Greg Corombos of Radio America and Ian Tuttle of National Review react to evidence the Clinton Foundation did accept millions in donations from foreign governments while Hillary Clinton served as Secretary of State. They also shudder as NBC’s Richard Engel pours cold water on the idea that ISIS is in retreat. And they roll their eyes as Donald Trump insists he’s really thinking about running for president in 2016.
‘I Know We’re Not Serving the American People Properly’
As Senate Republicans shift towards passage of a Department of Homeland Security appropriations bill that includes full funding of the Obama administration’s unilateral plan to legalize five million people in the nation illegally, one the most vocal opponents of the plan says GOP leaders are not only giving Obama exactly what he wants but sending a dangerous message to the rest of the world.
In January, the House approved full funding for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) through the end of the fiscal year in September. It did not include funding for the recently announced Obama immigration policy or his unilateral move in 2012 to grant legal status to so-called “dreamers,” illegal immigrants who were brought to this country at a very young age.
Senate Republicans tried to move the House bill but failed to get a single Democratic senator to join them. As a result, the GOP failed four times to reach the 60-vote threshold to debate or pass the bill. Earlier this week, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell announced he was scrapping that strategy and would instead pass a “clean” DHS appropriations bill that included money for Obama’s immigration programs. In addition, the Senate will vote on a separate bill to defund the actions announced by Obama in November. That bill is also unlikely to receive 60 votes.
“The more I look at it and the more I hear about it, I just can’t support it,” said Rep. Ted Yoho, R-Florida.
Yoho was the sponsor of a House bill in December that declared the Obama administration’s action illegal. That fight also propelled Yoho to challenge House Speaker John Boehner when the 114th Congress convened in January. He says this move makes no logistical sense.
“The leverage that we had was we funded DHS like we’re supposed to, like we’ve been sent up here to do the people’s business. It went through authorization. It went through appropriations. We funded it at 100 percent. We put blockage in there of any activity by the president to exercise or go forward with his illegal, unconstitutional amnesty that he did on November 20th,” said Yoho, who sees McConnell’s strategy as surrendering the high ground.
“To separate those takes that leverage away and I think it’s a huge mistake. We’ve got the law on our side and for the Senate to not stand up and do what’s right, I just think it’s wrong. I think there’s some other options that they could have done. I know we’re not serving the American people properly by doing that,” he said.
The Senate is already moving forward on the clean funding bill. It cleared it’s first procedural hurdle by a vote of 98-2. Only Sens. Jeff Sessions, R-Alabama, and Jim Inhofe, R-Oklahoma, voted against opening debate, suggesting the votes for passage are there in the Senate. The House vote would be less certain. Yoho says there are a lot of members who share his frustration.
“I know there’s a lot of consternation over here. There’s people that have the same concern I do. There’s no leverage to make what the president’s doing illegal. I know we have that judge’s order, but if they get that rescinded then the president will go on and give green cards to five million people here,” said Yoho.
But the congressman says that’s not even the worst result of Congress giving Obama what he wants.
“What’s worse is by America’s policies, he’s created around the globe that America has a global policy of unenforcement on immigration. You can come here any way you want to come here and we’re gonna get you a work permit so that you’re here legally. They’ll start competing with American citizens for jobs and they’re here illegally,” said Yoho.
“Without securing the border and enforcing the laws on the books. This is a terrible way to go forward. It’s reckless for this president to do it,” he said.
With the deadline for funding DHS approaching fast and Senate Republicans clearly unable to find the votes for passage, Yoho says there is another approach Republicans could take besides passing a clean bill.
“If they pushed anything, if they’re going to do this, I don’t like this option but I’d like to see them push blocking the president’s executive order from November 20th. Pass that first and have the president sign that and then and then do DHS funding,” he said.
Just as with previous funding showdowns, Republican leaders say their hands are effectively tied at this point. Even though they say Senate Democrats are the ones holding up funding for DHS, Democrats and the media will likely brand Republicans as obstructionists and the public is likely to believe them. Yoho is ready to call their bluff.
“If we get blamed for that like we did last time and we win the largest majority in 90 years, I’ll take that kind of blame. The American people are smart enough to figure out who really did what,” said Yoho.
