Remember when President Trump gave a speech at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and proposed a bunch of radical stuff?
You know, totally crazy shit, like, "I’m asking all of you to enforce the laws.”
At the same time, he signed two executive orders that day, one to begin/continue construction of a border wall, and the second to restore the "Secure Communities Program" and strip money from so-called "sanctuary" cities and states. It includes the end of the "catch and release" program and money for more detention centers. These EOs are a dead giveaway that the Trump administration fully intends to spend more effort on finding, detaining, and eventually removing these folks from society (whether it's by a long time in an American detention center, aka "jail", or by sending the scofflaws back to whence they came). Absent anything else to distract attention, cue the sad stories about innocent mothers and their children separated by the evil Trump admin. Ignoring that mom entered the country (illegally), then stole someone's identity to get papers to make her look like a legal citizen, something YOU or I would find ourselves serving some significant time for...
As I said, "absent anything else..."
Hence, in the next few days, we saw the wider travel ban on immigrants from seven previously identified failed states and Iran, and that's all we've been talking about since.
Many have pointed to the botched rollout of the travel ban, and its subsequent troubles in court, leading to the Ninth Circuit's ridiculous and willful disregard of the law and precedent this week, as signs of the incompetence or, at best, chaos, of the Trump White House.
But, what if this is not chaos, but orchestrated?
Trump and his advisors know that the travel ban, especially as short as it was going to be, would end up having little impact on the immediate national security prospects, and likely knew they could "figure out what the hell is going on" even without a ban. And I have every confidence they will come up with much better vetting procedures, especially for those from the failed states in this order, but for all immigrants from countries who export terrorism (yes, I'm looking at YOU, Saudi Arabia).
They knew this would send the Left and their media squirrel chasers into paroxysms of outrage. This would divert attention from the truly radical thing that happened here, and that's the actual enforcement of the law.
Eventually, the media will bore of the travel ban. The admin will lessen it's severity, they'll put something more modest together and the media will move on to those grieving mother stories. But it'll be too late, with the die cast.
That this has the side benefit of exposing the Ninth Circuit for what it is, the Supreme Court of Californistan, well, that's icing.
Saturday, February 11, 2017
Sunday, February 5, 2017
Killing the Filibuster
This week was an eventful one for the President.
You have to give him some credit, the guy has a tireless work ethic.
He semi-carelessly implemented his promised "ban" on travel from 7 mostly failed-state, majority-Muslim countries, prompting the kind of theatrics one would have expected from The Left. Cue the protests, the descriptions of it as "anti-Muslim," the faux crying by Chuck Schumer, the judge-shopping by Left-leaning State Attorney Generals, etc.
Then, he nominated Neil Gorsuch to be the next SCOTUS justice, which was a universally-applauded pick, even by those on The Left TM. Which is the subject of this post.
Starting with Gorsuch. He's an imminently qualified, well-liked and thought of jurist, in the mold of Scalia, with perhaps a bit more concern about the encroachment to Liberty we face from the administrative state. He'll be a strong 4th Amendment advocate, which should please the libertarian-minded, and he has argued forcefully for religious liberty, and is a clear textualist, as was Scalia.
For conservatives, the pick is a home run.
Which is why he must be confirmed, and quickly.
What are the Democrats to do here?
Almost out of the box, their attack dogs, led by Oregon's Senator Ron Wyden, were painting Gorsuch as an ideologue determined to undo every civil liberty ever contemplated, and a danger to the American republic. This despite Wyden's own vote to confirm him to the 10thDistrict Court of Appeals in 2006.
This was followed by calls that this seat should not be filled because it was "stolen" by the GOP when they refused to even give Merrick Garland a hearing. Although that was a strategy that had been advocated by Joe Biden (remember him) in 2008, hypocrisy knows no boundaries in Democrat politics.
The fact on that argument is that the Supreme Court was a central theme, at least in conservative circles, and a key reason many reluctant Trump voters cast a ballot for him. If The Left couldnt' get out the vote for this for Hillary Clinton, well, isn't that on their hands? They held it within their own power to prevent a Trump nominee. They lost.
Now, we will have to deal with the filibuster.
The GOP needs to peel off 8 Dems to prevent a filibuster, and given 2018's electoral map, that may be entirely possible. I wonder how many of these 2018 Dems know they're dead senators walking and will just accept that and give in to their donor base and join a filibuster. My guess is a vote against Gorsuch for a senator such as Manchin, Heitkamp, Tester, Donnelly, etc, is more dangerous to their chances than losing money from rich, progressive donors.
I advocate 2 options here for the GOP, if the Dems threaten a filibuster and can sustain it with numbers:
You have to give him some credit, the guy has a tireless work ethic.
He semi-carelessly implemented his promised "ban" on travel from 7 mostly failed-state, majority-Muslim countries, prompting the kind of theatrics one would have expected from The Left. Cue the protests, the descriptions of it as "anti-Muslim," the faux crying by Chuck Schumer, the judge-shopping by Left-leaning State Attorney Generals, etc.
Then, he nominated Neil Gorsuch to be the next SCOTUS justice, which was a universally-applauded pick, even by those on The Left TM. Which is the subject of this post.
Starting with Gorsuch. He's an imminently qualified, well-liked and thought of jurist, in the mold of Scalia, with perhaps a bit more concern about the encroachment to Liberty we face from the administrative state. He'll be a strong 4th Amendment advocate, which should please the libertarian-minded, and he has argued forcefully for religious liberty, and is a clear textualist, as was Scalia.
For conservatives, the pick is a home run.
Which is why he must be confirmed, and quickly.
What are the Democrats to do here?
Almost out of the box, their attack dogs, led by Oregon's Senator Ron Wyden, were painting Gorsuch as an ideologue determined to undo every civil liberty ever contemplated, and a danger to the American republic. This despite Wyden's own vote to confirm him to the 10thDistrict Court of Appeals in 2006.
This was followed by calls that this seat should not be filled because it was "stolen" by the GOP when they refused to even give Merrick Garland a hearing. Although that was a strategy that had been advocated by Joe Biden (remember him) in 2008, hypocrisy knows no boundaries in Democrat politics.
The fact on that argument is that the Supreme Court was a central theme, at least in conservative circles, and a key reason many reluctant Trump voters cast a ballot for him. If The Left couldnt' get out the vote for this for Hillary Clinton, well, isn't that on their hands? They held it within their own power to prevent a Trump nominee. They lost.
Now, we will have to deal with the filibuster.
The GOP needs to peel off 8 Dems to prevent a filibuster, and given 2018's electoral map, that may be entirely possible. I wonder how many of these 2018 Dems know they're dead senators walking and will just accept that and give in to their donor base and join a filibuster. My guess is a vote against Gorsuch for a senator such as Manchin, Heitkamp, Tester, Donnelly, etc, is more dangerous to their chances than losing money from rich, progressive donors.
I advocate 2 options here for the GOP, if the Dems threaten a filibuster and can sustain it with numbers:
- Force them to actually carry it out. Enjoy the spectacle of Democrat senators actually bringing the senate to a halt and cover it full time on C-SPAN. Change the rules so the Senate is in session 24/7 during it so they have to stay up all night. Make these old geezers pay for their recalcitrance.
- Nuke it.
For the Dems, what is the best political move here?
