From my friends at Power Line Blog:
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When The Insurrectionists Aren’t Really The Insurrectionists
On Thursday, The Federalist posted an article about some recent information that has come out about January 6th. Why should we still care about January 6th? Because the riot (that’s what it was–a protest that got out of hand) prevented the necessary scrutiny of the votes that were certified on that day (story here). Without that riot, a number of states would have been forced to examine closely their vote totals (some of which were higher than the number of registered voters). As more information comes out about the events of that day, the more obvious it becomes that the problem was not Trump supporters who were simply protesting the vote.
The article at The Federalist reports:
More than two dozen confidential human sources (CHS) were in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 6, 2021, according to a new report the Justice Department inspector general released on Thursday.
Twenty-six CHSs were present in total, and the inspector general said that 11 of these “entered the restricted area around the Capitol.” At least one informant entered the Capitol amid the riot, and the FBI reimbursed that individual’s travel expenses.
While the Justice Department confirmed the FBI’s deployment of confidential sources at events related to Jan. 6, the inspector general denied “any CHS [was] directed by the FBI to encourage others to commit illegal acts on January 6.”
The presence of FBI informants at the Capitol had long been dismissed by legacy media as another conspiracy of independent media. In December last year, CNN’s Abby Phillip tried to fact-check then-Republican presidential contender Vivek Ramaswamy at a network town hall when the candidate brought up the existence of FBI informants at events related to Jan. 6.
Another conspiracy theory bites the dust.
The article notes:
Senior leadership at the FBI meanwhile repeatedly stonewalled House and Senate lawmakers’ questions related to the FBI’s use of informants on Jan. 6.
“How many FBI agents or confidential informants actively participated in the events of Jan. 6?” Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, asked Jill Sanborn, the executive assistant director for the FBI’s National Security Branch, a year after the riot.
“I can’t go into the specifics of sources and methods,” she said.
More recently, FBI Director Christopher Wray, who announced on Wednesday that he will step down next month, refused to answer similar questions.
I don’t really care if anyone goes to jail for this, but I hope voters will pay attention and evaluate this information before they vote in future elections.
Planting Minefields For The Incoming Administration
President Trump has stated that he will close our southern border to illegal immigration. Obviously, that will include finishing the parts of the border wall that were left unfinished when he left office. Evidently President Biden does not want the wall finished (at least he does not want it finished quickly).
On Thursday, The Daily Wire reported:
The Biden administration is using its final weeks to haul a massive amount of border wall materials away from the southern border to be sold off in a government auction, an apparent effort to hinder President-elect Donald Trump’s effort to secure the border, The Daily Wire has learned.
Videos obtained exclusively by The Daily Wire from a U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agent show unused sections of the wall being hauled away on the back of flatbed trucks from a section of the border just south of Tucson, a hotspot for illegal crossings during the Biden administration. The agent estimates that up to half a mile per day of unused border wall is being moved.
“They are taking it from three stations: Nogales, Tucson, and Three Points,” the border patrol agent, who was granted anonymity to speak freely, told The Daily Wire. “The goal is to move all of it off the border before Christmas.”
The article notes:
Video of the GovPlanet auction site where the material is being taken shows seemingly endless piles of unused border wall material. Another video, taken from one of the construction sites on the border, shows DP Trucking LLC trucks passing through with the same style of unused border wall stacked up the back of their flatbeds.
The auction website shows that sales occurred as recently as December 4 for precisely the types of materials being pulled off the border. GovPlanet has online auctions set for Dec. 11 and Dec. 18 for more of the border wall material, which is listed on the company’s website as “32.91’ X 7.91’ Steel Bollard Wall Sections w/Grout.”
The bidding for each section of wall panels is set to begin at only $5.00, according to the website.
The taxpayers will pay for buying the supplies to replace the supplies that the Biden administration sold. What total disrespect for taxpayer dollars. The sale needs to be stopped immediately.
UPDATE:
It has been reported that Texas plans to buy the supplies and donate them to the Trump administration. I can’t confirm that, but it’s a great idea.
