Merry Christmas!

Twelve Christmas Stories

1. Never forget what it is like to be a kid at Christmas.

2. A Christmas Miracle.

3. Christmas memories that last forever.

4. The best gift this Christmas is giving to others.

5. Treasured Memories of Christmas.

6. A Simple Christmas.

7. This Christmas Story Will Touch Your Digestive System.

8. Coming home this Christmas.

9. Setting the Pattern For Christmas Traditions.

10. We have survived hard times.

11. The best Christmas gifts of all.

12. Christmas is about what we give, not what we get.

November 8, 2023
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BY MIKE HUCKABEE

Blessings on you and your family from all the Huckabee team! 

Mike Huckabee


DAILY BIBLE VERSE

Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

John 14:6



A bad omen for 2024

I dread having to tell you about Tuesday’s elections, because on the whole, they were another disaster for the Republican Party. I'll soften it by starting with the few bright spots, like the (too close) reelection of Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves and strong GOP legislative wins in Mississippi and Kentucky, but it would really be a shock if we’d lost those states. But all the high-profile races were a total rout.

Deep-red Kentucky reelected Democrat Gov. Andy Beshear by 52.4% to 47.5% over Republican Daniel Cameron. It’s a mystery why. Beshear is 180 degrees out of phase with most Kentucky voters, but he poses as a moderate while the reliable overrides of his vetoes of conservative bills have helped prevent voters who don’t pay much attention from realizing what his true colors are. Cameron took a lot of attacks, some of them shockingly racist, from Democrats who are especially terrified of letting black conservatives achieve prominent positions and disprove their false narratives. The results were hardly a shock; while polls had tightened, most showed Beshear ahead. Still, the actual gap was larger than the polls, and in a state like Kentucky, that’s a bad omen for 2024.

The worst news, though, came out of Ohio and Virginia. In Ohio, by a 56-44% margin, voters enshrined abortion as a constitutional “right.” This article explains what the amendment says and what Republicans in the legislature might do to overcome it. It also makes clear that the abortion laws being pushed by Democrats are actually far more radical than those in European nations they want us to emulate, and more radical than most Americans' beliefs on the subject, yet they keep winning on this issue.

https://apnews.com/article/ohio-abortion-amendment-election-2023-fe3e06747b616507d8ca21ea26485270

That vote was propelled by a pro-abortion campaign heavily funded by outside leftist groups that outspent the pro-life side by $10 million. Aided by media sycophants and their own utter shamelessness, Democrats have successfully framed the slaughter of babies in the womb up to the moment of birth as “women’s health care” or “bodily autonomy.” Ohio voters also voted to legalize marijuana, which along with abortion created a perfect storm to turn out their base. They plan to use abortion to the hilt in the 2024 elections, so brace for a tsunami of demagoguery.

In Virginia, where Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin was hoping for the GOP to retake the Senate, they not only failed but lost their majority in the Assembly. This race also was heavily impacted by abortion, with Youngkin pushing for a 15-week ban on abortion, with exceptions for rape, incest and the life of the mother.

I honestly don’t know what to make of Virginia voters. They just lived through watching Democrats arrest parents for getting upset that their daughters were being raped in school by "trans" males in their bathrooms, and now, they’ve decided to hand power back to them in the name of "women's rights"?

On a larger level, how can anyone look at the worldwide disaster created by Democrat rule and vote to keep these people in charge of anything? The cities they run are violent cesspools of crime, homelessness and corruption; the states they run are losing population because all the sane, productive people are fleeing; and their national policies have everything from the economy to border security to the Middle East crashing down around their ears. Joe Biden’s only been in office for three years, and we once again have Nazis attacking Jews in the streets and the threat of World War III! Who can look at the endless catastrophes of Democrat rule and think the most important voting issue is being allowed to kill babies in the womb until the moment of birth?

There are a lot of problems to address if we’re going to stop these electoral debacles and save America from the certain destruction of four more years of Biden and Co. “in charge.” One is that after the Dobbs ruling, the Democrats were able to monopolize the framing of abortion, shroud its brutal reality in fuzzy euphemisms (“women’s health care,” “reproductive justice,” etc.) and convince too many women of the insane notion that the GOP wants to chain them in kitchens and force them to have babies. The pro-life movement worked so hard and so long to overturn Roe v. Wade that I fear they didn’t realize how much effort they would have to keep putting into winning hearts and minds state by state. They might have also underestimated their opponents’ conscience-free zeal in pushing abortion to the utmost limits. They have to redouble their efforts to fight back against the propaganda.

