Are You Proud to Be an American?

Americans – at least most of us – are celebrating two extra-ordinary happenings. First, is the Artimis II flying around the moon and further into space than any previous rocket. Second, is the miraculous – an Easter miracle – rescue of an Air Force officer who evading capture for 48 hours after his fighter jet was shot down over Iran. Elizabeth Troutman Mitchell reported on the rescue in her article published at The Daily Signal. 

“Despite incoming fire and unforgiving conditions, our troops brought every American home,” Secretary of War Pet Hegseth said during a press briefing Monday. “No American lives were lost.”

After the officer’s fighter jet was shot down, the injured officer survived by climbing to higher ground, treating his own wounds, and contacting American forces to request rescue.

“We immediately mobilized a massive operation to retrieve him from the mountain holdout, and he kept going higher and higher,” Trump said. “The mountain kept getting rougher and rougher and really, verry, very hard to find.”

Because thousands of Iranians were searching for the pilot, the United States “executed a deception campaign to confuse the Iranians who were desperately hunting for our airman,” CIA Director John Ratcliffe said.

On Saturday morning, the U.S. confirmed the airman was alive and hidden in a mountain crevice, “still invisible to the enemy, but not to the CIA,” Ratcliffe said.

The United States deployed three helicopters to extract the American pilot. He was rescued at midnight Eastern time on Easter Sunday. An air armada protected the rescue team, including tactical drones, strike aircraft, and more.

“God was watching us,” Trump said. “Well, it was Easter. We were in Easter territory.” Trump praised the military for carrying out the operation without any casualties. He said he will “never forget the extraordinary risk taken by the warriors that we send into battle.”

“In a breathtaking show of skill and precision, lethality and force, America’s military descended on the area, the real area, engaged the enemy, rescued the stranded officer, destroyed all threats, and exited Iranian territory while taking no casualties.”

Ratcliffe said he was honored to serve under a president who lives out the motto, “No man left behind.”

“We’ve seen it against the cartels in the Western Hemisphere, and we’re seeing it every day in Operation Epic Fury, including this mission to rescue an aviator buried deep behind enemy lines,” Ratcliffe said, “because it is the unique tradition of the U.S. armed forces that we leave no man or woman behind.”

“Peace through strength” is not a slogan, Hegseth said, but “a doctrine that saves American lives.”

“His unwavering commitment to rebuilding our military and restoring the warrior spirit has paid dividends in missions just like this one,” Hegseth said. “Under this command, America progresses power with confidence and brings our people home with victory. And that continues today.”

All Americans should be proud of their country and their country’s heroes – whether it be their President who makes the difficult decisions, the astronauts circling the moon and preparing for further space travel, the CIA who works in secret, or the military men and women who willingly stand between the enemy and Americans. God bless America! 

Are Democrats Destroying Democracy in Their Attempt to Stop Trump?

Democrats do a lot of yelling about “saving democracy” from President Donald Trump, a person that the Left consider to be a tyrant, a dictator, even Hitler himself. One problem with this attempt by Democrats is that they think that the end – saving democracy – justifies whatever they need to do to accomplish their goal. Their effort is actually destroying democracy as they seek to destroy Donald Trump. Victor Davis Hanson explained what this means in his article published at The Daily Signal. 

What do I mean? One of the issues that they are agitating is the redistricting of congressional districts in Texas and California now. And the general problem the Left has is, if you look at gerrymandering to make these jigsaw puzzle piece-like districts, the Left is way ahead of the Right. In other words, states that have proportions of 30% to 40% to 50% for Donald Trump do not have that level of representation in the Congress.

And there’s been sophisticated studies of gerrymandering. And it boils down to the Republicans re short some six to 10 seats in the House, based on the proportion of the national vote they have received.

The Democrats know that, but they’re angry about the Texas reapportionment and gerrymandering. And their attitude is: “We’ve already gerrymandered our states to the maximum. Don’t dare try to emulate us.” …

There’s been three great scandals in the 21^st century. The first was the Russian collusion hoax that was prompted by Hillary Clinton and facilitated by the Obama administration on its way out. That almost destroyed the Trump campaign, sabotaged his transition, and ate up 22 months of his first two years.

