Las Vegas tragedy: Shock, resignation, a call for unity and instant politicization

I was on Fox Business for half an hour yesterday morning, before and after President Trump spoke about the horrifying massacre in Las Vegas.

This was the deadliest mass shooting in American history, but the aftermath, I told Stuart Varney, felt uncomfortably like the new normal. Our collective shock was mixed with a sense of resignation. The journalists, local officials, the public all know the drill. The only thing that seems to vary is the death toll.

What can really be said, at this point, about stopping the carnage? We can, and have, stepped up our efforts against terrorism. But what about these lone wolf attacks carried out by deranged individuals?
I don’t understand how the shooter got 10 rifles into the Mandalay Bay Resort. Do hotels now need metal detectors? But it’s impossible to protect every public space.
After the president spoke, I said that his remarks were eloquent. He called the shooting an act of pure evil, said the FBI is investigating, but also talked about unity and love and praying for the victims. He didn’t deviate into politics. “And though we feel such great anger at the senseless murder of our fellow citizens, it is our love that defines us today-- and always will, forever.”
For a leader who often wanders off message, Trump said what needed to be said—and not more.
I also said that with Hillary Clinton and other Democrats issuing messages about gun control, it was too bad they couldn’t wait one day as the country absorbs the grief of a mass murder in which the death toll wasn’t even final.
This was said out of sadness, but I got savaged online by people who think this is exactly when we should be debating gun control, hours after a brutal massacre.
Sensible gun control, I made clear, is a legitimate issue. All I said was that out of sensitivity toward the mourning families and a stunned country, waiting until the next morning before scoring political points seemed like a decent interval.
I have been consistent over the years in saying both the left and right should not instantaneously politicize these tragedies. Whether it’s Columbine or Virginia Tech or Aurora or Sandy Hook or Tucson or Washington Navy Yard or San Bernardino or Orlando or a Charleston church--or a Virginia baseball field where Steve Scalise nearly died but managed to return to Congress last week--there’s a knee-jerk tendency to blame the actions and rhetoric of the other ideological side.
I said the left shouldn’t be blamed just because the man who wounded Scalise and others hated Republicans. I said Sarah Palin shouldn’t be blamed because of a political map for the gunman who wounded Gabby Giffords and killed six others. Some of these mass killers are just crazy, deranged losers.
If Trump had used his speech to say we should loosen gun laws so more people can protect themselves, he would have been vilified for politicizing the tragedy.
By all means, let’s have the debate. The reality is that a Republican Congress is not going to approve stricter gun-control measures. Barack Obama couldn’t get a bill through even after the horror in Newtown.
In a CNN poll last year after the Orlando nightclub shooting, 92 percent said they favored expanded background checks, 87 percent supported a ban for felons or people with mental health problems, and 85 percent would ban people on federal watch lists from buying guns. But the power of the NRA changes the equation on Capitol Hill.
Asking politicians to briefly hold off before resuming the partisan warfare shouldn’t be controversial. But apparently it is.
Howard Kurtz is a Fox News analyst and the host of "MediaBuzz" (Sundays 11 a.m.). He is the author of five books and is based in Washington. Follow him at @HowardKurtz. Click here for more information on Howard Kurtz. 

Kathy Griffin Cartoons Like Hillary she just want go away :-)

Pres. Trump Praises Work of FEMA, Military in Puerto Rico

OAN Newsroom
President Trump commends the work of FEMA and the military in Puerto Rico and takes aim at those not recognizing the efforts.
In a series of tweets Sunday, the president said people are now starting to recognize the amazing work of both groups.
He said all buildings on the hurricane stricken island have been inspected for safety.
The president also tweeted only “fake news” media outlets and “politically motivated” people are not acknowledging the government’s work on the island.
He then thanked the governor of Puerto Rico and those working with first responders.

Steve Scalise's prayer after being shot: 'God, please don't let my daughter have to walk up the aisle alone'

House Majority Whip Steve Scalise thought of his daughter while he was bleeding out on a baseball field in Alexandria, Va. in June and prayed he'd be able to walk her down the aisle at her wedding.

"At that point, I just went into prayer. And it, it gave me a calmness. It was a weird calmness, while I'm hearing the gunfire. You know the first thing that came to mind?" Scalise said in an interview on "60 Minutes."

"I prayed, ‘God, please don't let my daughter have to walk up the aisle alone.' That was the first thing that came to mind."
Scalise said he wasn't originally sure how badly he was injured because his body quickly went into shock.
"I knew I was shot. Didn't know how bad it was. You know, in a weird way, your body kind of goes numb. You know, as bad as the wounds were-- and obviously, I know now how severe it was," he said. "At the time, I guess my body had been shutting down a lot of the real pain, and I was just thinking about, what was going on at the moment."

