Yesterday proved to be a day of contrasts. Nancy Pelosi holding a press conference to announce her chosen impeachment team to the senate trial. Across the avenue at that very hour, there was President Trump signing the phase one China agreement surrounded by congressional members and business leaders.
The contrast was clear. One more example of why in 2020 you decide what country we will have going forward.
There is not much to add today to what we outlined yesterday except this. Pelosi had called the hearings “somber and prayerful.” At that document signing last evening, as she handed out signing pens, and people laughed and joked, then held the pens up to the cameras, it was anything but.
Then last night Lev Parnas, the businessman who was friends with Rudy Guiliani said the “President was fully aware of the effort.” Again we think he was, but in the end they (The Ukraine) did not know it, they got the funds and didn’t do what was being asked. That is not impeachable as I see it. There are actually people committing crimes that are getting away with it (See stories below on NY’s new bail policy) that we should worry about. By the way, when asked if he ever spoke to the President he said “no,” so another “he said” for the hearing.
We need to get this behind us. The country is on a roll and if people want change, the ballot box in November is the place to make it happen.
If congress concentrated on
With all this time consuming impeachment noise I suggest congress concentrate on their job. Like immigration, where we are working with Mexico and others better than Republicans and Democrats. Yes the issue has quieted down but here’s two examples of the time and effort ongoing in today’s WSJ. Imagine if congress did its job instead:
1. A federal judge in Maryland blocked Mr. Trump’s executive order giving state and local governments veto power over refugees. The judge said the order “flies in the face of clear congressional intent.”
2. The administration’s “safe third country” agreement with Guatemala is facing a court challenge. The ACLU argues that the U.S. asylum pacts with Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras violate federal law. The lead plaitiff is a gay man who says Guatamala turned him away after he was sent there by the U.S.
some news you may have missed
Michael Flynn, the former NSC Advisor, announced he now wants to withdraw his guilty plea. Flynn was the only Trump administration official to face criminal prosecution in special counsel Mueller’s investigation. He had plead guilty to a single charge of making a false statement to the FBI.
This comes two weeks before he is supposed to face sentencing and doesn’t come as a surprise to many. He switched attorneys about half a year ago and many felt he was set up by Comey and the FBI.
This will be an interesting watch.
Here’s one that got much coverage when the charge was made, but not so much now:
The government’s top border official emphatically refuted the claim that women were told to drink water out of toilets during the summer migrant surge, telling reporters on Tuesday that Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s misleading assertion was the result of a language barrier.
“It’s absolutely false. It didn’t happen,” said Mark Morgan, acting commissioner at Customs and Border Protection. “There was broken Spanish being spoken.”
The claim by Ms. Ocasio-Cortez was one of the more explosive of the summer immigration debate. She and other members of Congress had visited some of the border facilities in early June. As you recall there was over crowding as the President fought with congress to act.
The congress woman had said detainees insisted they were ordered by agents to drink from toilets. She called it “psychological warfare” against migrants, and it got much coverage.
Mr. Morgan said the lawmaker misunderstood the migrant women in the conversation. They were pointing not at the toilet specifically, but at an integrated toilet and drinking fountain system. Both facilities are combined into one unit, though the water is not shared.
“So when they were asked where do you get your water, they pointed over to where the combined toilet-water fountain was. They’re integrated in one modular unit but completely separate,” Mr. Morgan said. “Hence the narrative got out there we were forcing them to drink from toilets. Absolutely 100% false.”
You heard the charge back in June, but did you hear the result of the investigation?
Put this one in the absurd column. Not sure what is going on in Virginia but yesterday they voted, in both houses, to pass the Equal Rights Act (ERA). Now follow this:
They became the 38th state to ratify the measure, which in theory would be enough support to make the ERA the 28th amendment to the Constitution. Sounds like we have a new amendment right?
Well, The Justice Department says the ERA expired decades ago. When Congress first proposed it to the states in 1972, it set a seven-year deadline for ratification.
So the deadline passed forty-one years ago.
Now Virginia says that doesn’t matter. Okay, how about this:
Five states that ratified it in the 1970s have voted to revoke their approval. Does that count?
What is going on in Virginia? Forty-one years ago the Governor and House leader had just barely appeared in black face, and the Lt. Governor wasn’t accused of rape yet.