The second was the Biden FBI and CIA – but especially the CIA and the intelligence agencies – got 51 people, former intelligence authorities, to lie to the American people on the eve of the second debate to affect the 2020 election, and claim, falsely, that Donald Trump was lying about the laptop of Hunter Biden, that it was “fake,” that it was a “Russian production,” and Donald Trump then was colluding, again, with the Russians.

That was a complete lie. It was Hunter’s laptop. We know because the FBI had it in its possession and authenticated it.

And finally, the great scandal that the Democratic Party and the obsequious media knew that President Joe Biden was no compos mentis, he was not cognitively able to fulfill the office of the presidency. And they kept that from the American people, until they could no longer keep it, when he finally challenged Donald Trump to a debate and melted before our very eyes. Sort of like the Wicked Witch in “The Wizard of Oz.” …

So, my point is, if you look at the Democrats, they have staged three great scandals to try to destroy the Trump administration and by extension, democracy.

They impeached Donald Trump twice. No one’s ever done that. They tried him as a private citizen. Nobody’s ever done that. They raided his home in Mar-a-Lago. That is a terrible precedent for an ex-president. No one’s ever done that. They tried to get him off the ballot in 25 states. No one had ever done that. There were two attempts at assassination during the campaign. That had never happened before. They tried to debank him and make it impossible for Donald Trump to write a check, whether from Morgan Stanley or Bank of America, or any bank.

So, my point is this, when James Carville says, “We’re gonna get tough. We’re gonna get really tough. And we’re gonna let in Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C., to get four senators. Or we might have to pack the court to 13 justices,” I’m thinking, “Well, you always were going to do that.” …

So the problem, James Carville and Democrats, is that you have sabotaged democracy. And you’ve done things that no one has ever done before to an oppositional candidate, presidential transition, and president.

And now you’re furious because you’re on the 40% side of every issue that’s dear to you… And you have no political power…. And your institutional power – the media, academia, the foundation – they are under assault….

And so, you’re frustrated and you’ve created this completely false narrative that you have to get tough, and you’ve been very Marquess of Queensberry rules-like. In fact, the opposite is true, everybody. You have been the most vicious and the most abject subverts of democracy, all for the short-term gain of destroying Donald Trump. And now that’s boomeranging upon you. And you don’t like to see it happen to you – what you tried to do to Donald Trump….

The answer to the question, Are Democrats destroying democracy in their attempt to stop Trump, appears to be “Yes.” It seems that Democrats are willing to do anything to stop Trump, including killing him. How democratic is assassination?

It appears that many Democrats as well as some Republicans are part of the “secret combinations” prophesied to be in every land in the latter days. It appears that this secret combination or combination of secret groups is attempting to destroy the government of the United States, but they ran into a rock wall by the name of Donald Trump. No matter what the Democrats say or try to do, he pushes forward in his goal to Make America Great Again, with the latest move to clean up Washington, D.C.

 

Will GOP Unify, or Continue to Screw Around with the Budget?

Republicans are coming down to the wire on the budget. Only time will tell if they move the legislation fast enough to protect the Trump tax cuts. While most of the GOP are unified in working to get a bill over the finish line, there are some Republicans in the House of Representatives who are making demands, according to George Caldwell at The Daily Signal.

Fiscal hawks want to the bill to implement requirements for work in Medicaid, and they want the implementation to be sooner rather than later. Most people understand that able-bodied adults should be working and paying their own way in life instead of dipping into funds meant for children and disabled adults.

Republicans in blue states comprise another group that is making demands. They want “a higher cap on state and local tax (SALT) deductions against federal taxes.” Such deductions would “lessen the effects of blue states’ high tax rates.” This means that American taxpayers nationwide would be paying for the bad policies in Democrat-run states.

President Donald Trump met with the House GOP Conference on Tuesday, and “moderate Republicans are hoping that his stern command to unify will bring holdouts into line to vote for the budget reconciliation bill.” Rep. Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.) reported that Trump told the group to stop screwing around with the bill and get it across the finish line. Trump’s tough language apparently irritated some Republicans in the meeting.

