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Mike Pompeo

Olson Re-Hired, Pompeo Pans Taliban Deal, NRA Branded Terrorists, Fantasy Draft!

September 5, 2019 by GregC

Listen to “Olson Re-Hired, Pompeo Pans Taliban Deal, NRA Branded Terrorists, Fantasy Draft!” on Spreaker.

It’s a big day on the Three Martini Lunch!  Jim Geraghty of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America start by welcoming the news that Leif Olson has been re-hired at the Labor Department just one day after he was falsely accused of anti-Semitism by Bloomberg Law.  Then they are encouraged that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is also quite leery of any peace deal with the Taliban.  And they unload on politicians in San Francisco for labeling the National Rifle Association.

Then, as the NFL begins it’s 100th season, Jim and Greg put a political twist on the occasion and have a lot of fun by holding a fantasy football draft involving the Democratic presidential candidates!

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Filed Under: News & Politics, Podcasts Tagged With: 2020, Afghanistan, Biden, Bloomberg, Booker, Castro, Delaney, democrats, draft, fantasy football, Leif Olson, Mike Pompeo, National Review, NFL, NRA, San Francisco, Taliban, terrorists, Three Martini Lunch, Warren, Williamson

Trump’s ‘Bold, Comprehensive’ Iran Sanctions

May 21, 2018 by GregC

http://dateline.radioamerica.org/podcast/5-21-haas-blog.mp3

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says the U.S. will apply the toughest sanctions in history in order to squeeze the life out of Iran’s nuclear and territorial ambitions and a former Clinton administration official says the Trump administration is headed in a much better direction than the one charted by the Obama administration.

During a speech Monday morning at the Heritage Foundation, Pompeo made it clear Iran’s belligerent behavior is already resulting in economic pain.

“We will apply unprecedented financial pressure on the Iranian regime.  The leaders in Tehran will have no doubt about our seriousness.  Thanks to our colleagues at the Department of Treasury, sanctions are going back in full effect and new ones are coming.

“Last week, we imposed sanctions on Iran’s central bank and other entities that were funneling money to the [Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps’] Quds Force and were also providing money to Hezbollah and other terrorist organizations,” said Pompeo.

Pompeo then elaborated on what new sanctions were coming.

“The sting of sanctions will be painful if the regime does not change its course from the unacceptable and unproductive path it has chosen to one that rejoins the league of nations,” said Pompeo.

Lawrence J. Haas served as communications director to Vice President Al Gore and was spokesman for the Clinton administration’s Office of Management and Budget.  He is now a senior fellow at the American Foreign Policy Council and was a frequent critic of the Obama administration’s approach to Iran and Israel.

While eager for more details, Haas says Pompeo’s remarks are a welcome step.

“It’s bold.  It’s comprehensive,” said Haas.  “In an extremely unpredictable presidency, we do have some consistency here.  President Trump has said for a long time that one of the main problems with the Iran nuclear deal is that it wasn’t comprehensive enough.

“That is is only addressed the nuclear program and did not address the other damaging aspects of Iranian behavior: the ballistic missile program that’s tied to the nuclear program, the terror sponsorship, the efforts in the region to destablilize other regimes, the presence in Syria and all the rest,” said Haas.

He says the Trump approach takes all Iranian threats and destructive policies into consideration.

“Here we see a policy that, at least on paper, is broader and does take in all these different aspects of Iranian behavior,” said Haas.

Haas believes Pompeo’s speech was also aimed at our former partners in the Iran nuclear deal, putting Great Britain, France, Germany, Russia, and China on notice that their own economic fortunes could be imperiled if they keep cooperating with Iran.  He says that’s easier said than done since the U.S. does not want to ostracize those allies, whom we will need for other international priorities.

However, if Trump can convince those other nations to get on board with the sanctions, it could have a massive impact.

“This could be potentially game-changing,” said Haas.

Pompeo made it clear that Iran will need to reverse course in a host of areas to see sanctions relief.  In addition to no enriching of uranium or pre-processing of plutonium, Iran would also have to scrap its missile program, get out of Syria, stop aiding the Houtis in Yemen and end its threats towards Israel.

