Tuesday, February 27, 2024

How Long Are We Going to Keep Doing This?

 

It’s bizarre to me how the concept of putting America first is such an outrage inducing provocation to a good chunk of the country. Not just Democrats, but even many Never Trumpers who used to be conservatives, or at least played them fairly convincingly on cable news. What is wrong with the idea of putting our country’s interests first? 

The answer is nothing, obviously. But obvious truths have a habit of becoming inconvenient ones, especially when those espousing or holding them run risk of irrelevancy.

Donald Trump didn’t need the old guard, and by “old” I don’t mean age. And they resented him for it. 

It was stupid, as most desperate power grabs are. Trump wasn’t going to throw them out, he needed help since he’d never been involved in politics before. But the concept of him was so offensive to the “pinky-out, tea sipping crowd” that they passed on the prospect of achieving more of what they’d spent their adult lives professing they’d do anything to attain.

It’s probably the greatest feat Donald Trump accomplished in politics – pulling off the masks of generations of frauds who’d sold their books and their thoughts as if they were true. These mini-emperors had no clothes, and boy were they unfortunate. 

The rest of us were left to pick up the pieces, as the legacies and offspring of the accomplished slithered into oblivion or, more accurately, the arms of CNN or wealthy liberals enjoying the prospect of making the once relevant dance for them on command. 

They still have a little bit of “useful” left in their “idiot” status, and the money is still flowing, so on the pole they will dance

The rest of us are left to fight for that which makes them upset, the only thing that makes any sense and, to be completely honest, what a lot of us believed we were all fighting for: American First.

Not in the sense of one man, or even a movement, but simply as a concept. I always assumed all but the most rabid leftist put the country first, they were just wrong about how to go about it. Now I know better.

Now I know a lot of people on “our side” not only weren’t pulling their weight, they were pushing in the other direction.

How the hell did we miss it for so long? Why do we tolerate it now?

Why do we allow our politicians to cripple our energy production while our allies prostitute themselves to Russia to keep the lights on? 

Why do we tolerate that our supply chain for far too many of our crucial pharmaceuticals remains in countries hostile to our interests and existence? 

Why do we continue to foot the bill for the defense of nations who refuse to contribute what they’re obligated to contribute to continue our alliance

Why do we have to pretend our allies are pulling their weight in aiding Ukraine, a hostile area much closer to them than us, pledging a fraction of the billions we are spending  to much fanfare, then reneging on it 4 short days later?

Why is our military buying upgraded military equipment from Airbus in Europe for $28 billion while American companies could easily do the work and, honestly, could use the money? 

What the hell are we doing? I get that sometimes some things can only be made overseas at this point, but didn’t COVID wake up everyone to the reality that offshoring vital things was stupid? That medicine and military equipment should be completely under our roof? I don’t care about the ownership, I’m talking about the physical process and machinery. 

I do remember a bunch of politicians extolling the virtues of putting America first, or in-sourcing fundamental aspects of our supply chain when we were placed under house-arrest to “stop the spread,” but they didn’t follow through with it, did they? At least not in any measurable way. 

Why did we put up with that? Why do we still put up with that? Maybe it’s too much to expect our politicians to put America first, but shouldn’t we at least make the podium? Shouldn’t we at least make the top 5? 

Maybe that’s too much to ask, but maybe it’s time to stop asking. Maybe it’s time to remind these politicians that they work for us, not the other way around.

Middle America Is Dying Hard

 

WEIRTON, West Virginia — Most people in this town will tell you they’d rather have taken a physical punch to the gut than get the news they received yesterday when Cleveland-Cliffs Steel announced it was idling its tinplate production plant, a move that directly cost 900 people their jobs.

It isn’t just those workers who face catastrophic uncertainty; this closure also jeopardizes the jobs of thousands more people whose businesses supported the plant: the barber shops, gas stations, mom-and-pop grocery stores, the machine shops that make the widgets for the steel industry. And there’s also the demise of the tax base, which affects the school district and the quality of the roads.

Thirty years ago, more than 10,000 people worked here at Weirton Steel. Now, the last 900 workers left have just lost their jobs.

“It’s just another scar to add on what people in power have done to our lives and our community over the past 40 years,” said one employee who declined to give his name, adding, “Honestly, how many times does this story have to be told before someone in power cares about our lives.”

He points to different buildings downtown, and all of them for him were “used to be this” and “used to be that.”

Ryan Weld of Wellsburg, 43, grew up in downtown Weirton right behind the local funeral home.

“When I was growing up in the ’80s, the mill was still going at full tilt with Weirton Steel employing 10,000 people, including my grandfathers,” he said.

The Republican state senator said things started to slow down here in the mid to late ’90s after the North American Free Trade Agreement was enacted: “That dramatically changed the landscape of downtown, went from a bustling the last age group that remembers the shops and stores and restaurants of downtown.”

He believes NAFTA, signed by President Bill Clinton in 1993, essentially made it hard for companies like Weirton Steel, which had to follow strict and expensive Environmental Protection Agency guidelines, to compete with places like Mexico. The towns all up and down the Steel Valley died hard.

“The legacy of the federal government and its refusal to properly enforce trade laws is nothing but empty mills and unemployed workers,” Weld said. “That was true in the ’80s and ’90s, and that is true today.”

Forty years ago, the Democratic Party started to slowly shed its working-class base, but not quickly: Democratic officials would still show up for decades at union rallies, putting their arms around workers’ shoulders and telling them they have their back while at the same time enacting regulations and trade agreements that stripped them of their livelihoods and dignity and made ghettos of their once beloved communities.

By the 2012 Obama reelection, they traded their New Deal Democrat legacy voters for ascendant groups: minorities, young people, college-educated elites and single women, all done without so much as a Dear John letter.

The Republicans inherited them, but most of their strategists running messaging and campaigns had no idea what to do with them, at least on the national level.

And then there is the press covering the voter who will decide the next president: Few if any of them come from places like Weirton or Youngstown, Ohio, so they have little understanding of their worldview. Things that give people from here purpose, such as living close to extended family, are not as valuable to someone who has been transient for most of a career.

In short, we are heading once again into an election where very few people in Washington truly understand how remarkably devastating this mill closure is. Instead, it is a wire story at best, soon forgotten if measured at all. They truly do not understand how much the loss of the dignity of work has changed American politics. That this tone-deafness is still happening 14 years after Barack Obama was given notice in the 2010 midterm elections and eight years after Donald Trump won the presidency is pretty staggering.

The Democrats once attracted these voters, but they’ve moved on to the social justice crowd and don’t appear to want to anymore. I’m not sure if Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., does, the press does not, and the new “very online right” is certainly not the reflection of a center-right voter in middle America. The online right just seems hell-bent on making them seem like Taylor Swift conspiracy theorists. (P.S. They’re not.)

Jeff Brauer, a political science professor at Keystone College, said Washington elites on both sides of the aisle, media elites and now online conspiracy elites just don’t get Middle America even after this recent economically and politically difficult decade.

“Few things bond people/citizens together like trying to make a living in the real world, the dignity of work and raising a family,” he explained, adding these bonds cut across all divides — geographic, racial/ethnic, religious, gender, ideological/party, and even at times socioeconomic.

“If there is one thing we have learned over the past decade, it is that this bond over the difficulties of making an honest living can and does create unlikely coalitions of voters,” he said. “Even disparate voters from the likes of Bernie Sanders supporters to Trump supporters can agree on this.”

Indeed, economic dignity and survival make strange bedfellows.

Brad Todd, founding partner of OnMessage and co-author with me of “The Great Revolt: Inside the Populist Coalition Reshaping American Politics,” said one thing is for certain about 2024: “We are about to read a million new stories that quote zero people who are actually going to decide the election.”

Brauer said the dignity of work is at the very core of the American experience, “Yet the elites of this country still just don’t understand, while average Americans just keep getting financially squeezed more and more.”

Weld said it is incumbent on local elected officials such as himself to be the advocates of Middle America.

“I do what I do because of that. The empty buildings were already there when I was in college and high school, and it pisses me off,” he said. “I don’t think anyone fought hard enough for that from happening. We shouldn’t keep having to read again, again, another story about a town dying hard and a vacancy of no one caring.”

