By Mike Huckabee
January 16, 2022
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Good morning! Here are the top stories from this week that I think you will want to read. Topics include:
- Bible Verse of the Day - Psalm 139:23-24 KJV
- Bob Saget RIP
- Another comedian dares to speak out against wokeness
- UPDATE --- Reaction to Biden's obscene "voting rights" speech
- LYIN' BIDEN: a monstrous "voting rights" speech in Georgia
- America The Beautiful
- RIP Ronnie Spector
- A Harsh Double-Whammy Lesson in NYC
Sincerely,
Mike Huckabee
1. DAILY BIBLE VERSE
Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.
Psalm 139:23-24 KJV
2. Bob Saget RIP:
By “Huckabee” pop culture guru Pat Reeder (http://www.hollywoodhifi.com)
We are sad to report that actor/comedian Bob Saget has died at 65 of as-yet unknown causes. He was found dead in his hotel room in Orlando after a performance at a comedy club. Police said there were no signs of foul play or drugs, and he had tweeted just hours before about how happy he was to be doing stand-up again.
https://www.foxnews.com/us/bob-saget-found-dead-in-orlando-hotel-room
His family issued this statement:
https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/bob-saget-family-statement-death
Saget was beloved by millennials as a father figure for his role as Danny Tanner on “Full House.” He also hosted the top-rated show, “America’s Funniest Home Videos” and was the narrator of the long-running hit series, “How I Met Your Mother.” But his first love was stand-up, and fans who knew him primarily from “Full House” were often shocked when they went to see him live and discovered how gleefully raunchy his club material was. It was similar to an earlier generation of fans who knew Buddy Hackett only from talk shows and then saw him in Las Vegas.
He was certainly beloved by his peers, who are filling Twitter with tributes, calling him one of the nicest and kindest people in Hollywood. Our sincere condolences to his family. We will update this story when more is known.
UPDATE:
The Orange County, Florida, Sheriff’s Department has released some more details about the circumstances surrounding the death of comedian Bob Saget at 65.
https://www.westernjournal.com/sheriffs-office-releases-preliminary-report-bob-sagets-death/
But coroners say it could take weeks to determine the cause of death. In that news vacuum, rumors are swirling that he might have had a heart attack caused by a COVID vaccine booster shot. Again, we still don’t even know what caused his death or if he had any underlying health issues, so there is certainly no evidence that it was vaccine-related. I know it’s tempting for many to jump to conclusions, but let’s hold off on assessing blame, at least until we know what he actually died of.
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3. Another comedian dares to speak out against wokeness:
Steve Harvey said that cancel culture has “killed comedy,” and it’s caused him to step away from doing stand-up. He says that every joke these days allegedly hurts somebody’s feelings, and that when he finally does another stand-up special, he’ll probably have to call it “This Is It” because he’ll never be allowed to do another one.
Personally, while I understand his viewpoint, I believe that now more than ever, we need comedians to step up and tell as many jokes as possible about the “woke” left. Knuckling under to them only gives them a greater sense of their own power to censor and intimidate. Comedians have always been society’s greatest weapon against arrogant tyrants, and just because the tyrants are self-righteous “activists” with Twitter accounts instead of politicians or military dictators, that shouldn’t make them immune to richly-deserved ridicule.
In a related story, here’s a must-read article by Bari Weiss at Substack about the dire situation in Hollywood, where leftism and wokeism have many people terrified of saying anything that might offend someone and get them blacklisted (just using the word “blacklisted” can now get you blacklisted.)
It’s gone beyond a welcome openness to writers and creators of more diverse backgrounds to the point where there’s blatant discrimination against white job applicants. That means more racially diverse writers, but also means that good, experienced writers are being shut out, which helps to explain why so much of what we’re now seeing on our screens isn’t fresh, creative, thrilling or entertaining, it’s just transparent leftist propaganda that feels as if it were written by freshman UCLA film school students. It’s why, if you want well-written stories with sharp dialogue, original stories and believable characters, you’ll need a subscription to Turner Classic Movies.
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4. UPDATE --- Reaction to Biden's obscene "voting rights" speech:
On Tuesday, the offensive individual who currently occupies the White House gave such a nasty, dishonest and divisive speech about so-called "voting rights" that our commentary turned out to be part of a huge and richly-deserved backlash.