Kathy Griffin to Colin Kaepernick: 'Proud of you' for your activism

Has anyone forgotten this crap?

Former NFL Quarterback Colin Kaepernick (left) has a new fan as comedian Kathy Griffin (right) tweeted support for his activism on Sunday. (Gary A. Vasquez/USA TODAY Sports, Reuters/Joshua Roberts)

Comedian Kathy Griffin, who's started to push back against the controversy over her photo showing a fake bloodied head of President Trump, said Sunday she was "proud of" another outspoken figure: the ex-quarterback Colin Kaepernick.

“Your activism has come at a price but you haven’t backed down...not even once. Thank you for leading the way,” Griffin tweeted. Now an unsigned quarterback, Kaepernick regularly took a knee during the national anthem last season. The then-49er said he was calling attention to police brutality and racial injustice.

Dozens of NFL players Sunday took a knee during the national anthem as others raised their fists before the games of Week 4, a day after President Donald Trump tweeted that it that it was “very important” for players to stand. Still, the number of kneeling players was down from last weekend.
More than 200 players kneeled or sat during the national anthem last Sunday after Trump lashed out at NFL players for not standing during the anthem in a speech in Alabama and a series of tweets.
Griffin faced backlash this summer after a photo of her posing with a bloodied Trump mask as decapitated head leaked on TMZ. CNN fired her from co-hosting its New Year’s Eve show. She said at the time, according to Fox News, the Trump family systematically “mobilized their armies” against her.
She took back her apology — and recently challenged Trump saying, “I will openly accuse the President of the United States of human rights violations.”

Texas Teens Thrown Off High School Football Team After Kneeling for Anthem

Two Texas teens were thrown off their high school football team after they knelt in protest for the national anthem.
Their coach, military veteran Ronnie Ray Mitchem, warned the boys of the consequences when they told him their plan to protest.
"There is a proper time to do something in a proper way," Mitchem told ABC's KTRK.
"I want this put on here," Mitchem told the interviewer. "I have nothing against those young men. I love them."
In the aftermath, Cedric Ingram-Lewis and Larry McCullough from Victory & Praise Christian Academy in Crosby, Texas said they were happy about the publicity their protest got.
Mitchem has stopped watching NFL games due to the players' protests of the national anthem, meant to raise awareness for what they see as systemic racism in America.
"As a veteran I have a strong view of what I feel is disrespectful."

I’m not watching NFL Games Today or maybe forever

Puerto Rico Political Cartoons

Trump delays Air Force One to call officer injured in motorcade crash

A police officer involved in an accident lies on the ground as President Trump's motorcade travels past him in Indianapolis, Sept. 27, 2017.  (Reuters)

President Donald Trump delayed Air Force One’s departure from Indianapolis on Wednesday until after he was able to talk with a motorcycle officer who crashed in the motorcade to the airport.

Initial reports said Trump called the officer during the flight back to Washington, but the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police tweeted Thursday that the president delayed the flight.

“#BREAKING: Thank you @Potus for delaying wheels up to speak with injured Officer Turner. #ThankYou,” the tweet read.

Robert Turner, a police officer from Indianapolis, broke an ankle in the fall on Interstate 70. A photographer captured the officer on the ground with his uniform ripped.
Police released a cellphone video of Turner in the hospital taking the call from the president. He was wearing a neck brace, but laughed and appeared to be in good spirits.
The White House initially said Trump called during the flight back to Washington to check on the officer's condition and thank him for his service.
Trump was in the city to push his “middle class miracle,” and sell his plan to overhaul the nation’s tax code and revive his legislative agenda.
"This is a revolutionary change and the biggest winners will be the everyday American workers as jobs start pouring into our country, as companies start competing for American labor, and as wages start going up at levels that you haven't seen in many years," Trump told supporters at the Indiana State Fairgrounds.

Will Trump be re-elected? | Fox News

Jonathan Adelman

With the November 2020 Presidential election over three years away, it may seem strange to be discussing the prospects for President Trump to be re-elected.

Yet, even at this early stage, some things are clear if he is around and runs again. His biggest problems are his inability, despite majorities in the House and Senate, to pass any major legislation. He has not built the famous wall, torpedoed ObamaCare or done tax reform. He has repeatedly battled senior members of the Republican Party (Mitch McConnell and John McCain), tweeted frequently at three in the morning and even spoken about consequences for those who fail to salute the American flag at NFL games.

