Greg Corombos of Radio America and Ian Tuttle of National Review freely admit that Donald Trump thoroughly crushed Ted Cruz and John Kasich in all five states voting on Tuesday and his delegate haul makes him the very likely nominee. They also slam Kasich for a pathetic showing in states where he was supposed to be so appealing. And they console themselves with the news that Chaka Fattah and Kathleen Matthews both lost their congressional races.
Just two years after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention scrambled to respond to cases of Ebola in the United States, the federal organization is now admitting it initially underestimated the threat posed by the Zika virus in the United States, leaving one expert to call for a major restructuring of the organization.
News of the Zika virus emerged earlier this year, when cases in Brazil, particularly among pregnant women, were reported in increasing numbers. While the impact of Zika on adults and children is still being studied, medical experts have concluded the virus causes shrinking of the skulls in unborn babies, which leads to other serious health challenges.
At the start of the year, officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or CDC, implored everyone to remain calm, stressing that mosquitoes carrying Zika could appear in the U.S. but the threat here is much lower than in Latin America.
Now, as the Obama administration presses for a $1.9 billion emergency response to Zika, the CDC’s Zika preview is much more serious.
“Everything we look at with this virus seems to be a bit scarier than we initially thought,” said CDC Principal Deputy Director Dr. Anne Schuchat.
For experts, that big of s shift is unacceptable.
“That’s not the kind of quote that you want from a government agency that is charged with protecting the citizens from infectious diseases,” said Dr. Tom Borelli, who earned degrees in microbiology and biochemistry and frequently writes on the impact of a bloated federal government and is now calling for Congress to restructure the CDC.
He says getting caught unprepared is becoming routine for the CDC.
“The CDC should not be surprised about epidemics. First it was Ebola in 2014. Now in 2016 we have the Zika virus. Who knows what’s next?” said Borelli, who says the CDC has evidence as early as 2008 that Zika could be transmitted through sexual activity.
Borelli says the CDC started giving a more sober assessment of the Zika threat when new studies showed the mosquitoes carrying the disease could migrate to 40 of the 50 states. He says a more focused agency would have been on top of this but the CDC has too many unnecessary irons in the fire.
“The CDC has been suffering its own disease of mission creep. They’ve gotten into everything from salt, e-cigarettes, alcohol, guns, football injuries. You name it, they’re doing it. But they forgot about one of founding principles on which they were created, which is to protect us from infectious diseases. They took the eye off the ball,” said Borelli, who notes the CDC receives about seven billion dollars a year from taxpayers.
So what would have been a competent response?
“First of all, they would have known that it would represent a public health risk if it did get to the United States,” said Borelli. “Then, kind of like Ebola, what you do is make sure you can keep it contained and help Brazil out to keep the disease contained there. And you implement procedures and methodologies to contain the mosquitoes. But they didn’t.”
He says the same unpreparedness is seen in other health concerns.
“A recent document came out that showed that the CDC sent a memo to their staff that some of these kids coming over the border through Mexico are carrying tuberculosis. here’s another infectious disease that we used to have a handle on. Yet the CDC has its own private emails warning its staff but not the rest of the United States about what’s going on,” said Borelli.
Borelli says Congress needs to force the CDC to get back to its original mission through the power of the purse.
“You cut the budget and you have them focus on infectious diseases. They’ve gotten a little bit lazy. Once upon a time, we had really controlled infectious diseases. But now we’re getting these exotic diseases from Africa just because of worldwide travel. This is the focus that they really should be on,” said Borelli.
He fully expects any effort to shrink the CDC back down to size to be met with fierce protest from Democrats and the media as well as Democratic demands that the solution to CDC ineptness is to provide more taxpayer funding.
“That’s how we got into this mess. Every issue they throw money at it to distract it from its core mission,” said Borelli.
Borelli does believe the CDC should continue to exist as way to keep an eye on national and global trends regarding infectious diseases. But he says that’s all it should do.
“If that’s all they did, they’d be a lot better at it,” said Borelli.
Greg Corombos of Radio America and Jim Geraghty of National Review are encouraged that an overwhelming majority of Americans reject Hillary Clinton’s push for gun makers to be sued over shootings. They also slam Pres. Obama for once again telling a foreign audience that the world has never been more peaceful or more prosperous. And they discuss the internal fight for control of the Trump campaign.
The president and CEO of the largest public policy women’s organization says conservative women have to make a commitment to get engaged in political and policy debates if they want to see the United States turn in a more favorable direction.
