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Three Martini Lunch 2/9/17

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Jim Geraghty of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America discuss a good day for judicial conservatives as Neil Gorsuch distances himself from some of Trump’s tweets on the judiciary, the Senate confirms Jeff Sessions to be Attorney General and Sen. Tim Scott exposes the racist messages he got for supporting Sessions.  They also cringe as Tucker Carlson suggests Elizabeth Warren would have defeated Donald Trump.  And they slam Kellyanne Conway for blatantly promoting Ivanka Trump’s products in a national television interview.

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Three Martini Lunch 2/8/17

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Jim Geraghty of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America are pleased to see nine Senate Democrats claim to want an up or down vote for Judge Gorsuch.  They also applaud Missouri passing right to work legislation but wince as opponents may be able to stall the law from taking effect for almost two years.  And they scold President Trump for tweeting about Ivanka’s battle with Nordstrom.

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Three Martini Lunch 2/7/17

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Jim Geraghty of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America react to the Senate confirmation of Betsy DeVos to be Secretary of Education.  They also sigh as the Trump administration gets bent out of shape over the Saturday Night Live spoofing of Press Secretary Sean Spicer.  And they learn about the man angling to become the Democratic nominee for governor in Florida.

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Three Martini Lunch 2/6/17

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Jim Geraghty of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America have all bad news, starting with a federal judge putting a hold on Pres. Trump’s immigration order without citing any law or constitutional provision and Trump’s subsequent tweets attacking the judicial system.  We also blast Trump for his moral equivalence in dismissing Vladimir Putin as a killer by saying America’s done a lot of bad things too.  And we discuss and debate whether the slower GOP strategy on Obamacare and tax reform is responsible leadership or letting a golden opportunity slip away.

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Trump Continues ‘Absurd’ Obama LGBT Policy

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Social conservatives are thrilled with President Trump for his pro-life actions and his choice for the Supreme Court, but he is taking heat from the right for extending an Obama-era executive order which places LGBT agenda mandates on federal contractors.

Liberty Counsel Chairman Mathew Staver says it all started under the Obama administration three years ago.

“In 2014, President Obama, contrary to any federal law, issued an executive order saying any contractor who does business with the federal government has to have this so-called LGBT and even Q (for) questioning, which is part of that alphabet soup, and they had to put this into their employment systems,” said Staver.

“They were imposing on employers the LGBTQ agenda when they didn’t have any federal law as authority,” said Staver.

Staver says Trump made a big mistake in continuing the policy.

“We were hoping that would be one of those executive orders that would go by the wayside, but when President Trump came into office, sadly he continued that executive order in 2017,” said Staver.

“That is going way beyond the federal law.  Federal law does not have sexual orientation or gender identity in the employment context or in any other context with regard to employment or public accommodation,” said Staver.

He says Congress has repeatedly stiff-armed the LGBT agenda on this front, which is why Obama resorted to an executive order.

“Congress has been asked several times to include sexual orientation and gender identity into the federal employment law and they have rejected that urging.  Consequently, not only does the law not have it but we see from Congress they don’t want it in there.  So why would the president go over and above them and impose this on employers anyway?” said Staver.

“It’s understandable for Obama, but it’s just not acceptable for President Trump,” he said.

The order requires any firm bidding for a federal contract to adopt policies protecting employees who wish to identify as a different gender than their biological sex would indicate.  It also requires businesses to accommodate such personnel by allowing them to using restrooms and other intimate facilities according to their gender identity.

And those companies refusing to comply will be left out in the cold on federal contracts.

“Any company that doesn’t want to have this absurd policy in place or a policy that violates their sincerely-held religious beliefs, they’re going to have to sit on the sideline.  They won’t be able to do business with the federal government,” said Staver.

Staver also asserts that the protections offered through this executive order are not the equivalent of other anti-discrimination protections enshrined in law.

“Gender identity is completely in a different category than discrimination on the basis of race or religion, which is protected by the first amendment,” said Staver.

He also argues the policy flies in the face of Trump’s top goal of jump-starting the economy.

“If we want to have America first and we want to create jobs?  Don’t put this absurd policy on them when the federal law does not impose it,” said Staver.

While Staver lauds Trump for his pro-life actions and for selecting Judge Neil Gorsuch for the Supreme Court, he says this is an area where Trump has always disappointed traditional marriage advocates.

“He never was on our side it looked like on the so-called LGBT agenda.  Certainly, he’s not on the level of President Obama, who was radical in that respect,” said Staver.  “Unfortunately, in the first two weeks of office, he does this executive order and that’s disturbing.”