Who Are Our Senators Working For?
Every six years we vote for someone to be our Senator in Washington to represent us. During the next six years we wonder who they actually represent.
Recently a North Carolina resident wrote letters to Senator Tillis and Senator Budd asking them to confirm President Trump’s cabinet choices. She stated that she felt that President Trump needed his cabinet choices in order to fulfill the promises he has made to “We the people.”
Below is the response from Senator Tillis:
Here is the response from Senator Budd:
The writer of the letter to the Senators explains her reactions to the replies:
I want to return to a national government this is “bound down by the chains of the constitution.” I want a freely functioning free enterprise system where there is competition everywhere and no crony capitalism anywhere. I want the premise that some prerogatives remain with each state and some prerogatives remain with individual people to be honored and respected by all.
I believe Senator Tillis’ approach is correct, and we need to thank him for it, i.e., reward good behavior. We also need to follow up and be sure his votes are as he has indicated they will be.
Senator Budd’s response is a disappointment. He uses all kinds of “weasel words.” To me, that indicates what excuses he will give when his votes are considered. I suspect he’s tuning up to be one of the people for whom Elon Musk finds a primary challenger. What a shame. However, I’ve promised myself I’ll vote for anyone of my ballot proposed by Elon Musk.
I think she has the right idea.
We Can’t Shoot Them Down Because We Don’t Know What’s On Them
On December 13th, Breitbart posted an article about the drones that have recently been sighted over New Jersey.
The article reports:
On Thursday’s broadcast of CNN’s “OutFront,” Belleville, NJ Mayor Michael Melham stated that the drones around the state have to be taken down and stated that there were briefings “that we’ve had Coast Guard working with our New Jersey State Police, our helicopters have seen them. We asked, well, when they go out to sea, are we going to shoot them down?” And they were told the drones wouldn’t be taken down due to fears of what might be on them.
Wait a minute. We don’t know who they belong to (supposedly), we don’t know what they are doing, and we don’t know what is on them. Wow. We really are doing great with our military defenses.
The article notes:
…We were told during the briefing that these drones are hovering over critical infrastructure, and as you said in your intro, you’re talking about nuclear power plants, you’re talking about reservoirs, you’re talking about Picatinny Arsenal, Fort Dix, Trump Bedminster. … Yet, they’re telling us that there’s no credible threat. Yet, they’re also telling us they don’t want to take them out of the air. They’re also telling us they don’t want a temporary ban.”
He added, “[W]e were briefed that we’ve had Coast Guard working with our New Jersey State Police, our helicopters have seen them. We asked, well, when they go out to sea, are we going to shoot them down? No, we’re not going to shoot them down. Why not? We’re told, well, we don’t know. There might be a payload on them. There may be this on them, may be that on them. … The drones should be shot down.”
Melham also said that it is possible that the drones could actually be a federal government countermeasure.
If we are willing to let these supposedly harmless drones fly freely into our airspace, what will stop those that wish us harm from attaching bombs or harmful chemicals to drones and flying them into our airspace?
Some Very Questionable Pardons
Among the pardons issued by President Biden on his way out the door were some that are very concerning. According to an article posted at Substack on December 13 by Sam Faddis, a pardon has been issued to Yanjun Xu, a Chinese intelligence officer and to Ji Chaoqun, who worked for Chinese intelligence under the direction of Xu. Jin Shanlin is a former doctoral student at Southern Methodist University in northern Texas, who was sentenced in 2021 for possessing and distributing child pornography.
The article concludes:
The Federal Bureau of Investigation long ago had more than enough information in its possession to understand that we were facing an unprecedented counterintelligence threat. The Communist Chinese had compromised the Vice-President of the United States and were on the verge of having their man in the Oval Office.
The FBI did nothing. In fact, they and the Department of Justice did everything they could to bury the information in their possession and prevent the American people from understanding the danger we were in.
Biden was left untouched. He considers himself invulnerable, and as he is preparing to walk out the door he is thumbing his nose at all of us. The most corrupt administration in American history just got even scummier.
