Issue Discussions

Yes, Nikki Haley is in.
If she runs a strong intelligent campaign she has a real shot of ending up as the VP candidate for anyone not named Trump.

Yes, Senator Diane Feinstein is out.
The California Democrats are going to have a donnybrook of a primary. With California’s system of the top two facing off in the general election, it could get even more interesting.

Yes, Donald Trump is running, but he is not gaining traction.
Yes, the more candidates in the race the better for him, as they will divide the “not Trump” vote.

No one I know is excited at the possibility of another Trump vs. Biden race. No one.

Trump may finally be seeing the light on early voting. Here’s his latest fund raising letter:
“The radical Democrats have used ballot harvesting to cancel out your vote and walk away with elections that they never should have won. But I’m doing something huge to fight back. Our presidential campaign will launch our own Ballot Harvesting Fund in the states where the Left has been cheating the system.
Please make a contribution to our brand new Ballot Harvesting Fund to harvest ballots in the states where we can, and beat the Democrats at their own game — for 1,500% impact.”

I wonder if Ronna McDaniel sees the light too? Here’s a little on ballot harvesting:
Twenty-five (25) states and Washington D.C. permit someone chosen by the voter to return a mail ballot in most cases.
Eleven (11) additional states allow only specified other people — for example, household members, caregivers, and family members to return ballots.
Only one state — Alabama — explicitly states that only the voter can return a ballot.

Yes, the budget deficit is real, and as rates rise it gets costly.
Interest payments are now the fastest-growing major expenditure in the federal budget.
The CBO predicts that interest rates will triple from $350 billion when the President came into office, to $1.1 trillion in eight years.
This fiscal year interest payments are running about $30 billion ahead of last year.
There are two reasons:
One: The debt is $4 trillion higher now.
Two: The Fed is raising interest rates to slow inflation, which means that when federal bonds come due, they have to be refinanced at higher rates.

The bottom line is more and more of your taxes go toward paying the interest on the debt. So, how do you propose and introduce more spending programs to make the debt and costs higher?

No, I don’t understand the silence on the balloon shootdowns anymore than anyone else. Why, and how is the MSM allowing the administration to get away with it?
They don’t know what they shot down the last three times? Really?
Would you believe a President could go ten days without saying anything?

Now the VP said this morning that the recent downing of a suspected Chinese spy balloon over U.S. waters shouldn’t have an impact on diplomatic relations between the two nations. 
Really, again? Why is that?

I Wonder Why We’re More Curious Than The Media.

If you think social security and medicare are fully funded, if you think the surpluses of the past were saved for any future shortfalls, and if you think one party is just mean and wants to take it away from seniors, well then I guess you believe in Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy, too.
Now, if you don’t believe in those mystical characters, but still believe the social security myths, consider yourself a charter member of the fool me all the time club.

For the record, the surplus was used to try and reduce annual deficit spending and support programs you didn’t vote for.
It’s your retirement dollars you say? The government spent it.
When does the system run out of funds?
Medicare’s trust fund runs out of money around 2028, and Social Security around 2034.
Then what?
Well, why don’t you ask the politicians who are telling you there is no issue?
I am curious about their answer.
Because what will happen is two things.
First, to assure no one loses benefits, they will raise the salary limits that they stop taking out the tax.
That means your payroll tax will be extended and your employer will pay more for every employee and the price of goods will rise.
Second, they will borrow more and begin passing an even larger debt to our kids and grandkids.

That debt will at some point become so large it will collapse of our system and nation.
You cannot borrow, never pay back, and survive as a nation. Ask Greece.

The fallacy of all this is the government insists they have to save for your retirement because they can’t trust individuals to do it on our own.
Once again we have to compensate for those not responsible enough to do the right thing.
You, who would do the right thing, shall get less to compensate for those who will not.
Punishment for the responsible.

I remind you, too, your employer matches the contribution you make. So from the first day you go to work almost 13% of your salary goes into the government’s hands – in your name supposedly.
Those of you happy with social security should know this:
If that money was invested as your 401K is, your retirement check would be four times the social security amount. Why can’t you have a 401K type program?
The government doesn’t want you to have options to invest with, they want the money to pay bills they created without funding.

Thus, not only did they spend your money, bankrupt the system, create future debt for your kids, but they short changed you too.

That doesn’t deter them, now they want to tell you someone wants to take it away from you, when they have stolen it from hour one of your first day of work.

Here’s some charts for you.
Think about what the President is saying and the compliant media is allowing as you view it.

Here’s the Medicare chart:

Now look at this and what we are passing on:

Finally, for those of you who do it right and prepare for retirement, remember this.
Because you prepared, you will pay double for Medicare than those who spent it all, prepared for nothing and are the same age.
You did it right?
Okay, then you win, by paying more because you saved. And the more you saved, the more you will pay because others didn’t.
If you ask me, we should be rewarding those who do it right and not penalizing them.
However:
As long as politicians can scare the people by saying their opponent wants to take away their money and people believe it, you lose.
The politicians in office the past 60 years have stolen your money, not anyone trying to fix a broken system.

That’s My Opinion.

I would like to close out this week with some thoughts on the State of The Union and decorum in our nation.

The shouting out of “liar” and other things during the address has certainly gotten media coverage, and shots of Rep. Greene standing and angrily shouting have been all over the news.
Coverage of that has not been an issue and the condemnation was earned.

However, it didn’t start there, and if you are condemning her, well I hope you found these other acts as offensive, because they preceded her and were at least equal to it.

Last year we had Rep. Boebert (Republican, Colorado) heckle the President about the U.S. service members killed during the chaotic military withdrawal from Afghanistan.
He was speaking about veterans exposed to “toxic burn pits,” and as he said that could cause cancer and might “put them in a flag-draped coffin,” she shouted: “You put 13 of them, in coffins” referring to the service members killed in the terrorist attack at Kabul airport.
She later was joined by the same Rep. Greene to shout “build the wall” as the President mentioned the border.

Deplorable actions by these two Republican congressional members for sure. However, it didn’t begin with them.

In the 2020 SOTU by President Trump, the House Speaker (Nancy Pelosi), made that disgusting act of tearing up the speech on camera for all the world to see as he finished the address.
In the same speech, the Speaker applauded the President mockingly with outstretched arms when he proposed rejecting the “politics of revenge” just days after his first impeachment.

This was THE SPEAKER of the House setting a tone and example. She didn’t get the condemnation she deserved for this. Leadership sets examples, and this was failed leadership.

