Three Things You Need to Know – February 20, 2018

Le Pen to Speak at CPAC

The European far-right is coming to CPAC. Just one hour after Mike Pence leaves the stage, Marion Le Pen, the 28 year old photogenic ‘It girl’ from France’s National Front, will address the conference. This encapsulates every reason why we are so frigging screwed. I’ll come back to that.

First, who is Marion Le Pen and the National Front? Marion is considered the “third Le Pen.” Her grandfather, Le Pen number one, founded the party primarily as an anti-communist movement. On the surface that may not sound too bad, but his platform was extreme nationalism, racism, and anti-semitism. If you’re just tuning in, I’m not describing the Nazis - well I guess I am - but this all about Grandpa Le Pen. He recently called Jews dying in Nazi gas chambers as a minor “detail of history,” and that France and Russia need to team up to defend the “white world.”

You can imagine how these views didn’t go over too well with most Frenchmen. Enter… Le Pen number two: Marine. Marine took it upon herself to polish up the party’s image and make them more mainstream. She tuned down the racist rhetoric, kept extreme nationalism, but turned the National Front away from free-market capitalism and towards Socialism. Hmm… extreme nationalism and socialism. National… Socialist? Marine even proposed abortions on tap with full public reimbursement.

If you’re just tuning in, again, I’m not describing the Nazis. This is FRANCE’S NATIONAL FRONT. Their poster girl, Marion (Le Pen number three), will actually be on stage this week speaking to conservatives. And she’s not like her watered down aunt Marine, she’s more akin to the O G… grandpa Le Pen.

I mentioned this before, but this is why we’re screwed. The right currently has three sides to it. Those that are drifting to the left, the conservative minority, and those drifting towards the far or alt-right. Now, look at the serious issues that people have been screaming for their government to address. Immigration? Silence from the left, silence from the mainstream right, silence from many conservatives. What about job loss in middle America? Silence all around.

It is absolutely ridiculous that the only people giving voice to real issues are people on the far left and far right. The deafening silence is driving movements like France’s National Front to become more mainstream. They’re beginning to co-opt into what used to be conservative only groups. Last year it was Milo, this year it’s Marion Le Pen, who’s next? Richard Spencer?

The trajectory we’re on is dangerous and out of control. The far and alt-right is actively trying to weasel its way into mainstream conservative circles. If we don’t put our foot down now, we’re in danger of losing it all.

There's a Reason 16-Year-Olds Can't Vote

Sixteen-year-olds should never be allowed to vote.

Yesterday, several on the Left decided to use the protests by teenagers in Florida and Washington, DC as an opportunity to promote the idea that 16-year-olds should be allowed to vote.

One law professor from the University of Kentucky tried to make a serious case in an article for CNN: “The real adults in the room are the youth from Parkland, Florida, who are speaking out about the need for meaningful gun control laws. They are proving that civic engagement among young people can make a difference. The ironic part? They can’t even vote yet.”

The protests from the devastated high school students of Parkland, Florida are an understandable, visceral reaction to the worst kind of tragedy. They need time and space to vent their grief and anger. The adult role right now should be to comfort and support them as they work through this trauma. Not exploit their tears for political gain.

What we’re seeing this week is a gut-level reaction from traumatized kids, not well-reasoned, “civic engagement.” America has a lot of smart teenagers, but it has even more who don’t know what “civic engagement” means, who their Senator is, or even how to do their own laundry.

Another law professor from Harvard said teens “have far better BS detectors” than adults, so we should give 16-year-olds the right to vote. These professors make it seem almost as if 16-year-old voting rights are being suppressed.

The voting age wasn’t lowered to 18 until the 26th Amendment passed in 1971. The logic then was that if you’re old enough to be drafted, you’re old enough to vote. So, is the criteria now that if you’re old enough to carry a placard you’re old enough to vote? Sorry, but at least in 1971 there was a logical reason for the age change. This one is just knee-jerk reaction.

Why is the Left suddenly so interested in allowing 16-year-olds to vote? Because they’re the perfect untapped voting bloc. Progressives love an emotionally-driven, peer-pressured voter who can be told what to believe rather than thinking through issues for themselves.

Teens and college kids typically lean to the Left until they get out in the real world, start making their own money, see how much of it is drained away in taxes, and finally realize Progressivism is the exact opposite of the freedom it promises.

Concealed Carry on Campus

Patrick was a sophomore at Columbine High School when Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris massacred their classmates.

He was one of the lucky ones. He walked away with his life that day.

He vowed to live a life of service after God granted him that blessing.

Patrick went on to join the Army and served a tour in Iraq. When he came home, he was elected to the Colorado State House of Representatives—where he has served his constituents since 2014.