Yet, he has also done several things that led to a rise in his public approval rating to 43 percent.  His appointment of Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court, continuing growth of 3 percent in the American economy, record highs for the stock market and low unemployment have aided his image. His response to the hurricanes in Mexico, Florida and Texas and his offer to work with the Democrats after his meeting with Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer as also improved his image.  A recent poll showed him ahead of Hillary Clinton by six points, 36 percent to 30 percent
President Trump has already started campaigning for 2018 congressional elections and the 2020 presidential and congressional elections. He has visited so many red states so many times (like Mississippi, Alabama, Iowa, Indiana and West Virginia) that Real Clear Politics calls him the President of the Red States.
The issues of ObamaCare could be bad or it could be good for Donald Trump. If ObamaCare straightens out and maintains its 60 percent+ popularity next year, then the Republicans will look hopeless. If it has serious problems then it could have a neutral or even positive impact on the Republicans who tried to fix it. Similarly, the tough line on North Korea could look good for the president if he backed off or could turn into a disaster in several ways.
President Trump has a reasonable chance of being reelected.  Historically, 70 percent, or twelve of seventeen 20th century incumbent presidents seeking a second term have won re-election. Fully six of seven Democratic presidents and six of ten Republican presidents have been re-elected.
The likely Democratic candidate, as reflected in the 21 people most frequently mentioned as possible nominees, have their own problems. Overwhelmingly the great majority are either lawyers (12) or billionaire business entrepreneurs (5), people whose wealth and working places are far removed from those of the average American. This is reinforced in the fact that almost half of them (9 of 21) graduated from Ivy League schools, which account for only 1 ercent of college or professional graduates. The early leaders are white and wealthy which puts them far away from the large middle and working-class elements and the powerful Democratic base in the African American, Latino and Asian American identity groups.
They are overwhelmingly male (17 of 21 people) and the early favorites for the nomination will be disproportionately elderly in 2020--California Governor Jerry Brown (82), former Vice President Joe Biden (78), Senator Bernie Sanders (78), former Senator Hillary Clinton (73) and longshots such as Bob Iger (69), Howie Schultz (67) and Oprah Winfrey (66).
Also, they are overwhelmingly from the West or East Coast, areas that any Democratic candidate is likely to carry. Only a handful come from the middle of the country’s red states and working class/middle class elements that Trump carried so well in 2016.
Many of them have moved well to the left which calls into question their ability to carry the more moderate electoral elements in society. It may work and it might not.
Right now, the outcome of the 2020 elections for Donald Trump could well go either way, being re-elected or being drubbed at the polls. Only time will turn what happens but the very early indications are that either is possible.
Jonathan Adelman is a professor at the Josef Korbel School of International Studies at the University of Denver.  Adelman has written several books on Russia and was Condoleezza Rice's doctoral adviser.  

FEMA's Long: No time for mayor's 'spout off,' focused on Puerto Rico

FEMA Director Brock Long

FEMA Director Brock Long, leading the federal hurricane response in Puerto Rico, on Sunday slammed critics and the media for what he considers misinformation, saying “I don’t have time for that.”

“The problem is information is being misrepresented across the board,” Long told “Fox News Sunday” host Chris Wallace. “I don’t have time for that. What he have time for is being laser focused on helping the people of Puerto Rico. … You should come down here. You should see what’s up.”

Long acknowledged the difficulties, saying, “Every day we have progress. Every day we have setbacks. … Do we have a long way to go? Absolutely.”
However, he argued the response on the island of Puerto Rico is “the most logistically challenging event that the United States has ever seen.”
He also argued the financially-strapped country’s infrastructure -- including airports, roads, ports and bridges -- was “fragile” before being hit by hurricanes Irma, then Maria.
However, roughly two weeks later, 11 major highways have been reopened, 700 of roughly 1,000 gas stations now have petroleum, 300 pharmacies are now operating and 16 people so far have died, compared to about 1,800 deaths during and after Hurricane Katrina in 2005 in New Orleans, Long said.
“I think we have to filter out the noise,” he said from FEMA headquarters. “My guys here have been busting their rears for nearly 40 days to help Americans.”
Long spoke after San Juan Mayor Yulin Cruz criticized acting Homeland Security Secretary Elaine Duke for saying Friday that the federal response in Puerto Rico was a “feel good story.”
“This is not a good news story,” Cruz said. “This is a people dying story.”
Trump on Saturday responded to Cruz’s criticism, suggesting her lack of leadership has resulted in problems with the recovery effort.
“Such poor leadership ability by the Mayor of San Juan, and others in Puerto Rico, who are not able to get their workers to help,” Trump responded in one of the tweets. "They want everything to be done for them when it should be a community effort. 10,000 Federal workers now on Island doing a fantastic job.”
Long on Sunday also pointed to a recent Washington Examiner story in which another mayor said Cruz, a Democrat, has missed several recovery-effort meetings with U.S. military and Federal Emergency Management Agency officials.
“If the mayors decide not to be part of that, then the response is fragmented,” he said. “We can choose to look at what (Cruz) spouts off or what others spout off or we can choose to look at what’s being done.”
Long also suggested Duke’s comments had been taken out of context.
And he criticized a live report earlier on “Fox News Sunday” that pointed out fewer federal recovery-effort flights are landing at the San Juan airport.
“We are not using San Juan to the degree we were,” Long said, arguing other points-of-entry are now being used.

