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‘DeSantis Airways’ – Florida Governor Evacuates 300 Americans from Israel

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Ron DeSantis via Gage Skidmore Flickr

ANALYSIS – ‘DeSantis Airways’ – Nonstop migrant flights to Martha’s Vineyard and return flights from Israel.’ In an act more befitting a president than the governor of a state, Republican Ron DeSantis ordered Florida state-funded flights to quickly rescue nearly 300 Americans, including 91 children, stranded in war-torn Israel. 

At least 30 Americans are listed as murdered by Hamas so far. Another 13 remain missing. Florida officials estimate that around 20,000 U.S. citizens (AMCITS) remain in Israel unable to return home.

DeSantis chided Joe Biden for not doing enough to rescue stranded Americans.

“There was a devoid [sic] of leadership so we stepped up and led,” DeSantis said Sunday night in a video posted on X.

“Today we welcomed nearly 300 Americans who have been in Israel since last week, when the violent attacks by Hamas terrorists began,” DeSantis wrote.

The Republican presidential hopeful authorized the Florida Department of Emergency Management to carry out “logistical, rescue and evacuation operations” for Florida residents still in Israel.

Florida officials partnered with Project Dynamo, an international search and rescue non-profit, to organize the flights.

One plane carrying seven evacuees landed late night Sunday in Orlando and the other in Tampa, where DeSantis was on hand to meet with over 270 evacuees and four of their dogs. This the first of a planned series of evacuation flights.

The DeSantis executive order also enables the department to transport “necessary supplies” to Israel.

The state’s move supplements slow-going federal efforts to evacuate U.S. citizens from Israel due to the limited availability of commercial flights leaving the country. 

Commercial airlines have canceled hundreds of flights out of Israel as Hamas wages war against Israeli civilians. 

Only a trickle of charter flights has been going in and out regularly.

DeSantis also said this weekend that the U.S. should refuse to take refugees from Gaza, claiming during a campaign event in Iowa that, “They are all anti-Semitic” and that Palestinians should go to the “Arab states.”

While I may not agree that all the residents of Gaza are anti-Semitic, the Hamas brainwashing there is intense and systematic. And thanks to Biden, our immigration system is overwhelmed.  DeSantis is right to have fellow Arab states take in those refugees. 

Team Biden belatedly began arranging chartered flights on Friday for U.S. citizens trapped in Israel to head to Europe, not the U.S., but they will be required to repay Uncle Sam. And no pets allowed.

Meanwhile, the swiftness of the DeSantis effort should be applauded. 

“I am proud of how quickly we have been able to activate resources and do what the federal government could not — get Floridians and other Americans back home,” DeSantis said in a statement.

National Security Council spokesman John Kirby also confirmed on Thursday that in addition to chartered flights, the federal government would explore the possibility of evacuating citizens “by land and by sea.”

American citizens in need of assistance in Israel who want to wait for Biden’s help can complete an intake form found at travel.state.gov and standby.

Some have criticized former president Donald Trump for not sending his own 757 airliner, dubbed ‘Trump Force One’ to Israel to bring back Americans. That would have been a great gesture and a major media coup. 

But Trump has been dealing with blowback to his earlier comments calling Hezbollah terrorists ‘very smart’ and bashing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over a personal squabble.

Opinions expressed by contributors do not necessarily reflect the views of Great America News Desk.

Amanda Head: Tell Us What You Think – Coronation Edition

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There’s a new King of England.

Did you miss the coronation? Let Amanda spill all the juicy details!

Watch this special coronation edition of The Hollywood Conservative below:

Opinions expressed by contributors do not necessarily reflect the views of Great America News Desk.

Rosie O’Donnell Fled US For Ireland After Trump’s Win: Report

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Austin Green, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons

Rosie O’Donnell has followed through on her promise to leave the United States, confirming on social media late Tuesday that she has officially relocated to Ireland. The 62-year-old comedian and actress made the move to Dublin on Jan. 15, bringing her 12-year-old daughter along with her.

In a TikTok video, O’Donnell explained that she left the country because of the current political climate, saying the move was necessary to protect their well-being after President Donald Trump‘s reelection.

