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Rep. Greg Pence (R-IN)

Editors Note: The Armenian Weekly Editorial Board has corrected the story below to reflect the accurate name of the school that Congressman Pence visited in November. During a phone conversation with the Weekly, Congressman Pences office denied the following events, conveyed to the Weekly by a source, ever took place.

Evidence that the State Departments gag rule on discussing the Armenian Genocide is alive and well arose the week after the historic landslide vote in the United States House of Representatives. While the Armenian Genocide Resolution (H.Res.296) passed by a vote of 405 to 11, notable among the 11 no votes was Republican Congressman Greg Pence of Indiana, older brother of Vice President Mike Pence.

When Congressman Pence visited Central Middle School in Columbus, Indiana the week after the vote, school administrators directed teachers that no one should raise the Genocide Resolution or Cong. Pences no vote during his visit. It is reasonable to infer that Pences staff requested the imposition of the gag rule and that he wanted to avoid the embarrassment of defending his vote.

While it is possible that Pences staff was trying to avoid partisan politics during a school visit, Congressman Pences own words contradict this. In an article reporting on the visit in the Columbus Republic newspaper, Pence is quoted at length denouncing the Houses impeachment inquiry and calling it a Soviet-style or Russian-style witch hunt.

Congressmen Pences office has denied the aforementioned events, as conveyed to the Weekly by a source.

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Global Gag Rule Alive and Well in Indiana - Armenian Weekly

As death sentences drop nationwide, Ohio and Pennsylvania are still serving them up. Michigan lawmakers are thinking about granting more whistleblower protections. And Wisconsin might have some buyers remorse over its deal with Foxconn.

Check-in

Til death: Only eight death sentences were handed out in 2019 across all the Flyover states, with all eight of those coming in either Ohio or Pennsylvania, per the Death Penalty Information Centers year end report. Pennsylvania, which has a governor-imposed moratorium, had two of the eight death sentences while Ohio had six, second most in the nation. Indiana, which has the death penalty on the books but hasnt executed a prisoner in 10 years, had zero sentences. Its worth noting that there wasnt a single execution in Flyover states in 2019.

Leading the way: Surprisingly, the county with the most death penalties handed down isnt in a stereotypical state like Texas. Instead, its in the Democratic stronghold of Cuyahoga County, Ohio where Cleveland is located per cleveland.coms Jeremy Pelzer. In the past two years, five people have been sentenced to death. Only one other county Riverside County, California in the nation had more than one.

The winning reform-ula: After abandoning a proposed criminal justice reform bill over fears it might actually lead to more incarceration, the ACLU of Ohio and Americans for Prosperity are back on the wagon, cleveland.coms Andrew Tobias reports. Lawmakers agreed to remove portions of the bill they added earlier this week that would have increased penalties for drug dealing near drug treatment facilities.

Whistle while you work: Michigan lawmakers, partially in response to the Flint water crisis, are seriously considering expanding whistleblower protections in the state, the Detroit News Craig Mauger reports. A pair of bills, one sponsored by a Republican and one by a Democrat, are gaining some bipartisan traction in the legislature.

Foxconn in the henhouse: When the state of Wisconsin pledged billions of dollars in tax credits and incentives to Foxconn to build an LCD panel factory in the state, it expected those credits to specifically benefit Wisconsin. But per the states nonpartisan Legislative Audit Bureau, the current deal allows the company to be rewarded for workers that dont live in the state, the Wisconsin State Journals Mitchell Schmidt reports. Its the latest in a line of problems the state has had with the deal.

Deal me in: Michigan is jumping on board with suing pharmaceutical companies over the opioid crisis, using a state law that is usually reserved for getting civil damages from drug dealers, MLives Emily Lawlor reports. Attorney General Dana Nessel, a Democrat, said she hoped the suit filed Tuesday would bring north of $1 billion for treatment and recovery programs.

Hot air: It turns out satellite imaging of a 2018 methane leak in Ohio showed the damage was much worse than previously thought, the New York Times Hiroko Tabuchi reports. While the incident captured fairly little attention at the time, the Exxon Mobil fracking site in Belmont County actually released more methane into the atmosphere than countries like France and Norway.

Why-owa: Ever wonder why the Iowa caucuses are first in the nation? Theres some very interesting history there, dating back to the 1960s and 1970s. The Des Moines Registers Clare Ulmer lays out some of the history in her latest piece.

Flight PlanWith the holidays essentially here, Ill be taking a little bit of time off from our scheduled programming.Instead, Ill be featuring some insights (with the help of cleveland.com data guru Rich Exner) into each of the Flyover states starting Friday through the New Year. Well start this Friday with Indiana. The rest of the states are as follows:

Dec. 23 Wisconsin

Dec. 24 Ohio

Dec. 27 Illinois

Dec. 30 Pennsylvania

Dec. 31 Michigan

Jan. 3 Iowa

Arrivals/Departures

Trump campaign senior adviser Lara Trump, the presidents daughter-in-law, was in Sterling Heights, Michigan, on Tuesday, per MLive.