Haas wonders if the Iranian regime has such a sea change in its DNA, even if were to see the benefits of becoming a responsible government.

“Can this regime do all this and still be true to itself, which is a brutally hostile anti–American, anti-Israeli, expansionist, revolutionary regime?” asked Haas.

Right now, Haas wants to know what the U.S. is willing to do economically and otherwise to keep Iran in check.

“I’m curious to see the specifics of the sanctions and I’m curious to see how the administration follows through on it’s promises to constrain Iranian behavior in the region,” said Haas.

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Filed Under: News & Politics, Podcasts Tagged With: Iran, Mike Pompeo, news, President Trump, sanctions

Crippling Iran Sanctions, Gun Control vs. Facts, Blankenship Won’t Go Away

May 21, 2018 by GregC


Jim Geraghty of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America cheer Secretary of State Mike Pompeo for inflicting punishing sanctions on Iran, making it clear the Trump administration does not think the Iranian regime can be partners on anything. They also sigh as the gun control movement tries to advance its agenda again after the Santa Fe High School shooting, even though their proposed legislation would have done nothing to prevent this horrific shooting. Jim also asks why so few are interested in finding out why teenage boys are now lashing out and killing people when they are bullied or rejected by girls. And they discuss Don Blankenship’s pathetic attempt to keep running for U.S. Senate in West Virginia despite getting thrashed in the GOP primary and a West Virginia law that prevents losers in primaries from running again in the general election.

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Filed Under: News & Politics, Podcasts Tagged With: 2018 midterms, background checks, Don Blankenship, gun control, Iran, Mike Pompeo, National Review, President Trump, sanctions, Santa Fe High School, school shooting, teenage boys, Three Martini Lunch, West Virginia

Americans Freed, U.S. Exits Iran Deal, GOP Voters Get It Right

May 9, 2018 by GregC


Jim Geraghty of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America are in very good spirits as they savor three wonderful martinis for conservatives.  First, they celebrate the news that three American hostages are on their way home from North Korea in advance of the upcoming Trump-Kim summit.  They also applaud President Trump for withdrawing the U.S. from the Iran nuclear deal, which was riddled with inspection loopholes and was never properly submitted to Congress.  And they cheer the victory of conservative Patrick Morrisey in the West Virginia U.S. Senate primary, the lopsided defeat for “Cocaine Mitch” accuser Don Blankenship, and strong turnout for Republicans in three primary states.

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Filed Under: News & Politics, Podcasts Tagged With: 2018 midterms, Cocaine Mitch, Don Blankenship, hostages, Indiana, Iran Nuclear Deal, Joe Donnelly, Joe Manchin, Mike Braun, Mike Pompeo, National Review, North Korea, Patrick Morrisey, President Trump, Three Martini Lunch, West Virginia, withdrawal

Pompeo Advances, Media & Toronto Terrorism, Save Alfie

April 24, 2018 by GregC


Jim Geraghty of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America are glad to see Secretary of State nominee Mike Pompeo win the vote in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, thanks to a change of heart by Rand Paul and Democrat Chris Coons bailing out the poor leadership of Chairman Bob Corker.  They also recoil at the Toronto attack carried out by a van driver, who sped a mile down city sidewalks, killing 10 and injuring 15.  They marvel at how easily the media moved on to different stories since the weapon wasn’t a gun and there’s no immediate link to jihad.  And they rail against the British government for trying to stop the parents of Alfie Evans from seeking additional opportunities to save their son’s life, a truly frightening result of government expansion.

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Filed Under: News & Politics, Podcasts Tagged With: Alfie Evans, Chris Coons, Great Britain, Mike Pompeo, National Review, Rand Paul, Terrorism, Three Martini Lunch, Toronto, van attack

McCabe Referred for Prosecution, Pompeo to be Confirmed, Cuomo’s PC Delusion

April 20, 2018 by GregC


Jim Geraghty of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America enjoy two good martinis today, starting with the Justice Department referring former Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe for criminal prosecution after the inspector general accused McCabe of “lacking candor” under oath four times.  They also applaud North Dakota Democrat Heidi Heitkamp for backing the nomination of Mike Pompeo for secretary of state.  It may be an election year ploy, but it’s still the right decision.  And they shake their heads as New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo calls himself an undocumented immigrant who was raised by poor immigrants, none of which is true.  It’s reminiscent of Cuomo declaring himself black, Muslim, Jewish, gay, and a woman not long ago while also stating there is no room for pro-life, pro-gun, or pro-traditional marriage conservatives in New York.