He says the argument to make for holding their ground would be an easy one.
“We stood on the side of the law. We stood on the side of doing what’s correct for our country and standing with the Constitution. I don’t see how anybody can fault us. I think [voters] spoke loud and clear in November and I think the president and his party are going to have a price to pay if they keep trying to push rules and keep trying to change laws by fiat. You’re going to see the American people wake up,” said Yoho.
If the McConnell approach carries the day and Congress fully funds the president’s immigration programs, has Obama effectively won this debate unless the courts strike them down?
“No, I don’t think he’s won this fight. There’s other things we can do and all I can tell you is stay tuned and see what we can do to prevent them. This is not the way to fix immigration. If the president truly wants to fix immigration, we’ve been on the news saying I’d be happy to sit down with him. We’ve got a four-step process that could fix this if they would come to the table,” said Yoho.
Three Martini Lunch 2/25/15
Greg Corombos of Radio America and Jim Geraghty of National Review get a kick out of the fact liberal media demonizing of Scott Walker is responsible for much of his rise to GOP presidential front-runner. They shake their heads as Republicans flop spectacularly in their effort to stop President Obama’s unilateral amnesty. And they love reports that Saudi Arabia may allow Israel to use its airspace to attack Iranian nuclear facilities if needed.
‘People Don’t Know the Danger that is Coming’
Fox News Channel Senior Judicial Analyst Judge Andrew Napolitano says the Obama administration’s efforts to regulate the internet constitute a major infringement upon our freedom of speech but he believes the new plan will get struck down in court for lack of transparency.
The five members of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) are scheduled to vote Thursday on a plan to advance Obama’s net neutrality agenda that also allegedly calls for the internet to be treated like a utility. Despite the major changes this plan could well involve, lawmakers and the media have been rather quiet about it.
“People don’t know the danger that is coming. The danger that is coming is a gaggle of bureaucrats here – three Democrats and two Republicans, the Republicans will probably dissent – claiming they have the power to regulate the internet,” said Napolitano.
He says Congress has passed no statute authorizing new government controls on the internet and the first amendment clearly states that Congress nor any government agency it created can make no law restricting the freedom of speech.
Napolitano admits the the stated goal of net neutrality sounds innocuous when first presented but he says the problem Obama and his allies really have is with the free market.
“They claim that the purpose of their regulation is to prevent the internet from affording priority and faster service to certain preferred users. Would we all like to have fast service? Yes. Do we all know how to get fast service? Yes, we do. Might that cost us something? Yes, it might, but at the present time it is free from government regulation,” said Napolitano.
However, the judge says the public goal of establishing internet fairness will come at a very heavy price.
“If the government regulates the internet and tells providers how fast they can move information, we will soon see the government regulating the cost of the internet and we will eventually, just like with broadcast television, see the government regulating the content of the internet,” said Napolitano, who described the chain reaction he believes the FCC proposal would trigger.
“Right now, the internet is the freest marketplace of ideas and transfers of information that the world has ever known. At least in the United States, it is utterly and totally – there are some minor exceptions – unregulated. Once these federal bureaucrats get their hands on it, give them a couple of years. It’ll look like broadcast television, a watered down version of what we now have,” he said.
Also at work, according to Napolitano, is the federal government’s unquenchable thirst for more and more power.
“Think about it. You’re a commissioner on the FCC. You’re regulating telecoms and broadcast TV. Wouldn’t you like to regulate cable while you’re at it? Wouldn’t you like to regulate the internet while you’re at it. It’s human nature when you have power to want to expand the power. That’s why we have a Constitution, to prevent these expansions of power,” said Napolitano.
One of the greatest frustrations for those concerned about the FCC plan eroding speech rights is that the commissioners will not, and say they cannot, reveal any details of the package until after the vote on Thursday. Napolitano says that tactic is actually a double-edged sword. He says the downside of the secrecy is obvious.
“It’s bad because the government has an obligation under federal law, when any of its administrative agencies plan on changing their rules and expanding their power or modifying substantially the manner in which they regulate, to publish those rules for 30 days,” said Napolitano.