There are numerous reasons why the bill should pass both the House and the Senate as quickly as possible. One reason is that Trump’s first-term 2017 tax cuts will end at the end of 2025. Another reason is that Tom Holman and his associates need funding if they are to deport ten to twenty million illegal immigrants. Holman said that he has been on Capital Hill numerous times trying to help move the bill along. A third reason is that funding is needed to build a wall along our southern border and include technical and aerial assets to help defend the sovereignty of the nation.

Although “major disagreements remain,” there are “many Republicans [who] are calling for those members to put their disagreements to the side. The bill is set on a fast timeline, as it will go to the House Rules Committee for a vote at 1 a.m. Wednesday morning, which would clear the way for a floor vote.” By the time that this essay is posted, we should know if the bill was moved out of the House Rules Committee. Caldwell wrote the following in his article.

“[The meeting] also reminded them that Donald Trump is a singular powerful political figure, and that he is fatigued by us messing around with this thing, as is much of America. It is time to land this plane, and my colleagues increasingly are coming to understand that is the cold, hard truth. This is a good bill. Let’s pass it,” Johnson said to The Daily Signal.

Johnson also argued that supporting the bill, despite its shortcomings, is the pragmatic thing to do.

“This bill is not perfect; it does not cut enough. If I was the only member of the House, we would probably cut another $500 billion or $1 trillion. But politics is the art of the possible, and this is the largest deficit-reduction measure in a generation,” he said, adding:

“And so, although it does not go far enough, it is a heck of a lot better than failure, which would increase taxes on 80% of American families.”

Rep. Erin Houchin, R-Ind., similarly said she hopes that Trump’s visit to the Capitol will unify Republicans.

“My impression is that President Trump’s message was widely, very well received this morning. He was clear that we’re probably not all going to get everything that we want in this package, but the things that we’re doing, as we mentioned in this press conference, are transformational,” she said.

“I think the message was well received, and I think we’re getting closer to having a consensus product,” she said.

“He was direct with us on what he expected. He was also in very good spirits, as was everybody in the room. It was a good time with the president to hear from him, to get his vision for what he wants us to do in the next week or so.”

  

What Did Trump Say in His Inaugural Address?

It is morning in America after a dark four-year Biden administration. Once again, Trump has a Democrat-created mess to clean up before he can start healing America and moving our nation forward. To Trump, Monday was the beginning of a golden era.

Trump delivered his second inaugural address inside the Capitol Rotunda because the weather was frigid in Washington, D.C. In his address, he vowed to “restore integrity and efficiency to the federal government.”

Even though Trump won a decisive Electoral College victory and the popular vote, he desires to heal and unify America. Trump invoked Martin Luther King Jr. and asserted, “Impossible is what we do best.” Fred Lucas shared eight takeaways from Trump’s address. 

1. ‘Stars and Stripes on the Planet Mars’

Among the newer policies Trump spoke of was putting a man on Mars.

“We will pursue our Manifest Destiny into the stars, launching American astronauts to plant the Stars and Stripes on the planet Mars,” Trump said….

2. ‘Saved for a Reason’

Trump referenced the attempt on his life on July 13 in Pennsylvania when a would-be assassin shot Trump in the ear and killed a supporter in the crowd….

“From this moment on, America’s decline is over. Our liberties and our nation’s glorious destiny will no longer be denied, and we will immediately restore the integrity, competency, and loyalty of America’s government,” Trump said.

“… Just a few months ago in a beautiful Pennsylvania field an assassin’s bullet ripped through my ear. But I felt then, and believe even more so now, that my life was saved for a reason. I was saved by God to make America great again.” …

3. ‘Weaponization … Will End’

Minutes before leaving office, former President Joe Biden pardoned several family members who had been under congressional investigation for possible influence-peddling, and hours after similar preemptive pardons of political allies.

Early in his speech, Trump vowed to restored integrity to the U.S. justice system, after facing multiple investigations from the Biden Justice Department.