Republican President Donald Trump will be in Battle Creek, Michigan, on Wednesday for a Merry Christmas rally, per MLive.

Vice President Mike Pence will be in Saginaw, Michigan, on Wednesday, per MLive. Pence will join Trump in Battle Creek that evening.

Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey will be in Urbandale, Iowa, on Thursday, per the campaign.

Some of Santa Claus letters are going to Indiana, per the Indianapolis Star.

This Is Your Captain Speaking

If we really wanted a primary that would give Democrats an advantage and ultimately, in my view, a winning advantage, you would restructure the primaries so that the first state would be Wisconsin. Second state would be Michigan, third state would be Pennsylvania, the fourth state would be Florida.

-Kevin Sheekey, former New York Mayor Michael Bloombergs 2020 campaign manager, as quoted in a Washington Post column on the Democrats falling behind Republican President Donald Trump in the election. Bloomberg is notably skipping Iowa and the other early states to focus on Super Tuesday.

Enjoying The Flyover? Be sure and subscribe here.

Email Seth at SRichardson@cleveland.com. Follow him on Twitter at @SethARichardson.

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Ohio, Pennsylvania are the only Flyover states that handed out death sentences in 2019: The Flyover - cleveland.com

Vice President Mike Pence will visit Rochester, Beaver County

Pence scheduled for meet-and-greet event at Rochester VFW on Dec. 10

Updated: 12:34 PM EST Dec 6, 2019

Vice President Mike Pence is coming to Beaver County for a campaign event -- his fourth visit to Pennsylvania this year.Pence is scheduled to participate in a Veterans for Trump meet-and-greet on Tuesday morning at VFW Post 128 in Rochester.Later in the day, Pence will travel to Hershey and join President Donald Trump at a campaign rally at Giant Center.Pence has already made trips to Pennsylvania this year to visit manufacturers and make the case for Congress to pass the Trump administration's rewrite of a trade pact with Canada and Mexico.Pennsylvania is important to Trump's re-election campaign. It's a state where he scored a surprise win in the 2016 election.The Associated Press contributed to this article.

Vice President Mike Pence is coming to Beaver County for a campaign event -- his fourth visit to Pennsylvania this year.

Pence is scheduled to participate in a Veterans for Trump meet-and-greet on Tuesday morning at VFW Post 128 in Rochester.

Later in the day, Pence will travel to Hershey and join President Donald Trump at a campaign rally at Giant Center.

Pence has already made trips to Pennsylvania this year to visit manufacturers and make the case for Congress to pass the Trump administration's rewrite of a trade pact with Canada and Mexico.

Pennsylvania is important to Trump's re-election campaign. It's a state where he scored a surprise win in the 2016 election.

The Associated Press contributed to this article.

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Vice President Mike Pence will visit Rochester, Beaver County - WTAE Pittsburgh

PENSACOLA (KRON) A total of four people are dead following an active shooter situation at NAS Pensacola, a Naval Air Station in Florida.

Three victims have been confirmed dead.

The shooter also died, according to the Escambia County Sheriffs Office.

Vice President Mike Pence sent his condolences to the victims and their families via Twitter.

Saddened to hear of the horrible shooting at Naval Air Station Pensacola & continuing to monitor the situation. Praying for the victims & their families & we commend the first responders for their swift action in taking down the shooter & getting those on base to safety.

Praying for the victims & their families & we commend the first responders for their swift action in taking down the shooter & get those on base to safety, Pence tweeted, in part.

The tweet came in between a variety of tweets and retweets from President Donald Trump talking about the economy.

The president has been active on Twitter this morning, as expected.

But as of 8:28 a.m., hasnt mentioned anything about the shooting yet.

Stock Markets Up Record Numbers. For this year alone, Dow up 18.65%, S&P up 24.36%, Nasdaq Composite up 29.17%. Its the economy, stupid.

Without the horror show that is the Radical Left, Do Nothing Democrats, the Stock Markets and Economy would be even better, if that is possible, and the Border would be closed to the evil of Drugs, Gangs and all other problems! #2020

At 10:16 a.m., President Trump tweeted about the tragic event.

He said he had just received a full briefing on the shooting.

My thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families during this difficult time. We are continuing to monitor the situation as the investigation is ongoing, he tweeted.

Just received a full briefing on the tragic shooting at NAS Pensacola in Florida, and spoke to @GovRonDeSantis. My thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families during this difficult time. We are continuing to monitor the situation as the investigation is ongoing.

News had just broke out that the shooting suspect was an aviation student from Saudi Arabia, and that authorities are investigating if the shooting was terrorism-related.

