General Kelly Spoke Eloquently of the Fallen Green Berets, and Unhinged ProgDem Representative Wilson Would Do Well to Repent Publicly

TODAY'S NEWS IS ABOUT DESPICABLY EVIL TWISTING THE HONORABLE DEATHS OF AMERICAN GREEN BERETS. But, above all, let us honor the four young men who died honorably serving America as soldiers on duty in Niger. • • • THE NIGER AMBUSH. Fox News reported on the ambush in Niger earlier this month that left four US troops dead. The US troops were attacked after meeting with local village elders in Tonga Tonga, 125 miles north of Niger’s capital, Niamey. Fox News has compiled a timeline of the ambush and its aftermath, which all started with a routine mission to meet village elders : "A dozen US Army soldiers, mostly Green Berets, along with 30 Nigeriens, traveled 125 miles north from their base at Niger’s capital, Niamey, in unarmored trucks on a routine mission and to meet with local village elders in Tonga Tonga, near the border with Mali [a country where French troops have been fighting ISIS and al-Qaida for years with US tactical support] on October 4. After a meeting with the village elders that ended around 12 p.m. local time, the US-led patrol was ambushed by roughly 50 militants from a new ISIS-affiliated group, Islamic State of the Sahel....ISIS of the Sahel leader, Adnan Abu Walid, is thought to have been holding an American aid worker from Niger hostage for a year. A senior defense official told Fox News the US troops were fired on after they were already in their vehicles. The vehicles then scrambled to “get off the X” -- escaping the ambush site using evasive driving maneuvers -- and a gunfight ensued. At about 5 p.m. ET, the Pentagon alerted the White House that US troops had been attacked in Niger. Later that night, US Africa Command confirmed in a statement “that a joint US and Nigerien patrol came under hostile fire in southwest Niger. We are working to confirm details on the incident and will have more information as soon as we can confirm facts on the ground." • The Director of the Pentagon’s Joint Staff, Lieutenant General Kenneth F. McKenzie Jr., told reporters October 12 : “The patrol that was attacked last week had actually done 29 patrols without contact over the previous six months or so; no indication that this was going to occur. I would say that what was actually very positive about it was the fact that they were able to have close-air support overhead, about 30 minutes after first contact, which is pretty impressive.” Two French Mirage fighter jets showed up overhead during the attack, but did not open fire on the militants. The jets, however, flew low enough to scatter the group. The government of Niger does not allow armed drone flights overhead, despite the US military operating two drone bases and roughly 800 American troops in the land-locked West African nation about twice the size of Texas. Two French Gazelle helicopters arrived a short time after enemy forces scattered and one of them retrieved two wounded Green Berets and flew them back to the capital for treatment. A short time later, a private US-contractor helicopter recovered the bodies of the three Green Berets killed in the attack, a US official told Fox News. Robyn Mack, a spokesperson, said : “Berry Aviation was on alert during the incident in Niger and conducted casualty evacuation and transport for US and partner forces." US Africa Command confirmed the information. • Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said Thursday that the attack is under investigation, and the Pentagon has dispatched a general officer to Niger to probe what happened. Mattis stressed that the US military "does not leave its troops behind," noting news reports he said he has seen about the attack : "I would just ask that you not question the actions of the troops who were caught in the firefight and question whether or not they did everything they could to bring everyone out at once." Mattis noted that French aircraft responded and helped to airlift American soldiers out of the area. • • • THE FALLEN AMERICAN SOLDIERS. Two US Army Green Berets and one soldier were known to be killed and two other Green Berets wounded. Staff Sergeant Bryan Black, 35, Staff Sergeant Jeremiah Johnson, 39, and Staff Segeant Dustin Wright, 29, died from wounds sustained during enemy contact. All three Soldiers were assigned to 3rd Special Forces Group (Airborne) on Fort Bragg. At the time of the attack, the Pentagon asked Fox News and other media not to report that a US soldier was missing because US Special Operations forces were headed to Niger for a rescue mission. The other US Army soldier attached to 3rd Special Forces Group, Sergeant La David Johnson, vanished -- and it was feared he had been taken hostage by the terrorist group -- until his body was discovered 48 hours later, reportedly approximately one mile from the attack site, after an “intensive” search using both