Staver says conservatives need to make a compelling case to Trump to change course.

“I think he needs to be educated on this issue and he needs to reverse this policy that Obama ultimately instituted,” said Staver.

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Three Martini Lunch 2/3/17

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Jim Geraghty of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America cheer French security for shooting a would-be terrorist outside the Louvre.  They also discuss Kellyanne Conway’s “Bowling Green Massacre” moment, her decision to slam the media when correcting her mistake, and the media for focusing more on her mistake than her point that refugees in the U.S. were trying to kill Americans.  They unload on former Labor Secretary Robert Reich for suggesting, without any facts, that the Berkeley rioters were conservatives.  And they offer their Superbowl predictions and preferences.

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Three Martini Lunch 2/2/17

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Jim Geraghty of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America applaud Pres. Trump for the quiet, dignified way he honored a fallen Navy SEAL on Wednesday.  They also slam GOP Sens. Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski for opposing Betsy DeVos to become the next Secretary of Education.  And they unload on the violent leftist protesters who wrought havoc at UC-Berkeley Wednesday night.

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GOP Prepares to Defund Dems’ ‘Holy Grail’

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The woman behind recent videos that decimate Planned Parenthood’s claim that it needs to receive taxpayer dollars to meet vital pre-natal needs says congressional Republicans are poised to remove funding from the nation’s largest abortion provider and Democrats will be powerless to stop it.

On Tuesday, Live Action released a video showing activists calling Planned Parenthood clinics all around the U.S. seeking an ultrasound to ensure the health of their unborn children.  Time after time, the Planned Parenthood workers explain that the clinics only use ultrasounds in preparation for abortions and not to confirm a pregnancy or evaluate the health of a baby.

The video follows on the heels of others that undermine Planned Parenthood’s contention that it needs over half a billion dollars a year in taxpayer money because of the vital services it provides outside of abortions.  Officially, Planned Parenthood is forbidden by law from using any public money to perform abortions, so the group insists the money goes towards pre-natal care, mammograms and other women’s health needs.

But Live Action President Lila Rose says the videos are pulling the mask off the Planned Parenthood facade.

“We’ve known that Planned Parenthood is an abortion-first corporation, that they commit about 34 percent of all abortions in this country every year.  Yet, they provide less than two percent of the breast cancer screenings, less than one percent of pap smear tests and the numbers go on,” said Rose, who founded Live Action when she was just 15 years old.

She says Planned Parenthood entire argument for receiving federal dollars is now gutted by its own employees.

“They use [ultrasounds and pre-natal care] as a justification for their over half a billion dollars a year in tax payer funds, which led us to do this investigation, to really use Planned parenthood’s own language, their own staff explaining and admitting on tape that they don’t actually provide pre-natal care and they don’t actually provide ultrasounds even though they advertise those things,” said Rose.

Rose, who was in Washington Thursday building support for the defunding of Planned Parenthood, says the GOP is getting ready to yank taxpayer dollars from Planned Parenthood.

“There’s a lot of willpower right now on the Hill.  There’s a lot of clarity of focus that we need to get this done.  The American people want it.  Many of the folks who got into office in the Senate and the House – the most pro-life House ever – campaigned on defunding the abortion industry.  So a lot of folks are behind it, a lot of energy and momentum,” said Rose.

It won’t come without a loud fight.

“This is the holy grail for the abortion lobby and for the folks in Congress they have bought with lobbying dollars,” said Rose.

But Rose says the Republicans are ready to defund Planned Parenthood as part of the Obamacare repeal effort.  And she says it will happen in a way that Democrats cannot stop.

“It looks like the Planned Parenthood defunding and then the redirecting of that money to federally qualified health centers will be included in the reconciliation bill.  That’s what happened last year so this means that it will pass the Senate filibuster because the pro-abortion groups in the Senate right now would filibuster a law that they would try to get through the traditional way,” said Rose.

Reconciliation is a budgetary tactic that removes the 60-vote threshhold to get to a final vote.  A simple majority would pass the repeal and the attached defunding language.

As Rose mentioned, the Republicans did that a year ago.  But now there is an ally at the other end of Pennsylvania Ave.

“So it’s looking really hopeful.  We just have to get that same bill now to President Trump because it’s looking like he would actually sign it into law,” said Rose.

Democrats defend the Planned Parenthood funding by saying millions of low-income women rely on those clinics for non-abortion related care.  Rose says that money would still be available for women’s health care.

