Saturday, December 31, 2016
2016 was the year of the deplorables
My father was a member of the Silent Majority and had
he been alive he would’ve cast his vote for Donald J. Trump. He
would’ve been one of those people Hillary Clinton called a "deplorable."
I’ve lived in New York City for more than a decade now – and I’ve seen firsthand the contempt for country folks like my father – people from rural America.
Click here to pre-order Todd’s new book, “The Deplorables’ Guide to Making America Great Again”!
As I write in my new book, “The Deplorables’ Guide to Making America Great Again,” I feel like a "Duck Dynasty" guy living in a "Modern Family" world – where right is wrong, wrong is right – it’s as if our values have been turned upside down.
President Obama called us "bitter." He said we were the kinds of people who cling to guns and religion.
Time and time again he stood on foreign soil and apologized for our nation. And to this day it remains unclear whether he believes the United States is the most exceptional nation on Earth.
And how can we forget what Miss Hillary said?
"To just be grossly generalistic, you can put half of Trump supporters into what I call the 'basket of deplorables. Right? Racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamophobic, you name it."
The only thing deplorable was Hillary Clinton's basket of grossly generalistic comments.
"And unfortunately, there are people like that and he has lifted them up," she went on to say. "He has given voice to their websites that used to only have 11,000 people, now have 11 million. He tweets and retweets offensive, hateful, mean-spirited rhetoric."
Her campaign portrayed conservative Catholicism as a “bastardization of the faith” and seemed to imply that Evangelicals are a bunch of impoverished country bumpkins.
We were mocked by Hollywood and dismissed by academics. We were marginalized by the media – bullied and belittled by sex and gender revolutionaries.
But all that changed on Election Day – when Donald Trump became a champion for the Silent Majority. He gave us a voice. And now the Silent Majority is silent no more.
We the People have decided that it’s time to drain the swamp.
It’s time to restore traditional values. It’s time to protect the Constitution. It’s time to defend our sovereignty. It’s time to save unborn babies.
It’s time to stand up for the American working man (and woman) and bring jobs back from China and Mexico. It’s time to eradicate the scourge of ObamaCare.
And that, my friends, is the top story of 2016.
Todd Starnes is host of Fox News & Commentary, heard on hundreds of radio stations. His latest book is “The Deplorables’ Guide to Making America Great Again.” Follow Todd on Twitter @ToddStarnes and find him on Facebook.
I’ve lived in New York City for more than a decade now – and I’ve seen firsthand the contempt for country folks like my father – people from rural America.
Click here to pre-order Todd’s new book, “The Deplorables’ Guide to Making America Great Again”!
As I write in my new book, “The Deplorables’ Guide to Making America Great Again,” I feel like a "Duck Dynasty" guy living in a "Modern Family" world – where right is wrong, wrong is right – it’s as if our values have been turned upside down.
President Obama called us "bitter." He said we were the kinds of people who cling to guns and religion.
Time and time again he stood on foreign soil and apologized for our nation. And to this day it remains unclear whether he believes the United States is the most exceptional nation on Earth.
And how can we forget what Miss Hillary said?
"To just be grossly generalistic, you can put half of Trump supporters into what I call the 'basket of deplorables. Right? Racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamophobic, you name it."
The only thing deplorable was Hillary Clinton's basket of grossly generalistic comments.
"And unfortunately, there are people like that and he has lifted them up," she went on to say. "He has given voice to their websites that used to only have 11,000 people, now have 11 million. He tweets and retweets offensive, hateful, mean-spirited rhetoric."
Her campaign portrayed conservative Catholicism as a “bastardization of the faith” and seemed to imply that Evangelicals are a bunch of impoverished country bumpkins.
We were mocked by Hollywood and dismissed by academics. We were marginalized by the media – bullied and belittled by sex and gender revolutionaries.
But all that changed on Election Day – when Donald Trump became a champion for the Silent Majority. He gave us a voice. And now the Silent Majority is silent no more.
We the People have decided that it’s time to drain the swamp.
It’s time to restore traditional values. It’s time to protect the Constitution. It’s time to defend our sovereignty. It’s time to save unborn babies.
It’s time to stand up for the American working man (and woman) and bring jobs back from China and Mexico. It’s time to eradicate the scourge of ObamaCare.
And that, my friends, is the top story of 2016.
Todd Starnes is host of Fox News & Commentary, heard on hundreds of radio stations. His latest book is “The Deplorables’ Guide to Making America Great Again.” Follow Todd on Twitter @ToddStarnes and find him on Facebook.
North Carolina gov.-elect sues over law stripping his powers
North Carolina's incoming Democratic governor sued Friday over a new law passed by Republican legislators to limit his powers as he prepares to take office.
In his lawsuit, Gov.-elect Roy Cooper asks a Wake County judge to block a law that ends the control governors exert over statewide and county election boards from taking effect Sunday, when he'll be sworn in.
The lawsuit says the Republican-led legislature's radical changes two weeks ago to the administration of election laws are unconstitutional because they violate separation of powers.
The changes convert the state elections board from one that governors have controlled into a bipartisan body with equal numbers of Republicans and Democrats. County election boards would have two members from each party, rather than the current three members with a majority from the governor's party.