She also revealed that she’s in the process of obtaining Irish citizenship, citing her familial roots in the country.

“I never thought I’d leave the country,” O’Donnell acknowledged. “But this felt like the best decision for me and my child. And here we are.”

O’Donnell revealed that she’s adjusting to life abroad and claimed that she and her youngest child are content. However, she admitted, “But I miss my other kids. I miss my friends.”

Reaction from conservative influencers was swift and relentless, igniting a firestorm of online commentary and debate.

The ’90s comedian and actress’ European emigration follows a growing trend of high-profile liberals fleeing the U.S., including Ellen DeGeneres leaving the U.S. for countries like the U.K. and Ireland, driven by dissatisfaction with Trump’s policies, including his administration’s efforts to dismantle bureaucratic overreach and roll back executive actions on diversity, equity and inclusion.

As reported by Fox News, the former View co-host has been publicly feuding with President Trump since 2006:

O’Donnell disagrees with Trump not only politically. The two have also been involved in a feud since 2006 after she criticized him on “The View” about his decision to be lenient toward a Miss USA winner who had been accused of drug use and other bad behavior.

O’Donnell questioned Trump’s moral authority, referencing his personal history and business practices, and mocked his appearance. She stated, “He’s the moral authority? Left the first wife, had an affair. Left the second wife, had an affair. Had kids both times. But he’s the moral compass for 20-year-olds in America?”

Trump responded to the criticism by calling O’Donnell a “real loser.”

At the time, he said of Miss USA Tara Conner that he is a “believer in second chances. Tara is a good person. Tara has tried hard. Tara is going to be given a second chance.”

The pair continued to spar back and forth, with O’Donnell telling People magazine in 2014 their feud involved the “most bullying I ever experienced in my life.”

Trump launched a series of verbal salvos against O’Donnell, calling her “disgusting,” “a slob” and threatening legal action, although he never followed through with a lawsuit. He also commented on her appearance and personal life, intensifying their rivalry.

While O’Donnell and her youngest child have settled in Ireland, she leaves behind five grown children in the U.S.:

-Parker Jaren O’Donnell (29): Adopted in 1995, Parker attended Valley Forge Military Academy and now serves in the Marines.

-Chelsea Belle O’Donnell (27): Chelsea has faced significant challenges, including a strained relationship with Rosie and legal issues related to drug possession and child neglect.

-Blake Christopher O’Donnell (25): The most private of O’Donnell’s children.

-Vivienne Rose O’Donnell (22): A University of Delaware student who graduated high school in 2021.

Will She Ever Return?

Despite embracing her new life abroad, O’Donnell left the door open for a possible return.

“I miss so much about life back home,” she said. “But I’m trying to find a home here in this beautiful country. When America is safe for all citizens and equal rights are truly protected, that’s when we’ll consider coming back.”

Article Published With The Permission of American Liberty News

Report: Republican Senator Marsha Blackburn to Make ‘Unannounced’ Visit to Taiwan

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Gage Skidmore from Surprise, AZ, United States of America, CC BY-SA 2.0 . attraverso Wikimedia Commons

On Thursday, sources revealed Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) will land in Taiwan for an unannounced visit.

“I just arrived in Taiwan to send a message to Beijing – we will not accept bullying America will stand firm for freedom around the world and will not tolerate acts that harm our country and our allies,” Sen. Blackburn shared in a message on Twitter.

Blackburn’s visit comes on the heels of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s recent trip to Taiwan which has infuriated the Chinese government.

China, which has long claimed Taiwan as its own territory, argues the trips infringe on its sovereignty and violate America’s One China Policy which states that the U.S. acknowledges the Beijing government as the sole government of China.

Fox News reports:

The Indo-Pacific Region is the next frontier for the New Axis of Evil,” Blackburn said in a statement that did not mention her impending visit to Taiwan. “Meeting with leaders from Fiji, the Solomon Islands, and Papua New Guinea was an important step in showcasing America’s commitment to the region and expanding our strategic relationships.”

“Continuing these long-established partnerships is important to the success of both East Asian nations and the United States. I am grateful for their leadership. We must stand against the Chinese Communist Party,” she added.

