By Mike Huckabee

It goes without saying that Nevada is like no other state, but here’s a new wrinkle: the Governor just issued a state of emergency because the supply of marijuana is running low. Just about 10 days after officially legalizing recreational pot, a bureaucratic logjam has prevented distributors from obtaining state licenses (that’s the trouble with drug-dealing, too much paperwork), while demand proved stronger than anticipated (seriously?!) And the state is depending on the 15% tax on legalized pot to fund the public schools (there’s a good lesson when you’re trying to teach kids to stay off of drugs: they pay your teacher’s salary). So the low stash of weed is considered a state crisis. Gee, if only there were some way they could mellow out.

I would comment further on this, but the entire system sounds like something that someone who was on drugs came up with. More details at the link.

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By Mike Huckabee

An unbelievable case of the IRS goose-stepping over the constitutional rights of small business owners is unfolding in Garland, Texas.

As first reported in the Dallas Morning News, Mii’s Bridal and Tuxedo, co-owned by husband and wife Tony and Somnuek Thangsongcharoen, who immigrated here from Thailand long ago and opened their store in 1983, was raided by 20 armed IRS agents in March of 2015. With no due process, they were told that if they couldn’t produce a check for $10,000 within two hours, their property would be seized to pay a tax bill of $32,422. They didn’t have the cash, so the IRS immediately took possession and auctioned off essentially everything that wasn’t nailed down --- even, they say, property that didn’t belong to the shop.

Read the full story to see how the IRS used their own bureaucratic standards to justify auctioning beautiful bridal gowns for as little as $4 apiece –- inventory worth $615,000 was unloaded for a grand total of $6,000 –- and how their lawyers argue now that the couple have no standing to sue the IRS for damages. The couple dispute their tax bill, but the big issue here is that the forfeiture of their property took place outside the court system –- no due process of law. It happens all the time, right here in America, and it has to stop.

The couple seem to have an on-the-ball attorney; he filed a FOIA request that turned up an internal IRS document that he claims orders agents to “shut down this failing business.”

It’s too bad that politics didn’t go another way and we weren’t able to get rid of the IRS in favor of the Fair Tax. (That would have been one of my first orders of business, but I digress.) We all know the kinds of things their agents have been up to, even as they plead the Fifth before investigators. We should destroy the IRS just as thoroughly as it has killed the dreams of these and many other people. Put a stake through its cold, cold heart. In the meantime, forcing it to toe the line of constitutionality would be a good start.

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By Mike Huckabee

There’s been a dramatic new development in the case of Charlie Gard, the British infant with a rare genetic disorder whose parents are fighting to take him to America for an experimental treatment, while his hospital and European courts have ruled that his life support should be turned off to let him die.

The obvious trampling of the rights of the desperate parents has struck a chord of sympathy worldwide, resulting in support from the Pope, President Trump and major pro-life groups, as well as a petition signed by over 350,000 people. With a worldwide spotlight turned on them, the British hospital administrators suddenly saw the potential in the experimental treatment, but they claim their hands are tied by the court order to turn off his life support. So on Monday, the parents were back in court for a hearing, trying to convince the original judge that the treatment is worth pursuing so he’ll lift the de facto death sentence on Charlie.

Judge Nicolas Francis said he is with the petitioners who want to save Charlie’s life, but he’ll only be swayed by medical evidence, not tweets, and it will take “drastic” new evidence to convince him to overturn his original decision. The experimental treatment reportedly has only about a 10 percent chance of working. But in a heartbreaking mother’s plea, Charlie’s mom Connie Yates told the judge, “Ten percent. You would if it was your son, wouldn’t you?”

Therein lies the real point of this battle: of course, if the judge’s son were facing death and there were only a 10 percent chance of saving him, he would take those odds in a heartbeat. But under the very system he represents – one in which life-and-death health care decisions are made by the government, based on statistics and budgets and cold bureaucracy – fathers and mothers don’t have that option. This innocent child’s life is not in the hands of the parents who love him, but those of a judge who admits he'd like to let the parents try to save the boy, but his first loyalty is to the rules. If that results in their baby’s death, then so be it.

And people really want to import this health care system to America?

By Mike Huckabee

A Huck’s Hero salute to Bob Katz and Troy Duhon, producers of the “God’s Not Dead” movie series (full disclosure: I was in the second film) for stepping up with a big contribution to help rebuild the Ten Commandments monument in Little Rock that was hit by a car and smashed by a (pardon the redundancy) “liberal with a history of mental problems.” But other liberals are still fighting to try to keep it destroyed, using lawyers as their preferred blunt instrument.

If these zealots would just devote a fraction of the time they spend trying to ban the Bible to actually reading it, they might realize that this isn’t the first time a tablet of stone containing the Ten Commandments was smashed. But God has a way of making sure those tablets get replaced and His laws live on.

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By Mike Huckabee

I hesitate even to comment on this story because it strikes me as yet another anti-Trump attack by the New York Times that falls apart even as you read it.

