Westerners’ Abusive Relationship with Their Governments

American  Thinker 

Two years ago, world-class researcher and analyst “Sundance” posted an alarming essay on his website, The Conservative Treehouse.  Taking a look back at the previous years’ severe COVID tyranny, the rise of the Biden administration’s censorship regime, and the false media narratives pushing a NATO-Russia war in Ukraine, “Sundance” soberly concluded that “We the People” are in an abusive relationship with government.  Within that essay, he embedded a picture of a woman holding a sign that reads: “DANGER: You are being conditioned to view your freedom as selfish.”  

At the end of the essay, there is a chart from a mental health organization entitled, “15 Signs That You Might Be in an Abusive Relationship.”  All fifteen signs are worth pondering:

(1) Stop you from seeing friends and family.

(2) Won’t let you leave home without permission.

(3) Tell you what to wear.

(4) Monitor your phone, emails, and communication.

(5) Control finances, won’t let you work.

(6) Control what you read, watch, and say.

(7) Monitor everything you do.

(8) Punish you for breaking rules that keep changing.

(9) Tell you it’s for your own good.  They know better.

(10) Don’t allow you to question decisions.

(11) Tell you you’re crazy, and no-one agrees with you.

(12) Call you names, or shame you for being selfish.

(13) Gaslight you, challenge your memory of events, make you doubt yourself.

(14) Dismiss your opinions.

(15) Play the victim if things go wrong.  It’s all your fault.

Although his essay was meant to highlight how government authorities used COVID to advance totalitarianism throughout the West, “Sundance” concludes with a warning about the mass surveillance State being constructed to control the flow of information, isolate us from each other, and make us dependent upon government bureaucrats for survival.  “I never really understood how people could accept the formation of communism around them,” he wrote.  “Now I do.”

Last week, social media users reposted failed California Governor Gavin Newsom’s 2020 Thanksgiving guidelines: (1) No more than three households present; (2) Parties no longer than two hours; (3) Guests must stay outside; (4) Avoid singing, chanting, and shouting.  As Governor Newspeak prepares for a 2028 presidential run (an election he swears President Trump will cancel because his White House renovations somehow prove that he’s a “dictator”), he does not want Americans to remember how ridiculous all his COVID edicts were.  Remember when he arrested paddle-boarders swimming alone in the ocean?

Newsom was far from the only Democrat enamored with his unconstitutionally created COVID powers.  Democrat governors and mayors locked Americans in their homes, threatened Christians for attending church services, bankrupted small businesses, and mandated that citizens wear multiple masks while alone in their cars.  They embraced tyranny without hesitation and did not even feign to acknowledge the seriousness of their actions.  The COVID Era checked off all fifteen signs of an abusive relationship between government and citizens in flashing neon lights.

Although there is no shortage of examples that amply demonstrate how unapologetically politicians justified eliminating Americans’ freedoms in the name of “safety,” a top-five list of particularly egregious offenses would surely include a Humvee rolling down a quiet neighborhood street in Minneapolis while dozens of heavily armed riot cops — tasked with enforcing Minnesota Governor Tim Walz’s COVID curfew orders — shot paintballs at residents for standing outside their homes.  While Walz loves to call President Trump a “tyrant,” there is nothing quite so tyrannical as the sight of American law enforcement officers using military equipment to intimidate and assault peaceful Americans for the “crime” of sitting on their front porches.  

We are now several years removed from the worst government abuses during COVID, but no Westerner should be under the illusion that the “Reign of COVID Terror” is behind us or that other iterations won’t soon plague us.  Government tyranny is a hydra-headed beast: For every form of government oppression that is struck down, at least two more grow.  

In the United Kingdom, members of parliament are demanding mandatory digital identifications that make it easier to track citizens at all times.  Instead of admitting that they wish to continue constructing a totalitarian surveillance State, British authorities claim that the IDs are necessary to combat mass illegal immigration.  In other words, the same government officials who destroyed social cohesion by flooding the country with migrants now want to capitalize upon a government-created problem and expand the national security surveillance State.  The British motto could be: First, harm citizens; then offer a “solution” that harms citizens some more.