China reacted to the previous August visits by launching multiple live-fire military exercises surrounding Taiwan in what many have described as a “dress rehearsal for an invasion.”

According to Sen. Black burn’s office, she is the sole lawmaker on the visit. The Senator was already on her way home from a foreign trip visiting Fiji, the Solomon Islands, and Papua New Guinea this week.

Families of Marines Killed During Afghan Retreat Blast Biden and Milley

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Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III, Army Gen. Mark A. Milley, chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff; and Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller) Michael J. McCord provide testimony at a Senate Armed Services Committee budget hearing, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C., March 28, 2023. (DoD photo by Chad J. McNeeley)

ANALYSIS – ‘Gold Star’ families of U.S. troops killed in the August 2021 Abbey Gate bombing at the Kabul airport in Afghanistan, are blasting Team Biden excuses over the disastrous retreat. Saturday marked the two-year anniversary of the terrorist attack during Joe Biden’s chaotic withdrawal from the country.

At least 183 people were killed in the attack, including the 13 U.S. service members (12 Marines and a sailor).

Shamefully, Biden allowed the Taliban to retake the country almost 20 years to the day of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on Washington, DC, and New York City.

AND HERE, TWO YEARS AFTER THE AFGHAN COLLAPSE, WE STILL DON’T HAVE ANSWERS, AND NO ONE HAS BEEN HELD ACCOUNTABLE.

As I wrote about earlier, senior Biden defense officials spent the days before and after the deadly 2021 attack in Kabul obsessing on getting Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin to sign off on their Climate Change plan rather than focus on the chaos and death in Afghanistan.

Now, several of these Gold Star families spoke at a House Foreign Affairs Committee roundtable where they expressed their anger at the Biden administration, including Chairman of the Chiefs Mark Milley, who they blame, in part, for the bombing that killed 13 service members.

As the hearing was about to commence, Milley released a statement in which he said the U.S. owes Gold Star families “everything.”

“We owe them transparency, we owe them honesty, we owe them accountability. We owe them the truth about what happened to their loved ones,” Milley said.

But the families didn’t appear impressed. Instead, they were angry about the “excuses” and misinformation they received.

Fox News reported on their justified anger and venting. Kelly Barnett, the mother of Marine Corps Staff Sergeant Taylor Hoover, said “I don’t want to hear lies, I don’t want to hear excuses from Joe Biden, from the administration.”

Hoover’s father, Darin Hoover, called on top Pentagon brass to resign. 

He poignantly noted: “Today is the date, two years ago, that we received our kids home at Dover. Two years ago today, where we were disrespected with stories of Biden’s son and him looking at his watch. And today, here we sit as their families, begging you two years later, to find these answers.”

Christy Shamblin, mother-in-law of Marine Corps Sergeant Nicole Gee, who was pictured prominently with an Afghan baby in her arms prior to her death, asked why credible warnings were ignored in the days leading up to the attack.

Some even accused the Pentagon of giving them ‘made-up stories’ about their loved ones in the aftermath of the attack.

As Breitbart News reported:

…[in a Fox interview] Cheryl Rex, whose son, Lance Corporal Dylan Merola, was killed in the Kabul airport attack in 2021 reacted to Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Mark Milley saying that he believes military briefers gave all the information to the families of those killed in the bombing all the information they could by stating that the briefing on her son was completely inaccurate…

…[When Rex was asked] “Do you believe that all the information was there, or do you agree with other families that it wasn’t about the information, it was about the warnings that were ignored?”

Rex answered, “Me personally, he did not — the brief report was not correct. They changed my son’s location a couple of times. They were trying to accommodate his wounds that were not even in the right spots of his body according to his autopsy report. He did not — the brief report is nothing [like] what we were actually told… I feel it was made-up stories that they were trying to cover up the wounds.”

These Gold Star families deserve answers and accountability. And so do the American people.

ABC Military Journalist Disappeared After Being Mysteriously Targeted by FBI

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I, Aude, CC BY-SA 3.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

In a very strange tale, Rolling Stone recently reported that an acclaimed military journalist who has exposed shocking military cover-ups, friendly fire deaths, and foiled terror plots, disappeared after his home was raided by the FBI in April.