Penny Young Nance is also the author of “Feisty and Feminine: A Rallying Cry for Conservative Women.” The book provides facts and ways to engage friends and neighbors on key issues while also explaining why Nance believes women are being sold destructive lies about policy and our culture as a whole.
The book comes as America moves closer to the first woman being nominated for president by a major political party, and Hillary Clinton has even suggested at times that her being a woman ought to be a reason women support her.
Nance says another female White House hopeful was much closer to the truth.
“Carly Fiorina said, and I thought it was so wise, ‘Don’t vote for me just because I’m a woman. Vote for me because you think I’m the most qualified. It is demeaning to suggest the only reason I deserve your vote is because I’m a woman,'” said Nance.
The fact remains that women tend to vote Democratic, especially in presidential elections. But the problem for conservatives and Republicans is more specific. While married women tend to vote their way, the ever-growing population of single women overwhelmingly back Democrats.
Nance says the reasons for that divide are easy to see but the instinct to look for the government to help needs to be confronted.
“We know if you’re a single mom, you’re much more likely to live in poverty and so are your children. We also want to make sure that we’re securing a future for our kids so that they can do better. When we settle for socialism, we are consigning them to a life no better than the one that they have,” said Nance.
Pointing out that there are many opportunities for finding well-paying careers outside of the traditional four-year college plan, such as vocational school and other educational opportunities, Nance says education is the key to success and to converting voters.
“The way for these kids to get out of poverty is for them to not be consigned and sent to these substandard schools, trapped in these schools. We need to have school choice for these kids so that they can do better than the generation before them,” said Nance.
“When you talk to a mom on that level about opportunities for her children, she hears you,” said Nance.
In “Feisty and Feminine,” Nance says America is facing an Esther-like moment, referring to the biblical queen who risked her own life to expose a plot to exterminate Jews in Persia. She says Christian and conservative women need to speak up.
“I believe we are called to be salt and light in our culture. Part of that responsibility, when we’re caught in these moments, when people feel perfectly comfortable denigrating our beliefs right to our face, we need to be prepared with an answer. We need to be able to clear our throats and lean in and be part of the conversation,” said Nance.
Nance says many people feel intimidated to speak out if they are outnumbered or believe they don’t have a strong enough command of the facts. She says conservatives need to be well armed, both with scripture and other evidence.
“There are situations you are in where you can quote scripture, but you will not bring anyone to your side because they don’t believe scripture. So we also need to be prepared with the facts and the stats and a story or science that can also help them understand why we believe what we believe,” said Nance.
In addition to the political debates. Nance is on a mission to help women reject lies that she says liberals have tried to force upon them, starting with her controversial claim that women are contributing to their own degrading.
“At some point we developed Stockholm Syndrome. We started to cooperate with our captors. There was a day when we believed that pornography objectified and hurt women. Now the conventional wisdom, particularly among radical feminism, is that somehow it’s empowering,” said Nance.
Nance says she regularly speaks with young women and implores them to reject what society tells them they should want in favor of what God wants for them.
“Listen, forget ’50 Shades of Gray.’ You deserve 50 years from a man who loves you, who will support you, who will respect you, who will be your life partner and loves you and will be faithful. Stop settling for pig slop when God has a banquet of filet mignon for you,” said Nance.
Greg Corombos of Radio America and Jim Geraghty of National Review applaud the the buddy cop move by Ted Cruz and John Kasich to each back out of upcoming states to allow the other to blunt Donald Trump’s path to 1,237 delegates. They also condemn Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe’s move to restore rights to over 200,000 ex-convicts, including violent criminals. And they unload on the New York Times for suggesting NFL fans bear some responsibility for the troubles of hot shot, unemployed quarterback Johnny Manziel.
Saying it’s long past time for the legislative branch to rein in President Obama and his successors, a conservative Republican congressman is bringing forth legislation to create a new permanent House committee to stop the president from exceeding the powers outlined in the Constitution.
Rep. Ted Yoho, R-Fla., vaulted to prominence in early 2015 by running for Speaker of the House against incumbent Republican John Boehner. now he is introducing H. Res. 693, which would “establish the Permanent Select Committee on Oversight of the Executive Branch.”
“We have a constitutional crisis in this country. What we have to do is return that power back to the House for accountability, regardless of who’s in the executive branch,” said Yoho. “The whole purpose of this resolution is to get the executive branch to abide by Article II, Section 3 of the Constitution, the take care clause, and faithfully execute the laws of the land.”
