No white men, please. The post The Secret Service Doesn’t Want White Men appeared first on Frontpage Mag.

Reba McEntire and Melissa Peterman are teaming up for a new sitcom, The Happy Place, this fall, and their former Reba costar JoAnna Garcia Swisher will make a cameo if given the chance. The Sweet Magnolias actress spoke with People this week and admitted that she is Reba and Melissa’s ultimate fangirl. JoAnna said the two stars are “just gold,” and she can’t wait to see them back on the screen together. “I told them the other day, I was like, I’m going to be there for the first taping, and I’m going to be the audience member that’s going to laugh at all of their jokes,” she told the publication. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Melissa Peterman (@melissapeterman) JoAnna starred in Reba as Cheyenne Hart Montgomery for all six of the show’s seasons that ran from 2001 to 2007. For years, she and her castmates tried to get a reboot on air, but they couldn’t get the concept off the ground. JoAnna Garcia Swisher “Would Do Anything” For Her “Reba” Costars In March, Melissa Peterman announced that she and Reba McEntire were reuniting in The Happy Place. The story follows Reba as Bobbie, a woman who inherits her father’s restaurant after he passes away. Bobbie’s new business partner is a half-sister she never knew existed. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Melissa Peterman (@melissapeterman) “I know what the warmth of that set being led by Reba feels like,” JoAnna shared. “It’s just going to be a great experience. It’s such a gift. It was the perfect opportunity.” When asked if she’d guest star on the show, JoAnna said she’d jump at the opportunity. “Yes, they know I would do anything for them!” she said. “A hundred percent, I would do the show. But more importantly, I’m just excited to go watch the show because I am really excited for all of them.” “It’s going to be great!” You can watch Reba McEntire and Melissa Peterman on The Happy’s Place when it premieres on October 18 at 8 PM ET on NBC. This story’s featured image is by Kevin Winter/Getty Images. The post This “Reba” Star Would “100 Percent” Join “The Happy Place” With Reba McEntire And Melissa Peterman appeared first on InspireMore.

God’s heart towards you is to pardon you and it isn’t dependent on what you did or didn’t do.

Not long after MSNBC’s Joy Reid decried the reasonable notion that former President Trump should be viewed as a “victim” after literally getting shot in the head during a failed assassination attempt, during their Monday coverage of night one of the Republican National Convention, she took disgusting swipes at the minority Republicans who were vying to be his vice president; suggesting they “take they humiliation from Donald Trump” and harm their races. MSNBC actually ignored nearly all of the speeches during night one, say for the first two minutes and 20 seconds of Senator Tim Scott’s (R-SC). MSNBC host Rachel Maddow interrupted Scott to mock his speech and claim, without evidence, that he was delivering the VP acceptance speech he would have used if he was picked. MSNBC Host Alex Wagner chimed in to say Scott had no dignity: MADDOW: South Carolina Senator Tim Scott, not chosen as Donald Trump's vice presidential running mate. But he’s sticking with, I think, what would be the same speech had he would have given had he been chosen. WAGNER: Adjust Tim! Adjust! For your own dignity, adjust. But no such adjustments were made. They essentially paved the way for Reid, who broadened the criticism to all the black, Latino, and Indian Republican politicians who were on Trump’s short list.     Reid suggested they were humiliating themselves for Trump because he was supposedly never really considering picking a minority vice presidential candidate: REID: Part of the price of MAGAdom, particularly if you are a person of color is to take the humiliation. You know? I mean, Nikki Haley was not even invited, she was ostentatiously disinvited from this convention. Yet, she still said, I pledge all my delegates to Trump. MADDOW: And then they reversed it. [Crosstalk] REID: Tim Scott humiliated himself daily and then has continued to do so on this stage. I am stunned. And sad for him in the display he just did. But the humiliation of Tim Scott is part of the game and its part of the price. Marco Rubio has been allowing himself to be humiliated by Donald Trump since he drank the tiny water bottle. Like, he’s never going to stop letting Trump humiliate him. “Allowing yourself to take the humiliation from Donald Trump is the price of being part of his army,” she chided. “I mean, he enjoys humiliating these people and making them jump through hoops. I mean, Byron Donalds was no more going to be his vice president as he was going to be speaker.” She then ranted about how they were supposedly helping Trump to “abuse” their communities. “It’s just, I am sad for the folks who are willing to take this kind of abuse, because it is communitywide abuse. It is an abuse of these communities to make people walk the plank knowing none of these people were ever going to be picked,” she declared, without evidence. All