On Friday afternoon, a judge was hearing arguments by lawyers representing Cooper who are seeking an emergency ruling to halt the law from taking effect.
In a statement, Cooper argued that the new law could create longer lines at polling places, less early voting and general difficulty for voters.
"This complex new law passed in just two days by the Republican legislature is unconstitutional and anything but bipartisan," he said. "A tie on a partisan vote would accomplish what many Republicans want: making it harder for North Carolinians to vote."
But the Republican leader in the state Senate, Phil Berger, released a statement saying Cooper was trying to preserve his own power, not do what's best for voters.
"Given the recent weeks-long uncertainty surrounding his own election, the governor-elect should understand better than anyone why North Carolinians deserve a system they can trust will settle election outcomes fairly and without the taint of partisanship," he said.
Cooper's lawsuit makes good on his previous threats to take Republicans to court over laws passed during two December special sessions. Another of the laws requires Cooper's Cabinet choices to be confirmed by legislators. The state constitution gives the Senate the ability to "advise and consent" to the governor's appointees by a majority vote, but that provision hadn't been used in at least several decades.
Cooper won the November election against outgoing Republican Gov. Pat McCrory by about 10,000 votes. The transition was made bumpier by a protracted debate over vote-counting. McCrory didn't concede until a month after the election.
Obama's full-blown, year-end temper tantrum
Let’s be honest: President Obama is throwing a good old-fashioned foot-stomping world class temper tantrum. He is just beside himself that the stupid American voter elected Donald Trump. How could the country willfully dismiss the erudite recommendation of nearly every news organization in the nation – as well as Obama’s personal plea that not electing Hillary would be a personal insult to him? How could young people not respond to Obama’s call to “bend the arc of history in a better direction?” It is beyond comprehension.
But it happened, and Obama is having an extremely difficult time dealing with what may be his first-ever serious setback. This is a man described by his closest advisor, Valerie Jarrett, as “just too talented to do what ordinary people do.” More flattering, Jarrett noted that “I think Barack knew that he had God-given talents that were extraordinary. He knows exactly how smart he is. …” He is so smart, said Jarrett, that “he’s been bored to death his whole life.”
Very few people surround themselves with people capable of such uncompromising adoration. It isn’t healthy. But Obama is different. He has been told over and over – even by the Nobel Committee that awarded him their coveted Peace Prize on spec– that he is extraordinary. So when a man like The Donald bests him, a man Obama clearly considers a joke, he is undone.
That is certainly the way he is behaving. Not for Obama the normal gracious withdrawal into political stasis; no, he wants to prove in these waning weeks of his presidency that he was right all along. That his agenda is what The People want, even if they don’t know it. That putting America’s valuable natural resources permanently off limits is the correct thing to do, because only Obama can see the future. That taking over vast swatches of the west is in the best interests of the reluctant residents there, because only Obama will protect our environment. That publicly confronting Russia for cyber misbehavior after years of looking the other way is called for, even if it complicates diplomacy in a number of theaters. Because Obama knows best.
He also knows what is best for Israelis. Upending long-standing tradition, he has allowed our only true ally – and the only democracy -- in the Middle East to be further isolated and compromised, in the interests, we are told, of seeking a meaningful peace. The reality is that Obama fully expected that by dint of his winning personality, superior insight and sympathy for the Muslim people, to conquer the divides in that region.
He was shocked that his Cairo speech did not cause the waters to part, and the wounds to heal. And he is angry that, in his mind, Bibi Netanyahu has stood between him and fulfilling this key legacy achievement. As he revealed in 2010 to an interviewer with Time magazine, “[Getting peace in the Middle East] is just really hard”; notably, this came as a surprise.
Make no mistake: we do need to rein in Russian misbehavior. Putin is a dangerous adversary and should never have been allowed out of the penalty box inflicted by drooping oil prices. But, Obama gave him running room by putting him in charge of the Syrian debacle and making him a key figure in the Iran nuke deal. So important were those quests to Obama that our president chose to ignore Moscow’s serial aggressions and misbehavior. Indeed, after the conclusion of the Iran accord, Obama called Putin to thank him for his help. Is it any wonder that an emboldened Putin felt he could act out his hostility to Hillary Clinton?
Obama is having a difficult time passing the baton, because he thinks the baton should be his in perpetuity. Unlike most of his predecessors, Obama intends to stay involved in his party’s politics, and to continue living in the nation’s capital, better to keep his finger on the pulse. Whether Democrats want him involved, since after eight years of his leadership the party’s pulse is barely discernible, remains to be seen.
Meanwhile, Vladimir Putin has once again outfoxed President Obama. His response to Obama’s eviction of 35 diplomats and other grave-sounding but ultimately unimportant retaliatory measures? Instead of engaging in traditional diplomatic tit for tat, the Russian leader has invited the children of U.S. diplomats to the Kremlin for a holiday party. Who looks like the adult in the room?
Trump praises Putin over response to US sanctions, calls him 'very smart'
President-elect Donald Trump took to Twitter Friday to praise Russian President Vladimir Putin for not retaliating against new penalties imposed by the Obama administration for Russia's alleged interference in the U.S. election – going so far as to call Putin “very smart.”
