Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders suffered chest pains Tuesday and underwent emergency heart surgery. His campaign announced Wednesday that “two stents [were] inserted to address a blockage in an artery” and all campaign events have been cancelled “until further notice.” We wish Sen. Sanders a speedy and complete recovery.

As the oldest candidate in the presidential race, this is not the news the Sanders campaign wanted to be making. Obviously, the senator and his family have a lot to discuss in the days ahead. 

Recent polling indicates that Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren is surging and is firmly in second place in the Democrat primary. According to the RealClearPolitics average of polls, Biden is at 27%, Warren is at 23%, and Sanders is at 18%. No other candidate is in double digits.

Should Sanders decide to drop out, or if his support erodes more, Warren would be the obvious beneficiary. It wouldn’t take much for her to overtake Biden as the Democrat frontrunner. 

By the way, did you happen to catch Steve Bannon the other night? He suggested that the Democrat field was weak and another candidate, perhaps even Hillary Clinton, might yet jump into the race.

Pompeo Pushes Back

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is taking heat for his participation in the president’s phone call with Ukrainian President Zelensky, as well as his resistance to unreasonable Democrat demands in their impeachment inquiry. 

Speaking to reporters in Rome yesterday (he was there to promote religious liberty and human dignity, but the press didn’t want to talk about that), Pompeo pushed back against claims that he was “guilty of obstruction." Here’s what he said:

I was on the phone call… I’ve been secretary of state for coming on a year and a half. I know precisely what the American policy is with respect to Ukraine. It’s been remarkably consistent…

We will, of course, do our constitutional duty to cooperate with this co-equal branch (Congress). But we are going to do so in a way that is consistent with the fundamental values of the American system. And we won’t tolerate folks on Capitol Hill bullying, intimidating State Department employees. That’s unacceptable, and it’s not something that I’m going to permit to happen.

Pompeo was referring to Rep. Adam Schiff and the gang demanding that some State Department employees testify before Congress without informing their superiors and without personal or State Department lawyers on hand.

In a letter Tuesday, Pompeo made it clear to Rep. Eliot Engel, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, that there was a process that had to be followed and respected, and that he would not permit his department to be railroaded by Pelosi’s Impeachment Express.

Progressives are lecturing Trump about the rule of law, yet they are violating the rule of law in this attempted "coup.”

He’s Concerned?!

Former Attorney General Eric Holder expressed his concern Tuesday that Attorney General William Barr was leading a “highly unusual” investigation of the U.S. intelligence community and acting more like Trump’s personal attorney than the attorney general of the United States. 

This is coming from the guy who was the first attorney general ever to be held in contempt of Congress. Holder once bragged that he was Obama’s “wing-man,” adding, “I’m here with my boy." 

Why is Holder trying to smear Barr? 

Because Barr and U.S. Attorney John Durham are following up on several previous inspector general reports confirming that laws and Department of Justice rules were violated during the 2016 election. That is why Comey, McCabe, Strzok, and others were fired. 

As you may recall, Barr stated that he had more questions than answers after he began digging into the FISA warrants, and he was concerned that illegal spying took place on the Trump campaign in 2016. He appointed John Durham to investigate what is clearly more than just circumstantial evidence of corruption.

So it’s not surprising that former Attorney General Holder, who could be implicated in this corruption, is now objecting to Attorney General Barr investigating this corruption.

Bring Your Bible to School

Our friends at Focus on the Family have organized a national effort today that is very simple. Christian students aren’t being asked to protest or walk out of class. They are simply encouraged to take the most widely published book in the history of mankind, which as Christians we believe is the inspired word of God, to school for one day.

Maybe another student will ask, "Why’d you bring that?” Maybe there will be a quiet moment in the library for your son or daughter to read their favorite Bible verse to themselves.

Of all the influences in our schools today, the Bible is the last thing anyone should be worried about! And if a significant percentage of our students bring their Bibles to school today, we could probably breathe a sigh of relief that perhaps the worst is behind us and America is on the way to renewal. 

In China right now, where some believe there may be more Christians than there are in the United States, the communist government is forcing churches to take down pictures of Jesus and put up pictures of Chairman Mao and President Xi Jinping. The Ten Commandments are being replaced with Xi’s quotes. 

Of course, the schools in China are completely controlled by the communists. May it never happen here. 

Talking to your children about this would be a wonderful way to teach them just how precious their religious liberty is, that it should not be taken for granted. But to keep it, you have to use it. 

If, after taking their Bible to school today, your children or grandchildren come home with some great stories or even not-so-great stories, I would love it if you shared them with me.