In the same speech Reps. Tim Ryan, Rashida Tlaib and Bill Pascrell Jr. (all Democrats) walked out during the speech. At least 10 other House Democrats boycotted the address. (As many did the inauguration, you may recall).
Ms. Tlaib later described Mr. Trump’s speech as “beneath the dignity of the office.”
Decorum?

Back in 2009 when Rep. Joe Wilson (Republican), shouted “You lie” at Mr. Obama when the president said Obamacare coverage “would not apply to those who are here illegally,” there was great shock and condemnation that an elected official would do this.
Things quieted until 2020 and the hatred of Donald Trump brought whole new levels of disrespect.
In 2022 and 2023 we see a threat it could become normal.
It must not.
The partisanship of the speech is seeing viewers leave (down 15 million this year); let the marketplace decide.

At least Speaker McCarthy had the dignity to try and quiet his caucus and not mockingly clap or tear up the speech.

We must do better and our leaders must set the example. Hold them to it.

That’s It On The SOTU For Me –
Except for Social Security. More To Follow On That.

The news reporting on the SOTU was like we all thought.
Here’s the New York Times fact checker report:
 “The president’s speech contained no outright falsehoods, but at times omitted crucial context or exaggerated the facts.” 
That was the same for the left leaning media who thought the President hit a “home run.”

Here’s a report on the same speech from The Committee To Unleash Prosperity that represents another view:
No, Joe didn’t inherit an economy “in ruins.” The economy grew by almost 11% in the six months BEFORE Biden took office.
No, Joe hasn’t allowed more oil and gas development.  New drilling permits have fallen to their lowest level in 50 years.
No, the border isn’t under control. An all-time high, two million illegals last year entered – that we even know about.
No, Joe hasn’t “lowered gas prices.” They were $2.59 when he entered the office and now are $3.49 a gallon.
No, we are not making progress on the deficit. By the end of this year, Biden will have added well more than $5 trillion of deficit spending. 
No, Joe, inflation isn’t under control. The CPI was 1.4% in January 2021 and 6.5% in 2023. Inflation has run ahead of wages every month.

So, you decide what’s truth and where your sentiments are. Maybe that old Reagan question would be good to ask with a timeline revision.
Are you better off today than you were two years ago?

Just A Few Other Thoughts Today

It looks to me like the President is running for reelection. It looks like a crowded field on the Republican side.
Do you know when the last time was we had a rematch election with Republican and Democratic candidates?
The answer is 1956.
That’s a long time ago. It could happen, but I don’t think so.

We wrote of war creep a few weeks ago when allies agreed to send the tanks Ukraine wanted. Here’s another:
The U.K. is considering sending advanced jets to Ukraine and will begin training Ukrainian pilots in coming months.
After Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky made an emotional plea to the British Parliament for more military aid, U.K. officials said that Prime Minister Rishi Sunak had tasked his defense minister with analyzing which Jets Britain might send adding that no final decision had been made and that it could take a significant amount of time before pilots were fully trained.

In the state of the union the President made mention of controlling the border and illegal drugs like Fentanyl killing 80,000 of our citizens last year.
Well, here’s something we should all hear about from the media:
One single sector of the southern border saw more than 10,000 illegal drone incursions from Mexico last year, a senior Border Patrol agent told Congress. One sector!!
The next time they tell you how well they are doing stopping drugs and closing the border, remember that.

As for viewership of the SOTU there were 23 million viewers the other night versus 38 million last year.

Stay Updated.

There was a time I looked forward to the state of the union address. It was a chance to learn where our nation was, what threats were out there and where we stood.
Over the years that has changed to the point I don’t even want to watch it anymore.
Why?
It has become a campaign event. All staged. A political opportunity for the party in power to announce all these ideas and programs that they can’t pay for. To tell us how great they are, while half the House stands and cheers and the other half sits.
Though, even now that is changing.
The yelling out, once unthought of in the House is now common.
If the yelling “liar” last night offended you, I would agree.
I hope, too, you were offended when Nancy Pelosi ripped up the speech on live TV behind the President.
Both were equal signs of protocol decline.

So in the end, if you thought the President’s speech was great and the state of the union is going in the right direction, you will read that today in the NYT, Washington Post and hear it on MSNBC.
If you thought he painted a false picture, you will hear that loud and clear on the right leaning networks.

My opinion is this. Some of the best speech writers write the speeches. Some of the smartest researchers test the ideas and theme with voters. The speech is refined. The President gets to practice it over a long weekend. He has the microphone alone to deliver promises that people want to hear. There is no debate. TV shows are cheering party members. You get to bring emotional guests you can point to in the audience.
How does it not work for him then? Couldn’t we all deliver under those rules?

Here’s some proof of how these speeches have changed over the past 50 years in words.

In the end, what is the state of the union? Here again it’s what you believe. The President said that:
Inflation is down, gas prices are down and the debt was reduced from a year ago. All true.
But every one of those is up substantially from the day he took office.
So it’s what you believe and who listen to.

Remember You Can Fool Some Of The People All The Time.

I watched the reports as the balloon moved across the country and could tell by the comments that when it reached the Atlantic Ocean action would be taken against it. After it crossed the entire nation.
Then I thought what would any other President in my lifetime have done. With the possible exception of one, there is no question that the balloon would have been shot down upon entering our air space.
I know the administration will claim victory here, but allowing that balloon to fly over the mainland is no victory.
It was a disgrace.
As for the argument that falling debris could harm people, I have news for them. Alaska is U.S. territory. When that balloon crossed their air space it should have been taken down, not hidden from us.

Well, the Democratic National Committee went ahead and voted to make South Carolina the first primary for them in 2024.
Why?
Remember, it was S.C. that turned it all around for Joe Biden in 2020 after disasters in Iowa and N.H.
Since The President’s team pushed this change, it should be the real indicator that he is running for reelection.
Now this change is not going over well in Iowa and N.H. The latter actually has a state law that says they must be first in the nation.
This will be interesting to watch and will certainly hurt the President in both states. But he had to do it; he couldn’t face losing two early primaries again and not getting renominated.

On the other side, Nikki Haley is kicking off her bid by going to both states.

Meanwhile, the exodus (after two years) from the White House continues with economic adviser Brian Deese leaving his position later this month. There will be more; it’s normal at this juncture.

Here’s more proof that there is a real anger at Arizona Senator Sinema for deviating from the party line. You remember we told you a progressive congressional member has already announced he is running against her.
Add this:
A coalition of left-leaning activist groups, including local groups in Arizona, have filed a complaint with the Senate Ethics Committee accusing her of improperly using Senate staff for personal errands.