Journalist Highlights the Main ‘Financial Prize’ in the Biden Family Influence Peddling Operation

 

The Biden influence peddling operation has been exposed. If we had a serious Department of Justice, there would be a full investigation into whether felonious activities were committed. Instead, we’ve had independent and conservative media reporters flesh out the details, whereas the establishment press report on Hunter Biden’s antics, for the most part, but thread Russian disinformation nonsense into the mix. There isn’t any Russian disinformation; Hunter’s laptop was authenticated. The media is salivating over the indictment of Alexander Smirnov, the source of the Biden Burisma bribery allegations since it can rehash Russian disinformation and blow up the impeachment push from congressional Republicans. That is not the case. 

As Michael Shellenberger wrote, there’s another Biden associate, Jason Galanis, whose testimony matches what has been publicly reported on the influence operation. Galanis is a convicted criminal who is serving 15 years for securities fraud. But his testimony from jail also revealed the main prize of the Biden peddling operation and a national security threat.  

In August 2023, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm held a secret meeting with Chinese officials regarding releasing our petroleum reserves. Beijing’s interest in our oil and gas reserves isn’t new, but we’ve had multiple revelations about this Biden influence scheme thanks to the laptop. The multiple shell companies were created and run by Biden family members to filter the money from Romania. You already know about the Burisma connections, the trips to Kazakhstan, and other meetings with unsavory businesspeople and oligarchs. Joe Biden was involved in at least 20 such discussions with his son Hunter to show prospects that this “relationship capital” venture had teeth in the form of connections through the then-vice president and his last name. This brings us back to the Tony Bobulinski allegations that date back to October 2020 and CEFC China Energy. 

Shellenberger noted that the main financial prize for the Biden family in this operation was to allow China to dominate American energy sources. One of the ways they planned on doing that while getting rich was by partnering with CEFC on a liquified natural gas (LNG) deal on Louisiana’s Gulf Coast (via Public):

The Bidens were careful not to over-involve the then Vice President, Bobulinski says. Before he met Joe Biden, Bobulinski says he was told that, “this is going to be a high-level meeting. We’re not going to go into a lot of detail” about CEFC. Another Hunter business associate told Bobulinski in a text message, “Don’t mention Joe being involved, it’s only when u are face to face, I know u know that but they are paranoid.” 

They were understandably paranoid as they left evidence of what they were doing. It was the email chain about the LNG deal in which Hunter famously said, about shares in the business venture, that there would be “10 [percent] held by H for the big guy.” And, according to Bobulinski, “the big guy—100 percent—is Joe Biden.” 

Bobulinski told Congressional investigators that he once asked Joe’s brother, James Biden, “Aren’t you guys concerned that if Joe does run for President of the United States in the future that you guys are doing business directly with the Chinese?” 

Bobulinski says James Biden laughed and said, “Plausible deniability.” But, he notes, there are “stacks of evidence that Joe Biden showed up at meetings, shook hands, participated in” over 20 calls related to Hunter’s business “to demonstrate the Biden brand to whoever was in that meeting, whether it was the Ukrainians, the Romanians, the Russians, Colombians, Chinese, whoever it was.”

Congressional investigators have documented $20 million in payments from foreign entities to Biden family members and associates. That number could have been significantly higher had the Biden influence-peddling operation not fallen apart shortly before the 2020 elections, when the New York Post first published evidence of influence-peddling found in emails, text messages, and voicemails on Hunter Biden’s laptop. 

China, desperate for cheaper oil and gas, showed in myriad ways how much it wanted access through the Bidens. At one point, the CEO of CEFC gave to Hunter, as a gift, a 2.8-carat diamond worth roughly $80,000. 

Wait, isn’t the Biden administration’s policy aimed at restricting this energy sector? Yes, but there’s also a way to make a buck out of it: 

The Biden family appeared to be seeking to profit from a policy regime of expanded LNG production, while today, President Biden is restricting it. Climate change policy seeks to reduce oil and gas supply. While that is bad for the US and the environment since it results in the burning of dirtier coal that would otherwise be burned, it has the benefit of driving up the value of existing reserves, which may benefit some powerful financial interests. 

Some have suggested that Biden’s LNG restrictions were done in response to the demands and interests of John Podesta, who controls much of the Biden White House energy policy. Whether or not that’s the case, it’s clear Biden and his family have, perhaps for many more decades than just one, been trading influence over energy policy to large financial interests, including even rival foreign ones, like China. 

Environmental considerations aside, the Biden family’s attempt to manipulate energy policy for China, Kazakhstan, and Mexico should trouble Democrats and Republicans alike. They should additionally be concerned by evidence of political corruption by the FBI and Justice Department to cover up for the Biden family. 

And it’s not just the Biden family. Shellenberger noted the energy games have been plated by other prominent politicians as well, like former California Gov. Jerry Brown who established new air pollution standards to benefit his family’s stake in imported Indonesian oil. With the evidence of potential illegality stacked as high as the Eiffel Tower against the Biden family, the timing of the Smirnov indictment reeks of ‘look, squirrel’ from the Justice Department that has consistently intervened to protect Biden’s family. Hunter Biden might have issued the deal of the century, virtual blanket immunity on tax evasion and gun charges if it weren’t for Joseph Zeigler and Gary Shapley coming forward last year, alleging pervasive DOJ intrusion into their investigations.

CBS News’ Document Fiasco Over Catherine Herridge’s Confidential Files Isn’t Over

 

Last week, CBS News took the unprecedented step of seizing Catherine Herridge’s confidential files after the journalist was among those terminated in Paramount’s mass layoffs. Herridge was reportedly working on a story about the Hunter Biden laptop scandal. It was a chilling development concerning the surprising firing of Herridge. The network tried to assuage the uproar by saying the files have been kept secure and will be returned soon. On Monday, those files were picked up by Herridge’s union representative (via NY Post):

FILES UPDATE: CBS News returns hundreds of pages of reporting materials after @sagaftra intervened. Full Statement👇 https://t.co/cPBQ6PoTVo— Catherine Herridge (@CBS_Herridge) February 26, 2024

CBS News on Monday finally returned confidential files belonging to fired investigative reporter Catherine Herridge amid mounting pressure from the House Judiciary Committee and the union representing the journalist, The Post has learned 

Herridge — who is in the middle of a key First Amendment case — had been probing the Hunter Biden laptop scandal when the acclaimed journalist was shockingly fired as part of mass layoffs by parent company Paramount Global nearly two weeks ago. 

Her personal files — along with her work laptop, which may have contained other confidential info — were immediately confiscated and locked away at the CBS News office in Washington, DC.

“Catherine Herridge’s union representative picked up her materials this morning,” a CBS News rep confirmed to The Post on Monday. 

[…] 

CBS previously denied that it planned to keep any sensitive information belonging to Herridge, saying last week: “We are prepared to pack up the rest of her files immediately on her behalf – with her representative present as she requested.”

Law professor Jonathan Turley wrote that the timing of Herridge’s dismissal is suspicious, as the reporter was working on features that did not paint the Biden administration in a positive light. This document issue isn’t going away for CBS News, as the Post added that the House Judiciary Committee will investigate the seizure of Herridge’s files. A letter was sent to CBS News president Ingrid Ciprian-Matthews, saying they had until March 1 to supply Congress with information concerning who ordered the ‘code red’ on Herridge’s files and who handled them afterward.

Some independent reporters rightfully pointed out the chilling effect these actions CBS News undertook can have on sources. Whistleblowers would be more inclined to lay low than come forward if they see fired or laid-off reporters having their files seized by the company brass.

The Enemy Is Iran

 

This week marks one month since three Americans were killed by an Iranian suicide drone at their post in Jordan. All three of them were Georgia natives who volunteered to serve their fellow Americans in the U.S. Army: Sgt. William Jerome Rivers, 46, of Carrollton, Georgia; Sgt. Kennedy Ladon Sanders, 24, of Waycross; and Sgt. Breonna Alexsondria Moffett, 23, of Savannah.

Their sacrifice demands that all of our leaders frankly acknowledge the strategic imperative we have to confront Iran – and make sure our service members are no longer sitting ducks and easy targets for our enemies.

Since the October 7th Hamas attack on Israel, Iran-backed militants are causing chaos throughout the Middle East and American troops are on the front lines. This is a coordinated effort by the radical Islamist regime in Tehran. It’s pace and intensity have increased since the fighting in Gaza broke out, but this is a long-term challenge and we’re overdue to address it.