Trump praises 'leadership' of Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands govs after slamming mayor

Puerto Rico Mayor Yulin Cruz, a Democrat

The White House says President Trump spoke early Sunday to Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rosselló to reaffirm his administration’s commitment to providing an “unprecedented federal response” to widespread hurricane damage and thank Rossello for his leadership.

The call to Rossello, a Republican, and another to Independent Gov. Kenneth Mapp of the U.S. Virgin Islands, also impacted by hurricanes Irma and Maria, came after San Juan, Puerto Rico Mayor Yulin Cruz, a Democrat, criticized the administration’s response and Trump tweeted that her lack of leadership had caused problems in the recovery effort.

Trump on Saturday seemed furious with Cruz’s criticism, tweeting nearly a dozen times on the matter, with the last several lauding Rosselló and Mapp’s efforts.
The White House summary -- known as a “readout” -- of the Sunday phone calls twice included the word “leadership.”
“President Trump thanked the governors for their leadership in responding to and recovering from these catastrophic events,” read one line.
“President Trump pledged his administration’s continued commitment to provide an unprecedented federal response in helping the people of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Both governors were very appreciative and complimentary of the administration’s effort, including the president’s leadership,” the summary also stated.
The row between Trump and Cruz started Friday when Cruz criticized the president's effort to get supplies, electricity and other relief to the U.S. island and suggest residents were “dying” as a result.
“Such poor leadership ability by the Mayor of San Juan, and others in Puerto Rico, who are not able to get their workers to help,” Trump responded Saturday in one of the tweets. "They want everything to be done for them when it should be a community effort. 10,000 Federal workers now on Island doing a fantastic job.”
He also tweeted: "Results of recovery efforts will speak much louder than complaints by San Juan Mayor. Doing everything we can to help great people of PR!"
Cruz, in response, said later Saturday morning that she’ll “continue to do whatever I have to do” to get federal hurricane assistance.
“I will continue to do whatever I have to do, say whatever I have to say, compliment the people I need to compliment and call out the people I need to call out,” she told MSNBC. “I am not going to be distracted by small comments, by politics, by petty issues. This is one goal and it's to save lives.”
Trump later tweeted: “The Governor of Puerto Rico, Ricardo Rossello, is a great guy and leader who is really working hard. Thank you Ricky!”
He also tweeted: “Just spoke to Governor Kenneth Mapp of the U.S. Virgin Islands who stated that #FEMA and Military are doing a GREAT job! Thank you Governor!”

National Anthem Protest Cartoons

House to Vote on Budget Next Week

Rep. Diane Black (R-TN) announces the 2018 budget blueprint during a press conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., July 18, 2017. (REUTERS/Aaron P. Bernstein/Photo)

OAN Newsroom

The House is preparing to vote on a budget for the 2018 fiscal year next week.
On Thursday, House Budget Committee Chairwoman Diane Black said the new budget is the key for tax reform negotiations moving forward.
With spending deadlines pushed back to December, the budget’s main purpose is to unlock a tool known as reconciliation.
This requires a 51 vote majority to pass a bill instead of 60.
Republicans want to use reconciliation as a means to pass tax reform and bypass a Democratic filibuster in the Senate, which is something Representative Black says is critical for growing the economy.
“We see the economy growing at three, four, five percent…that’s what is going to be meaningful,” Black stated. “Where there is more money in people’s pockets there’s more business growing, and more opportunities for jobs.”
The Tennessee lawmaker believes Republicans have enough votes to pass the resolution.
The Senate Budget Committee is also expected to vote on its budget resolution when it returns from recess next week.

