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THE WITCH HUNT AGAINST BRETT KAVANAUGH
A couple of weeks ago, the Democratic Senator from California, Diane Feinstein, brought the public’s attention a letter accusing Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of attempted rape. According to the letter, an intoxicated Kavanaugh, then a seventeen-year-old high school student in Maryland, had pinned a fifteen-year-old girl – later identified as Christine Blasey Ford – down on a bed at a party, groped her, and attempted to remove her clothing. Kavanaugh covered her mouth to prevent her from screaming. The encounter ended when another man, Mike Judge, jumped on them. Ford claims to have been in fear for her life.
Both Brett Kavanaugh and Mike Judge have strongly denied the allegations that have been made against them. Kavanaugh indicated his willingness to testify in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee and stated that:
“This is a completely false allegation. I have never done anything like what the accuser describes – to her or to anyone. Because this never happened, I had no idea who was making this accusation until she identified herself yesterday. I am willing to talk to the Senate Judiciary Committee in any way the Committee deems appropriate to refute this false allegation, from thirty-six-years-ago, and defend my integrity.”
In addition, the Senate Judiciary Council also received a letter, signed by sixty-five women, attesting to Kavanaugh’s sterling character.
Similarly, Mike Judge also released a statement saying:
“I did not ask to be involved in this matter nor did anyone ask me to be involved. The only reason I’m involved is because Dr. Christine Blasey Ford remembers me as the other person in the room during the alleged assault”
Judge continued:
“I have no memory of the alleged incident. Brett Kavanaugh and I were friends in high school but I do not recall the party described in Ford’s letter. More to the point, I never saw Brett act in the manner Dr. Ford describes.”
Regardless of the outcome of any vote, it is clear that the accusations made against Brett Kavanaugh will have long-ranging political consequence. If Kavanaugh is not appointed, the Republicans may very well lose their opportunity to appoint an originalist to the Supreme Court. It is unlikely that the Senate would be able to vet and confirm any nominee for the Supreme Court in the six weeks leading up to the election. And it is very possible that that election could culminate in a Democrat-controlled Congress. On the other hand, if Kavanaugh is confirmed the Democrats will certainly use the accusations as a political weapon to be wielded against Republicans.
Political consequences notwithstanding, the accusations made against Brett Kavanaugh are, in and of themselves, deeply suspicious. Christine Blasey Ford has failed to provide any evidence or corroborating details which could help prove the validity of her story. The alleged incident occurred almost forty years ago, bears no witnesses aside from the two men accused, and has no physical evidence.
What is truly amazing is that anyone is willing to believe Ford’s accusations in the first place. Ford, a registered Democrat who has financially supported numerous left-wing causes, waited until the man she was accusing was about to become a Supreme Court Justice, has changed her story numerous times, and is unable to remember the time or the location the alleged incident took place.
And any attempt to compel Ford to provide further information have been met with stonewalling and accusations of victim blaming by her supports. When her lawyer, Debra Katz was asked by CNN’s Alisyn Camerota whether Ford should ask other girls at the party to come forward as witnesses, Katz snapped: “that’s not her job to do that. If this is going to be investigated, it should be done by investigators.” It is hard to believe that any just society would condemn a man on such a preposterous lack of evidence.
At some point, society is going to need to have a discussion about what credible accusations of sexual assault look like. One would be hard pressed to argue that an accusation that bears no witnesses, no evidence, and no corroborating details should be powerful enough to destroy a man’s life or career. It is not acceptable that accusations which can be neither proven nor disproven should be used to take someone’s liberties from them.
IS THIS THE END OF THE IRAN NUCLEAR DEAL?
President Trump stated Wednesday that he had made a decision concerning the Iran Nuclear Deal. In an unusual twist, however, the President refused to announce what it was.
White House National Security Adviser, H.R. McMaster, has refused to comment on whether President Trump planned to withdraw from the Iran Nuclear Deal. McMaster told NBC’s Today show:
“I’m not saying anything yet about it, but when the announcement is made, it will fit into a fundamentally sound and broad strategy aimed at addressing Iran’s destabilizing behaviour and prioritizing protecting American vital interests.”
Seven Democrat senators have written to President Trump demanding evidence that Iran had violated the agreement by October 6th, the certification deadline. They wrote:
“If you are aware of any information that would suggest that Iran is no longer complying or that would lead the president to conclude that the continued suspension of sanctions is no longer in the vital national security interests of the United States, we request that you provide a written report containing such information.”
