By Mike Huckabee
February 22, 2022
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Good morning!
Blessings on you and your family, and from all the Huckabee staff!
Today's newsletter includes:
- Bible Verse of the Day - John 14:27 KJV
- Can we see the tyranny that's already here?
- Ukraine
- Happy “Two’s” Day!
- And much more...
Sincerely,
Mike Huckabee
DAILY BIBLE VERSE
Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
John 14:27 KJV
If you have a favorite Bible Verse you want to see in one of our newsletters, please email [email protected].
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Can we see the tyranny that's already here?
Perhaps, for Americans, the most shocking thing about the autocratic power-grab in Canada is the failure of our own government to speak out –- forcefully –- against it. Instead, the current administration is engaged in a similar process of trampling dissent, right here in the good old U.S.A.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau didn’t simply adopt temporary “emergency powers” to clear the streets of big rigs, as much of an overreach as that was. What he did appears to be even more serious, as he's shown no intention of relinquishing those powers now that the protest has been broken up.
In an update to the above story, the leftists in the Canadian parliament have shown themselves to be accomplices of this tyrant, voting to allow him to extend his “emergency” powers AFTER the emergency is over. Read this and be shocked.
And Robert Spencer at PJ Media has a must-read commentary on what has just happened there. Note especially the new regulations for crowdfunding and payment platforms. He’s right: this is how democracies die, by starving dissenters financially.
On Monday, Tucker Carlson interviewed a man who'd been repeatedly kneed by police in Ottawa after cooperatively climbing down from his rig, kneeling before police and putting his hands behind his head. Ironically, this man, named Csaba Vizi, had come to Canada after fleeing Communist Romania. Video of him inside his truck shows him calmly describing to police how he’s going to surrender peacefully and get on his knees. Then he does so, and waits for them to take him away. But as he tells it, he heard someone yell, “Arrest him! Arrest him!” and he was pushed down onto his stomach. They piled on top of him. We see from other video taken from farther away that one cop very forcefully kneed him, over and over, as he lay on the ground. “I feel like I was beaten, but I took it like a man,” he said.
Yes, they had injured him, he said. “They break my body a little bit, but not my spirit.”
He said that when he came to Canada from Romania, he loved it there, especially the friendly people. He was “so happy.” It was like that for 20 years, but the last couple of years have been different. “It’s impossible to live here anymore,” he said.
https://video.foxnews.com/v/6298431733001#sp=show-clips
A quote from George Orwell featured Monday on Instapundit seems apt: “I have no particular love for the idealized ‘worker’ as he appears in the bourgeois, but when I see an actual flesh-and-blood worker in conflict with his natural enemy, the policeman, I do not have to ask myself which side I am on.”
It’s a shame to see a policeman treat a compliant ‘worker’ such as Csaba Vizi as a natural enemy. Those chilling video images depict an unforgivable abuse of power.
By coincidence, that Orwell quote led into discussion of an article by Glenn Greenwald that I was already planning to highlight in today’s commentary. Greenwald has a new piece on Substack called “The Neoliberal War On Dissent in the West.”
Greenwald comes from what used to be the political left; he would call himself a classical liberal, someone who believes in freedom and free thought, religious freedom, civil rights, equality under the law (as opposed to “equity”), and a government limited by the Constitution. But in the 21st century, classical liberalism has given way to “progressive” authoritarian neoliberalism, with its rigid beliefs, two-tier “justice” system and strict censorship. He knows these people well. And he has a big reality check for us.
We in America have no problem recognizing tyranny across the globe: A Chinese tank sitting ready to crush a lone protester in Tiananmen Square. An East German wiretapper spying on the lives of others behind the Berlin Wall before it fell. The censorship and even criminalization of all dissent. “Re-education” camps. Journalists silenced. We know it when we see it if it’s someplace faraway.
But when it’s right here in front of us, in a DEMOCRACY, we might have a little more trouble recognizing it for what it is: the same kind of tyranny. And if we do see it, there’s still something faintly heretical to some of us about admitting it out loud. It’s as if the idea of this happening in a Western democracy were so absurd it can’t be real. I’d liken this situation to one in which a horrendous crime has happened in your own neighborhood. “This just doesn’t happen HERE,” you likely think. Your neighborhood has always seemed...different. When it happens somewhere else, you take notice, but when it’s two houses down, you’re in shock.