On Wednesday, Sen. Mitch McConnell said that while he has "known, liked and respected" Biden for many years, he "did not recognize "the man at the podium yesterday." Here are Sen. McConnell's remarks from the Senate floor --- highly recommended reading.
We're mystified as to what it was in past years that caused Sen. McConnell to respect him, as Biden has been telling lies for a very long time, but whatever it was, it appears to be over now.
"The President did not get a mandate to transform America or reshape society," McConnell said. "But he did arguably get a mandate to do just one central thing that he campaigned on. Here's what that was: bridge a divided country, lower the temperature, dial down the perpetual air of crisis in politics...It is the one job citizens actually hired him to do."
McConnell is right --- Biden was presented during the 2020 campaign as the amiable, low-key personality who would calm things down and bring us together. That "unifying" persona was marketed to America like a box of bland, comforting cereal, and unfortunately a lot of Americans bought it. It's undoubtedly the main reason Biden got the support that he did. But in just one year, especially with his vile race-baiting rhetoric, he has "fundamentally transformed" that fake persona he was using and given us a look at who he really is. It's not pretty.
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5. LYIN' BIDEN: a monstrous "voting rights" speech in Georgia:
All right. That is just it. President Biden lied so much during his “voting rights” speech in Georgia Tuesday that the gloves have to come off. On my radio show, my slogan was, “I’m conservative...but I’m not mad at anybody about it.” Well, circumstances have changed since I did that show, and today, there’s plenty to be mad about.
“I ask every elected official in America,” Biden said from the podium, “how do you want to be remembered? ...Do you want to be on the side of Dr. King, or George Wallace?”
https://twitter.com/jtLOL/status/1481025019752947723?t=fm7qLs5FKo4H3JDOmmuEyw&s=19
That remark is so offensive, it’s hard to accept that this seems to be the level of discourse today for political speech --- at least the uncensored speech that comes from the left.
First of all, virtually all conservatives agree with the philosophy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Do you know who’s NOT on the side of Dr. King? Any adherent of Critical Race Theory, which teaches that we must look first at the color of someone’s skin, not the content of his or her character. CRT stands for the opposite of what Dr. King stood for. So Biden is lying in his implication about Republicans. He offends me deeply with that, lie, not that he cares.
Here’s the full video of both Vice President Harris and President Biden:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMCOV5t-G10
Harris says, “I have heard your outrage, about the ‘anti-voter law’ here, and how many voters will likely be kept from voting. And Georgia is not alone. Across our nation, anti-voter laws could make it more difficult for as many as 55 million Americans to vote.” (NOTE: Did you know that Biden’s home state of Delaware has more stringent election laws than Georgia does?)
Tell me, Kamala, where does that number, 55 million, come from? Are there 55 million qualified voters in America who don’t have or can’t get an ID? Who can’t scrawl a signature that can be verified? Who can’t apply for an absentee ballot, rather than just having an unsolicited ballot arrive in the mail for anyone to fill out? The only safeguards we want for the voting process are those minimal ones that help keep it honest. And those are the very provisions you want to do away with. That tells us something very important about you. In more confrontational words, we’re on to you.
Harris accuses the GOP of interfering with elections to get the outcomes they want. Really? This is something I would think the Democrats know exactly how to do. It’s what Marc Elias spent the entire year of 2020 on, getting election laws changed, and what he’s doing now in anticipation of the election this year. The stated mission of The Elias Firm is TO GET MORE DEMOCRATS ELECTED TO OFFICE.
The “assault on voting rights” Harris accused Republicans of is as vapid and made-up as the “Russia Russia Russia!!” hoax. Repeat: there is no assault by Republicans on the freedom to vote. It is MADE UP. It is FAKE NEWS. Democrats’ frantic “voting rights” campaign is based on nothing.
I won’t spend more time on Kamala’s speech, because few Americans take her seriously, anyway. Let’s go to what President Biden had to say, even though most don’t take him seriously, either. Watch the whole thing if you can stomach it --- you’ll see Biden, early on, refer to the VP as “President Harris” --- or else read our list of his most offensive remarks, below, with our notes...
(Biden referring to the Jan. 6 “insurrection”) “...when a dagger was literally held at the throat of American democracy.” (NOTE: aside from this being a gross exaggeration, when will the left figure out what “literally” means?)