The “shocking revelation” this time: that during the campaign, Donald Trump Jr. met with a Russian lawyer with Kremlin ties who claimed to have damaging information on Hillary Clinton. Trump Jr’s response: The woman requested a meeting, which she started by making vague and nonsensical claims of having damaging info on Hillary that they quickly surmised weren’t true. Then she started lobbying them on an unrelated issue, about overturning an Obama-era law denying visas to Russians suspected of human rights violations. Trump said they wrapped up the meeting in 20 minutes, and no action was taken.

That’s it? That’s the big scandal? First of all, as Prof. Alan Dershowitz might note, there’s nothing illegal about that. Secondly, as Michael Walsh of the New York Post asks, does anyone believe that if the woman the Times wanted to make President got an offer of damaging information on Trump, she would have refused to hear it? Her supporters leaned on Tom Arnold to release alleged embarrassing outtakes from “The Apprentice,” and reportedly financed that notorious “Russian dossier” on Trump that was filled with bogus scandal stories. On top of that: News flash, New York Times, the election was eight months ago. Trump won. Most Americans are getting awfully weary of your endless attempts to undo the results. I don’t know about you, but the rest of us have lives, and we’d really like to get on with them.

This story isn’t even big enough to be a nothing burger. It’s more like a nothing slider.

By Mike Huckabee

Today, President Trump will finally speak with Vladimir Putin. Perhaps Putin will explain to him (and the rest of us) why he allegedly preferred to help elect a US President who wanted to rebuild the US military and American international leadership, defend Ukraine from Russia and bury Russia’s vital energy industry, instead of the woman who’d already sold him a fifth of our uranium supply. Enquiring minds want to know!

In case you missed Trump’s speech in Poland, you should definitely watch it online. It might be the best speech he ever gave, a ringing defense of national sovereignty and the values and worth of Western culture. And as Charles Krauthammer pointed out, it was the toughest attack on Russia since Reagan, one that blew the whole media-concocted “Russian collusion” hoax to smithereens.

WATCH IT HERE

By Mike Huckabee

Happy Independence Day! That’s the official name of the Fourth of July holiday, although you don’t hear it too often in these days of people wishing for more dependence on government. Today is when we celebrate America, hold picnics and watch fireworks. But most importantly, it’s a day when Americans celebrate our freedoms.

Sadly, too many today think it’s smart and sophisticated to give up freedom in exchange for government promises of security. As the great philosopher Joni Mitchell once said, “You don’t know what you’ve got ‘till it’s gone.” That’s why the Founding Fathers took such care to lock our most important rights safely within the First Amendment to the Constitution. There are more freedoms guaranteed in that one short sentence than people in most nations can even dream of. That’s why for centuries now, so many people around the world have risked their lives to come to America. The Founders understood that freedom really is that precious.

When the framers of the Constitution first met in 1787, many were afraid that if they created a strong federal government, it would soon be trampling the rights of the people, just like the British king they’d recently fought to break free of. So to make sure the people’s rights would always be protected, they added 10 amendments …although George Mason thought they were so important, they should come first, as the preface to the Constitution. And now, in case, you’ve never heard it, or maybe just forgotten, here is the First Amendment in its entirety:

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

And that’s it. This was back before government needed 2,000 pages just to screw up health care. Just 45 simple words protect your freedom to speak freely without fear of government retribution. Your freedom to publish those words so that other Americans can read and debate them (even on college campuses). Your freedom to band together with like-thinking Americans, and protest peacefully without fear of arrest. Your freedom to petition your leaders to complain about their policies, and your right to be free from having an official state religion forced on you, but also from government interference with the expression of your personal religious beliefs. A lot of people celebrate the first half of that last right and pretend the second half doesn’t exist.

The First Amendment is almost like a gift bag crammed full of rights that together make up the foundation of what it means to be an American. The Founders thought those rights were all so important that they found a way to list every single one of them first.

And then, they made sure the right to bear arms was listed second, just in case anyone ever tried to steal the First Amendment.

By Mike Huckabee

Three of the most liberal state leaders in America (from California, New York and Virginia) are refusing to turn over all “publicly-available voter roll data” to President Trump’s bipartisan Election Integrity Commission. They claim they will not help perpetuate the “myth” of widespread voter fraud by showing the commission the records that, if they are correct, would disprove that there’s widespread voter fraud. Ooooookay. Sounds about as convincing as buying a used car from a particular dealer because he calls himself “Honest John.”

More details at the link on why people who care about honest elections should be outraged that anyone wants to see the voter records to verify that.

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By Laura Ainsworth

With Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg making high-blown pronouncements on his expanded mission of helping us all find purpose and meaning in our lives and his desire to “rewrite the social contract” between us and our government, this is a good time to check out a great satirical film called THE CIRCLE.

It came and went from theaters pretty fast earlier this year, with curiously little promotion --- especially since it starred Tom Hanks and Emma Watson --- but should not be missed. Stream it.

The story is told from the perspective of a young woman who takes a job with a corporation that could be Google or Facebook, run by a CEO (Tom Hanks) who aspires to link us all into a global community, connect us socially, destroy our privacy and any desire for such, ensure conformity, monitor our existence (for our own convenience, of course!), and generally shape society to his own ends. In other words, it’s a horror movie.