“If taxpayers are going to be funding anything, the money should be redirected to more worthy health care providers that provide more comprehensive care than Planned Parenthood.  There are 13,000 federally qualified health centers who provide better care and don’t focus on abortion.  They should get that money, not Planned Parenthood,” said Rose.

Live Action is also launching a petition to urge Congress to follow through on the defunding promise.  Over half a million signatures have been gathered so far.

Rose is also optimistic about Trump’s nomination of Federal Appeals Court Judge Neil Gorsuch.  She says Gorsuch’s commitment to the original intent of the American founders gives her confidence Gorsuch would protect the right to life.  While Gorsuch has not issued any abortion-related rulings, Rose says his record is pretty clear.

“He’s someone who has advocated against euthanasia, saying any intentional taking of human life by a private party is wrong.  So I think it’s really hopeful and I think he deserves all the support we can give him,” said Rose.

“I really hope there’s not a fight in the Senate and that he’s able to be properly confirmed and we have someone who’s really going to defend the right to life and the Constitution on the Supreme Court, in place of (the late Justice Antonin) Scalia, who was dearly loved,” said Rose.

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Three Martini Lunch 2/1/17

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Jim Geraghty of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America cheer President Trump’s nomination of Judge Neil Gorsuch for the U.S. Supreme Court.  They also get a kick out of flailing liberals showing up to protest the Supreme Court nomination with fill-in-the-blank signs so they could protest anyone who was chosen.  And they fully support the push from Vox to cancel the Oscars, although their reasons are somewhat different than those offered by Vox.

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‘This is Not A Permanent Ban’

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President Trump’s executive order is not a permanent ban but is necessary for national security thanks to the lax vetting practices applied by the Obama administration, according to a leading immigration policy experts.

Trump has issued a flurry of orders, but his executive order last week ordering an immediate and indefinite pause on travel to the United States from seven terrorism-prone nations is drawing by far the fiercest response.  Protesters have clogged airports and political critics are demanding Trump rescind the order.

Jessica Vaughan is director of policy studies at the Center for Immigration Studies.  She says there is a lot of confusion and misinformation about what Trump’s order does.

“I think the most misunderstood part is that people are being permanently prevented from coming to the United States who had been approved before,” said Vaughan.  “This is not a permanent ban.  It’s a temporary suspension.  You can call it a ban if you want, but it’s a temporary ban.  No one has been told that the benefit they were approved for  has been taken away.”

And she says refugees in dire situations are still being processed from those countries even with the pause in place.

“I have to emphasize there is language in this executive order that anybody with a particularly emergency situation, compelling circumstances, in imminent danger, or in other categories can ask for a waiver.  From what I’ve heard in statements today, they’ve already granted more than a thousand waivers for people,” said Vaughan.

But she says the pause on entry from the seven unstable nations is needed to recalibrate how the U.S. screens people entering our country.

“The point was to give our government the opportunity to take another look at these people who have been granted green cards, visas, refugee status.  We know that the vetting process under the Obama administration was not adequate,” said Vaughan.

Vaughan, a former visa officer, says the Obama administration failed to do even basic screening much of the time, including waiving required interviews with those seeking to go to the U.S.  But she said the problems didn’t end there.

“In other cases, officers were not allowed to look very deeply into the applications that they got.  The claims they made on their applications were not always verified.  Officers were told to assume that they were qualified and not ask too many questions.  [There was] not a lot of fraud prevention work taking place,” said Vaughan.

Then there is the problem of trying to vet people coming from hostile countries or ones that don’t have decent records on their people.

“In some of these countries, we don’t have enough of a relationship with the government to be able to be sure that people’s identities are who they say they are or that their story checks out,” said Vaughan.

“There was a lot of enforcement that was undone by the Obama administration.  We’ve seen illegal immigration rise to levels we have not seen in many years,” said Vautghan.

Vaughan says she has sympathy for those caught in transit as the order took effect, but she says national security has to take precedence.

“It is important to recognize that our security has been put at risk every single day that we have not had adequate vetting in place.  So it was important to put a stop to that as soon as possible,” said Vaughan.

Vaughan likens the pace of Trump’s immigration actions thus far – ranging from this order to ordering border wall construction to cracking down on sanctuary cities – to “drinking from a fire hose,” but she believes Trump is on the right course.

“There’s a lot that needed to happen,” she said.  “It’s been presented as an integrated plan.  Throwaway lines like, ‘Let’s have more border security.’  They’re talking about a wall but changing the policies also and enforcing the laws in the interior.  That’s a comprehensive approach that’s likely to work.”

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