A story on the front page of [Friday’s] Washington Times grabbed my attention. Here’s the headline: “Faithful See Failure Of Religious Liberties From GOP Congress.”

The article notes that time and again the “Republican-led Congress shirked its duty” to protect people of faith against a hostile administration. I’m glad somebody gets it. GOP elites were clueless.

How many times have I voiced my frustration with the inaction in Congress? I know how many angry emails I have read over the past eight years. In fact, this is a major reason why Donald Trump defeated two political establishment dynasties — first the Bushes and then the Clintons.

The frustration with politics as usual boiled over in 2016. And while Donald Trump was not an obvious choice for Values Voters, he has emerged victorious, in a strong position to advance our agenda.

I won’t run through the litany of disappointments in the Times story. You know many of them. And while I appreciate the constraints of the Obama White House and left-wing judges, I know many in the GOP establishment simply look for the path of least resistance at the first sign of a fight. That must change.

No more excuses. It is time to fight back and defend our values. There will be major battles ahead. The left is furiously raising money to defend the gains it has made in the past eight years. But there will be many opportunities for us to reverse the damage.

Vetting Failure

Kudos once again to Senator Charles Grassley. The chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee is demanding answers about the vetting process that allowed Ohio State University jihadist Abdul Razak Ali Artan to enter the country as a refugee.

Records obtained by the Judiciary Committee indicate that Artan’s mother told immigration officials when she applied for asylum that she was worried her son might be recruited by Al-Shabab, an Al Qaeda-linked terrorist group based in Somalia.

In a letter sent to the Department of Homeland Security yesterday, Grassley wrote:

“This information should have caused the asylum officer to conduct additional questioning of the older children to better understand ties to a group that the United States designated as a foreign terrorist organization in 2008. Further questioning could have eliminated the possibility that the asylees had dubious ties to the terrorist group and could have allowed for more robust vetting and data collection. However, although common practice in these cases, no additional questioning was conducted.”

President Obama and many liberals assure us that our refugee vetting process is just fine. But as Senator Grassley points out, it clearly is not.

As we have noted before, two-thirds of those convicted on terrorism-related charges since 9/11 were foreign born. In other words, tighter border controls could dramatically reduce the danger our homeland faces from radical Islamic supremacists.

Of course we should help refugees. But there are ways to go about it without endangering our security in the process.

For example, earlier this month, the House of Representatives provided $300 million for refugee assistance. But the language included a commonsense provision stating “such funds shall not be made available for the resettlement costs of refugees in the United States.”

Not only does that put our national security first, it is also more cost-effective. According to one analysis, the cost of resettling refugees to the United States is vastly more expensive than providing assistance overseas.

“It’s Trump’s Fault”

The left-wing media are in an uproar over “fake news,” but its own bias often results in the production of blatant propaganda that is essentially fake news. Here’s the latest example.

There is breaking news from CNN that a Chinese warship seized an underwater drone from an American scientific vessel. As our ship was recalling the drone, the Chinese ignored radio messages and literally pulled up alongside and snatched it.

Now, here’s the kicker. Consider this closing paragraph from the CNN report:

“Although it’s unclear what the motivation was for the Chinese, the seizing of the drone comes on the heels of other provocative incidents that have happened since President-elect Donald Trump received a congratulatory call with Taiwan’s President, a violation of the U.S.‘s agreement with China’s 'One China policy.’”

In other words, it’s Trump’s fault. He insulted the One China policy, so Beijing seized our drone.

This is beyond absurd. The Chinese have been engaged in a series of “provocative incidents” for the past eight years.

They are building artificial islands and arming them so they can control navigation in the South China Sea.

They are buzzing our jets.

They are harassing U.S. ships.

They hacked our government databases.

They have infiltrated our security agencies.

They humiliated Barack Obama.

And Obama never forcefully responded to any of these incidents, which is why the Chinese continue behaving badly. But the left-wing media are now trying to convince the public that the Chinese aggression is a new development since Trump’s election, which is simply a lie.