When we were children and pledged allegiance to the Flag, and said “one nation under God,” we took for granted that the freedom given to us by God would always remain, that America was special, shielded by Divine power. It had existed for about 200 years, which to a child is an eternity. As we grew older, we knew there were wars and that freedom can be taken away by other human beings, but, other than the vague atomic threat from faraway Soviet Russia, we still had that feeling of comfort and safety inside our own borders. This was America.
We assumed that the Bill Of Rights protected us as individuals, even if we disagreed with the majority. Our country was set up as a democratic republic, not a pure, majority-rule democracy that might be prone to “popular” uprisings that squelched the rights of the minority. And it has lasted that way for a long time.
But now, even in America, we’re seeing despotism. It’s easy to point to situations in which “due process” doesn’t even apply. In civil asset forfeiture, for example, the government will seize your assets before you’ve even been charged with a crime, let alone convicted. It’s blatantly unconstitutional. Justin Trudeau has done something similar in Canada, freezing assets not only of the protesters but even of people who donated a few dollars to buy them meals. When we witness such tyranny in, say, Russia, we see it for what it is. IT’S THE SAME THING HERE.
Greenwald cites the decade-long repression of Julian Assange as another example. Then-Attorney General Eric Holder, after investigating for years, failed to find evidence of criminality, but financial institutions such as MasterCard, VISA, PayPal and Bank of America were pressured by the Senate Homeland Security Committee into terminating WikiLeaks’ accounts, crippling it.
Financial pressure is a standard weapon these days, with the government joining forces with corporations. GoFundMe tried to steal---I mean, divert, millions in donations intended for the truckers. When GiveSendGo raised millions more, Canadian courts blocked their distribution. The financial system is being used to crush dissent.
Greenwald notes recent protests against the Spanish government by people in Barcelona who wanted more autonomy. The government came down hard on the protesters, treating them like terrorists, seditionists and insurrectionists. (Sound familiar?) Protesters were treated violently, arrested en masse, charged with terrorism and sedition and given long prison sentences.
And when Julian Assange spoke up about how wrong this was, Ecuador rescinded his asylum at their London embassy. They cut off his internet access. Then they allowed London police to come and arrest him.
Anyway, Greenwald makes a critical point: The despotism we so easily recognize around the world is becoming entrenched right here, right now. We can't permit it.
https://greenwald.substack.com/p/the-neoliberal-war-on-dissent-in?utm_source=url
Ukraine
At this writing, there are unconfirmed reports that Russian troops have arrived in Ukraine’s breakaway regions. So where’s that strong response that our tough-talkin’ President Biden threatened if Russia invaded? Weeeeel….it all depends on what the meaning of “invade” is.
The White House is now splitting hairs over that, saying Russia’s had forces in those regions before, so it would be an invasion only if they entered a new area. However, the EU’s foreign policy chief said it does mean Russian troops are now on Ukrainian soil, which most of us would assume means they invaded. It’s not as if they got an invitation to a barn dance.
In a subscriber-only article at Townhall.com, Matt Vespa calls this “Obama 2.0,” comparing it to Obama threatening that it would be “a red line in the sand” if Syria gassed people – until they did, and the red line blew away with the sand.
Fox News has a page with continually-updated Ukraine bulletins:
https://www.foxnews.com/live-news/russia-ukraine-invasion-imminent
In other developments, a power and heating plant in Eastern Ukraine was hit by shelling. Vladimir Putin is reportedly calling his troops “peacekeepers,” which is odd considering there’d be no breach of the peace if they weren’t there. He probably means that they’re there to help him keep a piece of Ukraine.
And Germany is moving to block certification of Russia's Nordstream 2 oil pipeline, which might have been easier if Joe Biden hadn’t kicked off his presidency by shutting down America’s Keystone Pipeline project while okaying Russia’s pipeline.
In fact, blogger Jeff Dunetz has a good accounting of how Biden helped strengthen Putin and make him more likely to invade Ukraine, from projecting weak leadership to enriching him through higher gas prices for Russian energy to making Europe more dependent on Russian oil.
https://lidblog.com/ukraine-crisis/
Putin knew that if he were ever going to try to take over Ukraine, there would be no better time than with Joe and Kamala as his opponents. It’s like a World Series between the New York Yankees and the Bad News Bears.