“Great move on delay (by V. Putin) - I always knew he was very smart!” Trump tweeted.
The tweet comes after Putin announced earlier in the day that he would not kick out American diplomats despite President Obama’s announcement Thursday that his administration will expel 35 Russian intelligence operatives and close down two Russian compounds in Maryland and New York, among other actions.
Trump later sent another tweet that criticized two major networks while prasing Fox News.
While the Russian premier condemned the sanctions imposed on his country, calling them “unfriendly,” he said he would not retaliate and was instead looking to rebuild Russian-U.S. relations with the incoming Trump administration.
"We will not expel anyone. We will not prevent their families and children from using their traditional leisure sites during the New Year's holidays. Moreover, I invite all children of U.S. diplomats accredited in Russia to the New Year and Christmas children's parties in the Kremlin," Putin added.
Trump has taken heat for not criticizing Putin, and for doubting U.S. intelligence suggesting the Russians interfered in the election to sway the vote Trump’s way. Trump called for the U.S ”to move on to bigger and better things” in a statement Thursday in response to the Obama sanctions.
The restrained response from Putin was a marked contrast from noises from the Kremlin earlier Friday, when Putin’s deputies pushed for a stronger response. Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov called for Russia to kick out a group of U.S. diplomats, and suggested blocking the Americans from using their summer retreat on the outskirts of Moscow and a warehouse south of Moscow. Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev charged earlier in the day that the outgoing administration has become immersed in "anti-Russian death throes."
Trump has said he is keeping an open mind on the issue, and will meet with leaders in the intelligence community next week in order to be updated on the issue.
Obama also announced Thursday that the U.S. had sanctioned the GRU and the FSB -- two of Russia's intelligence services as well as other entities and individuals associated with the GRU. The cybersecurity firm hired by the Democratic National Committee to investigate the hack of its emails earlier this year concluded the hacking came from the Fancy Bear group, believed to be affiliated with the GRU, Russia's military intelligence agency.
Friday, December 30, 2016
NYPD to allow Sikh officers to wear turbans and beards while on duty
In a gesture of goodwill to the city’s burgeoning Sikh population, the New York City Police Department will soon allow officers who are members of the religion to wear blue turbans and beards while on duty.
The announcement was made by NYPD Commissioner James O'Neill on Wednesday shortly after the police academy’s graduation ceremony at Madison Square Garden.
"We're making this change to make sure that we allow everybody in New York City that wants to apply and have the opportunity to work for the greatest police department in the nation," O’Neill told the media as he was flanked by NYPD officers wearing blue turbans with badges on them.
Sikh officers will now be permitted to wear turbans in place of the traditional police cap and grow beards up to a half-inch long for religious reasons, provided that they first get approval from a commanding officer. The turbans also must be navy blue and have the NYPD insignia attached.
FILE
- In this Wednesday, Dec. 28, 2016 file photo, NYPD Commissioner James
O'Neill speaks to new graduates of the Police Academy during their
graduation ceremony in New York. The New York Police Department is now
allowing Sikh (seek) officers to wear turbans in place of the
traditional police cap and grow beards up to a half-inch long for
religious reasons. O'Neill announced the new rules that affect all
religious members on Wednesday following a graduation ceremony for new
police recruits. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)
(Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)
"I thought it was about time that we did that," O’Neill told DNA Info. "Hopefully, with this change in policy, we're going to be able to get more people to apply."
O’Neill added that there are about 160 Sikhs serving in the police department.
If the NYPD officially enacts the policy, it will join a small group of law enforcement agencies that permit their ranks to wear a beard and turban, which includes police departments in Washington D.C. and Riverside, California as well as the United States Army. Since the 1990s, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police have permitted beards and turbans and earlier this year allowed Muslim “Mounties” to wear a hijab.
Members of the Sikh Coalition – a group that aims to protect Sikh’s religious freedoms in the U.S. – said that until a written policy is implemented it’s difficult to weigh in on the merits of the change and the impact it will have on the community. The group did, however, say that O’Neill’s words sent “a powerful message” to the rest of the country.
"The NYPD's refusal to hire turbaned and bearded Sikhs allows other employers to justify refusing to hire Sikhs,” Harsimran Kaur, the Sikh Coalition’s Legal Director, said in a statement sent to FoxNews.com. “If the NYPD's new policy indeed allows for Sikhs to maintain unshorn beards and turbans, that sends a powerful message to the rest of America that Sikhs are an important part of our nation's fabric."
Sikh men march down Broadway during the annual Sikh Day parade in New
York, April 19, 2003. The Sikh religion has a following of over 20
million people worldwide and is ranked as the worlds 5th largest
religion. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton
SS/HB - RTRM3CF
While the majority of the world's 30 million Sikhs live in India, the Sikh Coalition estimates that there are between 500,000 and 1 million members of the religious group living in the U.S., with the majority residing in the tri-state area around New York City.
"This has been a careful process that we've been working with the Sikh officers to try to make sure we get this done," O'Neill said of the NYPD’s new policy. "We want to make the NYPD as diverse as possible and I think this is going to go a long way to help us with that."
The NYPD will offer an entrance exam to the police academy in January – the first time the nation’s largest police force has done so in about a year and a half.