of this was being with Scott’s speech going on in the back ground. The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read: MSNBC’s Inside With Jen Psaki July 15, 2024 8:24:47 p.m. Eastern (…) RACHEL MADDOW: South Carolina Senator Tim Scott, not chosen as Donald Trump's vice presidential running mate. But he’s sticking with, I think, what would be the same speech had he would have given had he been chosen. ALEX WAGNER: Adjust Tim! Adjust! For your own dignity, adjust. But no such adjustments were made. (…) 8:27:41 p.m. Eastern JOY REID: Part of the price of MAGAdom, particularly if you are a person of color is to take the humiliation. You know? I mean, Nikki Haley was not even invited, she was ostentatiously disinvited from this convention. Yet, she still said, I pledge all my delegates to Trump. MADDOW: And then they reversed it. [Crosstalk] REID: Tim Scott humiliated himself daily and then has continued to do so on this stage. I am stunned. And sad for him in the display he just did. But the humiliation of Tim Scott is part of the game and its part of the price. Marco Rubio has been allowing himself to be humiliated by Donald Trump since he drank the tiny water bottle. Like, he’s never going to stop letting Trump humiliate him. Allowing yourself to take the humiliation from Donald Trump is the price of being part of his army. And he enjoys hu[miliation.] I think people keep forgetting the character of the man. I mean, he enjoys humiliating these people and making them jump through hoops. I mean, Byron Donalds was no more going to be his vice president as he was going to be speaker. And then afterwards, the Texas congressman admitted that he only placed his name in nomination because he was black and there was a black nominee – That you know Hakeem Jeffries was nominated on the other side. It’s just, I am sad for the folks who are willing to take this kind of abuse, because it is communitywide abuse. It is an abuse of these communities to make people walk the plank knowing none of these people were ever going to be picked. WAGNER: He also changes them in the process. I mean, Marco Rubio, according to one conservative operative I talked to, has been red-pilled and believes the things he’s now saying. This is a full 180. (…)

I think, therefore we are?

Foreign Affairs The Return of Reformists in Iran: A Path to Diplomatic Engagement? Negotiations will be more complex than in 2015, but are still the best chance for regional stability and safety. Credit: Borna_Mirahmadian The unexpected return of reformists to power in Iran has sparked renewed hopes for diplomatic engagement and a new agreement between Iran and the West concerning Tehran’s rapidly expanding nuclear program. During his campaign, President-elect Masoud Pezeshkian vowed to pursue diplomatic negotiations to lift economic sanctions on Iran. The involvement of Javad Zarif and his former deputy, Abbas Araghchi—both central figures in the original Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) negotiations and likely candidates for significant roles in Pezeshkian’s administration—signifies a serious commitment to renewed diplomacy with the West. Kamal Kharrazi, the head of Iran’s Strategic Council of Foreign Relations and an advisor to the supreme leader, has emphasized the importance of lifting sanctions in his congratulatory message to Pezeshkian. Kharrazi’s message has been perceived as an indication that the Supreme Leader is also likely to support a new round of negotiations aimed at sanctions relief in exchange for concessions on Iran’s nuclear ambitions. Despite these positive signals, the road to a new deal is fraught with challenges, requiring substantial political will and compromise from both Tehran and Washington. Since the U.S. withdrawal from the agreement in 2018, Iran’s nuclear program has advanced substantially. As a result, a new deal cannot simply reinstate the prior restrictions or return to the original breakout times outlined in the JCPOA. Tehran’s enhanced nuclear capabilities and technological progress have outpaced earlier limits. Consequently, Washington must recalibrate its objectives to align with this evolved reality. The primary goal should be to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon by containing its program, rolling it back as much as feasible, and enhancing monitoring and inspections to quickly detect any breaches or attempts at weaponization. Negotiations over sanctions relief will be complex, given Tehran’s experiences with past U.S. administrations. The failed 2021–22 negotiations under the Biden administration to restore the JCPOA highlighted Iran’s insistence on verification mechanisms and guarantees to prevent future American withdrawal. Nevertheless, securing such guarantees will be impossible without the backing of the U.S. Congress, which remains largely opposed to easing sanctions on Iran. For these talks to succeed, innovative approaches must be developed both in terms of the scope of the agreement and the mechanisms for verifying compliance and ensuring some of the economic benefits Iran seeks from a deal. The political landscape in both Tehran and Washington offers