Another issue is turnout. In many of these races, the results could have been flipped if only a higher percentage of Republicans had voted, but they didn’t. Some think it doesn’t matter, “the Democrats will just steal the election anyway, so why bother to vote,” etc. Do you know what that kind of defeatist attitude results in? Defeat! As the horrific results of this election start to become apparent over the next year, I’m sure many Republicans will be complaining about how bad things are getting, and wondering how such incompetent people with such awful ideas came to power. If they didn’t vote, then they can look for the reason in the nearest mirror.

That brings us to the RNC. There was a big push to change the RNC’s leadership that failed, but we were assured they’d learned their lesson and had plans to turn out voters. Well…where were they? I heard a lot of complaints about important races not getting the funding they needed, and saw a lot of races lost to low GOP turnout. Meanwhile, the biggest news I’ve heard from the RNC lately was that it agreed to let NBC and two liberal news anchors host the next GOP primary debate. How many at-bats and strike-outs should they get before they're sent to the Democrat-run unisex showers?

Finally, a lot of people are trying to blame this latest election debacle on Trump, even though he had little to no involvement in most of these races. It’s true, Trump Derangement Syndrome is a big motivator for the Democrat base, but it’s a brain-wasting disease, and I’m sure that will be true for years to come whether Trump is in politics or not. Let’s face it: the current Democrat Party can’t run on its successes and achievements because it has none, other than knowing how to stay in power despite outrageous failure. It succeeds almost entirely on smears, vilification and scare narratives.

If they don’t have Trump, then whoever comes along next will quickly be smeared as “worse than Trump” (they used to say “worse than Hitler,” but I think they’re realizing a lot of their young base are admirers of Hitler.) To them, all Republicans are racist, sexist, homophobic, transphobic monsters who want to chain women in the kitchen and bring back slavery (which is odd because Republicans fought a Civil War to make Democrats give up their slaves.) And it makes no difference who the Republican is (just look at the wild attempts to paint new Speaker Mike Johnson as a crazy, dangerous radical right-winger when they don’t even know who he is.)

No, whether Trump is running or not, Republicans will always have to deal with the problem of misled, miseducated voters whose emotions have been fired up by phony Democrat propaganda. We need to have competent leaders to counter that, and the best way is to find someone who can motivate rational people to get off the couch and vote. That didn’t happen yesterday, and it’s going to cost a lot of innocent lives in Ohio.

Here's a round-up of election results…

https://redstate.com/smoosieq/2023/11/07/live-election-results-kentucky-mississippi-ohio-pennsylvania-rhode-island-virginia-n2166023

Some commentary from Fox News…

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/top-takeaways-election-day-2023-what-they-say-about-2024-showdowns

And I think some pretty spot-on comments from Todd Starnes…

https://www.toddstarnes.com/politics/dont-blame-trump-for-what-happened-on-election-day/

And from Bonchie at Redstate.com…

https://redstate.com/bonchie/2023/11/08/republicans-werent-tired-of-losing-yet-n2166041

A Bright Spot In Tuesday’s Elections: Bonchie at Redstate.com also points out that while the GOP didn’t take the legislature in Virginia, they actually overperformed, winning in every district that voted for Biden by less than 9 points. Virginia is a blue state infested with federal employees, so it may be impossible for Republicans to take it. But the strength they showed even in a state like that could bode well for them in swing states in 2024. Hope that makes it easier to get through your day.

https://redstate.com/bonchie/2023/11/08/the-2023-elections-produced-a-lone-bright-spot-virginia-n2166044


Big Tech is forcing our hand

Government and Big Tech working together to censor conservative views, is a big reason why we changed things up and moved my newsletter to Substack.

Because you are a free subscriber to my newsletter, I would like you to consider subscribing to the paid version on Substack.

A Substack subscription-based newsletter allows my team and I to focus on what matters: the writing and the research we do to back up the writing, instead of worrying about censorship, or what Google is saying about me, how they are handling advertising on our website or whether or not my work shows up when you search for it.