The magazine cited “sources familiar with the matter” as saying that the ABC producer James Gordon Meek was found with classified material on his laptop by the team of heavily armed FBI agents who appeared at his high-end, penthouse apartment in Virginia.

But this made no sense to friends and outside observers who noted that anything like that on his computer would be for a story he was likely working on.

Meek’s attorney, Eugene Gorokhov, told Rolling Stone: “Mr. Meek is unaware of what allegations anonymous sources are making about his possession of classified documents.”

Prior to his 13 years at ABC, Meek was a senior investigator for the House of Representatives Homeland Security Committee.

There was a great deal of speculation about what happened to Meek since he resigned from ABC immediately after the raid and declined a prestigious award soon thereafter.

He totally disappeared for the next several months, fueling even more speculation.

Some say his situation is a case of the Biden Justice Department targeting a journalist who had been extremely critical of Biden’s disastrous Afghanistan retreat.

“Independent observers believe the raid is among the first—and quite possibly, the first—to be carried out on a journalist by the Biden administration,” the magazine reported.

But later reports dismissed those concerns.

As the Daily Beast reported:

Inside ABC News, however, staffers were baffled by this framing, since Meek resigned from the network via email on April 27—the same day as the raid—citing “personal reasons” and told friends it was to “save colleagues and the company any embarrassment,” according to two people familiar with the situation.

Although the FBI declined to comment on the probe, the DOJ was more forthcoming, suggesting in a statement to Confider that the raid was not actually about Meek’s reporting work, despite what the Rolling Stone article seemed to indicate. “While the department cannot speak to any specific case or activity, the Department strictly adheres to the Attorney General’s July 2021 memorandum prohibiting the use of compulsory process with regards to members of the news media acting within the scope of newsgathering activities,” wrote Dena Iverson, principal deputy director in the DOJ’s Office of Public Affairs.

ABC News sources similarly poured cold water on the idea that Meek was being probed for his journalism: “If the purpose of the FBI’s search is to find classified documents the first call you’d be making would be to ABC’s lawyers because you want the protection of the company,” one such insider told Confider. “We would’ve defended him; ABC’s lawyers would be right there,” another network insider said.

In the aftermath of the FBI raid Meek also suddenly ended his involvement in a book he was co-writing with Lt. Col. Scott Mann, a retired Green Beret, entitled ‘Operation Pineapple Express: The Incredible Story of a Group of Americans Who Undertook One Last Mission and Honored a Promise in Afghanistan.’

Mann told Rolling Stone: ‘He contacted me in the spring, and was really distraught, and told me that he had some serious personal issues going on and that he needed to withdraw from the project.

Interestingly, Meek, who has not been charged with any crime, has since reportedly deleted photos of firearms and ammunition from his personal Facebook page.

Meanwhile, more recent reports have shown that Meek is now living discreetly with his elderly mother in McLean, Virginia.

The Daily Mail reported: “‘Missing’ ABC producer James Gordon Meek has emerged from hiding – but refuses to discuss the mysterious FBI raid that brought his storied journalism career to an abrupt halt.”

The reasons for the raid and his ‘disappearance’ from journalism remain a mystery.

Amanda Head: Venezuelan Regime Deploys Spies Just like the U.S.

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Amanda Head dives into the ongoing controversy between the United Socialist Party of Venezuela and Latin-American artist Luis Fonzi while highlighting a grim comparison to America’s own intelligence community.

Watch Amanda break it down below.

‘Barbie’ Movie Banned in Vietnam as Hollywood Again Kowtows to China

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ANALYSIS – China’s outrageous claim to almost the entire South China Sea – everything within a “nine-dash line” drawn on Chinese maps – has taken its most recent victim – the movie-viewing public in Vietnam. The Vietnamese government has banned the movie due to a scene with that Chinese-made line on a map.

China takes its illegal claim very seriously and strives to impose its visual representation on maps everywhere, including those appearing in Hollywood movies.

While it’s unclear why the soon-to-be-released film ‘Barbie’ about the iconic doll and her boyfriend Ken would get embroiled in international politics, it has. 

