By Mike Huckabee
February 10, 2023
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BY MIKE HUCKABEE
Blessings on you and your family from all the Huckabee staff! Thank you for subscribing and I hope you enjoy today’s newsletter.
With gratitude,
Mike
DAILY BIBLE VERSE
60 Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee.
Isaiah 60:1 KJV
House Oversight and “Weaponization” Committee hearings this week: telling it all
The NEW YORK POST editorial board wasted no time in calling out Alexandria Ocasio Cortez for lying about the Hunter Biden laptop story broken by their own Miranda Devine in October 2020.
In a blustery rant during Wednesday’s House Oversight Committee hearing, AOC called the story “half-fake.” She also mistakenly showed her ignorance by saying “WASHINGTON POST” when she clearly was referring to Devine’s story in the NEW YORK POST. “We understand how you can get confused since you don’t spend much time in the city that elected you,” the NY POST editors said. In fact, we’d say the sad reality that her “home” district re-elected her tells us more than we might want to hear about the state of the Union.
The editors are justifiably livid. “For someone who claims to be an opponent of ‘disinformation,’” they wrote, “you sure shovel enough horse manure to fill an entire MSNBC studio.” (Of course, the MSNBC folks do that every day.)
They made a great point about AOC: “Something tells us that if an Elon Musk-owned Twitter blocked a story about a Republican, AOC would lose her mind.” We would add that this scenario is purely hypothetical; not just because it assumes AOC has a mind to lose, but also as Musk would not do that --- to a story about a Republican or Democrat. He’s for free speech as a principle to be applied even-handedly.
They detailed what they did at the time to back up the authenticity of their story, confirming emails on the laptop as real. (Not “half-real,” real.) They also pointed out that neither Joe nor Hunter Biden denied the story. There was documentation that Joe had met with some of Hunter’s Chinese business partners, which proved the President had lied to us about that, and also that the Bidens had been working on a huge deal with a Chinese investment firm to begin (coincidentally) after Joe left the vice presidency.
“So there was nothing false about any of this,” the editors wrote. But because it made Joe Biden look bad, intel officials worked with social media companies “to suppress a piece of true journalism before a presidential election. And Twitter still refuses to reveal who pressured it and how, with former officials hiding behind a lot of ‘do not recalls’ at Wednesday’s hearings.” The editors called this “a coordinated bit of gaslighting.”
It occurs to us that with the relentless amount of gaslighting we get today, “gaslighting,” at least in one sense, might not be the best term. You see, it comes from the movie “Gaslight,”in which a husband makes his wife doubt her sanity by dimming the light, turning the gas in the light fixtures DOWN. The powers that be in government and social media continue to turn the gas UP. The lies are so thick that we can smell them. Is there any limit to how much hot gas we’re forced to endure from them? Could AOC turn the gas down even a little? I thought she claimed to be worried about gas killing us all.
https://nypost.com/2023/02/08/aoc-serves-up-disinformation-about-hunter-biden-and-us
On Thursday, Tulsi Gabbard was heard before the House Judiciary Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government, quoting that (very) old white guy Ben Franklin, “Without freedom of thought, there can be no such thing as wisdom and no such thing as public liberty.” She said that during her travels, she’d had the opportunity to see what it’s like in countries where there is no First Amendment, no free press. Our founding documents serve as a reminder of our freedoms, she said, no matter which party has political power at any given time. As Thomas Paine said, “He who would make his own liberty secure must guard even his enemy from opposition, for if he violates this duty, he establishes the precedent that will reach to himself. She went on to give examples of the many times our own government has lied to us, and that demanding the truth “cannot be a partisan fight.” The case she made for free speech is stellar, though it’s sad to see that anyone has to make it.
She chillingly quoted former CIA Director John Brennan from 2021: “Members of the Biden team are moving in laser-like fashion to try to uncover as much as they can about what looks very similar to insurgency movements that we’ve seen overseas --- an unholy alliance, frequently of religious extremists, authoritarians, fascists, bigots, racists, nativists, and even libertarians.” (!!!) Gabbard also cited AG Garland for saying his new domestic terrorism unit is targeting those with “anti-authority views.”