Every year since he was elected, Patrick has introduced legislation to remove restrictions on concealed carry in schools.

In the wake of the Stoneman Douglas shooting and the renewed call for gun control, Patrick is pushing his legislation just as hard.

Under current Colorado law, anyone who has a concealed carry permit "may bring firearms onto school property, but must keep them locked inside their vehicles."

Patrick doesn’t think that law goes far enough.

His act would allow every law-abiding citizen who holds a concealed carry permit the right to defend themselves and others at all times.

Patrick argues that “Time and time again we point to the one common theme with mass shootings, they occur in gun-free zones. As a former Columbine student who was a sophomore during the shootings on April 20, 1999, I will do everything in my power to prevent Colorado families from enduring the hardships my classmates and I faced that day.”

Now, people will argue that more guns equal more violence, but they forget that the vast majority of guns are in the hands of responsible and good people.

The reality is that we are bringing nothing to a gunfight with evil every day.

Let’s give ourselves, and our children, a chance with an equal contender.

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PHOTOS: Glenn’s rare tour reveals White House history

Image courtesy of the White House

In honor of Trump's 100th day in office, Glenn was invited to the White House for an exclusive interview with the President.

Naturally, Glenn's visit wasn't solely confined to the interview, and before long, Glenn and Trump were strolling through the majestic halls of the White House, trading interesting historical anecdotes while touring the iconic home. Glenn was blown away by the renovations that Trump and his team have made to the presidential residence and enthralled by the history that practically oozed out of the gleaming walls.

Want to join Glenn on this magical tour? Fortunately, Trump's gracious White House staff was kind enough to provide Glenn with photos of his journey through the historic residence so that he might share the experience with you.

So join Glenn for a stroll through 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue with the photo gallery below:

The Oval Office

Image courtesy of the White House

The Roosevelt Room

Image courtesy of the White House

The White House

Image courtesy of the White House

Media cover-up: Why Clinton deported six times more than Trump

Genaro Molina / Contributor | Getty Images

MSNBC and CNN want you to think the president is a new Hitler launching another Holocaust. But the actual deportation numbers are nowhere near what they claim.

Former MSNBC host Chris Matthews, in an interview with CNN’s Jim Acosta, compared Trump’s immigration policies to Adolf Hitler’s Holocaust. He claimed that Hitler didn’t bother with German law — he just hauled people off to death camps in Poland and Hungary. Apparently, that’s what Trump is doing now by deporting MS-13 gang members to El Salvador.

Symone Sanders took it a step further. The MSNBC host suggested that deporting gang-affiliated noncitizens is simply the first step toward deporting black Americans. I’ll wait while you try to do that math.

The debate is about control — weaponizing the courts, twisting language, and using moral panic to silence dissent.

Media mouthpieces like Sanders and Matthews are just the latest examples of the left’s Pavlovian tribalism when it comes to Trump and immigration. Just say the word “Trump,” and people froth at the mouth before they even hear the sentence. While the media cries “Hitler,” the numbers say otherwise. And numbers don’t lie — the narrative does.

Numbers don’t lie

The real “deporter in chief” isn’t Trump. It was President Bill Clinton, who sent back 12.3 million people during his presidency — 11.4 million returns and nearly 900,000 formal removals. President George W. Bush, likewise, presided over 10.3 million deportations — 8.3 million returns and two million removals. Even President Barack Obama, the progressive darling, oversaw 5.5 million deportations, including more than three million formal removals.

So how does Donald Trump stack up? Between 2017 and 2021, Trump deported somewhere between 1.5 million and two million people — dramatically fewer than Obama, Bush, or Clinton. In his current term so far, Trump has deported between 100,000 and 138,000 people. Yes, that’s assertive for a first term — but it's still fewer than Biden was deporting toward the end of his presidency.

The numbers simply don’t support the hysteria.

Who's the “dictator” here? Trump is deporting fewer people, with more legal oversight, and still being compared to history’s most reviled tyrant. Apparently, sending MS-13 gang members — violent criminals — back to their country of origin is now equivalent to genocide.

It’s not about immigration

This debate stopped being about immigration a long time ago. It’s now about control — about weaponizing the courts, twisting language, and using moral panic to silence dissent. It’s about turning Donald Trump into the villain of every story, facts be damned.

If the numbers mattered, we’d be having a very different national conversation. We’d be asking why Bill Clinton deported six times as many people as Trump and never got labeled a fascist. We’d be questioning why Barack Obama’s record-setting removals didn’t spark cries of ethnic cleansing. And we’d be wondering why Trump, whose enforcement was relatively modest by comparison, triggered lawsuits, media hysteria, and endless Nazi analogies.