Conway says Trump will have a 'much stronger relationship with Israel'
President-elect Donald Trump's incoming counselor said Thursday that Trump “does believe it’s time to move on and look forward to the next administration.”
In an interview on Fox News' "Hannity," Kellyanne Conway discussed the US sanctions imposed on Russia. Russia has responded to the sanctions by threatening to retaliate and has said the move was done to hurt the incoming administration.
“We have complicated relations with Russia. We have for decades as the United States,” Conway said. “President-elect has made it clear that he is willing to work with countries who want to work on big solutions together.”
Conway also discussed the relationship between the US and Israel saying, “You will see President Trump having much stronger relationship with Israel.”
Conway said Israel is America’s greatest friend and that “we want our friends in Israel to know that help is on the way.”
“You see this flurry of activity by a tough President Obama as he exits the office,” Conway said. “You can’t put daylight between the US and Israel.”
“We do wonder about the rush to do all these things the next couple of weeks by the Obama administration,” Conway added.
“January 20th will be here quickly and it’s very important to all of us,” Conway said of the Trump administration taking office. “I think it’s important to America that you see that peaceful transition of power from administration to administration. “
Trump responds to sanctions against Russia, says it's time to 'move on'
President-elect Donald Trump said Thursday “it’s time for our country to move on to bigger and better things” after the Obama administration issued sanctions against Russia for its alleged 2016 election hacking.
“It's time for our country to move on to bigger and better things,” Trump said in a written response released four hours after the announcement. “Nevertheless, in the interest of our country and its great people, I will meet with leaders of the intelligence community next week in order to be updated on the facts of this situation."
The Obama administration announced sanctions against Russia’s intelligence services, while ejecting dozens of intelligence operatives from the U.S. as part of a response to what it says are efforts by Moscow to influence the election.
Using an executive order, President Obama sanctioned the GRU and the FSB -- two of Russia's intelligence services as well as other entities and individuals associated with the GRU. The cybersecurity firm hired by the Democratic National Committee to investigate the hack of its emails earlier this year concluded the hacking came from the Fancy Bear group, believed to be affiliated with the GRU, Russia's military intelligence agency.
In addition to the sanctions, the State Department has declared 35 Russian intelligence operatives "persona non grata" in the U.S., giving them 72 hours to leave, and is shutting down two Russian compounds in Maryland and New York.
The Maryland property is a 45-acre property at Pioneer Point, and was purchased by the Soviet government in 1972.
The New York property is on Long Island and is 14 acres and was purchased by the Soviet government in 1954.
Russian President Vladimir Putin's spokesman said in response to the announcement that Moscow will consider retaliatory measures.
"We think that such steps by a U.S. administration that has three weeks left to work are aimed at two things: to further harm Russian-American ties, which are at a low point as it is, as well as, obviously, to deal a blow to the foreign policy plans of the incoming administration of the president-elect," Dmitry Peskov told reporters in Moscow.
The Russian Embassy in the UK took a different approach, tweeting out a picture of a lame duck and blasting what it called "Cold War deja vu."
The Treasury Secretary meanwhile has named two individuals -- Evgeniy Mikhailovich Bogachev and Aleksey Alekseyevich Belan -- it says were involved in "malicious cyber-enabled activities."
"These actions follow repeated private and public warnings that we have issued to the Russian government, and are a necessary and appropriate response to efforts to harm U.S. interests in violation of established international norms of behavior," Obama said in a statement.
Obama also announced that the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI will release declassified information on Russian cyberactivity to help "identify, detect and Russia's global campaign of malicious cyber activities."
Obama also said that the administration will be providing a report to Congress "in the coming days" about Russian attempts to interfere in the election, as well as previous election cycles.
The president also hinted that his administration intends to do more to hold Russia accountable.
"These actions are not the sum total of our response to Russia's aggressive activities," Obama said. "We will continue to take a variety of actions at a time and place of our choosing, some of which will not be publicized."
U.S. intelligence services have concluded that the Russians interfered in the election to try and help President-elect Donald Trump win. Trump has dismissed the conclusions.
However, House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis. welcomed the move in a statement.
"Russia does not share America's interests. In fact, it has consistently sought to undermine them, sowing dangerous instability around the world. While today's action by the administration is overdue, it is an appropriate way to end eight years of failed policy with Russia," Ryan said.
Incoming Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-NY., also praised the move in a statement late Thursday.
House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Michael McCaul, R-TX., called Obama's actions "long overdue," while House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes said he's been "urging" Obama for years to take action and that this "indecision and delay" explains why "American's influence has collapsed."
Putin spokesman says Russia weighs retaliation after sanctions
The spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday Moscow will consider retaliatory measures following the new round of U.S. sanctions put in place by President Obama.
Russia also continued to deny accusations by the U.S. that it hacked and stole emails in order to aide in Trump’s win. Trump commented on the matter saying the U.S. should move on. Trump is planning on meeting with U.S. intelligence leaders next week to learn more.
Dmitry Peskov told reporters in Moscow that the measures signal Obama’s “unpredictable” and “aggressive foreign policy.”
The spokesman added that Putin would order “appropriate” retaliation for the sanctions.