She testified that Hillary Clinton baselessly accused her, while she was serving in Congress and running for President, of being “groomed by the Russians,” and, of course, the media picked it up and repeated it over and over. “This had the harmful impact that was intended,” she said, going on to tell the story of an elderly lady who came up to her during an appearance and demanded to know if she was working for Putin. And Sen. Mitt Romney, she said, accused her of treason.
In reference to encroachments on free speech, she said, “The more we allow this to happen, we start looking less and less like a democratic republic, and the more we look like a banana republic.”
Her entire statement is very powerful --- one of the strongest arguments for free speech we’ve seen in recent years. I strongly recommend you watch the whole thing...
Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan, chairman of that committee, said in his opening statement that “dozens and dozens of whistleblowers” have come forward about a litany of practices that show bias at the FBI. Here are some of the examples he gave, including that they were using the Betsy Ross flag as a terrorist symbol. Another must-watch...
Sen. Chuck Grassley gave a statement as well, saying that “what I’m about to tell you sounds like it’s out of some fiction spy thriller, but it actually happened, and it happened in our own government.”
“...In the past few years, I’ve never seen so much effort from the FBI, the partisan media, and some of my Democratic colleagues to interfere with and undermine very legitimate congressional inquiries, because of a triad of disinformation and outright falsehoods.” Democrats had even inserted this into the official record.
According to Sen. Grassley, the committee has acquired the bank records that authenticate the link from Hunter and James Biden “to entities and individuals connected with the Chinese regime.” This is another must-see video…
Notice that during Sen. Grassley’s testimony, Jonathan Turley could be seen sitting behind him and to his left. He was testifying that day, too, and here is the introduction to his statement about “what may be the largest censorship system in our history.”
For when you have time, his formal written statement will be well worth your while. At least scroll down to page 19, IV. CONCLUSION, in which he says, “Greater transparency is the only course that can help resolve the doubts that many have over the motivations and actions of their government. I remain an optimist that it is still possible to have a civil and constructive discussion of these issues.”
https://jonathanturley.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/TURLEY.TESTIMONY.WEAPONIZATION.pdf
So, what’s coming up? The House Oversight Panel has made a formal request for records from Hunter Biden, James Biden, and Hunter’s business partner Eric Scherwin, with the goal of finding out whether they leveraged Joe Biden’s position as VP to sell access around the world. Not surprisingly, Hunter’s attorney Abbe Lowell turned down their request for documents, saying there was no “legitimate legislative purpose.”
By the way, here’s a little background on Scherwin. He was really pushing Chinese investment in U.S. companies.
As chairman James Comer told Laura Ingraham on Thursday night, they’ve already outlined the legitimate legislative purpose as well as a national security concern. (I would also add, the legislative purpose of these hearings would seem like none of Hunter’s concern.) Comer said these witnesses won’t need to appear personally, but he stressed, “We don’t know exactly what the Bidens did to earn millions and millions of dollars from our adversaries.”
As for the influence peddling, “if we don’t fix this, it’s only going to get worse.” Besides, he says, “the Bidens should WANT to clear their name.”
https://www.foxnews.com/video/6320063093112
With these hearings giving us so much to talk about, here’s some additional weekend reading to help you stay abreast…
Former Twitter executive Yoel Roth actually said that Twitter’s censorship promoted MORE speech. (Well, maybe more of the SAME speech.) Believe it or not, this was part of their rationalization.
https://dailycaller.com/2023/02/08/yoel-roth-twitter-censorship-speech
Both Roth and his supervisor Vijaya Gadde expressed regret that they had censored the NEW YORK POST laptop story. Too little, too late, as the damage has been done. And that’s a lot of damage, since polls show if voters had known about that story before the election, Biden would never have become President.
James Baker testified Wednesday that he “advised caution” in handling the laptop story, but Twitter files reveal his “caution” was on the side of censorship.
https://dailycaller.com/2023/02/08/james-baker-hunter-biden-laptop-twitter-files-house-oversight
Finally, here’s a wonderful analysis of THE NEW YORK TIMES’ coverage of the Russia Hoax. It’s from a week ago, but we couldn’t let it go by...
The Prevailing Woke Tyranny Is Crazy
Maybe it’s just coincidental, but judging from the news I’m receiving, I feel as if my daughter Sarah shattered the bonds of fear for many people on Tuesday when she dared to say out loud what so many have been thinking for years but were too frightened: that the great battle today "isn’t left vs. right but normal vs. crazy." Ever since that moment, I’ve been seeing stories about people, including even some very liberal Democrats, speaking up to say about the prevailing woke tyranny, “This is crazy!” It’s as if people are suddenly waking up and finding the courage to declare en masse that not only is the Empress naked, but she’s a dude.
