Trump's Venezuela policy isn't a case of right versus left. It's a case of right versus wrong.

Cartoons added by TD

NBC News; NBC? No, really!

"As a former Obama-era diplomat, I can and should acknowledge when this president does diplomacy correctly."

"The people of Venezuela are being held hostage by Nicolas Maduro. For years, he has denied them food, medicine and basic supplies. More than three million refugees have fled the country. In 2017, more than 280,000 children were found to be malnourished and at risk of dying. The situation in the country has only declined drastically and the statistics are likely far worse now. Alarmingly, the government denies there are any problems; it doesn’t even allow health statistics to be officially kept.

"Still, we know that newborns in Syria, which is still wracked by war, are more likely to survive than those born to Venezuelan mothers; maternal mortality rose 66 percent from 2015 to 2016. The average person in the nation lost 24 pounds in 2017.Reports indicate that nearly 80 percent of hospitals lack regular access to water, 53 percent of the nation's operating rooms are shuttered and more than 70 percent of emergency rooms cannot regularly provide services to patients.

"Maduro callously refuses to acknowledge, let alone address the suffering of his people. If America allows him to stay the course, the consequences will be catastrophic. This isn’t just a political crisis. There is a humanitarian imperative to act.

"It's true that American hasn't always been a good neighbor; Our relations with Latin America have often oscillated between indifference and ill-advised interventions. And on Wednesday, during a House Foreign Affairs committee hearing on U.S. policy toward Venezuela, many Democrats focused on that past and the possibility that any intervention in Venezuela could turn out as poorly as past efforts in the region.

"But they all but ignored the present perilous predicament of the Venezuelan people. Our past cannot hold us back from doing what is right, and required now. Inaction is not necessarily respect; in this case, it is morally wrong and reprehensible." . . .

By Brett Bruen, president, Global Situation Room, Inc.

Stop Sneering at Evangelicals for Supporting Trump

James Arlandson  "The religious left is still looking down on conservative Christian peons for supporting imperfect, feisty Trump.  Throughout social media and elsewhere, the left accuses us of compromising our faith and standards.

"Prof. Randall Balmer of Dartmouth University recently posted an opinion piece at the Los Angeles Times with the ironic title “God Is on Team Trump? Let’s take a quick check with the Bible.” The sarcasm is seen when God is on Trump’s team, not the other way around. Then he proceeds to dismantle -- at least in his mind -- evangelical support for Trump.

"He starts off with more sarcasm that God put his thumb on the scale of the election, so that Trump barely won and only by the Electoral College. Some victory for God! In reply, just because we cannot figure out the details of how God works in an ocean of humanity does not mean God does not have his purposes and works them out. Prof. Balmer seems to assume that if a victory is not a landslide, then God was not at work. Since he wrote a book about evangelicals, he must know that some of them with a more prophetic gifting predicted long before the November 2016 elections that Trump’s victory would stun the world. It did.  

"Next, Prof. Balmer tackles immigration and summarized some verses in Leviticus and one in the epistle to the Hebrews (since Heb. 13:2 is talking about household hospitality -- not on a national scale -- and the possibility that an angel could be a guest without our knowledge, let’s skip past his wrenching that verse out of context). It is difficult to find mass migration in the ancient world, but let’s assume that millions and millions of immigrants moved into ancient Israel in 20-30 years. And let’s assume that a certain percentage of them raped and assaulted women and children at the border and transported some sort of ancient, mind-altering drugs. Yes, protect the innocent, but there would be nothing wrong with building a wall back then, much as Israel has done today, to good effect. Obama and other Democrats in the past have said there was a crisis at the border. And there is nothing immoral with securing our borders today with a wall or updating the one that is already there. In any case, these are two different contexts, so let’s move on." . . .

James Arlandson’s website is Live as Free People, where he has posted Leftwing NY Hillsong Pastor Carl Lentz Misses Facts on Race, and William Penn Proclaims Pennsylvania’s Charter of Privileges.