To keep the newsletter going, we have setup a monthly goal of identifying 900 new paying subscribers for the month of NOVEMBER and we have 851 to go.

If you can afford to do so, please subscribe here:

Subscribe now >>>

To become a paid subscriber of my politics newsletter it is $5 monthly or $36 annually. I email daily and my politics newsletters usually take 10-15 minutes to read. I cover the news of the day and the liberal media. I write about the upcoming elections and dive deep on the Biden scandals. I will also share my opinion of the Trump indictment. I don’t think you will regret reading my newsletter regularly, so please consider subscribing today.

Sincerely,

Mike Huckabee


Here are the latest updates on the war in Israel from Fox News:

https://www.foxnews.com/live-news/november-8-israel-hamas-war

Israeli forces continue to press into Gaza as the UN estimates that 15,000 people have fled south. The IDF announced that it had killed Moshen Abu Zina, one of Hamas’ top weapons manufacturers, in an airstrike. Meanwhile, former Trump National Security Council official Richard Goldberg said that despite sending US warships to the Middle East, President Biden is doing nothing to deter Iran from backing groups that are attacking US troops and his continued pursuit of a nuclear deal with Iran and unfreezing their assets is sending a message of weakness and appeasement.


Incidents of anti-Semitism are on the rise

Around the world, incidents of anti-Semitism are on the rise. In a scene scarily reminiscent of World War II, French authorities are investigating the painting of Stars of David on properties around Paris by a Moldovan couple.

https://www.foxnews.com/world/duo-painted-stars-of-david-in-alleged-intimidation-as-antisemitic-acts-have-exploded-reports

Gun store owners told Fox News that they’re seeing a growing number of Jewish customers buying guns and signing up for firearms training to protect themselves.

Speaking of people who are firing up boneheads to anti-Semitic violence, Tuesday, in a bipartisan vote of 234-188 (22 Democrats supporting and four Republicans opposing), the House voted to censure Rep. Rashida Tlaib for “promoting false narratives regarding the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel and for calling for the destruction of the state of Israel.” That includes falsely blaming Israel for allegedly bombing a hospital and refusing to apologize, even after the story was debunked. She also posted a video of the chant “From the river to the sea,” which is universally understood to be a call for the eradication of Israel, and ludicrously claiming it was an “aspirational call for freedom, human rights, and peaceful coexistence.”

https://www.westernjournal.com/rashida-tlaib-breaks-tears-house-floor-attempts-make-victim/

It’s ironic that some Republicans who voted no did so out of concern that the censure would infringe on free speech, but if you thought it would stop Tlaib from spewing more nonsense, you’re sadly mistaken. With her fellow “Squad” members comforting her, Tlaib gave a tearful speech defending herself that made it all about her being the victim, calling for a ceasefire and calling Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu an “extremist,” but with zero mention of the Hamas terrorists who tortured, raped and murdered hundreds of Israelis on October 7th.

For all the drama, censure isn’t really much of a punishment. Here’s the description of what it entails from Wikipedia: "In the House of Representatives, censure is essentially a form of public humiliation carried out on the House floor. As the Speaker of the House reads out a resolution rebuking a member for a specified misconduct, that member must stand in the House well and listen to it. This process has been described as a morality play in miniature.

In short, it’s a public shaming, a morality play for people with no morals. And since it’s most recently been aimed at people like Tlaib and Adam Schiff who are completely shameless, it’s of limited effectiveness. Just hope and pray that by the next election, voters in her district will come to their senses and use their removal power to cleanse the House of her for real.


Must-Read:

An article on why so many Californians are fleeing the state, not for Florida or Texas but for Arkansas. It’s written by the state’s outstanding new Governor, Sarah Huckabee Sanders.

https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/why-people-leaving-california-arkansas

I have two messages to all the Californians moving to Arkansas:

1. Welcome!

2. Don’t vote the way Californians do and ruin my home state.



 

Overpaid

Last night, the House approved a measure to slash “Transportation Secretary” Pete Buttigieg’s salary to $1 a year. I know what you’re thinking: yes, he’d still be overpaid.

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/house-approves-bill-slashing-pete-buttigiegs-salary-1-dollar

The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Marjorie Taylor-Greene agrees, saying she doesn’t think he deserves one penny. Under his “leadership,” the US has suffered multiple train derailments, airline cancellations and supply chain disruptions, while he seemingly does nothing (he kicked off the job by taking months of parental leave, and nobody even noticed he was gone.)