This south China Sea has been a flashpoint between Vietnam and China for years. The artificial line is shown on Chinese maps to mark their claims over the area despite Vietnam, the Philippines, Indonesia, Brunei, Malaysia, and Taiwan claiming parts of the same vast expanse of sea.

Chinese warships and fishing vessels routinely operate in these waters to establish de-facto presence, often provoking clashes with neighboring countries.

The Daily Wire (DW) reported:

“We do not grant license for the American movie ‘Barbie’ to release in Vietnam because it contains the offending image of the nine-dash line,” Vi Kien Thanh, head of the Department of Cinema, a government body in charge of licensing and censoring foreign films, was quoted as saying in the state-run Tuoi Tre newspaper.

The movie’s trailer shows Barbie leaving her perfect doll world and to explore the “real world” after becoming disillusioned with her life.

So why did a big Hollywood studio decide to include this ridiculous claim in their otherwise non-political movies?

All I can think of is – in order to please the communists in Beijing. China is obviously a far bigger market than Vietnam. And who knows if Chinese investors were involved in the movie’s production.

DW notes:

“Barbie” isn’t the first film banned for including the nine-dash line. The Vietnamese government also blocked the DreamWorks animated film “Abominable” (2019) and the action-adventure film “Unchartered” (2022) for the same reason. Netflix removed the Australian spy drama “Pine Gap” in 2021 for their inclusion of the line.

Hollywood blockbusters including the Marvel films “Eternals” and “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” have also been in China after directors or actors involved in the films made comments critical of China.

Another big controversy exploded in 2019 over the Tom Cruise movie ‘Top Gun: Maverick.’ Initially the movie appeared to remove the flags of Taiwan and Japan from Maverick’s flight jacket. The flags were part of historical patches representing prior U.S. naval deployments to the region.

As NBC News reported:

In 2019, the trailer for “Top Gun: Maverick” showed Cruise’s character, U.S. Navy pilot Pete Mitchell, in the same bomber jacket he wore in the original film. But two of its flag patches — representing Japan and the Republic of China, the official name for Taiwan — appeared to have been replaced by other emblems.

The move was criticized at the time as an act of self-censorship to please China’s censors. Beijing sees Taiwan, a self-ruling democracy of 24 million people, as an inalienable part of its territory and lashes out at any reference to it as a sovereign nation.  

In this case Hollywood, or Cruise, had a change of heart and reversed their apparent kowtowing to China. CHinese investors also pulled out of the movie.

NBC News continued:

On the film’s release last month after a two-year pandemic delay, both flags had been restored. At an advance screening in Taipei, the audience broke out in cheers and applause at the sight of the Taiwanese flag on the big screen, local news outlet SETN reported.

Sometimes in Hollywood the good guys do win. Sadly, not in the case of Barbie.

Opinions expressed by contributors do not necessarily reflect the views of Great America News Desk.

Report: Melania Trump Statue In Slovenia Sawed Off, Stolen

By The White House - https://www.flickr.com/photos/202101414@N05/54426560683/, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=163105965

Police in Slovenia are investigating the disappearance of a bronze statue of U.S. first lady Melania Trump.

The life-size sculpture was unveiled in 2020 during President Donald Trump’s first term in office near Sevnica in central Slovenia, where Melania Knavs was born in 1970. It replaced a wooden statue that had been set on fire earlier that year.

According to Slovenian media reports, the bronze replica was sawed off at the ankles and removed.

The original wooden statue was torched in July 2020. The rustic figure was cut from the trunk of a linden tree, showing her in a pale blue dress like the one she wore at Trump’s presidential inauguration in 2017.

The replica bronze statue has no obvious resemblance to the first lady.

Ex-CIA Officer Proposes Using ‘Counterterror’ Measures Against ‘Right-wing’ Americans

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Gage Skidmore Flickr

ANALYSIS – Can we say dangerous left-wing intelligence hack? 

With Joe Biden and the Democrats demonizing conservatives, partisan, out-of-work former intelligence officers, without much of a ‘war on terror’ to fight anymore, and looking for new work, are now targeting Americans as their new terrorist bogeyman. 