Please follow the link above to read the entire article. I am somewhat amazed that America has survived the Biden administration. The cleaning crew cannot come in fast enough.
From my friends at Townhall:
Getting Back To Where We Started
On Wednesday, The Federalist posted an article by John Eastman talking about how we can get government spending under control.
The article reports:
President Donald Trump is determined to tame the bloated bureaucracy beast. To that end, he has appointed, in spectacular fashion, Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy to head up a new “Department of Government Efficiency” (“DOGE”). In their pathbreaking op-ed in The Wall Street Journal on Nov. 20, Musk and Ramaswamy laid out their mission: “We won’t just write reports or cut ribbons, We’ll cut costs.”
With the nation now $36 trillion in debt — or about $100,000 for every man, woman, and child in America — that mission is long overdue. But judging from the hyperbolic reaction even the mention of budget cuts has generated in the deep state and among its sycophants in the corporate media, Musk and Ramaswamy will face enormous headwinds.
One of those will undoubtedly be the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974. Enacted in the wake of President Richard Nixon’s attempt to “drain the swamp” a half century ago, the act requires the president to seek and obtain Congress’s approval before declining to spend appropriated funds — which kinda defeats the purpose of impounding excessive spending that Congress itself enacted. Section 1012 of the act voids any presidential rescission of funding unless Congress votes on a rescission bill within 45 days of being notified of the president’s intent to rescind funds.
Because several court decisions dating back to the 1970s and 1980s ordered presidents to spend appropriated funds unless Congress approved of the impoundment — rejecting claims that the act unconstitutionally intruded on the president’s authority — one might be tempted to think that the act is more like a brick wall than a headwind for DOGE’s mission. But that would be wrong. None of those cases addressed the key constitutional issue, namely, whether the president could refuse to expend funds that exceeded Congress’s authority under the “spending power,” as that power was originally conceived.
The article notes that eliminating spending that serves local interests but not national interests would help.
There is a story about Senator Davy Crockett and something he learned about welfare payments from the government during his time in office. That story can be found at hushmoney.org. I strongly suggest you follow the link and read it.
The Government Is Not Cooperating With Itself!
On Tuesday, The Daily Caller posted an article about the House task force investigating assassination attempts against President-elect Donald Trump.
The article reports:
The Department of Justice and FBI provided only “limited cooperation” to the House task force investigating assassination attempts against President-elect Donald Trump, according to the task force’s final report.
Among recommendations offered in the final report, which include reconsidering whether the Secret Service should remain within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and limiting protection for foreign leaders, the task force wrote that Congress needs to “clarify its right” to obtain information related to law enforcement investigations.
“With respect to the assassination attempt in Butler, the Task Force’s requests for information were characterized by the FBI as implicating ‘significant law enforcement sensitivities,’ and subsequent FBI disclosures were labeled as ‘extraordinary accommodation[s] unique to this matter,’” the report said. “With respect to the assassination attempt in Florida, where the gunman was apprehended alive and awaits a likely prosecution, the FBI provided no documents in response to the Task Force’s request and provided only a single status briefing on September 25, 2024.”
We currently know more about Luigi Mangione, who killed the CEO of United Healthcare last week than we know about either person who attempted to kill President Trump. That seems odd.
The article concludes:
The task force accessed more than 18,000 pages of documents and 46 transcribed witness interviews over the course of its investigation. Ultimately, it concluded the attempt on Trump’s life at his Butler, Pa. rally was “preventable and should not have happened.”
“There was not, however, a singular moment or decision that allowed Thomas Matthew Crooks to nearly assassinate the former President,” the report said. “The various failures in planning, execution, and leadership on and before July 13, 2024, and the preexisting conditions that undermined the effectiveness of the human and material assets deployed that day, coalesced to create an environment in which the former President—and everyone at the campaign event—were exposed to grave danger.”
It’s time to overhaul the Secret Service.
In Today’s America, Privacy Is An Illusion
On Tuesday, Legal Insurrection posted an article explaining how the government spies on Americans without the inconvenience of getting a warrant.
