Retired Gen. Barry McCaffrey on Fears of Insider Attack on Biden Inaugural: “I’d be Worried About Gun-Carrying Republican Congressmen Being Near the President”

Retired U.S. Army General Barry McCaffrey, a highly decorated war hero of the Vietnam and Gulf Wars who later served as drug czar in the Clinton administration, expressed concern Monday night that armed Republican members of Congress cannot be trusted around Joe Biden when he is sworn in on Wednesday. McCaffrey made the comment while discussing reports that 25,000 National Guard troops in Washington, D.C. to protect the Biden inaugural are being vetted by the FBI out of fears of an insider attack on the inauguration.

McCaffrey’s comments came during an appearance on the Peacock news discussion show hosted by Zerlina Maxwell:

“If I was worried about anybody, I’d be worried about gun-carrying Republican congressmen being near the president. They better get them started going through the screening at the door and tell them it’s mandatory. I wouldn’t trust them within an inch of my life.”

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2021/01/retired-gen-barry-mccaffrey-fears-insider-attack-biden-inaugural-worried-gun-carrying-republican-congressmen-near-president/

Texas Readies for Lawsuits Against Joe Biden’s Incoming Administration

Texas is reportedly preparing for lawsuits against Joe Biden’s incoming administration, the San Antonio Express-News reported Friday.

During his first 100 days in office, President-elect Joe Biden has “vowed to roll back the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown, push policies addressing climate change and potentially forgive student debt for thousands of Americans,” the article stated.

Biden has also said he will advocate for a mask mandate and wants Congress to pass another huge stimulus package.

“And in the longer term, Biden has talked about rewriting the tax code to raise taxes on the rich,” the report continued, adding that “Texas is almost certain to fight him every step of the way”:

The state is about to be back on the front lines battling against the federal government, a long tradition for its Republican leaders, from former Gov. Rick Perry to Gov. Greg Abbott — who as the state’s attorney general famously said, “I go into the office, I sue the federal government and I go home.”

…

As Biden takes office next week, many expect the state to pick up where it left off after suing the Obama administration dozens of times to stop initiatives such as the Clean Power Plan, scrap protections for immigrants brought to the country illegally as children and end the Affordable Care Act.

In a Facebook post on Sunday, Gov. Abbott shared the Express-News article, commenting, “Texas will take action whenever the federal government encroaches on state’s rights, or interferes with constitutionally rights, or private property rights or the right to earn a living.”

Meanwhile, a recent national survey indicates that a majority of Republicans want congressional leaders to challenge Biden on important issues.

“Nearly six in 10 (59%) Republicans questioned in a Pew Research Center poll urge GOP leaders in Congress to stand up to the incoming president, even if it’s harder to address critical issues facing the country,” Fox News reported.

Robert Henneke, general counsel at the conservative Texas Public Policy Foundation (TPPF) told the Express-News that “Litigation challenging unconstitutional action from the Biden administration will be a central issue.”

“Where the new administration seeks to go out of bounds of what powers have been delegated to it, or enacts policies and rules that aren’t supported by data and science, I expect that we’ll be chief among those challenging those type of policies,” he concluded.

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2021/01/18/texas-readies-for-lawsuits-against-joe-bidens-incoming-administration/

>>12595503

On point.

Garth Brooks to perform at Biden-Harris inauguration in show of 'unity'

The singer says he 'might be the only Republican at this place'

Country music icon Garth Brooks has accepted an invitation to perform at the swearing-in ceremony for President-elect Joe Biden and Vice president-elect Kamala Harris, in what he calls a show of "unity" in the midst of the nation's deep political divisions.

The singer says he "might be the only Republican at this place."

What are the details?

"This is not a political statement, this is a statement of unity," Brooks declared from the start during a media interview announcing that he would join the inauguration performance lineup that also includes Lady Gaga and Jennifer Lopez.

Brooks said incoming first lady Jill Biden called to request that he sing at the ceremony, and he accepted.

When asked for his reaction to the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol by a mob of Trump supporters, Brooks replied:

"It was disturbing. It was sad. Try to remember that we are the human race, so I'm always going to find sunny sides in there. …The fact that we do make choices very much on the spur of the moment. I deal in music. I deal in raw emotion. That is what music is all about, and all that passion, guided, misguided as it is, I think that you saw the human race at a time that, for me as a person, seemed to reflect some other country's deadline, if that makes any sense. But it's here, and all I can do is beg and plead for everybody to take that second, that moment, take a breath and think about it. Think about your family. Think about what the mark you're going to leave on this planet as a human being, and with the children that you raise, and then make your decision.

"So I think what happened was we saw people in the heat of the moment, and we've seen it on television before, but I'm with you. I felt like it was in some other country, but it was here. And now we deal with it, take responsibility, we claim it, and now we do our best to make sure something like that doesn't happen again."

