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Archives for January 2018

Trump Denunciation of North Korea A Call for Regime Change

January 31, 2018 by GregC

http://dateline.radioamerica.org/podcast/1-31-chang-blog.mp3

A leading expert on the North Korean nuclear threat says President Trump’s condemnation of the communist regime through powerful stories also served as an American declaration that it’s time for a regime change in Pyongyang, but warned that military action would be a big mistake.

During Tuesday evening’s, State of the Union address, Trump focused his final foreign policy item at the nuclear threat posed by North Korea and punctuated it by telling two gripping stories

First, he recounted the story of American college student Otto Warmbier, who was sentenced to 15 years hard labor for stealing a political poster and was returned to the U.S. in coma last year.  Warmbier died days later.  His grieving parents were in the gallery for the speech.

Next, Trump detailed the harrowing account of North Korean defector Ji Seong-ho, who was also present for the speech.

“In 1996, Seong-ho was a starving boy in North Korea. One day, he tried to steal coal from a railroad car to barter for a few scraps of food. In the process, he passed out on the train tracks, exhausted from hunger. He woke up as a train ran over his limbs.

“He then endured multiple amputations without anything to dull the pain. His brother and sister gave what little food they had to help him recover and ate dirt themselves — permanently stunting their own growth,” said Trump.

He then fast-forwarded to Ji’s courageous escape from North Korea.

“Later, he was tortured by North Korean authorities after returning from a brief visit to China. His tormentors wanted to know if he had met any Christians. He had — and he resolved to be free.  Seong-ho traveled thousands of miles on crutches across China and Southeast Asia to freedom. Most of his family followed. His father was caught trying to escape, and was tortured to death.

“Today he lives in Seoul, where he rescues other defectors, and broadcasts into North Korea what the regime fears the most ‑- the truth.  Today he has a new leg, but Seong-ho, I understand you still keep those crutches as a reminder of how far you have come. Your great sacrifice is an inspiration to us all,” said Trump.

According to North Korea expert Gordon Chang, Trump was not just exposing the horrors of the Kim Jong-un regime but declaring it is unacceptable for Kim to remain in power.

“What President Trump did last night was really landmark.  He made the case for regime change in North Korea.  Of course he talked about the threat to the American homeland, but he linked that back to the nature of the Kim family regime.

“He did that by telling those two stories, the one of brutality towards Otto Warmbier and the other of the triumph of the human spirit, which is the escapee Ji Seing-ho.  That really was, for me, the most inspirational moment of the night, when Ji held up his crutches in his right hand in a signal of victory,” said Chang, who is also author of “Nuclear Showdown: North Korea Takes on the World.”

“That was just so important, because what President Trump is saying is, ‘This is the regime that is threatening us,'” said Chang.

While the precise timetable is unknown, Chang says North Korea is getting closer and closer to its ultimate goal.

“The ambition for them now, as it was from the very first day of North Korea, is to take over South Korea.  That is the core goal of the Kim family and is considered by the Kims to be essential for their own survival.  You’ve got two Koreas, one rich and one poor and side-by-side of course and the people in the poor Korea are not going to put up with this forever,” said Chang.

“If the Kim family can’t do that, poor North Koreans are not going to sacrifice indefinitely,” added Chang.

But if Kim is inching closer to attacking South Korea and regime change is required, what is the best way to achieve that?  Chang says Trump is off to a good start by going after the money.

“From the beginning, the Trump administration has tried to cut off the flow of money to North Korea.  We’ve seen this for example in his landmark Sept. 21st executive order, which said if you do business with North Korea or you handle their money, you’re not doing business with the United States.  That’s important.

“Also, last year the Trump administration pushed through three sets of UN sanctions.  That’s a very sound policy,” said Chang.

Trump also got the Chinese to make promises to clamp down financially on Kim as well.  But Chang says the commitment from Beijing is still inconsistent.