Speaking of early Senate activity, did you hear this?
Nancy Pelosi endorsed Adam Schiff in California’s Senate primary, on the condition that Sen. Feinstein does not run again. 
Now if she does, then Nancy said she is for Feinstein, but the 89 year old senator is in no condition to run.
This will be a fun one to watch as the field is already crowded.

If you’re worried about your gas stove, have no fear. Here is the reliable Senator Joe Manchin on the issue:
“I don’t like where I think they’re going with this,” he said. “I can tell you one thing: They’re not taking my gas stove out.”
You know Joe is a man of his word —- as long as he’s not the deciding word, of course.

The noise from the progressives on Rep. Omar being denied a seat on the Foreign Relations Committee was loud. Here’s Omar herself:
“I am Muslim. I am an immigrant and, interestingly, from Africa. Is anyone surprised that I’m being targeted? Is anyone surprised that I am somehow deemed unworthy to speak about American foreign policy?”
Oh, yours is racial?
Does that mean Schiff and Swalwell were justified then? He (Schiff) was standing next to you when you were speaking.
I guess none of the words you spouted had any bearing right?

Lastly, today I was reading a magazine this weekend (The American Legion), and they had an article entitled “Power Up.”
Two small boxes caught my eye. They said:
“1957, The last year the United States produced as much oil as it consumed until 2019.”
“2018, The year the United States passed Russia and Saudi Arabia as the world’s largest oil producer.”
It was a 50 year pursuit to become energy independent since the 1973 oil embargo.
We finally did it, and then what happened? Think Keystone and U.S. energy polices.

I’m going to leave that there. I think you know the answer.

Hope You Have A Great Week.

Slowly You See 2024 Unfolding

Yesterday it was Nikki Haley indicating she is in for the Republican Primary.
Today it’s former Maryland Governor Larry Hogan heading to New Hampshire.
Then you see the subtle and not so subtle shots that former President Trump and Governor Desantis are beginning to take.

So, we’re off, and the field on the Republican side is going to get big.
Advantage of a big field goes to Donald Trump. His loyal supporters in the party will stick with him. The bigger the field, the better chance for the former President.
The problem, of course, is that winning a Republican Primary means the General Election is less winnable, even against President Biden.

On the Democratic side the players are at the gate awaiting the President’s decision to run for reelection.
If he goes, that will shrink the field, though someone will challenge him.
If he bows out, the field widens and we will have two donnybrooks to look forward to.

In either case, we’re off. Buckle up and pay attention. We need to get this one right.

One issue front and center will be what the purpose of the meeting yesterday was about between the President and Speaker McCarthy. The national debt.
How do we go about getting it under control, or do we? More taxes? Less spending? Let’s hope the American people pay attention to this one. How we are passing this on to our kids is a real issue for me.
Plus, you are going to be surprised at the cost of the debt payment soon.

It won’t be just the Presidency either. Already, Rep. Ruben Gallego has his primary plan against Sen. Simema. The Senate will be up for grabs, which makes the top of each ticket that much more important.

It looks like Rep. Omar may be ousted from the foreign relationship committee after all. A Republican lawmaker abruptly switched course yesterday announcing that she will support the effort to remove her.
McCarthy argued that when Pelosi and team denied two Republicans last congress they denied them for “all committees.” Here they are not doing that, just one committee for Reps. Omar, Schiff and Swalwell.

Is it just me or has the MSM actually done more reporting on Rep. Santos (who should be removed from office) than they have on Hunter Bides’s laptop, which he now says is real?
Of course, Santos is a Republican. I wish they would cover the lies of Schiff, Swalwell and the ones the President has made, too. (If you don’t think the President has told an incredible number of lies, I suggest you google it. Go back to his days at Syracuse U., the driver of the truck that took his first wife’s life, the first husband of Jill and continue on from there.)

Here’s an interesting TV watch report from Nielsen Ratings.
Fox News Channel finished January by surpassing both CNN and MSNBC, airing 99 of the top 100 cable news telecasts for the entire month. 99 of the top 100 on one channel!
I think you will find this interesting too:
“Sunday Morning Futures With Maria Bartiromo” earned the top-rated spot across the board for the weekend, with an audience of 1.7 million viewers during the month. That is in contrast to CNN’s “Who’s Talking to Chris Wallace,” which averaged 365,000 viewers.

We’re Off on 2024.

Those among us using illegal drugs are supporting everything they say they are against. They do so having no clue they are a part of the problem.
You might think your little stash or snort is no big thing, but you are wrong. You are supporting a culture of illegal activity. You are funding all that illegal drug trade coming across the border.
You are allowing drugs to flourish in your neighborhood, state and nation. You are supporting its expansion, and you may take pride in that “you can control usage;” that does not mean the same for others.
Let me explain:
Here’s a report from the National Center For Drug Abuse Statistics:
80% – The percentage of prison inmates who abuse drugs or alcohol.
244K – The number of Americans sent to prison annually for drug related crimes.
Here’s a study from the State of Connecticut:
The State Department of Correction needs nearly $5 million to provide adequate health care in Connecticut’s prisons where 80 percent of inmates suffer from mental health or substance abuse issues that require treatment.
A state Sentencing Commission report, set to be released in March, shows that nearly 80 percent of Connecticut inmates have a mental health or substance abuse issue that requires treatment.

Substance abuse is behind so much of the crime we suffer today. One study linked 86% of murders to drug use.
Television, movies and lifestyles might portray drug abuse as fun and glamorous, but it is the opposite, and if you are supporting this illegal activity, you are part of the problem and need to look in the mirror.

Some News Headlines That Caught My Eye

This one needs no explanation.
The government doled out nearly 100,000 pandemic loans to people whose applications were filed using suspect Social Security numbers, government investigators revealed Monday. The suspicious applications were awarded $5.4 billion from the Small Business Administration.

The President now says he will end the Covid program on May 11th.
It should be over already, and people should be paying their own way and their own loans. Enough already.

A third Republican has announced she will not support keeping Rep. Omar off the Foreign Relationship Committee. I still think that should be the case. You can’t deny people for their views. Each party decides who represents them.
Now Schiff and Swalwell are different. They lied about the intelligence and have forfeited their right to sit on that committee. They mislead America and cost us millions of dollars and pain to go with it.
In fact, former Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, wrote this:
He held back sensitive information from Rep. Schiff out of concerns it would leak to persons who shouldn’t receive it. “When we provided information to him and to his staff, it ended up in places it shouldn’t have been with alarming regularity,” Mr. Pompeo explained. “In the end, I decided, I held back information from them as a result.”