Greene said that for Buttigieg, the job is “all about fake photo ops and taxpayer-funded private jet trips to accept LGBTQ awards.” She said, “Pothole Pete staged fake bike rides to the White House and used private planes funded by taxpayers to receive awards for the way certain people have sex. American taxpayers should not be on the hook for paying for his lavish trips or his salary."

I wholeheartedly agree, but sadly, this will never pass the Democrat Senate or be signed by President Biden. Can you imagine any of them taking a public stand that federal officials should be paid what they’re actually worth?


Out

Instapundit notes that the hilarious CNN euphemism for riots (“fiery but peaceful protests”) is out. The new buzz term to cover violence and vandalism by pro-Palestinian protesters is “passionate protests.” As long as you’re “passionate,” anything goes. Unless you’re passionate about supporting Trump, that is.

https://instapundit.com/615720/


Quote of the Day:

Florida Rep. Jared Moskowitz was asked about Rep. Rashida Tlaib’s outrageous claim that the chant “From the river to the sea” is an “aspirational call for freedom, human rights, and peaceful coexistence.” His response: “‘From the river to the sea’ means the destruction of Israel and everyone who’s in it, okay? Just like ‘Mein Kampf’ is not a coloring book and the final solution means exactly what Hitler meant it to mean.”


Crowder releases “manifesto” excerpts

Monday, Steven Crowder released excerpts from what he claimed to be the long-suppressed “manifesto” of Covenant School mass shooter Audrey Hale. It was not a sad portrait of an oppressed trans person that “did not include specific political, religious or social issues (the narrative we’ve been led to believe.) Instead, the excerpts painted a sick portrait of someone so fired up by hatred of kids with “white privilege” that she was reveling in the chance to murder as many of the little blonde “crackers” as possible.

https://www.breitbart.com/2nd-amendment/2023/11/06/tn-bureau-investigation-wont-confirm-purported-leak-covenant-school-shooters-journal-sneering-victims-white-privilege/

I’m not going to go into a lot of detail on this story yet because there are conflicting reports and charges about whether it’s authentic or parts are taken out of context (if this is true, what possible “context” could alter its meaning?) Some pundits noted that Nashville authorities’ reaction was to launch an investigation into the leak, which you wouldn’t think they’d do if it weren’t authentic. If it is authentic, then it’s already out there, so why not release the entire thing and let the public make up their own minds, especially if the narrative is not what we’ve been told and the shooter was actually fired up by all the divisive, racist, anti-white rhetoric from the left? Why be afraid of sunlight and truth?


In closed-door hearing, Weiss’ testimony supports claim of IRS whistleblowers

Delaware U.S. Attorney David Weiss, who is now special counsel in the Hunter Biden tax/finance case, sat for a transcribed interview Tuesday with the House Judiciary Committee.  There were no cameras in the room --- presumably because this testimony would involve an ongoing investigation --- but the committee posted afterwards that Jim Jordan had told reporters this:

“When [Weiss] was specifically asked, did you ever request special counsel authority under Section 515, Mr. Weiss’s response was yes, in the spring of 2022.  So that goes to the heart of the matter.”

Weiss said the authority was not given, and so he “never had that authority throughout the time and yet he pretends that somehow he did have that.”  And then finally, in August, “he gets special counsel status when he requests that from the Attorney General.”

Jordan said that Weiss “won’t answer a lot of questions,” but that the “key takeaway” is that his original request for that authority was denied by Main Justice, just as whistleblower Gary Shapley had said in testimony before the House Ways and Means Committee in May.

“So once again,” Jordan told reporters, “Shapley and Ziegler’s testimony continues to stand up to every single witness we brought in for an interview.”  A trove of documents released by the House Ways and Means Committee supports their testimony as well.

https://twitter.com/JudiciaryGOP/status/1721980735681130606?ref

This does throw some shade on the changing story that came from Merrick Garland, who had tried to maintain that Weiss had “ultimate authority” all along.  All the other testimony is showing Weiss did not.