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Filed Under: News & Politics, Podcasts Tagged With: Andrew Cuomo, Andrew McCabe, Heidi Heitkamp, James Comey, Justice Department, Mike Pompeo, National Review, secretary of state, Three Martini Lunch, undocumented immigrant

Basic Beliefs Under Assault

April 13, 2018 by GregC

http://dateline.radioamerica.org/podcast/4-13-grabowski-blog.mp3

Traditional marriage is in the cross hairs of the progressive left again this week, as a sitting U.S. senator suggested Secretary of State nominee Mike Pompeo was unfit for office because he opposes gay marriage, and a New Yorker column expressed horror about the successful expansion of Chick-fil-A in New York City.

On Thursday, Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., questioned Pompeo as part of the confirmation process and used part of his time to pepper Pompeo about his views on tradition marriage and whether be believes “gay sex is a perversion.”  He refused to accept Pompeo’s contention that he did not believe in same-sex marriage but would all subordinates equally.

National Organization for Marriage Communications Director Joseph Grabowski says this is the latest sign of a troubling litmus test on the left.

“I think this is a demonstration of an ideological purity test that unfortunately is becoming common in the Democratic Party.  We’ve already seen it on the life issue and a woman’s so-called right to have an abortion.  Now we’re seeing it also with respect to beliefs about marriage that people can hold personally,” said Grabowski, noting that as recently as 2008, neither Barack Obama nor Hillary Clinton publicly backed same-sex marriage.

Booker couched his comments as being in the interest of State Department employees who might have same-sex spouses, but Grabowski says the implication was clear that “somehow this view that Mr. Pompeo holds as a matter of personal belief, as a matter of religious conviction, disqualifies him from public service.”

Grabowski says Booker could simply look into Pompeo’s record at the CIA, in Congress, or in the military if he really wanted to know if Pompeo has had any problems on these issues.

“It’s clear to be that Sen. Booker doesn’t have any such evidence and that’s why he’s pursuing this line of questioning,” said Grabowski, noting that the National Organization for Marriage has launched a website to call attention to Booker’s questioning and to gather petition signatures in condemnation of it.

Grabowski adds that this sort of badgering by Booker puts the lie to the LGBT’s longstanding public relations efforts.

“The adage of ‘live and let live’ which was claimed as the policy that was underlying the effort to allow for same-sex marriage.  It’s clearly not the intent here,” said Grabowski.

He says this movement was never just about changing the law but about changing the culture and marginalizing anyone with a traditional view of marriage as the union of one man and one woman.  According to Grabowski, the goal is “to make that the equivalent in the civic discourse of what racists in the Jim Crow South years ago believed.”

The left dominates the public square on the issue.  Some polls now show a majority of Americans – or even a majority of Republicans – back same-sex marriage.  Grabowski says traditional marriage supporters keep quiet our of fear for the jobs or being ostracized in their social circles.

He also pushes back on the idea that traditional marriage is no longer the majority position in the U.S.  He says the societal pressure is so strong that people won’t even express their true beliefs to a pollster.

However, this is not only an issue in the halls of government.  On Friday, New Yorker columnist Dan Piepenbring vented about the success of Chick-fil-A restaurants in New York City.  Again, the faith-based foundation of the chain was at issue.

“[T]he brand’s arrival here feels like an infiltration, in no small part because of its pervasive Christian traditionalism. Its headquarters, in Atlanta, is adorned with Bible verses and a statue of Jesus washing a disciple’s feet. Its stores close on Sundays. Its C.E.O., Dan Cathy, has been accused of bigotry for using the company’s charitable wing to fund anti-gay causes, including groups that oppose same-sex marriage,” wrote Piepenbring.