And because the FCC is not following the law, it gives opponents fertile ground for an appeal.
“The good part is the failure to publish this will invalidate the rules once they’re challenged before a federal court. The government is shooting itself in the foot,” said Napolitano, who sees this turning into a replay of another fierce court battle involving the administration.
“This is the very same thing it did when it attempted to implement President Obama’s changes in immigration law and they were enjoined from doing so last Monday by a federal judge in Texas, who said, ‘You didn’t publish these rules for 30 days, which gives the public the opportunity to comment and, more importantly, Congress the opportunity to modify the rules,” said Napolitano.
Napolitano says the biggest asset for net neutrality supporters right now is the disinterest of the American people. He says if that changes, the whole debate will change.
“This proposal by the president (these are the president’s appointees on the FCC) actually has the support of the leadership of both political parties, big government Republicans and big government Democrats. But some of them will have great pause for reconsideration if there is a great national debate on this,” said Napolitano.
He says fierce debate is exactly what the Democratic majority of commissioners is trying to avoid through their secretive tactics.
“That’s the reason why the three Democrats on the FCC want to force it through, so there will be no great national debate, because a great national debate will result in the undoing of this,” said Napolitano.
Three Martini Lunch 2/24/15
Greg Corombos of Radio America and Jim Geraghty of National Review cheer the inclusion of conservative radio talk show host Hugh Hewitt as a questioner in an upcoming CNN GOP presidential debate. They also groan as more confirmation of egregious government waste comes to light. And they react to the Clinton Foundation continuing to accept foreign donations and the revelation that conservative outlet NewsMax contributed a million dollars to the foundation.
‘Why Will No One Speak Out for Us?’
Former Rep. Frank Wolf, the leading voice for religious freedom in Congress for decades, says Christianity is on the verge of extinction in Iraq and the remaining steadfast believers do not see much effort from the U.S. or other western nations to improve their plight.
Wolf served in the House of Representatives from 1981-2015. He is the author of the International Religious Freedom Act, which the International Religious Freedom Office at the State Department and created an Ambassador-at-Large position to promote religious freedom around the world. That post has been vacant for some time.
Upon leaving the House, Wolf became the first-ever Wilson Chair in Religious Freedom at Baylor University and co-founded the 21st Century Wilberforce Initiative. He co-led a trip to Iraq in January to observe conditions for Christians and other minorities and to speak to people first-hand. The group recently released a report based on that trip entitled “Edge of Extinction: The Eradication of Religious and Ethnic Minorities in Iraq.” He says the conclusions of the visit were obvious.
“Two things. They’re really suffering and they’re really facing extinction,” said Wolf, who says the people there are mystified at the relative silence in the midst of their suffering, since the Islamic State has very real plans to bring their savagery to the West as well.
“The threat ISIS poses is not only to them but to people in the West and, quite frankly, people in the United States. It’s kind of a conglomeration. They kept saying, ‘Why will no one in the West speak out for us? Does anyone care?’ said Wolf.
“I think they’re running out of confidence that the West will do much about it, because you know it’s been going on since it started in June, then in August. Now here we are in February of the next year, so they’re not seeing very much assistance,” said Wolf.
Wolf says that impression is only intensified after events like the beheading of Coptic Christians in Libya and the Obama administration only referred to them as Egyptian citizens. He says instead of reacting to individual atrocities, the U.S. and other western nations need to understand what’s really happening.
“It is genocide, genocide against Christians and genocide against the Yazidis and other religious minorities,” he said.
The nightmare for Christians started long before the rise of the Islamic State. Wolf says the the state of Christianity in Iraq now compared to the days before the Iraq War is staggering.
“In 2001, there was a million and a half Christians in Iraq. They’re down now to 300,000 and I think probably under that number. Some say under 225,000,” said Wolf.
“The suffering of the people is not just numbers. We interviewed many, many people there that are suffering. They would like to stay, but if something isn’t done they are going to leave,”
Christians who refuse to convert are either killed or forced to live in subhuman conditions. As cold winter conditions hit the region, thousands of people are sleeping in whatever abandoned buildings they can find, often in 12×12 or 15×15 foot sections with just two-inch-thick mattresses as beds and kerosene heaters for warmth. For those allowed to live, there is no opportunity for work or for education. They also have no medical care.