First startling Sign Of The Times: The veteran mayor and entire four-person council of East Hanover Township, New Jersey, announced that they were switching from Democrat to Republican. The mayor said they have always put the good of their community and representing their constituents first, and in light of the “nastiness, rhetoric and social media vitriol” filtering down from the national level and infiltrating local governance, they decided this was the best course of action to keep their focus on local issues. In short, keep your national, woke leftist rage and insanity out of East Hanover.
Related: New York Democrat Mayor Eric Adams slammed his own party for letting itself be “hijacked” by woke activists who are driving away the minority base with their dangerous “defund the police” agenda. One fellow Democrat criticized Adams, saying, “Perhaps the Democratic mayor of NYC shouldn’t amplify Republican talking points on national TV?” Translation: Don’t admit that Republican talking points are the truth if you want to be a Democrat politician.
https://townhall.com/tipsheet/saraharnold/2023/02/09/eric-adams-criticizes-woke-democrats-n2619367
Next, champion women’s collegiate swimmer Riley Gaines, who has bravely taken a stand against forcing women to compete with “trans” biological males who are taking all their records, trophies and scholarships, demanded that the NCAA at least establish separate locker rooms. She said that “trans” swimmer “Lia” Thomas, who had taken hormones to lower his testosterone levels but not undergone any surgery, was allowed into the girls’ locker room without warning or their consent, and walked around naked, showing off his 6’-4” body and his male genitalia while watching the girls change clothes.
Gaines said that as recently as two years ago, that would’ve been considered some form of sexual assault. But when the girls complained to their coaches, they were called transphobic and told to shut up and get counseling if it bothered them.
Two observations: The indecent exposure is being treated as news, but I wrote about it in this newsletter months ago. I also had Riley on my TBN show. That interview is here:
Also, I wonder how many Hollywood celebrities who defend these “stunning and brave” trans athletes and savage anyone like author J.K. Rowling who protests also lectured the rest of us about not respecting women even as they were protecting powerful predators. People like Harvey Weinstein, who exposed themselves to women and threatened them if they dared speak out. I’m used to their double standards, but when you double up on a double standard, is it a quadruple standard?
Speaking of J.K. Rowling, in more encouraging news, the forever furious cancel culture mob tried to gin up a boycott of a new “Harry Potter” inspired game called “Hogwarts Legacy” because she actually dares to argue that men are not women. It backfired spectacularly. The game became a #1 best-seller on advance orders alone and set a new record on Twitch for single player games with 1.28 million views. Some theorize that part of the enthusiasm for the game was from people wanting to send a message to the wokescolds that they’re fed up with being told what they're allowed to think, do or say. It's the same way the public turned out in droves to support Goya and Chick-fil-A when they were under assault.
Brandon Morse at Redstate.com has some brutally honest analysis of how pathetic, insecure and useless this tiny group of anti-creative loudmouths really is, and now, blessedly, how ineffectual.
Most Important Story of the Day!
But all that is just preamble to what might be the most important story of the day, involving a whistleblower who has dared to stand up and say I've been saying here for a long time: that the push to give confused minors “gender transitioning” surgery and puberty-blocking hormones (proponents call it “gender-affirming care” while I call it what it is: butchery and child abuse) is appalling and harmful.
Leftists can’t smear this whistleblower as a rightwing extremist or transphobe. Jaime Reed describes herself as a “queer woman” married to a trans man and “to the left of Bernie Sanders.” She was also a case manager at the Pediatric Transgender Center at Washington University School of Medicine at St. Louis Children’s Hospital for over four years. She’s gone public to denounce the “trans” treatments as “morally and medically appalling” and says they’re doing “permanent harm” to children who are misled into undergoing irreversible treatments that they soon regret.
Here are two different write-ups on her experiences, and I strongly suggest you read them both. Warning, some of her cases are graphic and heartbreaking:
Reed details some of the horrifying medical and psychological consequences she’s seen young people suffer, and describes how they’re manipulated into procedures they don’t fully understand. She saw teens who were suffering from other issues, like depression or bipolar disorder, or experiencing social pressure to change genders. The “gender dysphoria” diagnoses sometimes came in a wave from the same high school, and they went from 10 a month when she arrived to as many as 70 by the end.