Given that the seat does not change the existing court balance, do they hold their fire for the next one, which will either be Kennedy or Ginsburg (my guessses). They'd certainly want to go hard after a choice for Ginsburg. If they retain the filibuster and give Gorsuch this seat, you might see Trump, in a Ginsburg situation, go for someone like Garland. In fact, were it me, and I knew that one would be filibustered, I would nominate Garland for Ginsburg. he's older, and wont' likely serve more than 20 years, and he's already been nominated by a Democrat. How would they filibuster that?
If they give up the filibuster and let the GOP nuke it, all future SCOTUS picks will be far right textualists. Trump has a list, and he'd use it. And he'd be mad enough to nominate the judges who piss the Dems off the most.
Also, nuking the filibuster will make Chuck Schumer and the Dems in Congress completely powerless for 2 years, most likely 4. Do the Dems really want to take that chance. I think they have to keep their powder dry.
We'll see.
Saturday, January 28, 2017
Dem's Crack Up and Media Stupidity
A couple of articles caught my attention today
The Dems are following the path the GOP was on pre-2016, without the benefit of a thriving base to their party, which the GOP had in the post Tea Party era. That base, and a generally unifying vision (opposition to Dems, but generally limited government and fiscal conservatism) led to the landslide that is GOP control of everything today.
The Dems have no such base, and much of that is because at the local level, what they are selling has no market. We see the results of long-term progressivism in places like Detroit, Chicago, Baltimore, and only Silicon Valley permits the morons in California from destroying their state, and even that may not save it in the end.
At the national level, it's all ancient leaders beholden to their own donor class. It's generally retreads and losers, who are all too happy to tell these ancient politicians what they want to hear, and take their money from them.
It's nice to see the Dems have their own little Mike Murphy's.
Next, is Jonah Goldberg's weekly newsletter, the G-File, which occupies the primary space over at National Review Online today.
This is a cautionary tale from a former #nevertrumper that we need a conservative media to be wary and honest about Trump. His position, which I share, is that Trump isn't a conservative, and while he has those tendencies, he is first and foremost a showman, and the show is Trump.
He is going to do things antithetical to the conservative movement and its principles (trade chief among them) and we need a conservative polity that calls that out and makes fair and honest distinctions. I want to protect him from his worst instincts, because those have the capability to betray all the good things I think he can do. And he is doing a ton of good things. For example:
From here Jonah pivots to his discussion of how the right wing journos should approach Trump, and I think fair and balanced is the best way to describe what he wants. In other words, not what the aforementioned Hannity is doing.
My observation is that Jonah's observation here is correct:
First....
The Washington Free Beacon's Matthew Continetti is joining Charlie Cooke and Kevin Williamson as my favorite NR contributors. Today, he writes about the Dem's crack-up.
The Dems are following the path the GOP was on pre-2016, without the benefit of a thriving base to their party, which the GOP had in the post Tea Party era. That base, and a generally unifying vision (opposition to Dems, but generally limited government and fiscal conservatism) led to the landslide that is GOP control of everything today.
The Dems have no such base, and much of that is because at the local level, what they are selling has no market. We see the results of long-term progressivism in places like Detroit, Chicago, Baltimore, and only Silicon Valley permits the morons in California from destroying their state, and even that may not save it in the end.
At the national level, it's all ancient leaders beholden to their own donor class. It's generally retreads and losers, who are all too happy to tell these ancient politicians what they want to hear, and take their money from them.
It's nice to see the Dems have their own little Mike Murphy's.
Next, is Jonah Goldberg's weekly newsletter, the G-File, which occupies the primary space over at National Review Online today.
This is a cautionary tale from a former #nevertrumper that we need a conservative media to be wary and honest about Trump. His position, which I share, is that Trump isn't a conservative, and while he has those tendencies, he is first and foremost a showman, and the show is Trump.
He is going to do things antithetical to the conservative movement and its principles (trade chief among them) and we need a conservative polity that calls that out and makes fair and honest distinctions. I want to protect him from his worst instincts, because those have the capability to betray all the good things I think he can do. And he is doing a ton of good things. For example:
- He will nominate a real constructionist replacement to SCOTUS to replace Scalia
- He has put in place a serious, and professional national security team, particularly at DoD
- He is going to emasculate the EPA, the DOE and the Education by sending in heads who find what these agencies have been doing deplorable.
- Obamacare is going to get replaced by something that is more market-oriented and won't destroy the lives of the middle class people who are tasked with propping it up today
- He's serious about border security and fighting Islamic Fascism
- We will see a reduction in the corporate tax rate and real reform in the tax code, as well as loosening of regulations, like Sarbanes-Oxley, the Dodd-Frank reforms, and generally reducing the burden of regulation.
All those are tremendously positive things that I believe will happen, and quickly. Make what you will of Trump, there is no "Apology Tour" to be held in the first 100 days. He's hitting the ground running, and once the Dems figure that out, they'll either get on board, or get run over. Sound familiar, Trumpistas?
Anyway, back to Jonah, while he is primarily talking to the conservative media in this week's G-File, he has some scathing things to say about the left-wing (i.e 96% of the) media:
On "Fake" news, Jonah reminds it's always been around:
No, it wasn’t all “fake news” (man, am I exhausted by the ridiculous misuse of that term), at least not most of the time [insert outrage over Duranty’s Pulitzer, Janet Cooke’s and Steve Glass’s fabulations, and of course that time Dan Rather climbed the jackass tree only to hurl himself down, hitting every branch].On Liberal Journalists, Jonah falls where many are, that they mean well, but they truly live in a bubble. This doesn't impact us on the right so much, because we live in much the same cultural bubble as the Left. We read their newspapers, we hear their "news," we watch their TV and movies. We're ensconsed in that bubble. On the contrary, they have never set foot in our churches, or attend the same sporting events as us, or know who Sean Hannity is (I am not saying that last thing is a good thing). Jonah:
Still, the more you get to know elite “objective” journalists, the more you can appreciate that they are trying to do it right. But it also becomes all the more obvious that they live in a social milieu where the borders between the Democratic party, liberal activism, and liberal experts are very, very fuzzy.He adds, talking about reporters seeking verification of "facts" and opinions they agree with:
Reporters routinely call experts they already agree with knowing that their “takes” will line up with what the reporter believes. Sometimes this is lazy or deadline-driven hackery. But more often, it’s not. And that shouldn’t surprise us. Smart liberal reporters are probably inclined to think that smart liberal experts are right when they say things the smart liberal reporters already agree with.On the right, we know Vox to be an excuse for the Left to have an echo chamber. But I love how Jonah puts this:
Think of editors like security guards at a military base. They tend to wave through the people they know and the folks with right ID badges. But when a stranger shows up, or if someone lacks the right credential, then the guards feel like they have to do their job. This is the basic modus operandi for places like Vox, which seek to explain not the facts or the news, but why liberals are right about the facts and the news. [emphasis mine]I linked on Facebook to The Atlantic's ridiculous "sciency" article on the Right-to-Life's use of ultrasound technology and abortion. This ridiculous article deserved the ridicule it received. Like Jonah, I am happy that this extremely long piece has now been equalled by the length of the retractions and corrections The Atlantic has had to issue.