The article reports:
A report from the House Judiciary Committee and Government Weaponization Subcommittee exposed the FBI for abusing the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) to spy on Americans’ bank accounts without a warrant.
“Documents show that federal law enforcement increasingly works hand-in-glove with financial institutions, obtaining virtually unchecked access to private financial data and testing out new methods and new technology to continue the financial surveillance of American citizens,” according to the report.
The article notes:
However, the law prohibits federal law enforcement from asking about a bank’s customer information without a legal process.
“All Americans should be disturbed by how their financial data is collected, made accessible to, and searched by federal and state officials, including law enforcement and regulatory agencies,” the committees added. “With the rise in e-commerce and the widespread adoption of cash alternatives like credit cards or peer-to-peer payment services, the future leaves very little financial activity beyond the purview of modern financial institutions or the government’s prying eyes.”
Here’s a mic drop (emphasis mine): “This is because, as a condition of participating in the modern economy, Americans are forced to disclose details of their private lives to a financial industry that has been too eager to pass this information along to federal law enforcement.”
Yup. Our financial institutions had no problem cooperating with the FBI. It seems a few even helped formulate ideas to spy on us.
The article concludes:
The institutions and FinCEN have been working together to develop new ways to spy on Americans with the Bank Secrecy Act Advisory Group (BSAAG). The new plans include requiring “Americans to have a digital identification to access financial services, testing artificial intelligence to surveil Americans’ financial activity, and working towards even closer coordination between financial institutions and federal law enforcement.”
“As promoted by the BSAAG, this surveillance will be catalyzed by even greater government entanglement with financial institutions as they begin to integrate new technology to more effectively track their customers’ financial habits,” concluded the committees. “Absent renewed safeguards, the federal government and financial institutions will continue to siphon off Americans’ sensitive financial data, place it into the hands of bureaucrats, and erode any remaining semblance of financial privacy in the United States.”
After January 6th, 2021, Bank of America was asked to hand over records of anyone who used a Bank of America credit or debit card in the Washington, D.C., area between January 5th and January 7th of 2021. Those records were used as one method of identifying people who were at the Trump rally or at the Capitol building. There was no warrant involved.
Finally…A Step Toward America’s Energy Independence
On Monday, The Daily Caller reported the following:
The Biden administration announced on Monday it will proceed with the smallest possible oil and gas lease sale in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
This move barely meets the mandates set by Congress, under the shadow of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. The Bureau of Land Management is compelled to auction drilling rights in this pristine wilderness by year’s end, despite vocal opposition from many within the Democratic Party, according to The Hill. This approach includes leasing exactly 400,000 acres—the least required by law.
Set for Jan. 9, the impending lease sale positions itself as a contentious prelude to the incoming administration of President-elect Donald Trump, who will assume office a mere 11 days later, The Hill reported. This timing is a potential pivot towards more expansive energy policies favored by the previous Trump administration, which executed the first such lease sale in 2021.
It has taken seven years to get this lease sale moving. The lease sale and the subsequent oil retrieved will be a boon to both the American economy and the people of Alaska, who receive revenue from drilling in their state.
The article notes:
The Biden administration had previously suspended several leases issued during the 2021 sale, citing “multiple legal deficiencies,” the outlet said. Citing the need for ecological preservation, the current administration is confining the upcoming sale to areas deemed to have the highest potential for oil and gas findings, explicitly avoiding regions critical for polar bear denning and migratory bird nesting.
The article concludes:
In 2023, Biden said that he had aimed to halt all drilling along the East Coast, West Coast, and in the Gulf, but legal defeats hindered these plans. He disclosed this in response to a question about fulfilling his extensive climate and green energy promises to younger constituents.
Hopefully, this lease sale will be utilized quickly as part of President Trump’s plan for energy independence for America.
To Be Continued Next Year…
Author: Jerry Schill
Words such as dementia and Alzheimer’s were not as prevalent years ago as they are today. Perhaps the condition was present, but referred to by different names, like senility. No matter how you describe it, most every family is touched by this disease and feels the effects, made more real perhaps by how long we live today versus 75 years ago.
