a salute to heroes, and they weren’t make-believe movie superheroes but regular Americans who’ve gone above and beyond the call of duty. There were more great speeches and stories than I have room to recount, here are just a few highlights:

Ohio mom Tera Myers, who refused to be pressured into aborting her Down Syndrome son or letting him go without an education. She fought for school choice reform and helped create a program that gives parents of special needs kids the freedom to choose education that fits them best…

Chen Guangcheng, the blind Chinese dissident (reading his speech by Braille), describing the heartless tyranny of the Chinese communist government and its mandatory one-child policy that he exposed. FYI, while visiting China in 2011, Joe Biden told his hosts, “Your policy has been one which I fully understand — I'm not second-guessing — of one child per family”…

Republican Rep. Dan Crenshaw, who lost an eye and nearly died from an IED explosion during his third tour of duty in Afghanistan…

Madison Cawthorn, who will be the youngest House member if elected in North Carolina in November, is paralyzed from a car crash when he was 18. In a stunning moment, he ended his speech by using a walker to rise from his wheelchair and stand for the Pledge of Allegiance…

Sister Deirdre Byrne, who is not only Mother Superior of the Washington Little Workers sisters but also a doctor and a colonel and reservist in the U.S. Army Medical Corps, praised Trump for his defense of the unborn, whom she called “the most marginalized group in the world.” She branded Biden/Harris as "the most anti-life presidential ticket in history" and warned, "While what I have to say may be difficult for some to hear, I am saying it because I’m not just pro-life, I’m pro-eternal life, and I want all of us to end up in Heaven someday."

And what a fantastic speech by civil rights icon Clarence Henderson, who risked his life by defying Jim Crow laws and ordering food at a segregated Southern lunch counter in the ‘60s. Pointing out that that’s what “peaceful protest” really looks like, he recounted the history of the Republican Party’s leadership on civil rights issues, and ended by referencing Joe Biden’s claim that if you don’t vote for him, “you ain’t black.” Henderson said if you think it’s strange that he’s a Republican, then “you don’t know history.”

And there were many more moving and inspiring real life stories and terrific speakers, including Kayleigh McEnany (who discussed her double mastectomy, and how Donald and Melania Trump were among the first to call her afterwards)…Kellyanne Conway, who was the first woman to manage a winning Presidential campaign, talked about how Trump has put more women into major positions of power than any other President…Former DNI Richard Grennell, who said he was sickened when he finally got to see the pathetic “evidence” that the Democrats had for their Russian collusion charges …Rep. Elise Stefanik, who defended Trump so well during the ludicrous impeachment trial, called that "not just an attack on the President. This was an attack on you." Also, like all the blue city violence, impeachment was never mentioned even once at the DNC Convention. They’re hoping we’ll forget about their giant partisan waste of time and money…

Plus more great speeches by South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem (who is sparking Presidential buzz), Burgess Owens…

…both Mike and Karen Pence, Joni Ernst, and a must-see speech by former NFL player and lifelong Democrat Jack Brewer, who took a rhetorical flamethrower to the idea that blacks have to believe false narratives and vote for Biden/Harris because they don’t like Trump’s “tone.”

I think Sen. Marsha Blackburn had the funniest line of the night: “Nancy Pelosi says China would prefer Joe Biden…Yep!...I BET they WOULD!”

And how great was it to see Mike Pence speak from Fort McHenry, where the Star-Spangled Banner that inspired Francis Scott Key to write our National Anthem once flew? At this convention, even disabled people stand to salute the flag. On the other side, they kneel to the Anthem, burn the flag, try to “cancel” Francis Scott Key and want to change the National Anthem to John Lennon’s “Imagine.”

I could go on and on, but go to YouTube and watch it yourself if you haven’t already. Trump and his people are doing the impossible: they’re making a political convention a binge-watchable series. Tonight is the final night, and Trump himself will be speaking. It's "Must-See TV!"

Mike Huckabee

It’s actually good that U.S. Attorney John Durham is still putting the finishing touches on his report on FISA abuse, as we’re going to need some focused post-convention time to take a look at it. There’s a story to be told, a very important story, and we should soon know a lot more about how the "Russia" hoax came together. In fact, one can get a “sneak peek” right now by looking at Kevin Clinesmith’s plea agreement and seeing how it relates to parts of Inspector General Michael Horowitz’s internal report.

Thanks to Margot Cleveland at THE FEDERALIST for connecting more dots. She's done the tedious part; now we get to talk about it.

As you know, Kevin Clinesmith, who worked in the FBI’s Office of General Counsel, pleaded guilty to one count of falsifying evidence; the plea agreement was released last Wednesday. He admitted that he had added four critical words --- “was not a source” --- to an email from an “unidentified government agency” (let’s just say the CIA because we know it was) concerning Carter Page’s “operation contact” with that agency. One of the agents involved in Crossfire Hurricane had told him they wanted “something in writing” about it, so he altered the email and forwarded it to that agent. (While pleading guilty, he still claims it was not his “intent” to mislead. Trying to have it both ways.) This revised email cleared the way for the fourth FISA.

But wait --- there had already been an original FISA application and two renewals, and they hadn’t mentioned this. What’s the story there? Well, according to Clinesmith’s plea agreement, the CIA had provided “certain members of the Crossfire Hurricane team” with a memo indicating that Page had been approved as an “operation contact” for them from 2008 to 2013 and detailing information that Page had provided them about “his prior contacts with certain Russian officers.” But we know this information was not included in the first three FISAs. (The Horowitz report says so, and Clinesmith makes a point of it in his plea agreement.)

If I understand correctly, THIS is the “suspicious” contact with Russians that gave the Crossfire Hurricane team their reason (excuse) to accuse Page of being a Russian agent. But in truth, there was no reason to spy on him over this; he had already been debriefed by the CIA about it, and the CIA had informed "certain members" of the team of his relationship with them before the initial FISA application was made. The FBI just left it out of the applications.