Emily Spurrell, the chairwoman of the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners in the U.K., has denounced British citizens for raising patriotic flags in protest of decades of government-orchestrated foreign invasion.  The police commissioner argues that waving the Union Jack and St. George’s flags is “not free expression” but rather “intimidation” because patriotic displays make “our neighbors” feel “unsafe” and “afraid to walk down the street.”  Perhaps someone should suggest to Commissioner Spurrell that foreigners who see British flags as “divisive” probably don’t belong in the U.K.  Would she really expect Beijing to bend the knee to a Scotsman who felt “intimidated” by communist China’s Five-star Red Flag?  Or is this just another opportunity for British authorities to shame and gaslight citizens (signs 12 and 13 of an abusive relationship), dismiss their opinions (sign 14), and tell them that the nation’s divisions are all their fault (sign 15)?

Similarly, the European Union has gone all in on monitoring private electronic messages without first establishing any kind of probable cause or seeking a judicial warrant.  The Eurocrats’ justification for their gross intrusion into citizens’ private lives is that they are trying to battle the proliferation of child pornography.  European authorities settled on this convenient excuse because the arrival of unvetted Islamic “asylum seekers” across the continent has set off an epidemic of Islamic men sexually molesting young girls and boys.  

For years, European Union authorities have defamed native Europeans as “racists” and “bigots” for objecting to the mass Islamic immigration that is undermining European culture and increasing acts of terrorism and violent crime.  Now those same European officials are pretending to fight crimes against children by giving themselves the authority to read every European’s personal communications.  So Brussels Eurocrats insist on monitoring communications (signs 4 and 7 of an abusive relationship), punishing citizens for breaking rules that keep changing (sign 8), telling Europeans that the new rules are for their own good (sign 9), forbidding them from questioning official decisions (sign 10), and calling anyone who objects “selfish” and “crazy” (signs 11 and 12).  Do you think Europeans might just be in an abusive relationship with their oppressive government?  

Before you answer that question, please be aware that Empress Ursula von der Leyen and her censorship-loving Commission are watching.  They are right now creating a so-called “Democracy Shield” that is meant to identify and remove “false content” from the internet (sign 6).  As one European diplomat describes the new “monitoring center” without any sense of shame: “Freedom of speech remains for everyone.  At the same time, however, citizens must be free from interference.”  In the name of “democracy,” the Eurocrats must stop us from communicating with undesirable friends and family (sign 1) or leaving Brussels’s information “safe space” without permission (sign 2).  It’s for our own good (sign 9)!

Across the West, governments broadcast the same public message: The beatings will continue until morale improves.  Who needs to venture out to slay the authoritarian dragons in Russia and China, when Hell is empty and all the devils have government jobs at home?  

There are only two ways to survive an abusive relationship: leave the abuser or learn to fight back.  Most of us have nowhere else to go.

Entertainment and podcast thread for December 1st

 

Hope your shopping today was without any websites crashing for a time.

Don’t Fall for the Spin and Fake Studies; the Left Is More Violent Than the Right

Townhall 

The MSM frequently claims that the right is more violent than the left, but they use distorted methodology to come to this fake conclusion. Due to this manipulation, it is almost impossible to discover the real breakdown. 

First of all, the left has many known violent factions — Antifa, Black Bloc, BLM, Islamic terrorists, transgenders and environmental terrorists like the Unabomber. There has also been a wave of firebombings against crisis pregnancy centers and other pro-life organizations, and anti-corporate violence like the murder of a health insurance CEO by Luigi Mangone. Leftist radicals have targeted the police, and most recently, we’re seeing a new rise of violence against ICE agents.    

In contrast, there are almost no known violent factions on the right. So to achieve this false perception, the left lumps racists, white supremacists and neo-Nazis in with the right, when we all know that ilk isn’t conservative, but just deranged haters who often fall on the left anyway. For example, there was the neo-Nazi Libertarian National Socialist Green Party (LNSGP), which has been mostly scrubbed off the internet (except DuckDuckGo), but The New York Times reported about one of its forums in 2005 and its founder was interviewed in 2007. Bill White, a prominent LNSGP member who ran the group's news site Overthrow.com from 2002–2009, was convicted several times for threats that terrorized victims. Jeff Weise, an active poster on the nazi.org forums run by the LNSGP, murdered multiple people in the Red Lake High School Massacre.

