America going to witness just how far-left Democratic Party has become: Jeremy Hunt

Army veteran Jeremy Hunt says with Democrats most likely taking over the Senate, the U.S. will see how extreme the party has turned into.

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  • Republicans wake up, way too late, to Trump’s assault on democracy

    There is a straight line between the Republican Party’s failure to confront Trump when he first emerged in the GOP primary in 2015 and the storming of the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday.

  • In Mike Pence, US evangelicals had their '24-karat-gold' man in the White House. Loyalty may tarnish that legacy

    Mike Pence has remained one of the only constants in the often chaotic Trump administration.Variously described as “vanilla,” “steady” and loyal to the point of being “sycophantic,” he is, in the words of one profile, an “everyman’s man with Midwest humility and approachability,” and in another, a “61-year-old, soft-spoken, deeply religious man.”But that humility and loyalty are being tested as his tenure as vice president draws to an end. “I hope Mike Pence comes through for us,” Trump told supporters at a rally on Monday, seemingly under the mistaken belief that Pence can overturn the election result as he presides over the Electoral College vote count at a joint session of Congress today. Balancing the ticketThroughout the past four years, the vice president has offered a striking contrast to the mercurial, abrasive temperament of his commander in chief. Indeed, in his acceptance speech at the 2016 Republican National Convention, Pence joked that he’d been chosen because Trump, with his “large personality,” “colorful style,” and “lots of charisma,” was “looking for some balance on the ticket.” Commentators have attributed Pence’s steadiness to his Hoosier roots and his “savvy political operator” skills. But it is his religious beliefs that perhaps inform his politics and style more than anything else; as Pence has oft repeated, he is “a Christian, conservative and Republican – in that order.” In a 2011 profile during Pence’s run for Indiana governor, noted state political columnist Brian Howey remarked, “Pence doesn’t just wear his faith on his sleeve, he wears the whole Jesus jersey.”It isn’t a characterization that Pence has shied away from. “My Christian faith is at the very heart of who I am,” Pence said during the 2016 vice presidential debate.Richard Land, former president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission and current president of Southern Evangelical Seminary in Charlotte, told the Atlantic in 2018, “Mike Pence is the 24-karat-gold model of what we want in an evangelical politician. I don’t know anyone who’s more consistent in bringing his evangelical Christian worldview to public policy.” But as a scholar of U.S. religion and culture, I believe that Pence’s faith and political identities are more complex than these statements suggest. In fact, one can trace three distinct conversion experiences in his biography. Three-point conversionGrowing up in an Irish Catholic family with five siblings, working-class roots and Democratic political commitments, Pence attended Catholic school, served as an altar boy at his family’s church, idolized John F. Kennedy and was a youth coordinator for the local Democratic Party in his teens.It was as a freshman at Hanover College in 1978 that Pence experienced an evangelical conversion while attending a music festival in Kentucky billed as the “Christian Woodstock.”For some years afterward he remained active in the Catholic Church, attending Mass regularly, serving as a youth minister and seriously considering joining the priesthood. At the same time, he and his future wife Karen were part of a demographic shift of Americans who “had grown up Catholic and still loved many things about the Catholic Church, but also really loved the concept of having a very personal relationship with Christ,” as a close friend put it.By the mid-1990s he was a married father of three who identified as a “born-again, evangelical Catholic,” an unusual term that has caused some consternation among both evangelicals and Catholics.In subsequent interviews, Pence has spoken freely about how his 1978 conversion gave him a “personal relationship with Jesus Christ” that “changed everything.” But he has tended to avoid labeling his religious views when pressed, referring to himself as a “pretty ordinary Christian” who “cherishes his Catholic upbringing.” He has attended nondenominational evangelical churches with his family since at least 1995. Pence’s political conversion was more clear cut. Though he voted for Jimmy Carter in the 1980 presidential election, he quickly came to embrace Ronald Reagan’s economic and social conservatism and his populist appeal. In a 2016 speech at the Reagan Library, Pence credited Reagan with inspiring him to “leave the party of my youth and become a Republican like he did.” “His broad-shouldered leadership changed my life,” he said. Pence has frequently compared Trump to Reagan, arguing that they have the same “broad shoulders.”Pence ran unsuccessfully for Congress in 1988 and 1990, and the second bruising loss precipitated a third conversion, this time in political style. In a 1991 published essay titled “Confessions of a Negative Campaigner,” he described himself as a sinner and wrote of his “conversion” to the belief that “negative campaigning is wrong.” Between 1992 and 1999, Pence honed his blend of family values and fiscal conservatism in an eponymous conservative talk show.The show’s popularity provided a springboard to a successful run for Congress in 2000. During his six terms in the House, Pence acquired a reputation for “unalloyed traditional conservatism” and principled opposition to Republican Party leadership on issues like No Child Left Behind and Medicare prescription drug expansion. Religious actsIn addition to his “unsullied” reputation as a “culture warrior,” he also attracted attention for following the “Billy Graham Rule” of avoiding meeting with women alone and avoiding events where alcohol was served when his wife was not present. During the 2016 vice presidential debate, Pence said that his entire career in public service stems from a commitment to “live out” his religious beliefs, “however imperfectly.”One of those beliefs is his opposition to abortion, grounded in his reading of particular biblical passages. As a congressman in 2007, he was the first to sponsor legislation defunding Planned Parenthood, and did so repeatedly until the first defunding bill passed in 2011. “I long for the day when Roe v. Wade is sent to the ash heap of history,” he said at the time.In 2016, over the objections of many Republican state representatives, he signed the most restrictive set of anti-abortion measures in the country into law, making him a conservative hero. Among other things, the bill prevented women from terminating pregnancies for reasons including fetal disability such as Down syndrome. Although opponents succeeded in getting the bill overturned in the courts, Indiana is still seen as one of the most anti-abortion states in America.As vice president, Pence also cast the tie-breaking Senate vote to allow states to withhold federal family planning funds from Planned Parenthood in 2017.Pence has also been an outspoken opponent of LGBTQ rights. He opposed the inclusion of sexual orientation in hate crimes legislation and the end of the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy. He likewise supported both state and federal constitutional amendments to ban same-sex marriage, and expressed disappointment at the 2015 Obergefell decision, which required all states to recognize such unions.At the same time he has been a strong supporter of “religious freedom,” particularly for Christians.In March 2015, as Indiana governor, he signed the state’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act “to ensure that religious liberty is fully protected.” The act ignited a firestorm of nationwide controversy: Critics alleged that it would allow for individuals and businesses to legally discriminate against members of the LGBTQ community. Under pressure from LGBTQ activists, liberals, business owners and moderate Republicans, Pence signed an amendment a week later stipulating that it did not authorize discrimination. Staked reputationPence’s religious and political biography mirrors key political and religious shifts over the past 40 years, from the rise of the religious right and its growing influence in the Republican Party to the conservative coalition of evangelicals and Catholics across denominational lines, to the legacy of the “outsider” celebrity president.These threads converge in Mike Pence, whose “24-karat,” “unalloyed” conservative credentials were instrumental in rallying evangelical voters behind Trump in the 2016 election and who has staked his political future on continuing to defend him.This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts. It was written by: Deborah Whitehead, University of Colorado Boulder.Read more: * Why Trump’s Senate supporters can’t overturn Electoral College results they don’t like – here’s how the law actually works * What’s next for American evangelicals after Trump leaves office?Deborah Whitehead does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