While he insists this is designed to holed all future presidents accountable, Yoho says there are copious examples of President Obama overstepping his constitutional powers. The congressman cited Obama’s unilateral action on immigration, his refusal to crack down on sanctuary cities and failing to allow the Senate to weigh in on apparent treaties such as the Iran nuclear deal and the climate change agreement signed by scores of nations on Friday.
“They think it’s okay to negotiate with the UN and put us in a non-binding agreement. Bad things happen from that. They bypass the legislative branches, either the Senate or the House, in this case it would be the Senate with a treaty. It’s not doing the American people or our national security justice,” said Yoho. “We’re seeing it more with this president.”
But he says it’s not just about Obama. He says three current presidential hopefuls convince him that this panel is needed as soon as possible because he believes their instincts would be to grab more power for the presidency.
“You look at the possibility of having a Bernie Sanders as president or a Hillary Clinton or a Donald Trump, I personally feel any of those will look at ways of skirting around the Constitution because the legislative branch has allowed them to do that,” said Yoho.
Yoho is getting two frequent questions since filing this bill along with Rep. Randy Weber, R-Texas, on April 19. The first is why the existing House Oversight and Government Reform Committee and various subcommittees can’t handle the job.
“How’s that been working to hold an executive accountable or somebody like (former Attorney General) Eric Holder accountable, who is charged with contempt? No results were seen by the American people,” said Yoho.
He says one advantage of a permanent committee overseeing the executive branch is that it could get to the bottom of investigations very quickly.
“It’ll live from one Congress to the next or one administration to the next instead of waiting for something to happen and then bring together a committee, which takes a year or two,” said Yoho.
The other major question directed to Yoho is confusion over why a bill helping Congress rein in the president was only introduced more than seven years into the Obama administration. He says the answer is simple.
“The political backbone up [on Capitol Hill], the willpower of a lot of people, they don’t want to get on anything that even looks like you’re reining in this president for whatever reason,” said Yoho.
Yoho points out that he and other members have made two other attempts to stop presidential power grabs. One bill would have clearly outlined what powers the president does and does not have on key issues.
“That bill we introduced over a year ago and it got no traction. People every day talk about what this president is doing unconstitutionally and how he’s overstepping that. When you put a vehicle out there to rein him in, there’s a big space between rhetoric and action,” said Yoho.
More recently, Yoho led the effort to censure Obama over the president freezing the Senate out of a chance to consider the Iran nuclear deal and for weakening national security. Again, it went nowhere.
While this new bill was just filed, GOP leaders seem very cool to the idea of this permanent committee. Yoho implores citizens to demand their representatives and senators beef up accountability for the White House and begin asserting the power of the legislative branch again.
“This is the time to do it. You or me as a private citizen, we have absolutely no recourse other than to voice that to our representatives. They are the only ones who can hold these people accountable,” said Yoho.
Greg Corombos of Radio America and Jim Geraghty of National Review actually applaud Vox for a lengthy piece condemning smug liberals for acting as though their opponents aren’t just wrong but too stupid to know what’s good for them. They also discuss the private group of Hollywood Republicans disbanding, possibly over tensions about Donald Trump. And discuss the surprising complexities, some of them conservative, of the late music star Prince.
North Carolina Lt. Gov. Dan Forest is vigorously defending his state’s new law on public accommodation in schools and government buildings, blasting Donald Trump’s assertions that the law was a mistake and that transgenders should be allowed to use whatever bathrooms they wanted.
Originally known as House Bill 2, the law came in response to a Charlotte City Council ordinance mandating that all public facilities should allow people to use the bathroom or locker room corresponding to their gender identity. The North Carolina statute overturned the rule, stating that public accommodation policy can only be established at the state level. It also said usage of bathrooms and other vulnerable areas in public schools and government buildings must be done according to the sex on a person’s birth certificate. It made no demands of businesses and allows them to adopt their own policies.
Since Gov. Pat McCrory signed the bill March 25, liberal activist groups have protested the law as bigotry, businesses have threatened to pull out of North Carolina or scrap plans to come. Some musicians have canceled concerts and the NBA is debating whether to pull the 2017 All-Star Game from Charlotte.
The issue got even more explosive on Thursday. When asked about the law on NBC’s “Today Show,” Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump, surprised many by lining up in favor of the LGBT argument on the issue by suggesting “you leave it the way it is.”
“People go, they use the bathroom that they feel is appropriate. There is so little trouble. And the problem with what happened in North Carolina is the strife and the economic punishment that they’re taking,” said Trump.
“Today” host Matt Lauer got even more specific.