“They’re getting more serious, but they’re also violating UN sanctions.  They’ve been doing that almost openly since October.  We’ve seen these ship-to-ship transfers of oil.  Also, North Korean ships that are under sanctions, in other words are not allowed to visit ports outside North Korea, they’ve been turning on their transponders in Chinese ports.

“When all of this activity occurs, with China smuggling commodities in and out of North Korea, it also means that Chinese financial institutions are almost surely involved.  It’s up to the Trump administration to hold China accountable.  It signaled that it would do that, but it really has yet to apply the full weight of American pressure to protect the American people,” said Chang.

Chang says if China was truly serious about defusing the North Korean threat, it would be acting much differently.

“They would cut off all financial transactions with North Korea.  The Chinese banks would get out of the business of handling North Korean money.  Also, we would see China not buying and selling commodities that are prohibited by UN sanctions.  We would basically see an end to commerce between North Korea and China,” said Chang.

But while Chang and most in the Trump administration prefer to tighten the economic screws on North Korea, there are people calling for more aggressive actions.

“There are voices in the administration that are thinking that this is not a time for sanctions, this is a time to strike North Korea.  That is something where I think the administration has not decided on what to do,” said Chang, who strongly discourages that course.

“I think it would be an exceedingly bad idea, but right now there are a lot of voices (advocating military action).  This is where the contention is, both inside the administration and outside the administration,” he said.

Chang also hopes the State of the Union message puts an end to the efforts of some Trump critics to suggest Trump and Kim are on a similar level of malevolence and instability.

“I’ve never bought that narrative.  That is really a false equivalence.  President Trump is trying to contain the Kim family.  The Kim family has been a threat, not only to the United States, but to the rest of the international community well before Trump became president,” said Chang.

“North Korea did not become instantly dangerous on January 20th at noon of last year.  This is a problem for the entire planet, and Trump is doing his best on a very dangerous situation,” added Chang.

Next week, the Winter Olympics will commence in South Korea.  In recent weeks, leaders from north and south have agreed to cooperate on some aspects of the games, including having their athletes march in to the opening ceremony together and have a joint women’s hockey team.

Chang says the cooperation has some positive elements, but fears the South Koreans are doing too much to accommodate the regime that wants to conquer them.

“South Korea should not be paying for North Korea’s team, which it is doing.  And there are a lot of these inter-Korean Olympic projects, which look like violations of UN sanctions.  The U.S., for a variety of reasons, has allowed this to continue, but the South Korean public is starting to rebel against this jointness, especially this joint women’s ice hockey team.

“South Korean athletes have been turfed off their own team to make way for the North Koreans.  That’s played very poorly in South Korea,” said Chang.

Nonetheless, he still hopes some good comes from this moment on the world stage..

“I’m happy to have the North Koreans participate in the Olympics.  It gives an opportunity for them to see the outside world and to defect,” said Chang.

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Filed Under: News & Politics, Podcasts Tagged With: China, Ji Seong-ho, news, North Korea, nuclear, Olympics, President Trump, State of the Union

‘Good Trump’ Speech, Kennedy’s Disingenuous Response, Dems Balk at Lib Ideas

January 31, 2018 by GregC


Jim Geraghty of National Review is back!  He and Greg Corombos of Radio America applaud much of President Trump’s State of the Union address, including the list of positive economic data and the powerful stories of a soldier’s heroism, families devastated by criminal illegal aliens, and the North Korean amputee who hobbled to freedom on crutches.  However, Jim wonders whether the goodwill from this speech will last or whether Trump’s Twitter instincts will create problems.  They also roll their eyes as Rep. Joseph Kennedy III delivers the Democratic response and blames Republicans for the government shutdown and dividing Americans by groups, and Jim points out that a Kennedy is exactly the wrong Democrat to denounce elitism, privilege, and abuse of women.  And they are amazed as Democrats refuse to applaud good economic news for minorities and the few liberal ideas in Trump’s speech simply due to their animosity for the president.