"We think that such steps by a U.S. administration that has three weeks left to work are aimed at two things: to further harm Russian-American ties, which are at a low point as it is, as well as, obviously, to deal a blow to the foreign policy plans of the incoming administration of the president-elect," Peskov said.
Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev took to Twitter to call out the new round of U.S. sanctions against his country, saying the Obama administration is “ending its term in an anti-Russia agony.”
The Obama administration announced sanctions against Russia’s intelligence services, while ejecting dozens of intelligence operatives from the U.S., as part of a response to what it says are efforts by Moscow to influence the 2016 presidential election.
Thursday, December 29, 2016
Trump assures Israel, blasts Obama over 'roadblocks'
President-elect Donald Trump blasted President Obama on Wednesday over his administration’s treatment of Israel, accusing him of making “inflammatory” statements and putting up “roadblocks” that are hampering the transition.
The incoming president took to Twitter to assure Israel that his administration will bring a new approach, in advance of a speech on the Middle East peace process by Secretary of State John Kerry. The already-turbulent relationship between the Obama and Benjamin Netanyahu governments has lurched into its rockiest stretch yet in the final days of the Obama administration, after the U.S. abstained on an anti-settlement resolution before the U.N. Security Council, allowing it to pass.
Trump tweeted: “We cannot continue to let Israel be treated with such total disdain and disrespect.”
And in a swipe at the outgoing president after a period of relative peace between the two, he wrote, “Thought it was going to be a smooth transition - NOT!”
The Israeli government has turned to President-elect Trump’s team for support in recent days, openly saying they look forward to working with the next president amid fraying ties with the outgoing administration.
Netanyahu has described the U.S. abstention that allowed the U.N. resolution to pass as an “ambush,” and his government has gone on to accuse the U.S. of playing a hand in orchestrating the vote.
In the hours before Kerry’s speech, the Netanyahu government took another shot at the U.S., with Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan calling Kerry’s speech a “pathetic step.”
He told Israel Army Radio that “Kerry's intention is to chain President-elect Trump."
The White House has pushed back on claims that the Obama administration helped craft and push the resolution – and on Wednesday morning, denied another report in Egyptian media claiming Kerry and National Security Adviser Susan Rice discussed the U.N. resolution with a top Palestinian official nearly two weeks before Friday’s Security Council vote.
Ned Price, spokesman for the U.S. National Security Council, called the reports a “fabrication” and said the “meeting never occurred.”
The State Department’s own website reflects that Kerry was scheduled for a meeting with the Palestinian official at the State Department on Dec. 12, around the time of the reported discussions. The official website, however, offers no details on what was discussed.
Hispanic affairs adviser to 3 presidents has high hopes for Trump
As Donald Trump’s campaign sought to court minority voters amid accusations from the left that his base lacked diversity, little did he know one of the earliest minority trailblazers in the White House was firmly in his corner.
Decades removed from West Wing meetings, private jets and consultations with Latin American politicians, Fernando De Baca, 78, plastered his hometown of Albuquerque with Trump signs and helped publicize rallies in the Democratic stronghold of New Mexico.
Once someone who walked the halls of the White House as a Hispanic Affairs adviser to presidents Nixon, Ford and Reagan, De Baca is excited these days just to snag tickets to Trump’s inauguration -- and view it from the outside.
“Trump reminds me of Ronald Reagan,” De Baca told FoxNews.com. “[My wife and I] supported Trump from the day he announced. … We believed in him, believed that he had the right message.”
De Baca, who led the newly created Office of Hispanic Affairs under Gerald Ford and served in multiple Republican administrations, offers a unique perspective. Looking forward, in an interview with FoxNews.com, he cut against the narrative that Trump’s election is a step backward for minorities and voiced optimism for the future – while lamenting the state of race relations under President Obama.
He suggested part of the problem has been identity politics.
“It’s a totally different world we live in today compared to when I was advocating,” De Baca said. “People were stable, hard-working and were Americans first and Hispanics second.”
A time capsule of sorts, De Baca is part of a dwindling group of Cold War White House advisers who worked directly with American presidents – in his case, at a time when the country was working to alleviate racial strife and launch some of the first government programs to help blacks and Hispanics in the workforce.
But De Baca said years of leftist policies promoting victimization and entitlement over positive messages of equality have caused America to regress.
Road to Washington
It was 1968 and De Baca had just returned from serving in the Vietnam War as a major in Army special intelligence. He was tapped to head New Mexico’s Department of Motor Vehicles. After two years on the job, he met Nixon advisers who recruited him for the president’s new “16 Point Program for Spanish Speaking Americans” – an effort to identify and recruit more Hispanics for federal jobs.
“I was introduced as the head of the program and I met President Nixon for the first time,” De Baca said. “He said, ‘Well, I’ve announced this program and you’ve been selected to head it up and I’m serious about bringing in more Hispanics to the federal government. They must be qualified.’”
Hispanic leaders meet with President Ford; De Baca is seated next to Ford.
(Courtesy of Fernando De Baca)
De Baca was later promoted again to special assistant to the president for Domestic Policy. The day he was to report: Aug. 9, 1974, which later became the day Nixon resigned and left office.
“I report in the morning only to be ushered over to the south lawn where Nixon was departing and I saw him board the Air Force One helicopter,” De Baca said. “I had been following the news and knew his departure was imminent. I felt really bad about it, just as a human being, because he got embroiled in Watergate and the cover-up.”