limited maneuverability for a new nuclear deal. In both capitals, significant resistance is anticipated against any agreement. Even if negotiations commence immediately after Pezeshkian’s administration takes office, President Biden is unlikely to commit to serious talks with the November election approaching. Likewise, Iranian officials are expected to withhold major concessions until the election outcomes are clear, preferring to maintain leverage for subsequent negotiations with a potential Trump administration. Both the U.S. Congress and the Iranian parliament are poised to oppose any new deal vigorously. Consequently, Pezeshkian and the next U.S. president will confront the formidable challenge of advocating for a new deal amidst opposition within their respective capitals. Another critical factor for Tehran will be its relationship with Moscow. Iran has deepened its ties with Russia, particularly since the onset of the conflict in Ukraine, by supplying military drones used against Ukrainian targets. Russia has facilitated Iran’s integration into multilateral forums like the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and BRICS+, and has been working with Iran on evading Western sanctions. It is improbable that Iran’s military and security establishments, along with the supreme leader, would endorse a deal that significantly undermines its relations with Moscow. The West must strategically separate its tensions with Moscow over Ukraine from its negotiations with Iran. Maintaining the integrity of the P5+1 framework is essential for coordinating efforts to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons—a scenario that would destabilize the region further and is also not in Moscow’s interests. Opponents of negotiations with Iran in Washington argue that any sanctions relief will empower a regime known for suppressing its citizens’ rights and supporting anti-Israel militia groups across the region. While these concerns are valid, there is no better short-term alternative to contain Iran’s nuclear ambitions than a limited negotiated agreement aimed at preventing the Islamic Republic from acquiring a nuclear weapon for as long as possible. Achieving such a deal not only forestalls the immediate threat but also empowers moderate voices in Tehran and creates an opportunity for future negotiations over other malign activities of the Iranian regime. Without an agreement, the region faces the risk of dealing with a more belligerent Islamic Republic with nuclear capabilities. The costs of failing to reach an agreement are far too great for the region. The post The Return of Reformists in Iran: A Path to Diplomatic Engagement? appeared first on The American Conservative.

Politics The Revolutionary Change in the RNC Platform While social and economic points carried the news cycle, it is the GOP’s fresh foreign policy that shows the party’s new direction. When I caught an early morning flight from Boise, Idaho to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, I had one goal in mind: to help craft a Republican Party platform that reflected an America First foreign policy. A lot of ink has been spilled in the past week about changes in the party platform related to social issues, along with discussions about how the GOP under Donald Trump has modified positions like trade and entitlements. But too little has been said about the policy program the president has the most control over—functionally more than the Constitution permits—and the decisions that’ll be life or death for Americans in uniform. This year, in a reversal of standard practice, the Republican National Committee presented delegates with a finished product. The platform committee approved the document in less than an hour with no amendments and only a few minutes of debate. Written in Donald Trump’s familiar style, the entire platform cover to cover is a mere sixteen pages, fifty shorter than the most recent 2016 platform. But its brevity matches its clarity. The 2016 platform reads like a warmed-over Weekly Standard editorial circa 2002, with the same apologia for the crimes of the Bush administration and the wayward wishful thinking that has defined our post-Cold War policymakers. In sharp contrast, the new 2024 platform, with MAGA gusto, promises to use “that great [military] strength sparingly, and only in clear instances where our National Interests are threatened…” Furthermore, it acknowledges the wisdom that “War breeds inflation,” and that the goal of a second Trump term is to “PREVENT WORLD WAR THREE, RESTORE PEACE IN EUROPE AND IN THE MIDDLE EAST….” I unequivocally support these beliefs, and that’s why I voted in favor of adopting the platform. Traditionally, a national party platform is more than the president’s personal pitch to voters; it is meant to be a detailed document that local and state candidates can utilize to guide campaigns and shape policy. As a delegate to the platform committee, I had planned to introduce and argue for specific planks in the foreign policy section to bolster conservatives fighting on the ground and provide auxiliary support for Donald Trump’s stated goals. That is what I already