Iran’s interest in the Hamas-Israel conflict is unequivocal. They are engineering an assault on Israel, and on U.S. support of Israel and other allies, on all fronts. The mad men who run Iran are now looking for a sign of weakness from the United States. We cannot give them one.

Iran has woven an intricate web of terror proxies in the region, and their targets are not just on Israel, but the United States and all the great principles for which we stand. 

In Gaza and the West Bank, Iran funds Hamas, an organization chartered to kill all Jews. In Yemen, Iran backs Houthi rebels that use Iranian-made missiles to attack shipping vessels in the Red Sea – disrupting up to one-fifth of the world’s cargo trade. In Lebanon, Iran props up Hezbollah to lob rockets and missiles across the northern border of Israel. And Iran’s proxy militias in Syria and Iraq are attacking U.S. troops at an escalating rate. In fact, the U.S. has reported nearly 170 attacks against American forces in the Middle East by Iran-backed groups since mid-October.

Iran’s mullahs are not content to merely repress their own countrymen. They seek to reach beyond their own borders and their supreme leader says they seek to lead a coalition of “anti-American countries.”

Iran is so emboldened that its Foreign Ministry spokesman had the audacity to call the United States’ retaliatory strikes in Iraq and Syria a “strategic mistake,” threatening that it will “[intensify] tension and instability in the region.” Clearly, it will take more than a tit-for-tat response to end these attacks on U.S. forces.

We must reestablish deterrence in the region. Our enemies should live in constant fear of escalation with the United States – not the other way around. Any response that minimizes the Iranian threat only makes the problem worse. Indeed, force is the only language that the Iranian regime will understand.

Sgt. Rivers, Sgt. Sanders, and Sgt. Moffett are heroes who made the ultimate sacrifice for our great nation. Their deaths are a devastating result of Iran’s proxy war, and a stark reminder that our brave soldiers are on the front lines against a vast, allied terror network in the Middle East.

The Islamic Republic of Iran is the catalyst for all our problems in the Middle East. Their connection to each and every individual threat is not episodic and not coincidental. It’s time we admit it, and act accordingly.

To do otherwise puts too many brave Americans at risk.

Russia Will Remain a Chronic Threat to the U.S. Even When the War in Ukraine Ends

 

It’s been two years since Russia launched its war to subjugate Ukraine in February 2022. It’s time to take stock, recall how we got here, and what Americans should demand moving forward. 

Russian president Vladimir Putin has imperialistic goals and is ultimately to blame for the decision to invade Ukraine. Ukraine, in the real world and not in the paranoid fever dreams of the ex-KGB officer Putin, posed no threat to Russia. If you watched Tucker Carlson’s interview with Putin, you heard Putin say what he’s been saying for years. He made claims to Russian territory and ethnic Russian people and referenced historical events all the way back to the 9th century that he believes entitled Russia to start wars. That is a ‘forever war’ mentality if there ever was one.

Putin rejects the peace that President Ronald Reagan negotiated with Mikael Gorbachev. He called the negotiated end of the Cold War which averted devastating war and preserved peace the “greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the century.”

Despite the efforts of US presidents to develop friendly relations with Russia (recall President Barack Obama’s infamous Russia reset and hamburgers with then Russian President Demitri Medvedev), Putin despises the United States. American good faith efforts to demonstrate it has no interest in conflict with Russia, Germany’s delusional fostering of Russian energy interests, and some European nations’ ongoing reluctance to adequately invest in their militaries, have not convinced Russia to choose peace. 

Instead, NATO’s relative weakness and US attempts to reassure and allay Russian purported concerns have only fueled Russian contempt and appetite for war. 

When the Biden administration came to power, its series of decisions, convinced Putin that that was the right time to invade. 

For example, in May 2021, Biden lifted the Trump sanctions on the Nord Stream 2 pipeline; those sanctions had prevented Russia from increasing its energy collaboration with Germany while cutting off Eastern and Central European countries. Team Biden also lifted sanctions on a longtime Putin crony and the head of the NS2 project. 

Just a few months later, Biden directed the precipitous withdrawal from Afghanistan, which was a NATO mission. Biden refused to discuss the events with key members of the alliance including then UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson who was desperately trying to reach the American president. Biden’s behavior left NATO nations reeling. 

As Russia began amassing troops on Ukraine’s border, the Biden administration withheld Congressionally-approved weapons to Ukraine in an effort to appease Russia. Then Biden White House lawyers, seized by fear of escalation, dragged its heels on authorizing Lithuania and Latvia delivery of key air defense systems. It finally approved those weapons but the pattern of refusing to deliver or approve of the weapons Ukraine needs (remember it blocked those Polish fighter jets after initially expressing support) to successfully defend itself and push Russia out of its territory continued. Even now, the Biden White House refuses to deliver longer range strike systems to Ukraine and will only let Ukraine use US weapons to hit Russian forces inside Ukraine, effectively giving Russia the advantage by granting its war efforts sanctuary inside Russia. 

Despite handcuffing Ukraine and refusing to provide it with the necessary weapons, Ukraine has reclaimed 50% of the territory Russia stole in the initial campaign. It has inflicted more than 300,000 casualties against Russian forces, taken out 30% of Russia’s Navy in the Black Sea, and significantly degraded the Russian army. A weaker, chastised Russia is very good for American security.  But if Ukraine isn’t given the weapons it needs and the permission to use them in the way it needs to, Ukraine will lose and Russia will pocket the gains, replenish its military, and look for its next move to divide and ultimately dismantle the US-led alliance in Europe. 

But a new strategy is needed and a plan to surge weapons to Ukraine is possible. The US manufacturing base has dramatically atrophied since the Cold War. But US supply of weapons to Ukraine has forced overdo changes to the way the US makes weapons. In manufacturing plants across the country, more Americans are being hired to increase the US ability to make weapons in higher numbers and faster. More must be done, but this is a good start. 

Former President Donald Trump has not opposed more weapons to Ukraine, although he has said that if he was elected, he would end the war in 24 hours. When pressed on what he would do if Putin did not accept his terms for the end of war, he said would tell Putin: “If you don’t make a deal, we’re going to give them a lot. We’re going to give them more than they ever got, if we have to.” For Trump to have leverage to credibly make good on that promise, he needs a robust manufacturing ability and Ukraine needs to have a much better hand to play than it has now. 

The smartest, most principled steps for the near term would be for Congress to rush weapons to Ukraine and invest in the US weapons replenishment and stocks. Failing to do that now helps Russia and deprives the next President of options.

Russia will remain a chronic threat to the United States. Putin and the CCP’s Xi will not end their efforts to harm the United States and our allies even after the war in Ukraine comes to an end. 

To preserve the peace in this new cold war and deter aggression from the axis of China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea, the United States must do exactly what President Reagan did: prepare for major war, pressure and lead allies to help us, and convince our enemies that we have the ability and will to win.

Will the Democrats Let Donald Trump Be President If He Wins?

 


The Supreme Court will not throw Donald Trump off the ballot through some sort of deus ex MSNBCmachina, and Trump’s polls are improving while President Crusty’s are getting worse, so we face the real possibility of Donald Trump winning the presidency. Obviously, it’s not a done deal, but it is a bigger possibility than it used to be. Well, the Democrats are facing it, and now they’re trying to figure out how to stop him from taking office if and when he wins the election.

This is a really bad idea.

But of course, the Democrat Party is the Party of Bad Ideas, and the Party of Nanny Fascism. And it is also remarkably free of any recognition of its own hypocrisy. It’s become popular to say that the issue is not hypocrisy but hierarchy, and that the Democrats feel entitled to do whatever they want. They don’t want Trump to be president, so what are they going to do about it?

Whatever they have to do to hold power.

They’re very sensitive about us talking about this. I was onstage at CPAC with Townhall’s own Larry O’Connor and, at one point, I was talking about how Joe Biden was not going to leave office early voluntarily at the behest of Barack Obama and some cabal of Democrat poobahs concerned about him blowing the election. Then, of course, goofy pinko Aaron Rupar converted that into me saying that Joe Biden will refuse to leave office if he loses the election. I didn’t say that then, but I’m going to say it now. He already told us he won’t allow Donald Trump to take office. He couches that in terms of not letting Trump win the election, but are we sure that’s what he means? This is a guy well-known for talking about turning F-16s on American dissidents. After all, we’re treasonous traitors and MAGA extremists and such. Isn’t he justified in doing whatever he must to stop us?