Ronna McDaniel was re-elected as chair of the Republican National Committee.  Someone tell me what she did to earn a fourth term.

Remember all the talk of the new voting laws in Georgia and how they were designed to suppress the vote? Remember Major League Baseball moving its all star game?
Well, the results are in:
2022 saw the highest-ever turnout for a midterm election in Georgia’s history. A new University of Georgia survey of Georgia voters found ZERO percent of black respondents said their voting experience in Georgia was poor in 2022.
Remember when President Biden gave that speech in Georgia in which he said that segregationists were using “election subversion” to implement “Jim Crow 2.0” using a new election law.?
He and those who tried to use race as an issue were wrong. Will the media tell you?

Just Another Day Of Noise.

I watched and followed all the stories about the Memphis Police Murder this weekend. The five officers deserve the charges and removal from their positions. It certainly appears like they committed murder.
So, we’re all on the same page; now the questions:
At first glance my reaction was this was absolutely poor training. How could these officers act like this if they were adequately trained?
Followed by, where was their leadership? Someone with experience to stop the madness?
A few things seemed clear to me:
These officers failed.
The leadership of the Memphis Police failed.
The political leaders of Memphis failed.
A young man is dead, a family heartbroken, and now more pain is ahead for the families of the officers.
What else do we know?

Well, we hear the term Scorpion to describe their unit. Do you know what that stands for?
Street Crimes Operation to Restore Peace in Our Neighborhoods.
It was formed in 2021 to crack down on violent crime in Memphis which had gotten so bad.
With the public outcry about crime, the action was taken to create a special unit to combat it in key areas.
The idea seems sound, but the leadership of Memphis failed.
They failed to train the officers correctly.
They lowered the police standards to hire recruits because no one wants the job anymore.
Then they staffed it with inexperienced officers (some only two years on the job).
They failed to monitor the team despite warnings.

Memphis leadership in elected offices and police leadership failed here.
Their failure has a citizen beaten to death in the street, at least five young men they hired to bring order facing life in jail, a unit designed to protect vulnerable citizens disbanded, and more mayhem ahead.
More than those five officers must be held accountable.

In addition, consider this.
All weekend all we heard about was this one death. There are over 400 homicides in the nation in an average week. Don’t those lives matter?
How come only a police death is important to the media? How about the police officers who are killed. There were over 60 of them last year. Don’t they count?

The media needs to tell the whole story and not just when police go astray. Everyone must be accountable for their actions.

That’s My View.

More and More – The Friday News

It seems more and more that news is held to break late Friday just because the weekend news cycle means less coverage.
It actually behooves the interested and concerned citizen to pay more attention.
There are at least three news stories breaking this Friday afternoon into the evening:
1. For some reason the Memphis police have decided to release their video of the five officers that they arrested for second degree murder until late Friday.
I don’t see how that’s a good idea with the weekend ahead, but we’ll see.
2. The San Francisco Police are going to release the body cam of the Paul Pelosi incident this afternoon, too.
That seems like a better idea to try and keep coverage low. They don’t want coverage of this.
By the way, all the daily news blogs this AM from Politico, Punchbowl, Axios and The Free Press never mentioned this in their morning editions today. They already have low coverage!
3. Then, the RNC is having its vote to choose their new leader today. I’m sure when they planned this meeting last year they had not idea it would be such a contentious choice.

Lot’s of news tonight. You may want to stay tuned on Friday nights now.

From The Committee To Unleash Prosperity

We have long talked about social security and how the system does not do you justice for retirement.
Here’s a view from “The Committee to Unleash Prosperity” that they published last night:

Welcome To America’s Greatest Ponzi Scheme: Social Security
You don’t have to believe us, here’s how the Congressional Budget put it:

Without legislative action, CBO estimates that benefits would be automatically cut by 23 percent across the board upon insolvency.
We’ve pointed out many times that if Congress had simply allowed baby boomers the option of putting 10% of their paychecks into a 401k plan, they’d receive benefits almost twice as high as Social Security promises.  Now they aren’t even going to get that. Now the CBO report confirms today’s young workers will get screwed even worse. 
Bernie Madoff and crypto thief Samuel Bankman-Fried were pikers compared to Congress. Someone, please explain how a Ponzi scheme like this is a “success.” 

Think about what they said here. Your return is way below what it would be if they truly created a retirement program for the individual.
Second, the Congressional Budget Office says the system is going bankrupt.
Why?
Simply because they used the social security money to get the annual budget more in balance and did not save it to pay for the retirement fund. Digest that for a second. They spent it on programs today.
It was your retirement funds that they took out of your pay – AND – had your employer match the 6.25% tax.
That is/was 13% of your salary going into YOUR RETIREMENT that they spent on programs they wanted.
Our leaders failed us, and every time someone says we need to fix the system the left runs out and says we want to take people’s social security away. The media covers them as if they are telling the truth.
In the end our children and grandchildren will have a bankrupt system – soon, too – as we once again lived for today and failed to protect tomorrow.

I’m Going To Leave That Here For All To Think About.

News That Raised Questions For Me – Really

Gasoline prices are rising again (40 cents over the past month). So the administration kept touting they brought prices down “over last year,” do they now own this rise?
Plus, the prices since they took office are up over 50%. Do they own that?
Really, it seems they only own when there is a drop from the record heights they took it to.

Really, this is what Meta (Facebook) is now saying as they reinstate Donald Trump?
“The public should be able to hear what their politicians are saying — the good, the bad and the ugly — so that they can make informed choices at the ballot box.” 
What, now? Really? After what you, Twitter and others did to influence an election, you say this?
How do we suspend you for hiding the truth about the laptop and the false Russian Collusion stories?

Really, the President said House Republicans are “fiscally demented?”
Wait, the national debt went up by 4.3 trillion in his first two years in office. That’s almost 14% of the total debt for our entire history. Why are Republicans demented for saying we have to get the deficit under control?

I am watching Democratic leaders, including the President, chastise those discussing the debt and saying we need to get control. Of course, it was “they want to cut your social security and medicare.”
I think it’s time for Republican leaders to go before the cameras and say “we are trying to save a system that will go bankrupt according to government regulators. If you allow them to hide the facts, when the system goes under; remember it was them who said it wasn’t an issue.”
Folks, if we don’t solve the spending and allow personal greed to rule the day, the entire economic system of the nation is going to decline. Just check history and why others who led the world failed.