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Filed Under: News & Politics, Podcasts Tagged With: applause, democrats, Economy, guests, Joseph Kennedy III, liberal issues, National Review, North Korea, President Trump, State of the Union, Three Martini Lunch

GOP Senate Hopeful Believes California Winnable

January 30, 2018 by GregC

http://dateline.radioamerica.org/podcast/1-30-estrada-blog.mp3

Conventional wisdom suggests 2018 will be a good year for Democrats but one GOP candidate believes not only that Republicans can win but that he can win in California – one of the bluest states in the U.S.

John Estrada is challenging incumbent Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who is seeking a fifth full term and her sixth overall election to the U.S. Senate.  Estrada is a U.S. Navy veteran, a small business owner, and a decades-long activist in California Republican politics.

He ran twice for Congress in the 1990’s and once for lieutenant governor in 2014, bowing in the primary each time.

Estrada says his reasons for getting in the Senate race are simple.

“I care about America.  I want to help the America First agenda.  I have been in the military and I care about my fellow veterans and the people in the military that are trying to keep us safe,” said Estrada.

He says his Navy service showed him just how special the United States is.

“During that time, I got a chance to travel to a lot of foreign destinations which were pretty incredible.  I learned how great America is and how great it has to continue to be,” said Estrada.

There’s a reason that sounds similar to Make America Great Again.  Estrada is running as an unabashed pro-Trump Republican.

“I think Donald Trump has really put a strong message to America and the world that America needs to be first, so I will work with the president,” said Estrada.

Estrada is also clear about why he thinks Feinstein ought to lose her job.

“If somebody has been in office for 25 years and hasn’t done her job yet, I think it’s time to move on.  I think California and America needs a change,” said Estrada.

He points specifically to Feinstein’s work as the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee and what he sees as her lack of effort into determining the role of the FBI during the 2016 campaign.

“I hold her as one of the responsible parties.  She isn’t overseeing the process of what’s going on with the FBI and why they’re going rogue on us,” he said.

In 2016, Hillary Clinton defeated Donald Trump in California by nearly a two-to-one margin.  On that same ballot, two Democrats faced off in the general election as a result of the state’s primary system that advances the top two vote-getters to the general election.

Since 2016, California effectively became a sanctuary state and passed laws making it a crime to call someone by the “wrong” gender pronouns while significantly lessening the penalties for knowingly infecting someone with HIV.  This year Democrats are pushing legislation to raise state taxes on corporations and jail waiters for giving plastic straws to customers without being asked.

So is winning in California beyond hope for Republicans?

“Not at all,” said Estrada, who believes he can win votes other Republicans cannot.

“I truly believe I have the ability to cross over party lines, get conservatives and independents and make it a very competitive race,” said Estrada.

Estrada says Republicans just need to address what really matters in California.

“I think (former House Speaker) Tip O’Neill said is greatly many years ago, and that’s that all politics is local.  What I have found is that the problems in California can be solved by the federal government,” said Estrada.

He says water access is a good example of this.

“We have a great opportunity to bring  sustainable, safe, clean, water for our residents.  Unfortunately, environmentalists have allowed so much of this fresh water to go into the Pacific Ocean and we keep losing opportunities to save that in water storage facilities,” said Estrada.

“With federal dollars, I think we can build enough water storage facilities to help everybody out, all water users,” said Estrada.

Estrada would also take aim at the Endangered Species Act, which he says California and the federal government are using to stifle economic development and even the construction of low-income housing, which he says is a major contributor to the growing problem of homelessness in the Golden State.

But while Estrada has issues he is most passionate about, he says his actions will be dictated by what the people of his state want from him.

“I will take my personal views, being a conservative and take a look, case by case, at how we can help the people of California, because really, it belongs to them.  It’s their state and I’ll be working for them,” said Estrada.

But he is quick to add that when he serves the people of California, he means the citizens of California.