So, if Donald Trump wins, do they let him take office again?

Well, they didn’t really let him take it over last time. They framed him with a fake Russiagate scandal. They impeached him for nonsense two times. They had the whole deep state doing everything it could to undercut the will of the people who elected him. And they just spent the last three years hyping up how he’s a danger to Our Democracy™ and an authoritarian, and if they don’t stop him, he’s going to start doing to them exactly what they’ve been doing to him and us. It’s right and proper that they be scared of that, but the fact that they are scared means they’re likely to do stupid things.

Imagine if Donald Trump is elected by a very narrow margin, which is a possibility, and you get a Democrat majority in the House of Representatives, which many Republicans think is likely. Maybe the Democrats look at each other and say, “Wait a minute, we can pull some shenanigans with the counting of the electoral college ballots!” Why wouldn’t they? And don’t say that they just spent three years screaming about the Republicans attempting to do that because, again, they are immune to hypocrisy. It literally doesn’t matter to them. They’ll do exactly what they accused Donald Trump and the January 6 people of doing, and they will explain to you that it’s a good thing that they’re doing it.

We already know part of the game plan will be encouraging civil unrest, which we will see a lot of over the summer and leading up to the election. That’s their subtle version of intimidation, but as Inauguration Day approaches, they are certain to amp it up. January 6 was a minor brawl, a joke as far as civil disturbances go – I was in Los Angeles during the Democrat-sponsored Los Angeles riots, so I have a rational perspective on this stuff. But does anyone think they won’t convene their radical Antifa, BLM, and other scumbag Democrat shock troopers in Washington, DC, to disrupt the transfer of power? And it won’t be old ladies taking selfies in the rotunda. These people will be violent and dangerous and probably armed. Who’s going to stop them? Will Joe Biden call out the Washington National Guard or 82nd Airborne to do it? I think we know who will get prosecuted for the violence – no one.

Now, they’ll have some sort of excuse. Donald Trump is an insurrectionist, or democracy is in danger, or reasons and because. Just don’t put it beyond possibility that they will not allow a peaceful transfer of power to Donald Trump. These people are not committed to democracy. They don’t care about freedom. They care about power, so much so that they allow a desiccated old husk to be the guy with his quivering finger hovering over the big red button. If you believe that there’s some sort of guardrail or norm that would stop them from retaining power if they could get away with it, you are hallucinating. You haven’t been paying attention. Wake up.

What do we do about it? Step one is to win the election, and we should try to do decisively. There are a lot of problems that come with slipping through the skin of our teeth. A decisive win makes it harder to cheat, and harder to negate. Regardless, we’ll see lawsuits and all sorts of other stunts in every close state. Remember how 2020 was decided by something like 40,000 votes over three states? Of course, it being Democrats bringing these suits, they’ll get much more consideration than Trump’s did. We could have some state court judge in Wisconsin disrupting the entire election by announcing that none of the Republicans’ ballots count for some nonsense reason, but again, you don’t really need a reason when you’re just seizing power.

Democrats protest every single Republican election as illegitimate, and they will certainly protest this one should Trump win. We have got to be ready. Right now, we are not.

Sunday, February 18, 2024

Ann Coulter's Take on the Kansas City Parade Shooting Stunned Bill Maher's Audience

 

There wasn’t much to report regarding the latest updates on the Kansas City Super Bowl parade shooting other than it was a “dispute” among several people that led to gunfire. Three people were arrested—all juveniles. One has since been released after it was determined this individual was not part of the shooting, but two have been booked on firearm-related charges. One person was killed, with at least 20 injured—11 of them were children. Nine kids had gunshot wounds, but all survived. 

That’s the good news. 

We’re still waiting on the suspects' names and the real motive. What we do know is that they’re not white males—that’s what Ann Coulter said on last night’s episode of Real Time with Bill Maher, which, unsurprisingly, stunned the left-leaning audience. You can see CNN’s Van Jones’ reaction—he was aghast:

Coulter, a longtime friend of Maher’s, is not off the mark here. The slight twist here is that the shooters are youths, so it might take a little more time, but the principle rings true. She named how the media ran for the hills when it was revealed that the shooter at the Covenant School in Nashville, Tennessee, was transgender. We couldn’t read the shooter’s manifesto for weeks until portions of it leaked last fall. The San Bernadino terrorist attack was another instance of this reporting toeing the political correctness line.

Left-Wing Outlet Panics Over Growing 'Conservatism' In the U.S.

 

A second Trump term, the horror! Conservatives, Christianity— a massacre for the United States, according to Left-wing The Economist. 

According to The Economist, a "growing peril" of a national conservative movement is spreading rapidly throughout the U.S. 

The outlet called on liberals to stop the MAGA movement that they claim is "dangerous." 

The authors compared conservatism in the 1980s during the Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher era to former President Trump's presidency. 

"Today Donald TrumpViktor Orban, and a motley crew of Western politicians have demolished that orthodoxy, constructing in its place a statist, "anti-woke" conservatism that puts national sovereignty before the individual. These national conservatives are increasingly part of a global movement with its own networks of thinkers and leaders bound by a common ideology," the outlet noted. "They sense that they own conservatism now — and they may be right."

The magazine's cover features a red MAGA hat that lists several nations saying, "Make America, Hungary, Italy, France, Israel, Germany, the Netherlands, and Poland great again."

The article warns that conservatives will reign power by capturing "state institutions, including courts, universities, and the independent press." 

Breitbart News highlighted that the article's authors are uninterested in the real problems Americans face daily in the country— and instead, drive intense hate toward the conservative movement that intends to bring the nation back to before the Left's progressive movement took over. 

The piece reads like a call to arms against a movement that seems to grow stronger by the day as people around the world grow fed up with being governed by ideologically driven, progressive globalist elites blithely uninterested in the real problems faced by ordinary people.

Today's national populists "do not see the West as the shining city on the hill, but as Rome before the fall — decadent, depraved and about to collapse amid a barbarian invasion," the article states.

Curiously, the article insists that national conservatism is the "politics of grievance," which appears to be an act of willful blindness to the dominance of grievance in the woke politics that populists abhor.=

"Liberalism's great strength is that it is adaptable," the article states, adding that liberalism "can adapt to national conservatism, too," but for the moment, "it is falling behind."

The piece admits that conservatives have one thing right: illegal immigration and the fear that the next several generations will grow up poorer than our parents and grandparents, stating that universities and the press "have been captured by hostile, illiberal, left-leaning elites."

Jesus Said, ‘First Will Be Last – and Last Will Be First’

 Today’s topic was birthed after the Super Bowl when I felt the Lord “calling” me to write about a player’s faith as reflected in Jesus’s teaching: “The last will be first, and the first will be last.” The player, San Franciso 49er’s Brock Purdy — who was called last — is now called to stage one to proclaim the gospel to the world.

If you don’t know the story, during the 2022 NFL draft, Iowa State University quarterback  Brock Purdy was chosen No. 262 — dead last — earning him the moniker “Mr. Irrelevant.” Then, last Sunday, Mr. Irrelevant came “overtime close” to a Super Bowl win. 

Remember that young King David began his shepherding career as Mr. Irrelevant. Or so thought his father Jesse, who deliberately did not bring David to meet the prophet Samuel, whom the Lord sent to anoint a new king of Israel. (See Vol. 201 and 1 Samuel 16:1-13.) Back to our study..

Now that Purdy is scoring touchdowns for Jesus and has been launched into Christian leadership, the following two headlines speak volumes about why he is where he is and offer faith lessons. Both are from a site (new to me) that connects faith with sports. The first headline, dated May 2, 2022, reads: 

“2022 'Mr. Irrelevant' Brock Purdy joins 49ers with Christ as his foundation.” 

