Pompeo Deserves Confirmation

National Review Editors

"Mike Pompeo is qualified to be secretary of state. There is no doubt about that. He is competent — as director of the CIA, he has managed a complex organization deftly, winning the respect of intelligence professionals otherwise not favorably inclined to President Trump. He is experienced — in an administration with more than its share of neophytes, he has served in Washington, initially as a congressman, since 2011. He is highly credentialed — he graduated top of his class at West Point and went to Harvard Law School, where he edited the Harvard Law Review.

"So the fight over his confirmation isn’t about his abilities, but instead is a raw power play to deny President Trump a top cabinet official. The reasons that Democrats are coming up with to oppose him are transparently weak. New Hampshire senator Jeanne Shaheen, who supported his nomination as CIA director, says she can’t support him for secretary of state because he opposes gay marriage and is pro-life. By this standard, we’ll never have a secretary of state again who doesn’t have the endorsement of NARAL.

"Shaheen is on the foreign-relations committee, which for the first time ever won’t give a secretary of state nominee its blessing. Pompeo will probably get confirmed anyway, but he needs Democratic votes because Steve Bannon and Rand Paul have, in effect, conspired to make the Republican-controlled Senate incapable of governing. " . . .And Rand Paul continues to be the single most destructive Republican senator, embracing a suicidal purity on budgetary matters and insisting that national-security nominees meet his wholly unrealistic standard of U.S. appeasement and withdrawal in foreign affairs. Paul is, naturally, opposed to Pompeo. That the Kentucky senator routinely undermines his own party and Trump’s agenda yet still remains in the good graces of the president is one of the great mysteries of Washington." . . .  Emphasis added, TD

Some of Buster Keaton’s Most Amazing Stunts

Chonday.com  "Joseph Frank “Buster” Keaton (October 4, 1895 – February 1, 1966) was an American actor, comedian, film director, producer, screenwriter, and stunt performer. He was best known for his silent films, in which his trademark was physical comedy with a consistently stoic, deadpan expression, earning him the nickname “The Great Stone Face. Keaton performed all of his stunts, he never refused a stunt, however dangerous; in fact, he frequently doubled for other actors when they needed to take a fall. That’s because he was a pro, who had learned to land soft and withstand a few knocks. Some stunts require agility, others an inner strength. The crowning glory of Steamboat Bill Jr, possibly Keaton’s greatest gag of all time, was a stunt as beautiful as it was potentially lethal but it required him simply to stand still. And he didn’t get a scratch on him. The celebrated moment in Steamboat Bill Jr when the facade of a house drops to the ground with a two-ton thwack, leaving Keaton serene amid the debris, relied on precise mathematics and nerves of steel. Keaton’s position on the ground had to line up exactly with an open window in the top of the house; thankfully for him, it did. More importantly, he had to be sturdy enough to trust the sums, and not flinch."

Allied air strike on Syria socked the mullahs inside Iran, too

The U.S., U.K., and French air strikes also escalated the internal situation in Iran to further destabilize the Iranian regime, uniting the different factions of society in Iran.

This would not have happened under Obama, who bowed and apologized to dictators and who honored oppressive regimes over our own nation. The resistors here would have been thrown under the bus to face the tender mercies of Iran's mullahs. TD

Hassan Mahmoudi  "U.S., U.K., and French forces launched air strikes targeting sites associated with Syria's chemical weapons capabilities, a reprisal for a chemical attack that killed at least 43 civilians and injured hundreds more.

"The decision to strike was aimed at cutting off the production and use of chemical weapons in the country.

"The assault was twice the size of a strike Mr. Trump ordered last year against a Syrian military airfield and hit two more targets.

"European Union countries, Canada, Australia, members of the Arab union, and Gulf countries have fully supported the air strike.  But among the few countries who condemned this attack, there was Iran, whose mullah dictators warned that there would be "consequences" for the region.

"Iran's supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, said coordinated air strikes on Syria by the United States, France, and Britain on Saturday were a crime that would bring no benefit.

"The Iranian Foreign Ministry has also lashed out at the Western states that conducted the joint massive missile strike on targets in Syria and warned of "regional consequences."