“The restaurant’s corporate purpose still begins with the words “to glorify God,” and that proselytism thrums below the surface of the Fulton Street restaurant, which has the ersatz homespun ambiance of a megachurch,” he added.

“Still, there’s something especially distasteful about Chick-fil-A, which has sought to portray itself as better than other fast food: cleaner, gentler, and more ethical, with its poultry slightly healthier than the mystery meat of burgers. Its politics, its décor, and its commercial-evangelical messaging are inflected with this suburban piety,” added Piepenbring.

Grabowski says such a column only confirms what most of America thinks of liberal bastions like New York City.

“This is the kind of elitism we see every election cycle, when people complain sometimes about the values of certain coastal elites who miss out on the real values of the average American.

“This is a perfect example of that.  In a city like New York, where you can walk down any given street and see a several stories-high billboard portraying people barely clad in skimpy underwear and engaged in all kinds of weird poses.  To be offended by something like a homely restaurant is just completely absurd to me,” said Grabowski.

But with the LGBT movement enjoying strong alliances with the media, Hollywood and the rest of popular culture and traditional marriage advocates fearful of reprisals, is there any reason to think this momentum will change?

Grabowski says yes.

“There is a grassroots groundswell of support for this issue.  You don’t see it reported a lot.  You don’t see it reported a lot, but that doesn’t mean you’re along.  I would encourage people to take heart and  to know there is strength in numbers and to know that we have the truth on our side.  Ultimately, that will win out,” said Grabowski.

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Filed Under: News & Politics, Podcasts Tagged With: Chick fil A, Cory Booker, culture, LGBT, marriage, Mike Pompeo, news

Pompeo in Peril? Americans Clueless on Holocaust, RNC’s Lame Anti-Comey Campaign

April 12, 2018 by GregC


Jim Geraghty of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America shake their heads as the Republican National Committee furiously tries to line up a few Democrats to push Mike Pompeo over the finish line as the next Secretary of State.  They also hang their heads as large percentages of Americans demonstrate very poor knowledge about the Holocaust, including 41 percent of Americans and 66 percent of millennials who have no idea what Auschwitz was.  And they throw up their hands, as the Republican National Committee tries to discredit the upcoming media blitz from former FBI Director James Comey by favorable quoting Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, and Maxine Waters.

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Filed Under: News & Politics, Podcasts Tagged With: Auschwitz, Holocaust, James Comey, Maxine Waters, Mike Pompeo, millennials, National Review, polls, Republican National Committee, Three Martini Lunch

Tillerson ‘Pretty Well Failed’

March 13, 2018 by GregC

http://dateline.radioamerica.org/podcast/3-13-babbin-blog.mp3

President Trump fired Secretary of State Rex Tillerson Tuesday, in a decision that ends months of speculation about Tillerson’s future, and former Pentagon official Jed Babbin believes it also ends a disappointing tenure for the nation’s top diplomat.

Babbin also urges President Trump to make concrete demands before going forward with face-to-face meetings with North Korea.

News of Tillerson’s firing came from Trump’s Twitter account Tuesday morning.

“Mike Pompeo, Director of the CIA, will become our new Secretary of State. He will do a fantastic job! Thank you to Rex Tillerson for his service! Gina Haspel will become the new Director of the CIA, and the first woman so chosen. Congratulations to all!” tweeted Trump.

News reports later indicated Tillerson learned of his firing from the tweet, but reports had circulated for months that Trump and Tillerson might go their separate ways and that Pompeo was the leading candidate to replace him.

Babbin says it was time for a change.

“I hate to say it, but I think he pretty well failed,” said Babbin, who served as deputy undersecretary of defense in the George H.W. Bush administration and is now a contributing editor at the American Spectator.

Babbin says Tillerson was ineffective because he mishandled some of the biggest national security issues facing the U.S.

“In December, he basically begged the North Koreans to come to the negotiation table.  He said, ‘We’ll talk about the weather.  We’ll talk about the shape of the table.  We’ll talk about anything you want without preconditions.’  That was precisely the wrong thing to do,” said Babbin.

“He has been opposing the president on getting rid of the Iran deal that Obama made.  I think that’s the prescient reason why Mr. Trump fired him,” said Babbin.