A note of clarification:  Special ATTORNEY authority and special COUNSEL authority are two different things.  As the DAILY CALLER explains, “Special attorney authority under Section 515 would have authorized Weiss’ office to level charges against Hunter Biden outside of his district without needing to collaborate with the U.S. Attorneys in those jurisdictions.”  In July, Weiss wrote a letter to South Carolina Sen. Lindsay Graham saying he did not request special counsel authority.  He alluded to internal discussions about Section 515 special attorney authority without disclosing the results of those discussions.”

Weiss had asked for special attorney authority after having been denied cooperation by U.S. Attorney for DC Matthew Graves on bringing tax charges against Hunter in his district.  (There’s news about conflicts of interest regarding the Biden-appointed Graves elsewhere in the newsletter, in today’s January 6 update.)

Graves testified before the Judiciary Committee in October and did confirm his decision not to cooperate with Weiss on bringing charges against Hunter.  Again, Graves WAS APPOINTED BY JOE BIDEN.  This confirms whistleblower Shapley’s testimony a few months back… 

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/biden-appointed-dc-us-attorney-quashed-hunter-s-felony-tax-charges-irs-whistleblower-testifies/ar-AA1e5nqz

The U.S. attorney for the Central District of California, Martin Estrada, who also refused to cooperate with Weiss on bringing charges against Hunter, WAS ALSO APPOINTED BY JOE BIDEN.

Prior to his answers yesterday, Weiss seemed to be all over the map about what authority he had and what he asked for at what time.  He told Jordan in a letter dated June 7 of this year that he had “ultimate authority” over charging Hunter, though clearly, he did not, as he had been denied cooperation by Graves in March 2022.  Later in June, Weiss wrote another letter to Jordan in which he admitted his charging authority was geographically limited.

As for Jordan telling reporters after the meeting that Weiss “won’t answer a lot of questions,” we now have to wonder what questions were asked, which ones were answered and which were not.  Most likely, Weiss repeatedly relied on the prosecutor’s standard non-answer: “I can’t comment on an ongoing investigation.”  The Judiciary Committee really should release the transcript and let us see how that played in the hearing room.

https://dailycaller.com/2023/11/07/hunter-biden-prosecutor-david-weiss-detail-whistleblower-testimony-jim-jordan

Meanwhile, legal analyst Margot Cleveland at THE FEDERALIST has turned her attention to the testimony of another top DOJ official, Stuart Goldberg at the Tax Division.  Her concern is that even though Goldberg has confirmed the accuracy of Shapley and Ziegler’s testimony about the DOJ putting up roadblocks, he still refused to acknowledge that Attorney General Garland and U.S. Attorney Weiss were misleading with their claims that Weiss had ultimate authority.

Instead of letting Weiss and the DOJ stand by their story, she says, Congress needs to stop deferring to that tired “ongoing investigation” excuse for withholding information.  “Oversight Committees,” she says, “should start issuing and enforcing subpoenas to expose the DOJ’s cover-up of Biden family corruption --- and its cover-up of the cover-up.”

Goldberg provided needed clarification in his testimony by saying the Tax Division has authority to decide whether to open a grand jury investigation for felony tax crimes and whether to authorize prosecution for those crimes.  He said the Tax Division even had to approve the specific charges that were brought.  (Translation:  Weiss never did have “ultimate authority” on charging Hunter with those crimes.)  Certain other investigative steps also require a sign-off from the Tax Division.  And even beyond the normal approval procedures required for all tax cases, in a high-profile case such as this, there would be “closer supervision” of the investigation by the Tax Division, including authorization at a higher level than normal.

We had speculated that authorizations for this case were placed squarely at deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco’s level.  And Goldberg’s testimony bears that out, as he said that if the Tax Division refused to bring charges, a U.S. attorney could “appeal” that decisions to...the deputy attorney general!  Goldberg said this had happened only once in the past three years.

But Cleveland points out something of concern that happened during Goldberg’s testimony about this.  When he was asked specifically whether the Tax Division had recommended criminal felony charges in 2022, Goldberg’s attorney --- a “Justice” Department lawyer --- directed him not to answer the question.

So the Judiciary Committee took a different approach: “Between DOJ Tax and the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Delaware, who would you say is the primary decision-maker on this case with regard to the tax component?”

Goldberg tried to threat the needle, saying that from his perspective, Weiss and his office were “leading” the case and “running” the case, and that “Tax Division had responsibilities under the Justice Department procedures and policies to review certain things,” but that “any disagreement or difference of opinion...would have to be decided by someone in higher authority.”