Social media does serve valuable functions –- it keeps us in touch with actual friends and helps us find lost loved ones, among other things --- but this movie should serve as a cautionary tale about where we’re being taken. It’s no exaggeration to say we’re heading into an Orwellian world in which cameras can be on us virtually 24/7 and our every keystroke and turn of the steering wheel adds to our personal permanent record. We’re expected to check our phones every 30 seconds or so. Of course, many of us are now so addicted that we live on them, anyway. We measure our popularity by the number of followers and “likes” we have. Is that how Mark Zuckerberg suggests we find meaning in our lives?

Anyway, see the movie. And remember it whenever some revolutionary, “progressive” but, hey, downright practical idea for bettering ourselves comes out of Silicon Valley.

PLEASE LEAVE LAURA A COMMENT BELOW.  SHE READS THEM!

Laura Ainsworth is a fantastic retro jazz singer and comedy writer whose always-tasteful parody songs were heard on “The Mike Huckabee Show.” This summer, she’s releasing her third CD “New Vintage” and a best-of vinyl LP and making her NYC debut Aug. 24th at the Metropolitan Room.  For tickets and more, visit https://www.facebook.com/lauraainsworthsings

By Mike Huckabee

The way the Democrats instantly reverted to violent anti-Republican rhetoric over the GOP health care bill while Rep. Steve Scalise is still in the hospital (ranting that it’s a “death bill” and millions of Americas will DIE if it’s passed), you’d think that if the Republicans don’t pass it, Obamacare will stay in place and everything will be wonderful. They never bring up the fact that the entire reason we need a replacement bill is that the health care bill they gave us is going into a death spiral all by itself.

Just as a reality check/wake-up call, Western Journalism put together an investigation into the history and current state of Obamacare. It reminds us of what we were promised, what was actually delivered (they just threw lots of money at the problem, with the same effect as throwing $25 million at Jon Ossoff’s Congressional bid, so that government now controls 80% or more of our health care dollars) and what’s happened since (the average nationwide premium increase since 2013 has been 99% percent for individuals and 140% for families; and 70% of counties now have only one or two insurers still in the exchanges). It also takes a look at some suggested alternatives that would be cheaper and more efficient.

In other words, don’t listen to those who’d have you believe that any attempt to replace Obamacare is killing a system that’s working great and any alternative will make people die. They’d like you to think this is a choice between a mean, evil Republican plan or Heaven. It’s actually a choice between grabbing a life preserver or drowning.

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By Mike Huckabee

We’ve lost another of those familiar TV faces that baby boomers grew up with: Bill Dana passed away last week at his Nashville home at 92. Dana was both a familiar comic character actor and a writer who helped create some of the most beloved comedy bits of the past half-century-plus. He’s best known for a character that became a phenomenon in the ‘60s but could never exist in today’s PC age: Jose Jimenez.

Jose was a nervous Mexican immigrant with a humorously tenuous grasp of English who started every bit by declaring, “My name Jose Jimenez!” While Jose might be considered a dialect humor stereotype now, at the time, Latino groups honored Dana for creating a positive portrayal of a patriotic Mexican immigrant, and he was careful not to do any jokes he thought would seem offensive.

Beginning with his first appearance on the classic Steve Allen show (where Dana was head writer), his catchphrase swept the country. The Mercury 7 astronauts played his records so much that the first words spoken to an American in space came in 1961 when Deke Slayton told Alan Shepherd on blast-off, “Okay, Jose, you’re on your way!” Dana became friends with the astronauts, made a comedy record called “Jose the Astronaut” that was later included in the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum and the Astronaut Hall of Fame, and he was named the first “honorary astronaut.”

But while Jose Jimenez was his most famous creation, it was only a tiny part of Bill Dana’s career. He played many roles, such as Sophia’s brother Angelo on “Golden Girls,” but stage fright made him prefer writing. He created many classic jokes for “Get Smart” star Don Adams (the “Would you believe?... bit was Dana’s) and wrote the most famous episode ever of “All in the Family,” where Archie Bunker meets Sammy Davis Jr. Surprisingly for someone who made millions laugh for over seven decades, Dana suffered from severe depression, and he wrote a book about the curative powers of laughter.

All this is only scratching the surface of his astonishing career. If you’d like to see an obituary that reads like a crash course in comedy history over the second half of the 20th century, click the link. I guarantee that if you don’t know Bill Dana, after you read about his life and see his face, you’ll say, “Oh, THAT guy! I loved him!”

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By Mike Huckabee

The Profiling Project, an independent investigation into the death last July of DNC staffer Seth Rich, has been released. The investigators, largely volunteer graduate students and professors from George Washington University, believe it’s unlikely that Rich was the victim of a random attempted robbery.

Raging political seas inevitably threaten to splinter and swallow up this story, so I thought it might be a good idea to pass along a link to the complete report, unfiltered through Newsweek or any other alleged news organization. We’ll talk later about it and get into the details, to be sure. And a year after Seth Rich’s death, we should thank the Profiling Project for keeping this cold case warm, when there are others who’d prefer it be kept on ice.

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