Really, we’ve written here we don’t understand why we are not going hybrid with cars before we go full electric. Well Toyota and Hyundai made the bet that was the direction, and you can buy cars from them that get over 50 miles per gallon.
But now with administration mandate of all electric, they have stopped investing in them.
Here’s an offshoot:
Toyota CEO Akio Toyoda, of Toyota’s founding family, is stepping down as chief of the world’s largest automaker.  He had approached the industry’s rapid embrace of electric vehicles with trepidation.

Really, there are numerous stories that Speaker McCarthy and House Minority Leader Jeffries are getting along and sharing things with each other.
Imagine that, leaders may be working together for the greater good of the nation and its citizens.
Where have you gone, Nancy Pelosi?

Speaking of McCarthy, he has received full support from his party to deny Reps. Schiff and Swalwell seats on the intelligence committee, but is getting pushback from the same for denying Rep. Omar her seat.
We agree with the pushback.
They denied two, just even the score and hope it goes away. Don’t escalate.
By the way, Schiff announced today that he is running for Senator in California.

Really, Donald Trump’s polls are up as the document scandal widens. What a side effect that is.
Meanwhile, his former Chief of Staff General Kelly, said this about the former President:
“He has this thing that he knows more than the generals, the economists, the geologists. He is incapable of saying, ‘I don’t know anything; I need some advice.'”

More Tomorrow.

Really, Mike Pence too? Now we know there is a problem with the system and control. We need a commission or a czar in place right now to get control of secret and top level documents. As disturbing as this all is, how could no one know so many documents are missing? The library knows the day after your book is overdue. Maybe they should hire one of those strict librarians with a ruler to assure everything is returned.

I don’t want to hear anymore the defense of President Biden’s documents that “Donald Trump ….” Stop. Wrong is wrong. The law is the law. They are both wrong. Trump does not justify Biden or vice a versa. You break the law, you own the crime.

But don’t worry, we convicted four more people this week for Jan. 6th, 2020 activity. All is under control.
Of course, because this was in Washington and the home of congress, it matters. You know that other group, who are really not a group, called Antifa? Well, in the last week they had riots in Boston and Atlanta. If we had a fair press they would tell you a little about the rioters.
Here’s an example:
The number three Democrat in the House now is Minority Whip Katherine Clark. Her son was arrested and charged with assaulting a police officer and other crimes. Now don’t you think assaulting a police officer by such a high profile person should be news? Did you hear it?
Would you have if it were McCarthy or Scalise’s kid?

Here’s another one of the be careful what you do because when you lose power it could come back to bite.
In the last Congress, Nancy Pelosi denied two Republicans seats on committees. It broke a precedent where party leaders were allowed to name their respective reps. The press praised the action, after all Paul Goser and Marjorie Greene were bad.
Well, yesterday, McCarthy paid back the favor. Adam Schiff and Eric Swalwell were denied seats on the House Intelligence committee, Rep. Schiff for lying about Russian Collusion and Swalwell for dating a Chinese Spy.
For good measure Rep. Omar was denied a seat on the foreign relations committee for her spoken words and views on Isreal.
For me, I wish it would have ended with Schiff and Swalwell and we would be even with no more in the future. I am afraid we are escalating things now, but I don’t feel sorry for Schiff or Swalwell.

Did you follow the story of Hunter Biden going to court to fight his four year old daughter born from an affair with a stripper, from using his last name? He and the child’s mother are in court. The mother said the name is a benefit for the child. Hunter said it will harm the child.
You know what harms children? Parents not taking responsibility for their actions. Everything you do has consequences, and Hunter, you did the deed, the child is yours. She has the right to her name even if you and your dad try to deny her existence.
Where’s the coverage of this?

How about NYC Mayor Adams going to the border and saying something must be done. He further said “his city has no more room to house asylum seekers.” Oh, I see, now that it reached you in a limited matter it counts. You were a “proud” sanctuary city when it was Texas, Florida and Arizona with an issue. A few buses and the world looks different?

And On We Go.

Today A Lot Like Yesterday

Almost as soon as the classifed documents were identified ,the spin began on why this was different than with Donald Trump.
There were “only a few,” they said.
It was “locked in a closet.”
He “didn’t know they were there.”
And the capper for me, “Biden tells the truth, Trump was a liar.”
All wrong.
As we said yesterday, if one was wrong they are both wrong, and they both are.
The number doesn’t matter, one is illegal, so a “small number” like ten is no different than fifty.
One is the magic number.
The President denying he knew they were there is even more dangerous. If he didn’t place the documents in his office closet, who did?
He said he “doesn’t know” what the documents are, his lawyers told him not to ask. What?
You are the President of the United States, you understand that? You better know about top secret documents out in the open.
As for one tells the truth and the other lies, that’s a lie. Trump had a problem with enhancing stories of himself, Biden has an outright problem with the truth.

And what’s with legal authorities?
The documents come to light a week before the midterms and after all the hoopla over Trump’s documents at Mar a Lago, and we are not told? Why? It certainly would have made for some interesting dialogue.
Before the 2020 election the FBI mislead us and social media on the authenticity of the Hunter Biden laptop by allowing lies to be told and even supporting them.
Then we had the whole two and a half year false Russian Collusion narrative.
Since when does the FBI take sides?

Speaking of the President, yesterday he was in Mexico for a North America Conference. Let me understand this now. The top six take aways are climate and economic equality?
Where was Fentanyl, the scourge that has taken hundreds of thousands of our citizens? That’s not important?
Where was the border crisis and help? Instead he takes praise for “not building one meter of wall.”
If you’re satisfied with that, you are far to the left of this writer.

They Used To Call This War Creep

A story that hasn’t got much attention, but is certainly a step forward in U.S. involvement in the Russian/Uklraine war:
The Pentagon is planning to bring Ukrainian troops into the United States for training on the Patriot missile defense system, U.S. officials said Tuesday, signaling the White House’s latest test of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s threshold for Western intervention in the conflict.
Every involvement post WWII started with small steps.

Onto Another Day.

The new congress kept its first promise, which was to eliminate 87,000 new IRS agents. Yesterday they voted along party lines to do just that.
Except they will not be eliminated because the Democratic leadership in the Senate will not bring the retraction to a vote. So, the argument about the $1.7 trillion dollar bill passed on the last day of the 117th congress will prevail. With the new 72 hour wait rule the bill would not have passed.
Now, if you think 87,000 new IRS agents is not a good idea, remember this, your vote counts. America voted on leaders and a party that thinks this is a good idea. Did you vote for that?

Then the new speaker announced last night that he will proceed with plans to oust Reps.Adam Schiff and Eric Swalwell from the Intel Committee and remove Rep. Ilhan Omar from the Foreign Affairs panel.
Now if anyone cries foul, my question is, did you cry foul when Nancy Pelosi kept people off committees? If you did, I will listen, if not, your bias is showing.