The second headline was posted last Sunday after Purdy’s team was defeated: 

“49ers QB Brock Purdy 'hurts' after Super Bowl loss, but knows 'Jesus Christ is my Rock.' ” 

Super relevant and powerful is what Purdy said under that headline:

“ ‘I never try to hold onto the ‘football life’ so tightly. I’ve held it pretty loosely and see what God has in store for it,’ Purdy said during media availability in the days leading up to Super Bowl LVIII… ‘All right, God, this is what I do, but I am who You say I am.’ I’ve allowed that to sort of take over my life and He’s taken me to where He needs me. ’ ”

“Purdy continued later: ‘Jesus Christ is my Rock. He’s my Lord and Savior. That’s Who I live for, and that bleeds into how I love my teammates well, how I can have a good mindset when things are going well, when things aren’t going well, in football, in life. That’s my identity. … The verdict is in. Jesus Christ already died for my sins and I’m saved through Him and now I can go and live my life through that.’ ”

“While Purdy has established himself as one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL, he’s also demonstrated that he’s one of the most outspoken followers of Christ in the league.” 

Cue the confetti! Praise the Lord Jesus — the “Heaven Bowl’s” eternal winner — for raising up new faces full of light and love to boldly speak the truth in a dark world. 

Let’s review the four Gospel passages that record “the last will be first, and the first will be last.” We begin with Matthew 19:16-30. There, Jesus speaks with a young rich man who said he followed the commandments but asked:  

“ ‘What do I still lack?’ Jesus answered, ‘If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.’ When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth” (Matthew 19:19-22). Then, skip to verses 29-30, where Jesus says: 

“ ‘And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life.  But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first’ ” (Matthew 19:29-30).

The rich man is an example of who could be “last” because he was “first” with life’s rewards but would not sacrifice and follow Jesus. God rewards us for what he sees in our hearts and then considers our actions. Wealth itself (and power) have no bearing on “first will be last” and vice versa in God’s eternal kingdom. However, what one believes and does with their wealth matters in the eyes of the Lord. 

Next is the “Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard,” only found in Matthew when Jesus said:

“ ‘For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard’ ” (Matthew 20:1-2).

Condensing for space.. the landowner hired more workers at 9 am, noon, and 3 pm, telling them “he would pay whatever is right.” Finally, he hires workers at 5 pm:

“He asked them, ‘Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?’ ‘Because no one has hired us..’ ” So the landowner did. 

The day ends, and payment begins along with the grumbling since no matter how long the men worked, they all received the same pay. Naturally, the ones who worked the longest complained the loudest even though they had agreed to work for one denarius. Then the landowners said:

“ ‘Take your pay and go. I want to give the one who was hired last the same as I gave you. Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?’ ‘So the last will be first, and the first will be last’ ” (Matthew 20:1-16).

The message is that God can extend grace and generosity equally to everyone at any time — especially latecomers — represented by society’s lowest rung in this parable.

Third is Mark 10:17-31, which retells Matthew’s rich man story with slight variations in dialogue but ends with: “But many who are first will be last, and the last first.” The “first” are smart, successful, self-righteous people who reject Jesus and His gospel, while “the last” are humble followers who make sacrifices for the gospel. 

Fourth is Luke 13:22-30 where Jesus teaches the parable of the “narrow door.” To enter, “salvation depends first on God’s grace, and then our cooperation and obedience. The door remains open, “but few will enter God’s glory.” (From a footnote in the Ignatius Study Bible.) Jesus concludes with:

“Indeed there are those who are last who will be first, and first who will be last.” But again, wealth, status, or poverty are inconsequential to whether one enters the kingdom of God.

Circling back to Brock Purdy, from “Mr. Irrevelant” to throwing Super Bowl touchdown passes, he demonstrates how the last can be first to proclaim love for Christ. And my favorite Purdy quote, “He’s taken me to where He needs me.” 

We must all believe the Lord is doing that in our lives. Amen.

Why you prefer JRPGs to other video game genres ?

 

A) I’ve always liked JRPGs, pretty much for as long as I’ve been playing games. I think I find comfort in the familiarity of battling and levelling. JRPGs tend to have a cast of characters you get attached to and spend a lot of time with. Often the soundtracks are bangers too. Usually the art is lovely. But I still play lots of other genres as well.

B) I don’t cling to the classics that much. I like them, but I’m perfectly fine with moving forward. That being said if there’s one thing to take from them, it’s that you can keep the budget/scale down of a game and it can still be enjoyable. I think Final Fantasy XVI looks rad and I love that SE is pushing the envelope, but I also know that it will be another 6+ years before we FFXVII since the dev times keep ballooning. On the hand, you’ve got a company like Falcom which can churn out great games much more frequently because they look 2-3 generations behind. And that’s okay.

C) It all comes down to the writing. If you can handle a large cast like Trails, go for it. If you can’t handle it, you wind up with Chrono Cross or Suikoden (games I like for the record) which have a handful of characters I remember but the vast majority are all filler and forgettable. Some games have small casts and can’t make them compelling either. So the size doesn’t matter to me, just how well written they are

u prefer JRPGs to other video game genres ? (fps, racing, fighting etc)

I don’t. I enjoy games from all types of different genres. From Forza to Hitman to Resident Evil to Persona to Halo to Mass Effect and so on, I truly do play a bit of everything.

What you wish modern JRPG would do differently today compared the classics of the past ?

I’ve always thought the term JRPG is a bit of a misnomer. I get that early JRPGs were heavily inspired by table-top role playing games, with stats and classes and levels and character progression, but they’ve always been missing one crucial aspect of TTRPGs: actual role-playing. With a lot of JRPGs you play as a predefined character with a predefined story in a predefined world. There’s not usually too many meaningful choices.

Now, there’s a reason for that. Most JRPGs tend to focus on telling a story and it gets more and more difficult to tell a cohesive and/or deep story with each meaningful choice the player is able to make. Don’t get me wrong, I like the focus that many JRPGs have on story, and I don’t want all modern JRPGs to have big branching stories or become create-your-own-adventure type games, but I would love to see some more JRPGs try their hand at true role-playing mechanics like that.

As an aside, if a game has a silent, self-insert protagonist, let me customize their appearance and give me dialogue options, or just forget it and make a normal predefined character that talks and has their own personality. If they’re supposed to represent me, then fucking let me make them look and act how I want them to. Absolutely nothing about that boring-ass, dumb-looking dope from DQXI makes me feel like it’s really me in the story. It’s not immersive and I wish they stop it with that shit.

Do you feel modern games have a harder times making great games because it cost too much and the scale of it today or because game dev are younger and from a different generations from the classics of the past or the golden era etc ?

No. Not at all. In fact, I vehemently disagree with the entire idea that any previous era was a so-called “golden era” as well as the idea that today’s developers make fewer great games. In fact, I think we have more great games nowadays, we just don’t realize that they’re classics because not enough time has passed yet. I guarantee you that in 10 years, everybody will look back and talk about how great the games were in the late 2010s/early 2020s. Nostalgia is a hell of a drug, but don’t let it fool you, there are a ton of great modern gam

Abbott Announces Plans to Build a Military Base Near Eagle Pass

 

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX) announced plans to build a military base camp near El Paso, Texas, while responding to President Joe Biden’s ongoing immigration crisis.
Advertisement

The military base will house National Guard troops tasked with the sole responsibility of keeping the southern border secure and free from illegal migrants crossing into the U.S.

Abbott said on Friday that the camp will be built on 80 acres of land in Eagle Pass and hold up to 1,800 Texas National Guard members. It will also have room to house an additional 500 members in an effort to keep the border’s security on lockdown.

“This will increase the ability for a larger number of Texas Military Department soldiers in Eagle Pass to operate more effectively and efficiently,” Abbott said during a press conference.

The governor said the first 300 beds should be ready by April, promising not to reduce Texas resources on the border any time soon.

1
2
3
4
5
6
Announcing today the construction of the Forward Operating Base in Eagle Pass.
 
This new base camp will help improve conditions for 1,800+ @TxMilitary soldiers deployed to protect Texans from the chaos at our southern border. #OperationLoneStar
 
More: https://t.co/Ts5QpXnYwm pic.twitter.com/RStn74gNrJ
— Gov. Greg Abbott (@GovAbbott) February 16, 2024

“It’s going to consolidate our forces, as opposed to being scattered around many different places across this region. They will be operating out of one place. It will amass a large army in a very strategic area,” Abbott continued, adding that he plans to keep Operation Loan Star in effect for the foreseeable future.

As the Biden Administration continues to ignore the crisis at the southern border blatantly, Abbott has taken it upon himself to keep Texas citizens safe from the president’s reckless policies.

