Charles Hurt:

“…watching the full-blown hysterics out of Washington over the past few days reveals just how wildly delusional the Trump-haters have become…

…Their hatred of Mr. Trump has always been all-consuming. From the start, they hated Mr. Trump more than they ever loved America. In fact, that is precisely why he is such a threat to them: his practical, common sense, “America First” agenda reveals how rotten so many politicians and pundits in both parties have become in Washington.

The notion that America should spend billions of dollars and sacrifice thousands of soldiers to protect and enforce the borders of a bunch of barbaric countries halfway across the globe — while ignoring our own borders — is absurd in the extreme…

…So we are deeply entangled in Iraq, a place Mr. Trump and many Americans would dearly like to depart. Along comes Iran, which launches an attack on our embassy compound in Baghdad, ordered by this thug Soleimani.

What on God’s green Earth is Mr. Trump supposed to do in response to such an attack?

Write a check for more than $1 billion and give it to the mullahs? Send a plane under the cover of darkness carrying pallets of $400 million in unmarked cash for the ayatollah? Wipe out effective sanctions so that Soleimani might sow even more terrorism around the world?

Well, that is precisely what the previous administration did. But not Mr. Trump. Instead, he killed the thug.

And good riddance.

Now, let’s get back to the business of disentangling ourselves from Iraq and the rest of that God-forsaken, barren land.

But don’t forget: Never turn your back to them while you’re walking out and never take your finger off the trigger…”

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Worth clicking over.

Conrad Black:

“…The Democrats have stumbled into yet another beartrap in their unanimous objection to President Trump’s order to kill the world’s leading terrorist, Iranian general Qassem Soleimani. The same misdirected solicitude that caused the Washington Post to describe ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, after he was driven to suicide by U.S. special operators, as an “austere cleric” has elevated Soleimani to the status of an Iranian General MacArthur.

The Democratic presidential candidates agree that Soleimani was a nasty man, but all the principal active candidates—Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders, Pete Buttigieg, and Elizabeth Warren—have embraced the Obama Administration’s nuclear deal with Iran, in which Iran undertook not to develop a full nuclear-tipped long-range missile capability for 10 years. Under this agreement the United States released approximately $150 billion of frozen Iranian assets, which substantially have been squandered in underwriting the terrorist acts and infiltrations supervised by the late Soleimani—especially by the Iranian-sponsored terrorist organizations Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas in Gaza, and the Houthi in Yemen.

Apart from being unverifiable, and giving a tremendous stimulus to Iran’s terrorist and other destabilizing activities around the Middle East, the treaty (also ratified by France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Russia and China), only dealt with fissile material, not rocket development or the perfection of a warhead. So Iran’s nuclear military research has continued apace, as it escalated its terrorist activities: a terrible and indefensible agreement the Democrats are now robotically defending.

The reimposition of sanctions by the United States has badly squeezed the Iranian economy and its oil exports have fallen substantially. The Iranian economy has partially collapsed and there is immense discontent; months of rioting required very heavy-handed action by the secret police and army to repress. The Democrats who would take Trump’s place have thus very conveniently lined up on the side of the appeasement of Iran, the toleration without reprisal of all Iran’s terrorist outrages, the absolute right to life of the world’s leading terrorist and America’s greatest single enemy.

There could not be a better foreign policy political gift to the president…”

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Sara Carter:

“…Ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee Devin Nunes told The Sara Carter Show that Republicans have an active investigation into Intelligence Community Inspector General Michael Atkinson, who alerted lawmakers to the so-called whistleblower complaint that has led to President Donald Trump’s partisan impeachment in the House.

Nunes, R-CA, spoke to this reporter for Monday’s podcast. He revealed that transcripts of Atkinson’s secret testimony will expose that the Inspector General either lied or he needs to make corrections to his statements to lawmakers. The transcripts have been kept from the public by House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-CA, because it is damaging to their “impeachment scam,” Nunes said…”

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Babylon Bee article on Dems and Soleimani has more social media engagement than the top articles from the NYT or CNN have in an ENTIRE WEEK

Here is the full intro to the Golden Globes by @rickygervais Holy smokes.
It’s a must watch.

https://t.co/TAAEocKGif

— Jim Hamilton (Vice Captain) (@jimhamilton4) January 6, 2020

Kurt Schlichter:

“…This has been a really difficult time for Ben Rhodes, John Kerry, and the rest of the geniuses who zombie Neville Chamberlain recently hailed as “a flock of insufferable sissies crowded around the behind of America’s enemy, shamelessly smooching their dignity away.” Zapping Qassam Soleimani ruined an Iranian offensive that had started with such promise. When the dirtbag catspaws of the dirtbag Iranian mullahs surrounded the American embassy in Baghdad, American liberals were more excited than the old Weekly Standard’s staff would have been upon discovering that it was sharing one of its cruises with a pool boy and sexy gardener convention. Libs and their Fredocon submissives were practically salivating at the thought of fellow Americans being murdered by scuzzy foreigners and the opportunity such a tragedy would present for blaming Donald Trump. This was Trump’s Benghazi test, they chortled on social media…”

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I & I Editorial Board:

“…Last week, 18 people crossed the border illegally into Arizona hoping they could exploit a loophole in U.S. asylum policy to stay in the country. Instead, they found themselves shipped back to Mexico while their asylum claims are reviewed.

In the midst of impeachment mania and the killing of an Iranian general, this event captured little attention. But it’s part of a broader campaign that the Trump administration has quietly embarked upon to crack down on illegal border crossings. And – even without the wall – these policies are having a huge impact.