And following the bizarre ‘underwear hammer attack’ on Nancy Pelosi’s husband in San Francisco, the Democrats are on a tear blaming Republicans for violence.

This is despite the fact that the Pelosi attacker was a crazy, life-long pot-smoking hippie, left-wing nudist, and illegal alien from Canada who only started making ‘right-wing’ social media posts a few weeks ago.

But once you designate your domestic political opponents as ‘extremists’ and ‘enemies of democracy,’ you open the door to widespread abuse and repression by the state.

And targeting American citizens as if they were ISIS is the result.

As I noted earlier, we should expect to see a host of these former ‘counter-extremism’ hacks try to parlay their experiences against al-Qaeda to use against their fellow citizens.

This is the old Cold War ‘Red Scare’ in reverse.

And this is just the latest example. A partisan former CIA officer proposing we illegally use ‘counterterror’ measures against Americans.

As Fox News reports:

Former Senior Intelligence Service officer at the CIA, Marc Polymeropoulos published a Sunday piece declaring that technique once used to fight radical Islam should be turned against the right-wing in America.

Polymeropoulos’ piece for NBC News Think warned that propagandists, whether Islamic terrorists or Republicans, should be subject to counterterrorism and counter-radicalization techniques.

“I worked in counterterrorism operations for nearly my entire career at the CIA before retiring in 2019. The battle we engaged in with international terrorist groups like Al Qaeda wasn’t just with their legions of foot soldiers but with their highly effective propaganda arms as well,” he wrote. 

“The U.S. and our allies considered those propagandists fundamental cogs in a terror group’s machinery, and just as culpable as any other terrorist. So we held them accountable when innocent civilians were killed.”

Polymeropoulos suggested that the attack of Paul Pelosi was evidence that the American government needs to take a firmer approach to its own citizenry.

This type of thinking is outrageous on so many levels. Simply un-American. Unconstitutional. And extremely dangerous.

Polymeropoulos, who sounds more like a left-wing extremist than an intelligence officer, is also either willfully ignorant or outright deceptive when he claims that the American right has some sort of monopoly on violent rhetoric. 

He laughably states that there is “nothing equivalent being done on the other side of the aisle” as far as promoting violence against their political opposition. 

“Democratic politicians and leaders may not like Trump, but they don’t call for violence against him, let alone his execution,” he outrageously claimed.

Of course, this is outright false.

As Fox Notes: “He neglected to mention multiple incidents of left-wing calls to arms and violence against Republicans…”

Fox added examples:

In 2017, a far-left former Bernie Sanders campaign volunteer named James T. Hodgkinson fired upon on a group of Republican lawmakers as they practiced for the annual Congressional Baseball Game, critically injuring House Republican Whip Steve Scalise.

Democrats didn’t equate their own hyper-aggressive anti-GOP rhetoric with his violent actions.

And let’s be clear Democrat politicians do incite violence against their GOP opponents.

Fox continues:

Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., endorsed harassing political opposition in public in 2018. “They’re not going to be able to go to a restaurant, they’re not going to be able to stop at a gas station, they’re not going to be able to shop at a department store,” Waters proclaimed at the time. “The people are going to turn on them, they’re going to protest, they’re going to absolutely harass them.”

Polymeropoulos also ignores left-wing activists protesting in front of the houses of Supreme Court justices, firebombing crisis pregnancy centers, and doxing (posting the addresses of public figures online). 

Not to mention the assassination attempt against Justice Brett Kavanaugh by a heavily armed man at his home.

Recall that in 2020, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., warned Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh that they “will pay the price” for rulings against abortion and “You won’t know what hit you.”

Can we say “incitement to violence” against Justices?

This ex-CIA hack also overlooks a full year of left-wing politically motivated riots in cities, often encouraged and enabled by Democrat politicians and ‘community’ leaders.

But facts, consistency, and fairness aren’t needed when you are a political hack trying to get the all-powerful government to use your now unneeded skills to target your fellow Americans who disagree with you.

All you need is your own extremist leftist rhetoric.

Opinions expressed by contributors do not necessarily reflect the views of Great America News Desk.