“We have to help our citizens first.  America is a very generous nation.  When there’s disasters across the world, we’re there helping everybody, but there’s a lot of corrupt administrations around the world – a lot of dictators and a lot of corruption – and America’s got to lead,” said Estrada.

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Filed Under: News & Politics, Podcasts Tagged With: 2018, California, Dianne Feinstein, John Estrada, news, U.S. Senate

Gillibrand’s #MeToo Mess, Hillary Nixed Firing of Harasser, Trump’s Worst Enemy

January 30, 2018 by GregC


Alexandra DeSanctis of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America give a quick preview of what they look forward to at the spectacle known as State of the Union before dishing out martinis.  Then, they shake their heads as New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand first demands that President Trump resign over sexual harassment allegations and then immediately starts waffling when Meghan McCain brings up the Clintons.  They also express disgust at Hillary Clinton after Clinton’s 2008 campaign manager reveals that she recommended that Clinton fire her faith adviser following credible accusations of harassment in 2007, only to have Hillary reject that idea and give the adviser a slap on the wrist.  And they point out that stories of President Trump’s pettiness are driving away people who might otherwise be inclined to support him, the latest example being an ugly and pointless exchange between Trump and the recently ousted Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe.

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Filed Under: News & Politics, Podcasts Tagged With: #metoo, 2008, Andrew McCabe, Hillary Clinton, insults, Kirsten Gillibrand, Meghan McCain, National Review, Patti Solis Doyle, President Trump, sexual harassment, The View, Three Martini Lunch

Toensing Reacts to McCabe Exit, Rips Politics at FBI

January 29, 2018 by GregC

http://dateline.radioamerica.org/podcast/1-29-toensing-blog.mp3

Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe is abruptly leaving his position just weeks before his scheduled retirement, triggering a frenzy of speculation from the left and the right, but a former federal prosecutor says McCabe is just one part of a baffling approach to the Russia investigation by the FBI and the Justice Department.

Another Monday stunner is the revelation, reportedly in the FISA memo from the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein ordered surveillance former Trump campaign figure Carter Page based on the dossier compiled by former British agent Christopher Steele and funded for months by the Democratic National Committee and the Hillary Clinton campaign.

Word of McCabe’s rapid exit was first reported Monday afternoon.  Democrats and many mainstream media figures quickly wondered whether President Trump forced McCabe out given some critical tweets in the past.  Conservatives quickly tied the news to FBI Director Christopher Wray viewing the highly touted FISA memo on Capitol Hill over the weekend.

So far, no concrete answers have been given, but former Deputy Assistant Attorney General Victoria Toensing strongly doubts Trump ordered this move.

“It’s all speculation as to whether it was Wray.  I can’t imagine it was Trump because Trump probably wanted him out of there months ago.  That’s my reaction.  Why now?  So little so late,” said Toensing.

Toensing notes that McCabe has amassed enough sick leave and vacation time that he can stop working now and still receive full retirement benefits, leaving her to conclude this development may have nothing to do with politics at all.

Toensing is highly critical of McCabe on multiple fronts, starting with his allegedly soft handling of the Hillary Clinton email investigation.  Even though McCabe recused himself from the probe while his wife was running as a Democrat for state office in Virginia, Toensing says the failure to record Clinton’s testimony or put her under oath was inexcusable.

She is also furious over what she’s sees as McCabe’s slick manner in getting former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn to talk with the FBI.

“He called Flynn’s office and said, ‘The FBI would like to talk to you,’ and made it appear like the talk was going to be about personnel and background.  Instead, the FBI showed up with Peter Strzok and surprised the general with, ‘What did you say to the Russian ambassador?'” said Toensing.

Strzok is the agent removed from Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s team for persistent Trump-bashing.

Toensing says the FBI’s handling of the Clinton email probe and the failure to put any guardrails on Mueller have deeply damaged the reputation of the FBI and the Justice Department.