He has installed miles of razor wire along areas of the border and shipped illegal migrants to Democrat “sanctuary cities” to bring awareness to the devastating issue plaguing the country.

Major General Thomas Suelzer also told reporters that Texas plans to expand operations north and south of Eagle Pass by adding three more fan boats and expanding the state’s drone program radar truck capabilities.

“This will organize substantial forces to expand the razor wire barriers that are going up. We have seen the effectiveness of the razor wire in Shelby Park, where crossings have gone from 3,000 to 5,000 a day to less than 1%,” Abbott said.
Advertisement

“Texas would not be able to respond to President Biden’s border crisis without the brave men and women of the Texas National Guard, and it is essential to build this base camp for them,” the Republican said.

Per the Epoch Times, the Texas military base camp will include:

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
A 700-seat dining facility.
A recreation center.
Laundry facilities.
WiFi access.
Individual rooms for soldiers.
Chaplaincy programs.
Medical and psychological health facilities.

The Strange Disconnect Between Israel and Ukraine

 

The Ukrainian and Israeli wars are similar and yet also different conflicts — but in more ways than we can imagine.

Ukraine was invaded by a huge Russian state, with a population three-and-a-half times greater, a gross national product 10 times larger, and an area 30 times its size.

Hamas, by contrast, is a terrorist clique of about 50,000-70,000 gunmen and terrorist kingpins who run Gaza. It is dwarfed by the Israeli population (20 times larger), economy (27 times greater), and area (60 times larger).

Both Russia and Hamas started the wars. Russia was convinced it would easily crush the smaller neighbor. Hamas hoped to spark a pan-Islamic jihad against the Jewish state.

Most of Europe, the United States, and the West understandably supported arming Ukraine to repel Vladimir Putin’s Russian aggression.

By contrast, such support for democratic Israel was strangely mixed.

In many elite, political, academic, and media circles, Israel is criticized for its massive retaliation after October 7, 2023.

The Western attitude toward the two wars grows even more inconsistent, if not incoherent.

There are constant calls for Israel to be “proportionate” in Gaza following the massacres of nearly 1,200 Jews, the vast majority civilians.

But Westerners understandably seek to give Ukraine more and better arms than Russia to ensure a disproportionate response necessary to win the war.

Israel is faulted for collateral damage from its efforts to destroy Hamas — even though terrorists are burrowed in and beneath hospitals, mosques, and schools.

Israeli hostages are used as human shields to protect Hamas gunmen.

No matter. Israel is expected to text or drop leaflets warning Gazan civilians to keep clear of impending air attacks, despite Hamas launching 7,000 rockets with no such warnings into civilian centers in Israel.

On October 7, Hamas, along with some Gazan civilians, tortured, decapitated, raped, and murdered hundreds of Israeli civilians to start the war.

By contrast, no one in the West asks the Ukrainians to warn surrounding civilian populations in occupied Ukraine or inside Russia to keep clear of their intended targets. To do so, apparently, would lessen the surprise effect of Ukrainian attacks.

The West has relentlessly hammered Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for his supposedly right-wing government and its “disproportionate” retaliation in Gaza.

He is closely watched by his American patrons for any sign of absolutist rule or failure to create an inclusive wartime cabinet representative of a wide diversity of Israeli political figures.

Yet, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has not only suspended elections during the war but also declared martial law over his entire country.

Instead of facing Western censure, Zelenskyy remains a rock star in the West. Few seem bothered that he suspended most political parties, blurring the higher-ground difference between autocratic Russia and a supposedly democratic Ukraine.

Note that Israel, like the United States during World War II, has not declared martial law. Instead, it has formed a bipartisan coalition government with members of the opposition.

The U.S. keeps lecturing Israel to restrain its response to avoid a wider regional war in the Middle East. It fears Israeli retaliation for October 7 is apparently more incendiary than Hamas’ unprovoked invasions and murder of Israelis.

Yet, supplying a Ukrainian proxy to attack Russia, sometimes on the Black Sea or inside Russia, appears a far more dangerous gambit.

Hamas’ allies lack the 6,000 nuclear weapons of Russia and have no allies comparable to those now aligning with Moscow, such as China and North Korea.

Western media and politicians correctly discount Russian propaganda emanating from Moscow, especially its unsubstantiated claims of relative Russian and Ukrainian casualties or Ukrainian setbacks or atrocities.

Yet many of these same Westerners oddly take Hamas’ casualty totals at face value.

They have been gullible enough even to swallow Hamas lies that the Islamic jihad rocket that hit a Gazan hospital was an Israeli bomb.

By any fair standard, Hamas has proven to be no more honest, and perhaps far more inaccurate, than even Russian state-controlled media.

So what accounts for these strange disconnects in Western attitudes toward these two wars?
Advertisement

It certainly has nothing to do with consistently siding against those who started the war, or standing always with the more democratic power — or even logically against the side that is more likely to commit atrocities.

The answers seem as obvious as they are disturbing.

Many in the West have a bias against the Jewish state, as antisemitism rebounds in Europe and the U.S.

Popular Western culture often romanticizes Hamas killers as freedom fighters and demonizes collectively the Russian people as stereotyped Hollywood villains.

Middle-East oil money and massive immigration into Western countries dwarf the influence of an ailing Russia.

Left-wing politicians in Europe and the U.S. court their growing Muslim constituents and have no worry about a commensurate Russian lobby.

And so the disconnect grows into absurdity.


Saturday, February 10, 2024

The Absurd Democrat Border Con

 

In 2021, President Joe Biden opened an inherited, secure southern border that finally stopped mass illegal immigration.

When he overturned former President Donald Trump’s efforts, a planned flood of over 8 million illegal immigrants entered the U.S.

Almost all arrived without background checks, health screening, or vaccination certificates — but with massive needs for free housing, education, healthcare, and food entitlements and subsidies.

For four years, Trump battled the courts, his Democratic opposition, and the open-border establishments within his own party to ensure legal-only immigration. Somehow, he rebuilt some of the old porous border fence. He had begun to build his long-promised new wall to the Gulf of Mexico. He had ended Obama-era catch-and-release.

Would-be refugees had to apply for asylum in their home country. Trump leveraged Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador to police his own border and stop cynically transiting millions of illegal aliens into the U.S.

There was general Democratic Party opposition to all of Trump’s measures through Congress and the courts.

For the last three years of Biden’s mass influx, the left has applauded open borders. That is, until late last year, when overwhelmed southern border state governors began busing and flying illegal immigrants en masse to northern sanctuary-city jurisdictions.

For years, these sanctuary zones had preened their liberality about open borders. They smeared as “racists” and “xenophobes” any who insisted on legal-only immigration.

But now they were subject to the real-life ramifications of their own destructive ideologies.

Major blue-state cities like Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C., became outraged that they were inundated with tens of thousands of immigrants, all without legality, veritable identification, or background checks.

Some proved violent. Others crowded out scarce resources essential to millions of inner-city poor.

The liberal architects of illegal immigration are usually rich and powerful enough to be insulated from the consequences of their utopian policies.

But not so their poor or minority constituents. They deal first-hand with spiking crime, appropriation of their parks and civic centers, and restricted access to now overwhelmed social services.

So the once open-border Democrat Party and Biden are in a quandary. They now fear mass defections of core Latino and Black voters in an election year.

But how can they square the circle of insisting on open borders with the need to appear to their own voters as determined to close them?

We saw the absurd answer this week. Shameless Democrats tried to enlist naive and foolish Republicans to bail them out with a “comprehensive immigration bill.”

It was really designed to keep the border open while spending billions of dollars to facilitate more rapid and orderly transits — and more substantial welfare support for millions of illegals here and still to come.

Now Democrats, in lunatic fashion, claim that anyone who did not sign on to codify and regulate illegal immigration was responsible for their own deliberate open border policies in the first place

To add insult to injury, they next sought to piggyback their toxic immigration bill onto massive aid for Israel and Ukraine. It was a transparent effort to blame any Republicans for harming Israel and aiding Putin, should they not sign on to a more efficient open border.

The real agenda of the bill’s supporters is absolutely no return to Trump’s legal-only immigration and a secure border.

That simple solution requires no new legislation and almost no new spending. But it does imply acknowledgment that the hated Trump had solved the problem executively — and that admission is apparently taboo.

Finally, public outrage from the left and conservative anger at foolish and naive Republican enablers stopped the bill.