The right treats races in a colorblind way, whereas the left emphasizes racial differences and promotes certain races, so it makes sense that the racists would be on the left. The most well-known white nationalist in the country, Richard Spencer, voted for Democrat John Kerry for president, and endorsed both Joe Biden and Kamala Harris for president (according to the website Jezebel, as of 2022, he said he no longer identifies as a white nationalist and is a political moderate).

The reality is, almost every instance of so-called right-wing violence involved a racist or antisemitic. Only by claiming they are on the right can the left come to the tortured opinion that there is more violence on the right.

For example, there is not one piece of evidence in the Wikipedia entry for Dylan Roof, who murdered blacks in a church on a racist rampage, showing he was politically on the right. There was only evidence that he disliked blacks and Jews. In fact, the entry reports that “Roof was also seen spitting on and burning an American flag.” 

The left calls leading conservative figures on the right, like President Donald Trump, Nazis, in order to create this false perception. Real neo-Nazis tend to be non-Christians like Hitler, who targeted Jews, which goes against the Christian Republican base and their love of Israel.

The Nazi party’s name included the phrase “National Socialist,” since they called for profit-sharing, nationalization of trusts and welfare for the "racially pure" which echoed socialist demands for economic reform. The party favored a strong state role in directing economic activity, implementing a mixed economy with heavy regulation, price controls and public works. Nazis drew support from similar demographics, like the socialists in Weimar Germany.

These so-called studies claiming there is more violence on the right fail to include Islamic terrorists on the left — even though the left regularly promotes their causes like violent riots for Palestine. The MSM points to their disagreement on the treatment of women and gays — but these disagreements never materialize, are swept under the rug due to agreement on their wider overarching goals. We see memes mocking LGBT for hypocritically rallying for Palestine while they’re being thrown off skyscrapers by radical Islamists, but there is nothing but deafening silence from the left because it’s not an issue. The two work well together. 

Notice how Islamist attacks provoke conservative shifts in public opinion, not left-wing ones. The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) is widely perceived as a left-wing organization. The radical Islamists in office are all far-left Democrats, like Reps. Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib.

Many violent attacks attributed to the right have since been discredited. The plot to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer was outed as facilitated by undercover feds. The overly hyped J6 protest, which was also encouraged by undercover feds, resulted in the deaths of protesters, not anyone allegedly targeted, and officers who later died were found to have passed away due to other causes. 

The Center for Strategic and International Studies found so far this year that there have been five left-wing terrorist incidents compared to just one from the far right. The one allegedly from the right was Vance Boelter’s murder of Minnesota State Rep. Melissa Hortman, a Democrat, and her husband Mark. While the MSM points to evidence that he was on the right, targeting politicians who champion abortion, he was also appointed to Minnesota's Governor’s Workforce Development Board in 2016 by two Democratic governors, and authorities found homemade flyers with the slogan "No Kings" in his car. Acting U.S. Attorney Joseph Thompson said, “I have not seen anything involving some sort of political screed or manifesto that would clearly identify what motivated him.” Boelter’s full list of targets was never released. 

It all makes sense, since the Republican base is formed of Christians, who teach peace and oppose violence. A YouGov poll from September found that about 20 percent of those on the left said it is justified for citizens to resort to violence to achieve political goals, compared to only about 6 percent of those on the right. So it doesn’t make sense that more violence would come from the right.

The right must start pushing back on the fake statistics. We all know the left and its comrades in the MSM lie, so why are their claims that there is more violence on the right, by lumping us in with racists, accepted as the truth? 

The Democrat/Regime Media Plot Against Pete Hegseth Is a Joke

Townhall 

It’s almost painfully obvious what a scam and a setup this whole “Pete Hegseth is killing innocent drug dealers!” thing is. Mysterious anonymous sources just happened to say exactly what the Democrats needed said following their illegal orders nonsense of last week, and exactly when they needed to change the subject from the murder of a soldier that was arguably contributed to by their illegal orders nonsense of last week. This is just the latest in an endless series of lies designed to undermine the will of the voters by undermining the Trump administration – throw it in the pile with Russiagate, trying to frame Trump, and Hunter Biden’s laptop, et al. But this latest phony scandal does raise an important question in American politics.