“I’ve worked with the FBI and I’m such a great admirer of their professionalism.  I’ve worked with them as recently as the last month at the local level,” said Toensing.

“But the hierarchy came in and took over.  That’s a shame and it’s effecting their credibility.  There’s a recent poll where 49 percent of the people think the FBI is hiding information from Congress.  That’s not good.  The FBI should be wanting to get it out, not hiding it,” she said.

What hierarchy is Toensing referring to?  Specifically, she lists McCabe, former FBI Director James Comey, former President Barack Obama, and former Attorney General Eric Holder.

She says the revelations to date on “unmasking” of figures in the Trump campaign proves Obama was deeply involved in all of this.

“The new Trump administration people found evidence of the Obama White House unmasking the Trump campaign and listening in,” said Toensing.

“The Trump NSC staff found those documents and that’s how (House Intelligence Committee Chairman) Devin Nunes was called up to the White House to review documents that he them revealed and the Democrats went after him for revealing classified information,” said Toensing.

While McCabe’s departure cannot be tied to the FISA memo immediately following the reports of his departure, the memo is apparently the source for revealing that Rosenstein used the FISA powers of the United States to spy on Carter Page.

Toensing says that news demands answers.

“[Page] was an American citizen, traveling to Russia which is what he did.  This is what he did.  He had Russia as an interest.  Why was he being surveilled in any way whatsoever?” asked Toensing.

Toensing says Rosenstein has even more to answer for, including how he based a decision to keep tabs on Page based on a dossier that has at least partly been discredited.

“I would have hoped that he would have looked behind that dossier and gotten some kind of cooperation, rather than just a document by a political adversary.  I would have hoped that he would have asked, ‘What is the basis for this document saying all these things?'” said Toensing.

“I signed FISA warrants when I was at the Justice Department.  I know how to go behind the facts.  So I would have hoped he had done that,” said Toensing.

She also blames Rosenstein for allowing the Russia investigation to get diverted from its original purpose, virtually from the start.

“Whatever the Russians did to our election should have been investigated [as a counter-intelligence matter], not as a criminal prosecution.  So by setting up a special counsel to make a criminal investigation, Rod really went off the reservation,” said Toensing.

 

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Filed Under: News & Politics, Podcasts Tagged With: Andrew McCabe, Carter Page, news, President Trump, Robert Mueller, Rod Rosenstein, russia

America Backs 20-Week Abortion Ban, Wolff’s Haley Smear, Hillary’s Grammy Cameo

January 29, 2018 by GregC


Alexandra DeSanctis of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America are deeply disappointed that the Senate is unlikely to pass a bill banning the vast majority of abortion past 20 weeks of pregnancy, but are heartened that most Americans support the restrictions, including a majority of Democrats and a majority of women.  They also hammer “Fire and Fury” author Michael Wolff for his sleazy efforts to suggest that U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley is having an affair with President Trump and they praise Haley for her clear and dignified denials.  And they roll their eyes as the Grammy Awards telecast shoehorns Hillary Clinton reading an excerpt from “Fire and Fury” into the show, a move made even more baffling in this #MeToo environment by recent reports that the 2008 Clinton campaign took no action against Hillary’s faith adviser for sexual harassment.

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Filed Under: News & Politics, Podcasts Tagged With: #metoo, 20-week abortion ban, abortion, democrats, Fire and Fury, Grammy Awards, Hillary Clinton, Michael Wolff, National Review, Nikki Haley, President Trump, Three Martini Lunch

Trump Blasted from Right Over Immigration Blueprint

January 26, 2018 by GregC

http://dateline.radioamerica.org/podcast/1-26-arthur-blog.mp3

Immigration policy conservatives are giving President Trump’s immigration reform blueprint a thumbs down after the plan moves to the left on two key issues, leaving activists fearing a more timid final bill and no end in sight to the dangerous flood of illegal immigration into the United States.

