Highlights of the News

Donald John Trump is still our president. 

ITEM 1: Mike LaChance reported that a HuffPost poll showed 43% of Americans support killing General قاسم سلیمانی  (no one can spell his name in English). 38% oppose.

Imagine if Republicans opposed killing Osama bin Laden like Democrats oppose killing his Iranian version.

ITEM 2: The Mississippi Clarion Ledger reported, "A Gulfport professor and advocate is suing the national news website HuffPost alleging defamation involving a September 2018 story on U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh's days at Georgetown Prep school.

"Derrick Evans’ lawsuit was filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Gulfport against HuffPost and its former journalist, Ashley Feinberg.

"The lawsuit said HuffPost and Feinberg repeatedly defamed Evans and friend Douglas Kennedy to a nationwide audience on multiple occasions in September 2018 by falsely asserting that they helped arrange the purchase and delivery of cocaine at Georgetown Prep that resulted in the April 1984 death of David Kennedy, Douglas’ brother and the son of the late U.S. attorney general and senator, Robert F. Kennedy."

Fake News is getting expensive.

ITEM 3: Is impeachment still a thing?

Find yourself a woman who holds you as tight as Nancy Pelosi holds her impeachment articles.

— Rep. Matt Gaetz (@RepMattGaetz) January 9, 2020

I hear they want to add a third charge of sending missiles to Iran.

One at a time.

ITEM 4: The Detroit Free Press reported, "On Monday, GM made about 930 temporary workers permanent full-time employees at 30 of its 52 UAW-represented facilities in the United States. There are more to come in the months ahead, it said.

"Ford Motor Co. also moved 592 temps to permanent full-time on Monday, the UAW said, and will do more conversions of temps next month. But Fiat Chrysler Automobiles is still working to implement its temporary worker conversions, said the UAW."

And the Trump economy beat goes on. Yeah, the beat goes on.

By the way, the first 4 paragraphs were about Ace Humphreys. Newspapers abandoned the straight news lead in favor of puffery. Maybe they should go back to what worked when they published daily and had enough advertisers for a newspaper to weigh more than a Big Mac.

ITEM 5: Breitbart News reported, "San Diego Sector Border Patrol agents rescued a group of migrants who became stranded atop a new 30-foot border wall. The migrants were abandoned on the wall by their human smugglers.

"Agents patrolling the border near Otay Mesa, California, observed a group of three stranded on top of a recently constructed 30-foot border wall around midnight January 5. The man and two women attempted to illegally cross the border under the cover of dense fog but became stuck on the slippery wall when their smugglers abandoned them, according to information obtained from San Diego Sector Border Patrol officials."

This is human trafficking -- promoted by Democrats, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and people in Malibu who want cheap nannies and gardeners.

ITEM 6: The Daily Caller reported, "One of the Mexican gunmen who killed a U.S. Border Patrol agent, consequently sparking the Obama administration’s Fast and Furious scandal, was sentenced to life in prison.

"U.S. District Judge David C. Bury on Wednesday sentenced Heraclio Osorio-Arellanes to life in federal prison for first-degree murder. The sentencing follows Osorio-Arellanes’s involvement in a 2010 border shootout between Mexican gunmen and U.S. officials, resulting in the death of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry."

Fast and Furious was a gun-running operation by the ATF aimed at making the case for more gun control. Under Obama, an ATF sting backfired, resulting in giving criminals Glocks and at least one machine gun.

ATF has armed more criminals than the NRA has. In fact, the NRA has armed zero criminals.

ITEM 7: Politico reported, "The Trump administration is proposing scaling back a bedrock federal environmental law to make it easier to build infrastructure like roads and pipelines by sidestepping concerns about climate change and imposing strict deadlines on federal agencies.

"The National Environmental Policy Act requires agencies to conduct detailed environmental reviews for major projects that receive federal funding or permits and could significantly affect the environment, such as by increasing air pollution or bulldozing wildlife habitat. In a proposed rule to be announced by President Donald Trump today, the federal government would narrow its interpretation of the 50-year-old law, a move he said would help businesses avoid government red tape."