Are the people pushing this transparent nonsense cynical operators who know it’s ridiculous, or are they idiots who actually believe it?

Now, you wouldn’t know it from the coordinated regime media/ Democrat narrative tsunami, but, Pete Hegseth denies what the Washington Post claims were two anonymous sources saying that his instructions were to kill all the drug dealers in some unspecified illegal manner. Putting aside that it’s both legal and good to kill drug dealers hauling poison to our shores to kill our people, the hearsay claims of individuals who don’t have the courage of their convictions to come out and say it, or to report this allegedly illegal conduct officially, and also who don’t exist, the regime media/Democrat complex instantly accepted these anonymous slanders as gospel truth. Anonymous claims are the best claims because you can’t defend against them other than to deny them, which is exactly what the liars want. It’s all part of the okey-doke.

Suddenly, overnight, all the Democrats and all the regime media were on exactly the same message. I wonder how that happened. Well, that’s a key component of the scam. It’s an operation, albeit an ineptly executed one, and one which was disrupted by a subject of a different operation to undermine America, so it had to be accelerated to take the dead Guard soldier out of the news. Regardless, you’re either stupid or think we’re stupid if you’re pushing it.

Oh, where to begin? Well, let’s start with a chronology, which vet @TimOnPointsuccinctly set forth almost immediately. You may or may not have noticed in the last couple of weeks that it suddenly, out of nowhere, for no reason, you had a bunch of Democrats announcing that troops are not supposed to follow illegal orders, which is something all soldiers are trained for, and it’s not a shock, surprise, or revelation to anyone. So, why did it happen just now? And why did billboards go up implying the troops should resist being deployed within the United States to protect our people from the barbaric Third World invaders the Democrats eagerly invited in? And why did Team Soros and the usual suspects fund this? 

Of course, it was all leading up to this fake revelation, this bogus hit piece on Pete Hegseth that couldn’t be less convincing if 51 renowned intelligence officers signed onto it like they signed onto the Hunter Biden laptop being a Russian fake. Everything these people say is a lie, and when you start from that premise, you’re almost always going to be correct. Call it Kurt’s Razor. Occam’s Razor is that the simplest explanation is the one that’s most likely to be true. Kurt’s Razor is that anything the regime media says is almost certain to be a lie in whole or in substantial part, especially when it supports Democrat interests.

This scenario was designed to be perfect. They get everyone aroused about alleged unlawful orders, and then suddenly hear about this allegedly unlawful order. Except everything fell apart, starting with how it’s so obviously a propaganda play. They keep going to the anonymous sources well and don’t realize that it’s dry. We don’t buy it anymore.

Then it got worse for them when one of the Democrats’ new friends from Afghanistan decided he would take up their argument and do it one better by murdering a Guard soldier and shooting another airman. Suddenly, the Democrats, over Thanksgiving, were in the awkward position of having implied that the military was illegally on the streets of DC, keeping Democratic constituents from butchering each other, and having one of the people they invited into the country shooting our troops. Again, super awkward. Oh, and devastating for the families, but they don’t care.

Well, the narrative had to change, so Operation Pete Is Too Mean To Drug Dealers had to launch ahead of schedule on the Friday after Thanksgiving. Out drops this Washington Post scoop where, again, anonymous sources allegedly confirm exactly what the Democrats need to happen to support their bogus narrative. The Democrats/regime media contingency plan was simple: “Let’s get America talking about that instead of how we got more American soldiers hurt through our gross incompetence!”

But the problem with being in a bubble is that you might not accurately anticipate how normal people will react. Putting aside that these events did not happen the way the Washington Post says (something the Pentagon told them before they ran with this story), the threshold problem for them is that most normal people think it’s good to kill drug dealers bringing drugs into America. We’ve lost 100,000+ Americans to drugs in recent years and finishing off a drug boat even as a couple of surviving drug mules bob in the water nearby seems perfectly reasonable.