Similarly, the Republican Senator from Kentucky, Rand Paul, has expressed the opinion that the US should remain in the deal, despite opposing it two years ago. The senator stated in an interview Wednesday that he believed the Iranians had been complying with the terms of the deal and that the Trump Administration should be focused on curtailing Iran’s ballistic missile program. Paul told Politico:
“Most of the complaints about Iran don’t have anything to do with the agreement. They complain about ballistic missiles and other things, but that’s not part of the agreement. I think while the agreement’s not perfect, my main concern has always been compliance. But if they’re complying with it, I think we should stay in it.”
A decision to leave the Iran Nuclear Deal does have its supporters, however. The French President, Emmanuel Macron, commented that the Iraq Nuclear Deal had been ineffectual in safeguarding against Iran’s growing power. Macron stated:
“We need the 2015 accord. Is this accord enough? It is not, given the growing pressure that Iran is applying in the region.”
Similarly, Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson, has stated that Iran’s support for Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad, its ballistic missile test, and its other non-military action undermined efforts to create stability in the Middle East. Tillerson stated on Wednesday night:
“Regrettably, since the agreement was confirmed we have seen anything but a more peaceful, stable region. That’s why we talk about Iran defaulting on these expectations because those expectations clearly have not been met.”
PRESIDENT TRUMP’S UNITED NATIONS SPEECH
President Donald Trump delivered his first address to the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday.
President Trump reminded the UN that their purpose was not that of a bureaucratic-style world government, but an amalgamation of sovereign states whose power was based on the “individual strength of its members.” “The whole world is safer when nations are strong, independent, and free”, the President told them.
“The whole world is safer when nations are strong, independent, and free”, the President told them. He then went on to ask those present if they were patriots prepared to work for a “future of dignity and peace for the people of this wonderful earth.”
Speaking at the opening luncheon, President Trump praised the UN’s ability to maintain peace in the world:
“There is no better forum, there can be no better forum and certainly, there can be no better location where everybody comes together.”
The President continued:
“The potential of the United Nations is unlimited. You are going to do things that will epic, and I certainly hope you will, but I feel very, very confident.”
However, the President also criticised the UN for its record of allowing countries with atrocious human rights records on their human rights council:
“It is a massive embarrassment for the United Nations that some governments with egregious human rights records sit on the UN Human Rights Council.”
The President also turned his ire towards Venezuela, the Middle East, and North Korea.
Commenting on the situation in Venezuela he said, “the problem in Venezuela is not that socialism has been poorly implemented, but that socialism has been faithfully implemented.”
Speaking on Afghanistan, President Trump stated the US’ policy would be dictated by circumstances, not arbitrary deadlines:
“From now on, our security interests will dictate the length and scope of military operations, not arbitrary benchmarks and timetables set up by politicians. I have also totally changed the rules of engagement in our fight against the Taliban and other terrorist groups.”
He also indicated that the US may be backing out of the Iran nuclear deal, which he referred to as a national embarrassment:
“The Iran deal was one of the worst and most one-sided transactions the United States has ever entered into. Frankly, that deal is an embarrassment to the United States, and I don’t think you’ve heard the last of it, believe me.”
Finally, President Trump condemned North Korea’s record on human rights and nuclear weapons. He warned that their “reckless” pursuit of nuclear weapons threatened “the entire world with unthinkable loss of life.”
Echoing Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, President Trump went on to warn “rocket man” (the President’s nickname for Jim Jong Un) that the US would wipe the rogue communist state off the face of the earth if it attacked the US or one of her allies:
“The United States has great strength and patience, but if it is forced to defend itself or its allies, we will have no choice but to totally destroy North Korea. Rocket Man is on a suicide mission for himself and for his regime.”
Senator minority leader, the Democratic Senator from New York, Chuck Schumer, commented that it was dangerous for President Trump to refer to Kim Jong Un as “rocket man”:
“If I were giving the President advice, I would have said, avoid using ‘rocket man’. “If I were giving the President advice, I would have said, avoid using ‘rocket man’. We know the leader of North Korea is erratic to put it kindly. That kind of language is risky.”