Wait, Now They Found What? Where?

They found classified documents in President Biden’s former office? Wasn’t it the President who said about finding the documents in Trump’s possession “how could that have possibly happened?”
If you justify either one as okay, then you are showing prejudice. It was wrong for Trump and it is wrong for Biden.
Let’s see now what politicians say. Remember Hillary and Nancy Pelosi were both clear on the Trump finding that “no one is above the law.” I assume Joe Biden is someone.

Some News – Did You Know That…

That, Senator Ben Sasse of Oklahoma resigned this week? He is going on to become President of Florida University. The Senate is now 51-48 Democratic, though the Governor will appoint a Republican to replace him.

That Florida Democratic Party Chair, Manny Diaz, announced his resignation Monday?  He was under pressure to step down after the party collapsed in the State in the midterms. In his resignation letter, Diaz held firm in his contention that Florida hasn’t turned fully red.

That Donald Trump will be back in the news today as former Trump Organization finance chief, Allen Weisselberg, will be sentenced for tax convictions committed while at the firm?

That Detroit school leaders decided to remove former HUD Secretary Ben Carson’s name from a high school science center named after him? Carson, of course, is one of the top brain surgeons in the world and a minority. Yet, the woke leaders decided he was not a good model.
Meanwhile, the Detroit school system is one of the worst performing in the nation. Only one in six middle school students in the School System tested at or above the proficient level for reading.

That a bipartisan Senate group is visiting the border today to gather facts? They are going a few places including El Paso. Wonder what they find and see versus what the President did this weekend. He saw no illegal crosses, a clean El Paso and a firm border wall. Let’s see what the senators see today.

This from The Committee To Unleash Prosperity. For the year the CPI finished above 7%, which translated into the biggest annual rise in prices in some four decades.  With wages only up 5%, this meant that family incomes fell by more than $4,000 in purchasing power. 
I think we all recognized this every time we shop, yet we reelected the same people for the most part? Why? Was the abortion issue really more important than anything else?

Let’s See What Comes Out Of Congress Today.

Is This Any Way To Pick A Leader?

There are two schools of thought when it comes to the demonstration we saw on the house floor last week.
The first is, you go behind closed doors and choose your leader.
By the time it comes to the floor vote you’ve made your choice. Then you vote a party line.
The second is, democracy is an open forum and you’re supposed to bang heads, discuss issues and disagree.
So what was last week?
A combination of both.
One of the Rebel Twenty (Andy Biggs) ran against Speaker McCarthy in the Republican closed door meeting and lost 133-81.
That didn’t settle it for the twenty who decided to buck the party. They decided to go to the floor to demand changes they wanted.

A few years ago the newly elected Democratic “Squad Members” made public statements that it was time for a “generational change” in the Democratic Party leadership team. They wanted Pelosi, Hoyer and team replaced.
Behind closed doors they were defeated and came out and voted for Pelosi to stay, with the promise she would leave the post in four years.
The Republican Twenty, part of the “Freedom Caucus,” decided they wanted a different tact.

The question is this.
Do you prefer straight party endorsement like we have had, or open fights over the issues?
One issue I like that they fought for was a guaranteed 72 hours before any vote by congressional members to pass a bill. Shouldn’t they know what they are voting for?
The $1.7 trillion bill passed a few weeks ago was available for 24 hours. No one read it or knew all that was in it.

One thing that I think is way too open for any fringe or egoistical member to use is the single (one) person ability to recall the speaker.
What is the purpose of that?
So now any Andy Biggs or AOC can see something in some bill they don’t like and demand the speaker be removed. You know what that means? We would be back to last week where the whole house has to vote again. Do we think any Democrat will break ranks? They’ve been successful in passing their programs by voting as one. Thus, we are back to the fiasco we witnessed?
That is as poor an idea as I could conceive. It lends itself to chaos.

So opening the bills for review, making debate real, demanding we pay attention to the deficit is all positive to me. Impeaching the speaker because 1 of 435 members has a motive is incomprehensible.

Was it all an embarrassment? Parts of the personalization of personalities was, but the debate and issues itself were not. It was democracy, American Democracy.
If you don’t think that’s true, then try it in Russia, China, Iran and elsewhere in the world. In those places if you are on the National Soccer Team and don’t sing the Athem before a game you are subject to death.

Stay tuned because congress isn’t done yet.

As we promised, we have limited updates this holiday period and this may well be the last we’ll send for the year. Thus, allow us to wish you and yours the very best of the holiday season and the most joyous and healthy of new years in 2023.

Trump

Let’s start with Donald Trump, who managed to dominate the news despite being out of office, even if it was for all the wrong reasons.
The latest was his “major announcement” proclamation.
Amid all the anticipation of what it might be, he announces Superhero Trade Cards about his life.
An ego still out of control.
Then, the Jan. 6th committee announces they recommend charges against him and his attorney.
Add this to all the other legal woes he faces.
Later this week the House Finance Committee is expected to get the Trump tax info out into the public domain once it votes. Watch that uproar and coverage, because there is news there.
.Did anyone ever start a Presidential campaign with so many missteps?
The only one in recent memory I can think of was Gary Hart.
He openly challenged the press to follow him if they didn’t believe he was not engaging in an extra marital affair.
The press did follow him, and he was having an affair. They caught him on a boat named “Monkey Business.”
End of campaign.
I think Trump’s campaign is stuttering so bad that it is on life support now.

Then There’s The Current President

Let’s go to President Biden who survives because of a supportive press.
He continues to tell story after story that upon investigation are proven untrue.
The latest is about his Uncle Frank who was wounded in the Battle of The Bulge and refused a Purple Heart.
He said when he became VP in 2008 his Dad asked him to correct it and he gave the medal to his Uncle.
Great story.
Except his Uncle died 9 years before he became VP, and his Dad died in 2002, six years before.
How do you get away with it?
Just assure your friends in the press laugh and don’t tell anyone.

Samuel Bankman- Fried

Then there’s the FTX scandal and the missing billions.
We’ve been assured that the securities oversight committee will lead the investigation.
Who heads that committee today?
Maxine Waters, the same congressional person who threw a kiss at Sam Bankman-Fried after his last visit to congress.
Her quote:
“Rest assured that this committee will not rest until we have fully investigated all the crimes FTX has committed.”
Oh, okay. The last time I felt this assured OJ said he was going to look for the real killer.

You Can Fool Some Of The People….