Speaking of 41 years ago, today marks that anniversary for another occasion that we are still paying the price for. The Shan of Iran fled Iran on this day in 1979 and Ayatollah Khomeini came into power. The world has been far less stable since.
what some polls are saying
Here’s some results from a Gallup Poll on self identification:
37% of Americans say they are conservative: 73% of Republicans, 30% of independents, 14% of Democrats, 41% of men and 33% of women.
35% of Americans say they are moderate: 21% of Republicans, 45% of independents, 36% of Democrats, 36% of men and 35% of women.
24% of Americans overall say they are liberal: 4% of Republicans, 21% of independents, 49% of Democrats, 20% of men and 28% of women.
What do you think a poll of the MSM would look like?
Here’s a look at some state data you may find interesting. It’s from Kristin Tate, a policy analyst for The Hill:
“The top 10 most popular governors in the country were Republicans, while eight of the 10 least popular were Democrats. Generally speaking, voters trust Republicans more than they trust Democrats to lead their states,” she said.
As to why, she said:
“The bottom line is that electing a Republican often means increased growth and lower unemployment. An even stronger rule bears out the opposite when Democrats control the governor’s mansion.”
She backs that up with this:
“The 23 states with the lowest unemployment, 17 had GOP governors at the helm. Among the 10 states with the strongest GDP growth, 8 had Republican governors. Democratic governors, Ms. Tate writes, were in charge of 8 out of the 10 states with the slowest growth.”
here’s a policy from one state
New York is a sanctuary state and then this year instituted a new no bail policy. Here are some stories in today’s newspaper on these policies:
1. Federal officials blamed Mayor de Blasio for a fatal sex attack on a 92-year-old Queens woman — saying his “sanctuary city” policy kept the accused killer from being held for deportation last year. ICE said it lodged a detainer request with the NYPD for Reeaz Khan, an illegal immigrant from Guyana, on Nov. 27 — the same day he was busted for allegedly attacking his dad during a fight in their South Richmond Hill home. They were denied.
“It was a deadly choice to release a man on an active ICE detainer back onto the streets after his first arrest included assault and weapon charges, and he now faces new charges, including murder,” said Thomas Decker, New York field-office director of enforcement and removal operations for US Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
2. A Brooklyn judge freed a man without bail following his arrest in a shooting that sparked a reprisal, which ended up wounding three innocent bystanders.
A Criminal Court Judge released Roberto Rivera after his arraignment — even though prosecutors wanted him held on $100,000 bail. Rivera, 26, had allegedly fired two rounds at a vehicle after a conversation with a man and a woman inside it. One of the bullets struck the woman.
A short time later, an unidentified man went to the scene of the shooting and opened fire, wounding three.
A law-enforcement source familiar with the investigation expressed outrage that Rivera was cut loose with no bail. The suspect is charged with attempted murder, attempted assault and two counts of criminal possession of a weapon.
3. A John Dillinger wannabe is on the loose thanks to lax bail laws that set him free despite his arrest for allegedly robbing four Chase branches in Manhattan.
Sprung on no bail, Gerod Woodberry promptly robbed a fifth Chase branch, law-enforcement sources reported.
Finally, in the talk about differences between the states. Here’s a study released yesterday on a New York and Florida comparison:
“New York’s state and local governments spend nearly twice as much to provide services as Florida — particularly on education and welfare — even though their populations are roughly the same, a new study claims.
New York governments spent $348 billion in 2017 compared with $177 billion for their government counterparts in Florida, the report by the libertarian Cato Institute found.
New York has about 20 million citizens. Florida has 21 million, having surpassed the Empire State in population several years ago.
The analysis, based on census data, said the two states spend roughly the same on services including transportation, police, fire, parks, sewers and trash management.
But New York spent $69 billion on K-12 schools in 2017, compared with Florida’s $28 billion. The states have about the same number of kids enrolled — 2.7 million in New York and 2.8 million in Florida, the report said.
New York also spent $71 billion on public welfare programs for the needy, compared with Florida’s $28 billion.
.Some of the numbers from the study have been disputed. A rep for Gov. Cuomo slammed the report as a ‘ginned-up study’.”
- Have a great day.