It’s also perfectly legal to call in a second strike on a target that’s not completely destroyed. Ignore the Twitter lawyers and civilian pundits. You don’t have to stop shooting until you finish shooting. There’s no special law of war saying that if you don’t complete the job the first time, you can’t complete it on a second go-round. If the drug boat still exists, it’s a target. If the enemy is nearby, oh well. I keep seeing stupid people explain that this contravenes the Geneva Conventions. But, of course, the Geneva Conventions only apply to nations that have signed onto them and honor them. Last I heard, cartels were not nations, much less signatories to the Geneva Conventions. It’s not a get out a get-out-of-jail-free card for every Miami Vice wannabe hauling coke into Miami.

We’re hearing a lot of stupid people scream a lot about war crimes and murder, and all that. This is part of the plan – hysterical shrieking, a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. The Democrats are promising that if they take the House, they’ll launch a bunch of investigations. That should be a lot of fun when Trump administration officials refuse to testify or otherwise participate in these festivals of onanism and toss the crumpled-up subsequent criminal referrals to the Department of Justice into the Eric Holder Memorial Circular File. You know, just like the Democrats did to us. That’s the big problem with deciding that you don’t feel like conducting business as usual; you’re going to find that the people you want to conduct business as usual against are going to do the same to you.

They are also threatening to prosecute Trump officials under a future Democratic administration. Well, you know that’s going to be a challenge because Trump is going to pardon everybody. After what happened to him and his administration by the fascist regime of President Eggplant, pardoning everybody is going to become routine. We’re seeing angry promises of petty retribution by Democrats against administration officials, even as they complain about the righteous retribution against their pals for actual wrongdoing. It’s more impotent whining from the party of impotent whiners.

So, take your threats of prosecution and shove them.

And you’re welcome because Trump is doing you a favor. Dumb people correctly point out that there’s no statute of limitations on war crimes, but what they seem to forget is that Barack Obama’s extensive drone program killed a lot of people who weren’t the main target. A lot of conservatives have been upset about that, but not me. I was all for it. I’m perfectly good with pals of terrorists getting killed along with the terrorists, even if they happen to hold US citizenship – this just goes to show that we need to denaturalize and deport a bunch of people. But if we’re going to change the rules, we can do that.

We can send a bunch of Obama administration officials to Supermax if that’s the new rule. There’s no one to pardon them; apparently, the autopen was broken when the subject came up after the last election. Like I always say, be careful about the new rules you want to impose upon your enemies, because they’re going to become your suppository.

This is a political plot and should be understood and fought in purely political terms. The real political danger from this is not that Donald Trump is going to be somehow tarred with the stigma of killing drug dealers too hard. The political danger is the distraction, and that’s what they want. They want to create an atmosphere of chaos and confusion, while taking Trump off his real objective, which is finishing the repair of the economy that the Democrats destroyed. 

Some also argue that this is an attempt to support a color revolution, in which the left would attempt to make the present United States government unstable to take it over extra-constitutionally. Fortunately, these clowns are totally inept. It’s not going to happen. And that’s especially true because we know exactly what’s going on. After the blue falcon illegal orders thing, and the murder of our soldier by one of the tens of millions of Third World savages the Democrats invited to invade our home, and this latest bogus scandal, you’ve got a lot of very angry people, including a lot of very angry vets, who are not going just to sit back and watch this. The left may eventually spark a color revolution, but – as my upcoming new novel demonstrates – they might not like the color it ends up being.

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Who is Paying and Controlling Rep Mike Turner?

Conservative  Treehouse 

I do not often go direct on this stuff, but Representative Mike Turner (Ohio, CD-10) is willfully participating in a Deep State operation.  This video below shows evidence of that operation.  Who is controlling him, and more importantly, who is paying him?  Ohio Wolverines need to dig hard and deep.

Before getting to the issue of the day, remember at the beginning of this Congress, even before President Trump was inaugurated at the behest of President Donald Trump, House Speaker Mike Johnson previously removed House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI) Chairman Mike Turner from his position. Representative Mike Turner is no longer Chairman of HPSCI. This was a big loss for the Deep State.