To accomplish this, the Crossfire Hurricane team even left it out of the information given to the division that HELPS with FISA applications, and one member of the team, Stephen Somma –- more on him coming up –- gave them incorrect information when explicitly ASKED about Page’s relationship with the CIA. This key information about Page is one of the “17 substantial errors or omissions” in the FISAs that Horowitz attributed to the FBI.

So, now we need to know the identities of the “certain members of the Crossfire Hurricane team” who received the memo about Page from the CIA, because they are the ones who kept the information out of the application and first two renewals. In the IG report, one is identified as “Case Agent 1,” and that person was identified by THE NEW YORK TIMES as the aforementioned Stephen Somma, who happens to have been Stefan Halper’s FBI “handler” as well! So we’re likely to be hearing more about Mr. Somma.

Cleveland’s article has more detail on how Somma mischaracterized Page’s work in Russia, moving the dates of it years earlier so it became “beyond the scope” of the FISA application. Clever, these FBI agents.

The Horowitz report says Somma claimed “not to recall his state of knowledge” about Page’s history with the CIA. One has to wonder if his memory might improve while under questioning in Durham’s criminal investigation, under threat of perjury.

Cleveland –- who has a FANTASTIC memory –- remembers that Somma, as Case Agent #1, had expressed great interest early on in surveilling Carter Page. But according to the IG report, the Crossfire Hurricane team didn’t become aware of the “dossier” till September. Before then, only Steele’s “handler” and a few agents in the New York Field Office knew about it, starting in early July.

But guess where Somma was working in early July, before joining the Crossfire Hurricane team in August? The New York Field Office, where he was a special agent for counterintelligence with a focus on...Russia.

Cleveland goes into more detail on who else among the team might have known about Page’s CIA involvement and kept it out of the application. Joe Pientka is certainly a possibility.

But the big stinky cheese at the FBI at that time was Director Comey, and this is one slick dude when it comes to protecting himself. As you might recall, Comey slithered his way out of having to talk about classified material with IG Horowitz by refusing to have his security clearance reinstated. Smooth, huh? The memo sent to the FBI about Page’s CIA activities would have been classified, for sure, and without a security clearance, Comey couldn’t have been shown the memo or asked anything about it.

A criminal investigation is different, though. Maybe Durham can put the squeeze on the big cheese. And maybe we’ll finally learn the whole sordid story.

Mike Huckabee

I expected the Republican virtual convention to be better than the Democrats for several reasons: President Trump is a better showman; the mission is to emphasize patriotism and optimism, not sow gloom and division; etc. I just didn’t expect that the GOP convention would be so much better right out of the gate that it was almost like comparing “Citizen Kane” to “Plan Nine from Outer Space.”

Day one of the Democrat infomercial mostly featured politicians talking directly into the camera like a national version of a bedroom vlogger’s YouTube stream, telling us over their iPhones how awful everything is because of the bad Orange Man. The most memorable things about it were Michelle Obama repeating the debunked “children in cages” lie (that actually started under her husband) and the giant wall of firewood behind Bernie Sanders. I’ll bet whoever cut that wood wasn’t the only one who was sawing logs last week.

By contrast, the Republicans offered an inspiring and well-produced (the opening film narrated by Jon Voight was superb) showcase of both political figures and private citizens from a wide range of backgrounds. They talked about positive things Trump has done for them and America, promises kept, and their optimism for the future, as long as Democrats are kept out of power. (BTW, you can add “Internet live productions” to cities, states and the Congress on the ever-lengthening list of “Things Democrats Cannot Be Trusted to Run.”) When Republicans did talk about negatives, like the riots, looting and assaults on police officers in blue cities that are the #1 news story in America right now, that was also a glaring contrast because the Democrats went for three days without ever mentioning that giant donkey in the room.

Maybe it’s not fair to compare the two. The GOP Convention could focus on Trump’s accomplishments because he actually has so many. The Democrats concentrated on Trump hate, division and name-calling because, hey, you go with what you’ve got.

There were so many powerful moments just on night one that I don’t have time or space to list them all. If you missed it, I suggest, believe it or not, that you actually watch the entire stream. It’s on YouTube here.

And here are the liveblogs from PJ Media…

And Townhall.com…

As well as a separate article I wrote for Fox News…

Here are just a few of the highlights, but incredibly, there were no lowlights (maybe the Democrats had so many lowlights because they were experiencing rolling brownouts):

Black Georgia Democratic Rep. Vernon Jones, who was viciously attacked for praising Trump, talked of how Trump has created opportunity zones and good jobs for blacks, and criminal justice reform of the law Biden co-wrote. He reminded us that Democrats are defunding cops who protect black children while providing security for themselves, and blasted Pelosi and Schumer for “pandering” to blacks by wearing African kente cloths. He said, “The Democratic Party has become infected with the pandemic of intolerance, bigotry, socialism, anti-law enforcement bias, and a dangerous tolerance for people who attack others, destroy their property and terrorize their own communities.” He warned that black people are becoming louder and more “woke” (I love the new, more accurate spin he put on that term) and in a line that is sure to be quoted and remembered for a long time: "The Democratic Party does not want black people to leave their mental plantation.” As one commenter put it, he left a smoking crater where the DNA used to be.

Cuban immigrant Maximo Alvarez choked back tears as he recalled his family’s escape from communism in Cuba, and how he’s hearing ominous echoes of their same tactics and rhetoric from blue cities like Seattle, Chicago and Portland. He said, “If I gave away everything that I have today, it would not equal 1 percent of what I was given when I came to this great country of ours: the gift of freedom. Right now, it is up to us to decide our fate and to choose freedom over oppression.”

NFL great Herschel Walker spoke movingly of his 38-year friendship with Trump and testified that the claim Trump is a racist is a slanderous lie (and will anyone ever forget the image of Trump joining Walker’s family at Disney World to ride “It’s A Small World” in a business suit?) By the way, I’ve also seen Trump enter one of his hotels and greet the desk clerks and other workers by name and ask about their families. Can you even imagine Hillary Clinton doing something like that?