  • Former White House communications director Alyssa Farah: 'The election was NOT stolen. We lost.'

    Former White House communications director Alyssa Farah is pushing back on President Trump's false election fraud claims amid chaos in Washington, D.C, telling supporters, "We lost."Farah, who resigned as White House communications director just last month, in a series of tweets on Wednesday urged the president's supporters to accept that he lost the 2020 election, as rioters breached the Capitol building to disrupt the certification of President-elect Joe Biden's victory."I campaigned w/ Trump & voted for him," Farah wrote. "But I need you to hear me: the Election was NOT stolen. We lost."Farah went on to write that supporters "need to know" that the "legitimate margins of victory for Biden are far too wide to change the outcome," adding that it is "NOT and NEVER will be a time for violence." Earlier in the afternoon, Farah called on Trump to "condemn" the rioting in Washington, writing, "You are the only one they will listen to. For our country!"Although Trump later released a video telling the rioters to "go home," in the same video, he also again falsely claimed the election was "stolen" and told the supporters who breached the Capitol that "we love you" and "you're very special." The New York Times' Annie Karni reports that "some around POTUS are worried his video message was counter-productive and that the message received was that he still wants his supporters to fight for him."More stories from theweek.com Even Stephen Miller reportedly thinks today was bad Trump claims he'll lead march to the Capitol, only to slip back to White House in motorcade White House counsel reportedly concerned Trump was committing treason

  • China is desperate to control the narrative of Covid-19's origin - whatever the cost

    International experts from the World Health Organisation trying to investigate the origins of the coronavirus in China, a year after it first emerged in the central city of Wuhan, continue to run into roadblocks. The delay for the WHO mission – already plagued by politics and posturing – adds to persistent worries that China will whitewash and frustrate the investigation. Indeed, a two-person WHO team on a three-week mission last August, aimed at laying out plans for further study, sat through a 14-day quarantine upon arrival and never visited Wuhan. This comes as Beijing engages in a relentless propaganda campaign to distract from its cover-up and rewrite the narrative – all aimed at claiming the coronavirus originated outside China. Officials have seeded a number of conspiracy theories, including blaming the US military for infecting China. The most recent theory flouted is to label imported frozen seafood as the culprit. Foreign minister Wang Yi has gone so far as to claim the virus emerged in many countries, and that China was simply the first to spot it. “We raced to report the epidemic first,” he told state media. Mr Wang’s comments are a far cry from the experiences of doctors, including the late Li Wenliang and Ai Fen, both of whom were reprimanded by Chinese authorities after discovering coronavirus infections in December 2018 and seeking to warn colleagues.

  • Attorney of woman who falsely accused Black teen of phone theft speaks out

    “That phone could have been in hand of 90-year-old grandma, an Asian person... someone Black or blue,” said the attorney of 22-year-old Miya Ponsetto.