“Our sovereignty will be reclaimed,” Trump said. “Our safety will be restored. The scales of justice will be rebalanced. The vicious, violent, and unfair weaponization of the Justice Department and our government will end.”

4. ‘Liberation Day’ and Honoring MLK

Trump said that Jan. 20, 2025, should be regarded as “Liberation Day.” …

Trump referenced the growing support among constituencies that haven’t often supported Republican candidates, as he noted that he was sworn into office on Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

“To the black and Hispanic communities, I want to thank you for the tremendous outpouring of love and trust you showed me with your vote,” Trump said. “Today is Martin Luther King Day, and in his honor, this will be a great honor, in his honor, we will strive together to make his dream a reality. We will make his dream come true.”

5. ‘Only Two Genders’

Trump also called for ending government social engineering on race and gender.

“This week, I will also end the government policy of trying to socially engineer race and gender into every aspect of public and private life. We will forge a society that is colorblind and merit-based,” Trump said. “As of today, it will henceforth be the official policy of the United States government that there are only two genders, male and female.”

6. ‘External Revenue Service’

While the Internal Revenue Service is the Treasury Department agency charged with tax collection from Americans, Trump announced plans for what he dubbed the “External Revenue Service” to fund the government with revenues from foreign countries.

“I will immediately begin the overhaul of our trade system to protect American workers and families,” he said. “Instead of taxing our citizens to enrich other countries, we will tariff and tax foreign countries to enrich our citizens.”

He added: “For this purpose, we are establishing the External Revenue Service, to collect all tariffs, duties, and revenues….”

7. ‘National Emergency at Our Southern Border’

Trump said protecting the southern border would be a major priority, and announced numerous executive orders.

“I will declare a national emergency at our southern border,” Trump said. “All illegal entry will immediately be halted, and we will begin the process of returning millions and millions of criminal aliens back to the places from which they came.”

“We will reinstate my ‘Remain in Mexico’ policy. I will end the process of catch-and-release. And I will send troops to the southern border to stop the disastrous invasion of our country,” Trump said.

He added that Mexican cartels will be designated foreign terrorist organizations….

8. ‘National Energy Emergency’

Trump also vowed to roll back the energy policies of the Biden administration.

“The inflation crisis was caused by massive overspending and escalating energy prices. That is why today, I will also declare a national energy emergency,” he said. “We will drill, baby drill.” …

How Will the Supremes Rule about Trump Being on the Ballot?

The liberty principle for this Freedom Friday is the duty of the United States Supreme Court to determine constitutionality of laws. Today the Supreme Court heard arguments in Trump v. Anderson, a case brought by activists in Colorado trying to keep the name of Donald Trump off the ballot. The justices listened to arguments for 80 minutes and asked numerous questions about the consequences of Colorado or any other state having the opportunity to choose whose name should be on the ballot.

The justices all asked tough questions on both sides with the lawyer for the activists struggling at times to answer the questions. The toughest questions seemed to come from the liberal justices. Hans von Spakovsky, a senior fellow at The Heritage Foundation, wrote about the appearance. 

The essence of the case is the decision by four justices of the Colorado Supreme Court, over the dissents of three colleagues, that because Trump engaged in an “insurrection” on Jan. 6, 2021, he is disqualified from being president under Section 3 of the 14 Amendment to the Constitution and thus may be removed from the ballot.

If the U.S. Supreme Court upholds the Colorado high court’s decision, it would disenfranchise millions of voters in Colorado and other states that follow Colorado’s misbegotten action, a concern raised by more than one justice during Thursday’s arguments. Those voters would have their right to choose who they think should be president taken away from them by a small group of state court judges and partisan election officials.

One could see the difference almost immediately in the opening statements of the two sides. Jonathan Mitchell, the former solicitor general of Texas who was arguing on behalf of Trump, presented a constitutional argument on why Colorado and other states don’t have the authority to enforce Section 3 against a federal candidate.