“…But then, the violent mob of January 6, 2021, empowered and encouraged by a defeated former President, sought to win through violence what he had lost at the ballot box.” (NOTE: That is a LIE. As you know, President Trump offered Speaker Pelosi up to 20,000 National Guard troops to keep the peace that day. She turned his offer down.)
“...for...the first time, to stop the peaceful transfer of power.” (NOTE: That is a LIE. Trump and his supporters wished only for a peaceful pause to examine some huge irregularities in the result before certifying the vote.)
“...We’re here today, to stand against the forces in America that value power over principle, forces that attempted a coup, a coup against the legally expressed will of the American people by sowing doubt, [unintelligible] charges of fraud, and seeking to steal the 2020 election.” (NOTE: That this was a coup is another LIE. And we all had doubt, after what we saw with our own eyes the night of November 3.)
“They want chaos to reign.” (NOTE: He must be talking about HIS party, which thrives on chaos.)
“The battle for the soul of America is not over. We must stand strong and stand together to make sure January 6 marks not the end of democracy but the beginning of a renaissance of our democracy.” (NOTE: Is he out of his mind?)
(After talking about the denial of voting rights to blacks and women) “...And now, the defeated former President and his supporters use the Big Lie about the 2020 election to fuel torment [?] and anti-voting laws [NOTE: we think he misread the teleprompter here], new laws designed to suppress your vote, to subvert our elections.” (NOTE: That is LIE. The votes likely being suppressed are the ones being canceled out by fraud made possible by Marc Elias’s “reforms.”)
“To them [Republicans], too many people voting in a democracy is a problem.” (NOTE: another LIE. We just want them qualified. And preferably alive.)
It just goes on. Biden points out that Trump himself voted by mail in the White House. Good grief --- does he think Trump got an unsolicited ballot in the mail, or that it wouldn’t be possible to verify his signature?
Dropboxes are, Biden says, “safe, convenient, and you get more people to vote.” Sure, but they have to be supervised, with a chain of custody. Is that so hard? And you don’t get them funded by Mark Zuckerberg.
Then Biden again refers to election safeguards as “Jim Crow 2.0.” “It’s no longer about who gets to vote,” he says, “it’s about making it harder to vote. It’s about who gets to count the vote, and whether your vote counts at all." (NOTE: who COUNTS the vote?? I would say that was definitely the problem in 2020.)
“The goal of the former President and his allies is to disenfranchise anyone who votes against them,” Biden lies.
Well, you know how fond I am of saying, “We watch the news, so you don’t have to,” but, honestly, we just can’t subject ourselves to any more of this –- not without donning hazmat suits. It’s so toxic, it makes long covid look like the sniffles.
I assume Kurt Schlichter forced himself to watch this pack of lies, because it made him even punchier than usual when he wrote his commentary. He’s figured it out, too: Dems are doing this because they want to cheat.
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6. America The Beautiful
God's creation is all around us. To learn more about Denali National Park, visit its website here.
NOTE: We are moving this feature of our newsletter to the Sunday Standard edition.
7. RIP Ronnie Spector:
By “Huckabee” pop culture guru Pat Reeder (http://www.hollywoodhifi.com)
As the pop culture icons of the ‘50s and ‘60s enter their 70s and 80s, it’s inevitable that we’ve started losing them. I’ve had to write a number of obituaries recently, and here’s another particularly tough one: Rock Hall of Famer and one of the great voices of girl group pop/rock, Ronnie Spector, has died after a battle with cancer at 78.
https://variety.com/2022/music/news/ronnie-spector-dead-dies-the-ronettes-1235152801/
Her family issued a statement reading, “Ronnie lived her life with a twinkle in her eye, a spunky attitude, a wicked sense of humor and a smile on her face. She was filled with love and gratitude. Her joyful sound, playful nature and magical presence will live on in all who knew, heard or saw her.” Tributes are flooding Twitter from countless musicians, from Joan Jett to Brian Wilson (who actually wrote the Beach Boys classic “Don’t Worry Baby” for her) to La La Brooks of the Crystals, who remembered her as “so sweet…a hoot, like a firecracker” who had “the most unique voice” and was at her happiest on stage.
https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/la-la-brooks-ronnie-spector-tribute-1283853/
Born Veronica Bennett, she was performing with her sister (she said they purposely played up their flirty sex appeal, getting longer eyelashes every time it worked) when they auditioned for megaproducer/homicidal nutjob Phil Spector, who immediately shouted, “That’s the voice I’ve been looking for!” He created the Ronettes to showcase her, and they quickly scored a string of hits that are still heard today on radio, TV and films, including “Be My Baby,” “Walking in the Rain” and “Baby I Love You.”