From here Jonah pivots to his discussion of how the right wing journos should approach Trump, and I think fair and balanced is the best way to describe what he wants. In other words, not what the aforementioned Hannity is doing.
My observation is that Jonah's observation here is correct:
But if you actually watch the news side of Fox News, or read National Review, the Weekly Standard, Commentary (not to mention the more responsible conservative websites: The Federalist, Hot Air, etc.), you’ll find that we tend not to be swept up in the hysteria of the Left or the Right. There’s a diversity of writers and opinions to be sure, but on the whole we have praised some of what Trump has done and criticized other things. Fox reports inconvenient facts for the Democrats and inconvenient facts for the Trump administration. It’s not always easy to draw the lines — again, mixed bags and all — but so far I’m proud of the way most of my colleagues and peers have handled all of this weirdness.YOU, on the other hand, should read the entire piece.
Sunday, January 15, 2017
A-Listers not needed here
Salena Zito is the one reporter who most accurately understands the Trump voter. She has written about them tirelessly this cycle, and she correctly predicted Trump. Today, she explains why having no A-list celebrities at the inauguration is a feature, not a bug, of the Trump Administration.
Most telling is this section from a 19 year old Trump supporter who will be attending the inauguration:
Jesse Crammer, 19, can’t wait for Friday, and all he wants to see during the inauguration is President Trump’s remarks about the moment. “He is all of the celebrity I need,” said the high-school sophomore from the Keystone State.
“This night is about him; it is about us. It would be really cool if he opened up his remarks and asked people attending one of the balls, in particular the ball that will have our military, police and first responders in attendance, and ask them to talk about their lives.
“[Trump’s] message about ‘making America great’ was aspirational; it was about something bigger than ourselves, and perhaps that is what Hollywood does not get. They cannot imagine something bigger than themselves.”
Cory Booker & John Lewis Explained
Cory Booker broke a longstanding precedent and engaged in a bit of moral preening over the nomination of Jeff Sessions as Attorney General.
John Lewis has decided that Trump is not a "legitimate" president.
What is going on with these people?
It dawned on me today that they feel it is necessary to protect an important Democrat constituency, that is, black voters.
I believe, under Trump, the 90/10 numbers that Dems have built with black voters is the softest part of their coalition, and the race hucksters and black politicians who rely on this as the source for their jobs, let alone their power, recognize this and must do whatever they can to keep it going for the next 4 (8?) years.
Like accusations that Trump will somehow be less friendly to the LGBT community (come on, he waved their flag at an event and he thanked the GOP convention to cheering his line about equality for them), there is the likelihood that his policies will actually help the black community and inner cities and I think he actually means he is going to work on improving conditions in the cities.
So, buckle up, because these people are not going to let go peacefully. The Democrats had made it clear that they have one playbook in opposition, and it's the same one they've had for 40 years.
It's old, it's worn, it's tattered, and it's basically been published for everyone to see.
The GOP has gotten much smarter at this game, and the public has grown weary of it.
I predict doom and gloom for Liberals for the next few years, if they don't truly revisit their worldview and how they oppose Trump.
John Lewis has decided that Trump is not a "legitimate" president.
What is going on with these people?
It dawned on me today that they feel it is necessary to protect an important Democrat constituency, that is, black voters.
I believe, under Trump, the 90/10 numbers that Dems have built with black voters is the softest part of their coalition, and the race hucksters and black politicians who rely on this as the source for their jobs, let alone their power, recognize this and must do whatever they can to keep it going for the next 4 (8?) years.
Like accusations that Trump will somehow be less friendly to the LGBT community (come on, he waved their flag at an event and he thanked the GOP convention to cheering his line about equality for them), there is the likelihood that his policies will actually help the black community and inner cities and I think he actually means he is going to work on improving conditions in the cities.
So, buckle up, because these people are not going to let go peacefully. The Democrats had made it clear that they have one playbook in opposition, and it's the same one they've had for 40 years.
It's old, it's worn, it's tattered, and it's basically been published for everyone to see.
The GOP has gotten much smarter at this game, and the public has grown weary of it.
I predict doom and gloom for Liberals for the next few years, if they don't truly revisit their worldview and how they oppose Trump.
Tuesday, December 20, 2016
In Case of Climate Change, Break Glass
If you care about "Climate change" please ensure you follow these simple instructions
Dear liberals:
If everyone who thinks CO2 is a pollutant would hold their breath for twenty minutes the problem would solve itself.— CSM (@usacsmret) December 21, 2016
Dear liberals:
Sunday, December 18, 2016
Why Trump Won
Selena Zito gets it, and has for a while.
Her article in the Washington Examiner lays it out there for the media and the Left
Her article in the Washington Examiner lays it out there for the media and the Left
Wednesday, December 14, 2016
Russians, Meddling
The latest whine from the Left is a rehash of one they peddled during the campaign, that the Russians had a preferred candidate in 2016, and that Trump was that candidate.
Now they are using the report, referenced in the Washington Post, and attributed to anonymous sources, that the Intelligence Community has determined that the Russians put a finger on the election to elect Trump.
Reality check: The only effort we're talking about here is the hacking of the DNC emails and John Podesta's emails, most likely by Russian hackers. Despite John Bolton's protestations, it is likely that some Russian hackers were involved in these hacks. What is unlikely is what the Post and their anonymous sources want you to believe, that the Russians somehow favored Trump and their lack of releasing RNC emails proves that.
Let's be clear here. That's it. There is no attempted hacking of voting machines, of tabulation counters, or of any outright manipulation of voting. The question comes down to: Do you believe that the WikiLeaks revelations were enough to tip the balance from Hillary to Trump, across the 4 swing states (NC, FL, OH, IA) and the 3 "Blue Wall" states (PA, WI, MI)?
I said repeatedly during this cycle that this boiled down to how mad were people, and how many of them were there. Trump did that same calculus, and guess what, it turns out, pretty mad. And a lot of them
The typical Liberal forces are rallying around this nonsense, from the WaPo, to the New York Times, to the Economist, to the usual players in Congress, to their media lackeys at CNN, MSNBC, and the big three networks.
Their fantasies take two forms:
The people who even care about these machinations are Washington insiders and political cognoscenti. The rest of the country, and that means 95% of the people, were neither influenced by these revelations initially, and do not give a rat's patootie about them now.
These people, who elected Trump (except for you, California) are going to be very upset should these attempts lead to any change in the electoral process in which they participated.
Trump knows that the country doesn't care, and he is the ONE person in Washington who matters who does. He is right to brush these off as the partisan attacks that they are.
As usual in the Season of Trump, he is running circles around our dishonest and partisan media.
Now they are using the report, referenced in the Washington Post, and attributed to anonymous sources, that the Intelligence Community has determined that the Russians put a finger on the election to elect Trump.
Reality check: The only effort we're talking about here is the hacking of the DNC emails and John Podesta's emails, most likely by Russian hackers. Despite John Bolton's protestations, it is likely that some Russian hackers were involved in these hacks. What is unlikely is what the Post and their anonymous sources want you to believe, that the Russians somehow favored Trump and their lack of releasing RNC emails proves that.
Let's be clear here. That's it. There is no attempted hacking of voting machines, of tabulation counters, or of any outright manipulation of voting. The question comes down to: Do you believe that the WikiLeaks revelations were enough to tip the balance from Hillary to Trump, across the 4 swing states (NC, FL, OH, IA) and the 3 "Blue Wall" states (PA, WI, MI)?