The administration has been touting loud and often that gasoline prices are now cheaper than they were a year ago.
The networks reported it, and many citizens were praising the administration.
Wait a minute, the price today is still a dollar above the day Biden took office.
Since when was that good news? When you can fool some of people all the time.

Wait, This Is How It Is Supposed To Work

The President signed the Respect for Marriage Act, which assured federal recognition of same-sex marriage.
It was a reaffirmation of the Supreme Court ruling but “protection for the future.”
He said:
“This law and the love it defends strike a blow against hate in all its forms … And that’s why this law matters to every single American.”
Well, here’s some news for him and the senators.
That’s the way the court is supposed to work. You, the legislative branch, make the law, the Court upholds it. That simple.
It’s only in recent times we’ve gone to the court to make law.
So thank you for doing your job as it was intended.

Oh, She Has Credibility

Now let’s talk American Federation of Teachers Randi Weingarten and her comments.
Her remarks to the President: “What you have done for American education…has been more than any president – even FDR.” 
Okay, then explain this:
“Math and reading scores for 9-year-olds in the US fell between 2020 and 2022 by a level not seen in decades, a foreboding sign of the state of American education two years after the Covid-19 pandemic began.”
Would we accept that as great if Trump were President?
I wouldn’t with kids that age, and you shouldn’t, no matter who is President.

How Not To Run A Party – If You Want To Win

Does any party know how to shoot themselves better than the Republicans?
With a four vote majority in the House, five members have said they will not vote for Kevin McCarthy as speaker. One of the five ran against him in their caucus and got wiped out. But no change in their stance.
Now 54 Republican Congressional members are saying they are for McCarthy and will never vote for anyone else.
If you can’t manage the one house you have, how can you manage the nation?

Here’s Wishing You All A Happy Holiday and New Year.

The mid terms ended with the Georgia run off and it put an exclamation point on the voting and a few messages:
– It’s not in your interest to be an election denier without provable evidence.
– The former President may hold sway with some primary voters, but that is bad politics for a general election.
– No one lost more with the candidates he selected and the results that occurred than Donald Trump.
– If you think Donald Trump and his chosen candidates were not the issue, consider this in Georgia.
Walker was the only statewide Republican candidate who lost. The GOP swept every other office — from governor to state insurance commissioner.
– There are four congressional seats that sit between four more years of the current policies and a check.
The 2024 election has already kicked off.
Both sides need to think about the candidates they want to back if they want to win.

Meanwhile, the jury in NY found Trump Organization guilty in an off the books compensation scheme to pay some executives in car leases, apartments and cash and avoid taxes. The fine is not a large one ($1.6 million) for the corporation, but the conviction is.
Now this is before the House got hold of the taxes that the former President would never release, so buckle up for that.
Don’t forget the other cases pending against the former President and his companies.
Oh yea, the head of the January 6th panel said his committee plans to recommend charges. He did not say against whom, but you may have an idea.

Speaking of convictions, there wasn’t much coverage but did you see or hear that Michael Avenatti was sentenced to jail on another charge for 14 years? He was sentenced for embezzling millions of dollars from four of his clients and ordered to pay nearly $11 million in restitution.
Proving again that you need to be careful in picking your heroes.

Some Follow Up From Earlier Stories

Yesterday I outlined the story about the FBI and its involvement in the hiding of the Hunter Biden Laptop story and content release. Well, later in the day Elon Musk fired the company’s general counsel (Jim Baker) for his role in covering up some of the material Twitter was releasing on why it banned the story.
Now Baker was the FBI’s general counsel and had played a role there in spreading the false Steele Dossier and a long connection to FBI and Trump stories.
Musk said this about the dismissal:
“In light of concerns about Baker’s possible role in suppression of information important to the public dialogue, he was exited from Twitter today.”
Now let’s be clear, not everyone at the FBI is the problem, but there is an issue at the top levels with some that appears to need immediate cleaning.

In a second follow up, Iranian leadership last night issued statements that they have not relaxed any face covering rules for woman. They called the reports “fake and misleading news” to say they did.

Remember we mentioned the plan for the Democrats to change the primary season states? Well New Hampshire, as reported, has a law they must be the first primary in the nation. (Iowa is a caucus for that reason.) Yesterday the Governor of N.H. said this about the Democratic request to change their law:
“An absolute joke.”

A Sign Of The Times

Not sure this story has been widely distributed but it is a sign of the time we are living in:
Fans of the iconic Disney theme park ride Splash Mountain have a little over a month to take one last ride.
Why?
Disney will close Splash Mountain permanently on January 23 because the company says it promotes “racial stereotypes.”
What and how you may be asking. Me too. Here’s what they said:
The ride, which opened in 1989, is based on the 1946 Disney film “Song of the South.” The film has fallen out of favor in recent years because, critics say, it offers a racially insensitive depiction of Reconstruction in the American South just after the end of the Civil War.

And That’s The World We Live In Today.

The Hunter Biden Laptop And The FBI

If I have this right ,and it turns out to be true, then we have some real issues that the entire nation better wake up to.
The story is that the FBI had Hunter Biden’s laptop for over a year before it became public knowledge in October 2020.
Let’s digest that for a second.
The FBI had the laptop and knew all that was on there.
We know about the illegal drugs, photo’s, hookers and other stuff. Get past that, that was Hunter’s life.
The real issue is that there are the notes and messages that clearly indicate the President knew the foreign activity his son and brother were doing and was assisting and profiting from it.
Knowledge he denied knowing in interviews and at the 2020 presidential debate.
In fact, he called it Russian interference.

Over time we have learned the FBI did not disclose anything because they didn’t want to influence an election, feeling that Jim Comey may have influenced the one in 2016.

I guess you can argue that is righteous, though I would argue the possible influence on our President should be known. After all, we did go through four years of Russian Collusion and the charge that the former President was compromised. All of which proved untrue.
Add that the FBI, in pushing the false Steele Dossier, actually abetted the false charge and I would think that is taking a side.

Anyway, back to the current situation.
The FBI had the laptop for a year, knew of its content, allowed that phony letter from former CIA experts to say it was probably Russian disinformation and said nothing.
Except they did.

Now we learn the FBI alerted social media, like Twitter, that an October misinformation surprise was coming and would likely involve Biden’s son.
Stop and think about that for a second.

Now, how did they know it would be coming out?
Well, they were conducting surveillance on Rudy Guilani and, as you know, the store technician called him to give him a copy of the laptop because he was so afraid of the content and the FBI was doing nothing.