Supreme Court Docket Review

OAN Newsroom

The Supreme Court begins a new term next week, and will be hearing some cases impacting worker’s rights, voter’s rights, and religious freedoms.
With a Conservative majority firmly in place, the Supreme Court begins a new term with a docket full of contentious cases.
One of the biggest cases the justices will hear involves labor union fees out of Illinois.
Across the U.S. labor unions currently force state and municipal employees to pay fees whether they want to join the union or not.
The employee plaintiff in the case says requiring him to pay fees to a union he doesn’t support violates his right to freedom of speech.
Attorneys for the plaintiff say workers are being forced to subsidize a union as a condition of employment.
The case could deal a financial blow to the Democrat-leaning unions whose political clout would be weakened by the reduction in cash flow.
The court will also take on another high profile case involving gerrymandering in Wisconsin, which has been brought on by Democrats who say the way the lines are currently drawn ensures they can’t win.
Next on the list, a voter roll purge case out of Ohio where opponents are calling the state’s removal of non-participating voters from the rolls a violation of federal law.
Then out of Colorado, the court will decide if a same-sex couple’s right to civil marriage outweighs the right of a cake-baker to refuse service based on religious beliefs.
This will be the first full term for Justice Neil Gorsuch.
While Justice Anthony Kennedy remains the swing vote, the decisions that come out of the court may prove the importance of the appointment of Gorsuch to the bench.

Chelsea Handler's vulgar Melania Trump tweet sparks outrage

Chelsea Handler is in trouble again for a vulgar tweet she wrote about first lady Melania Trump.

"Melania to host a discussion on opioid abuse. She says unless you have to have sex with Donald Trump, you have no excuse to be on drugs," Handler tweeted Friday.

Fans immediately slammed the comedian on Twitter calling her joke not funny and in poor taste.
A rep for Handler did not return Fox News' request for comment.
This is hardly the first time Handler has gotten into trouble for her tweets.
The "Netflix" talk show host tweeted in August that there should be laws against "people who think racism is funny."
"2 Chinese guys were arrested in Berlin for making nazi salutes," Handler tweeted. "Wouldn't it be nice 2 have laws here for people who think racism is funny?"
Many took to Twitter to slam the comedian for her tweet, calling her hypocritical as she has advocated for free speech. Some Twitter users pointed out Handler has made racist jokes in the past.
In March, Handler faced backlash for a tweet she made in response to Eric and Lara Trump's announcement that they are expecting their first child in March.
Handler tweeted, "I guess one of @realDonaldTrump's sons is expecting a new baby. Just what we need. Another person with those jeans [sic]. Let's hope for a girl."
Donald Trump Jr. blasted the comedian's tweet in a lengthy post prefacing it on Twitter calling it a "sick tweet targeted at our family."

'Will & Grace' anti-Trump premiere alienates some viewers

The premiere episode of NBC’s reincarnated “Will & Grace” was essentially a 30-minute anti-Trump infomercial on Thursday night and conservatives have taken notice.

The first episode of “Will & Grace” in 11 years referred to First Lady Melania Trump as a “hostage,” portrayed Midwesterners as people who didn’t eat vegetables until Michelle Obama  came along and featured Debra Messing’s character, Grace, complaining about the results of last year’s presidential election.