I said repeatedly during this cycle that this boiled down to how mad were people, and how many of them were there. Trump did that same calculus, and guess what, it turns out, pretty mad. And a lot of them
The typical Liberal forces are rallying around this nonsense, from the WaPo, to the New York Times, to the Economist, to the usual players in Congress, to their media lackeys at CNN, MSNBC, and the big three networks.
Their fantasies take two forms:
- Trump is diminished and his electoral victory questioned and his legitimacy reduced
- Electors hear the siren call and somehow decide that Trump is truly a puppet of Putin and decide to deny him 270 EVs and send this election into the House.
The people who even care about these machinations are Washington insiders and political cognoscenti. The rest of the country, and that means 95% of the people, were neither influenced by these revelations initially, and do not give a rat's patootie about them now.
These people, who elected Trump (except for you, California) are going to be very upset should these attempts lead to any change in the electoral process in which they participated.
Trump knows that the country doesn't care, and he is the ONE person in Washington who matters who does. He is right to brush these off as the partisan attacks that they are.
As usual in the Season of Trump, he is running circles around our dishonest and partisan media.
Friday, December 9, 2016
John Glenn & the Future of NASA
John Glenn is dead, and Mark Steyn has a few things to say about it. You should always heed Steyn.
I grew up in the '70s and loved everything about the space race. For those generations who weren't alive when we were walking on the moon, they have missed what was the pinnacle of human achievement.
Today, NASA is more concerned with Muslim outreach and helping screw the poorest people in the world by playing politics with "climate change." Some of us remember when NASA was about challenging us to dream big and explore the universe, when space exploration was actually their mission.
I hope the Trump administration will return NASA to that goal, restore its former glory, and our sense of national pride and technological achievement. An entire generation of engineers could be dissuaded from developing smart phone apps and losing money on inane internet adventures, and could instead reach for the stars.
I hope Mark Steyn is wrong when he laments:
I grew up in the '70s and loved everything about the space race. For those generations who weren't alive when we were walking on the moon, they have missed what was the pinnacle of human achievement.
Today, NASA is more concerned with Muslim outreach and helping screw the poorest people in the world by playing politics with "climate change." Some of us remember when NASA was about challenging us to dream big and explore the universe, when space exploration was actually their mission.
I hope the Trump administration will return NASA to that goal, restore its former glory, and our sense of national pride and technological achievement. An entire generation of engineers could be dissuaded from developing smart phone apps and losing money on inane internet adventures, and could instead reach for the stars.
I hope Mark Steyn is wrong when he laments:
'Today, when we talk about Americans boldly going where no man has gone before, we mean the ladies' bathroom. Progress."
Biden, the Class Idiot
Seriously, there are people who actually believe we can "stop" the climate from changing.
This is what is wrong with you idiots.
This is what is wrong with you idiots.
Thursday, December 8, 2016
The Abortion Death Cult
From this week's National Review:
The French State Council recently ruled that a video featuring children with Down syndrome will not be permitted to air on French television because the children’s smiles would “disturb the conscience of women who had lawfully made different personal life choices”—in other words, seeing these children happy would upset women who had aborted children suspected of having the syndrome. The award-winning “Dear Future Mom” video shows young people with Down syndrome from around the world speaking in a variety of languages about being able to learn to write and to ride a bike, hug their mothers and go to school, earn money and live on their own. In France, 86 percent of babies who receive a prenatal diagnosis of Down syndrome are aborted. Why should anyone’s conscience be at risk of being disturbed over this?Why, indeed, in a culture of death, should we disturb anyone for their "choices."
Thursday, November 17, 2016
Steve Bannon Speaks
Buzzfeed provides a transcript of a discussion where Steve Bannon laid out his global nationalist vision in unusually in-depth remarks delivered by Skype to a conference held inside the Vatican in the summer of 2014.
Some highlights I pulled out, but you who are concerned over Bannon should read the whole thing to get some insight into his thinking.
on Capitalism:
But there’s a strand of capitalism today — two strands of it, that are very disturbing.
One is state-sponsored capitalism. And that’s the capitalism you see in China and Russia. I believe it’s what Holy Father [Pope Francis] has seen for most of his life in places like Argentina, where you have this kind of crony capitalism of people that are involved with these military powers-that-be in the government, and it forms a brutal form of capitalism that is really about creating wealth and creating value for a very small subset of people. And it doesn’t spread the tremendous value creation throughout broader distribution patterns that were seen really in the 20th century.
The second form of capitalism that I feel is almost as disturbing, is what I call the Ayn Rand or the Objectivist School of libertarian capitalism. And, look, I’m a big believer in a lot of libertarianism. I have many many friends that’s a very big part of the conservative movement — whether it’s the UKIP movement in England, it’s many of the underpinnings of the populist movement in Europe, and particularly in the United States.
However, that form of capitalism is quite different when you really look at it to what I call the “enlightened capitalism” of the Judeo-Christian West. It is a capitalism that really looks to make people commodities, and to objectify people, and to use them almost — as many of the precepts of Marx — and that is a form of capitalism, particularly to a younger generation [that] they’re really finding quite attractive. And if they don’t see another alternative, it’s going to be an alternative that they gravitate to under this kind of rubric of “personal freedom.”
On Breitbart:
The central thing that binds that all together is a center-right populist movement of really the middle class, the working men and women in the world who are just tired of being dictated to by what we call the party of Davos. A group of kind of — we’re not conspiracy-theory guys, but there’s certainly — and I could see this when I worked at Goldman Sachs — there are people in New York that feel closer to people in London and in Berlin than they do to people in Kansas and in Colorado, and they have more of this elite mentality that they’re going to dictate to everybody how the world’s going to be run.
I will tell you that the working men and women of Europe and Asia and the United States and Latin America don’t believe that. They believe they know what’s best for how they will comport their lives. They think they know best about how to raise their families and how to educate their families. So I think you’re seeing a global reaction to centralized government, whether that government is in Beijing or that government is in Washington, DC, or that government is in Brussels. So we are the platform for the voice of that.
On Bankers and the 2008 collapse:
The 2008 crisis, I think the financial crisis — which, by the way, I don’t think we’ve come through — is really driven I believe by the greed, much of it driven by the greed of the investment banks. My old firm, Goldman Sachs — traditionally the best banks are leveraged 8:1. When we had the financial crisis in 2008, the investment banks were leveraged 35:1. Those rules had specifically been changed by a guy named Hank Paulson. He was secretary of Treasury. As chairman of Goldman Sachs, he had gone to Washington years before and asked for those changes. That made the banks not really investment banks, but made them hedge funds — and highly susceptible to changes in liquidity.
In addition, I think you really need to go back and make banks do what they do: Commercial banks lend money, and investment banks invest in entrepreneurs and to get away from this trading — you know, the hedge fund securitization, which they’ve all become basically trading operations and securitizations and not put capital back and really grow businesses and to grow the economy.
When you have this kind of crony capitalism, you have a different set of rules for the people that make the rules. It’s this partnership of big government and corporatists. I think it starts to fuel, particularly as you start to see negative job creation. If you go back, in fact, and look at the United States’ GDP, you look at a bunch of Europe. If you take out government spending, you know, we’ve had negative growth on a real basis for over a decade.