But facts don’t drive this narrative. The villain does. And in this script, Trump plays the villain — even when he does far less than the so-called heroes who came before him.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

Exposed: America’s ancient power grid is a national security disaster

Allan Tannenbaum / Contributor | Getty Images

If America wants to remain a global leader in the coming decades, we need more energy fast.

It's no secret that Glenn is an advocate for the safe and ethical use of AI, not because he wants it, but because he knows it’s coming whether we like it or not. Our only option is to shape AI on our terms, not those of our adversaries. America has to win the AI Race if we want to maintain our stability and security, and to do that, we need more energy.

AI demands dozens—if not hundreds—of new server farms, each requiring vast amounts of electricity. The problem is, America lacks the power plants to generate the required electricity, nor do we have a power grid capable of handling the added load. We must overcome these hurdles quickly to outpace China and other foreign competitors.

Outdated Power Grid

Spencer Platt / Staff | Getty Images

Our power grid is ancient, slowly buckling under the stress of our modern machines. AAI’s energy demands could collapse it without a major upgrade. The last significant overhaul occurred under FDR nearly a century ago, when he connected rural America to electricity. Since then, we’ve patched the system piecemeal, but it’s still the same grid from the 1930s. Over 70 percent of the powerlines are 30 years old or older, and circuit breakers and other vital components are in similar condition. Most people wouldn't trust a dishwasher that was 30 years old, and yet much of our grid relies on technology from the era of VHS tapes.

Upgrading the grid would prevent cascading failures, rolling blackouts, and even EMP attacks. It would also enable new AI server farms while ensuring reliable power for all.

A Need for Energy

JONATHAN NACKSTRAND / Stringer | Getty Images

Earlier this month, former Google CEO Eric Schmidt appeared before Congress as part of an AI panel and claimed that by 2030, the U.S. will need to add 96 gigawatts to our national power production to meet AI-driven demand. While some experts question this figure, the message is clear: We must rapidly expand power production. But where will this energy come from?

As much as eco nuts would love to power the world with sunshine and rainbows, we need a much more reliable and significantly more efficient power source if we want to meet our electricity goals. Nuclear power—efficient, powerful, and clean—is the answer. It’s time to shed outdated fears of atomic energy and embrace the superior electricity source. Building and maintaining new nuclear plants, along with upgraded infrastructure, would create thousands of high-paying American jobs. Nuclear energy will fuel AI, boost the economy, and modernize America’s decaying infrastructure.

A Bold Step into the Future

ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS / Contributor | Getty Images

This is President Trump’s chance to leave a historic mark on America, restoring our role as global leaders and innovators. Just as FDR’s power grid and plants made America the dominant force of the 20th century, Trump could upgrade our infrastructure to secure dominance in the 21st century. Visionary leadership must cut red tape and spark excitement in the industry. This is how Trump can make America great again.

POLL: Did astronomers discover PROOF of alien life?

Print Collector / Contributor | Getty Images

Are we alone in the universe?

It's no secret that Glenn keeps one eye on the cosmos, searching for any signs of ET. Late last week, a team of astronomers at the University of Cambridge made an exciting discovery that could change how we view the universe. The astronomers were monitoring a distant planet, K2-18b, when the James Webb Space Telescope detected dimethyl sulfide and dimethyl disulfide, two atmospheric gases believed only to be generated by living organisms. The planet, which is just over two and a half times larger than Earth, orbits within the "habitable zone" of its star, meaning the presence of liquid water on its surface is possible, further supporting the possibility that life exists on this distant world.

Unfortunately, humans won't be able to visit K2-18b to see for ourselves anytime soon, as the planet is about 124 light-years from Earth. This means that even if we had rockets that could travel at the speed of light, it would still take 124 years to reach the potentially verdant planet. Even if humans made the long trek to K2-18b, they would be faced with an even more intense challenge upon arrival: Gravity. Assuming K2-18b has a similar density to Earth, its increased size would also mean it would have increased gravity, two and a half times as much gravity, to be exact. This would make it very difficult, if not impossible, for humans to live or explore the surface without serious technological support. But who knows, give Elon Musk and SpaceX a few years, and we might be ready to seek out new life (and maybe even new civilizations).

But Glenn wants to know what you think. Could K2-18b harbor life on its distant surface? Could alien astronomers be peering back at us from across the cosmos? Would you be willing to boldly go where no man has gone before? Let us know in the poll below:

Could there be life on K2-18b?

Could there be an alien civilization thriving on K2-18b?

Will humans develop the technology to one day explore distant worlds?

Would you sign up for a trip to an alien world?

Is K2-18b just another cold rock in space?