Is that muddled enough for you?  It gets worse:  after Goldberg concedes that Weiss was not the ultimate authority, he weasels out of acknowledging the obvious when confronted with Weiss’ letter claiming he HAD ultimate authority.  In typical lawyerly fashion, he (and the DOJ representing him) tries to have it both ways.  He says that, yes, the Tax Division has the authority to “authorize or not authorize” tax cases under Department policies.  But he also justifies Weiss’ statement claiming authority, saying that as he recalled, Weiss’ letter qualified the authority to say that it was “consistent with” Department’s rules and policies and federal rules.

He said the same of Garland’s claim that Weiss had full authority.

But the DOJ’s policies NEGATE full authority.  We’re tired of all this doublespeak from government attorneys.  Either Weiss had authority to charge Hunter Biden or he did not.  It’s clear now that he did not and that obstacles were put in his path, by the DOJ and by the U.S. Attorneys’ offices in DC and California.  Even Weiss’ second-in-command in the Delaware office, Lesley Wolf, was placing roadblocks.  Both Weiss and Garland have made claims about authority that were not true.

Anyone who has tried through weasel testimony to discourage us from concluding this is part of the Biden administration’s cover-up.  It must be hard not to play weasel with a “Justice” Department lawyer sitting next to you, ostensibly representing you but more likely representing the “Justice Department, but that’s the truth.

https://thefederalist.com/2023/11/06/with-more-smoke-and-mirrors-about-hunter-biden-charging-decisions-doj-covers-up-a-cover-up/


Our Military: The Only Endangered Species Liberals Don't Worry About! 

By Ken Allard

American schizophrenia is reaching heights only recently reserved for COVID. Last weekend, Palestinian protestors mobbed Washington DC, trying to hurdle the White House fence, spraying red paint on its gates and defacing statues in nearby Lafayette Square. The equally shocking images of scrawled swastikas and Raghida Talib televised in mid-snarl provided convincing proof for finishing Trump’s border wall while making citizenship rights conditional on good behavior.

Expect some contrasts between those repulsive follies and next weekend’s commemorations of Veterans Day. Even so, Veterans Day may eventually end up like Columbus Day as a declining fall observance since only half of one percent of Americans now serve in uniform while the all-volunteer force faces chronically declining enlistments. Other than murmuring the obligatory “Thank you for your service,” to an isolated, aging veteran population, what exactly do the rest of you even have in common with us?

The short answer is not much, but there are three short lessons characterizing the American way of war. The first was learned in basic training and still resonates fifty years later: Mutual dependence on your buddy because your lives as well as the mission still depend on it. My BCT experience was much more Forrest Gump than Full Metal Jacket, but our drill sergeants had already survived two or three Vietnam combat tours so their pointed lessons commanded respect. One of the first was that Army Green transcended all other racial, ethnic, cultural, educational and behavioral considerations. “And that goes twice for you nuts from California!” my DI roared as he took charge of our platoon. His succinct lesson introduced us to an Army that would become increasingly diverse: professional volunteers (not draftees) who were often Black, Hispanic, female and, later, even gay.

For most of my military career, however, the Army was not “woke” nor even an institution that worried much about political correctness. The reason: We were effectively “scared straight” in 1973, after coming perilously close to World War III. The Yom Kippur War (between Israel and a powerful coalition of Arab armies) eventually spilled over into a superpower confrontation that neither side wanted. In its aftermath, the US belatedly recognized that, during our lengthy sojourn in Vietnam, Soviet modernization had stolen a march on the West. Not only had we stripped our armies in Europe to re-supply Israel but we also faced the dilemma of technology innovation to cope with a dramatically more lethal battlefield. We studied Soviet equipment and tactics while rigorously analyzing how the Israelis had found new ways “to fight out-numbered and win.” We also recalled Sun Tsu’s ancient wisdom to “Know your enemy…” in order to defeat Saddam’s Soviet-style armies twice, the first time in just over 100 hours.

