Observations of an Irishman: The Kim Summit

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As an Irishman, I am a long-time admirer and defender of America and everything your people have achieved to make this world a better place — ranging from your founders highlighting the laws of nature to advancements in all aspects of life including medicine, standard of living, and communication to transport. I personally owe a debt to the American people that can never be repaid as I do not have to speak German.

On Tuesday, President Trump held one-on-one talks with King Jong Un in what was billed as a historic summit between the two leaders. The coverage and reaction to his summit has been stunning with both sides sharing their talking points — depending on your side in the media or social media, this meeting was either amazing or a disaster, Trump is either God or Satan and this summit will either end with a Nobel Peace Prize or war and his impeachment.

May I ask some honest questions? When did America only have two opinions and largely ignoring facts based solely on the politics of the person involved? Is it possible to both celebrate yesterday as a positive step but to also have some major concerns? Does anyone even want to have an honest conversation or do we only cheer for our team? Does anyone want to be consistent and purely call balls and strikes anymore?

President Trump

Let's start with President Trump. Does he and his administration, especially folks like Mike Pompeo, deserve credit for making this meeting happen? Yes, absolutely — and a lot of work has gone on behind the scenes to get to this point.

I believe any sane person in this world wants peace and makes it the ultimate goal in life — even if we differ in how we get there. If holding this meeting can help pave the way to end (technically) one of the longest wars in history, to bring peace and stability to the region, then we should be willing to be made uncomfortable and discuss it. The point with this discussion is to never forget your foundational principles, never surrender or be desperate for a deal at any cost and yes be willing to walk away if the deal is not positive.

King Jong UN

No matter how bad you want to celebrate yesterday as a victory, it is not. Let us not forget that yesterday changed absolutely nothing. King Jong UN is still the same evil despotic dictator as he was last week and has been since he took power in 2011. He is still the dictator of a country that the U.N. has called "one of the most repressive authoritarian states in the world". He is still the dictator of a country that has gross human rights violations committed by the government including, "murder, enslavement, torture, imprisonment, rape, forced abortion, and other sexual violence". If that is what the UN is willing to say about them, can you imagine what the reality actually is? This meeting has not changed this and there is no evidence to suggest it will change going forward.

King Jong UN is still the same evil despotic dictator as he was last week and has been since he took power in 2011.

The second reason yesterday was not a victory, is because King Jong Un is a dictator. History is filled with dictators who are great at lying, having ulterior motives to hold meetings without telling anyone and also changing their minds. If you need reminding of this, perhaps do some research on Neville Chamberlain meeting with Hitler?

If you love Donald Trump please take this warning very seriously — do not put all your eggs in the basket of peace with North Korea. It is like gambling in Vegas, yes you might get lucky but there is also a major chance things go horribly wrong.

American Flag

I am not an American so I probably have no right to say this, but it troubled me greatly and made me sick to see the flag of the evil oppressive North Korea on the same stage as the American Flag. When I think of your flag, I think of it being raised at Iwo Jima, being planted on the Moon, being lifted up after 9/11, Betsy Ross stitching each star and being draped over heroes who made the ultimate sacrifice. Is it perfect? No, and nothing on this earth ever will be. The American flag represents man at its finest and a constant struggle to be better, to have more opportunities to pursue your happiness and to always stand against tyranny. The fact it shared a platform with a flag that stands for the exact opposite of America is something I wish had been given more discussion.

False Praise/Rhetoric

I will openly admit I do not understand part of the appeal of some of Donald Trump behavior and why so many justify it as rhetoric. Maybe it's why I would suck at politics. I speak very plainly, consistently and will never say things I do not believe. Yesterday President Trump called King Jong Un "very talented" and said he trusted him.

I understand the need for the President to build a foundation, but should it not be built on something more solid than either false praise (which I believe it is) or glancing over history? Would we be okay with schools calling Hitler, Stalin or Mao very talented? No, we would rightly be horrified and it would start a discussion online. We must be consistent, even when so many of our liberal friends are not.

Liberal Main Stream Media

There is a famous saying, "history does not repeat itself, but it sure does rhyme". I won't go down to the media's level or the lowest level known to man — the Robert De Niro level and insult you or your profession. I won't even call you #FakeNews.

I will, however, point out how sad it is that you are continuing your long legacy of being on the wrong side of history. After all, your profession does have the legacy of being silent of the horrors during World War 2, hailed Neville Chamberlain as a real leader, grabbed defeat from the jaws of victory in Vietnam and loves to write puff pieces about Castro, Che and lately Karl Marx.

If Trumps motto is America first, what is yours? Is it ratings first? Is it whoever hates Trump the Most First?

Watching your coverage of this summit has been truly unbelievable and sickening. If Trump's motto is America first, what is yours? Is it ratings first? Is it whoever hates Trump the most first? Is it lies and deceit lives here? All you are short of doing during this coverage is writing a puff piece on King Jong Un and highlight how he really is misunderstood, or how he had daddy issues, or how he just wants to be accepted for who he really is.

Devil Is In The Details

The last reason you cannot call this a victory for anyone, is due to the lack of real details of exactly what was discussed on Tuesday morning. We currently have been given four very broad bullet points of what they hope to happen, but no real substance, deadlines, how it will be verified or enforced.

While it is still early, it seems there have been very few concessions made by North Korea and some pretty big ones made by America including ending War Games in South Korea.

Missing Piece?

The other critical missing piece of the jigsaw that I have heard very few are discussing is the U.S Senate — have they been briefed on exactly what happened? Have they been given the full details of what was discussed and proposed? What is their opinion on that? Have they discussed a plan of when a treaty would be drawn up and will the Senate ratify it? Or is this another unconstitutional deal done by executive order?

Conclusion

I really hope we will be able to look back in history on highlight June 12th as a pivotal day where President Trump started a long process of bringing an official end to the Korean War, with an official treaty ratified by the U.S. Senate which results in peace for all involved and where the people of North Korea gain more liberty and freedoms. However, until we have more details and start to see results we cannot offer a conclusion either positive or negative.

I really hope we will be able to look back in history on highlight June 12th as a pivotal day.

This journey will be a very long one, but it has the potential to be historic and if this happens President Trump will be written about and have a legacy that people will still be discussing and analyzing one hundred years from now.

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

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The Roosevelt Room

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The White House

Image courtesy of the White House

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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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?

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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?