He told the media of his upcoming performance, "I might be the only Republican at this place, but it's about reaching across and loving one another."

https://www.theblaze.com/news/garth-brooks-to-perform-at-biden-harris-inauguration-in-show-of-unity

Governor Ron DeSantis Vows to Put an End to the Censorship of Conservative Ideas

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is working to make a name for himself, which could be a great thing for the conservative movement. His administration’s response is leading the nation by balancing freedom and disease experience with COVID-19 despite having more elderly per capita than most states in the country. Last Thursday, he announced another first. He is the first Republican governor to take a stand against the growing push for censorship of conservative ideas.

Speaking at an event for the Texas Public Policy Foundation in Austin, Texas, in the wake of the social media app Parler being completely shut down by Big Tech, DeSantis said:

“We need to really think deeply about if we are a disfavored class based on our principles, based on having conservative views, based on being a Christian, based on whatever you can say that is not favored in Silicon Valley,” DeSantis said during a speech before a crowd of conservatives in Austin, Tx. Later, he added: “I think it’s probably the most important legislative issue that we’re going to have to get right this year and next year.”

This is exactly correct. The pretext for taking down Parler was events on January 6th at the Capitol were organized on that platform. Later reports clearly demonstrated they were also organized on Facebook and Twitter, but Parler has not been restored, increasing the speculation that the move was anti-competitive and political.

Beyond the current drive for censorship online, some commentators suggest eliminating Fox News, OANN, and Newsmax from cable providers. Others favor pulling podcasts and YouTube channels using the riot at the Capitol as a pretext to color everything to the right of CNN as far-right and capable of inciting violence.

One example is former Facebook executive Alex Stamos appearing on CNN’s Reliable Sources. Not only is he suggesting the social media networks crackdown as Joe Scarborough suggested on Morning Joe. He wants to close down all opposing views. After noting some YouTube channels had more viewers than daytime on CNN, he said:

“And, so, it is up to the Facebooks and YouTubes, in particular, to think about whether or not they want to be effectively cable networks for disinformation. And then we’re gonna have to figure out the OANN and Newsmax problem, that these companies have freedom of speech, but I’m not sure we need Verizon, AT&T, Comcast, and such to be bringing them into tens of millions of homes. This is allowing people to seek out information if they really want to but not pushing it into their faces, I think, is where we’re going to have to go here.”

So, if you want a different point of view than the one Stamos approves of, you will need to hunt for it. At least until Amazon Web Services or GoDaddy boot those websites from their servers and hosting services. Governor DeSantis is looking for ways to prevent these actions from being taken and preserve the First Amendment for Floridians. It seems amending Florida’s anti-discrimination law to prevent discrimination based on real or perceived political affiliation in commerce, employment, and other services would be a start.

An even more comprehensive plan would be for all 23 Republican-led states, where the party controls the governorship and legislature, to make similar legislative moves sooner rather than later. The justification is two-fold. The secular left has made political ideology something akin to religion. Even more moderate liberals critical of the left are excommunicated, as Eric Weinstein, a self-identified progressive, has pointed out. In these circumstances, political affiliation requires protection.

Additionally, researchers at the University of Toronto have linked specific personality traits to political preferences:

https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/stacey-lennox/2021/01/18/governor-ron-desantis-vows-to-put-and-end-to-the-censorship-of-conservative-ideas-n1394460

State Department Cuts Ties With Islamic Charity Over Anti-Semitism

The State Department has cut ties with Islamic Relief Worldwide, an international charity that the United States accuses of spreading anti-Semitism. The public accusations represent a wholesale shift in how the United States approaches a global charity that was, until recently, an official partner of the American government and raked in hundreds of thousands in taxpayer dollars.

The State Department is "conducting a full review of the organization and U.S. government funding" due to the "anti-Semitism exhibited repeatedly by IRW’s leadership," Ellie Cohanim, the deputy special envoy to monitor and combat anti-Semitism, told the Washington Free Beacon.

IRW boasts a budget of more than $100 million annually and has a registered nonprofit arm in the United States. The State Department’s public reproach of the charity means that it will no longer enjoy the legitimacy that comes with a close relationship with the American government or be able to cash in from this stamp of approval.

Anti-Semitism watchdogs have been sounding the alarm on IRW for years. IRW was an official State Department partner in the Obama administration and, for a time, in the Trump administration, despite evidence the group’s senior leadership engaged in persistent anti-Semitism, including social media posts from the organization's senior leaders praising Hamas leaders and calling Jews the "grandchildren of monkeys and pigs." Israel has designated IRW as a supporter of terrorism. The outgoing administration’s decision to publicly chastise the charity sets down a marker for the Biden White House as it assesses U.S. humanitarian priorities abroad. The next administration could restore ties with IRW, though it is unlikely given the current State Department’s rare elevation of anti-Semitism claims against the organization.

"Now that the State Department has issued this warning about the anti-Semitic Islamic Relief, it would be a very worrying step back if the incoming Biden administration, like Trump, rejected European concerns and started to fund this dangerous charitable franchise once more," said Sam Westrop, a Middle East researcher and director of Islamist Watch who has documented IRW’s promotion of anti-Semitic conspiracy theories.

https://freebeacon.com/national-security/state-department-cuts-ties-with-islamic-charity-over-anti-semitism/

Till the end Mike ISRAEL FIRST Pompeo