This outcome was tragically predictable, but it wasn’t what voters who don’t pay close enough attention were promised. Matt Vespa at Townhall pulled up a couple of campaign-era tweets from Biden and Kamala Harris, with Biden boasting about how Putin doesn’t want him being President (finally, something Putin and I agree on!) because Joe is so smart, tough and experienced; and Harris slamming Trump for having a meeting with Putin -- something the White House was practically begging for over the weekend, but apparently, Putin sees no more need for negotiations. He’s already getting whatever he wants by simply taking it.
Stephen Kruiser at PJ Media also references that "tough guy" Biden tweet in examining the deadly consequences of having a weak, disengaged US President. Or as the Twitter account Comfortably Smug noted, maybe Biden just doesn’t care about Ukraine because Hunter already looted all the money out of it.
Dunetz concludes his piece by quoting a pundit who said, “Joe Biden is the best President that Russia has ever had.” Well, at least some country can say that about him.
Happy “Two’s” Day!
Today is called that because twice today, it will be 2:22:22 and the date is 2-22-’22. I’m waiting for AOC to tweet to her followers that nothing like it will happen again until 3:33:300 on March 33, 2033.
Speaking of Rep. Ocasio-Cortez and her acolytes, I wrote just last week about how leftists, having renounced real religious faith, often try to fill that hole by deifying politicians, such as Obama, the Lightbringer who was going to lower the ocean levels with his…sorry, His…mere presence in office. They don’t believe in Charismatic Christianity, but they do worship anyone with “charisma.” Well, in these dark days for leftists, as their doctrine is being proven false and destructive and being rejected all around, they’re so desperate that some are actually trying to anoint AOC as their new Socialist Savior.
https://freebeacon.com/politics/ocasio-cortez-book-review/
As Andrew Stiles of the Washington Free Beacon points out in his review of the book, “Take Up Space: The Unprecedented AOC,” this is a collection of fawning essays about the dazzling leftist social media influencer and Congress member that’s written by alleged “journalists,” with the four main chapters by Lisa Miller, who (appropriately) used to write about religion for the Washington Post.
AOC is described as possessing a "combination of folksiness, sincerity, magnetism, and sex appeal shaken up into a telegenic cocktail" which makes it a “thrill” to watch her prepare mac ‘n’ cheese on Instagram, as she “appropriate(s) a kitchen job as a performance of power.” I’d say that’s the cheesiest thing I've heard since they gushed that "power crackles" from Bill Clinton's jeans.
According to Stiles (who does us all a tremendous service by reading this book so we won’t have to), the only negative quote about AOC in it comes, not surprisingly, from one of her constituents, who said, "She doesn't know what poor, lower-income people need. I know she's not for the people because she's never come over here." But then, who needs constituents when you have worshippers?
Credit where it’s due
Once upon a time, the Huffington Post ran something that has proven to be startlingly accurate, even prescient. In a blog post way back in 2015, the author warned of Justin Trudeau’s open admiration for China, the way he ran the Liberal Party by using dirty tricks like “paperwork going missing” to rig nominations, his demand that party members be pro-choice and his subjecting dissenters to expulsion. The post was headlined, “Why Canada Will Become a Dictatorship Under Trudeau.”
Sounds like the type of article that HuffPo would brand as “dangerous misinformation” if a conservative wrote it today. The difference is that today, it’s not a prediction, it’s the latest news.
More Hunter Biden
Speaking of Hunter Biden, as I was elsewhere today, a federal grand jury in Delaware is looking into his taxes, and they’ve been taking some testimony from his former girlfriends. They say it’s the people closest to you who know you best, and if so, Hunter’s not coming off too well.
The first witness was the former stripper who’s the mother of Hunter Biden's child. Her testimony, along with other details of the investigation, is being kept secret.
The second witness was another girlfriend, a lingerie designer whose (unrepeatable here) online nickname suggests she and Hunter were a perfect match. The New York Post claims to have a source that revealed some of the questions and answers, which allegedly centered on Hunter’s lavish lifestyle of four-star hotels, travel and drugs. The woman reportedly told the grand jury that Hunter directed her to withdraw thousands of dollars at a time from ATMs, but she had no idea how he obtained the money.
https://nypost.com/2022/02/21/ex-girlfriend-tells-hunter-biden-grand-jury-about-lavish-spending/
Neither do a lot of us, hence the grand jury. But I know someone who has a pretty good idea. It’s Peter Schweizer, author of the bestseller, “Red-Handed: How American Elites Get Rich Helping China Win.” He was my guest over the weekend on “Huckabee” on TBN, and you can see that interview at these two links:
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