And that all trickles down to the man in the street. If you look at people’s lives, and particularly millennials, look at people under 30 — people under 30, there’s 50% really under employment of people in the United States, which is probably the most advanced economy in the West, and it gets worse in Europe.
On Islamism
But I strongly believe that whatever the causes of the current drive to the caliphate was — and we can debate them, and people can try to deconstruct them — we have to face a very unpleasant fact: And that unpleasant fact is that there is a major war brewing, a war that’s already global. It’s going global in scale, and today’s technology, today’s media, today’s access to weapons of mass destruction, it’s going to lead to a global conflict that I believe has to be confronted today.
On Putin
I’m not justifying Vladimir Putin and the kleptocracy that he represents, because he eventually is the state capitalist of kleptocracy. However, we the Judeo-Christian West really have to look at what he’s talking about as far as traditionalism goes — particularly the sense of where it supports the underpinnings of nationalism — and I happen to think that the individual sovereignty of a country is a good thing and a strong thing. I think strong countries and strong nationalist movements in countries make strong neighbors, and that is really the building blocks that built Western Europe and the United States, and I think it’s what can see us forward.
You know, Putin’s been quite an interesting character. He’s also very, very, very intelligent. I can see this in the United States where he’s playing very strongly to social conservatives about his message about more traditional values, so I think it’s something that we have to be very much on guard of. Because at the end of the day, I think that Putin and his cronies are really a kleptocracy, that are really an imperialist power that want to expand. However, I really believe that in this current environment, where you’re facing a potential new caliphate that is very aggressive that is really a situation — I’m not saying we can put it on a back burner — but I think we have to deal with first things first.
Some highlights I pulled out, but you who are concerned over Bannon should read the whole thing to get some insight into his thinking.
on Capitalism:
But there’s a strand of capitalism today — two strands of it, that are very disturbing.
One is state-sponsored capitalism. And that’s the capitalism you see in China and Russia. I believe it’s what Holy Father [Pope Francis] has seen for most of his life in places like Argentina, where you have this kind of crony capitalism of people that are involved with these military powers-that-be in the government, and it forms a brutal form of capitalism that is really about creating wealth and creating value for a very small subset of people. And it doesn’t spread the tremendous value creation throughout broader distribution patterns that were seen really in the 20th century.
The second form of capitalism that I feel is almost as disturbing, is what I call the Ayn Rand or the Objectivist School of libertarian capitalism. And, look, I’m a big believer in a lot of libertarianism. I have many many friends that’s a very big part of the conservative movement — whether it’s the UKIP movement in England, it’s many of the underpinnings of the populist movement in Europe, and particularly in the United States.
However, that form of capitalism is quite different when you really look at it to what I call the “enlightened capitalism” of the Judeo-Christian West. It is a capitalism that really looks to make people commodities, and to objectify people, and to use them almost — as many of the precepts of Marx — and that is a form of capitalism, particularly to a younger generation [that] they’re really finding quite attractive. And if they don’t see another alternative, it’s going to be an alternative that they gravitate to under this kind of rubric of “personal freedom.”
On Breitbart:
The central thing that binds that all together is a center-right populist movement of really the middle class, the working men and women in the world who are just tired of being dictated to by what we call the party of Davos. A group of kind of — we’re not conspiracy-theory guys, but there’s certainly — and I could see this when I worked at Goldman Sachs — there are people in New York that feel closer to people in London and in Berlin than they do to people in Kansas and in Colorado, and they have more of this elite mentality that they’re going to dictate to everybody how the world’s going to be run.
I will tell you that the working men and women of Europe and Asia and the United States and Latin America don’t believe that. They believe they know what’s best for how they will comport their lives. They think they know best about how to raise their families and how to educate their families. So I think you’re seeing a global reaction to centralized government, whether that government is in Beijing or that government is in Washington, DC, or that government is in Brussels. So we are the platform for the voice of that.
On Bankers and the 2008 collapse:
The 2008 crisis, I think the financial crisis — which, by the way, I don’t think we’ve come through — is really driven I believe by the greed, much of it driven by the greed of the investment banks. My old firm, Goldman Sachs — traditionally the best banks are leveraged 8:1. When we had the financial crisis in 2008, the investment banks were leveraged 35:1. Those rules had specifically been changed by a guy named Hank Paulson. He was secretary of Treasury. As chairman of Goldman Sachs, he had gone to Washington years before and asked for those changes. That made the banks not really investment banks, but made them hedge funds — and highly susceptible to changes in liquidity.
In addition, I think you really need to go back and make banks do what they do: Commercial banks lend money, and investment banks invest in entrepreneurs and to get away from this trading — you know, the hedge fund securitization, which they’ve all become basically trading operations and securitizations and not put capital back and really grow businesses and to grow the economy.
When you have this kind of crony capitalism, you have a different set of rules for the people that make the rules. It’s this partnership of big government and corporatists. I think it starts to fuel, particularly as you start to see negative job creation. If you go back, in fact, and look at the United States’ GDP, you look at a bunch of Europe. If you take out government spending, you know, we’ve had negative growth on a real basis for over a decade.
And that all trickles down to the man in the street. If you look at people’s lives, and particularly millennials, look at people under 30 — people under 30, there’s 50% really under employment of people in the United States, which is probably the most advanced economy in the West, and it gets worse in Europe.
On Islamism
But I strongly believe that whatever the causes of the current drive to the caliphate was — and we can debate them, and people can try to deconstruct them — we have to face a very unpleasant fact: And that unpleasant fact is that there is a major war brewing, a war that’s already global. It’s going global in scale, and today’s technology, today’s media, today’s access to weapons of mass destruction, it’s going to lead to a global conflict that I believe has to be confronted today.
On Putin
I’m not justifying Vladimir Putin and the kleptocracy that he represents, because he eventually is the state capitalist of kleptocracy. However, we the Judeo-Christian West really have to look at what he’s talking about as far as traditionalism goes — particularly the sense of where it supports the underpinnings of nationalism — and I happen to think that the individual sovereignty of a country is a good thing and a strong thing. I think strong countries and strong nationalist movements in countries make strong neighbors, and that is really the building blocks that built Western Europe and the United States, and I think it’s what can see us forward.
You know, Putin’s been quite an interesting character. He’s also very, very, very intelligent. I can see this in the United States where he’s playing very strongly to social conservatives about his message about more traditional values, so I think it’s something that we have to be very much on guard of. Because at the end of the day, I think that Putin and his cronies are really a kleptocracy, that are really an imperialist power that want to expand. However, I really believe that in this current environment, where you’re facing a potential new caliphate that is very aggressive that is really a situation — I’m not saying we can put it on a back burner — but I think we have to deal with first things first.
Saturday, November 12, 2016
The Real Problem with White America - Smug Liberals
There is a class of white people, they're in the top 5%. They've really no conception of what it's like to make a living with your hands. To farm, or to learn a trade, or to toil as a welder or a plumber.
For them, they've been comfortable their entire life. They've attended college, the nation's finest in many cases. That's fine, that's the American dream, and the value of the work they do with their brains is fantastic. It's important and it's valuable.
This isn't quite the top 1%, but it's the top 5%.