Now such fundamentals as the brotherhood of arms and knowing one’s adversaries are not typically taught in the nation’s professional schools where the other 99% of the population receives their career training. This rigid class separation leads to the third American characteristic of war, namely that politicians of either party seldom learn the lessons that truly matter. George W. Bush ignored several centuries of civil-military theory by committing our professional military to the long-term War on Terror while the country was sent back to its colleges and shopping malls. “Hey, your kid goes to Kandahar while mine majors in antisemitism studies at Harvard. So what?” Eventually, this manpower stalemate produced the presidencies of Barack Obama, who went from Middle Eastern apology tours to the debacles of Benghazi, Stuxnet, ISIS-as-Junior-Varsity-opponent and, eventually, to Iran’s resurgence as America’s Enemy Number One in the Middle East. The real price of ignorance in matters of war and peace: the combined presidencies of Barack Obama and Joseph Biden as well as the natural elevation of toadies from three administrations to positions of honor, influence and replication.

Consequently, I approach this Veterans Day 2023 with misgivings, and pervasive questions rather than a deep-seated confidence that America’s core institutions will handily see us through. That persistent well-being vanished over the last month as those pro-Holocaust, pro-barbarism demonstrations besieged our colleges with hardly a word of denunciation from the vaunted Ivy League.

In the words of Walter Russell Mead, possibly our most eminent historian, “This is the bleeding edge of something much more widespread that has the potential to touch the lives of every American.” https://www.thefp.com/p/are-we-tipping-into-a-new-world-war-fanon-mead

And what exceptionally bad timing for our military to become an endangered species! 

A Vietnam-era draftee, Colonel (Ret.) Ken Allard is a former West Point professor, Dean of the National War College and on-air military analyst with NBC News.



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Comments 1-10 of 15

  • Stephanie Wilson

    11/09/2023 02:18 AM

    W/ all due respect Ken Allard, & the rest of you isolationists, up yours!! ?? George W Bush was right to fight the war on terror! I am getting sick to death of you people bashing Bush! Leave him alone! The man is retired & he ain't bothering anyone!

  • Linda Showmaker

    11/08/2023 09:58 PM

    Im glad the house gaged her. I would like to see Biden vs Trump in the next election. My prayers are with Israel, I weep for its mother.

  • Stephen D Leonard

    11/08/2023 09:10 PM

    Governor:

    Like it or not, conservatives have to come to terms with the fact that most Americans today support abortion rights. There are some on the fence, open to compromise, but the 2020, 2022, and now 2023 elections prove that if Republicans don't back away from this issue, we will see more and more losses in the future. I know many conservatives have deeply held moral convictions that abortion is simply unacceptable, sinful, tantamount to murder. But very few younger voters agree, and there are more of them and fewer older conservative every year. The trend is not going to change.

    The only two options are to take the loss on abortion, however painful that is, and fight for all the other conservative principles that still attract widespread popular approval, or to keep hammering away with attempts to ban abortion and go on to lose elections and thereby lose any hope of saving society and America from the rest of Democrats' horrific ideas. One or the other - there is no longer any possibility of a win on abortion and winning elections.

    The sooner widely admired conservatives like you acknowledge this, the better our prospects for keeping America America.

  • Bari Bentley. Ms

    11/08/2023 08:17 PM

    Governor Huckabee, I want to keep getting your newsletters. They are wonderful. They make me laugh. Please send me a bill as I want to continue receiving. I will write a check. I am on a Government Watch List under the DOD Fusion Center so it is easier for me to write a check as I get hacked, etc. it’s a rough life. I am 74 years old now and have been on the List since 2007. So this morning, I was also disappointed to learn the news that Senator Wyden of Oregon along with many other Dems and GOP leaders have agreed to renew the Patriot Act Bill, FISA 702, updating to the Government Surveillance Reform Act 2023. That doesn’t help innocent American citizens on the Domestic Terrorist List. Our lives are still destroyed by this. We were hoping to see it expired. Our leaders ignore our calls and emails.

    It may still expire on December 31st if they don’t get it passed in the Senate and Congress. I don’t think that will happen.

    And then when I heard the results of the election last night… what happened? I was so disappointed. They have to get rid of Ronna Romney. Even Youngkin didn’t get his people that he campaigned for. Is the abortion issue the problem for elections or is it poor operating voting machines? I’m in Arizona. I felt as sick to my stomach about Andy Beshear winning in Kentucky as I did with Katie Hobbs winning in 2022 (Arizona).

    I love Sarah… she’s incredible. I hope she’s in government for a long time.