And Babbin believes Iran policy might be a key reason Pompeo is Trump’s choice to replace Tillerson

“I think he’s going to be much more on President Trump’s wavelength.  He certainly has the president’s confidence, which Tillerson did not, and I think that speaks well for his relationship with the outside world.  After all, he’s going to be our top diplomat and someone in that position has to be on the president’s wavelength and Tillerson certainly wasn’t,” said Babbin.

Pompeo is likely to win Senate confirmation without much trouble.  The same cannot be said for Gina Haspel, the deputy CIA director whom Trump is tapping to replace Pompeo.

“She going to have a very rough time getting confirmed and she may not be confirmed.  The Democrats are going to go completely ape about the fact that she supervised the enhanced interrogation program.  She was heavily involved in the extraordinary renditions business.  She’s not going to get a warm reception on Capitol Hill by any means,” said Babbin.

Babbin says the early reviews on Haspel are mixed.

“She’s been head of the clandestine service.  She’s gotten a lot of top awards at the CIA.  She’s a CIA career professional.  It seems like she could work out.  On the other hand, I’m hearing from a lot of my sources in that community that she pretty much is a Brennan clone and that’s not a good thing,” said Babbin, referring to controversial Obama-era CIA Director John Brennan.

“I think that Mr. Trump would not have selected her if he was not confident that she would support him on things like getting out of the Iran deal,” said Babbin.

The White House has explained that the Tillerson-Pompeo switch is happening now so that the new diplomatic team can be running at full steam heading into the talks with North Korea in May.

Babbin says regardless of who is on the negotiating team, President Trump needs to insist upon some preconditions before ever meeting with Kim Jong-Un.

“There has to be preconditions to any such negotiation.  There almost always are.  Any major summit is set up with the other side meeting some preconditions that we establish.  The fact that the president jumped into this without setting preconditions is something that’s a really big mistake,” said Babbin.

However, Babbin believes Trump can correct that mistake with very specific demands.

“The only real precondition, the only thing that means anything, would be for them to verifiably mothball their nuclear testing and their missile testing.  That means we would have to have inspectors in North Korea, which frankly I think they’ll never allow,” said Babbin.

While hopes rise for some sort of easing of nuclear sanctions as a result of the upcoming talks, Babbin is pouring the cold water of reality over the event.  He says every North Korean leader has reneged on their promises.

“They have broken every single agreement that they have ever entered into.  They renounced the nuclear non-proliferation treaty.  Heck, they’ve even renounced the armistice agreement that ended the Korean War in 1953.  So you can’t trust these guts in any way unless you have immediate, intrusive, and at-will inspections of everything in North Korea there’s not going to be a basis for any agreement,” said Babbin.

And that’s just fine with him.  He says no deal is probably the best outcome from the summit.

“I think there’s no room for agreement here.  There is room for our sanctions to continue to work and President Trump needs to have considerable praise and credit for that.  That’s the only reason they’re coming to the negotiation table right now and we need to keep [the sanctions] up indefinitely,” said Babbin.

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Filed Under: News & Politics, Podcasts Tagged With: Gina Haspel, Iran, Jed Babbin, Mike Pompeo, news, North Korea, President Trump, Rex Tillerson, State Department

Tillerson Gets Tossed, Hillary’s Ugly Excuses, Schools Embrace Walkouts

March 13, 2018 by GregC


Jim Geraghty of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America are not all surprised by President Trump firing Secretary of State Rex Tillerson given their distant relationship and they hope Mike Pompeo can be effective as America’s top diplomat.  They also unload on Hillary Clinton after her ugly overseas explanations that Trump won the red states by appealing to people who don’t want blacks to have rights or women to have jobs and that white married women backed Trump because they did what their husbands or bosses told them to do.  And they slam liberal school administrators for actively supporting Wednesday’s National School Walkout to push for gun control.

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Filed Under: News & Politics, Podcasts Tagged With: bigotry, Hillary Clinton, Mike Pompeo, National Review, National School Walkout, President Trump, race, Rex Tillerson, schools, Three Martini Lunch

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