Mitchell also argued that the provision in the 14^th Amendment doesn’t apply to Trump because the former president doesn’t fil the precondition of being a former “officer of the United States” since he was elected, not appointed, to a federal office.

Mitchell spent a large part of his allotted time answering questions about the constitutional basis for that precondition, along with questions about whether Section 3 can be enforced when no federal legislation provides for that enforcement.

It is always difficult to determine how the justices will rule from the questions that they ask. I am a non-lawyer, but the questioning seemed to me to be quite negative toward the side of Colorado. Most experts expect the Supreme Court to hand down their ruling in a matter of days or weeks rather than in June as they do with most decisions.

How Should Conservatives Fight Against Political Persecution?

Americans are divided about many things, but mostly we are divided over Donad Trump. Approximately half the nation thinks Trump is one of the best Presidents of the United States in recent years, while the other half believes that Trump should be in prison for the rest of his life. Those who support Trump believe that there is a two-tier system of justice in the United States – one level for Trump and his supporters and one level for Biden and his supporters.

Trump supporters believe that the Department of Justice has gone rogue and unleashed the FBI on conservatives. They believe that the DOJ treatment of Trump amounts to political persecution rather than political prosecution.

In a recent article, Daniel Horowitz asked this question: “Do conservative media figures, influencers, pundits, and elected officials actually want to solve the weaponized persecution issue, or do they just want attention, ratings, and nominating Trump for president as an end to itself?” He believes that we should ask the same question about “every important issue of our time.” “What is the [conservative] endgame?” 

We’ve heard it all after the first two indictments of Trump. “We’ve crossed the Rubicon,” “We’ve become a banana republic,” “There’s no turning back from here.”

So it’s interesting how our government’s biomedical tyranny apparently didn’t cross the line … or burning down our economy … or destroying our energy … or aiding the cartels in the border invasion … or sending billions to Ukraine … or, with the weaponized DOJ, holding ordinary citizens and Trump supporters in prison indefinitely pretrial n non-violent criminal charges for two years. But if Trump himself is the red line, then fine. I’ll take it. But what are we going to do about it?

If we believe the DOJ is dead serious about locking Trump up for the rest of his life, and especially with the latest indictment being heard before an extremely far-left D.C. federal judge (and jury pool), what is the plan to save the country and Trump himself? …

So yes, we have a very weak hand to play. Which is very unfortunate, because what the DOJ is doing is deadly serious. Officials are essentially criminalizing the harboring or articulation of a political position if they deem it to be false or if individuals who hold that same opinion commit a crime…. Trump is his own worst enemy and not our best bet going forward if we actually believe in what he clearly doesn’t. But that still does not negate the fact that you can’t criminalize “misinformation,” even if it is demonstrably false, much less if it’s in dispute. After all, by this standard, every Biden HHS official should be in prison for knowingly saying that the vaccines stopped the virus, even months after they knew it wasn’t true.

I agree with those Trump supporters who assert that this is much bigger than Trump; officials want to criminalize our existence. So the prosecution of political opponents – whether Trump or ordinary citizens – needs to be shut down immediately. This is an existential threat and an imminent problem.

Horowitz continued to ask questions about what Republican elected officials, Republican presidential candidates, and other conservatives are going to do about the problem, Horowitz suggested something that I have heard from other sources: Defund the Department of Justice.

Republicans control the House. Without the House signing off on a budget come midnight of October 1, the DOJ gets no funding. Republicans must return from their ridiculous six-week recess and, while Biden and the Senate Democrats are on vacation, build the case for defunding the prosecution of Trump (and other political targets). This is a PR war and will require them to command the full attention of political news rather than coming back a few days before the fiscal year is up without any sense of unity. Then, they must stand their ground on the defunding provision and use that brinksmanship to captivate the public with a sense of unity. Then, they must stand their ground on the defunding provision and use that brinksmanship to captivate the public with a sense of unity of purpose over defending the First Amendment the way they unified against the attacks on Brett Kavanaugh. They should also place a rider in the bill providing a motion for defendants to assert political prosecution in the D.C. district and move their cases to other parts of the country. The budget is the only critical item over which Republicans wield a degree of ownership, and that leverage must be used now.