Grace has somehow landed a job redecorating the Oval Office because Trump “has been pouting that his office is a real dump.”
After a subtle jab that Melania wouldn’t hire anyone for the job who is pretty enough to attract the president, Grace and her assistant headed to the White House, where the show mocked Kellyanne Conway’s infamous couch photo and President Ronald Reagan's Alzheimer's disease.
Grace is told Trump wants his the Oval Office “to look like he’s there from time to time,” another obvious shot.
People magazine even published a list of all the times the show ripped Trump.
The premiere episode did well in the ratings department, with 10.2 million viewers tuning in, making it the most-watched scripted show on television Thursday night. TheWrap’s Senior TV Reporter Tony Maglio believes future ratings could depend on viewers who side with the show politically.
“Post-premiere, ‘Will & Grace’ ratings should come back down to Earth, and will soon settle into a pretty predictable range. The return was an event [that] had the nostalgia factor going for it, plenty of promotion and generally favorable reviews,” Maglio told Fox News. ”The show does have a few things working against it though: The younger half of the advertiser-coveted 18-49 demographic don't know or care at all about these characters, and a series that takes such a political stance is, by its very nature, divisive.”
Fox News’ Senior Vice President of Marketing and entertainment contributor Michael Tammero was “very excited” for the return of “Will & Grace” but didn’t stick with the episode for the entire 30 minutes.
“It was a very important show, as someone who is gay and married… it was a show that initially played a huge role in changing hearts and minds in this country and advancing LGBTQ issues,” Tammero said. “I expected some anti-Republican, anti-Trump lines, but I did not expect every single line to be some sort of jab.”
Tammero said the show “is on broadcast for a reason, ‘broad’ being they key word,” as networks typically try to to reach the largest possible audience. He can't predict if the show’s political views will hurt viewership.
“I think it could… I think it will probably hurt the show,” he said. “In Hollywood, we’re seeing a lot of people center-right are turning off and tuning out.”
Conservatives viewers took to Twitter to react, with many noting that they wouldn’t tune in again because they were offended by the show’s politics. One viewer asked, “Why alienate a large part of America?”
Another viewer tweeted that “Will & Grace” used to be a good show but is now simply a “tool for hate,” and dubbed it “Will & Disgrace.”
The Media Research Center’s TV reporter Amelia Hamilton blasted the episode, calling the storyline “a lazy way to take shots at the president for the entire length of the show” and said it was embarrassing.
“Hollywood still hasn't realized that shows like this do nothing but help Donald Trump,” Hamilton wrote. “When will Hollywood learn that they're basically running his reelection campaign by doing this?”
Ironically, “Will & Grace” creators David Kohan and Max Mutchnick told The Hollywood Reporter they only agreed to a reunion because former NBC Entertainment president Jeff Zucker isn’t involved anymore, since he is now the president of the liberal network CNN Worldwide.
“Zucker was the only reason we had a problem at NBC,” Mutchnick said.

North Korea rocket man Cartoons

China Orders N. Korean Businesses Within Borders to Close, U.S. to Boost Military in S. Korea

China is ordering all North Korean businesses operating within its borders to close in accordance with recently approved U.N. sanctions.
The country’s commerce ministry said ventures within Chinese territory will have until the end of the year to shutdown.
Overseas joint ventures between Chinese and North Korean companies will also be dissolved, but specific deadlines for those businesses remain unclear.
The move comes as U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson begins his second official trip to China amid rising tensions in the region.
Meanwhile, the president of South Korea urges Pyongyang to abandon its nuclear weapons program.
President Moon Jae-in made the comments during his speech at the 69th Armed Forces Day in south Korea.
He stressed his government’s efforts to help contain the rogue state’s nuclear aspirations, adding he does not want to see North Korea collapse.
He also emphasized the importance of South Korea’s cooperation with the international community to tackle the issue.
Moon also vowed to strengthen his country’s military alliance with the U.S.
On Thursday, South Korean security officials said American assets would be stationed in the region on a rotating basis before January.
This comes after the Pentagon confirmed the deployment as agreed to by Moon and President Trump at the U.N. last week.
Details on the type of assets to be sent to the region have not been confirmed but may include B-52 bombers, nuclear submarines, and aircraft carriers.

Rush Limbaugh on NFL anthem controversy: 'The left has hijacked this game'

Conservative talk radio host Rush Limbaugh weighed in Thursday on the ongoing furor over NFL players kneeling during "The Star-Spangled Banner," telling Fox News' "Hannity" that "the left has hijacked this game."

Previously a devoted pro football fan, Limbaugh told Sean Hannity that he did not watch Sunday's slate of games after hearing of the planned protests by players and vowed "I'm going to be playing golf on Sundays now."

The act of taking a knee during the pregame playing of the national anthem was started by then-San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick last year. Kaepernick said his action was a protest of racial inequality and police brutality.
President Trump brought the protests back into the national spotlight Friday when he asked the crowd at an Alabama rally, "Wouldn't you love to see one of these NFL owners, when somebody disrespects our flag, to say 'get that son of a b---- off the field right now, out, he's fired?'"
Those comments were condemned by NFL owners and dozens of players took a knee prior to the weekend's games, which in turn brought a backlash from some fans.
On Thursday night, Limbaugh told Hannity that the league's owners "have to be scared to death" by the protests and their fallout.
"I don’t think they understand what’s happening to them. I don’t think they understand what’s going on," the veteran radio host said. "They think they’re relating to the majority of their fan base, they’re not! They’re driving them away.
"And I hate it," Limbaugh continued. "I don’t want the NFL to get smaller, I don’t want it to become insignificant, I don’t want it to be taken over by a bunch of wusses. I don’t want it to be taken over by left-wing social justice causes.
Addressing the player protesters, Limbaugh concluded, "Use something besides the NFL sideline, use something besides the flag, use something besides something that people use to escape."