95% of Americans live in a quite different world. They strive to be in the top 5%, or to get their kids in it. They work hard, with their hands, or with multiple jobs, and they've been left behind by this awesome economy that has favored the 5%. This is not an 8 year phenomena, it's been going on for 25 years. There's plenty of people who have forgotten them, across both parties.
These people are not racists, sexists, homophobes. They voted for Obama - twice, and they have received few of the bounties of the last 8 years.
They're angry, and they vote, too, and they voted for Trump this time.
I am sick and tired of rich, white, suburbanites who have never known the indignity of an unemployment check whining about their racism, sexism, homophobia, Islamophobia.
Get out of your safe spaces and learn something about America.
For them, they've been comfortable their entire life. They've attended college, the nation's finest in many cases. That's fine, that's the American dream, and the value of the work they do with their brains is fantastic. It's important and it's valuable.
This isn't quite the top 1%, but it's the top 5%.
95% of Americans live in a quite different world. They strive to be in the top 5%, or to get their kids in it. They work hard, with their hands, or with multiple jobs, and they've been left behind by this awesome economy that has favored the 5%. This is not an 8 year phenomena, it's been going on for 25 years. There's plenty of people who have forgotten them, across both parties.
These people are not racists, sexists, homophobes. They voted for Obama - twice, and they have received few of the bounties of the last 8 years.
They're angry, and they vote, too, and they voted for Trump this time.
I am sick and tired of rich, white, suburbanites who have never known the indignity of an unemployment check whining about their racism, sexism, homophobia, Islamophobia.
Get out of your safe spaces and learn something about America.
My Agenda For Trump
Some things I am looking forward to with Trump and a GOP Congress:
Immediately:
- A return to regular order in the House and Senate
- Cancelling all of Obama's executive overreaches
- Supreme Court Judge Ted Cruz
- More Ships! Especially submarines
- Fracking expanded in states like Pennsylvania, Ohio, and New York.
- Tearing up the Iran "deal"
- Release of drilling on government owned land
- Opting out of the Climate "Deals" with China, and the Paris agreement
- Shifting $500M of PPfA money to real womens health organizations or eliminating it altogether
Longer Term:
- Ending Obamacare and actually getting affordable health care (like Trump, the 26 year olds on parents plans can stay, or maybe lower it to 24, and the pre-existing conditions clause needs to be worked out so that it's fair to people without driving costs through the roof - another debate, perhaps)
- Securing the border (with a physical wall, where appropriate), ending Visa Overstays, reforming the H1B scam program; then reforming the LEGAL immigration system, and return to a quota system, vice chain migration
- A defense build up that signals the Chinese, Russians, and Iranians that we're serious about ending their attempts at global/regional hegemony. Reaffirming our support for the one true western democracy in the Middle East and supporting reform efforts in egypt and Iraq and any other ME country that wants to secularize
- Mark Cuban going away
- Chelsea Clinton in the House (seriously, don't we always need a Clinton around to remind us of what real corruption looks like)
Tuesday, November 8, 2016
Dems to Their Angry Voters - Take This Establishment Hack and Like It
It's election day.
Voters are angry, and how angry they are will determine what happens today.
I would like my liberal friends (and enemies) to consider how each party treated their angry element.
The GOP listened (of a fashion) and allowed the angry partisans to coalesce behind the candidate who best diagnosed their problem, Donald Trump.
He's imperfect, but he has voiced the concerns of many in the GOP's orbit. The beast within the GOP is being fed.
In contrast, the Dems had Bernie Sanders with a very energized based, voicing many of the same concerns as the GOP's disaffected voters.
What did the Dems do?
As we've seen from Wikileaks, the Clinton machine put their finger on the scales and rigged (yes, rigged) the Dem primaries to ensure a Bernie loss. This time, Hillary would not be denied the nomination.
Then, they told those Bernie voters to get in line, and take this Establishment Hag and like it.
Basically, they gave them the finger.
The angry GOP voters are going to go for Trump.
Will they be enough.
Voters are angry, and how angry they are will determine what happens today.
I would like my liberal friends (and enemies) to consider how each party treated their angry element.
The GOP listened (of a fashion) and allowed the angry partisans to coalesce behind the candidate who best diagnosed their problem, Donald Trump.
He's imperfect, but he has voiced the concerns of many in the GOP's orbit. The beast within the GOP is being fed.
In contrast, the Dems had Bernie Sanders with a very energized based, voicing many of the same concerns as the GOP's disaffected voters.
What did the Dems do?
As we've seen from Wikileaks, the Clinton machine put their finger on the scales and rigged (yes, rigged) the Dem primaries to ensure a Bernie loss. This time, Hillary would not be denied the nomination.
Then, they told those Bernie voters to get in line, and take this Establishment Hag and like it.
Basically, they gave them the finger.
The angry GOP voters are going to go for Trump.
Will they be enough.
Sunday, October 30, 2016
Today's Anti-Hillary Roundup
Here are a few interesting anti-Hillary posts from this week:
First, from InfoWars:
Hillary Clinton is clearly trying to get her pal George Soros to rig this election. Via InfoWars:
The U.K.-based company Smartmatic has sent voting machines to important battleground states across the US including Colorado, Florida, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Virginia.
“Other jurisdictions affected are California, District of Columbia, Illinois, Louisiana, Missouri, New Jersey, Oregon, Washington and Wisconsin,” noted the Daily Caller.
“Smartmatic Chairman Mark Malloch-Brown is a former U.N. official and sits on the board of Soros’ Open Society Foundations.”
The discovery has caused concern among the US voting populace given Soros’ deep ties with Clinton.
While us bitter, partisan hacks are busy convincing Jim Comey to come join us and bring down the Hillary campaign by getting her emails onto a computer shared by serial sexter and overall creep Anthony Weiner and Hillary girl Friday Huma Abedin, Wikileaks has confirmed the ties shown in the Project Veritas videos between Clinton fixer, agitator, and convicted felon Bob Creamer and Clinton CAMPAIGN MANAGER Robby Mook ("Bob Creamer...is close to Robby Mook").
It is demonstrated that the Clinton campaign coordinated with the PAC being run by Creamer to stir up trouble at Trump rallies, and if you don't believe that, then YOU are a bitter, partisan hack, and not the disinterested moderate you purport to be.
Looks like Lux got his desire to get the netroots more involved.
While the Clintonistas were attacking Jim Comey for partisanship and attacking anyone who pointed out that there may be something actually here as Bitter Partisans™, the Washington Examiner dug up the Clinton's reaction to the 1992 revelation that Cap Weinberger would be indicted in the Iran-Contra scandal. Nothing like a little good old Liberal Hypocrisy™
================
Via Twitter, I found this Guardian (not typically a right-wing British newspaper) article on the rape allegations against Trump. Again, the Party of Morality™ sometimes throws these allegations out to counter the real allegations that Bill Clinton is a serial rapist.
Doing the work American reporters won't do, The Guardian provides some insight and actual investigating into the people behind the trump rape allegations. This reads like a parody, but it is really what is going on.
As I suspected, these are completely fabricated.
Anyone who pushes this nonsense to you, just say, "yeah, right."
First, from InfoWars:
Hillary Clinton is clearly trying to get her pal George Soros to rig this election. Via InfoWars:
The U.K.-based company Smartmatic has sent voting machines to important battleground states across the US including Colorado, Florida, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Virginia.