On a more positive note, many are praising the President for his no-nonsense speech. The Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, tweeted:
“In over 30 years in my experience with the UN, I never heard a bolder or more courageous speech.”
REPUBLICANS AND DEMOCRATS TO MEET AT THE WHITE HOUSE FOR TAX REFORM
President Trump and members of his administration are about to embark on a focused and deliberate campaign to win support for the President’s planned reforms to the American taxation system.
Both President Trump and Vice President Mike Pence are focused on winning the support of select members of the Democrat Party after the disastrous attempt to repeal Obamacare in July.
The White House will host a dinner on Tuesday night to be attended by Democratic Senator from North Dakota, Heidi Heitkamp, Democrat Senator from Indiana, Joe Donnelly, Democratic Senator from West Virginia, Joe Manchin, Republican Senator from Utah, Orrin Hatch, Republican Senator from South Dakota, John Thune, and Republican Senator from Pennsylvania, Pat Toomey.
In addition, Vice President Mike Pence will travel to Indiana three times over the coming weeks in an attempt to convince Donnelly, who is for reelection in 2018, in an attempt to convince him to support tax reform.
A WIN FOR CHRISTIAN BAKERS
The Department of Justice has filed a brief on Thursday on behalf of baker, Jack Phillips.
Phillips was found to have violated Colorado’s anti-discrimination laws after he refused to bake a cake for Charlie Craig’s and David Mullin’s “wedding” in 2012. Phillips had argued that baking a cake for gay wedding violated his religious beliefs.
The Justice Department has concurred, stating that the cakes he produces constitute a form of expression and that he should not be compelled to use his talents to express support for something he does not believe in. Acting Solicitor General, wrote in the legal brief:
“Forcing Phillips to create expression for and participate in a ceremony that violates his sincerely held religious beliefs invades his First Amendment rights.”
The American Civil Liberties Union has responded to the move by calling it “shocking.” Similarly, Democratic Senator for California, Kamala Harris, tweeted:
“Shame on the Justice Department for siding with discrimination. It has no place in our society.”
It is refreshing to see a Justice Department that is committed to protecting both free markets and the religious liberties of the American people. For too long, the gay rights lobby has been able to intimidate those who do not share their views. This decision represents a Justice Department and an administration that is committed to protecting everyone’s rights and liberties, not just the imaginary rights of an outspoken minority.
US TO STAY IN AFGHANISTAN
President Trump has gone back on his campaign promise to withdraw troops from Afghanistan and has instead decided to commit more troops the war-torn country. The change in policy came after a months-long campaign by members of the National Security Team to convince the President not to withdraw troops from the country.
The President, who was forced to admit that the office of the Presidency has changed his worldview, said in his Afghanistan speech:
“My original instinct was to pull out, and historically I like following my instincts, but all of my life I heard that decisions are much different when you sit behind the desk in the Oval Office. So I studied Afghanistan in great detail and from every angle. After many meetings, over many months, we held our final meeting last Friday at Camp David, with my Cabinet and Generals, to complete our strategy. I arrived at three fundamental conclusions about America’s core interests in Afghanistan. Our nation must seek an honourable and enduring outcome worthy of the tremendous sacrifices that have been made.
The consequences of a rapid exit are both predictable and unacceptable… A hasty withdrawal would create a vacuum that terrorists – including ISIS and Al Qaeda – would instantly fill, just as happened before September 11th.
I concluded that the security threats we face in Afghanistan and the broader region are immense.”
A spokesman for the Taliban in Afghanistan has responded to Trump’s tweet by stating that “Afghanistan will become another graveyard for the superpower.”
Democrats have expressed their concern with Democrat Congressman from Washington, Adam Smith, criticising it as a copy of the Afghanistan policies adopted by President George W. Bush and President Barack Obama. Smith said in a statement:
“This is not a plan. The President has announced that he is committing to an open-ended war effort in Afghanistan without clearly explaining to the American people or the service members he is sending into harm’s way what he wants and how intends to accomplish his goals. That is inexcusable.”
Similarly, Democratic Senator from Rhodes Island, Jack Reed, the leading Democrat in the Senate Armed Services, has criticised Trump’s policy for being too vague. Reed commented that “the President’s speech was short on the details our troops and the American people deserve.”
President Trump has, however, received support from members of the Republic Party. Republican Congressman for Texas, Mac Thornberry, referred to the policy as a “reasonable way ahead”, whilst John McCain called it a “big step in the right direction.”