John Stossel: The incredible threat to free speech that no one is talking about

FILE -- In this photo, people walk through Sproul Plaza near the Sather Gate on the University of California, Berkeley campus in Berkeley, Calif. The university suspended a class on Sept. 13, 2016, amid complaints that it shared anti-Semitic viewpoints and was designed to indoctrinate students against Israel.  (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)

A third threat to free speech at University of California, Berkeley has led to more censorship than political rioters or college administrators.

Berkeley is expensive. Out of state students must pay $60,000 a year. But for five years, Berkeley generously posted 20,000 of its professors' lectures online. Anyone could watch them for free.
Then government regulators stepped in.
The Americans with Disabilities Act stipulates, "No qualified individual with a disability shall ... be denied the benefits of ... services."
As with most laws, people can spend years debating what terms like "denied," "benefits" and "services" mean.
President Obama's eager regulators, in response to a complaint from activists, decided that Berkeley's videos violated the ADA. The Justice Department sent the school a threatening letter: "Berkeley is in violation of title II ... (T)he Attorney General may initiate a lawsuit."
What Berkeley had done wrong, said the government, was failing to caption the videos for the hearing impaired. The ADA makes it illegal to "deny" deaf people services available to others.
Equality is a noble goal, but closed captioning is expensive.
Computers are learning to turn speech into text, but so far they're not good at it. A speech-to-text program transcribed a Harvard lecturer's comment "on our campus" as "hot Kampen good."
Captions that meet government's standards must be typed out by a person who listens to each word. Captioning Berkley's 20,000 lectures would cost millions. The school decided that, to be safe, it would just stop offering its videos. The administration even removed the existing videos from its website.
So now, instead of some deaf people struggling to understand university lectures, no one gets to hear them.
Politicians mean well when they pass rules like the ADA, but every regulation has unintended consequences. Most are bad.
In this case, fortunately, an angry entrepreneur came to the rescue. Jeremy Kauffman hates to see valuable things disappear, so right before Berkeley deleted its website, Kauffman copied the videos and posted them on his website, called LBRY (as in Library).
He says the Berkeley videos are just the start of what LBRY has planned. He wants the site to be YouTube -- but without the content restrictions.
LBRY uses a new technology that operates like Bitcoin. It's "decentralized," meaning videos posted are stored on thousands of computers around the world. That makes it nearly impossible for governments -- or even Kauffman himself -- to remove them.
"LBRY is designed to be much more decentralized, much more controlled by users" and "absolutely freer," Kauffman explains in a video I posted this week.
He acknowledges that with no censorship, his invention may end up hosting videos of bad things -- beheadings, child porn, who knows what else. But he argues that if he creates a system with censorship, "it allows us to keep the bad stuff out, which is great, but it also allows dictatorial regimes to keep content off. Do we want to make videos available to the people in Turkey, Iran and China? We say yes."
LBRY will let users flag videos depicting illegal actions. Those videos may no longer be shown on LBRY. However, other websites can show the illegal content using LBRY's technology, and Kauffman can't stop that.
Kauffman says he won't remove the Berkeley videos from his site even if he's sued because there aren't captions for deaf people.
"Is that a reason that content shouldn't be available to everyone?" asks Kauffman.
Government is force whether it is deliberately doing something cruel or just trying to solve one group's problems by imposing restrictions on others. "Do you want to put a gun to someone's face and say 'Caption those videos'? It's absurd."
It is absurd. What government does is often absurd.
Thank goodness for the internet and for people like Kauffman, someone willing to spend his own money to keep information free.
John Stossel is the author of "No They Can't! Why Government Fails -- But Individuals Succeed." Click here for more information on John Stossel.

Dershowitz mulls UC Berkeley lawsuit over possible 'content-based discrimination'

Harvard Law Professor Alan Dershowitz

Harvard Law Professor Alan Dershowitz said Thursday on “Tucker Carlson Tonight” that he is considering suing the University of California, Berkeley over a stipulation that would prevent him to speak on campus.

Dershowitz told Tucker Carlson that the school prevented him from speaking on Israel because he did not give the school eight-week advance notice.

He said the school, however, usually waives the stipulation for speakers who are invited by a department, but those speakers tend to be anti-Israel, liberals and radicals.
“If no department invites us, having invited people from the other side, we will sue them arguing that the eight-week rule is a cover for content-based discrimination against moderates, liberals, conservatives and supporters of Israel,” Dershowitz said.
Dershowitz, who voted for Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election, said he was certain to find that Berkeley has already invited anti-Israel speakers from across the U.S. and that he would not receive an invitation.
“We’re testing Berkeley at this point to see if it happens there,” he said. “I wanted to speak at the school and I wanted to present to students the liberal case for Israel and if Berkeley won’t let me do it, I have a legal recourse in which I intend to take.”
Dershowitz said he hopes Berkeley will allow him to speak, whether it is a department inviting him or the school changing the rule.