Over the next several months I’ll be writing about our family’s experiences with what I call the dementia journey. Please understand that I’m writing as one who has experienced it as the primary caregiver for my wife–not as a medical expert. One may have different experiences of course, but what I write isn’t from a perspective of what’s right– just our journey and how I have handled it.
For a little perspective, Pam and I dated in high school and were married in 1968, 56 years ago. My first tour of duty for the Air Force was in Peshawar, Pakistan, as an enlisted airman, proficient in my second language, Morse Code. After 15 months in the Northwest Frontier of what was then called West Pakistan, Pam and I were married, and she accompanied me to my next assignment in Anchorage, Alaska, at Elmendorf Air Force Base. After 4 years of active duty, I was discharged, and we returned home to Pennsylvania with our one-year-old son.
We moved to North Carolina on Labor Day, 1984, and I immediately became active in politics, volunteering for the campaigns of Jesse Helms and Jim Martin. Shortly after that, I became a candidate myself for the North Carolina state senate. My opponent was attorney Bill Barker, and he was the victor. Shortly thereafter, I began my long stint with the North Carolina Fisheries Association, while Pam was a licensed insurance agent for the Tom Cox Nationwide Agency. She was with Tom for 20 years, most of that time as the Office Manager, meaning her mental acuity was sharp as a tack.
I offer this background material because I think it’s important to understand our journey, which is at the ten-year mark.
I’ll continue this blog post next year, so I’ll take this opportunity to offer you and yours a very Merry Christmas on behalf of Pam and myself.
Why Are We Giving Money To People Who Want To Destroy Us?
On Tuesday, The Washington Free Beacon reported that three days after the election of President Trump, the Biden administration waived sanctions on upward of $10 billion in once-frozen funds for Iran.
The article reports:
Secretary of State Antony Blinken determined on November 8 that “it is in the national security interest of the United States” to waive mandatory economic sanctions that bar Iraq from transferring upward of $10 billion to Iran in electricity import payments.
The Biden-Harris administration has renewed the waiver repeatedly over the objections of congressional Republicans, who warned that the cash helped fuel terrorism and Iran’s war against Israel. In one case, the administration signed off on the sanctions relief one month after Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel.
The most recent iteration of the waiver lifts sanctions for 120 days, at which time the incoming Trump administration will have to decide whether Tehran will continue receiving the relief.
Though the first Trump administration did green-light the same waiver—causing tension with some congressional Republicans—it narrowly tailored the waiver to restrict Iranian access to the cash. The Biden State Department tweaked the waiver last year to allow Tehran to convert the funds from Iraqi dinars to euros, then hold those euros in bank accounts based in Oman. Access to a widely traded currency like the euro enables Iran to more easily spend the cash in international markets. Under the first Trump administration, Iran had to keep the cash in an escrow account in Baghdad, making it more difficult to access.
The State Department confirmed last week that it issued the waiver.
The article concludes:
President-elect Donald Trump, who nearly bankrupted Iran during his first term in office, has pledged to restart his “maximum pressure” campaign on Tehran. Richard Goldberg, a former White House National Security Council member who worked the Iran portfolio, welcomed that pledge.
“Joe Biden and his team are taking credit for bringing down Assad just a few weeks after renewing a sanctions waiver to give Iran access to billions of dollars,” Goldberg said. “Give me a break. This policy of appeasement needs to end on January 20, and locking down these accounts so Iran can’t get access should be priority one.”
I am looking forward to “a new sheriff in town.”
Good News From New York City
On Monday, The New York Post reported:
A Manhattan jury has cleared Daniel Penny of criminal wrongdoing in the chokehold death of Jordan Neely on a crowded subway — a caught-on-video killing that sparked fierce debate over the city’s mental health system and crime underground.
The panelists acquitted Penny of criminally negligent homicide — which could have put him behind bars for up to four years — in Neely’s chokehold death aboard a crowded uptown F train in May 2023.