De Baca continued on under Ford, working with some of the most famous figures in political history.
“The minute I reported in, I had to meet with the chief of staff Alexander Haig – he was pretty domineering figure. He ran a real tight ship,” De Baca recalled. He also remembered sharing an office with Alan Greenspan, who was writing speeches and worked as an economic adviser, and meeting Secretary of State Henry Kissinger “who was very nice and a bit reserved.”
Soon, De Baca was handling any issue that arose with the Hispanic community. One of his biggest tasks was traveling to military bases around the world ensuring Hispanics were properly represented.
When the Ford presidency ended and Jimmy Carter entered the White House, De Baca returned to New Mexico. He had just married another New Mexico native who was in Washington D.C. working at Jobs for Progress, a Hispanic nonprofit advocacy group.
De Baca had long and strenuous hours, so his wife Cecilia did not regret leaving Washington.
“He would come home at 11 at night and was always up and out by 7:30,” she said. “He lived it. In that era, it was public service. You give your life. You believe in it. It’s a calling.”
But when Ronald Reagan entered the White House in 1981, De Baca once again was called upon as a senior adviser. The tone had switched from big government to pumping up the private sector and Reagan wanted De Baca to ensure the role of Hispanics in manufacturing.
Fernando De Baca, center, is shown meeting with Ford's Chief of Staff Donald Rumsfeld and civil rights leaders.
(Courtesy of Fernando De Baca)
He offers one critique of the late president, in hindsight -- over his decision to grant amnesty to 3 million illegal immigrants. What was meant as a one-time solution that would culminate with strong border control has instead become a license for millions more to enter the country illegally with little repercussion, De Baca said.
“He probably should never have done what he did,” De Baca said. “I think [Reagan] was dreaming. There was no enforcement. Then you have Obama coming in with protecting them instead of stopping them at the border. ... He has turned out to be a real sad state of affairs.”
‘Fortitude and Strength’
After his decades of working to advance fellow Hispanics in the workforce, De Baca looks upon current racial strife in America and says his former bosses would be disappointed. Years of leftist policies, he said, have fostered a type of anti-patriotism with millions of school children being taught an abbreviated version of history that leaves out core values.
He voiced concern that welfare policies are becoming the draw for immigrants to America, rather than a desire to “work” and “assimilate” here.
The De Bacas voiced optimism, though, for the Trump administration.
While critics have described the incoming president’s calls for deporting criminal illegal immigrants and building a border wall as intolerant, and his rhetoric as xenophobic, Mr. De Baca said Trump has the “fortitude and strength to face this [immigration] issue head on.”
“We are a country, we’ve got to have borders,” he said. “The law is the law. I fought for that flag in actual combat. … And it’s worth it because our flag is still standing for our country.”
TX Rep Drafting Bill to Defund UN: 'They Don't Need Our Money to Be Anti-Semitic'
Texas Congressman Louie Gohmert (R) told Kimberly Guilfoyle he is drafting a bill that will halt all US funds to the United Nations until they rescind a resolution condemning Israeli settlements.
Gohmert said his bill will also prevent American money from assisting any foreign government that recognizes Palestine as an independent state.
People have questioned Gohmert as to whether the UN would ever consider nullifying the resolution, he said.
"Fine. They don't need our help to be anti-Semitic," Gohmert said.
He added that a trend within the Obama administration is to support "bullies over victims", citing their reaction to the resolution and eagerness to make a deal with Iran.
Israel is "the only place Muslims have complete freedom in the Middle East," he remarked.
Huckabee: Defund UN; Use Money to Help US Veterans
Mike Huckabee suggested, in the aftermath of the United Nations resolution condemning Israeli settlements, that the United States pull its portion of the international body's funding.
He said the hundreds of millions to billions of dollars could be better allocated to serve American veterans.
Eric Bolling reported that United States funds account for 22 percent or about $600 million of the UN's operating budget, while we have spent as much as multiple billions of dollars on peacekeeping and other UN initiatives.
"We should eliminate it," Huckabee said of the UN's presence in the federal budget.
We get "zero benefits" and are often "embarrassed by its actions," he said.
Bolling remarked that the land the UN's complex sits along First Avenue in Manhattan's Murray Hill neighborhood would be prime real estate for the government to sell.
Wednesday, December 28, 2016
UN resolution is one of dozens of rebukes against Israel in 2016
The latest United Nations Security Council vote, which is not just about Israeli settlements but also challenges Israel’s claim to parts of the Old City of Jerusalem among other sites sacred to Jews, Christians and Muslims, is just one of dozens of anti-Israel measures passed by the world body in 2016.
ISRAEL SUGGESTS WASHINGTON SHOULD CONSIDER CUTTING FUNDS TO UNITED NATIONS AFTER SECURITY COUNCIL VOTE
The U.N. General Assembly adopted 20 anti-Israel resolutions this year, while passing just four for the rest of the world – one for North Korea, one for Syria, one for Iran and one for Russia.
A variety of U.N. agencies singled out Israel for rebuke.
ISRAEL BRACES FOR TENSIONS AS KERRY PLANS MAJOR SPEECH
The World Health Organization condemned Israel as the world’s only violator of “mental, physical and environmental health.”