Shorter version: President Trump will slap a deadline on EPA to decide on road projects. No more indefinite delays.

ITEM 8: Al Jazeera reported, "Ukraine's top security official said on Thursday that its passenger airliner that crashed in Iran, killing all 176 passengers and crew on board, may have been downed by a Russian-made missile.

"The plane, carrying mostly Iranians and Iranian-Canadians, crashed on Wednesday amid a spiralling escalation between Tehran and Washington."

I went with Al Jazeera instead of an MSNBC report because I wanted a source that is independent of the Iranian regime.

ITEM 9: Tristan Justice reported, "Former South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg blamed President Donald Trump for the downed Ukrainian passenger jet over Iran on Wednesday night.

"'Innocent civilians are now dead because they were caught in the middle of an unnecessary and unwanted military tit for tat,' Buttigieg tweeted. 'My thoughts are with the families and loved ones of all 176 souls lost aboard this flight.'"

People who won't credit the president for the economy blame him for the lack of Iranian marksmanship.

ITEM 10: Tim Wildmon of the American Family Association announced, "Dan Cathy, Chick-fil-A chairman and CEO, responded to my personal letter and the more than 116,000 people who signed AFA's petition asking the company for clarification after Chick-fil-A stunned much of the evangelical community by changing its corporate giving.

"In November, Chick-fil-A announced that it would not be donating money to the Salvation Army and Fellowship of Christian Athletes. Homosexual activist organizations had hammered away at the two Christian non-profit groups because their doctrinal statements supported a biblical view of human sexuality and marriage. In turn, Chick-fil-A was accused of supporting "hate" because of the corporate giving.

"In my personal letter to Mr. Cathy, I asked him two questions: (1) Will Chick-fil-A publicly state that it does not believe the Salvation Army and FCA are hate groups because of the ministries' beliefs about sexuality, marriage, and family? (2) Will you publicly state that Chick-fil-A will not hesitate to fund these two ministries again, should the opportunity arise in the future?

"Mr. Cathy's written response included this statement: 'We inadvertently discredited several outstanding organizations that have effectively served communities for years.'

"This response was a welcomed clarification."

The nearest Chick-fil-A is an hour away. I used to drive it every few months. I'll pass.

ITEM 11: The Center for Immigration Studies announced, "Mexico's Interior Secretary, Olga Sanchez Cordero, confirmed the formation of a United States-bound migrant caravan commencing in Honduras. The caravan is slated to leave the Honduran city of San Pedro Sula by mid-January.

"Rumors of the caravan forming began appearing on social media last month.

"According to the Secretary of the Interior, the government of Mexico is preparing for the arrival of the Central American caravan. Social programs and other forms of assistance will be readily available for migrants in southern Mexico."

A caravan? Again?

Sounds like a job for Tariff Man, but wait, Sanchez Cordero said, "The government of Mexico is very open to being a country of asylum and to migrants who want to stay and work, to obtain resident status, a job, and those who seek to join a social program that we generally provide to Mexicans, are welcome. Those who only want to use Mexico as a transit country are not welcome."

Mexico remembers what happened last time it waved caravans on through.

ITEM 12: On Tuesday, I wrote, "Trump helped save Iran from Iran."

#Breaking
The source just told me that 34 more commanders by the IRGC’s intelligence organisation have been arrested.
“All of them were loyal to Qasem Soleimani”, the source says.

This source is preparing to leave Iran.
This is turning into something very different. https://t.co/QqyWCEdlVJ

— Raman Ghavami (@Raman_Ghavami) January 8, 2020

It sure seems like I was right.

ITEM 13: News Max reported, "CIA director Gina Haspel foresaw the Iranian missile attack on two Iraqi military bases housing U.S. troops but said that killing Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani was worth the risk.