Andrew Pollack, whose daughter Meadow was murdered in the Parkland school shooting, credited President Trump with reversing the Obama “restorative justice” policy that he blames for the killer not being stopped sooner, and warned that Joe Biden wants to bring it back…

Mark and Patricia McCloskey probably never imagined they’d be speaking at a GOP Convention (Mark is a lawyer who’s defended a BLM activist.) But after they were charged with a felony by St. Louis’ far-left DA for brandishing guns to protect their home from a threatening mob – but none of the mob members were charged – their blinders fell off pretty quickly.

After hearing Sen. Tim Scott’s closing speech, I have to second what some conservative bloggers said: I want to vote for him for President in 2024. It was personal and moving, but also substantive. And I loved this line about his early struggles in school: "Trust me, after spending seven years in the Senate, I know I’m not the only one in Congress who failed civics."

I was thrilled that for the Pledge of Allegiance, the speaker made a point of reminding people that the words include “under God,” which was left out of two recitations of it at the Democratic Convention. (I also appreciated that they told attendees to stand for the National Anthem, not stand or kneel, whatever your preference.) The embrace of God may have already turned at least one vote…

Natalie Harp, who would have been relegated to death by cancer by government regulations if it weren’t for Trump’s “right to try” reform that let her try an experimental drug, reminded viewers of all the people who have been saved by Trump’s ending of VA hospital waiting lists, reduction of drug prices and other health initiatives. She also reminded us of Charlie Gard, the British infant who was sentenced to die by British government health care bureaucrats.

There was also a powerful film and speech by a Louisiana doctor who both treated and contracted COVID-19, on the false narrative that President Trump did nothing about or botched the disease response. It reminded viewers of how the pandemic took the world unawares and unprepared, and Trump quickly built an unprecedented public-private effort that prevented equipment shortages, removed FDA red tape and fast-tracked new treatments. Bonus: footage of Democratic Governors such as Andrew Cuomo praising Trump’s efforts (this was before word came down that they were supposed to trash and blame him)

Charlie Kirk appealed to young people by defending “the American way of life,” including freedom of speech and religion, against the cancel culture, self-righteous Silicon Valley censors, and a mob of “bitter, deceitful, vengeful activists who have never built anything in their lives.” He called Trump “the bodyguard of Western Civilization”…

Rebecca Friedrichs, the California kindergarten teacher who took on the teachers’ unions in court and won (she noted that the Obama/Biden Administration and Kamala Harris fiercely opposed her in that lawsuit), spoke about school choice (a recurring theme of the evening) and how teachers’ unions are trapping poor and minority children in failing schools. It’s a subject that’s become red hot now that stuck-at-home parents are discovering what their kids were being “taught” all these years…

All this, and I still haven’t touched on Nikki Haley’s excellent speech, Trump’s moving visits with coronavirus essential workers and Americans who’d been held hostage abroad whom he brought home (he rescues people from the other side of the world while Democrats fight having to give medical care to a newborn baby in the same room), Maryland House candidate Kim Klacik’s powerfull message, and so much more.

It was also a stunning contrast just to see Trump popping up everywhere, seemingly working around the clock with limitless energy. At the Democratic Convention, we waited three days for Joe Biden to emerge from his basement like we were waiting for Punxsutawney Phil to rouse himself from his burrow on Groundhog Day. It definitely bolsters Trump’s “Sleepy Joe” moniker and puts pressure on the Dems to let Biden debate to prove he’s up to the job.

You really should watch it all if you can. It will lift your spirits and renew your hope. As I said in my article for Fox News, the Dems gave a funeral for America, and the Republicans threw a celebration. Never has an electoral choice been so stark – or so obvious.

But I can’t end without quoting the funniest line of the night, from Donald Trump Jr: Joe Biden is the “Loch Ness Monster of the swamp.” He sticks his head up every 20 years or so to run for President, then disappears into the swamp again.

Laura Ainsworth, Staff Writer

America set the bar so low for Joe Biden’s speech Thursday night at the Democratic National Convention, he ended up getting raves simply for standing on his mark and reading off a prompter for a mere 20 minutes. For Democrats, he also got raves for not being Trump, which is the greatest accomplishment of all.

As author James Lileks put it, Biden benefited from “the soft bigotry of Joe expectations.”

Since there was only one noteworthy flub –- he skipped over the word “not,” but everybody knew what he meant –- the conversation inevitably turned to whether or not Biden was actually speaking live. On Friday, even Rush Limbaugh discussed this, including whether or not the speech could have been edited, given that Biden was essentially motionless throughout, and Rush said he knew of a number of people “looking at it.”

Before getting into that discussion, let me say that just the fact we’re even speculating about it should tell us what’s “off” about this crazy year and the Biden ticket in particular. When Trump hits it out of the park (as he will, guaranteed) this week at the Republican Convention --- in the middle of a no-doubt grueling schedule --- no one is going to wonder if HE spoke live and in the moment, not for one second. Because that’s just him; what you see is what you get. His party is not going to be deceiving you about that. That is so refreshing in the world of politics. Anyway...

Though my background is not in computers –- far from it! –- I know technology exists to “fix” much of what might have needed to be fixed, but probably not in such a way that it wouldn’t be detected by experts who know what to look for. (Aside: we’re not far away from the horrifying day when this CAN be done undetectably.) So it’s very unlikely that this was done. No, if Biden’s campaign didn’t have total confidence in his ability to do the speech live, the best way around that would have been much simpler.