The 18 migrants were sent back to Mexico thanks to a policy President Donald Trump implemented that goes by the official name of “Migrant Protection Protocols” (MPP), but more colloquially known as “Remain in Mexico.”…”

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Black Americans are coming home to the GOP

GEORGE PARRY:

“…On April 18, 1943, during the Solomon Islands campaign in the Pacific, the U.S.  Army Air Force shot down the bomber known to be transporting Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, the commander of the Combined Fleet of the Imperial Japanese Navy. The aircraft went down in flames, and all on board died.

Planned and executed under the strictest secrecy, Operation Vengeance was launched with the specific purpose of killing Yamamoto. Although the planners were concerned that this targeted assassination might invite retaliation in kind by the Japanese, the American press, public, and political establishment overwhelmingly approved the intentional killing of Yamamoto. He had been the architect of the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor and was deemed to be the Imperial Navy’s ablest officer. His death was not only well-earned retribution, it also materially advanced the war effort. So, targeted assassination or not, the killing of Yamamoto was considered to be a good thing.

Similarly, the 2011 execution of Osama Bin Laden by special forces received universal praise from the American public, the media, and both major political parties. And, consistent with the goal of that operation, the Obama administration also conducted extensive drone warfare that targeted and killed scores of lower-ranking terrorists while in many instances collaterally wounding or killing hundreds of non-combatants. Nevertheless, despite this “collateral damage,” neither the Democrats nor the mainstream media raised any serious criticism or opposition to Obama’s lethal drone program.

Which brings us to the recent drone strike on Major General Qassem Soleimani of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Force (“IRGC”) and his top ally in Iraq, militia leader Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis. Soleimani commanded the IRGC’s Quds Force which is primarily responsible for military and clandestine operations outside Iran. As reported extensively elsewhere, he was responsible for deployment of Iranian designed and manufactured IEDs that caused the deaths and wounding of thousands of American military personnel during the Iraq War.

Despite Soleimani’s bloody record, the drone strike that killed him, carried out at the direction of President Trump, has been bitterly denounced by Democrat office holders and their wholly-owned mainstream media subsidiary. To hear them tell it, by authorizing the killing of  Soleimani without first consulting Congress, Trump has acted illegally and heedlessly and unnecessarily risked all-out war with Iran. 

While Democrat and media criticism of Trump is hardly news, the context and vehemence of this latest condemnation raise interesting questions regarding the Democrats’ true motives which, as will be discussed below, appear to be nefarious and corrupt…”

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Brandon J. Weichert:

“…Although Iran replaced Soleimani immediately, his loss will be felt for years. Soleimani’s leadership had proven indispensable to the mullahs over the last 12 years, as Iran strove to make the Middle East its own exclusive sphere of interest. While Soleimani may have been replaced, his vision and talents—his savvy—cannot be replicated so easily. When the United States assassinated Japanese Admiral Isoroku Yamamato in 1943, the man who had conceived and executed the Pearl Harbor attack, the Japanese war effort at sea was irreparably damaged. His insights and leadership had kept Japan a potent enemy of the United States. Yamamoto’s death, however, robbed Japan of such leadership at a critical time.

Trump’s killing of Soleimani deprives Iran in a similar fashion…”

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https://twitter.com/holdmyale/status/1144607020835844097

Related:

https://twitter.com/holdmyale/status/1210900709409001477

Lisa Martin:

“…Following Governor Ralph Northam’s 2019 promise to advance gun control laws in Virginia, newly elected state representatives have introduced a slew of bills aimed at restricting gun sales and ownership, including one in particular that has ignited a firestorm of opposition from citizens across the state. SB 16, introduced by Senator Richard Saslaw in November, would ban the purchase, sale, or possession of commonly owned semi-automatic rifles, pistols, and shotguns, under penalty of a Class 6 felony conviction punishable by up to 5 years imprisonment.

Governor Northam said that gun safety bills will “save lives and improve public safety in our communities,” speaking at a Cabinet meeting after Democrats gained a majority in both the Senate and House of Delegates in the November elections. “It’s going to be a new day,” he said. Other proposed legislation includes expanded background checks on firearms sales, restrictions on handgun purchases within a 30-day period, and “red flag” laws allowing police and the courts to temporarily disarm a person exhibiting dangerous behavior…

…Senator Saslaw’s filing touched off a vehement reaction from gun rights advocates, who believe the proposed restrictions to be unconstitutional at both the state and federal levels. The Virginia Citizens Defense League (VCDL), a non-profit group that advocates for pro-gun legislation at the state level, immediately organized a process for individual counties, towns, and cities to assert “Second Amendment sanctuary” status by asking their local councils or boards to pass a resolution. 

The resolution’s language expresses “opposition to any law that would unconstitutionally restrict the rights of citizens to keep and bear arms,” thus providing figurative “sanctuary” from the new law’s enforcement. It is a statement of opposition—a symbolic message of disapproval and resistance from local elected bodies—but does not carry legal authority. 

Nonetheless, over the last two months Virginia’s “2A sanctuary” movement has exploded. Citizens have bombarded their local city and county board meetings with calls for officials to adopt the resolution language, filling venues to overflow and speaking passionately about gun ownership. Louisa County’s December meeting attracted 600 people, 1,500 attended in Virginia Beach, and Rockingham County saw more than 2,000 citizens fill a high school gym to bursting…”

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Related:

A Second Amendment sanctuary movement is sweeping through Kentucky. Here’s why

Hat tip to Glenn Reynolds