drones and US special operations soldiers rushed to the scene, according to a US official who debriefed the media on the incident. • • • GENERAL KELLY PUTS DESPICABLE EVIL IN ITS PLACE. Let's begin with the statement of White House Chief of Staff General John Kelly, who put the whole media frenzy in its sordid place when he said Thursday he was “stunned” and “broken-hearted” after a condolence call President Trump made to the widow of a slain soldier turned into a public and political spectacle pitting the administration against a Democratic lawmaker. Fox News reported Kelly's "rare and emotional moment from the White House briefing room podium," as he condemned Representative Frederica Wilson, a Florida Democrat, for listening to that phone call and then criticizing the President's tone in the press. General Kelly said : “I was stunned when I came to work yesterday morning and broken-hearted, at what I saw a member of Congress doing -- a member of Congress who listened in on a phone call from the President" to the widow. It stuns me that a member of Congress would have listened in on that conversation, absolutely stuns me. I thought at least that was sacred,” He called Wilson's behavior "selfish." Kelly, whose son Second Lieutenant Robert Kelly was killed in battle in Afghanistan in 2010, said he was so shocked by the escalation of events that he went to Arlington National Cemetery to take a walk. Even NBC Nightly News on Thursday evening showed scenes of Arlington National Cemetery, while criticizing Representative Wilson for listening to the conversation. Kelly said Trump was trying to say something akin to what General Joseph Dunford, now chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told him when his own son died : That "he was doing exactly what he wanted to do...he knew what he was getting into." Kelly also said on Thursday that Obama did not call him when his son died. However, he stressed that he did not say that as a "criticism" of Obama. Kelly told reporters Thursday that he advised Trump what to say to the families of the soldiers who had died in battle. Initially, Kelly said he instructed the President not to make the phone call. • • • THE TRUMP PHONE CALL. President Trump called the widow of Army Sergeant La David Johnson, one of the four Americans killed in the ambush in Niger on October 4. Representative Wilson within hours went to the press to criticize Trump for allegedly saying during that phone call that "he knew what he signed up for," claiming the remarks were insensitive. Soon after Kelly's remarks, Wilson responded in a comment that is baffling : "Let me tell you what my mother told me when I was little. She said 'The dog can bark at the moon all night long, but it doesn’t become an issue until the moon barks back.' " Wilson lashed out at Trump for being "cold-hearted and insensitive" to Myeshia Johnson on the call, accusing him of not even knowing the name of her husband. The President, however, disputed Wilson's account of the call and Press Secretary Sarah Sanders called Wilson's statements "appalling." • Progressives and the mainstream media once again blamed President Trump for everything -- this time for starting a political controversy over how Presidents interact with Gold Star families last week. BUT, it is the media that is actually calling Gold Star families seeking stories that are negative for President Trump. • Fox News "MediaBuzz" host Howard Kurtz said the media coverage on President Trump's call to a Gold Star widow has turned into a "really sad episode." Melissa Francis noted that reporters are now calling Gold Star family members to see whether they received a phone call from Trump : "I feel like this story has sunk to a new low." Kurtz lamented the politicization of the story, which he said has distracted from the deaths of the four US Green Berets. Kurtz pointed out that there was very little media coverage of the soldiers' deaths in Niger on October 4 : "Now it's getting thousands of times more coverage because it's about Trump. Partisans on both sides have made this into yet another Trump controversy and that really is depressing." • • • FAKE REPUBLICAN JOHN McCAIN ATTACKS MATTIS. Fox News controversial military analyst General Jack Keane said the main question is why the American forces appear to have been "unnecessarily exposed" : "[That] is what's really bothering the Pentagon and my dear friend, John McCain. Why was this group so exposed?" Keane added that the Pentagon deserves time to figure out what went wrong in the remote area. Keane said this incident will likely "spark" a broader review of the US strategy hanging on from the Obama administration in northern Africa. • Senator John McCain, chairman of the Armed Services Committee, in another ill-placed but business-as-usual #NeverTrump attack on President Trump, told Fox News a "subpoena" and hearings may be needed so Congress can gain information on the