The removal timing was not coincidental, as it followed President Trump announcing an intelligence advisory board headed by Devin Nunes {SEE HERE}. In addition to his manipulative support for Ukraine, in December of 2023 Chairman Turner lied about his FISA-702 renewal having support from Devin Nunes and John Ratcliffe {LINK}. Mike Turner was identified as a big LIAR.  He lied about Nunes.  In January of 2025, Turner was removed from the HPSCI chair.

In 2024, Mike Turner also claimed “his intel team” would control speaker Mike Johnson and ultimately control the office of the president {Go Deep}.  Now, watch this interview; you only need to watch the first part – the setup – to see Turner working an IC operation.  Look at the notes in front of him. Look at his instructions; the framework he is being told to follow.  Watch his eyes as he attempts to talk while referencing the material that has been provided to him.  They are not usually this obvious.  WATCH:

Mike Turner is running a Ukraine intelligence operation. The question is, who’s behind it?

[Transcript] – NANCY CORDES: We’re joined now by Ohio Republican Congressman Mike Turner. Congressman, thanks for being with us. Happy Thanksgiving.

REP. MIKE TURNER: Thank you, Nancy. Happy Thanksgiving to you also.

NANCY CORDES: So, you heard what Sam Vinograd just had to say about the vetting process. You’ve also heard what administration officials are saying about it. Do you believe that this was a failure of vetting, or do you believe this is someone who just became radicalized or became mentally disturbed here in the United States?

REP. TURNER: This is very difficult, because, I mean, this is classic terrorism. And this is where an individual who tries to break the heart of a nation who doesn’t enact a murderous act right before Thanksgiving and the- I think what Samantha is missing in all of this is that we didn’t go to Afghanistan to bring Afghanis here. We went to Afghanistan to kill Osama bin Laden, to dismantle and destroy al-Qaeda, to avenge 9//11, to dismantle and to overthrow the Taliban and to ensure that Afghanistan was no longer a safe haven for terrorism. What occurred is that the Biden administration allowed Afghanistan to fall and fled, and in doing so, then found itself in a situation where those who had been aiding us were then at risk, and in doing so made the decision–

NANCY CORDES:– You don’t think they would have been at risk either way?

REP. TURNER: No, they were- their intention was that they would be still there. That Afghanistan would no longer be a safe haven for terrorists, that it would not be a return to the Taliban, and there would not be a need for those people to be evacuated. You wouldn’t see American planes on the tarmac, as you showed with people running to try to get on them. By the way, those planes wouldn’t be being chased by people if they were on their way to China or Russia, they were on their way to America, and those people were fleeing what the Biden administration was allowing to unfold, which is that it would once again be a nation that would be at risk to us. And so, you know, that’s how you get to the situation where those individuals are at risk. Now, obviously the vetting was flawed. By your own report, you showed that individuals who were on our known terrorist watch list made it into this country through that process. So obviously that the vetting process–

NANCY CORDES:– But then- then they were identified–

REP. TURNER:– but they made it in. They made it in, right? They made it into this country. So obviously the process was flawed, and it was also a process that should have been unnecessary, if there hadn’t been this hasty fall of Afghanistan. In which the Biden administration had promised us all that they were not going to run for the exits. And they not only ran for the exits, they did so at night. You know, Congress was, you know, after hearing, after hearing, you know, raised the issues of the manner in which the Biden administration fled and what the consequences would be. And we’re all living with this consequence now, the investigation is underway.

NANCY CORDES: Weren’t their hands tied in part by the fact that Trump had cut a deal with the Taliban promising to leave by a certain date?

REP. TURNER: No, their hands were not tied. The manner in which they did so, and Congress did a number of investigations, at a number of hearings, and filed a number of reports that showed that it was the actions of the Biden administration, a manner in which they completely withdrew. But that investigation is underway. It’s going to be underway as to this individual, and I think we all need to wait for that investigation to be concluded.

NANCY CORDES: The President has called for 500 more National Guard troops to be sent to the nation’s capital. Your state has already contributed 150. Do you believe that more troops being deployed is the answer, or do you think it’s time to wind this deployment down?