The Trump framework focuses on four key areas: spending $25 billion on border security including additional portions of a wall, extending legal status and a pathway to citizenship for 1.8 million illegal immigrants who either enrolled in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program or are eligible for it, limiting chain migration to only spouses and minor children, and ending the visa lottery.

The Center for Immigration Studies, or CIS, sees two major problems with Trump’s more moderate approach: a sudden embrace of amnesty and a refusal to tighten the screws enough on chain migration.

CIS Research Fellow Andrew Arthur says Trump’s offer of a pathway to citizenship goes far beyond the DACA recipents and will ultimately include way more than 1.8 million.

“We’ve seen similar proposals in the past.  There have been amnesties floated, amnesties passed.  Inevitably, the number of people who end up being granted is higher than the number that was anticipated.

“Inevitably there is going to be a certain level of fraud in this process.  Logically, you’re going to have to identify that you’ve been in the United States since a [certain time] and the documents you can offer are generally fairly vague,” said Arthur.

And by including illegal immigrants who are not part of the DACA program, Arthur says Trump is inviting a bureaucratic nightmare for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service.

“If it was simply the 690,000 DACA people, USCIS already knows who those people are and can do a one to one match.  When you’re talking about an additional 1.1 million individuals, that’s going to require brand new files being opened, documents being reviewed, and the fact is USCIS just doesn’t have the bandwidth to do that work right now,” said Arthur.

Arthur is generally pleased with the movement to limit chain migration, keeping it to spouses and minor children, as opposed to current law which allows adult children, siblings, and parents.  However, he says Trump is making a big mistake in how he wants to implement the plan.

“The problem is that the framework will also make these changes prospectively, not retroactively.  It’s going to process through the four million people who are currently in that backlog, people who have had petitions filed on their behalf and who are awaiting a number in order to apply and go through the process of being vetted,” said Arthur.

“That’s a pretty big concern of ours because of course you’re going to end up potentially giving an additional four million people status,” said Arthur.

But while some conservatives are wary of Trump’s plan, most Democrats are greeting Trump’s policy retreat with full condemnation.

“Dreamers should not be held hostage to President Trump’s crusade to tear families apart and waste billions of American tax dollars on an ineffective wall,” said Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill., who says Trump is reaching for a hardline immigration agenda on the backs of young people.

Arthur is not surprised.

“That’s just plain sanctimony.  I could have anticipated what Dick Durbin was going to say and I could have written it myself,” he said.

Democrats and liberal immigration activists accuse Trump of clamping down on legal immigration because of his efforts to limit chain migration and kill the visa lottery.  But Arthur says there’s a very good reason for imposing limitations.

“The proposals set forth in the framework are necessary changes that we need in order to ameliorate the problems that got us here to begin with.  The fact is there are huge loopholes in the law that allow unaccompanied alien children to show up at a port of entry.  They don’t even have to enter illegally.

“Once in the United States, United States government officials complete the work of the smugglers that brought them to the border to begin with and reunite them with family members or friends or other individuals in the United States who will take care of them.  This is a huge problem and it’s a huge magnet that draws minors to the United States,” said Arthur.

Why is that a huge problem?  Arthur says that magnet leaves kids vulnerable to unspeakable horrors at the hands of their smugglers so long as the parents of those kids think their children are virtually guaranteed a chance to live in the U.S.

“The people who engage in these activities don’t simply smuggle people for money.  The fact is they rob, they rape, they hold people ransom for money.  They do that with children as well.  Turning off that magnet is an absolutely crucial element of any plan that’s going to grant any kind of amnesty to any population of DACA people,” said Arthur.

Arthur sees positives and negatives for the political path forward on immigration.  He’s deeply concerned that Trump’s willingness to compromise at the outset will ultimately lead to a far worse bill.

“Inevitably, bills like this are a race to the bottom.  If you say (you’re going to allow) 1.8 million people who got here on X date, why not people who got here on X date plus one year, or (if we accept) people who came here below the age of 16, why not people who got here below the age of 18,” said Arthur.