deaths of the Green Berets. McCain answered "of course not" when a reporter asked whether the Trump administration had been forthcoming on the October 4 attack. But, Fox News reports that Secretary Mattis met Friday with McCain on Capitol Hill, and McCain later said he and Mattis were working on “clearing up” the lack of information. • The online news outlet Conservative Zone wrote about McCain : "President Trump and Senator McCain sparred in the Republican Presidential primaries and McCain hasn’t forgotten Trump’s comments that being a prisoner of war is not enough to make one a hero. The Senator, while being honored with the National Constitution Center’s Liberty Medal, blasted Trump’s international and national policies by referring to what he called a 'half-baked, spurious nationalism.' McCain’s remarks came after he was presented the prestigious medal by former Vice President Joe Biden. McCain was being honored for his 'lifetime of sacrifice and service' to the United States. While the honor is certainly deserved....past recipients of the Liberty Medal include...Representative John Lewis, Hillary Clinton...and CNN International." Accepting the award, McCain said in his speech : “To fear the world we have organized and led for three-quarters of a century, to abandon the ideals we have advanced around the globe, to refuse the obligations of international leadership and our duty to remain ‘the last best hope of earth’ for the sake of some half-baked, spurious nationalism cooked up by people who would rather find scapegoats than solve problems is as unpatriotic as an attachment to any other tired dogma of the past that Americans consigned to the ash heap of history.” • Although he didn’t name President Trump, it was obvious who McCain was aiming his remarks at. White House senior advisor Kellyanne Conway disputed McCain’s assessment, telling Fox News : “Well, I just don’t see that in the President’s agenda or in his philosophy. His moorings are conservative, and he is governing as a center-right President who believes that we pay too much in taxes, that we’re over-regulated, and that we have not taken terrorists seriously...We’ve not even been willing to call them terrorists for the last however many years. This country is safer and more prosperous under President Donald Trump.” Conway added that she does not see any of the “spurious nationalism” in President Trump that McCain condemned in his acceptance speech. • The media loves McCain -- not because he’s a traditional conservative, or even because he’s a neoconservative -- but because he almost always stands in the way of Trump’s agenda. This division might cause many Republican voters to ask : why are two members of the same party so viciously locked in opposition with one another? The answer lies in the heart of McCain’s outdated philosophy, says Conservative Zone : "Neoconservatism was born in the 1970s when a group of Democrats abandoned their party and declared themselves newly minted Republicans. Led by Irving Kristol, the self-proclaimed 'godfather' of the movement, neocons follow his lead in calling for 'a conservative welfare state.' Not surprisingly, it was neocons that did everything they could to keep Ronald Reagan from being the Republican nominee for President in 1980. This doesn’t mean that McCain never votes conservative. In fact, he has generally voted conservative on important issues as evidenced by the American Conservative Union scorecards from 1987 to 2015....He is mildly pro-gun right, anti-abortion, and very hawkish on foreign affairs. In spite of that record, McCain has shown a definite leaning to the left over the course of his long tenure in the Senate. From 1987 to 1996, the Senator’s voting record was one of a down-the-line conservative, but since that time he has been much harder to categorize. McCain’s shift to center-left came as he was gearing up for his first presidential run in 2000, when his 'maverick' storylines came into focus....His recent stands or lack of them, however, have brought into focus that his last twenty years in the Senate have been a long, slow limp to the Left." • As John McCain fights the newly energized conservative core of the Republican Party, he is becoming a liability not only for Presidernt Trump but also for the military whose budget and programming he oversees as chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee. It is time for Majortiy Leader Mitch McConnell to remove McCain from his chairmanship and appoint a Republican who is a real member of the GOP, and not a neo-Progressive interloper -- "neo-Progressive," my new label for Republicans becoming ProgDems because they hate Trump's real conservatism. • • • THE DESPICABLE EVIL. Representative Frederica Wilson is 74 years old. She has three children and five grandchildren. Her husband died in 1988. • What about Wilson’s political career? She is a former elementary school principal, who was