Trump also tweeted that he spoke to King Salman from Saudi Arabia, who expressed his sincere condolences and wanted to make it clear that the incident doesnt reflect the Saudi people.

.The King said that the Saudi people are greatly angered by the barbaric actions of the shooter, and that this person in no way shape or form represents the feelings of the Saudi people who love the American people, the tweet read.

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Trump, Pence send thoughts and prayers to victims, families of Pensacola naval base shooting - KRON4

Claim

In 1999, Mike Pence wrote an op-ed criticizing the inclusion of women in the military, citing the animated film "Mulan."

Reporting

Hours before Disney released the first trailer for a live-action adaptation of the film Mulan, social media users marked the occasion by recallingUnited States Vice President Mike Pences attack on the movie during his days as a member of the media.

As Buzzfeed reported in July 2016, Pence was a radio talk show host in Indiana when he wrote an op-ed in 1999 slamming the animated movie and using it as proof that allowing women to enlist in the U.S. armed forces was wrong. In doing so, he seemingly also made light of a sexual assault investigation the year before at Aberdeen Proving Ground, a United States Army base in Maryland:

When Indiana Congressman Steve Buyer was appointed to investigate the Aberdeen mess, he shocked the public with the revelation that young, nubile, 18 year old men and women were actually being HOUSED together during basic training. Whatever bone head came up with this idea should be run out of this mans Army before sundown. Housing, in close quarters, young men and women (in some cases married to non-military personnel) at the height of their physical and sexual potential is the height of stupidity.

Pences flippant remark regarding young, nubile service members made no mention of the fact that twelves drill instructors at Aberdeen had been charged following the investigation, with ended with four of them imprisoned including Sgt. Delmar Simpson, who was sentenced to 25 years in a military prison after being convicted of 18 counts of rape and 29 other offenses.

Before all of this, sexual harassment was never an issue, and now they stress it a lot, Pfc. Lorre Hendricks told the Washington Post in 1997 regarding the ripple effects of the scandal. Its made the Army safer.

Pence also mistakenly called the original Mulana fictional account of a delicate girl. In reality, the movie is an adaptation of The Ballad of Hua Mulan, an epic poem about the legendary figure Hua Mulan, who reputedly not only joined the Chinese army after posing as a man, but who served for twelve years before finally revealing herself to her comrades. According to the state-run China Internet Information Center:

It is not known whether Mulan was a real or fictional character. Scholars have deliberated her existence for centuries, but no one has been able to determine if she actually lived. The earliest accounts of the legend state that she lived during the Northern Wei dynasty (386534); later accounts place her in different time periods.

Nonetheless, her story has become a parable, as it sets forth many honored aspects of Chinese culture, such as filial piety (devotion to ones elders), bravery and modesty (shown through Mulans character, when she declines rewards from the emperor in favor of returning home to her family).

In his op-ed, Pence said he suspected whether some mischievous liberal at Disney hoped the original movie would change attitudes regarding womens military service. However, he argued, the movies subplot about Mulan falling for her superior officer only proved his point.

You see, now stay with me on this, many young men find many young women to be attractive sexually. Many young women find many young men to be attractive sexually, he wrote. Put them together, in close quarters, for long periods of time, and things will get interesting. Just like they eventually did for young Mulan. Moral of story: women in military, bad idea.

The rediscovery of Pences frankly sexist op-ed produced not only a spate of articles covering his remarks but a response published in the Washington Post in August 2016 by Kate Germano, who retired from the United States Marine Corps that year as a lieutenant colonel.

Pences op-ed reminds us of how radical it once was to think women could fight alongside men, she wrote. Indeed, in 1999, the idea that women would ever be fully capable of competing with men for ground combat jobs would have been considered nothing short of ridiculous.

But in 2016, Germano pointed out, three women graduated from the U.S. Army Ranger school; two more women Brig. Gens. Diana Holland and Cindy Jebb were selected as the commandant of cadets and dean of the academic board, respectively, at the U.S. Military Academy; and two 2nd Lts. in the Marine Corps, Virginia Brodie and Katherine Boy, graduated in high standing from the Basic Officer Leader Artillery Course.

As the military has evolved to develop an appreciation for the potential of women to serve in the most challenging of positions, it is also time for the American public to see these women for what they bring to the fight: brains, strength and courage, Germano wrote. They are not victims and they are not to be sheltered from the grim realities of war because of the myth of female frailty. Their service matters.

At the time of her op-eds publication, Germano was the chief operating officer of the advocacy group the Service Womens Action Network. In 2018 she released Fight Like A Girl, a first-person account of her own experiences in the corps.

Originally posted here:
Did Mike Pence Use 'Mulan' to 'Prove' Women Should Not Be in the... - Truth or Fiction