The clinic made it super easy: after as few as one or two visits to a transition-friendly therapist that the clinic recommended, the therapist would sign a letter (provided by the clinic as a template, or form letter) recommending gender transition treatments that could leave the patient disfigured, sterile and despondent. Any parents who objected were smeared as transphobes.
When Reed began expressing concerns, she started getting lower job performance evaluations and was warned to “get on board or get out.” So she got out and is blowing the whistle, loudly.
This all reminds me of Abby Johnson, whose story was told in the movie “Unplanned.” She worked at a Planned Parenthood clinic until she finally realized the horrible reality of what abortion was and how her bosses were pushing it on women as the only choice, the way a salesman pushes his product. After she started speaking up, they tried to smear and silence her, but that’s hard to do when the person telling the truth about your horrifying business practices spent years working for your business and knows it inside and out.
Let’s all pray that Ms Reed’s revelations make Americans wake up and realize that we have let a small group of fanatics turn our children into guinea pigs and destroy their lives. It never should have been allowed to happen, and it needs to stop right now.
A Bipartisan Majority keeps DC in line
Thursday, the House voted on two measures passed by the wacky left DC city council. Congress has some oversight in the way the nation’s capital is run, thank goodness. In one case, all House Republicans and 42 Democrats voted to overrule the DC crazy farm's decision to let illegal aliens vote in local elections.
The two biggest tidbits of news in that story are (1.) that there are still 42 sane House Democrats with some respect for the Constitution, and (2.) the other 162 Democrats want to let illegal aliens vote in American elections. So that’s a sane/insane ratio of about 1-to-4.
The House also voted to overturn the DC city council’s new “criminal justice reforms,” which lower penalties for crimes such as robberies and carjackings, even as the city is being plagued by a crime wave. It’s such a nutty radical idea that even uber-left Mayor Murial Bowser vetoed it, but the council overrode her veto. Despite the fact that they have to work in the city, only 31 House Democrats joined Republicans in voting to block it.
Coincidentally, on the very day when a large majority of House Democrats voted to make it easier to be a criminal in D.C., one of their own colleagues, Minnesota Democratic Rep. Angie Craig, was assaulted in the elevator of her DC apartment. She reportedly defended herself, and the assailant fled, leaving her bruised but not badly injured. Thank God she’s safe; that could have been much worse (I strongly suggest she get a concealed carry permit, the only way most women have to protect themselves in such situations.) I don’t know if this will convince her to become a Republican, but it is the classic conversion story.
Both bills will go to the Senate, where we have to hope there are still enough sane Democrats with a vestigial respect for the Constitution and a sense of self-preservation to pass them and save DC residents from the consequences of their bad decisions in electing council members.
Biden, Republicans and Social Security
It’s incredible that after half a century or more of Democrats accusing Republicans of plotting to end Social Security and Medicare (and spending only going up on both), that anyone still swallows this absurd lie. But shopworn as it is, it still works on some people, so President Biden trotted it out again at his State of the Union Address (earning boos and shouts of “Liar!”), and he’s continuing to push it.
For the record: Republican leaders have already said that Social Security and Medicare are “off the table” in spending cut negotiations. This latest edition of the perennial whopper is based on misrepresenting a proposal by Florida Sen. Rick Scott to “sunset” government agencies and programs, so that every five years, they would have to justify their existence rather than automatically keep getting bigger and bigger budgets from here to eternity. It’s an excellent idea and might help rein in some of Washington’s outrageous wasteful spending. But as Scott reiterated, he was, of course, talking about sunsetting the countless agencies of the federal bureaucracy, NOT Social Security and Medicare, which are separate entitlement programs and aren’t even mentioned in his bill.
But do you want to know who did once seriously and adamantly call for sunsetting all federal programs, explicitly INCLUDING Social Security? Sen. Joe Biden in 1975.
The White House claims that’s no longer operative and the Biden of today would never cut Social Security or Medicare. He’s also never told us what he would do to keep them solvent before they both run out of money. He may not stand by his spending cut proposal from 1975, but at least he's consistent in clinging to the same false accusation about Republicans that Democrats have been repeating since the 1960s.
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