I do have a background in writing speeches for corporate executives and even coaching them on delivery and how to appear on camera. What they would have done: get Biden rested and ready, and then run through the whole speech a comfortable number of times with Biden in rehearsal, hitting “Record” on all the run-throughs. (Don’t tire him; at some point, the law of diminishing returns will apply.) Typically in a rehearsal, you'd record the run-throughs anyway, to be able to review the performance and give the “talent” (I use the term loosely) some notes before doing another take. Once you have a full take you like --- especially if you sense he’s getting tired --- just stop. Don’t wait for perfection; a minor flub or two makes this more believable, and in this case, that’s the most important thing. Use the take that best conveys the personal qualities you want to get across, as Democrats think the election turns on this.

After that, as long as you’re down to a TINY group of people who can be implicitly trusted not to leak, it’s only a matter of hitting the right button at the right time to send out the recording instead of going live. Then, while the video played, Biden and Jill would just be “bidin’” their time in that room until it was time to walk out with Kamala and her husband to wave at the cheering crowd. Or, Biden could even do it "for real," unaware that the speech going out was really a take from earlier in the day.

That’s what Lt. Columbo would suspect. Do NOT call me a conspiracy theorist; I am not saying they did this. I’m saying this is how it could have been done if they had serious concerns about Biden "going live." It’s tempting to think of this as their “insurance policy”; we know Democrats are fond of those.

Biden probably just read it live, as it wouldn’t take much for that, given that he had the words right in front of him. But, again, the fact that we’re even speculating tells us all we need to know about what is wrong with the 2020 Democratic ticket. Given the high stakes, we have no doubt that if they were sure they could get away with this without anyone being the wiser, they'd do it.

So the bigger issue is whether the speech itself met expectations. To preface that discussion, I’d say that even without the questions concerning his mind, much of Biden’s past political life would do much to set the bar for content just as low (unless, of course, it were to be plagiarized from other sources). This opinion piece from JUST THE NEWS offers a quick background.

https://justthenews.com/politics-policy/elections/biden-has-history-controversies-involving-plagiarism-fabricated-stories

Gov. Huckabee has a commentary of his own today on the glaring lack of any specificity in Biden’s speech. He’s right --- this was vapid campaign talk, nothing but typical election-year platitudes. I have little to add, except that it occurs to me his speechwriter might have taken inspiration from a commercial currently being run in America by Italian coffee company Lavazza (which calls their ad a “global communication campaign”), featuring the voice of Charlie Chaplin from 1940.

The visuals are impossibly artistic and edgy, showing humanity at its most open, loving and --- importantly for leftists --- stylish. The words laud a borderless planet in which everyone gets along (as in the insipid John Lennon song “Imagine”). There's no word on how we’re going to create this beautiful world, except to “Unite!” Leftists just love flowery, uplifting speeches about mankind with no specifics.

The words Lavazza used are from Charlie Chaplin's 1940 film THE GREAT DICTATOR, a movie that rightfully savages Adolf Hitler and the Nazis.

To his credit, Biden at least didn't plagiarize this.

It would be fun to create new visuals for the Lavazza ad that included shot after shot of leftist violence in Seattle, Portland and other American cities (which Biden never mentioned, incidentally). You know the images I mean: buildings burning and people being kicked in the head by radical leftist thugs demanding "justice." Oh, the humanity.

Now, I am a huge fan of Chaplin’s movies, but it should be noted that he was a far-leftist --- he grew up in dire, horrific poverty in England --- who became fabulously wealthy in capitalist America and eventually exited the U.S. to live in Switzerland. He claimed not to be a Communist, but here's an interesting piece on his Stalinist leanings.

We mustn’t forget that Russian Communist ruler Stalin was quite the dictator and mass-murderer himself. Clearly, one would have to be a dictator to have anywhere near the level of control it takes to remake society. Prospective Democrat voters might want to consider that.

Mike Huckabee

The Democrats’ virtual convention ended Thursday at nearly midnight, and never has the phrase, “Thank God it’s Friday,” held so much meaning. If you want to see the whole thing, you masochist, you, it’s here.

Here are the far more entertaining liveblogs of the highlights from PJ Media…

And from Townhall.com…

And here are five important takeaways from the final night:

I’m too burned out (and frankly, after four days of this dour, angry, bitter convention, just too weary and relieved it’s over) to go into detail about all of night four (although I will say they needed better joke writers.)

If you saw any of the first three nights, it was mostly more the same. Lots of Trump-bashing and gloom and doom about America, with hardly a word about China or the shocking violence in the streets of Democrat-run cities. So I’ll concentrate on the “big reveal”: Biden’s acceptance speech. There was a lot of buzz beforehand, not so much about what he would say but how he would say it, or if he would get through it at all. So here are the two most important points:

1. He did a surprisingly good job of presenting the speech. It was a long speech (maybe too long), but he presented it well with no major gaffes and without wandering off-topic or the stage. He was emotional, at times angry (maybe too angry), but controlled and professional. He definitely allayed any fears that he might not be able to perform at least the Presidential function of reading a speech off a Teleprompter. That sounds like a low bar to clear (although it was Obama's chief skill), but it’s not meant as an insult: a lot of people were genuinely concerned that he couldn’t clear it, and he obviously did. I’m sure a big sigh of relief could be heard in the control room and in every Democratic household in America.

2. The substance of the speech is where the many problems lay. It was a mess of contradictions of things we all have lived through and of everything his fellow Democrats have said over the past three nights. Probably the most stunning “What the...?!!” moment was Biden’s claim that when he heard Donald Trump say there were “very fine people” among the violent neo-Nazis in Charlottesville, “at that moment, I knew I had to run.” Problem: Trump never said that.

Trump said he was sure there were fine people on both sides of the debate about removing a statue of Robert E. Lee, but as for neo-Nazis and white nationalists, they should be “condemned totally.” The quote Biden cited as the motivating factor for his run has long been verified even by liberal “fact-checkers” as fake news. So does this mean he’ll pull an Emily Litella; say, “Never mind!”; and quit the race?