“Many of them are doctors and many of them are lawyers. They’re educated people, but they don’t have any resources,” said Wolf, who says the most substantial relief is coming to believers through a Catholic group called the Dominican Sisters as well as Samaritan’s Purse, the relief organization headed by evangelist Franklin Graham.
All of this is taking place in a region rich in biblical history.
“More biblical activity took place in Iraq than any other country in the whole world, other than Israel. Abraham’s from Iraq. Rebekah’s from Iraq. The twelve tribes of Israel lived in Iraq. Ezekiel is buried in Iraq. Jonah, Ninevah, in fact Jonah’s tomb was just blown up in Iraq. Daniel, one of the great men of the Bible, is buried in Iraq,” said Wolf.
Despite the intense persecution, the report from the 21st Century Wilberforce Initiative suggests the faith of embattled believers remains strong. It tells stories of people preferring to die than recant their faith in Christ. Another man lost his wife to cancer after the Islamic State refused to allow her to receive treatment in Mosul because she would not convert to Islam. In the report, the widowed husband shared his wife’s last words.
“I am going to hold onto the cross of Christ. I refuse to convert. I prefer death. I prefer death to abandoning my religion and my faith,” she told him.
Wolf says faith of Iraqi Christians is the strongest he’s ever seen, but he adds that Christians and other religious minorities there have infinitely less faith in western nations to come to their rescue.
“Their faith is strong. Maybe their faith is greater with the persecution than it is in the West where there’s a lot more materialism and things like that. I think they’re beginning to give up on the west and many are saying, ‘Help us stay,’ meaning if we don’t stay. we’re going to leave,” said Wolf.
“If they leave, we will literally see the end of Christianity in the place where it kind of began. In the cradle of Christendom, there’ll be no Christians left and ISIS will have won,” he said.
Three Martini Lunch 2/23/15
Greg Corombos of Radio America and Jim Geraghty of National Review were surprised to see Oscars host Neil Patrick Harris zing Edward Snowden after a documentary on the NSA leaker won an Academy Award. Jim and Greg debate the merits of Charles Krauthammer’s call for the GOP to abolish the filibuster. And they react to a new poll showing a plurality of Democrats think it’s OK for the president to ignore a court ruling if it’s “important to the country.”
Don’t Underestimate ISIS
The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or ISIS, is gobbling up more territory in preparation for striking western nations and a retired U.S. Army Special Forces officer says the U.S. needs to stop underestimating the enemy and start engaging Sunnis in Iraq to stand up and fight for their homeland.
Retired Lt. Col. Scott Mann spent 23 years in Special Forces, including 15 years of service as a Green Beret. He saw combat duty in Iraq, Afghanistan and several other spots around the world during his years in uniform. Mann points out that ISIS now controls a land area greater in size than the United Kingdom. He says the U.S. and our allies need to realize ISIS likely presents a greater threat to the West than any other group we’ve confronted since 9/11.
“These guys, in a lot of ways, are a lot more advanced than Al Qaeda. Al Qaeda always talked about re-establishing this caliphate, but I don’t think even Bin Laden expected to see it in his lifetime. Whereas ISIS, not only have they established it, the caliphate is part of their legitimacy. So the expansion of this is a very real thing and they’re going to keep going,” said Mann.
After Sunday’s video release of the grisly beheadings of 21 Coptic Christians in Libya. reports surfaced this week that ISIS plans to use North Africa as a launching pad for attacks in Europe. Mann believes that is definitely part of the plan.
“I fully believe they are looking to expand into Europe and even further, and I do think their activity in Libya and other places indicate that,” said Mann.
Mann says for all of its horrifying actions, ISIS has been very clear about its intentions and the U.S. and other nations have been slow to take them seriously.
“It seems like we keep counting these guys out or we keep missing what we’re capable of . The reality is these guys have a very powerful narrative that resonates with a lot people. And they follow an end of days kind of scenario here. They are manufacturing a holy war between Islam and the West and they fully intend to fight it,” said Mann.