REP. TURNER: When you ask this, is that the answer? You have to first talk about what the question is, and the question is, is there a national issue of- of crime and safety? And certainly the American people, by all polls, indicate that people are experiencing it and report that there is. And certainly in the nation’s capital, there has been- there has been unbelievable reports of just the- the criminal activity, though, the- those individuals who have succumbed to, you know, violent crime. And certainly, there’s been a reporting that the National Guard presence has made a difference.

NANCY CORDES: Right. No question, I think crime is down 30% something like that in DC in the last four months. I want to turn to Ukraine now, another issue very important to you. A team of Ukrainian negotiators is meeting right now in Miami with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Special Envoy Steve Witkoff. What’s your understanding of where the negotiations stand right now. There were concerns initially that the White House plan was too pro-Russia. Do you still have those concerns?

REP. TURNER: Well, I think we all have those concerns. The- the- you know, the President’s goal of peace is incredibly important, and we saw today with Secretary Rubio his statement of, you know, we have to have a strong and sovereign Ukraine, and I- and that’s everyone’s goal, and the- and certainly a prosperous Ukraine. And we saw the Ukrainian representative there, who is, you know, committed. And we certainly think, and I think everyone thinks that President Zelenskyy is committed to peace. But you know, one thing that I think everybody understands is that you can’t have- you can’t be America first and pro-Russia, because Russia has- is a self declared adversary of the United States. It’s fielding new, advanced nuclear weapons that are specifically targeting the United States. It’s constantly attacking the United States with offensive cyber. It continuously identifies both NATO and the West, the United States as its adversary. So in this and of course, when it identifies Ukraine as its adversary, it does so in identifying the West and the United States as its adversary. You have to understand that the balance of this- this peace arrangement has to be one where you have to look at Russia as a skeptical adversary.

NANCY CORDES: Speaking of the question of being pro-Russian, this week, Bloomberg got a hold of this transcript of a call between Steve Witkoff, the special envoy, and a Putin advisor, in which Witkoff appeared to be coaching the Russian on how to win over President Trump. And there are several Republicans that have great concerns about that. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania called it a major problem. Don Bacon of Nebraska said Witkoff fully favors the Russians and should be fired. What do you think?

REP. TURNER: Well, the part that concerned me most is that there appeared to be an orchestration of giving Putin an opportunity to speak to Trump before President Zelensky was on his way to the White House. And I wouldn’t want any orchestration of lessening President Zelenskyy’s relationship with Trump, because it’s very important when you have negotiations that, especially as you have, you know- in this instance Russia is being, you know, obviously, unbelievably murderous of the Ukrainian people. It is an aggressive authoritarian regime in this it’s killing civilians. It is- it is not just this. Is not a military against military action. They are bombing into Ukraine and murderously killing civilians in Ukraine. The- the Ukrainian people are being subjected to this, and the President Trump needs to be able to hear Zelenskyy’s voice clearly, and not just the authoritarian murderous Putin.

NANCY CORDES: So given your concerns, should Witkoff continue to serve as one of the main US negotiators here and should he be sent by President Trump to Moscow this week to meet with Putin?

REP. TURNER: I think you can’t take just one slice of someone’s conversation during a long, stretched out aspect of negotiations as reflective, but I think it’s certainly important that when we do get that opportunity, that our voices are heard of caution and concern. And the orchestration of inserting Putin’s voice before Zelenskyy is very concerning, and I think the White House should be very concerned about any efforts to orchestrate Putin’s voice at the White House before Zelenskyy’s because Ukraine’s sovereignty and security needs to be preeminent. And we heard that this morning from Rubio, and that needs to be the focus.

NANCY CORDES: President Trump said this was just regular deal making. I want to turn to Venezuela, because you’re on the House Armed Services Committee. We’ve all been watching the military buildup in the waters around Venezuela. Just yesterday, the President said airlines should consider Venezuelan airspace closed. Do you take that to mean that a military operation is imminent?

REP. TURNER: Well, the President did not say that, and the President certainly has not given Congress any notice that that is going to occur. And he certainly has not made the case. There is a buildup that the President has not explained in a way that relates solely to the actions that are currently going down in the Caribbean, and with respect to the drug trade that the President has been discussing with Congress, it is certainly a significant concern in Congress.