This was especially stunning, considering much of Biden’s speech was an attack on Trump for allegedly not caring about “facts.” Biden’s speech was also rife with other claims that are wildly at odds with known facts. For instance, he claimed that Trump’s tax cut only benefited the rich (most of the benefits went to the middle class)…that he will ensure equal pay for women (we already have laws requiring equal pay for women)…that he will create a good-paying job through government investment in rebuilding our infrastructure and creating green energy (we heard that from Obama; it cost us hundreds of billions of dollars and even Obama admitted there were no “shovel-ready” jobs)…and that he will help workers by strengthening unions (that’s code for passing a national version of the widely-hated California law that’s destroying the state’s gig economy, putting musicians out of work, and killing Uber and Lyft in the state.) He also backs doubling the minimum wage, which has cost jobs and shuttered small businesses everywhere it’s been instituted. Real facts: under Trump, wages were rising for the first time in years, and the gains were greater among the bottom half of earners than the top half. That is, until a Chinese virus and Democrat Governors shut down the economy.

Perhaps Biden’s most stunning claim was that he will be a fighter to end the outsourcing of American jobs. This was the major issue that got Trump elected. Trump is actually bringing back jobs after years of outsourcing under Obama/Biden and previous Administrations. Fact: Biden was one of the biggest boosters of job-exporting legislation. He supported and promoted NAFTA, which cost us at least 5 million jobs and 50,000 manufacturing plants, including a Chrysler plant in Delaware that he’d promised would increase hiring. He supported normalizing trade with China, which cost us 3.4 million jobs. And he was pushing Obama’s Trans-Pacific Partnership that would have sent even more of our jobs to Asia if Trump hadn’t killed it.

He claimed that Trump has done nothing about the COVID-19 (Chinese) coronavirus except hope for some miracle to make it end (first time I’ve ever heard standard herd immunity described as a “miracle,” but okay.) Reminder: Biden criticized Trump for shutting off travel from China quickly, which was the most important factor in slowing the infection spread until we could prepare for it. Democrats predicted deadly shortages of ventilators and hospital rooms, which didn’t happen because of Trump’s actions; and a death toll of 2.2 million. Yes, there have been 170,000 deaths, which is horrible, but that’s the fault of China (and in large part, certain blue state Governors – two of whom were featured convention speakers - who insisted on putting coronavirus patients into nursing homes.) The US does not have the worst death toll in the world per capita, and we only have the largest number of deaths because we have a population of 320 million, and China is plainly lying about their death toll.

Biden claimed Trump does not listen to science. From Dr. Anthony Fauci: "The President has listened to what I have said... When I've made recommendations he's taken them. He's never countered or overridden me."

As for Biden’s bold plan to stop the virus – developing a test and forcing everyone to wear masks – there are already such tests (I drive down the street and see “Free COVID-19 tests” signs in front of every medical clinic), and he has no Constitutional authority to order everyone to wear masks. Also, five million people have NOT lost their health insurance. But a lot of people lost their policies when the Democrats passed Obamacare.

Biden claimed that kids suffer a “daily fear of being gunned down in school.” Putting aside that most kids aren’t even in school at the moment, thanks to teachers’ unions, school shootings are actually extremely rare. Although they might become less rare if Democrats defund the police and remove officers from schools. Right now, it’s far less dangerous to be in school than it is to venture into certain areas of any city that’s been run by Democrats for decades.

Biden claimed that he would not put up with foreign interference in our voting. Fact: Russia interfered in the 2016 election, and Obama and Biden did practically nothing. Well, they apparently did collude with some Russians to try to undermine the results of the election, but that’s another story.

Biden claimed that Trump will do away with the payroll tax, which will lead to cuts in Social Security. Fact: Trump has only called for a temporary suspension of the tax to help people get through the virus shutdowns. That would not affect Social Security, which has a $2.9 trillion surplus. Trump does want to do away with the tax permanently, but Congress would have to do that and arrange alternate funding.

Biden blamed Trump for this dark atmosphere of hate and negativity, even though it was the Democrats who started the “resistance” rhetoric the second Trump was elected, who have refused to accept his election, who attack him and his family 24/7/365, and who had just spent three and three-quarter nights relentlessly and hatefully bashing Trump, putting down America and its history, and painting anyone who opposes them as an angry, misinformed, racist, sexist, homophobic, Islamophobic, transphobic xenophobe. It was a pleasant surprise to hear Biden say he wants to reach out and be the President of all Americans, considering how many of us are the white supremacist spawn of an oppressive, unjust nation that’s responsible for all the evils of the past 400 years. And I’m glad he says he wants to help even those who didn’t vote for him. However, he’s running on a platform that will absolutely devastate most of those people.

One thing I learned when debating Trump myself in 2016 is that he doesn’t attack people who don’t attack him first. I followed Reagan’s 11th commandment and didn’t attack my fellow Republicans, and Trump didn’t attack me. Even though I’ve had occasion to criticize some of his comments and policies, we remain on good terms (I just taped an interview with him at the White House that will air this weekend on “Huckabee” on TBN.) It seems to me that Democrats hate him with the searing heat of a thousand suns for two real reasons: they can’t get over that Hillary lost, and Trump refuses to be a “typical Republican” and just stand there and take their unfair attacks. They would have us believe that he’s another Hitler, but they’ve compared every Republican President or nominee to Hitler or the Nazis since Truman did it to Thomas E. Dewey (only Eisenhower escaped it, but that was because he actually defeated Hitler, so even the Democrats didn’t dare try it.)

Trump actually punches back when he’s attacked, and Republicans aren’t supposed to do that. They’re supposed to be docile punching bags. That’s not Trump’s style, and frankly, it’s a big part of why the base supports him. They’re sick of being slandered as racists and fascists by people who really do act like racists and fascists. That’s where we got the term “crybullies.” Leftists love to attack others, but they cry “Bully” when anyone punches them back.