“If Caitlyn Jenner were to walk into Trump Tower and use the bathroom, you would be fine with her using any bathroom she chooses?” asked Lauer.
“That is correct,” answered Trump.
He wasn’t done, offering an unprompted condemnation of public facilities having single occupancy bathrooms.
“There’s a big move to create new bathrooms. First of all, I think that would be discriminatory in a certain way,” said Trump, who also said the cost of creating all new facilities would be very expensive.
Lt. Gov. Forest says Trump has no idea what he’s talking about.
“He doesn’t know what’s going on. You can’t leave it the way it is. We didn’t do anything. The governor and the general assembly didn’t do anything except to strike down the Charlotte ordinance. Charlotte didn’t leave it the way it was. To his point, Charlotte should have left it the way it was,” says Forest.
“[Trump] running off the Human Rights Campaign narrative here. He just doesn’t know what’s happened in North Carolina. We couldn’t leave it the way it was because Charlotte didn’t leave it the way it was. We had to fix what they broke,” said Forest.
Saying you will never be wrong when doing the right thing, Forest says lawmakers and McCrory had to stop what Charlotte was implementing.
“They did something against the law, unconstitutional, opened up all women’s bathrooms, shower rooms, changing facilities to men, to anybody who wanted to walk in. We had to protect women and children,” said Forest.
GOP presidential hopeful Ted Cruz denounced Trump’s comments at an event in Maryland and in a statement.
The Trump comments came just two days after a three-judge panel of the Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that a high school girl identifying as a boy could sue Gloucester County, Virginia, schools for discrimination since the U.S. Department of Education instructs students to be allowed to use facilities consistent with their gender identity and not necessarily their biological sex. Refusal to accommodate that request is considered a violation of Title IX.
The 4th Circuit also covers North Carolina, but while LGBT activists are hailing the decision as a death blow against the North Carolina law, Forest says it’s no such thing.
“It really wasn’t necessarily a ruling. This is one of those places where the ACLU and the Human Rights Campaign and the other leftists out there are claiming victory on something that’s not a complete victory yet. What they did was send that back down to the lower court again to make a decision on it,” said Forest.
He says running to a cherry-picked panel of liberal judges is standard operation procedure for liberals.
“The left can’t win going through the legislative process and having the legislature vote on things and have a representative republic the way we’re supposed to. They went to the courts,” said Forest.
Forest also has no confidence in winning in the courts, citing the Supreme Court’s flip-flop on marriage. In 2013, the high court struck down parts of the Defense of Marriage Act, saying marriage should be defined by the states. Two years later, the justices ruled a constitutional right to same-sex marriage and state laws were unconstitutional.
Also of great frustration to Forest is the complete rejection of “reasonable accommodation” provisions for people identifying as transgendered. He says the legislation specifically calls for individual occupancy restrooms so anyone can feel at ease there. But activists and even candidates like Trump reject that as another form of discrimination.
“The left and these folks with the Human Rights Campaign, they’re like a bunch of playground bullies They don’t want reasonable accommodation. They want a winner-takes-all approach. The winner-takes-all approach says this small minority of folks better win or we’re coming after you,” said Forest.
Forest says the Human Rights Campaign in particular looks to start fights in these situations. He says they look for “radical” mayors like Jennifer Roberts and urge them to take action on LGBT issues, vowing to back them up and relentlessly attack any opponents. Forest says the bullying also extends to businesses, who don’t even know what’s in the law but they’re afraid to challenge the Human Rights Campaign.
Greg Corombos of Radio America and Jim Geraghty of National Review condemn the Obama administration’s obsession with identity politics, but conclude that if you’re going to put a woman on currency, Harriet Tubman is a great choice – especially compared to the disasters the Obama folks could have picked. We also slam Trump for taking the left’s position on the transgender bathroom debate and tell his “evangelical” supporters “we told you so.” And we rip ESPN, in part for its treatment of Curt Schilling but mainly for being another hardcore, intolerant leftist outlet.
While the remaining presidential candidates plot strategy, Rev. Franklin Graham is going state to state to urge Americans to pray for their state and their nation and for Christians to seek public office or least get actively engaged in steering the U.S. in a more godly direction.
Graham, who heads the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and the Christian relief organization Samaritan’s Purse, is leading the Decision America Tour, which is in the process of visiting the state capitals of all 50 states and meets on the steps of the State Capitol building in each of those cities.
Graham says his desire to reverse the moral slide of the United States inspired this project.