NFL Player Cartoons

Stacy Washington: NFL players should hand a folded flag to a dead soldier’s family, then consider kneeling

The NFL has a choice to make and it’s an easy one: political activism or sports.  The American people will only tolerate one of those so they had best choose wisely.  There are two prevailing perspectives here and both of them cannot coexist leaving the NFL unscathed.  On one side the NFL players enjoy a league minimum pay of $465,000 a year while their fans earn a median household income of $56,515.  The players lead rarified lives that don’t appear to leave room for understanding just who their supporters are.

Football devotees utilize their hard earned money to buy $250 jerseys to wear at the expensively priced games, or to purchase a cable subscription to Sunday Ticket or Red Zone to enjoy the game at home with friends and family.  This is can’t-miss activity that some football enthusiasts attend with a regularity resembling church fervor.  But why are fans so devoted to the anthem and flag?  Aren’t they just symbols?

My experience with the flag gives a glimpse into why the majority of Americans will never accept “taking a knee.”  While on Active Duty in the Air Force I had the privilege of serving on the Air Force Honor Guard performing burial services on a team.  The pallbearers would retrieve the casket from the hearse and place it on a stand where we would unfurl a brand new, crisp U.S. flag.  We wore dress blues and white gloves.  As the folding commenced the only sounds were soft sobs, birds chirping and the snapping sound of our gloves making contact with the material of the flag.  With each sweeping motion the sound of mourning would increase a bit in time with the cathartic motions that signified the end of the ritual.

Dishonoring the flag by making it the object of protest, no matter how great the cause, is repugnant and nonsensical.

Sometimes the task of handing over the folded flag would fall to me, and I would cradle the triangle of cloth to my uniformed chest and glide over to the canopy where the family awaited.  On one occasion I handed the flag into the tiny hands of a child of perhaps four or five.  Another time I looked into the red-rimmed eyes of an older woman who thanked me through her tears.  This ceremony takes place countless times around the nation on an almost daily basis as veterans, retirees and active duty service members killed in the line of duty are laid to rest.  These people have a close connection to our flag through the service of themselves or their loved ones.
Dishonoring the flag by making it the object of protest, no matter how great the cause, is repugnant and nonsensical to these people.  Polling shows that 58 percent of NFL supporters lean to the right politically; Americans who revere both veterans and military service members.  These people love America, making the NFL players' insistence on taking a knee during the national anthem a losing proposition. There are ways to sway a community; defiling a national symbol associated with honor, service, sacrifice and bravery isn’t one of them.  If the NFL continues to indulge the players, declining ratings and lower attendance at games will become the norm.  NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and the team owners must man up:  choose the fans by ending the protests.
Stacy Washington is host of the "Stacy on the Right Show," broadcast on Urban Family Talk Monday through Friday from 2-3pm in St. Louis, Missouri. Click here for more.

Michelle Obama slams women who voted for Trump

Former first lady Michelle Obama said, “Any woman who voted against Hillary Clinton voted against their own voice.”  (REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst, File)

Former first lady Michelle Obama leveled harsh criticism Wednesday at women who voted for President Trump, suggesting they voted against their own interests. 

“Any woman who voted against Hillary Clinton voted against their own voice,” Obama told the audience during a talk at a marketing conference in Boston, according to Boston.com. 

She went on to suggest female voters for Trump were just going with the pack.
“It doesn’t say much about Hillary, and everybody’s trying to worry about what it means for Hillary and no, no, no what does this mean for us as women?” she asked, as reported by the Washington Times. “That we look at those two candidates, as women, and many of us said, ‘He’s better for me. His voice is more true to me.’ To me that just says, you don’t like your voice. You just like the thing you’re told to like.”
She was taking a swipe at a large swath of the population -- according to exit polls, 41 percent of women voted for Trump in November.
Obama, who campaigned for Clinton during the 2016 election, was speaking as a part of Inbound, a sales and marketing conference.
When talking directly about Trump, Obama took a different tone.
“We want him to be successful. He was elected,” she said, referring to her and former President Barack Obama’s hopes for the current president. “When you’ve been in that position, you have a different perspective.”
Her former president husband, though, has been stepping up his criticism of Trump lately, including taking to Facebook to blast the decision to roll back his DACA executive action for so-called "dreamers."