Manslaughter, the top charge against Penny, was tossed on Friday after jurors twice said they couldn’t reach a unanimous verdict.
Jurors sided with Penny’s defense attorneys, who had argued that the Marine veteran was justified in rushing to protect his fellow subway straphangers when he subdued the erratic homeless man. The lawyers had also questioned whether there was sufficient evidence that the chokehold caused Neely’s death.
This is wonderful news. Basically, the story is that a heroic former Marine saved a subway car full of innocent travelers from possible serious harm at the hands of someone who belonged in a mental institution. I pray that if I ever ride the New York City subways again (I rode them to commute to school in the 1960’s), there will be someone like Daniel Penny on the train with me.
Short-term Gains At The Expense Of Long-term Gains
On Sunday, John Stossel posted an article at Hot Air about America’s ports. In the fall, the International Longshoremen’s Association went on strike asking for higher wages and a ban on automation. A strike was avoided when the current contract was extended until January 15th. President Trump takes office on January 20th. The Longshoremen’s strike will be one of the first things he has to deal with. I am hoping he follows the example of Ronald Reagan’s handling of the air traffic controllers’ strike.
The article at Hot Air reports:
America’s ports have fallen behind. Not a single one ranks in the top 50 worldwide.
A big reason is that dock unions stop innovation.
This fall, the International Longshoremen’s Association shut down East and Gulf coast ports, striking for a raise and a ban on automation. They got the raise.
Now union president Harold Daggett says longshoremen will strike again in January if they don’t get that ban on automation.
His statement in my new video makes it clear that he knows how badly his strike would damage other Americans.
“Guys who sell cars can’t sell cars, because the cars ain’t coming in off the ships. They get laid off,” says Daggett. “Construction workers get laid off because materials aren’t coming in. The steel’s not coming in. The lumber’s not coming in. They lose their job.”
Obviously, labor leaders aren’t necessarily “pro worker,” says Mercatus Center economist Liya Palagashvili.
“They’re saying, ‘We don’t care if these other jobs are destroyed as long as we get what we want.'”
Daggett is unusually clueless. He doesn’t understand that a ban on automation will also hurt his members.
As Palagashvili puts it, “They’ll save some jobs today, but they’ll destroy a lot more jobs in the future.”
The article also notes:
That’s because today’s shippers have options. Daggett’s union only controls East and Gulf coast ports. Shippers can deliver their products to ports that accept automation.
“We’re going to see less activity in ‘Stone Age’ ports,” says Palagashvili.
“Stone Age?”
“They want to ban automated opening and closing of port doors,” she points out, requiring workers to pull heavy doors themselves.
Weirdly, the union boss makes his demands while also pointing out that dockworker jobs are dangerous.
“Very dangerous … We’ve had 17 people killed in the last three years!”
That’s terrible, but it’s an argument for automation! Using machines instead of vulnerable humans protects human workers. Daggett’s arguing against himself!
I see why he wouldn’t agree to an interview.
“It’s backwards,” notes Palagashvili. “(If) you care about the safety of these workers, you should enhance their jobs and make them safer and better. And the only way you can do that is with technological advancements in automation.”
Other countries have used automated cranes for years. They’re 80% faster than the human-operated cranes in many American ports.
It will be very interesting to watch the outcome of this strike. If the union gets its wage hikes and ban on automation, business may go to other ports and the ports involved may lose traffic. If the unions go on strike, business will go to other ports. I think that if I were a union member, I would want a new leader.
Hopefully This Will Be The Last Time This Is Celebrated In The White House
I need to make this clear. I don’t care what you do in your private life as long as it involves people who are willing to do it with you. You don’t need my approval or my support. However, there are some things that I simply believe should be kept private.
On Sunday, Breitbart reported:
President Joe Biden’s Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) celebrated yet another LGBTQ+ holiday on Sunday, paying homage to “Pansexual and Panromantic Pride Day” in a post to X.