If today’s Democratic leaders really do care about all Americans and are willing to work across the aisle, then why is Nancy Pelosi citing ridiculous nonsense like the “Disappearing Mailbox Conspiracy” as a feeble excuse not to get back to work and pass extended coronavirus relief?

Speaking of Trump fighting back, here’s his response to Biden’s speech: "In 47 years, Joe did none of the things of which he now speaks. He will never change, just words!"

It is telling that, as several commentators pointed out, Biden has been in national politics for nearly half a century, but the Convention was all about the huge things he’s going to do, with almost nothing said about what he’s actually accomplished in all the years before.

Mike Huckabee

"’There's no use trying,’ she said: ‘one can't believe impossible things.’ ‘I daresay you haven't had much practice,’ said the Queen. ‘When I was your age, I always did it for half-an-hour a day. Why sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.’” – Through The Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll

As I watch the nightly news from urban liberal warzones like Portland or force my eyeballs to stay open through the Democrats’ virtual convention, I keep thinking, “We’re through the looking glass, people!” And that’s not just an expression. I mean that, like Carroll's mad Red Queen, in order to be a Democrat in 2020, you are required to believe an unlimited number of impossible things. The Party’s embrace of "Alice In Wonderland" level madness inspired me to start making a list of these impossible things. To be a Democrat today, you have to believe…

1. That a pre-born human baby is not a human being deserving of protection from killing, and neither is a baby that was born 10 minutes ago if the mother decides she doesn’t want to keep it.

2. That capitalism, which has lifted hundreds of millions of people out of poverty and despair worldwide, is evil; but socialism, which has caused the oppression, impoverishment, starvation, and death of hundreds of millions of people over the past century, is the only hope of the future.

3. That the best solution for rioting, looting, arson, and violence in the streets is to defund the police.

4. That all the gains in the economy under Trump were really caused by Obama, but the worldwide economic crash following China’s unleashing of a pandemic was caused by Trump.

5. That Trump has a plan to rig the next election that involves making the Obama Administration remove thousands of mailboxes several years ago. Also, that the Post Office is removing little-used mailboxes in Oregon because the key to Trump’s reelection is for him to win Oregon.

6. And on that subject, that nobody ever complained about the US Post Office being slow, inefficient, and unreliable until Trump was elected.

7. That America is an oppressive, racist, white supremacist nation that’s the root of all evil in the world and its culture is inferior to that of other nations, including the many nations where people are willing to risk their lives just for the chance to come to America.

8. That Trump built “cages for children” on the border during the Obama Administration.

9. That viruses spread like wildfire at church services, but not at crowded protest rallies for leftwing causes. Also, viruses spread at bars that serve chips, but not at bars that serve sandwiches. Because “science!”

10. That people with male genitals are women just because they say they are, but people who say that actually having female genitals makes them women are intolerant, transphobic bigots.

11. Also, hospitals must be forced to give gynecological exams to “women” with male genitals, and taxpayers forced to pay for abortions for them.

12. Again on that subject, that someone born male who developed a muscular masculine physique before deciding he was a girl has no unfair physical advantage in sports over the much smaller teenage girl whose face (s)he is crushing into the wrestling mat.

13. That Trump botched the response to COVID-19 by xenophobically shutting down travel from China and crashing the economy with a shutdown, but Democrats would have prevented both the pandemic and the crash by not stopping travel from China and shutting down the economy sooner, harder and longer. Also, it’s absolutely impossible for Trump to keep people from crossing our border, but he could have kept a virus from crossing our border.

14. That an acceptable way to express how much you care about black lives is to burn black neighborhoods, loot black-owned businesses, and tear down statues of abolitionist leaders. Also, that all black lives matter except those of black cops, black Republicans, and black pre-born babies.

15. That free healthcare is a right, free college is a right, free food is a right, a guaranteed paycheck is a right, and citizenship for illegal immigrants is a right, but free speech and freedom of religion are not rights.

16. That the people who presided over the rise of ISIS, the Iraq and Afghan wars, a nuclear Iran and North Korea, and even Iran falling to the Mullahs in the first place, are trusted diplomatic professionals, while the man who crushed ISIS, dealt with Iran and North Korea, and crafted a historic Middle East peace agreement is a dangerous amateur who’s destroying our foreign policy.

17. That disproven rumors are evidence that Trump colluded with Russia to undermine a presidential election, but Democrats paying Russians for disproven rumors and using them as “evidence” to launch a Deep State coup is NOT collusion with Russia to undermine a presidential election.

18. That 2 + 2 only equals 4 because of white supremacy.

19. That there are 57 genders but only one acceptable political viewpoint.

20. That burning a flag is protected free speech, but objecting to someone burning a flag is not.

Okay, this could go on forever, so I’m going to stop at 20 and let you add to the list in the comments. Have fun, if that's not impossible these days...

Mike Huckabee

Tuesday’s virtual Democratic convention was set to focus on how Trump has totally messed up the brilliantly successful foreign policies crafted by Democrats like Hillary “Benghazi” Clinton and John “Logan Act” Kerry. Before you listen to them try to convince you that standing up to China, crushing ISIS, defending Israel, making our allies pay more for their own defense, dealing directly with North Korea's threats, renegotiating trade deals in America’s favor, arming Ukraine against Russia, cutting off funding for Iran’s terrorism and nuclear ambitions, and crafting a landmark Middle East peace agreement are all horrible blunders by the Bad Orange Man, take a look at this chart.

It tracks the death toll and the amount of territory controlled by ISIS between 2013 and 2018. Note the trends under Obama and under Trump. It’s called “The Rise and Fall of ISIS,” so you can sort of guess the trends. Of course, it doesn’t include all the people tortured, wounded, disabled, enslaved and raped by terrorism’s “J.V. team,” as Obama famously called them. Those numbers are so large, I don’t know if they’ve ever been tabulated, but they would take a much bigger chart.