At this week’s White House summit on confronting violent extremism, President Obama said the very reason he does not refer to ISIS as being motivated by Islamic extremism is because that’s what the radicals want. Mann is of two minds on this debate. First, he says Obama definitely needs to be more clear about who our enemy is.
“I do think it is a mistake to not call out the enemy as Islamist violent extremists because they certainly are and they are using medieval Islamism to justify their actions,” said Mann, who also says Obama is right not to give ISIS a lot of material to feed its propaganda efforts.
“I do think the president is right in cautioning us to not fall into the role of the crusader, who they want us to be. That falls right into their narrative and, frankly, that’s how they recruited the shooter in Denmark. It’s how they recruit these young girls from the UK, this narrative that Islam is under attack by the West. By trying to ‘do something,’ we end up playing into that narrative,” said Mann.
So how will ISIS be most effectively destroyed? Mann says is starts by studying how ISIS has gobbled up so much territory to this point.
“They go into a fragile state that is basically exploited by violent extremists in areas that are beyond the reach of that partner government. In Iraq, they go into the marginalized Sunni tribal areas, where those tribes are degraded and beaten down and they co-opt them from the bottom up,” said Mann.
“So if you strike them from the top down with the Iraqi military whom those Sunnis distrust or whether it’s with air strikes, you just drive those extremists deeper into the population, like a tick in a dog,” he said.
While Mann believes military action is critical to stop and ultimately destroy ISIS, he says the key is for American and other allied advisers to go into the marginalized areas and win over tribal leaders and have them fight back over time.
“These extremists have to be taken out. There’s no doubt about it. I believe it needs to be done in the context of a broader strategy, where we get into these local areas, these strategic safe havens and we find tribal leaders that are pushing back and resisting and we help them push [ISIS] out of there. I think that’s the only way for the long term that we degrade ISIS and other extremists to the point they are irrelevant,” said Mann.
According to Mann, sending in huge numbers of ground troops to collaborate with the tribal leaders would look like another U.S. occupation. He says sending in the advisers would accomplish the same goal with a much lighter footprint and a much small cost in blood and treasure. He says it’s an approach he personally watched succeed in Afghanistan.
“In the last few years of the Afghan war, Green Berets did that throughout rural Afghanistan. It was very effective and Mullah Omar was on record, citing it as one of the greatest threats the Taliban faced,” said Mann, who noted Gen. David Petraeus employed the same strategy in the Sunni areas of Iraq with groups like Sons of Iraq and The Awakening.
While Mann is urging western leaders not to underestimate ISIS, he also cautions that this fight will not be over quickly.
“This McDonald’s drive-thru mentality that we have of defeating these guys, where it happens in a couple of news cycles or a one-year combat rotation is fantasy. This is going to take decades to build up partner nation capacity to push back from the bottom on their own. In many of these societies, it took several decades to degrade it, and it’s going to take that long to build it back up,” said Mann.
Three Martini Lunch 2/20/15
Greg Corombos of Radio America and Jim Geraghty are pleasantly surprised to see MSNBC deciding to return to straight news as opposed to focusing on liberal talk shows. Jim offers a hilarious response to the disturbing decision by U.S. Central Command to announce a lot of details about a spring offensive against ISIS. And they react to news that Iran’s foreign minister has been rebuked by the grand ayatollah for screaming so much at Secretary of State John Kerry.
Rep. Yoho Lauds Judge on Immigration Ruling
The Florida Republican congressman who challenged John Boehner in the race for Speaker of the House earlier this year is praising a federal judge for halting the Obama administration’s unilateral plan to grant legal status to at least five million people in the U.S. illegally.
Rep. Ted Yoho is also praising Speaker Boehner for insisting that the U.S. Senate act on a Department of Homeland Security appropriations bill that refuses to fund the the legalization plan that critics call illegal and unconstitutional.
On Monday, U.S. District Court Judge John Hanen ordered a halt to the implementation of Obama’s policy of granting legal status and work permits to illegal immigrants who have children living in the U.S. legally.