U.N. Women chastised Israel as the world’s only violator of women’s rights making no mention of misogynistic practices in Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran and other societies oppressing women.
UNESCO, which is charged with safeguarding World Heritage sites and history, adopted a resolution condemning Israel for engaging in aggressive actions in East Jerusalem, referring to the holiest site in Judaism, the Temple Mount and Western Wall, solely by Islamic names Haram al-Sharif, Al Aqsa Mosque, and Buraq Wall Plaza, negating thousands of years of Jewish and Christian heritage. The Buraq is the winged horse that, according to Islamic tradition, the Prophet Muhammed rode during the Night of Ascension to heaven.
Israel captured East Jerusalem, including the Old City of Jerusalem, from Jordan in the 1967 Israel-Arab Six-Day War. Israel also captured the West Bank from Jordan, which includes Bethlehem and other Biblical sites.
The United States broke with past practice last week and allowed the Security Council to condemn Israeli settlements in the West Bank and east Jerusalem as a "flagrant violation" of international law.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the resolution "absurd." A tweet from the prime minister's account Tuesday read: "The nations of the world respect strong countries that stand up for themselves and do not respect weak countries that bow their heads."
"The (resolution) proves that the world rejects the settlements, as they are illegal," President Mahmoud Abbas said early Tuesday in his first public remarks since the U.N. vote.
Jackie Evancho's music sales boom after announcing inauguration performance
While some singers have pulled out of performing at President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration, Jackie Evancho isn't backing down.
The 2010 "America's Got Talent" runner-up says that while she's been criticized for agreeing to sing the National Anthem at the inauguration, she is choosing to ignore the haters.
"My family is kind of a big target. I have a transgender sister and so a lot of hate goes towards us," Evancho told People. "But I also get a lot of love. So, we pay most attention to that. Sometimes we get really annoyed with the hate, everyone does, we have to admit it but we just ignore it."
While some have been critical of Evancho's upcoming performance, a lot of fans have shown their support by buying the singer's music.
Her 2011 album "Dream With Me" and her 2010 "O Holy Night" are sitting at number two on the Billboard charts.
In addition to Evancho, the Radio City Rockettes and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir are set to perform.
'You cannot eat here': Hawaii café riles residents with ban on Trump voters
Honolulu’s Café 8 ½ gets rave reviews on Yelp for its “Radiatore Verde” and “Italian stir fry,” among other popular dishes at the eclectic mom-and-pop restaurant – but the response to its new 'policy' barring pro-Trump patrons has been decidedly more mixed.
A bright yellow, handmade sign posted on the restaurant's front glass door declares: “If you voted for Trump you cannot eat here! No Nazis.”
A photo of the sign was shared with FoxNews.com. One also is proudly posted on the café’s Facebook page, and was “liked” by some 40 people.
“…The next time you're in Honolulu, eat lunch here, not only are they on the right side of things, the food is delicious and reasonable,” one Facebook user wrote next to the photo.
Others aren’t so charmed.
Honolulu resident and Donald Trump voter Susan Roberts told FoxNews.com she found the sign in “extreme poor taste.”
“It's childish and very unprofessional,” she said in an email. “… The restaurant owner doesn't have to worry ... I will not be stepping foot in that establishment.”
Willes Lee, former chairman of the Hawaii Republican Party and now president of National Federation of Republican Assemblies, told FoxNews.com the sign is discriminatory, and harkens back to “racist and hate-filled” days before statehood.
“Remember when Filipinos couldn't go in certain places, or Japanese wouldn't be allowed [in] many homes? And, it didn't matter who they voted for,” said Lee, who is of Japanese descent.
“People should be able to get food without hearing a political message,” one apparent former customer wrote on Yelp. “I will never go back.”
According to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, the café was founded by Robert Warner, a former hair stylist for Vidal Sassoon in San Francisco and former restaurateur in Seattle, along with his wife Jali.
Reached for comment Tuesday, Jali downplayed the sign's supposed ban. She told FoxNews.com the restaurant is not actually asking customers whether they voted for President-elect Trump, and said even if they see a customer with a Trump shirt, “we don’t put anything different [in] your food.”
“Robert just wants to express how much he doesn’t like Trump,” Jali said. “If people take it personally or it hurts them, we cannot help. That’s why we say they have [a] choice if they want to come or not come. We don’t force them.”
She said three people called to complain about the sign when it first went up, “that’s it.”
“We don’t want to create trouble,” Jali said. “There is enough trouble in the world.”
While Jali is soft-spoken, Warner, some customers note, is known to channel the “soup Nazi” persona of New York City and “Seinfeld” fame -- “throwing pots and pans,” “telling off customers,” and “hanging not-so-friendly reminders on butcher paper for his customers to read.”
But another Yelp reviewer took issue with the attitude and the sign, writing: “It was funny on Seinfeld, but this place can rot away. Stay away. Hawaii ain't like this. There's a lot of better places on the island than to have deal with extra crap like this.”
Hawaii overwhelmingly supported Hillary Clinton during the Nov. 8 election, and historically has supported Democrats in local and national races. In fact, just six Republicans are in the 51-member House, and the 25-member Senate is GOP-free.