Still, it remains somewhat unclear why Biden and his Homeland Security chief, Alejandro Mayorkas, destroyed what Trump had achieved. Why would they ensure such misery for both American hosts and millions of illegal immigrants?

Did they want new long-term constituents, given that their neo-socialist agendas cannot win over a majority of current Americans?

Is importing millions of the poorest and most in need on the planet a way to ensure a still larger Great Society of entitlements and, with it, higher taxes on the “filthy rich?”

Do they assume that America’s increasingly non-Election-Day balloting ensures far less authentication and rejection of mail-in ballots, and thus it will be relatively easy for non-citizens to vote?

Many, left and right, make no effort to hide their desire for cheap imported labor — even though the current labor participation rate is only 62 percent of the potential American workforce.

Finally, one might expect this artifice from the left that is wedded to open borders.

But why some establishment Republicans aided and abetted these disingenuous efforts is yet another reminder why the doctrinaire Republican Party had to be reinvented by Trump.

Why Special Counsel Robert Hur Cited Biden’s Mental Lapses in Classified Doc Report

 

While some have not taken this route in defending Joe Biden, the Biden White House and some legal observers on liberal news networks have taken this position: it was inappropriate for Special Counsel Robert Hur to mention the president’s spotty memory and age during his deposition. Biden was the subject of a federal investigation concerning mishandling classified materials. While Hur opted not to charge Biden, the damage was done: the main concern about Biden—his mental health—got injected with steroids. Almost three-quarters of the country doesn’t want Biden to run again and think he’s too old. The White House presser Biden held last night only reinforced those data sets. Yet, Andrew McCarthy, a National Review editor, decided to defend Hur and his inclusion of Biden’s memory lapses for a simple reason: it was required. McCarthy added the report might have provided cause to invoke the 25th Amendment.  

On the memory observations, which included a particularly damning passage about Joe forgetting when Beau Biden died, McCarthy, a former assistant US attorney, said that Democrats were shooting the messenger. Hur was required to include the mental health aspects of the investigation. He’s responsible for relaying any litigation issues that could come up at trial to Attorney General Merrick Garland. If anything, McCarthy says Democrats should be directing their fire at Garland (via NRO): 

Hur was required by regulation to explain his rationale for charging decisions in a “confidential report.” (See Rule 600.8[c] of the Special Counsel Regs, Title 28, Code of Federal Regulations.) It is then up to the attorney general to decide whether to release all or part of the report to the public. (See Rule 600.9[c].) 

Understand: Prosecutorial deliberations over whether to charge people nearly always cast a suspect in a bad light, even if the decision to decline prosecution is made. That is especially the case when the evidence of a crime is strong and the prosecutors must rationalize that other factors — especially, disabilities and the likely impact of them on a jury — justify leniency. 

[…] 

There is absolutely nothing inappropriate in Hur’s consideration of how Biden’s mental decline would play in a jury trial. Moreover, the special counsel’s job is to make the AG aware of significant litigation issues that might arise if the decision to indict were made. One such issue might be a claim that Biden is unfit to stand trial and meaningfully assist in his own defense — even if, at the time of the criminal acts outlined in the report, his mental faculties were markedly better than they are now. 

[…] 

If Democrats want to be angry at someone, be angry at Attorney General Merrick Garland. The regs make the report confidential, but Garland is the one who decided to release it publicly. You can argue that, politically, he had no choice. But the truth of it is that he did have a choice. The one who didn’t have a choice is Hur.

McCarthy also included how disclosures have changed since the 1970s. The public was never “privy” to the deliberations. If nothing came of an investigation, prosecutors closed the file and moved on to other matters. Being hurled to the wolves in the court of public opinion seems rudimentary now. Still, McCarthy added that it’s not standard for law enforcement to “publicly discuss the evidence against uncharged persons, as well as the personal information about them that factors into charging decisions.” 

He added, “If the government does not formally charge a crime, then the prosecutors are not supposed to sully the suspect in the court of public opinion, where the suspect lacks the forum and often the means to mount a defense.” Yet, it’s now normal for the “confidential report” to be released. McCarthy observed that maybe such methods are necessary since these probes are the ones that have held overreaching executive branches in check.  

While McCarthy explained why Hur would have been derelict not to include the state of Biden’s mental health to Mr. Garland, he also explored whether the report provided grounds to invoke the 25th Amendment. He thinks that it does:

Fox News’s Andy McCarthy says there’s enough evidence to invoke the 25th Amendment on President Biden following the Hur report release @DailyCaller pic.twitter.com/nfh7DUFVpe— Nicole Silverio (@NicoleMSilverio) February 8, 2024

So, as Rebecca noted this morning, this post about Kamala is certainly more interesting. It also might be the only time the vice president would agree with a right-of-center publication. 

We are so fortunate to have a real leader, a true friend, and a historic Vice President in Kamala Harris.

We couldn’t do this without you, Kamala. pic.twitter.com/WbZAACWuye— President Biden (@POTUS) February 8, 2024

Also, lord save us:

For those speculating that Kamala can backfill Biden at the top of the ticket, here’s exhibit 897 as to why that ain’t happening… https://t.co/JFqeWJQ8Hp— Joe Concha (@JoeConchaTV) February 9, 2024

DNC Files FEC Complaint Against RFK Jr. As Super PAC Tries Get Him on State Ballots

 

The Democratic National Convention filed a Federal Election Commission complaint against independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s presidential campaign and the super PAC working to get him elected. 

On Friday, the DNC accused RFK Jr. of receiving an illegal contribution from the Kennedy-aligned super PAC American Values 2024.  

RFK Jr.’s campaign is “in the process of accepting a $15 million unlawful in-kind contribution by coordinating their efforts to get him on the ballot,” DNC legal counsel Bob Lenhard said in a call regarding the FEC complaint. 

“[RFK Jr.’s campaign] has acknowledged that it is time-consuming and expensive for a first-time candidate to get on the presidential ballot in all 50 states. Rather than doing that hard work itself, using money raised in compliance with the candidate contribution limits, the campaign is taking a shortcut outsourcing what is otherwise a core campaign function to a super PAC,” he continued. 

In response, American Values 2024 co-chair Tony Lyons criticized the DNC, accusing the Left of attempting to take away American’s constitutional right to vote in a presidential election. 

“The DNC wants to deny millions of people their basic constitutional voting rights in a relentless onslaught against democracy,” Lyons said in a statement. “his FEC complaint is just another desperate DNC tactic to defame Kennedy, vilify him, and drain his campaign funds. The American people are too smart to be fooled by these political games.”

Last year, the super PAC announced plans to spend at least $15 million to help get Kennedy on the ballot in several states crucial to winning the 2024 election.

Campaign finance reports show Kennedy has garnered majority support from Republican-leaning states. (Via the Epoch Times

Mr. Kennedy announced in April 2023 that he would challenge President Biden for the Democratic Party presidential nomination. He has generated wide-ranging support from conservatives, moderates, independents, and Libertarians throughout his campaign, although he hasn’t gained the same favor from many Democrats. Campaign finance reports have shown that Mr. Kennedy gets more support from Republican-leaning donors than Democrats. For months, Mr. Kennedy was confronted with roadblocks from the Democratic National Committee, which he said was “rigging” the primary process to favor President Joe Biden. On Oct. 9, he declared his candidacy for president as an independent.

In a statement regarding the matter, RFK Jr. said that the DNC “is in no position to assert morality over anyone — they refused to have a primary and have worked against the will of the people in the past few elections.”

Does Canada Exist?

 

“An evil man will burn his own nation to the ground to rule over the ashes.” —Sun Tsu

Major Russ Cooper, CEO of Canadian Citizens for Charter Rights and Freedoms, puts the question succinctly. “How could it be that the country that once called itself ‘strong and free’ could have fallen so far from grace? The fact that it has done so is evidenced by a plethora of instances that have put a new national coarseness and vacuity on display.”

Canadians have had their disagreements and scandals aplenty over the years, but nothing so tragically destructive and corrupt as we have experienced since the election of Justin Trudeau. “Canada is back,” was Trudeau’s slogan, but he got it wrong. “Canada is backward,” is closer to the truth, falling year by year into the slough of third-world primitiveness and stagnation. It may be more appropriate to say, as we will note further on, that Canada no longer exists.