NANCY CORDES: The Washington Post is reporting that before the strike on the very first suspected drug vote in September, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered that everyone on board be killed, and then when two of the 11 people on board survived, a follow-on strike was ordered to finish them off in the water. Now some law of war experts are saying that that was illegal, that killing people who are no longer able to fight is a war crime. What is your view and what questions do you have for the Pentagon?

REP. TURNER: Congress does not have information that that had occurred. Both the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, and ranking members have opened investigations. Obviously, if that occurred, that would be- be very serious, and I agree that- that- that would- would be an illegal act. That is not the legal opinion or the information or the legal justification, the acts that have been described to Congress that are being undertaken in- in this. There are very serious concerns in Congress about the attacks on the so-called drug boats down in the Caribbean and the Pacific, and the legal justification has been provided. But this is- is completely outside of anything that has been discussed with Congress, and there is an ongoing investigation.

NANCY CORDES: Very interesting to hear you say that this might be an illegal act. I know your committee is asking more questions. We’d love to learn what you find out. Congressman Mike Turner of Ohio, thank you so much for being with us.

REP. TURNER: I appreciate it.

NANCY CORDES: And we’ll be right back with a lot more Face the Nation. Stay with us.

[END TRANSCRIPT]

GET HIM OUT! Even if Ohio CD-10 cannot mount a primary against him, and you have to give this seat to a Democrat. GET THIS GUY OUT OF THE SYSTEM!

Portland Man Charged With Threatening Federal Officers at ICE Facility

Townhall 

A Portland, Oregon, man made his initial appearance today after allegedly making violent threats at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) building in South Portland.

John Paul Cupp, 45, has been charged by criminal complaint with threats made against a federal law enforcement officer.

According to court documents, on October 14, 2025, Cupp began yelling insults at law enforcement officers as they were approaching a crowd. Cupp threatened to kill law enforcement officers and sexually assault their wives.  

“Threats of violence against the brave members of law enforcement and their families will not be tolerated, said U.S. Attorney for the District of Oregon Scott E. Bradford. “The U.S. Attorney’s Office remains committed to holding those accountable who threaten and intimidate those who protect our communities, and we will continue to prosecute criminal threats of violence to the fullest extent of the law.”    

On November 3, 2025, Cupp posted a video online reiterating the same threats to federal agents and their wives. On November 13, 2025, Cupp continued posting violent threats online to officers and their families.

“Threats to law enforcement personnel have absolutely no place in our community,” said Acting Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Portland Special Agent in Charge Matt Torres. “Attempts to intimidate those sworn to protect the American people and uphold our Constitution degrade efforts to keep all of us safe. The FBI will use all investigative means available to us to seek out and arrest anyone using violent rhetoric to express themselves.” 

Cupp is a prolific producer of online content and regularly posts aggressive rhetoric, calls for war against the United States, antisemitic threats, and threats of violence.

Since June 13, 2025, the United States Attorney’s Office has charged 40 defendants with federal crimes for offenses committed near ICE facilities, including assaulting federal officers, failure to comply, and depredation of government property.

Cupp made his first appearance in federal court before a U.S. Magistrate Judge. He was ordered detained pending further court proceedings.

The FBI is investigating the case. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Oregon is prosecuting the case.

A criminal complaint is only an accusation of a crime, and a defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

Democrats Say Trump Gives 'Illegal Orders' But Can't Name Any

Townhall 

CNN's Scott Jennings slammed Democrats for accusing President Donald Trump of giving "illegal orders," but they couldn't name one example when pressed.

Instead, top Democrats pivoted to Hollywood movies as examples of what could happen. 

Six Democrats previously released a video claiming that the military could disobey "illegal orders."

“Like us, you all swore an oath to protect and defend this constitution," Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-MI, said. "Right now, threats to our constitution aren’t just coming from abroad, but from right here at home,” Slotkin and other Democrats with military backgrounds said in the video. “Our laws are clear: You can refuse illegal orders. No one has to carry out orders that violate the law." 

Kelly has claimed that military strikes on suspected drug traffickers are illegal. 

President Donald Trump has called these six people traitors. 

Attorney General Pam Bondi said that the strikes prevent deadly drugs from entering the country.