As one of his final acts, President Obama has chosen to cap off eight years of national security failures by pardoning one of the worst traitors in modern American history: Chelsea (formerly Bradley) Manning. The Army private, who was charged with 22 different crimes related to espionage, pled guilty to or was convicted on almost every charge except aiding the enemy. As a result, Manning was sentenced to 35 years in prison for leaking more than 750,000 classified documents. [Tuesday], he got word he would soon be free after President Obama cut his sentence 28 years short — putting an exclamation point on two terms of President Obama’s anti-American policies.

And also enraging patriots like Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR), who sees the move as a grave insult to our military and the nation. “When I was leading soldiers in Afghanistan, Private Manning was undermining us by leaking hundreds of thousands of classified documents to WikiLeaks,” he argued. “I don’t understand why the president would feel special compassion for someone who endangered the lives of our troops, diplomats, intelligence officers, and allies. We ought not treat a traitor like a martyr,” Cotton added.

For Obama, it’s just one more decision that shouts the administration’s disdain for the men and women in uniform. Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), who was tortured as a prisoner of war in Vietnam for years without breaking, could only shake his head in disgust. “It is a sad, yet perhaps fitting, commentary on President Obama’s failed national security policies that he would commute the sentence of an individual [who] endangered the lives of American troops, diplomats and intelligence sources.” Only in this administration would the acts of a lawless conspirator, one who jeopardized the lives of countless Americans, be rewarded.

And anyone who suggests that Manning’s sexuality had nothing to do with the decision hasn’t been paying attention. If it didn’t, the president would have commuted the sentences of others. After all, there’s Robert Hannsen, who’s serving 15 life terms without the possibility of parole for selling secrets to the Soviets. So is Aldrich Ames. And what about Jonathan Pollard, who served 28 years for giving helpful information to Israel, a U.S. ally? Maybe if they suffered from gender confusion, their sentences would have been commuted too! In the end, this is nothing but Barack Obama solidifying his legacy as the most LGBT-obsessed administration in U.S. history. Even halfway out the door, he’s determined to give trans-activists another victory at the expense of American credibility and security.

FRC’s Lt. General Jerry Boykin believes that what Manning did was every bit as egregious and damaging as Edward Snowden’s crimes. “Both of these guys are enemies of the state, plain and simple.”

“It was established in a military court in 2013 that the release of the Wikileaks information had resulted in the death of at least one Afghan national. BG (R) Robert Carr, who headed the Information Review Task Force investigating the Wikileaks impact, told Judge (Col) Denise Lind that the Taliban had announced killing the Afghan national because of his cooperation with U.S. Intelligence entities. Manning released almost three quarters of a million secret and sensitive documents to Wikileaks. It is plain and simply wrong to continue to claim that Manning’s treason did not result in any deaths.”

As he has so many times, President Obama is choosing political correctness over national security. “Since his imprisonment,” General Boykin pointed out, “Manning has demanded the U.S. Army force taxpayers to pay for his gender transition — even as veterans report finding it difficult to obtain medical services at VA clinics. What a sad commentary on this administration when an act of treason entitles you to better care than most of the men and women who have honorably served this country. For the last eight years, the military has been used to advance a liberal social agenda. Sadly, this remains the case even in the final hours of the Obama presidency.”

Originally published here.

Price Guarantee: Better Health Care

The Left may not succeed in taking down Donald Trump’s attorney general pick, but that doesn’t mean it’s done trying. Now that Sen. Jeff Sessions’s (R-AL) hearings are over, Democrats are turning their fire on the next secretary of Health and Human Services, Rep. (and doctor) Tom Price (R-GA). With Congress on the verge of repealing key provisions of Obamacare, the next secretary of HHS has significant authority to enforce that repeal. That’s probably why Democrat senators on the HELP Committee, like Al Franken (R-MN), worked so hard [yesterday] to try to undermine Dr. Price’s reputation and integrity. So hard, in fact, that Sen. Pat Roberts (R-KS) chided his colleagues, calling the hearing an “anger management hearing” and said he hoped his Democrat colleagues felt better after getting some of their frustrations out.

Amazingly, some substance was broached during the course of the hearing, as senators did manage to ask about Dr. Price’s vision for health care reform. Among other things, Price highlighted the problems with Obamacare’s costs, including increases in the costs of premiums and deductibles that have prevented Americans from having adequate care, even when they technically have coverage. He said that his goal would be affordable care for everyone. While Sen. Kaine (R-VA) used his time to note Price’s support for defunding Planned Parenthood and repealing Obamacare, several senators praised Price for his work on health care reform and his unique knowledge of the health care system from the perspective of a doctor, as well as his public policy experience from his time serving in the House of Representatives.

If Price is confirmed, one thing’s for certain: He has his work cut out for him reforming HHS. Over the last eight years, HHS has issued thousands of pages of rules, which usually had the weight of legislation despite being enacted and enforced by unelected bureaucrats. These rules ranged from redefining sex to include gender identity and requiring doctors to provide sex change surgeries to undermining the conscience protections of medical care and coverage providers who don’t want to promote or provide abortion. It’ll be up to the new secretary to systematically overturn these actions, which are not only undermining the constitutional balance of powers but costing taxpayers!

In the meantime, HELP Committee Democrats made it clear they would stoop to any level to oppose Price’s nomination, including making up bogus ethics complaints. He’s an excellent choice for Secretary of HHS and would make great strides to ensure all Americans have access to affordable care. He will soon be before the Senate Finance Committee, which will vote on his nomination.

Originally published here.

Target’s Aisle of Denial

If you want to be a target, go to Target! That’s the sad reality of the retail chain, whose leadership is probably spending more time talking to law enforcement than shareholders these days. Since its decision last April to open its bathrooms and changing rooms to people of any gender, the pushback has exploded — and so have the arrests. From Texas to North Dakota, a string of sexual predators have been caught using Target’s policy to gain access to vulnerable women and young girls.

Just this week, another man was taken into custody for video voyeurism in a Lincoln, Rhode Island, location. And still the company refuses to relent! But if Target won’t listen to common sense, maybe it’ll listen to its bottom line. Of course, stores have been hurting since last year, when almost 1.5 million shoppers refused to step foot in the store until the company changed its policy. Now, with a dismal Christmas performance, executives have been forced to scale back their projections, as Target stocks fell another six percentage points [yesterday].

Despite an uptick in digital sales, “These results were offset by early-season sales softness and disappointing traffic and sales trends in our stores,” said Target CEO Brian Cornell. As everyone on Wall Street knows, Target’s stocks have taken a nearly 20 percent nosedive since last year, when the change was announced. If there was zero correlation, why are Walmart and online retailers holding steady? Clearly, the boycott — the most successful in American Family Association’s history — is having an enormous impact on Target’s bottom line. But, much like Starbucks’ CEO, who doggedly stuck by his company’s anti-marriage campaign, Cornell has made it known that he didn’t care what consumers think.

Desperate to stop the bleeding, the company has tried everything from revamping grocery sales to boosting online promotions. Missing from their strategies to rescue the chain, however, is the most obvious solution: retracting a dangerous store policy that puts women and children at risk. And while the store has hinted at plans to build single, unisex bathroom stalls, even that won’t solve the changing room problem plaguing shoppers. It’s time for Target to stop living in the aisle of denial and get back to the business of keeping customers safe.

Originally published here.

This is a publication of the Family Research Council. Mr. Perkins is president of FRC.