“The country I grew up in is not the same country my grandchildren will have. They won’t have the same opportunities. Our country is changing so quickly. We have turned our back on God, and we are beginning to celebrate and flaunt sin,” said Graham.
While he is encouraging active political engagement by Christians, Graham says the solutions America truly needs aren’t found in any political party.
“The only hope for this country is God. We need to go from state capital to state capital and give people an opportunity to come and join me on the steps of their capitol to pray for their state and to pray for this nation. Then maybe God will hear our prayers and maybe He’ll give us a man or woman to lead this nation back to Him,” said Graham.
While many Christians and cultural conservatives are alarmed by how quickly liberal priorities are advancing, Graham says they were always creeping forward but were overshadowed by other threats.
“When I was growing up, we were afraid of the red threat. The commies were coming,” said Graham. “We built up our Army, our Air Force, our Navy to protect ourselves. When the Berlin Wall came down, everybody signed a sigh of relief, ‘We won that one.'”
“While we were relaxing, secularism, which is exactly the same as communism – they’re both godless, slowly over the last 40 years has taken this country. It’s gone into Washington. It’s gone into our state capitals. It’s gone into our local offices. It’s in our schools. What godless communism could not do, godless secularism has done,” said Graham.
Graham points to the fierce backlash that he and other believers receive for defending a biblical position in a political or policy debate. He says that hostility demands committed action now.
“We’re going to lose our voice. We’re going to lose the opportunity, not only to spread the gospel, but we’re going to lose our religious freedoms to even live out our faith,” said Graham.
He says Christian voices must be willing to defy those who insist they keep silent.
“It’s one thing to practice our faith. It’s another thing to live our faith. As a Christian, not only am I to practice my faith but I’m to live it every day,” said Graham. “The secularists want us to stop living it. They want us to hide in a closet. Well, I’m not going to do that. I’m not going to back up and I’m not going to shut up.”
Graham says the state of the culture demands Christians take a stand.
“I’m going to fight and I’m asking Christians to join me in this fight. It’s to fight through the word of God. It’s to fight through prayer, but it’s also to fight by standing up and going to the polls and voting, not staying home. Twenty to thirty million Christians stayed home in the last presidential election. Let’s take our country back,” said Graham.
The Decision America Tour has already been to several state capitals but the vast majority of events are still to come and will take place until October. Graham says prayer is at the heart of the gatherings.
“We start with prayer. I ask the persons standing there to take the hands of the person next to them and hold their hands and start off by confessing the sins of our nation. I ask people to pray out loud. We stand on those steps and we pray out loud, confessing the sins of our nation, asking God for forgiveness,” said Graham.
Like every Graham project, Decision America also includes a gospel presentation. Graham says hundreds of people have accepted Christ as their savior at each stop along the tour.
“This is who we are. It’s what we do. Regardless of what audience I’m speaking to, I’m always going to give an invitation. So people come to faith in Christ as we go from capital to capital,” said Graham.
Graham is also quick to point out that he is not trying to launch any sort political effort for himself.
“People ask me if I’m running for office. I say, ‘No, but I am running a campaign for God and that is to put God back into the political process here in the United States of America,” said Graham.
He says the race for the White House is obviously very important but he says there are offices much closer to home that also matter a great deal.
“If we can get Christians to run for mayors, if we can get Christians to run for city council, if we can get Christians to run for school boards, if we can get Christians to run for the state house, we can win this thing. It doesn’t matter who the presidents are. We can win at home and we can win big,” said Graham.
He implores believers not to conclude that Christians aren’t meant to be politically active.
“As Christians, our voice needs to be heard. We’re not to be silent. God has not called us to be quiet and to sit on a pew like a church mouse. No, we’re to speak out. We’re to be the salt and light. Our voice should be heard and we need to let God’s word be heard,” said Graham.
Graham asserts that many churches have been derelict by not engaging in important public debates.
“So many churches now are more concerned about political correctness than they are about God’s word and His righteousness. I would encourage Christians and churches to take a bold stand and not be afraid,” said Graham.
“The world says if you get involved in politics than you’re being intolerant. Oh really? Well, then let’s be intolerant. We should be intolerant. We should not tolerate sin and we should not tolerate sinful behavior. Absolutely we should be intolerant, not of the individual but of the sin they represent,” said Graham.
Graham says truly loving one’s neighbor means having the courage to tell them the truth.
“We need to warn people that God is going to judge sin. Sinners are going to be plunged into darkness and God is going to judge it one day. We need to warn them that this is a time to repent and turn from their sin and to believe on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ,” said Graham.