To sum up: No, I don’t want to return to the “good ol’ days” of Democrat-run foreign policy, thanks. I believe the blundering amateur is doing a far better job than the striped-pants diplomatic “professionals.”

Mike Huckabee

The new Franklin Templeton–Gallup Economics of Recovery Study found that many Americans are shockingly misinformed about the actual dangers of the COVID-19 (Chinese) coronavirus. While it’s certainly a serious and potentially deadly disease that we should all take reasonable precautions to avoid, most people believe it’s much more deadly than it really is, and to the wrong people.

Here are the three main findings, direct from the report:

1. "On average, Americans believe that people aged 55 and older account for just over half of total COVID-19 deaths; the actual figure is 92%.

2. Americans believe that people aged 44 and younger account for about 30% of total deaths; the actual figure is 2.7%.

3. Americans overestimate the risk of death from COVID-19 for people aged 24 and younger by a factor of 50; and they think the risk for people aged 65 and older is half of what it actually is (40% vs 80%)."

As the study points out, we’ve known since this started six months ago that by far the greatest danger is to older people and those with comorbidities like obesity or diabetes. So what’s to blame for this stunningly high level of incorrect beliefs? Partly, it’s just paranoia over our own health, but the two most common factors among those who believe false information are…brace yourselves for a shock…political partisanship (i.e., identifying as a Democrat) and getting your information from social media. I know, you could knock me over with a feather!

If you are a Democrat who gets your information mostly from other Democrats on social media, then COVID-19 may be terrifying you -- but it's probably not your biggest problem. To see some of the many ways in which believing this false information is hurting people personally and the nation in general, check out the rest of the study at the link.

Mike Huckabee

One step forward, two steps back. In other words, Hillary skates again.

Just when we start to see progress on the Durham investigation, with FBI attorney Kevin Clinesmith pleading guilty to falsifying a document about Carter Page (though he still ludicrously insists he didn’t “intend” to mislead), we learn that three judges on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals have unanimously reversed a lower court decision that Hillary Clinton would have to sit for a deposition over her use of a private email server for government work while she was Secretary of State.

Judicial Watch, as part of a FOIA lawsuit that dates from 2014 (!), had requested depositions from both Hillary and her then-attorney Cheryl Mills over the emails, and this request had been granted by Washington D.C. District Court Judge Royce Lamberth. The suit was initiated when Judicial Watch was trying to look into what happened during the attack on our consulate in Benghazi, Libya, but expanded when they discovered in that investigation that then-Secretary of State Clinton was using her own private email server at that time. Surprise! In fact, if it hadn't been for that investigation, we might never have learned about her private server.

As it was, the questioning of Hillary would have been limited in scope, but now it won’t be happening at all. The decision didn’t change the lower court’s ruling on Mills, however.

The three-judge panel was made up of two Obama appointees and one appointed by George W. Bush. Judge Robert Wilkins (an Obama pick) wrote, “The mere suspicion of bad faith on the part of the government cannot be used as a dragnet to authorize voluminous discovery that is irrelevant to the remaining issues in a case.” Make of that what you will, but be sure and compare it to other situations, such as the use of a “dragnet” for the past four years to try to get Trump on something, anything, long after the original issue in the “Trump/Russia” investigation had been resolved.

Wilkins also said that Clinton shouldn’t have to sit for a deposition because she had already provided written answers in a separate case. At that time, she wrote that the reason she had used a private server was “for convenience.” Ah, well, that’s good enough for me! Why doesn't everyone in government just use their own servers? It would be so much easier.

As THE EPOCH TIMES reports, “Wilkins further noted that Congress, the FBI, and the State Department have also investigated Clinton’s email situation.” Ah, yes, we all know how thoroughly James Comey’s FBI investigated Hillary during her “Mid-Year Exam.” The State Department covered for their former Secretary; they said that even though they'd found nearly 600 security violations (!), they couldn’t find “persuasive evidence” of “systemic, deliberate mishandling of classified information.” As for Congress, that ship sailed in 2018; try getting Jerrold Nadler’s Judiciary Committee (or any other Democrat-led congressional committee) to do anything about Hillary Clinton’s emails and her blatant obstruction of justice and see how far you get.

Tom Fitton, president of Judicial Watch, said he is "disappointed" and called the decision “political.” He said it’s “contrary to longstanding precedent and undermines the Freedom of Information Act.” Indeed.

So it looks as though just because Hillary gave some lame written answers in another case, she doesn’t ever have to sit for questioning about her email server, not at all. And even though the court's decision didn’t include Cheryl Mills, whom they say has “other ways to appeal her deposition that were not available to Clinton,” my guess is that they’re referring to Mills’ ability to cite attorney-client privilege, which she will, of course, do. Gosh, Hillary, it’s so conveeeeenient to have an aide who is also your attorney (or at least was at the time) and can’t be questioned about anything you communicated to her.

Mike Huckabee

Saturday was a landmark anniversary: the 75th anniversary of V-J Day (Victory over Japan.) There’s some dispute about the actual date: Japan surrendered on August 15th, but because of the time difference, that was August 14th in the US. And September 2nd is officially referred to as V-J day because that’s when Japan signed the surrender document, ending World War II. But whichever day you prefer, it must be remembered and commemorated, especially this year. The number of living veterans of the war in the Pacific is dwindling; and this year, because of the coronavirus, public events were not as large or widespread as these heroes deserved, and their advanced ages meant that most couldn’t leave their homes to be honored.

We must remember V-J Day not only for the sacrifices and heroism of our military, but also to ensure that the conditions and actions that led to the horrors of World War II never happen again. Today, there is a vast coordinated effort to erase and rewrite the history of the United States, and to cast this great nation’s heritage as nothing but racism, oppression, and colonialism. That is a scurrilous lie. Yes, there are dark passages, but no other nation in history has ever strived so hard, or sacrificed more blood and treasure, to advance justice and free people from bondage, both here and around the world. In the 1940s, the United States and the Allied coalition literally saved the world. And having defeated the most dangerous foe of all time, we didn’t act as conquerors or colonizers. We left only enough troops to oversee the rebuilding and keep the peace, while most of our military came home, shed their uniforms, and went on with their lives.

