Earlier this month, during a House Judiciary Committee hearing on the proposed merger of Comcast and Time Warner Cable, Congressman Louie Gohmert (R-TX) suggested partisan politics might explain why Comcast does not carry TheBlaze. Glenn has not had a chance to speak to Gohmert since the hearing, but on radio this morning, the Congressman joined the program to discuss two key pieces of legislation he is currently working on.
“Louie, I haven't had a chance to talk to you, since your amazing questioning of Comcast,” Glenn said, “which was awesome.”
“Well, I couldn't believe [Comcast Executive Vice President David Cohen] would sit there and make the comments he did. Deeply offensive. For heaven's sake, you got Al Gore, who is supposed to be all about green, and yet he's willing to sell and accept money – millions and millions of dollars – from people that are dripping with carbon and oil and nasty stuff he's against,” Gohmert said. “That [Current TV] deal would never have gone through, unless Comcast said, ‘Yeah, we'll keep you on the air.’ So [Comcast] would rather have people that want the Constitution to go away and be replaced by Sharia Law, than to have some crazy guy that just wants to talk about hope, love and charity.”
Glenn asked Gohmert to discuss two important pieces of legislation he is fighting for in the House that pertain to the NSA and the right of soldiers to carry on U.S. military bases. To begin, Gohmert explained the amendment he wants added to the USA Freedom Act that passed the House Judiciary Committee with unanimous support earlier this month.
The Gohmert Amendment sought to clarify the bill's definition of "clandestine intelligence activities" to specify only "activities by foreign individuals, foreign entities or foreign governments.” The amendment failed to make it through the Judiciary Committee.
“This is the only remaining loophole for them to spy on American citizens that don't have ties with foreign agent, foreign countries, things like that. I wanted that closed up, and [the Democrats] have fought me tooth and nail,” Gohmert explained. “And then my own party leaders have said, ‘No, they say they don't want that in there. That's going to mess up the deal.’ Well, it is a gaping hole. Let's close it up!”
Gohmert encouraged listeners to call their representatives and senators and ask them to reconsider leaving a “gaping hole to spy on American citizens.”
Switching topics, Glenn also asked Gohmert to talk about the amendment he proposed that would allow military members to carry weapons on U.S. military bases for security purposes.
As TheBlaze reported, on Tuesday night the House chose to delay a decision on whether members of the Armed Forces should be able to carry weapons while on base. Gohmert’s language would have amended the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for 2015, which the House is considering this week.
“How tragic to go four and a half years [after the Fort Hood shooting], and what did they do? What did they learn from the first one? Absolutely nothing,” Gohmert said. “We have done nothing to prevent it, and now we are going to go about and do nothing to prevent the next one.”
Gohmert explained his amendment sought to allow soldiers to carry the same weapons on U.S. military installations as they do overseas.
“My initial amendment to the NDAA was basically: Anybody who can carry a gun overseas can carry one on an a military installation. But I was trying to work a compromise with generals and colonials that had reservations and give them an option,” Gohmert said. “If a guy can fire RPGs overseas, certainly he can carry a 9-millimeter here. But there's got to be enough push that even the Democrats can feel it. This is an election year. This is when Democrats really get sensitive to what people are thinking back home.”
With that in mind, Gohmert once again encouraged people to call their representatives and demand action.
“I appreciate everything that you are doing,” Glenn concluded. “Call and tell your congressman and your senator to close the foreign clandestine agent loophole. Also call and demand that service members are allowed to carry guns to protect themselves, so we can protect the service members.”