"Iranian president Hassan Rouhani has said the U.S.-led attack against Syria would lead to the destruction of the Middle Eastern countries.

"The bluster and heated rhetoric about "the region" were about par for the mullahs.  But the mullahs probably realize that it was really a strike against Iranian capacities in the region." . . .

. . . "According to the leading opposition group to the regime, the National Council of Resistance in Iran:

On April 17, 2018, thousands of people in the city of Kazerun demonstrated for the second day running in the city's main square. The merchants refused to open their shops. The protesters were chanting, "Our enemy is right here, but they keep saying it is America," "No fear, we are all together," "the movement will continue until we obtain our rights," "The protests, in which women played an active role, led to clashes with the security forces as the protesters tried to enter the Governor's Office.

. . .

Hassan Mahmoudi is a human rights advocate, specializing in political and economic issues relating to Iran and the Middle East.

 

Eric Holder for Prison, Not President

Run, Eric, run.  Go ahead; make our day.  Rumors of a Holder bid were not diminished by the news that he is headed for New Hampshire to attend an event considered a must for presidential contenders:

Daniel John Sobieski  "If President Trump could hand-select his 2020 Democratic opponent, he could do no better than former Obama attorney general Eric Holder, the only Cabinet official held in contempt of Congress for withholding documents in the Fast and Furious gun-running scandal.  He is the poster child for the Deep State corruption that festered under Obama and the politicization of both the DOJ and FBI.

"The former A.G., who is arguably responsible for the homicide of Border Patrol agent Brian Terry, murdered by guns Holder and Obama funneled to Mexican drug lords, is in fact considering such a bid:

Former Attorney General Eric Holder let the cat out of the bag Tuesday night during a visit to the very friendly confines of MSNBC, acknowledging he is "thinking" about a 2020 presidential run to challenge President Donald Trump.

MSNBC host Chris Hayes threw out the possibility of Holder running for the White House, hoping his guest would bite and he did just that – whether this was rehearsed beforehand or not is up to you to decide.

. . .
"Run, Eric, run.  Your campaign would be an opportunity to hold you and the president you served responsible for the lies about Fast and Furious, the withholding of documents under the guise of "executive privilege," something even extended to Holder's wife, and the entire cover-up of why Brian Terry had to die." . . .   Also here.

Fresno State University won’t — and cannot — punish professor for Barbara Bush tweets

Foundation for Individual Rights in Education

. . . "Fresno State correctly acknowledges that Jarrar’s tweets were made as a private citizen. As such, and because they touched upon a matter of public concern, Jarrar’s tweets are unquestionably protected speech under the First Amendment and Fresno State has no power to censor, punish, or terminate Jarrar for them.

Photo added, TD

"It’s often said that the First Amendment doesn’t protect a speaker from the consequences of his words. That’s true to a certain extent. One who says something that offends others will often face consequences of some sort, whether it’s caustic criticism from people he offended, loss of private sector job opportunities, loss of membership in voluntary associations, and so on. But the First Amendment places limits on what consequences a government actor may impose in response to speech.

"As we’ve explained in response to another professor terminated for her public commentary, public universities are government actors bound by the First Amendment:

The law is well-established that employees of government institutions like [a public university] retain a First Amendment right to speak as private citizens on matters of public concern and may not be disciplined or retaliated against for their constitutionally protected expression unless the government employer demonstrates that the expression hindered “the effective and efficient fulfillment of its responsibilities to the public.” Connick v. Myers, 461 U.S. 138, 150 (1983); Pickering v. Bd. of Ed., 391 U.S. 563 (1968).

. . .
Her pictured gesture has been endorsed by academics, late-night TV hosts and ex-presidents.

Americans Grapple With Evil Amid Decline in Religious Faith

Emilie Kao at Heritage 

The writer lists her key takeaways in this article:

• "In modern-day America, few statements can raise eyebrows more swiftly than expressing faith in the transcendent.
• "In a world where we can communicate globally and change the temperature of our homes, it is easy to believe that we have mastered our physical environment.
• "As elites show increasing hostility to faith and regular Americans eschew traditional and moral frameworks, we may become increasingly blind to this dimension.