elected to the US House of Representatives in 2010. She previously served in the Florida state Senate from 2002-2010 and the state House of Representatives from 1998-2002. Her House of Representatives website lists several issues of concern, including education, gun violence, health care, immigration and jobs. She says she's against "Republican efforts to change Medicare from an entitlement to a voucher program for individuals aged 54 and under." As for Social Security, Wilson says that she "will vote against any measure to privatize the program, cut benefits, or increase the eligibility age." This year, Wilson voted against the Republican health care bill, also known as the American Health Care Act of 2017. In February 2015, she sponsored a bill that was introduced on what would have been Trayvon Martin's 20th birthday, calling for the House to press "any State legislature to reject or repeal Stand Your Ground legislation." • Wilson claims she and Myeshia Johnson were in a car going to Miami International Airport to meet the soldier's body when Trump called. The fallen soldier’s mother, Cowanda Jones-Johnson, told the AP Wednesday that the congresswoman’s account was correct. • It also turns out -- despite the fact that Wilson is now being held out as a staunch supporter of the military -- that Representative Wilson has almost always voted against measures intended to help veterans and their families, according to VoteSmart.org, a vote-tracking site whose founding board members included former Presidents Jimmy Carter and Gerald Ford. The measures that Wilson opposed included a bill that could have ensured that families of four soldiers slain in Afghanistan in 2013 received death and burial benefits. Wilson’s voting record on veterans issues may call into question the sincerity of her recent defense of US service members and their families, because despite Wilson's claim to be “committed to honoring our service members, not only with words but with deeds,” she has voted against most bills ensuring continued funding for veteran benefits, including payments to widows of fallen soldiers, the vote-tracking site shows. She has also opposed measures designed to improve the Department of Veterans Affairs. In March 2013, Wilson opposed the “Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act,” which prevented a government shutdown and provided funds for the US military and the VA. The bill passed with bipartisan support and was signed into law by the Obama administration, providing funding to the military and the VA until the next government shutdown showdown. Later in 2013, Wilson again voted against a resolution aimed at ensuring benefits paid to the veterans and their families would not be affected by the government shutdown in October that year. The motion was particularly important in the wake of reports that the families of four soldiers slain in Afghanistan in 2013 had been deprived of benefits due to the shutdown in Washington. The families of slain soldiers were denied burial benefits and up to $100,000 to each family, among other benefits, the New York Times reported. Wilson voted against the resolution ensuring that the benefits reached the families. Defense Department spokesman Carl Woog said the DOD did not have “the authority to pay death gratuities and other key benefits for the survivors of service members killed in action” due to the government shutdown. Congresswoman Wilson also opposed numerous bills aimed at improving VA services provided the veterans and their families. Wilson's office has not commented on her veterans and military voting record. • Representative Wilson is one more example of ProgDems who talk a good story about loving America and its soldiers, only to act against them, or ignore their needs, when the rubber hits the Progressive road. • • • DEMOCRATS WEAPONIZE GOLD STAR FAMILIES AGAINST TRUMP. As many Democrats weaponize Gold Star families against the GOP, the mainstream media now seems to be approaching the families of dead soldiers one by one in an attempt to find the next controversy surrounding President Trump. • Khizr and Ghazala Khan spoke out against President Trump at the 2016 Democratic National Convention. The Gold Star family Khizr and Ghazala Khan were given an opportunity to speak at the 2016 Democratic National Convention. Their son, Captain Humayun Khan, was killed in 2004 during the Iraq war. But the Pakistani-American Khan trashed then-candidate Trump rather than honoring their fallen-soldier son. Khizr Khan waved a tiny pocket copy of the US Constitution as he said : “Donald Trump, you're asking Americans to trust you with their future. Let me ask you, have you even read the United States Constitution? I will gladly lend you my copy.” The Khans were back in the news on Tuesday, mocking Trump in a statement to TheHill : "Trump's “selfish and divisive actions have undermined the dignity of the high office of the