Now that the election is over, however, Lee said most residents want to just get on with their lives.
“The [restaurant] owners might want to make a better sign,” he said, “since Trump will undoubtedly be in office for eight years.”
San Francisco grapples with growing crime, blight after years of liberal policies
San Francisco doubles down on sanctuary status |
After 20 years of envelope-pushing changes to grow government and ease law enforcement, the once-shining City by the Bay has turned into a place where:
- Property crime runs amok
- An online map is needed to track human feces on city streets
- Discarded syringes are common sightings
- Public urination is so widespread it has damaged subway elevators and escalators, building walls and power poles
San Francisco’s lax attitude is nothing new and has served as a beacon for the American counter-culture dating back to the Beat Generation. But the city’s embrace decades ago of free love and drugs has morphed into something else.
Depending which list you read, San Francisco has the dubious honor of being at or near the top of numerous national surveys tracking homelessness, the cost of housing and other issues. One distinction is not disputed: it has the most property crime in the nation, according to the FBI. The city also has crafted defiant sanctuary city policies and is preparing to battle the incoming Trump administration on the issue.
And in the media, San Francisco’s brand has taken hits, with headlines such as “Why San Francisco is the Worst Place Ever,” “34 percent of Bay Area Residents are Ready to Leave,” and “Complaints of Syringes and Feces Rise Dramatically in SF.”
Local officials defend their ‘sanctuary’ policies as critical for the thousands of undocumented people who live there. And they contend the city as a whole, with its iconic landmarks and top-notch dining and steep surreal streetscapes shrouded in fog, has not lost its luster.
“San Francisco is a world-class city with tremendous natural beauty and diverse progressive residents,” said Democratic state Rep. David Chiu, of San Francisco. “We value inclusiveness and innovation, which is why so many social justice movements and tech companies have started here. We must be doing something right when 25 million visitors came last year and our economy is thriving.”
Chiu admitted the city faces challenges, which are being addressed with a $300 million bond measure for affordable housing and hundreds of millions more spent to combat homelessness.
Housing indeed represents one of the biggest challenges.
In an election year where Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump both highlighted the gulf between haves and have nots, San Francisco ironically captures that divide better than perhaps any city.
It is among the wealthiest places in America, where median home value and yearly income are $1.1 million and $84,160, respectively. In other words, few can afford to live there.
This bubble dates back years.
California as a whole has long put a premium on clean air, open space and modern buildings. But in 1996, San Francisco took a hard left turn with the mayoral election of former state speaker Willie Brown. His ensuing policies increased government, taxation and building regulations while shying away from creating more affordable housing. Brown worked with developer lobbyists he knew from his legislator days to demolish single-room occupancy hotels and other low-income homes, making room for well-heeled dot com workers.
“If you don't make $50,000 a year in San Francisco, then you shouldn't live here,” he reportedly said on television. When he was challenged on this by Ariana Huffington, Brown remarked that the statement was untrue “since San Francisco will always need waiters and waitresses.”
Within three years, Brown had increased the city budget by $1 billion, or 33 percent. This included new programs, 4,000 new employees, and pay raises to make the existing city workers the highest paid in the state.
He then did away with ordinances against sleeping in public and blocking sidewalks, while counterpart Rudy Giuliani was doing the opposite in a drive that ultimately reversed New York City’s growing crime and blight.
San Francisco District Attorney Terence Hallinan -- who had taught Marxist seminars and helped run the Communist club at UC Berkeley, an investigation by City Journal Magazine showed – also refused to prosecute “victimless” crimes involving drugs and prostitution, saying his focus was on violent crime. The DA’s resistance to taking a hard line against drugs prompted dealers to flood into the city from across the nation, City Journal reported.
Years later, the mindset remains. Smash-and-grab thefts from locked cars are so common that car repair shops have waiting lists. The city does not want to install surveillance cameras, and its aversion to tougher law enforcement had until recently left its police force at 1980s staffing levels.
And there's this: “With a crime rate of 70 per one thousand residents, San Francisco has one of the highest crime rates in America compared to all communities of all sizes,” says the data collection site Neighborhood Scout. “One's chance of becoming a victim of either violent or property crime here is one in 14. Within California, more than 98% of the communities have a lower crime rate than San Francisco.”
On the hazardous waste side, the city is reporting an increase of syringes and feces sightings at 41 and 39 percent, respectively, over 2015 levels. That's just an average. The hardest-hit area reported a 77 percent rise in discarded syringes and a 140 percent rise in feces. The city spends about $2 million a year on urine and feces cleanup.
Despite $9 billion in tourism revenue and $4 billion in tax revenue last year, San Francisco faces a perennial budget deficit in the billions factoring in generous pension costs, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
The city, meanwhile, is proposing to spend $5 million on lawyers to defend illegal immigrants against Trump's push to deport criminals. This doesn't take into account the tax dollars Trump is threatening to withhold if the city doesn't comply.
“No one here wants to see the Trump administration rip apart our families and deport our neighbors,” Chiu said.
He says every San Francisco lawmaker is dedicated to solving its problems.
“It's unfair to just say this is a San Francisco thing,” Chiu said. “These are the same issues across the state and the nation.”
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