Horowitz had other suggestions, but he believes that defunding the DOJ is more important than impeaching Joe Biden or any of his henchmen. The other step that Horowitz should happen is for conservatives to take the fight to the states. “we must pressure state attorneys general, governors, and legislatures to begin interposing against federal tyranny and backing targets of political prosecutions.” He even provided a blueprint to do it.

Horowitz’s third suggestion is for the attorneys general in red states to target “Democrats for indictment who incite crimes based on political speech” - such as those Democrats who called for riots after the death of George Floyd. They could also go after anyone who encourages illegal immigration. Since the DOJ is charging Trump for conspiracy against rights, red state attorneys general should “prosecute all COVID-fascist elected officials on these provisions.”

What Is the Connection Between Trump, Democracy, and Free Speech?

The topic of discussion for this Constitution Monday concerns democracy and free speech. Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk recently purchased Twitter, and he has been causing leftists heartburn since the purchase. He decided to ask Twitter users if former President Donald Trump should be allowed by on Twitter.

Musk sent a simple tweet with a poll: “Reinstate former President Trump.” Two hours after the poll was published, it received more than 3 million votes. The final numbers were 15,085,458 votes with 51.8% of voters voting yes and 48.2% of voters voting no. At the time that The Blaze published their article, the percentages were 57% to reinstate Trump, while 43% did not want him to be reinstated. Musk used the voice of the people to reinstate Trump’s right to free speech.

Twitter suspended Trump’s account on January 6, 2021, during the riot at the U.S. Capitol because he was somehow responsible for the riot. He was later suspended permanently from its platform, and other social media platforms suspended him.

Trump joined Truth Social and other social media platforms, and he indicated that he is not interested in returning to Twitter. Now that he has been reinstated, he may change his mind, but democracy and free speech won.

Trump Stands Strong

            The President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address is all over the news today. Liberals cannot believe their eyes when they see the polls saying that 76% of Americans approve of Trump’s speech. This numbers includes 40-something percent the Democrats. I was shocked to see the results of the polls as well because I was assuming that all Democrats are like the ones we saw in the audience last night. I could not help but wonder if the liberals are losing their supporters.

            Liberals and Bernie Sanders are upset with what Trump said and did not say, and conservatives are ecstatic to see Trump look and speak so “presidential.” Senator Mike Lee (R-Utah) said that Trump “hit it out of park” with his speech. Then he highlighted what he thought was the most important thing that Trump said, and I agree with him.

            The President called out the New York governor and legislator and the Virginia governor for their willingness to kill babies either just before they are born or after. If I remember right, Lee called the New York law “evil,” – and I agree with him. I am glad that Trump put late term abortion in the light where everyone can see how truly evil it is. However, I believe that his efforts were lost on the ladies in the white pantsuits and their buddies.

            Last night my husband asked me to name two topics in Trump’s speech that I thought were powerful. I thought of two of them right away: late-term abortion and socialism. Bernie Sanders and AOC or whatever her initials are did not look happy when the President talked about socialism. 

Here, in the United States, we are alarmed by new calls to adopt socialism in our country…. America was founded on liberty and independence – not government coercion, domination, and control. We are born free, and we will stay free. Tonight, we renew our resolve that America will never be a socialist country.”

            I liked what the President said and did not hear one word that I disagreed with. Obviously, millions of other Americans feel the same way. Now we can need to hog tie the leftists that are controlling Congress and the governors who signing death warrants, Trump may be able to break lose and continue working miracles in behalf of Americans.

            Speaking of liberal governors, New Mexico has one of them too. Just as Trump is sending more military to protect the southern border, she orders “the majority of National Guard troops deployed at her state’s Southern border to withdraw.” She claims that Trump if playing charades with his fear-mongering. 

            Our nice neighbors to the South are busing migrants to our southern border. About 1,700 migrants are now across the border from Texas with plans to come through the Eagle Pass border crossing. I think that it is too bad that they did not go to New Mexico because the governor there would probably welcome them into her state!