At the same time, he says some House conservatives are not happy with Trump’s plan and may be able to improve it.

“There are some individuals in the House who are vociferously opposed to any plan like this.  You can anticipate that those individuals will attempt to pare back the amazingly generous proposal that the president has made,” said Arthur.

While he has serious problems with Trump’s concessions, Arthur says Democrats are foolish to demonize a major outreach on Trump’s part.

“Quite frankly, if the Democrats don’t take this deal and end up scuttling it, this is going to be on their heads,” said Arthur.

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Filed Under: News & Politics, Podcasts Tagged With: amnesty, chain migration, immigration, news, President Trump

Trump Doesn’t Fire Mueller, Left Freaks Over DACA Concession, Left Coast Lunacy

January 26, 2018 by GregC


David French of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America are amused by the media frothing over President Trump allegedly trying to have Special Counsel Robert Mueller fired seven months ago, while largely overlooking the fact that Mueller wasn’t fired.  They also discuss President Trump’s major concessions on amnesty in his his immigration legislation framework – concessions that haven’t stopped his critics from accusing the president of being a white supremacist who is tearing apart families.  And they throw up their hands as the majority leader in the California State Assembly proposes penalties of six months in jail or $1,000 fines for any waiter who gives a customer a plastic straw without being asked.

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Filed Under: News & Politics, Podcasts Tagged With: amnesty, California, concessions, DACA, democrats, jail time, National Review, plastic straws, President Trump, Robert Mueller, Special counsel, Three Martini Lunch

Humans Now Accused of Making the Earth Cooler

January 25, 2018 by GregC

http://dateline.radioamerica.org/podcast/1-25-horner-blog.mp3

After insisting for more than three decades that human activity was driving the earth’s temperatures to dangerous levels, climate scientists and activists now contend that same activity is keeping us artificially cool and that cleaning up our atmosphere will leave us feeling the heat.

On January 22, an online article for Scientific American makes the claim that certain parts of the pollution created by human behavior are actually preventing us from feeling the impact of the other emissions we spew into the air.

“Pollution in the atmosphere is having an unexpected consequence, scientists say—it’s helping to cool the climate, masking some of the global warming that’s occurred so far.  That means efforts worldwide to clean up the air may cause an increase in warming, as well as other climate effects, as this pollution disappears,” wrote Chelsea Harvey for the Scientific American story.

“New research is helping to quantify just how big that effect might be. A study published this month in the journal “Geophysical Research Letters” suggests that eliminating the human emission of aerosols—tiny, air-polluting particles often released by industrial activities—could result in additional global warming of anywhere from half a degree to 1 degree Celsius,” added Harvey.

So after years of telling people their activity is responsible for the climate we experience, climate activists are now claiming our behavior is responsible for not feeling what we’ve supposedly caused?  Competitive Enterprise Institute Senior Fellow Christopher C. Horner is not buying it.

“To put it gently, it is a more recent, if recycled, way of trying to explain how their lurid climate projections have not come to pass,” said Horner, who also served on President-Elect Trump’s landing team at the Environmental Protection Agency during the transition.

“They’re now saying, ‘My models, which I said were OK, on which we were supposed to base economic policy…were actually wrong.’  That’s what they’re saying here.  They’re just saying, ‘My models are wrong and this is my excuse,'” said Horner.

He says the climate change movement is scrambling to explain dire predictions that simply have not materialized.

“All of the claimed warming has failed to arrive.  There seems to have been a several-decade plateau, Yes, we have El Niño and La Niña Years, but the projected warming hasn’t occurred,” said Horner.

Horner says these supposed experts are flailing and now claim any weather event is directly related to human activity throwing the planet’s climate off course.

“In just 2014, the New York Times wrote ‘The End of Snow.’  They do this every mild winter.  Then severe winter returns with a vengeance and a great sense of humor and they write ‘More Snow in A Warming World, the Science is Clear.’  That’s an actual headline, just a year after writing ‘No Snow in A Warming World, the Science is Settled,'” said Horner.