Hanen said the case brought by 26 states raised significant constitutional issues that must be resolved before allowing the program to go forward. The judge said there must be a pause because if the administration loses this case at a higher court or else, “this genie would be impossible to put back in the bottle.”
Yoho, who sponsored a House bill in December to declare Obama’s actions illegal, is thrilled with Hanen’s ruling.
“Judge Hanen absolutely did the correct thing, for the rule of law and for our nation,” said Yoho. “Once you let the toothpaste out of the tube or the genie out of the bottle, you can’t get it back in there. This is wrong for America. This is not the way to fix immigration. This is going to make the situation that we have in this country with 10-11 million people here illegally, it’ll make it worse.”
The Obama administration agreed to halt the legalization program pending further court action, but insists it has the winning legal argument.
“The law is on our side and history is on our side,” said Obama earlier this week, saying legal precedent shows the executive branch has the power to exercise prosecutorial discretion.
Yoho says the law is actually very clear and it’s not on Obama’s side.
“He is absolutely 100 percent wrong. I’ve got lawyers and briefings and court cases where he can’t do that because what he has done by saying he has the legal authority, he’s rewritten the law,” said Yoho. Prosecutorial discretion was on an individual basis. What’s he’s doing is categorically taking a group of five million people here and applying it to the whole group. You can’t do that on an individual basis.”
The congressman alleges this is just the latest example of the president trying to work around the law to enact his political agenda.
“This president and this administration have created the global policy of unenforcement, meaning that if you get to America , you’re going to get a work permit. And you’re going to get free housing, free education, free health. If we want to solve this problem, we’ve got to stop illegal action and overreaching the boundaries of the Constitution,” said Yoho.
Yoho thinks the case will get fast-tracked through the federal court system but it will ultimately be decided by the highest court in the land.
“I think you’re going to see the Fifth [Circuit] work rather quickly on this. I think you’ll see them rule in our favor or they’ll go along with the injunction and defer to the Supreme Court,” said Yoho.
Hanen’s decision comes at a critical time in the congressional fight over funding the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). That funding runs out at the end of this month.
Last month, the House of Representatives fully funded DHS at current levels through September, with the exception of defunding Obama’s unilateral program. The GOP Senate majority has tried to move forward on the same bill but has failed because all Democrats are united in filibustering the removal of that immigration funding.
Yoho says the courts putting the brakes on the program should remove any remaining opposition to the Republican version of the bill.
You can’t move forward with something that is deemed illegal by the court system. To move forward would be reckless and irresponsible. The common sense thing would be to say, ‘You know what? Let’s fund DHS. Let’s not put our country’s security in jeopardy or the people fighting to protect our borders, like the Coast Guard or our border securities. Let’s not put them in jeopardy. Let’s fund this bill and let’s have this discussion on another date once the courts decide,” said Yoho.
Democrats are insisting on a “clean” extension of DHS funding, which has included money for the legalization program since passage of the “cromnibus” bill in December. Speaker Boehner stated earlier this week that the House passed a bill and it’s now incumbent upon the Senate, especially Senate Democrats, to pass a funding bill.
Yoho is very pleased to see Boehner drawing a line in the sand.
“I’m proud of Mr. Boehner for standing up and staying strong on this. You know I’ve been a vocal critic of his, but if he’s willing to do this I think he’s on the right path,” said Yoho, who agrees that the onus is now on Senate Democrats to act responsibly.
“Those people that decide to vote against us are voting on the side of going against our Constitution and voting for the 10-11 million people here illegally versus voting for what’s best for America, not as a Republican or a Democrat but as an American. I think you’ll see them come around and do what’s right,” said Yoho.
Even if the GOP plan were to clear the Senate, an Obama veto is waiting at the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue. Yoho says getting it to Obama’s desk would be a huge step forward.
“Let [Senate Democrats] help us push this bill and then send it to the president. Then this president will have to decide if he’s going to side on the side of the people here illegally or if he’s going to side on the side of national security and the American people,” said Yoho.
But the congressman says Republican lawmakers will need help from more than just a half dozen Senate Democrats. He says the public has a huge role to play in putting pressure on Congress.
“This is something all Americans need to get up and get rallied behind,” said Yoho.