At that link is a story about some of the veterans of the Pacific campaign who are still with us 75 years later. But I noticed that the writer has also internalized, perhaps unwittingly, some of the attempts to rewrite history to cast America in a negative light. The article describes the atomic bomb attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki as the point where “nuclear weapons were first -- and so far, solely -- used in anger…”

There’s no question that those bombings were horrific in their destruction and loss of life, and they certainly carried a sobering lesson that we should avoid ever using those weapons again. But it’s flat wrong to assert that they were “used in anger.” They were used in war, which is a very different thing.

It was a war we didn’t start or seek; Japan thrust it on us with the attack on Pearl Harbor. Even after Germany surrendered, Japan’s military leaders refused to stop fighting, and they still had a 2-million-man military to defend their homeland. A D-Day-like invasion of Japan was predicted to cost at least a million casualties. Truman faced one of the most difficult choices of any President in history: use the awesome power of a nuclear weapon – which wasn’t even fully understood at the time – or keep fighting island by island, door to door, for who knows how long or at what cost of lives on both sides. Here’s some more background on what he was facing.

Far from being made in anger, that was one of the most agonizing and carefully considered Presidential decisions ever made. Historians can argue forever about whether it was the right decision, but they don’t have the lives of millions of people hanging on the outcome of their debate, as Truman did.

Finally, as we salute American heroes of World War II on the 75th anniversary of V-J Day, here are some photos from commemorative events that were held in Great Britain and Japan.

Mike Huckabee

From Diane H:

Please don't get too political!!! You have stood out as a commentator because of your fairness and honesty. I am so sick of politics driving everything in this country. Please just present the facts. I'm tired of seeing Democrats just involved in painting the Republicans black. And I'm getting just as tired of Republicans bending over backwards to paint the Democrats in as bad a light as possible. PLEASE don't make this your game too. This is being written in response to many of your columns recently not particularly this one. I know it's a war but Republicans are doing their part in escalating it.

From the Gov:

Thanks for writing, Diane, and I'm sorry to hear you feel I've been less than completely fair and honest in recent days. I think the best way to counter false arguments is with as much fairness and honesty as there can possibly be. Right now, the voting public is being deluged with false arguments and wrong information –- even the so-called “fact-checkers” are tainted by politics. And, yes, that does get wearying.

Let me assure you, I am still trying my best to be fair in my comments and 100 percent honest and accurate when presenting the facts. Unlike just about every major media outlet, which typically gets fooled by jumping on every anti-Trump story out there, I haven’t had to retract stories in my newsletter as “fake news.” We try to make sure that every story we bring you is the real deal.

If my tone seems more strident lately, and if politics appears to be “driving everything in this country,” it can’t be helped right now. This is happening because we’re in the last few months of one of the most significant fights for power that our country has ever seen, possibly even more so than when Hillary was running in 2016 (and that’s saying a lot). It’s perfectly fair and honest for me to say that the Democrat Party is now openly controlled by far-left socialists who seek to destroy everything America was built on. Just look at their list of demands. Or ask their leadership to denounce even violent pro-communist groups such as Antifa and BLM; they won’t do it. This really is so serious that it’s impossible not to be political, and, yes, even partisan. When I say Democrats absolutely cannot be allowed to win this one, I am not playing a “game” or merely “painting” them as villains.

Just turning on the news and seeing what is going on in our major cities, and in government from Congress all the way down to some city councils, is disgusting and horrifying. To observe that is not to “paint the Democrats in a bad light.” Why should I “bend over backwards,” as you put it, to paint them in a bad light when they are doing a spectacular job of it all by themselves? I’m not bending any which way at all, just being honest about what I see and what I think it means for the country if it comes to pass.

Diana, this is not "my game." So much is at stake, it’s impossible not to be political now. And what’s happening is real. For some, especially those centered in Washington, DC, and paid handsomely to play it, politics IS a game –- some see it as a blood sport –- but, trust me, this is all real. What’s happening in New York, Chicago, Minneapolis, Atlanta, Seattle, Portland, Los Angeles, San Francisco and coming soon to a city near you...IT’S REAL. It affects people’s lives; sometimes it ends people’s lives. What I say about it is opinion, of course, but my opinion is based on fact, which I give you as well.

My staff and I are working hard, swimming through this toxic environment to give you the information you need. Much of it isn’t being widely reported but is true nonetheless. We are dismayed by how utterly misinformed many Americans are going to be when they cast their vote. The media have worked overtime to present one side, and, given what we know to be true on a variety of issues, we usually have to turn them off before our heads explode. No, we don’t want to be the “Republican” counterpart to what we see on the Democrat side. We do take the higher ground, in that we want you to know what's really going on.

You say you know this is a war. Please understand that we are not the aggressors in this war; it is being waged against us and America as a nation. FIGHTING BACK IS NOT THE SAME AS ESCALATION. The left will not stop; if we don’t fight back and end up losing this, we'll essentially be run over, along with our values and our cherished rights. We will lose such basic rights as freedom of speech, self-defense (along with defunded police departments), worship, property, and equal justice under the law, which is already pretty shaky as it is. We will have open borders and packed courts. History will continue to be torn down and rewritten. We will have essentially one-party rule and no compromise. “Equality of opportunity” will be twisted into “equality of outcome” for racial groups. There will be little we can do to stop full-term and even just-born infants from being killed or allowed to die untended. And the bureaucracy that abused its power to spy on Americans and create the fake “Russia” story will go unpunished and be free to continue violating the rights of those they don't like.

This is all extremely important, and politics will decide it. It’s not a game –- we have to fight back. If you don’t like politics, you’ll just have to wait it out. And that, Diane, is my fair and honest assessment!