    Please send me address and amount to get newsletters through 2024. Thank you, Governor Huckabee. There is always some humor to all of this. Communism doesn’t seem very funny right now.

    PS. I used to work for the best friends of the Clintons… Harry and Linda Thomason… many years ago on a show called Lime Street, for Columbia Television. You may know of them. They were wonderful to work for. I am Republican but I do like Bill Clinton.

    I am thinking 2024 is looking pretty dismal. I’m glad I have a dog. He makes me laugh and forget what’s going on in the world. I have to get back to work calling congress reps and senators telling them to please not pass the new Patriot Act Bill.
    Too many lives destroyed being on these Govt Lists.

    Meanwhile, they are letting in real terrorists at the border.

    Nite, Gov. Huckabee! Stay well….

  • Paul Kern

    11/08/2023 07:37 PM

    Very sad to see the insanity. I live in Vancouver Washington and the turnout was dismal. The churches are acting like the German Church which surrendered to Hitler! Had to leave my church after the last pastor did . A Ukrainian church becoming a mega church. Going woke. No observance of major holidays like Memorial Day, Easter , Veterans and Thanksgiving or even Christmas. No Gospel preaching in this county as make becoming woke!

  • Victor Passenheim

    11/08/2023 05:46 PM

    Any Republican who is STILL pretending our elections are fair and free of fraud is beyond help at this point. Tuesdays numbers are proof. Let's stop acting surprised and pull our heads out of our butts on this matter. Can we, please?! Like, while we still have a Republic?

  • Darlene Yamane

    11/08/2023 04:08 PM

    Republicans need to push their PLATFORM instead of individual candidates whose personalities may not be received by all Republicans. Comparing the 2 platforms should educate those who think their vote doesn't matter to consider how opposite the 2 parties are and to vote; should convict those who profess to be Christians that there is only one party they should be voting for because it's prolife and should make the PLATFORM the focus rather than the individual. I voted for Trump and still think he is the person who can best do the job, BUT his incessant negative, sarcastic, boastful comments cause me to want to duct tape his mouth! His negative comments by far overshadow the good he wants to do and has done and give our twisted media all the ammunition they need to sink Republicans.

  • JC Holland

    11/08/2023 04:07 PM

    Governor: I just don't get it. Why are Christians staying home by the millions and not voting?
    To that proven point, why isn't every GOP candidate pounding the bricks to go speak to every church and Christian organization they can get too?
    Why isn't the RNC target mailing Christians to get out and vote and why it's important?
    I get almost nothing from any Christian GOP candidate. Do they just take people like me for granted and then wonder after an election why Christians stayed home?
    Is the RNC and GOP simply filled was marketing idiots? How long will it take for them to learn to market candidates like the socialist democrats do? Blaming MSM is a copout.
    Why aren't more Christian pastors like Franklin Graham speaking out from the pulpit? Are they too scared they'll lose a few butts in the seats?
    The ignorance of the American voter is astounding, and I don't just mean the indoctrinated college fools.
    After what happened in KY, OH, and VA, it appears all is lost because Christians and their local leaders aren't getting out the vote.
    Sad!

  • Samuel L. Smith Sr.

    11/08/2023 03:55 PM

    As far as how the elections went Tuesday, that is not surprising! We keep praying and hoping things will turn around. Well that is not going to happen, God will not hear from Heaven, and he will not heal our land, "until we turn from our wicked ways"! Instead of turning from our wicked ways we are driving deeper into them! It is a shame what our military is becoming! These kids today could not survive what I went though in boot camp (USMC) back in 1976. If you can't take it in boot camp you sure as hell will not survive in combat, the enemy does not care one bit about your wokness. Sad to say today's military reminds me the TV series M.A.S.H.. To our "TRUE" veterans my God bless you and keep you and your safe! Semper Fi

  • Bruce Obermeyer

    11/08/2023 03:44 PM

    Mike, you missed the 600 pound RINO in the room in assessing the Geldings On Prozac losses in Virginia. Youngkin has portrayed himself as an Anti-MAGA RINO Establishment Never-Trumper, and that stain was all over the Republicans running for the Assembly and Senate in Virginia. They turned off the base and the turnout. Without Trump's endorsement, any Republican is suspect and assumed to be just another one of that Establishment "herd" and will NOT have any support from the Conservative Republican base.

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