“Other jurisdictions affected are California, District of Columbia, Illinois, Louisiana, Missouri, New Jersey, Oregon, Washington and Wisconsin,” noted the Daily Caller.
“Smartmatic Chairman Mark Malloch-Brown is a former U.N. official and sits on the board of Soros’ Open Society Foundations.”
The discovery has caused concern among the US voting populace given Soros’ deep ties with Clinton.
=============
Next Up:
This week, Trump's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame was defaced by members of the Party of Tolerance™, then replaced. Then, the replacement was being "guarded" by a homeless black woman and Trump supporter, who was promptly attacked by more members of the Party of Tolerance™. All caught on You Tube.
I wonder what tolerant "moderates" and Hillary activists like Ralf Gomez think of this kind of activism? Pretty effective, eh? And I am sure so totally not coordinated by Bob Creamer or anyone like him...
================
Speaking of Bob Creamer,
While us bitter, partisan hacks are busy convincing Jim Comey to come join us and bring down the Hillary campaign by getting her emails onto a computer shared by serial sexter and overall creep Anthony Weiner and Hillary girl Friday Huma Abedin, Wikileaks has confirmed the ties shown in the Project Veritas videos between Clinton fixer, agitator, and convicted felon Bob Creamer and Clinton CAMPAIGN MANAGER Robby Mook ("Bob Creamer...is close to Robby Mook").
It is demonstrated that the Clinton campaign coordinated with the PAC being run by Creamer to stir up trouble at Trump rallies, and if you don't believe that, then YOU are a bitter, partisan hack, and not the disinterested moderate you purport to be.
Looks like Lux got his desire to get the netroots more involved.
===================
While the Clintonistas were attacking Jim Comey for partisanship and attacking anyone who pointed out that there may be something actually here as Bitter Partisans™, the Washington Examiner dug up the Clinton's reaction to the 1992 revelation that Cap Weinberger would be indicted in the Iran-Contra scandal. Nothing like a little good old Liberal Hypocrisy™
================
Via Twitter, I found this Guardian (not typically a right-wing British newspaper) article on the rape allegations against Trump. Again, the Party of Morality™ sometimes throws these allegations out to counter the real allegations that Bill Clinton is a serial rapist.
Doing the work American reporters won't do, The Guardian provides some insight and actual investigating into the people behind the trump rape allegations. This reads like a parody, but it is really what is going on.
As I suspected, these are completely fabricated.
Anyone who pushes this nonsense to you, just say, "yeah, right."
Saturday, October 29, 2016
The Trouble With Huma
The FBI Director dropped a bombshell yesterday that he was reopening the investigation into Hillary Clinton's emails based on new information from an "unrelated" investigation.
Later on Friday, we learned that "unrelated" investigation was the Anthony Weiner sexting scandal, in which Mr. Weiner was sexting an underage girl.
During the course of that investigation, the FBI took possession of several computers used in the Weiner household, among them one shared by Mr Weiner and his (now estranged) wife, Huma Abedin.
Herein the relation.
Huma happens to be Hillary's long term Girl Friday and potential Chief of Staff in a Hillary administration, so, it's kind of a big fvcking deal, as Joe Biden might say.
So, what happened here and what is the likely outcome?
We know the Clintonistas spent a lot of time traveling. That's Hillary's number one accomplishment as Secretary of State, so they were on mobile devices alot. So much so, that we know Hillary ran through 17 of these things (all of which have been destroyed, sadly), and we also know that Hillary was prone to ask her minions to "pls prt" when she wanted to read a particularly interesting email.
Huma testified that she would frequently send these to her personal email accounts for later printing, ostensibly when she was somewhere with a convenient printer hooked up. This is where she may find herself in some personal legal hot water with the investigators. I don't know the details of her "pls prt" testimony, but, we may find out that she misled the FBI over the depth and breadth of her emailing to private accounts. She may have even lied about the accounts.
Personally, I think Huma is in big trouble.
But, is Hillary in trouble, too?
That really depends on the nature of the emails and the trail back to Hillary. If it turns out that in this trove of emails there are emails that were work related and not turned over to the FBI, she can make the case that she turned over all known recoverable emails and that she had no knowledge of this Huma cache. I think both those are lies, but they probably couldn't lead to perjury charges against Hillary.
If it turns out there are classified emails, and that they passed through Hillary's hands, then she may not be in legal trouble due to Comey's previously established "intent" standard, but she would certainly be in deep political trouble.
If the emails contain evidence that the private server that Hillary maintained was clearly established to prevent future disclosure and harbored clearly classified email at some point, then she is guilty on the "intent" standard and on several other laws, including perjury.
What will the Hillary gang do about Huma?
She's problem number one, and she has a long history of, err, service, to Hillary. Will she fall on her sword for Hillary, or will they throw her overboard? And will all this happen before November 8th?
I feel sorry for Huma. She has had to work for an odious woman for many years, and maybe she and Hillary have the kind of special relationship that only they can share. She was forced into a sham marriage with an equally (ok, more) odious man, in Anthony Weiner.
If anyone has suffered for this, it is Huma.
I think her suffering may be in prison for a while.
Later on Friday, we learned that "unrelated" investigation was the Anthony Weiner sexting scandal, in which Mr. Weiner was sexting an underage girl.
During the course of that investigation, the FBI took possession of several computers used in the Weiner household, among them one shared by Mr Weiner and his (now estranged) wife, Huma Abedin.
Herein the relation.
Huma happens to be Hillary's long term Girl Friday and potential Chief of Staff in a Hillary administration, so, it's kind of a big fvcking deal, as Joe Biden might say.
So, what happened here and what is the likely outcome?
We know the Clintonistas spent a lot of time traveling. That's Hillary's number one accomplishment as Secretary of State, so they were on mobile devices alot. So much so, that we know Hillary ran through 17 of these things (all of which have been destroyed, sadly), and we also know that Hillary was prone to ask her minions to "pls prt" when she wanted to read a particularly interesting email.
Huma testified that she would frequently send these to her personal email accounts for later printing, ostensibly when she was somewhere with a convenient printer hooked up. This is where she may find herself in some personal legal hot water with the investigators. I don't know the details of her "pls prt" testimony, but, we may find out that she misled the FBI over the depth and breadth of her emailing to private accounts. She may have even lied about the accounts.
Personally, I think Huma is in big trouble.
But, is Hillary in trouble, too?
That really depends on the nature of the emails and the trail back to Hillary. If it turns out that in this trove of emails there are emails that were work related and not turned over to the FBI, she can make the case that she turned over all known recoverable emails and that she had no knowledge of this Huma cache. I think both those are lies, but they probably couldn't lead to perjury charges against Hillary.
If it turns out there are classified emails, and that they passed through Hillary's hands, then she may not be in legal trouble due to Comey's previously established "intent" standard, but she would certainly be in deep political trouble.
If the emails contain evidence that the private server that Hillary maintained was clearly established to prevent future disclosure and harbored clearly classified email at some point, then she is guilty on the "intent" standard and on several other laws, including perjury.
What will the Hillary gang do about Huma?
She's problem number one, and she has a long history of, err, service, to Hillary. Will she fall on her sword for Hillary, or will they throw her overboard? And will all this happen before November 8th?