And he says it’s not just an issue when winters vary in severity, noting the same response happens with natural disasters.  Horner says former Vice President Al Gore responded to the devastating hurricane seasons of 2004 and 2005 by proclaiming that the climate problems he warned us about had arrived and the destruction we saw was the new normal.

For more than a decade after that, no major hurricanes made landfall in the U.S..

“So the lack of hurricanes was somehow attributable to catastrophic man-made global warming.  ‘Which time are you lying?’ I suppose is the question.  The increase in storms, the absence of storms, is it everything?  Even when it’s just right, Goldilocks, is that because of your faith in catastrophic man-made global warming?” asked Horner.

And he says faith is exactly the right term to use for the climate change movement insisting every climate shift and weather event proves their point when none of their projections come true.

“It’s a non-disprovable hypothesis, which means it’s a faith.  Their religion requires them to reach for whatever happens outside the window,” said Horner.

“Nothing they’ve ever proposed would detectably impact the climate.  This is something I come back to every time because the rest is just this increasingly bizarre sideshow,” said Horner.

Horner says environmental activists and academics routinely tie themselves in knots on these issues, including President Obama’s last EPA Administrator, Gina McCarthy.

“(She) testified that there would be no impact on the world’s temperatures from her rules.  Then after Boston’s most severe winter two years ago, she said, ‘This most severe winter is because of carbon dioxide.  If you let these EPA rules stand we won’t have these storms anymore,'” said Horner.

He says the polar bear scare turned out to be another dud.

“As a famous EPA memo I found said, ‘Make it about children struggling to breathe.  That’s what people care about because the polar bear stories aren’t persuading people,'” said Horner.

“As you know, polar bear populations plummeted from somewhere below 5,000 to nearly 30,000, so that one had to go,” laughed Horner.

But what about this new claim that human activity is creating greater aerosol levels that mask the true damage to our climate?

“What we’re now hearing is, ‘The reason it’s not as warm as we promised is because of aerosol pollution.’  It’s something of a paradox for them because which is it that you want to address?” said Horner, who believes this is yet another effort to control the narrative and advance political goals.

“Do you want cleaner air?  That’s not what global warming is about by the way.  Global warming is about controlling the reliable, affordable, abundant energy sources,” said Horner, noting that the certainty of the scientists masks just how much they want to change our lives.

“You cannot impact the world’s temperature.  Their models agree on that.  You’re talking about 1900 levels (in the amount of emissions prescribed).  The old PBS show about the house on the prairie, not ‘Little House on the Prairie’ but ‘Prairie Living,’ that’s what you’re talking about.  You know, the good old days of drudgery, disease, and infant mortality.  What a throwback,” said Horner.

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Filed Under: News & Politics, Podcasts Tagged With: aerosols, carbon dioxide, climate change, economics, hypocrisy, news, weather

Brighter House Outlook for GOP? Why Would Trump Talk with Mueller? Kerry 2020?

January 25, 2018 by GregC


Jim Geraghty of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America cheer up a bit following Jim’s exhaustive study of all the House seats held by retiring Republicans, a report which concludes the vast majority of those seats are likely not in danger of flipping to Democrats.  They also wonder what President Trump would possibly have to gain by talking with Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who seems plenty eager to pounce on process crimes as much or more than crimes directly related to the purpose of his investigation.  They have some fun with the news that former Secretary of State John Kerry told a Palestinian official that he is “seriously considering” a 2020 presidential run.  And they get a kick out of reports that the ill-fated XFL appears to be making a comeback in a couple of years.

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Filed Under: News & Politics, Podcasts Tagged With: 2018 midterms, 2020 election, House of Representatives, John Kerry, National Review, President Trump, retirements, Robert Mueller, Three Martini Lunch, XFL

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