accomplished last month at the Idaho Republican State Convention, where I successfully led a movement among delegates to include in our party platform a demand that Congress declare war before our state’s National Guard is deployed into combat and defined the governor’s duty to use the National Guard to repel the invasion at our border. The following prescriptions don’t carry formal weight from the RNC, but they are the views of one veteran and lifelong Republican, and are representative of millions of other veterans and conservatives who seek to restore a semblance of the old, humble republic of our Founding Fathers. With an invasion at our southern border threatening the territorial integrity of our nation, a national debt growing by billions every second, and deaths of despair sapping away the moral fiber of the American people, we must turn our eyes and our faith back to our own country before it is too late. America First is not a new or untried idea. It was advocated by George Washington. It was incorporated in the Monroe Doctrine. It was consummated in Donald Trump’s first term. Under its banner, the United States became the strongest and most independent nation in the world. The Republican Party, under the direction of the president acting as commander-in-chief, will mobilize the National Guard to repel the invasion at our southern border, including defending American land and citizens from cartels and other hostile adversaries. For almost seventy-five years the American public has been subjected to the odium and infamy of undeclared warfare. Offensive wars of choice must be authorized with a declaration of war by Congress and signed by the president. The people must give informed consent through their elected representatives before America spills blood and treasure on foreign soil. Undeclared wars by unilateral executive decision are antithetical to America First. The imperial project of neoconservatism and liberal globalism was permanently discredited when empty formulae met reality in the sands of Iraq and the mountains of Afghanistan. The Republican Party rejects the spreading of American policy through alien methods; we are unwilling to tyrannize this country in a vain project to de-tyrannize the rest of the world. From a military standpoint, the United States’ natural geography makes it better situated than any other nation in the world. Even in the Biden administration’s present condition of unpreparedness, no foreign power is able to diminish the political or economic independence of the American people. If we concentrate on our own defense and build the strength that this nation should maintain on its own border and in its own hemisphere, no foreign nation will ever be able to displace us economically or militarily. The Republican Party earnestly condemns the policy of the present administration in Ukraine as reckless, provocative, and avoidable. The resuscitation and expansion of the NATO alliance at the direction of the Biden White House invites the United States back to Old Europe, with its lack of political resolve and inability to meet defense spending parameters, in a policy where the American people are asked to furnish their money, their means, and their men to defend a wealthy continent. If an administration may with impunity ignore the crisis which most animates the public—the unrestricted invasion of the U.S. southern border—and deliberately create a condition of war anywhere on the globe, organize a censorship campaign to suppress the truth, and demand of all citizens a suspension of good judgment and their unanimous support while it chooses to continue a fight undeclared by Congress, then representative government itself is imperiled. Much as we abhor Russia’s criminal war against Ukraine, and greatly as we regret the blood spilled in Eastern Europe, we more deeply resent the betrayal of American institutions at home. The real firing line is not in the suburbs of Kiev. The foe is in our own household. The Democratic attempt of 1861 was to divide the country. The Democratic attempt of 2024 is to destroy its fundamental principles and domestic security in pursuit of globalism and endless war. We denounce the mercenary system of foreign policy under the current administration and its indulgence of the military-industrial complex identified by President Dwight D. Eisenhower and reprimanded by President Donald Trump. The exploitation of the U.S. Armed Forces by high finance and politically-connected government contractors degrades their moral standing while a program of military Keynesianism disrupts the economy. Under a return to a Republican administration, patriotism will be given precedence over swollen profits. As Donald Trump is set to receive the Republican nomination for a third time—only the second man to accomplish that feat, after Richard Nixon—I hope that the American people are given this election season a thorough treatment of our country’s role in the world, accountability for the past two decades of disaster, and a thoughtful alternative of America First. The post The Revolutionary Change in the RNC Platform appeared first on The American Conservative.

