BREAKING NEWS: In what appears to be another concession to President Trump, North Korea has reportedly released three U.S. hostages from a notorious labor camp. The hostages are said to be receiving medical treatment in Pyongyang.
Trump vs. Mueller
The fallout continues today over the release of dozens of questions that Special Counsel Robert Mueller reportedly wants to ask President Trump. Mueller and his team of Clinton lawyers are trying to bait the president so they can trap him, just like they trapped Michael Flynn.
Former Secret Service Agent Dan Bongino made a great observation yesterday. He said, "You investigate a crime and you find people. You don't find people and then go find a crime."
Mueller and his team are not investigating a crime. There isn't one. They are investigating the president, hoping to entice him into a crime. It seems the president understands that. This morning he tweeted:
"There was no Collusion (it is a Hoax) and there is no Obstruction of Justice (that is a setup & trap). What there is is Negotiations going on with North Korea over Nuclear War, Negotiations going on with China over Trade Deficits, Negotiations on NAFTA, and much more. Witch Hunt!"
By the way, Mueller reportedly threatened the president's legal team that unless they convince Trump to sit down for an interview, Mueller will force him with a subpoena.
The left insists that any attempt by the president to fire Mueller would create a constitutional crisis. But if Mueller tries to subpoena the president, that will create a constitutional crisis.
Here's a final thought. While the left insists that Trump colluded with Russia and is soft on Putin, the president just sent Ukraine lethal anti-tank missiles. Obama sent the Ukrainians socks.
Worshipping Marx
While the left is on a kick about Trump colluding with Russia, a growing segment of the left wants to go backwards. The left is embracing the policies that originated in Russia and led to the Cold War, which we thankfully won.
Professor Jason Barker published an opinion piece this week in the New York Times (of course!) entitled, "Happy Birthday, Karl Marx. You Were Right!" According to Professor Barker, today's left owes much to Marx:
"Social justice movements like Black Lives Matter and #MeToo, owe something of an unspoken debt to Marx through their unapologetic targeting of the 'eternal truths' of our age. Such movements recognize, as did Marx, that the ideas that rule every society are those of its ruling class and that overturning those ideas is fundamental to true revolutionary progress."
That sounds an awful lot like Barack Obama's call for the "fundamental transformation of America." Attacking truth and overturning societal norms is about all the left is good at. But that is how the left is succeeding in transforming the country we love.
It denies American exceptionalism. It denies the enormous benefits of free market capitalism. It attacks faith and family, the foundation of strong societies.
And while the left is good at trashing America and the values it was founded on, the values that won the Cold War and created more wealth and prosperity for the greatest number of people in any time in human history, what is the left offering as an alternative?
By the way, the extremism of the left was on full display during yesterday's May Day demonstrations. "Peaceful" progressives vandalized nearly two dozen police cars in Portland.
Left-wing Anti-Semitism
A few years ago, Harvard Law Professor Alan Dershowitz wrote an insightful column about the various strains of anti-Semitism -- an ancient evil and a sign of deep sickness in any society.
There is growing anti-Semitism in America and Europe today. On the right, it takes the form of skinhead hooligans and some fringe characters such as David Duke.
They are dangerous, but there is zero chance Duke and neo-Nazi groups will ever achieve a mass following. They are already marginalized people looking for scape goats to blame for their own problems.
But as Dershowitz and former Israeli Ambassador to the United States Michael Oren note, the greater danger comes from the growing anti-Semitism on the left because it is taking root among the most powerful cultural forces in America and in Europe.
The anti-Semitic college professor is not marginalized. She has a captive audience of students every day and, if tenured, a job for life.
The Washington, D.C. councilman who spouts anti-Semitic conspiracy theories or the congressmen who entertain a notorious anti-Semite are not marginalized. They are in elected positions of power.
Leaders of so-called "progressive" organizations are not marginalized. They are shaping the culture (and your coffee).
Increasingly it seems that anti-Semitism is growing in every sector of society where the left dominates.
Fighting For Life
While Congress failed to specifically defund Planned Parenthood, I am pleased to report that the battle to prevent your hard-earned tax dollars from subsidizing the abortion industry is far from over.
Hundreds of elected officials and dozens of conservative leaders, including me, sent a letter to the Trump Administration urging top officials at the Department of Health and Human Services to reinstate a crucial pro-life policy from the Reagan era.
If enacted, this policy would go a long way toward preventing pro-abortion groups like Planned Parenthood from receiving Title X family planning funding. In fact, Planned Parenthood could lose up to $60 million in federal funds. That's your money!
In addition, pro-life conservatives in Congress ensured that Trump appointees would have complete control over how Title X money is spent. And there are very good people in charge of those funds who recently made some big changes to the grant process.
Not surprisingly, Planned Parenthood announced today that it is suing the Trump Administration to block these pro-life efforts. We will keep you posted.