WAR ON CONFEDERATE STATUES CONTINUES
The hard left’s continued war against American culture and history continues with their ongoing war against Confederate monuments.
A memorial to Thomas Jefferson will receive an update which will reflect his complexity as both a founding father and a slave owner. Similarly, in Virginia, ten-thousand people have voted to replace a statue in Olde Town Portsmouth with one of Missy Elliott. The petition read:
“Hailing from humble beginnings as the only child of a power company dispatcher and a welder at Portsmouth’s lauded naval shipyard, she rose to become a platinum recording artists with over 30 million albums sold. All this without even once owning a slave. Together we can put white supremacy down, flip it and reverse it.”
In Texas, twenty-five-year-old Andrew Schneck has been arrested for attempting to blow a Confederate statue. He was discovered with two boxes, duct tape, wires, and a bottle of liquids comprised of compounds used as explosives.
The Democrat Senator from Virginia, Tim Kaine, has expressed the opinion that Confederate statues ought to be replaced with statues of Pocahontas. Kaine explains:
“I think as you look at the scope of Virginia history here in 2017 and if you want there to be two people to really stand for who Virginia is, why wouldn’t you think about Pocahontas, who had she not saved John Smith’s life, we wouldn’t be here possibly.”
Jeh Johnson has referred to Conderdate monuments as “rallying points for white nationalism, for neo-nazis, and for the KKK” on ABC’s This Week. Johnson said:
“President Trump said this week that Jefferson and Washington were slave owners, where does it stop? Where does it end? I think most Americans understand, most African-Americans understand that many of the founders of our nation were slave owners. But most of us are not advocating that we take them off the currency or drop Washington’s name from the nation’s capital. I have first cousins, cousins whose names are Washington. They’re not changing their names. They’re proud of their name.”
He continued:
“What alarms so many of us from a security perspective is that so many of the statues, the Confederate monuments are now modern-day becoming symbols and rallying points for white nationalism, for neo-Nazis, for the KKK. This is most alarming. We fought a world war against Nazism. The KKK rained terror on people for generations. People are alarmed. I salute those in cities and states taking down monuments for reasons of public safety and security. That’s not a matter of political correctness. It’s a matter of public safety and Homeland Security and doing what’s right.”
Slavery was a blight on American history and should rightly be condemned. However, removing Confederate monuments or attempting to rewrite or ignore history is not the answer. History should not be censored, but rather should be studied and learnt from.
FALLOUT OVER PRESIDENT TRUMP’S PRESS CONFERENCE
President Trump has been heavily criticised for appearing to defend the alt-right in the wake of the devastating Charlottesville car attack in a press conference Tuesday afternoon.
Throughout the conference, Trump appeared agitated and defensive. When asked why it had taken him so long to condemn the Unite the Right protesters, Trump answered:
“I didn’t wait long. I wanted to make sure, unlike most politicians, that what I said was correct. Not make a quick statement. The statement I made on Saturday, the first statement was correct a fine statement, but you don’t make statements that direct unless you know the facts. It takes a little while to get the facts. You still don’t know the facts. It’s a very, very important process to me. And it’s a very important statement. So I don’t want to go quickly and make a statement for the sake of making a political statement. I want to know the facts. If you go back to my original statement … I brought it.”
Trump went on to defend his statement on Saturday, saying:
“Excuse me, excuse me, take it nice and easy. Here’s the thing. When I make a statement, I like to be correct. I want the facts. This event just happened. In fact, a lot of the event didn’t even happen yet as we were speaking. This event just happened. Before I make a statement, I need the facts. So I don’t want to rush into a statement. So making the statement when I made it was excellent. In fact, the young woman who I hear was a fantastic young woman, and it was on NBC, her mother wrote me and said though I guess Twitter, social media, the nicest things. And I very much appreciated that. I hear she was a fine, really actually an incredible young woman. But her mother on Twitter thanked me for what I said. And honestly, if the press were not fake, and it was honest, the press would have said what I said was very nice. But unlike you and unlike the media, before I make a statement, I like to know the facts.”