2020 contender Kirsten Gillibrand backs third gender classification at federal level

CBS News   "New York Democratic Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, a 2020 candidate, endorsed federal implementation of a third gender listing for Americans who identify as non-binary. 

"Speaking at an LGBTQ-focused meet and greet in New Hampshire on Friday, Gillibrand emphatically said "yes" about recognizing "X" as a third gender marker. 

"Palana Belken, a transgender woman and organizer for the American Civil Liberties Union of New Hampshire, asked Gillibrand the question and applauded her quick answer.

" 'According to the Human Rights Campaign, the largest LGBTQ civil rights organization in the U.S., non-binary is an "adjective describing a person who does not identify exclusively as a man or a woman."  

Donkey Hotey

"Belken said her question originated from the efforts of New Hampshire State Rep. Gerri Cannon, a transgender lawmaker who recently introduced two similar identification bills at the state level to present this third option on birth certificates and driver's licenses.

"The potential federal change is important, Cannon said, because states have differing implementation of the "X" identifier.

" 'Right now, especially non-binary people, when they go to one state to another some state trooper may take a look at a license with an 'X' on it and go, 'What is this?'" Cannon said. 

"A handful of states, including Maine, Oregon, California and Colorado, plus the District of Columbia and New York City, recognize a third option for gender identity." 

"Gillibrand is on a campaign swing through New Hampshire this weekend, with stops Saturday in Exeter, Keene and Hanover "

Editorial: Presidential plotters must face punishment

Americans need to know the entire story.  If, as it appears, there was an effort to sabotage a presidency and create elaborate distractions and cover-ups using the powers entrusted to them, members of the U.S. government have involved themselves in a criminal conspiracy that dwarfs Watergate.

  Boston Herald "That Justice Department officials were having discussions about ousting a sitting president should concern every American. It is simply astonishing that these actors allegedly held conversations around the notion of seizing power from the elected head of the executive branch.

"Obviously, heads should roll, but really such a plot should result in criminal prosecutions with all the high-profile force that was used to arrest Roger Stone.

"The new revelations come to us care of former FBI Acting Director Andrew McCabe, who has written a book and is shilling it on “60 Minutes.” The interview will air in full on Sunday, but the tidbits that have been released in advance are already damning.

"According to CBS’ Scott Pelley, the reporter who interviewed McCabe, after President Trump fired FBI Director James Comey, McCabe jumped into action with other members of the Justice Department. McCabe was alarmed that Trump “might have won the White House with the aid of the government of Russia.” The next day, he brought the investigators together for a meeting.

“ 'There were meetings at the Justice Department at which it was discussed whether the vice president and a majority of the Cabinet could be brought together to remove the president of the United States under the 25th Amendment,” Pelley said.

“ 'I was speaking to the man who had just run for the presidency and just won the election for the presidency,” McCabe told CBS. “And who might have done so with the aid of the government of Russia, our most formidable adversary on the world stage, and that was something that troubled me greatly.”

WATCH: AOC’s 'Green New Deal' Supporters Asked To Explain How Exactly It’ll Stop Climate Change

Daily Wire  "Campus Reform took some time to talk with a few self-styled progressive students last week and learned that when they heard some of the goals spelled out in AOC's since-deleted explainer and FAQ, their confidence in her plan waned dramatically." . . .

"Elad's video follows another similar man-on-the-street video released by Campus Reform, which bases its questions off of AOC's since-deleted explainer and FAQ, a document her office has tried to dismiss as an "early draft" despite having sent it to major media outlets and posted it online before deleting it amid massive backlash.

"In the video, Campus Reform's Cabot Phillips speaks with students at the University of Miami to see how they feel about the GND. Most initially express enthusiasm, saying they thinks it's time to "cut our reliance on fossil fuels" and deeming the deal to be "a great idea" and appopriately "progressive."

" 'I think if we didn't do that, then we're going to be killing ourselves, basically," one student tells Phillips. "So we need to take care of ourselves.' " . . .

"But when Phillips begins to site goals outlined by AOC's team in the FAQ, students' tunes change. Video below: . . .