Appeasing Iran

As the Biden Administration steps up its efforts to reengage Iran, the radical Islamic regime is feeling emboldened and is ratcheting up its pressure on the Biden Administration to make more concessions.

Yesterday, multiple rockets were fired at the U.S. embassy in Iraq. It was the third such attack in the past seven days. 

For four years, Donald Trump, Mike Pence and Mike Pompeo turned the screws on Iran. With each passing month, they inflicted more economic damage on the Iranian regime. The result was that Iran had to cut back its subsidies to terrorist proxies like Hezbollah and Hamas. 

And when Iran attempted to meddle with other nations, President Trump forcefully took action, such as taking out Iran's terrorist mastermind General Qasem Soleimani. 

As other countries in the Middle East saw President Trump standing strongly with Israel, they decided they wanted to be on the winning side. Israel, Saudi Arabia and other Arab states began working together to isolate Iran – the nation they all fear the most. 

Other Middle East nations do not fear Israeli terrorism. They don't lose sleep at night worrying about an Israeli invasion or Israeli-backed militias overthrowing the government. It's the Iranians they all worry about.

But where was the American political left during this time when Donald Trump had the world's leading state-sponsor of terrorism on the ropes? The operation to take out Soleimani came up during the 2020 Democrat presidential primary. All the leading contenders, including Joe Biden, condemned it. And it gets worse. 

As we were squeezing Iran, John Kerry and other former Obama officials and current Biden officials were communicating with the mullahs, telling them, "Hang on. Don't give up. Just wait for us to get back in the White House, and we'll take care of this." 

What you're seeing now is the left's example of "promises made and promises kept." Biden's team was promising the Iranians that the calvary was coming. "You remember what we did for you – sanctions relief, cash in the middle of the night. We'll do it again!"

And when Kerry and others were telling the Iranians to hold out, they weren’t just saying that they would get rid of the sanctions. They were also saying that Israel would be restrained once again. Never forget that the low point in the U.S.-Israel relationship occurred during the Obama/Biden Administration.

Liberal Hostage Takers

Are you a small business owner? Do you work at a restaurant, a gym, a hair salon? I've got some bad news for you: You're being held hostage. 

President Biden, Speaker Pelosi and Majority Leader Schumer have put the emergency relief you deserve in a bill that they have loaded up with every left-wing fantasy for Washington liberals. 

There's millions for Planned Parenthood, underground railways for Pelosi, and bridges to Canada for Schumer, even though the Canadian border is closed. There's even $10 million for the "preservation and maintenance of Native American languages." 

Liberals know that most conservatives will not vote to hurt small businesses. As a result, you're being held hostage so that fiscally responsible congressmen can be browbeaten into voting for a bill that contains a huge amount of waste. 

How much waste? Well, according to the Wall Street Journal, only about $825 billion of the $1.9 trillion bill is really going to COVID relief. That's less than half. 

And as I noted yesterday, more than $600 billion – about one-third of the entire bill – won't be spent until 2022 or later! How can that be considered an emergency?

There are also massive payments to states with virtually no strings attached. The funds are allocated based on how badly individual states were economically affected by the coronavirus. 

So, New York, which shut everything down and put nursing home residents in jeopardy, will get a huge amount of money, while Florida, which fought hard to stay open, will get less. The lesson going forward is that the next time there is a national health emergency, screwup big and you'll get a big payday from the feds.

Unfortunately, because most Americans are either too busy trying to keep their businesses and families afloat or watching the "mainstream media," they have absolutely no idea what is in this bill. Polls show the public overwhelmingly supports it, but I doubt they would if they understood it.

Garland Unfit For Justice

Judge Merrick Garland is unfit to the lead the Justice Department. His confirmation hearing yesterday was a disaster. For example:

·     He claims to have no opinion on the issue of illegal immigration. 

·     He had no idea that drug cartels were exploiting our lax asylum laws.

·     Garland said he would make domestic terrorism a top priority, but he then made absurd excuses for Antifa.

·     He refused to say that he would enforce Title IX protections for young girls and women.

·     Garland also suggested he didn't know much about New York's nursing home scandal and the investigation of Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

·     He defended the nomination of Kristen Clarke, who has expressed bigoted views, to lead the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division.

·     He expressed positions hostile to Second Amendment rights. (Here and here.)

Based on his responses to any one of these issues, no conservative or moderate senator should even consider supporting him for attorney general. 

Tanden In Trouble

Neera Tanden's nomination to lead the Office of Management and Budget is in big trouble. As we have noted before, she is a slash-and-burn partisan. After Biden nominated her, she rushed to delete more than 1,000 offensive tweets. That's never a good sign.

In recent days, Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) announced that he would vote against her confirmation. Yesterday, Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) and even Mitt Romney (R-UT) expressed their opposition. 

That means Biden must find one Republican to support her so Kamala Harris can break a 50/50 tie. And, of course, the Biden Administration is playing the race and gender card, insisting that opposition to Tanden is only due to the fact that she's an Asian woman, never mind that other minorities and women have already been confirmed.

Progressives are doing this because they know the easiest way to cow weak-kneed Republicans is to accuse them of bigotry. So far the Biden White House is refusing to withdraw her nomination, suggesting they are confident they can get a Republican vote somewhere. 

So, who will it be? 

Will it be Richard Burr (R-NC) or Bill Cassidy (R-LA), who just stabbed Donald Trump in the back? How about Ben Sasse (R-NE), who likes to lecture us on proper manners in politics? Maybe it will be Lisa Murkowski, who seems to enjoy bucking her party. 

Many conservative organizations are spending a lot of money and energy trying to defeat Tanden. If one of these Republicans is going to betray us, do us a favor and admit it now. At least it would save us some money.