Obama's Jail Break

Over the weekend, 6,000 so-called "non-violent criminals" were released from federal prisons, part of the Obama Administration's efforts to relax sentences for non-violent drug offenders. An additional 8,500 prisoners may be deemed eligible for early release next year. And that is just the tip of the iceberg.

Administration officials estimate that as many as 46,000 prisoners may have their sentences reduced over the next few years, leading to what one report called "the biggest prisoner release in U.S. history."

Criminal justice reform is all the rage right now. It is a key demand of the Black Lives Matter movement and even some Republicans have jumped on the bandwagon. But it is important to note that we are not talking about adults who were busted smoking marijuana.

According to an analysis by Investor's Business Daily, "Most sold crack cocaine or meth. . . Fewer than 1 in 10 are marijuana offenders." Moreover, 20% of the 6,000 offenders just released were also in jail for illegal firearms possession while committing drug offenses.

President Obama and the left are constantly railing against conservative support for the Second Amendment and demanding that we get guns off the streets. But guns don't kill people by themselves. Criminals use guns to kill people. Obama just released 6,000 thugs who had illegal guns while they were dealing drugs!

And if that wasn't bad enough, consider this from the IBD report: "Internal government documents . . . show that the administration figures as many as 43% may re-offend within five years of release." So we're letting them out early even though we expect nearly half will commit more crimes, injuring more innocent people and ending up back in jail.

From jihadists at Guantanamo to illegal immigrants in sanctuary cities and armed drug pushers, the left always has the same idea -- release them!

Servergate Update

The State Department released another batch of emails from former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's unsecured private email server. Here are a few observations:

·  The number of Mrs. Clinton's emails that have been deemed classified is now approaching 700.

·  We now know that classified information was also sent from this unsecured server.

·  President Obama has now been dragged into the controversy. The White House announced Friday that it was prepared to invoke executive privilege to prevent the release of several email exchanges between the president and Secretary Clinton.

·  During her recent congressional testimony, Clinton continued to blame the Benghazi attacks on an obscure video. But the U.S. embassy in Tripoli warned against that analysis, writing in an email that the "events in Benghazi [were] much more terrorist attack than a protest. . ." That message was sent BEFORE Susan Rice went on five national talk shows with talking points blaming a video for the deaths of four Americans.

Victory For Free Speech

In the summer of 2012, a Christian missionary group held a peaceful protest during an Arab festival in Dearborn, Michigan. Tensions flared during the event, fights broke out and the police moved in, arresting several of the Christian missionaries and accusing them of inciting the violence.

They took their case to court, claiming their First Amendment rights had been violated. It might seem like a clear cut case, but they lost. They appealed and lost again. Their case was eventually heard by the entire Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Here's the good news: The Christian missionaries were vindicated. Last week the court declared that their rights were in fact violated. Writing for the majority, Judge Eric Clay declared that Wayne County, Michigan, had "effectuated a constitutionally impermissible heckler's veto by allowing an angry mob of riotous adolescents to dictate what religious beliefs and opinions could and could not be expressed. This, the Constitution simply does not allow."

Now here's the bad news: The decision was a slim 8-to-7 vote. The First Amendment rights of Christians were upheld by one vote.

Bill Said What?

During a recent interview, Microsoft founder Bill Gates suggested that capitalism and free markets can't solve global warming. Gates said the private sector was "inept" and he called for "a substantial carbon tax," as if socialism is the solution.

That's rich coming from Gates, who got rich thanks to capitalism!

Having said that, there is some truth to what Gates said, which I doubt he recognizes. Socialism kills economic growth. If you want to lower carbon emissions, tank the economy.

Goodbye, Fred

I was saddened yesterday to read of the passing of my friend Senator Fred Thompson. He died at his home in Nashville, at the age of 73, after a recurrence of lymphoma. He was an incredibly accomplished individual.

At the age of 30, Thompson served as the minority counsel on the Watergate Committee, investigating President Richard Nixon. Thompson is credited with coining the phrase, "What did the president know and when did he know it?" He went on to star in a number of blockbuster movies and hit TV series.

In 1994, Thompson ran for the Senate and was elected in a landslide, capturing Al Gore's Senate seat. In 2008, Thompson ran for president, and I was honored to endorse his campaign.

Please join Carol and me in praying for his wife, Jeri, and their children Hayden and Sammy.