Consider the nation’s fiscal health. According to the prestigious C.D. Howe Institute, “Comparing investment in Canada to that in the United States and other OECD countries reveals that, before 2015, Canadian businesses had been closing a long-standing gap between investment per available worker in Canada and abroad. Since 2015, however, the gap has become a chasm. Business investment and productivity are closely related…Having investment per worker much lower in Canada than abroad… prefigures weaker growth in Canadian earnings and living standards than in other OECD countries.” 

Why is 2015 the critical year when the national downturn began? It was the year Justin Trudeau was elected, announcing his intention to bring “sunny ways” to Canada, and in his Open Letter to Canadians, pledging “to invest in growing our economy” and promising to lead “an open, honest government that is accountable to Canadians, lives up to the highest ethical standards… and applies the utmost care and prudence in the handling of public funds.” 

It didn’t work out that way, not by a long shot. As noted, business investment has slipped badly since Trudeau assumed power and future productivity will continue to decline. Canada’s debt is now $2.18 trillion and its deficit is $46.5 billion in a nation that, as of 2021, counted only 28.1 million tax filers. This, among a spate of disasters, is Justin Trudeau’s legacy. 

If we are clear-eyed and look about us without preconceptions, we see a country embracing its own demise, one bill, enactment, levy, and piece of legislation after another.

The effect of “climate change” policy entailing carbon taxes, bans on fertilizers, the shutting down of standard energy production, the marketing of costly and inefficient electric vehicles that threaten to deplete the power grid, and the legislating of largely unworkable and extortionate green renewables, based on insecure and fabricated science and dodgy computer models, has been to impoverish both producers and ordinary citizens in bringing about a new and despotic dispensation. 

A once-prosperous people has been transformed within a remarkably short time into a nation of debtors and economic pariahs. Writing in American Thinker, Alexander Nussbaum finds a relatively strong correlation between “global warmism and socialist economics,” producing a depressed economic environment. The push for “net-zero” decarbonization leads to steep economic decline, which is what the prime minister and his cronies earnestly appear to desire.

Although the wretched Emergencies Act that Trudeau invoked to quell the Trucker Freedom Convoy protest against his vaccine mandates was recently declared illegal, Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland will appeal the decision — the one who froze bank accounts and sent letters to China, India, and some other countries demanding they not do business with those involved with the protest. 

“Little people” like Convoy organizer Tamara Lich went to prison for not obeying Trudeau’s drastic and unreasonable laws — after Trudeau vanished from the scene during the confrontation without scrupling to meet the Truckers, whom he slandered and defamed as racists and haters in a manner obviously unbefitting a prime minister.

Trudeau sent another $40 million to UN “relief organizations” in Gaza, bringing his government’s total commitment to $100 million, despite the UN’s bigoted anti-Israeli stance and UNRWA’s support for Hamas and its barbaric crimes against Jews. MP Heather McPherson, a member of the NDP Party that is propping up Trudeau’s Liberals, set up “A Recurring Donation To UNRWA.” 

As patriot journalist Spencer Fernando writes, “UNRWA employees and UNRWA schools have been repeatedly caught indoctrinating children with vile anti-Semitic hate and promoting terrorism. And yet, an NDP MP feels completely entitled to not only support that organization, but also to tell others to do so.” This travesty, apparently, is perfectly fine with a parliament that enthusiastically applauded a Nazi veteran.
 
As for immigration, the fact is that the existing and increasing flood of immigrants into Canada is changing the make-up and the political profile of the country and placing an unprecedented strain on its resources and infrastructure. Trudeau now wants to welcome hundreds of thousands of Palestinians/Gazans, many of whom have been trained to hate and to kill Jews. 

The pretext is that Canada needs to fill a depleted workplace, a problem the government caused in the first place through its mandatory lockdowns and a brutal, coercive and unnecessary vaccine policy. The truth is that Trudeau wants to dilute the character of the nation and create a dependent, vote-rich cohort of Liberal grantees.

Under the powers vested in the telecommunications office by Trudeau’s Bill C-11 and Bill C-18, also known as the Online Streaming Act, people will no longer be free to express their personal convictions online without fear of cancellation or even worse. Bills C-27 (Internet Facial Recognition) and S-210 (Age Verification), currently being discussed, are plainly subject to abuse and denial-of-service legislation. As the Western Standard points out, “from [government] involvement, it is but a short walk to influence and then control.”

In 2016, Trudeau introduced a policy of euthanasia or “assisted suicide” which has come to be known as MAID (Medical Assistance in Dying), and which author David Cooke in his 2022 book “Trudeau’s MAID Service” calls “murder-by-consent.” The disabled, the depressed, and, intermittently, the mentally ill and veterans, are the government’s dubious “beneficiaries.” Seniors and children will be eligible. (My own province of British Columbia, governed by a socialist party (the NDP), has the highest rate of medically assisted death in Canada.) 

It has been persuasively argued that eliminating people is one way of solving a healthcare crisis, relieving a broken and unsustainable medical system which as of 2022 ranked 25th in the World Index of Healthcare Innovation. More dead = fewer patients = healthcare reform. According to the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition, the toll for 2023 alone is approximately 16,000 euthanasia deaths. 

Canada’s justice system is suspect. Ten of 15 judges who sit on the highest court in Canada were appointed by Trudeau, many of these likely Liberal Party donors. The number of judges who follow the Constitution and the Charter is vanishingly small. Considering that the Preamble to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms reads “Whereas Canada is founded upon principles that recognize the supremacy of God and the rule of law,” two precepts that are largely disregarded as quaint and archaic, it is no wonder that the moral covenant no longer applies to the conduct of both life and profession. 

And no wonder that the Law Faculty from Trinity Western University, a Christian University with a high academic standard, has had its Faculty of Law accreditation revoked by several provincial law societies for “limiting diversity.” The school’s covenant requires that students abstain from sex outside of heterosexual marriage. Finally, a 2018 decision from the Supreme Court of Canada, as the CBC explains, determined that the school’s policy “would deter LGBT students from attending the proposed law school, and those who did attend would be at risk of significant harm.” It is more likely that the Christian students would be at risk of harm. In Trudeau’s Canada, Christian faith, cultural tradition, and judicial propriety are now relics of the past.

As Ray DiLorenzo writes in Canada Free Press, Canada has become a “sick, deranged, anti-God combination of communism and fascism. Cities are crumbling before our eyes; manufactured inflation, open borders, food shortages, crime, disease, vaccine deaths, surveillance, censorship, and war are all meant to create fear and desperation. Call it the New World Order or the Great Reset. It’s all the same.” 

In a similar vein, Niagara Independent journalist Chris George in his provocative pdf book “The Troubled State of the Nation,” asserts: “On Trudeau’s watch, Canada has been systematically deconstructed. Whether it is Canada’s fiscal and economic conditions, international position, justice system, or the authority of Parliament, on multiple fronts the Liberals continue to advance their post-national vision as if they were picking and unravelling the threads of a twined rope—to eventually work loose the tethers to our country’s foundations.” This seems an accurate summing up as we witness the debris that Canada’s worst prime minister has caused. 

George urges us not to forget “the Trudeau Liberals’ attempt at establishing a global agenda to transcend our national interests.” As Trudeau famously declared, “There is no core identity, no mainstream in Canada,” concluding that he sees Canada as “the first post-national state” — a contradiction in terms, for “post-national” means there is no longer a “nation,” especially if it has no core identity. 

If we take Trudeau’s babble seriously, it follows logically that what we call “Canada” does not refer to a nation. It is merely a gallimaufry of disparate groups ruled by a demiurgic junta masquerading as a “state,” but it is no longer a nation in the conventional sense of the word. Trudeau is prepared to sign the disastrous Pandemic Health Treaty with the World Health Organization (WHO), lobbying to include “climate change” and abortion-on-demand as health-related issues—another way of ceding national sovereignty to a globalist institution and rendering Canada moot. The Pandemic Treaty is drafted to be legally binding, exerting “sweeping surveillance” and significant control over the independence and sovereign authority of member nations.

Since we now live in what is presumably a post-national agglomerate, the term “Canada,” thanks to Justin Trudeau’s shabby and reprobate government, has become nothing more than a placeholder, a kadigan pastiche of what was once a real country, or as Chris George says, “a country with a glorious history.” And as he might have added, a post-national entity with a miserable future.