Foreign Affairs The Missed Opportunity for Peace at NATO’s Washington Summit The Biden administration is committed to continuing its errors in Ukraine. Last week, NATO held a summit in Washington celebrating its 75th anniversary. As at other recent summits, the alliance reaffirmed its promise that Ukraine will become a member of NATO at some undisclosed future date. While Ukrainians have shown admirable courage resisting Russia’s invasion of their country, NATO’s insistence that Ukraine will one day join the alliance only incentivizes Russia to continue its aggression. Rather than working to bring about a negotiated settlement, NATO’s policy, driven largely by the Biden administration, will ensure the slaughter in Ukraine continues. For decades, Russian officials made clear that putting Ukraine in NATO would cross a red line. William J. Burns, then U.S. ambassador to Russia and the current CIA director, candidly asserted in 2008 that, Ukrainian entry into NATO is the brightest of all redlines for the Russian elite (not just Putin). In more than two and a half years of conversations with key Russian players, from knuckle-draggers in the dark recesses of the Kremlin to Putin’s sharpest liberal critics, I have yet to find anyone who views Ukraine in NATO as anything other than a direct challenge to Russian interests. Yet U.S. officials ignored Burns’s astute observation. Despite strong Russian protestations, NATO allies agreed at the 2008 Bucharest summit that both Ukraine and Georgia would become members of the alliance. That fateful decision fundamentally altered Moscow’s threat perception of the United States and NATO. The Washington foreign policy establishment may scoff at the idea that expanding NATO to include Ukraine and Georgia poses a threat to Russia; nevertheless, prudent statecraft requires one to consider how adversaries will perceive and react to your actions. Adding new countries to NATO should not be an end in itself. Countries should only be invited to join the alliance when doing so improves the security of current members. Ukraine’s addition would do the exact opposite and heighten the risk of a direct NATO–Russia war. The Biden administration’s support of NATO’s promise to bring Ukraine into the alliance at some future date presents a clear logical inconsistency. If Biden believes it is in the U.S. national interest to send American troops to fight and die for Ukraine in the future, why is it not in the U.S. national interest to do so now while Ukraine is being actively attacked? The simple answer is because it is not in America’s interest to fight a war against Russia—a country that possesses over 5,000 nuclear weapons— on behalf of Ukraine, either now or in the future. Dangling NATO membership to Ukraine is the worst of both worlds. It reinforces Russia’s aggression, provides the hardliners in Moscow with an easy propaganda victory that Russia’s fight is actually with NATO, and leads Ukraine further down a path of false promises and destruction of their country.  Despite estimates that both sides have suffered hundreds of thousands of casualties, neither Russia nor Ukraine has been able to achieve a decisive victory on the battlefield. As Ukraine’s former Army Commander in Chief Valery Zaluzhny observed in late 2023, the war has reached a stalemate. While Ukraine has proven that it is capable of inflicting significant damage on Russian forces, basic battlefield dynamics as well as the realities of manpower and industrial capacity suggest that Ukraine is unlikely to achieve its stated objective to expel all Russian troops and reclaim all occupied territory, including Crimea. Yet, Russia too, has failed to achieve its objective of regime change in Ukraine, and Moscow has been unable to consolidate control over the four Ukrainian oblasts it annexed in 2022. History teaches us that most wars end at the negotiating table. For Ukraine, the principal bargaining chip it possesses is a commitment to forgo its NATO aspirations and adopt a policy of neutrality. Indeed, before the war, Moscow proposed a list of security guarantees to lower tensions in Europe which included ruling out Ukraine’s accession into NATO. After the war broke out, Russian and Ukrainian negotiators met in April 2022 to discuss a peace deal, with the Ukrainian side offering to pledge that it would never join NATO. Although the talks did not result in a conclusive peace treaty, probably due in part to Western pressure on Kiev, the reality is that Ukraine was prepared to trade its unlikely NATO hopes for neutrality and peace. This offer remains the key to negotiating an end to the conflict.    The Washington NATO summit was a prime opportunity for the alliance and Ukraine to work in tandem to develop a serious diplomatic proposal to end the war, rather than encourage further suffering, death, and devastation. For its part, the Biden administration should have found the courage to lead the alliance to this conclusion. Unfortunately, the meat grinder in Ukraine can be expected to continue. The post The Missed Opportunity for Peace at NATO’s Washington Summit appeared first on The American Conservative.

UTL COMMENT:- Babies having heart attacks in the womb....well that's perfectly normal nothing to see here....! Now move along please... Dr. James Thorp Describes The Horrific Damage COVID Vaccines Have Done To Mothers & Babies On July 10, 2024, Kevin - WE THE PEOPLE - DAD @bambkb writes: OBGYN with 43 years of experience @jathorpmfm explains the devastating consequences of COVID vaccination: "I don't know if there is any other physician in the country that sees as many patients as I do by ultrasound, so I know what's going on. I've seen death and destruction like I've never seen before. "There is a 1200x increase in menstrual abnormalities. "When we look at pregnancy, there is a substantial and significant increase in miscarriages, birth defects, fetal cardiac arrhythmia, fetal cardiac malformations, fetal growth slowing, reduction in amniotic fluid and fetal cardiac arrest." "'Are you saying that babies are having heart attacks in the womb?'" "Yes. The vaccine is causing a significant inflammatory effect." Source: https://x.com/bambkb/status/1811088901848846429 Dr. James Thorp videos on this Rumble channel: https://rumble.com/search/all?q=sunfellow%20-%20thorp