. . . "From Joy Behar mocking Vice President Mike Pence as mentally ill for believing that God guides him, to former President Barack Obama ridiculing “bitter” people who cling to guns or religion, the “enlightened” claim to have progressed past the simplistic explanations of those who still believe in the existence of good and evil.

"In a world where we can drive vehicles, communicate globally, and change the temperature of our homes with the touch of a finger, it is easy to believe that we have mastered our physical environment. Yet we are stumped when the age-old problem of evil rears its ugly head." . . .

How to ensure "never again" when so many are erasing Holocaust history?

Edwin Black

"The following is a transcript of Edwin Black’s April 11, 2018 keynote address in the Michigan Capitol Rotunda for that state’s official Holocaust Commemoration."

"Today, I come not just to mourn nor to scorn but rather to warn our world, that is, the world of today whose memories are still whistling and bristling with the torments and tribulations of a generation now passing before our eyes. But also, for the world of tomorrow — and the day after — pulsed by a generation whose torments and tribulations may yet be in store. The outrages are audible just over the horizon. But in many cases the horizon is speeding toward us like an unstoppable tsunami preparing to crash.

"Many of us dwell in the dark past hoping to immunize our future from the maniacal and ideological fires that immolated six million Jews and so many others— and left a world’s hands and souls smoke-singed in the process. The Holocaust was unique among history’s great cruelties, for it was a 12-year international persecution and murder machine perpetrated in the glare of broad daylight as well as the dim of night… emboldened by its own German Ministry of Propaganda advertising it and amid incessant media coverage that bled across the front pages of newspapers, crackled into regular radio reports, flickered in newsreels, and even saddened the whispers and diaries of children hiding in an Amsterdam attic. The world knew.

"With study, revelation, and investigation, many now understand how we got here. Make no mistake. The Germans did it. Their allies and accomplices did it. Hitler did it. 

"But Hitler had help. " . . .

. . . Lithuania has followed suit quickly with a pending amendment to its “Law on Consumer Protection” that would outlaw books critical of the country during the Holocaust—Lithuania where 90 percent of Jews perished, and many at the hands of their Lithuanian neighbors. These laws will be used by misguided programmers in Silicon Valley to avoid liability by simply quietly shutting out the history. 

 'What if a tree falls and no one hears the sound? What if six million people perish and no one is reminded?" . . .

DOJ turns over redacted Comey memos to congressional committees

Legal Insurrection

Fox News  "The Justice Department on Thursday gave lawmakers redacted versions of five memos kept by former FBI Director James Comey to document meetings with President Trump, a congressional source told Fox News.

"The source told Fox News the memos were turned over to the House Judiciary, Oversight and Intelligence Committees following threats from Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., to subpoena Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein for failing to meet the deadline to submit the documents.

"In a statement to lawmakers, the Justice Department said it had redacted classified information in the memos, but would provide an unredacted version on Friday. 

"Goodlatte, House Oversight Committee Chairman Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., and House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, R-Calif., had set a Monday deadline for the Justice Department to turn over the Comey memos.

"In a joint statement, the committee chairmen said the memos "are significant for both what is in them and what is not." . . .

Thomas Lifson: Apparently Comey didn't think through his book very carefully  "James Comey is in the process of destroying his credibility.  Perhaps the rush to cash in on his notoriety with a bestselling book led to a failure to consider the implications of what he wrote in light of his previous statements and positions.  But with the book now available and being carefully read by non-sycophants, certain self-contradictions are coming to light.  A Twitter account in the name of @RacySicilian has come up with doozy:

"When Comey tells ABC he knew Trump was doing something shady by arranging a private meeting, then describes Obama doing the EXACT SAME THING on page 148 of his book 🙄#TotalBS#Racy4Trump#LiberalHypocrisy pic.twitter.com/jCL9iKVzMO

— Racyღ (@RacySicilian) April 17, 2018

"I don't think his previous career strategy – sucking up to superiors, stabbing rivals in the back, and manipulating public opinion – that served him well in the federal bureaucracy will be effective now that he is subject to intense public scrutiny and is being held to account for all the positions he has taken and people he has screwed over.  

"The chapter of his life currently underway will not end well for him."