presidency.” • Fox News said Gold Star widows and parents were all over the place on Wednesday, from CNN to the New York Times, mostly to criticize Trump. The Washington Post successfully found a Gold Star father who alleged that Trump didn’t come through on a $25,000 promise -- President Trump's check is now on its way. The Associated Press even tweeted a glorified classified ad with the hope of locating more Gold Star families willing to chat. The ad tweet read : “Are you a member of a Gold Star family who’s had contact with the White House? Confidentially share your story here." A former Reuters contributor commented that the AP’s tweet “seems outside the scope” of journalism. • It is DESPICABLE that the Progressive Democrats and their propagandist media are using the families of fallen soldiers as political ammunition and, there seems to be no end in sight to using every situation to attack the duly-elected President that ProgDems detest. • • • DEAR READERS, it is obviously not true that President Trump was disrespectful. General Kelly was in the room when he called and on Thursday put the matter in its proper place. President Trump also talked to Maria Bartiromo on Fox News Sunday morning. When asked about General Kelly’s Thursday appearance in the White House briefing room after Trump was criticized for his condolences to the widow of Sergeant La David Johnson and Florida Democratic Representative Frederica Wilson saying Trump told Johnson’s widow that her deceased husband “knew what he signed up for,” Trump said his chief of staff is “an elegant man” : “He was so offended, because he was in the room when I made the call and so were other people. And the call was a very nice call.” Trump also dismissed Wilson’s claim that Kelly was forced to make public statements to keep his job : “He didn't want this job. He is a man who felt this was important for the country.” • I apologize in advance if what I am about to say offends anyone, but let's consider the Trump phone call in its totality. The Progressive Democrats and their bought-and-paid-for media singled out an American black family that lost a son and husband in the military. Sergeant Johnson and all black Americans who serve honorably as soldiers and marines and sailors -- whether Green Berets or regular force members -- deserve the gratitude and deep respect of the entire nation, as do their families. They have truly given the last full measure. But of the four Green Berets killed in Niger, only one was black -- Sergeant La David Johnson -- and Florida Congresswoman Wilson who listened to the call and attacked Trump is black. Why was the only black fallen hero singled out by Progressive Democrats and the mainstream media to be used as a weapon against President Trump? Why was Representative Wilson chosen to carry the Progressive load of attacking Trump? As Wilson later charged in a ProgDem fit, because the Progressive MSM and ProgDems are still trying to label all Republicans, and President Trump in particular, as "racist." But, Sergeant Johnson deserves to be honored as the American hero he was -- not as a black American, but as an American. Full stop. His widow deserves to be comforted in her grief by a thankful nation. His parents and family deserve to hear of his valor; instead of being bombarded by the ugly face of Progressivism trying to turn his death into a political point scored to make of Sergeant La David Johnson's valor anti-Trump political fodder. Shame on Frederica Wilson. Shame on the media. Shame on Progressives. • Wilson claimed that Kelly's use of the term "empty barrel" to describe the contents of her seemingly unhinged mind was the same as attacking the color of her skin. The White House, she added, is "full of white supremacists." But, the supposedly offensive and "dehumanizing" phrase ''empty barrel" that Kelly spoke dates back centuries, and even appears in Shakespeare : "I did never know so full a voice issue from so empty a heart. But the saying is true: ‘The empty vessel makes the greatest sound,' " a character says in Henry V. • The charges, writes American Thinker, are crazier and crazier "as the Left congeals in its inability to accept the wisdom and realism of Kelly's slam-dunk statement. Instead of moving on, they're like a frenzied hooked fish, thrashing and flopping wildly on a deck, knowing they've been caught. It's a waste of time, as the Kelly statement speaks for itself. The Drudge Report has scraped the controversy off its website due to lack of reader interest. RealClearPolitics has largely moved the issue over to a side column. Fewer and fewer pieces are now coming out about it now. Game over. Yell as it likes, the Left has lost." • God bless you, Sergeant Johnson. God bless you, Staff Sergeant Bryan Black, Staff Sergeant Jeremiah Johnson, and Staff Segeant Dustin Wright. America loves you and honors your valor and patriotism and grieves with your families and widows.