Knowing this the FBI informed social media heads of a likely misinformation campaign about to hit.
Except, it wasn’t misinformation. The laptop was real.

That is unacceptable and if factual then heads must roll at the FBI immediately.
To me, as I study this, that is what happened.

The next time someone mentions a threat to Democracy, you can tell them that there sure is. It is right before their eyes, they just don’t see it.

Think About This And What It Means If Proven.

NBC reported that Georgia has set new records for early voting ahead of Tuesday. More than 1.85 million have voted early. And the contest is drawing new voters. At least 76,000 Georgians who didn’t turn out in the Nov. 8 general election have voted early.
Wait, I thought you said that the new laws were designed to inhibit voting. Ready to admit you were wrong?

Senator Ernst of Iowa reacted to the Democrats changing their primary season and eliminating her home state:  “We have seen a number of pushes in the past to change this, I’m glad that Republicans are staying the course. I feel Democrats have really given middle America the middle finger.”
Does this make Iowa a red state now?

Interesting to see these two stories in the WSJ this morning on countries seeing protests now.
Iran: 
The country’s attorney general said Iran had disbanded its so-called morality police and is considering altering the requirement that women cover their heads in public.
China: 
Local authorities across China are paring back some of their strictest Covid-19 control measures, just days after public anger spilled over into rare protests against a zero-tolerance approach.

The Supreme Court gets another hot case this week sure to bring about controversy – which some want.
The justices will consider whether a website designer’s free-speech rights entitle her to turn away customers, based upon her religious beliefs. The plaintiffs were seeking online services for same sex marriages and the defendant turned them away, despite state law protecting LGBT individuals from discrimination.
Either way it will be big news.

Now for Trump News over the weekend…and he made news!
He called for terminating the Constitution due to “massive election fraud” after the Twitter document dump about their role in limiting access to a Hunter Biden story.
For accuracy purposes, here’s the direct quote on his “Truth Social” web site:

Now I would challenge you to go find those in public office who supported this – though, as you can see, he had 54,913 likes in the first 19 hours.

While on the subject of the Twitter release it was disgraceful how the networks, CNN and MSNBC failed to cover the story. Completely disgraceful, for a story they failed to cover prior to the election and now that they acknowledge is true, they still fail.
The media is the problem as we’ve said over and over. Just report fairly and we will all win.

And We’re Off To Another Week .

I guess Republicans have a hard time learning. Here’s a story on the Georgia runoff election next week:
Georgia voters have cast more than 1 million ballots ahead of the Senate runoff. Democrats are pushing to bank as many votes as possible while Republicans, including Walker, have taken a less aggressive approach that will leave Walker heavily dependent on runoff Election Day turnout.
Does that make any sense to anyone?
Add that Election Day is a runoff and not a true Election Day, can’t we predict who will win?

The other news out of Georgia is the coverage of the race. Newsbusters.org just released in a new analysis. “ABC, CBS and NBC evening newscasts blasted the GOP candidate with 88% negative coverage, while the Democratic incumbent enjoyed 71% positive press. More than half of the coverage (nearly 46 minutes, out of 87 minutes total) consisted of personal allegations against Walker,, vs. a mere 11 seconds spent on personal accusations against Warnock,” the study said.
One more interesting stat,
“The networks spent the lion’s share of their airtime focusing on Walker, while Warnock received a free ride. Our analysts looked at all 87 minutes of evening news coverage of the race from September 1 through November 29. About three-fourths of this coverage (64 minutes, 42 seconds) was spent discussing Walker, vs. 21 minutes, 12 seconds talking about Warnock — a three-to-one disparity,” the research said.

While we’re on elections, did you see the Democratic plan to change their primary cycle?
No more Iowa and New Hampshire at the top. Here’s the new plan:
South Carolina on Feb. 6, New Hampshire and Nevada on Feb. 13, Georgia on Feb. 20, and Michigan on Feb. 27.
Why?
It gets the south more involved, and if you remember it was S.C. that was Biden’s firewall last primary season.
It opens the primary to more minority voters and deemphasizes Iowa and it’s largely white voters to kick off the season and eliminate candidates.
It will be interesting to see the reactions from Iowa and N.H. if they lose their first in the nation status, especially Iowa who is eliminated totally

Elon Musk

We’re going to spend more time on Elon Musk in a coming blog, but isn’t it interesting how he went from left hero and icon to hated person? Why? Because he bought Twitter and wanted to make it an open forum for all sides. If you believe in and support free speech how can you be against his drive to air all sides?
Twitter took a side and influenced the last election. Was that okay because it was pro left?
In fact, the person who made the decision to ban the NY Post story on Hunter’s laptop now says it was a “wrong decision.”
Why is he and outlets like CBS coming clean now?
Answer:
Because Musk is about to release the reasons why it was buried and the Republican congress is going to hold hearings on why the story was depressed.
Folks, we have to be for Amendment One and free speech for all.

Meanwhile, Musk tweeted that he had a “good conversation” with Apple’s CEO Tim Cook, and said that “we resolved the misunderstanding about Twitter potentially being removed from the App Store. Tim was clear that Apple never considered doing so.”  
That’s good news, and I hope it is true that there was never a plan or thought to do so.
Social media must be free speech for all too.

It Can’t Be A Day Without Trump News

An appeals court halted the “special master” review of documents seized at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate.
The decision was unanimous (3-0) and said the former president’s objections to the search should have been dismissed on jurisdictional grounds. This is a boost to the Justice Department’s continuing criminal investigation. 
Closing arguments were made in the Trump Organization Tax Fraud Trial Focus against his company. A decision is expected next week. Watch the coverage of this.
Congress now has his taxes after the ruling they had the right. With weeks of house control left, watch for leaks and news on this.
A little bit of good news for the former President was the investigation into whether his administration was behind the tax audits of James Coney and Andrew McCabe came up empty.
The IRS’s inspector general didn’t find any evidence that they were targeted.

Two semi related news stories were on Kanye West.
First, he has been suspended again from Twitter for posting a nazi swastika on the site in a post.
Second, when questioned he said that he sees “good things about Hitler” and defended the Nazi regime in a antisemitic interview with conspiracy theorist Alex Jones.
Here’s a quote:
“You’re not Hitler, you’re not a Nazi. You don’t deserve to be called that and demonized,” Mr. Jones said to Mr. West at one point.
“Well, I see good things about Hitler, also,” the rapper replied, who then credited the Nazi dictator with inventing highways and microphones. “Every human being has value that they brought to the table, especially Hitler.”

Be careful with the friends you pick and invite to dinner.

Here’s Wishing You A Great Weekend.