  • Rudy Giuliani says pro-Trump rioters attacking US Capitol building are ‘on the right side of history’

    Former mayor and other Trump allies release statements only after violent rioters clash with law enforcement and breach Capitol building

  • National Guard Will Wear Black ID Vests to Stand Out from Police During DC Protests

    DoD officials voiced concern that the public misidentified law enforcement and federal agents wearing the Army's OCP.

  • Mob breaks into Nancy Pelosi's offices during breach of the Capitol

    Supporters of President Trump broke into House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's (D-Calif.) offices on Wednesday during their storming of the Capitol, flipping over tables, pulling photos off walls, and lounging at her desk:> Extremist who took over Nancy Pelosi’s office, per Fox News. pic.twitter.com/byRnH8U93n> > — Ryan Lizza (@RyanLizza) January 6, 2021CNN and Getty Images also captured images of a note scribbled on the back of one of Pelosi's folders and left for her to find, reading: "We will not back down."> This is chilling.> > Someone walked into Nancy Pelosi's office and left this note on her desk: "WE WILL NOT BACK DOWN." pic.twitter.com/LMx0os5f6P> > — Alexis Benveniste (@apbenven) January 6, 2021While lawmakers sheltered in an undisclosed location, MSNBC confirmed that Pelosi is safe.More stories from theweek.com Even Stephen Miller reportedly thinks today was bad Trump claims he'll lead march to the Capitol, only to slip back to White House in motorcade White House counsel reportedly concerned Trump was committing treason

  • ‘Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’: Democrats including Hillary Clinton and AOC rejoice over Georgia as Trump goes wild on Twitter

    President launches all-caps Twitter tirade as Democrats celebrate electoral upset victories

  • ‘A hell of a journey’: Lindsey Graham says it’s time to recognize Biden as the winner

    The Trump ally dismissed the president’s ploy to challenge the election results in Congress as “not going to do any good.”

  • What does ‘Status Not Available’ mean on stimulus tracking site? Here’s what IRS says

    Stimulus checks started arriving through direct deposit last week, the IRS said.

  • Thai king can return to Germany without visa, Berlin says

    Thailand's King Maha Vajiralongkorn does not need a visa to re-enter Germany, where the monarch has spent much of his time since taking the throne in 2016, the Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday. The king, 68, returned to Thailand in October amid mass student-led protests demanding curbs to new powers he has taken, plus the resignation of the ultra-royalist prime minister, who first seized power in a military coup. It is unclear whether the king plans to return to Bavaria - where he spent much of 2020, drawing criticism as he and his entourage stayed in a hotel during the first coronavirus lockdown even though hotels were supposed to shut.

  • 11 Storage Beds to Keep You Organized in 2021

    Read on for space-saving, clutter-clearing magicOriginally Appeared on Architectural Digest

  • 4 dead after Trump supporters storm U.S. Capitol

    One woman was fatally shot and three others suffered "medical emergencies," police said.

  • Some people may file 2020 returns to receive stimulus checks, IRS says

    Tuesday, the IRS issued new measures that will help people determine whether they will get their payments soon or be required to request the money on their 2020 tax return. A date when a physical payment was mailed out. IRS says it may take three to four weeks to get the payment.

  • Fact check: False news report indicates Biden plans to step down as president-elect

    Viral posts posing as a news report falsely claim that Joe Biden is resigning as president-elect due to health issues. This is unfounded.

  • Proud Boys and neo-Nazis: Who are the protesters who stormed the US Capitol?

    US Capitol in lockdown: Follow the latest news The storming of the US Capitol is a jarring but natural product of years of violence and hateful rhetoric stoked by disinformation and conspiracy theories, experts on far-right extremism said as they watched Wednesday’s riot. Members of far-right groups, including the Proud Boys, joined the crowds that formed in Washington to cheer on President Trump as he urged them to protest Congress’s counting of Electoral College votes confirming President-elect Joe Biden’s win. Then they headed to the Capitol. Members of smaller white supremacist and neo-Nazi groups also were spotted in the crowds. Police were photographed stopping a man identified as a leading promoter of the QAnon conspiracy theory from storming the Senate floor. Online forums popular with Trump supporters lit up with gleeful posts about the chaotic scenes broadcast from the Capitol. Thousands of messages on Parler, a right-wing alternative to Twitter, included the hashtag civilwar or other variations of the term.

  • U.S. attorney in Virginia announces resignation

    The leader of one of the country's most prominent U.S. attorney's offices said Tuesday he is resigning after almost three years of prosecuting terrorists, spies and political operatives.

  • Staff saved electoral ballots from Senate floor before mob burned them

    Pro-Trump rioters use ‘chemical irritants’ to get access to US Capitol building

  • Virus can damage brain without infecting it; hair loss on rise among minorities during pandemic

    The following is a roundup of some of the latest scientific studies on the novel coronavirus and efforts to find treatments and vaccines for COVID-19, the illness caused by the virus. The new coronavirus does not need to directly invade brain tissue to damage it, a new study suggests. "We were completely surprised," said coauthor Dr. Avindra Nath of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke in a statement.