I feel sorry for Huma. She has had to work for an odious woman for many years, and maybe she and Hillary have the kind of special relationship that only they can share. She was forced into a sham marriage with an equally (ok, more) odious man, in Anthony Weiner.
If anyone has suffered for this, it is Huma.
I think her suffering may be in prison for a while.
Saturday, October 22, 2016
Trump loves him some Russians!
The Left is trying to push it as Gospel Truth that Donald Trump is in the pockets of the Russians, and that he's really just a Russian proxy.
He has admittedly issued some friendly statements about Vlad Putin and the Russians, so it's worth considering.
Many of them cite Donald J Trump Jr's 2008 comments as quoted in this Washington Post article as some sort of proof:
Instead of following up on the potentially most damaging piece, the Post delves into some pretty insignificant areas:
He has admittedly issued some friendly statements about Vlad Putin and the Russians, so it's worth considering.
Many of them cite Donald J Trump Jr's 2008 comments as quoted in this Washington Post article as some sort of proof:
"Russians make up a pretty disproportionate cross-section of a lot of our assets. We see a lot of money pouring in from Russia.”Personally, if that were backed up by some actual reporting that would shed light on it, I would find it much more damning. As it is, it sounds like so much of Trumpland, bluster, probably for the specific audience.
Instead of following up on the potentially most damaging piece, the Post delves into some pretty insignificant areas:
- The Miss Universe Pageant being held in Moscow in 2013, where the Post alleges he "made millions." This would seem something they could actually prove, with an actual number
- Trump's team also attempted to sell condos in a Panama project to Russians. The horror! An international project looking for international investors!
- Trump sold a Palm Beach mansion he bought at auction for $41M for a tidy $54M profit to a Russian investor. Trump bought the home at auction 4 years earlier and he sold it before the 2008 crash, so it probably had achieved maximum value. I don't know what this is evidence of. But, whatever, the Post provides no additional info or context.
- While Trump has never built a hotel in Russia, the Post is quick to inform us it's "not for lack of trying."
So, this is it.
Like so many attacks on Trump, it's flimsy and held together by very thin threads.
It's just so much, nothingness.
I Voted Today
On the whole, the election comes down to two pretty despicable people. I know that Hillary Clinton, by her deeds is not qualified to be president. Do I really need to list them?
Her demeanor, as has been revealed in numerous books and articles over the years, and confirmed in the Wikileaks emails, confirms that she is entirely unsuited to be YOUR president, let alone mine.
She is ruled out.
The choice becomes Trump, or a protest of some kind, and while I have toyed with the protest, ultimately, this is a binary system, and you hold your nose and take the lesser of two evils, from a "person" perspective.
I am helped along in this decision by a couple of things:
I am helped along in this decision by a couple of things:
- I know that The Left, after settling on a candidate, through thick and thin, would do whatever is necessary to win the election. If they couldn't outright replace the candidate, they would obfuscate, lie, use the media, go on the attack against their opponent, make up stories out of whole cloth, just to win. They do not play fair. The people who could turn Mitt Romney into a man who literally gives people cancer, just don't give a crap about "the rules."
It's time we did the same thing, and a vote for Trump serves to tell The Left - "Go Screw Yourselves, we're done being your patsies." - The GOP and particularly, the #nevertrump crowd needs to hear a message that some on the right are sick and tired of The Left playing by their set of rules, while we try to play by rules of fairness. We're talking about the future of the country, which albeit will survive either one, but actual progress for our causes (at the national level, I agree) will be set back a generation by a Hillary victory.
- Enough of Trumpism intersects with my conservative/libertarian leanings to recognize that he is much closer to me than Hillary. My agenda has a far better chance of moving forward under President Trump, than President Hillary.
- With Trump, I am not assured of conservative judges, but I am assured of Liberal ones with Hillary. Another 4 years packing the federal bench with ideologue leftists will seriously set us back years. I won't live to see the correction.
I respect #nevertrumpers and their desire to retain some sense of moral clarity, but, let's not kid ourselves, politics is a dirty business, and that means it attracts people we might not consider pure of heart, or pure of ideology.
You may choose, and in choosing, consider the stakes and I think Victor Davis Hanson sums this up in his article for NR. I have listened to both sides, and ultimately, logic requires that I side with VDH and Peter Robinson and Larry Kudlow, not with Jonah Goldberg, Erick Erickson, and Bill Kristol, though I respect their choices to remain above Trumpism.
For me, the choice is really between Trump and Hillary, and that makes the choice for Trump the only logical one.
Monday, October 10, 2016
Hillary's Magic Court - F The Constitution
If you watched Debate #2, the most important question occurred near the end.
In response to what kind of justices would you appoint to the Supreme Court, Hillary Clinton had these wonderful insights for us:
We also know she'd love to get the 2nd Amendment reinterpreted to remove the individual right enshrined by Heller. Getting that 5th Liberal Justice and a case suitable enough, will get that done.
Trump is a crap shoot on the Court, and he's a horrible person. I get that.
Choose wisely.
In response to what kind of justices would you appoint to the Supreme Court, Hillary Clinton had these wonderful insights for us:
"I want to appoint Supreme Court justices who understand the way the world really works, who have real-life experience, who have not just been in a big law firm and maybe clerked for a judge and then gotten on the bench, but, you know, maybe they tried some more cases, they actually understand what people are up against."In other words, the judges will use as their basis for examining law "the way the world works." Or, more accurately the way Hillary Clinton and her friends on the Progressive Left think the world works.
"Because I think the current court has gone in the wrong direction. And so I would want to see the Supreme Court reverse Citizens United and get dark, unaccountable money out of our politics. Donald doesn’t agree with that."She wants to remove the right of people to freely assemble and gut the First Amendment. Citizens United was correctly decided and some may recall it was a case about a film that was about HILLARY CLINTON. Basically, this bitch wants to throw out the First Amendment due to spite.
"I would like the Supreme Court to understand that voting rights are still a big problem in many parts of our country, that we don’t always do everything we can to make it possible for people of color and older people and young people to be able to exercise their franchise."Voting Rights are NOT a big problem. States that have tough ID laws for voting have little fraud, and they all provide state-issued IDs for free, and in many cases, allow provisional ballots to be cast even to those without IDs. Fair elections without fraud are fundamental to the integrity of our system. Requiring voters to produce an ID that proves who they are is not too much to ask. But, it prevents voter fraud that Democrats like to practice, so it must be cast as racist and enshrined into law by Jurists in Robes, since no state legislature will allow such shenanigans.
"I want a Supreme Court that will stick with Roe v. Wade and a woman’s right to choose, and I want a Supreme Court that will stick with marriage equality."It's ok for a Liberal to have an abortion litmus test, but God forbid a conservative have one. If you get Hillary Clinton, you get abortion on demand. Forever. You'll also get further erosion in religious liberty. Liberals dream of the only day you get the chance to practice your religion as being Sunday between 9:30-11. They'll further gut the First Amendment to get it.
We also know she'd love to get the 2nd Amendment reinterpreted to remove the individual right enshrined by Heller. Getting that 5th Liberal Justice and a case suitable enough, will get that done.
Trump is a crap shoot on the Court, and he's a horrible person. I get that.
Choose wisely.
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