"The New York Times published a detailed look at the hours leading up to Tuesday's strike, in which Iran fired more than a dozen ballistic missiles toward targets in Iraq. No one was hurt or killed in the incident, which U.S. officials believe was a result of intelligence received before the strike took place.

"According to the Times, Haspel told President Donald Trump days before Soleimani was killed in a U.S. drone strike last week that taking him out and dealing with the expected retaliation from Iran posed a lower threat than leaving him alive to plot more attacks against the U.S. and its allies."

Sounds like President Trump got a good CIA director when he hired her.

ITEM 14: Breitbart News reported, "Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) participated in what organizers branded a “strategy call” with members of the National Iranian American Council (NIAC), a pro-Iran advocacy group, on Wednesday.

"The presidential hopefuls reportedly participated in a call on Wednesday with the group, which describes itself as a 'nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to strengthening the voice of Iranian Americans and promoting greater understanding between the American and Iranian people.' However, the group has been known to push pro-Tehran policies and has been accused of lobbying for Iran and the Iran deal, which resulted in billions in available funds for the world’s largest state sponsor of terrorism."'

Sanders and Warren. The ayatollah has a difficult choice to make in picking his 2020 candidate.

ITEM 15: WNYT TV reported, "A Vermont state senator wants to ban on cell phone use for anyone under 21. According to WPTZ, Democratic Senator John Rodgers says the phones are a big factor in teenage driving deaths, but can also lead to bullying and radicalization."

But we trust them to vote.

ITEM 16: CNN reported, "The House of Commons has voted overwhelmingly in favor of Prime Minister Boris Johnson's Brexit deal, finally paving the way for the United Kingdom to leave the European Union later this month after more than four decades of membership.

"The deal has cleared its biggest hurdle with the vote that followed a third reading in Parliament, in which 330 voted for and 231 against, putting an end to three years of political wrangling following the 2016 Brexit referendum.

"Thursday was the last opportunity for MPs to reject the bill before it is sent to the House of Lords, after which it will be put into legislation in coming weeks. The deal had been shot down by a fractured House of Commons several times over the past year, sending Westminster into a tailspin over whether Brexit would happen at all.

"But Thursday's vote in parliament stood in stark contrast to the upheaval that dominated British politics last year, which included the resignation of former Prime Minister Theresa May."

Finally, nearly 4 years after Britons decided to leave, the establishment allows it.

Drain the moat.

ITEM 17: NBC reported, "The House adopted a war powers resolution Thursday with the aim of limiting President Donald Trump's military actions against Iran.

"The adoption of the measure on a largely party-line vote of 224-194 came amid heightened tension between the two countries after the United States killed Iranian Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani and Iran retaliated with a ballistic missile attack against Iraqi air bases housing U.S. forces.

"Republicans Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Matt Gaetz and Francis Rooney, both of Florida, voted for the measure, while eight Democrats voted against it: Joe Cunningham of South Carolina, Josh Gottheimer of New Jersey, Kendra Horn of Oklahoma, Elaine Luria of Virginia, Ben McAdams of Utah, Stephanie Murphy of Florida and Anthony Brindisi and Max Rose, both of New York."

Matt Gaetz had 900K followers this morning. He now has 366K. . He's lost over 500K followers after stabbing the President in the back. His career is over. Luckily there are 7 million available jobs in America, so maybe he can find a job delivering pizza or something

— Stonewall Jackson (@1776Stonewall) January 10, 2020

That's as bad as it (wait for it) Gaetz.

ITEM 18: Maybe GEOTUS reads Highlights.

Yo, @realDonaldTrump did you get this news from Item 1 in today's Highlights of the News?

Pretty cool to be ahead of the presidential curve

Daily, Monday through Saturday at 7 Easternhttps://t.co/H8A1DKVR2f https://t.co/zO8EU7oqry

— Don Surber (@donsurber) January 9, 2020

Of course I use Twitter to promote my work. https://twitter.com/donsurber

Facebook too. https://www.facebook.com/don.surber.9

ITEM 19: The Velvet Hammer reported, "How to talk to your dogs about the situation with Iran."

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