Ronnie had much in common with Tina Turner: a powerful, sexy voice that could cut through Spector’s Wall of Sound, an overtly sexy image, an ‘80s career revival and a marriage to an abusive, manipulative husband. Ronnie married Spector, and he kept her a virtual prisoner in his house, driving her to alcoholism before her mother forcibly rescued her from his home, a harrowing experience she described in her 1990 memoir, “Be My Baby.”
Sadly, unlike Tina, Ronnie’s ‘80s revival was mostly limited to guest appearances on her admirer’s records like the Eddie Money classic, “Take Me Home Tonight,” since radio wouldn’t play her solo releases. The only silver lining is that that means there are a lot of great records that most people have yet to hear. Many involve big name stars who greatly admired her, like the 1980s LPs “Siren” (with its great cover) and “Unfinished Business;” the 1990 EP co-produced by Joey Ramone, “She Talks to Rainbows;” the 2006 EP of Marshall Crenshaw songs, “Something’s Gonna Happen;” and the 2016 album of British Invasion hits, “English Heart.”
Rolling Stone compiled a good playlist of 15 essential tracks, ranging from the biggest hits to terrific lesser-known titles, like her 1977 single of Billy Joel’s “Say Goodbye to Hollywood” (which was inspired by “Be My Baby”) with the E Street Band.
https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/ronnie-spector-ronettes-best-songs-1283633/
And my favorite must-hear ‘80s song is her duet on “You Mean So Much To Me, Baby” with Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes. If you love great ‘60s-style, horn-drenched, soulful Jersey rock songs like those that Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band cover, only with better vocals and no political lectures, this is a slice of musical Heaven.
Finally, someone put together a compilation of her interviews and performances on David Letterman’s show from the 1980s through 2010. Great quote: in a joint appearance, Eddie Money said he wanted her for “Take Me Home Tonight,” but figured she was unavailable (Ronnie snorts at that!). But he called her and asked, “What are you doing?” She replied, “The dishes.”
Watch and be reminded of what great pop singing with no need for AutoTune sounds like. RIP, Ronnie.
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8. A Harsh Double-Whammy Lesson in NYC:
New York City voters just got a harsh double-whammy lesson in what “bait and swtich” means. Fed up with Bill DeBlasio’s socialist mismanagement that’s resulted in skyrocketing crime and fleeing residents, they voted in some new Democrats who claimed they would be different…and then the minute they were in office started giving the people DeBlasio 2.0.
First, new Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg announced that he was basically decriminalizing every crime short of murder…
https://nypost.com/2022/01/04/alvin-braggs-green-light-for-anarchy/
And now, new Mayor Eric Adams announced that he will not oppose a controversial new plan to allow up to a million non-citizens to vote in local elections after just 30 days’ residency. Ironically, some critics are from the left and claim it will further dilute the voting power of black residents. While some smaller blue cities let non-citizens vote in municipal elections, San Francisco is the only major city that does, and that’s just for school board elections. New York’s move would be a major change in eroding election standards.
Supporters say this is legal because it only applies to local elections, but it’s already facing a lawsuit that claims it violates the New York state constitution.
Even Nancy Pelosi once said that in New York, even a glass of water could get elected if it had a (D) by its name on the ballot. Maybe it’s time for New Yorkers to stop voting for Democrat glasses of water and realize that what they’re really doing is drinking the Kool-Aid.
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9. Newsletter Note:
Based on reader feedback from our December Survey, we have combined the Hymnal, Daily Bible Verse and Prayer Tree sections of our newsletter. This combined email delivers between 6:30 - 7:30 AM each day.
If you do not already subscribe to the Daily Bible Verse email, and would like to receive it going forward, please sign up here: https://www.mikehuckabee.com/daily-bible-verse
10. I Just Wanted to Say:
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