Then Trump switched his focus to attacking the “alt-left”:
I’ve condemned neo-Nazis. I’ve condemned very different groups. But not all those people were”I’ve condemned neo-Nazis. I’ve condemned very different groups. But not all those people were neo-Nazis, believe me, not all of those people were white supremacists, by any stretch. Those people were also there because they wanted to protest the taking down of the statue of Robert E. Lee. And you take a look at some of the groups and you see, and you’d know it if you were honest reporters which in many cases you’re not, but many of those people were there to protest the taking down of the statue of Robert E. Lee. I noticed that Stonewall Jackson is coming down. I wonder, is it George Washington next week, and is it Thomas Jefferson the week after? You really do have to ask yourself where does it stop. But they were there to protest, excuse me, take a look at the night before, they were there to protest the taking down of the statue of Robert E. Lee.”
Republican Senator for Florida, Marco Rubio defended President Trump’s statement on twitter:
“Mr. President, you can’t allow #WhiteSupremacists to share only part of blame. This is simple: we must condemn and marginalize white supremacist groups, not encourage and embolden them.”
However, the reaction from both Republicans and Democrats has been overwhelmingly negative. Democrat Congresswoman from New York, Kathleen Rice, tweeted: “President Trump is a racist. Period. He’s gone out of his way to make that clear, so let’s not tip-toe around it. He’s a racist.” Similarly, Democrat Senator from Hawaii, Brian Schaltz tweeted: “As a Jew, as an American, as a human, words cannot express my disgust and disappointment. This is not my president.” Meanwhile, former House Majority Leader and Republican Congressman from Virginia, Eric Cantor criticised Trump for equating the counter-protesters with the alt-right.
Trump’s plight certainly hasn’t been helped by the support he has been receiving from white supremacists. Richard Spencer told the Washington Examiner that he was grateful to Trump for “defending the truth.” Likewise, Ku Klux Klan leader, David Duke, tweeted:
“Thank you President Trump, for your honesty and courage to tell the truth about #Charlottesville and condemn the leftist terrorists in BLM/Antifa.”
There can be little doubt that President Trump deserves wide-spread criticism for his refusal to directly name and shame neo-nazis, white supremacists, and the alt-right for their role in the events in Charlottesville on Saturday. He rightly deserves criticism for refusing to condemn the alt-right during his Presidential campaign.
And the people who should be criticising him should be the American people, not the hypocritical mainstream media and political left who only seem to find their moral indignation when evil can be attributed to the right.
This, after all, is the same media that overhypes every threat of right wing violence and turns every crime committed by a right winger into a condemnation of all conservatives, but conveniently turns a blind eye to the violence committed by antifa in Seattle, Sacramento, and Berkeley. The same media that has presented right wing violence as a bigger threat to people’s safety than Islamic terrorism, which has routinely downplayed its threat, and vilified anyone who wishes to talk about the issue as being an “Islamaphobe.”
Then there’s the left wing media’s remarkable lack of criticism towards Barack Obama. They did not condemn Obama’s speech in Dallas, Texas, where he blamed the murder of five police officers on the legacy of Jim Crow and slavery, and claimed the police were unfairly and systematically targeting African Americans.
Does President Trump deserve criticism for his refusal to name and shame those responsible for the violence on Saturday? Undoubtedly yes. But the mainstream media and political left have no moral authority to do so.
TENSIONS RISE BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES AND NORTH KOREA
Tensions are rising between the United States and North Korea. Last week, the Pentagon confirmed that the rogue communist state had successfully tested its second intercontinental ballistic missile.
Democrat Senator for California, Diane Feinstein, has called North Korea a “clear and present danger” to the United States. Similarly, Republican Senator for Ohio, Rob Portman, has questioned White House officials on why the rogue state has not been designated a state sponsor of terrorism – especially following the murder of Otto Warmbier by North Korean authorities. The chair of the Senate subcommittee on East Asia, the Pacific and International Cybersecurity, the Republican Senator for Colorado, Cory Gardner, has stated:
“It is clear, whether it’s the murderous actions the regime has taken against its own people, others, the imprisonments that they continue to be responsible for, whether it’s the missile launches that continue, whether it’s interaction with Iran, this decision needs to be a redesignation of that state sponsor of terror.”
North Korea’s status as a state sponsor of terrorism was removed in 2008 as a result of the Perry Initiative. The removal of the designation came with the proviso that North Korea disable its plutonium production and meet other standards. It has consistently failed to do so.