“Today on Pansexual and Panromantic Pride Day, everyone deserves to feel seen, respected and supported—no matter who they love. Create a world where everyone feels proud to be themselves!” the HHS post reads.
It’s okay for everyone to proud of themselves, but that pride does not have to have anything to do with sex.
The article notes:
The Biden administration has also openly advocated for child sex changes, and hosted “Pride” celebrations at the White House, including a topless transgender activist and drag queens.
Many officials within the Biden administration identify as LGBTQ+, including HHS secretary Rachel Levine, a man who pretends to be a woman, and Sam Brinton, an “openly genderfluid” former Department of Energy official accused of stealing women’s luggage.
When campaigning in 2024, President Biden promised to bring dignity back to the White House. I am not sure the American people agree with the idea that that is what happened.
What A Difference Leadership Makes
This is not an article about America–this is an article about Argentina. On Saturday, The Independent Sentinel posted an article about Argentina’s President Milei.
The article includes the following Tweet:
Wow.
Please follow the link to the article. There are some rough times ahead for Argentina as the President puts things in order, but the future looks bright. The poverty rate in Argentina initially went up, but now is moving down quickly. The country’s economy will contract this year, but is expected to grow 5 percent next year. President Milei has done amazing things.
When You Forget Past History, You Say Stupid Things
There is so much garbage in the media right now about President Trump going after his political enemies. It is garbage. I would like to remind everyone that if Hillary Clinton had been anyone other than Hillary Clinton, she would have gone to jail for her secret server and for destroying evidence. President Trump, in the interest of not further dividing the country, chose not to take that route. There was a legitimate open-and-shut case to send her to jail. Other people have gone to jail for similar crimes.
On Saturday, The Hill posted an article by Jonathan Turley about the Democrats wanting pre-emptive pardons from President Biden before he leaves office. If President Trump did not put Hillary Clinton in jail when there was an obvious violation of the law, why would he put his political enemies in jail? The Republicans are not the party that does that.
The article reports:
Liberal pundits and press in Washington are facing a growing nightmare in Washington. No, it is not the victory of President-elect Donald Trump or the Democrats’ loss of both houses of Congress and the popular vote in this election. It is the possibility that democracy may not collapse as predicted, and Trump might not even round up his opponents en masse.
For months, liberals have been telling voters that this will likely be their last election and that democracy is about to end in the U.S. ABC host Whoopi Goldberg declared on “The View” that Trump will immediately become a dictator who will “put you people away … take all the journalists … take all the gay folks … move you all around and disappear you.”
I hope that Americans are smart enough to recognize total propaganda when they see it.
The article concludes:
Trump may be the only one who is not interested in a trophy pardon. What is the value of being part of the resistance if you are not being pursued, persecuted or pardoned?
It seems like some of the same people who had hoped to be on the list for the Biden Inaugural balls are now making calls to make the Biden pardon list. If Biden were to yield to calls for hundreds or even thousands of pardons, the loss of political standing for those not making the list could become intolerable. For any self-respecting armchair resistance fighter in 2025, a Biden pardon could become the latest status symbol.
Good grief!
Actions Have Consequences
On Thursday, The National Review posted an article about the impact of the increase in wages for fast-food employees in California.
The article reports:
California’s fast food industry shed more than 6,000 jobs after Democratic lawmakers passed a bill mandating a $20 minimum wage for most fast food and counter service restaurants in the state, according to a new analysis of labor data.
The article includes the following chart:
The article explains:
The fast food minimum wage hike — a 25 percent jump over the $16 minimum wage in place for virtually every other sector of the California economy — was the result of a years-long campaign by Big Labor leaders and their Democratic allies to target an industry they’ve long struggled to organize.
In 2022, California Democrats passed the Fast Food Accountability and Standards Recovery Act, or FAST Act, which would have created an unelected fast food council that could have hiked the industry’s minimum wage to $22 an hour. The restaurant industry fought back, gathering enough signatures for a ballot initiative to challenge the act. But Democrats had a fallback plan of their own; last year, for the first time in two decades, they funded what is known as the Industrial Welfare Commission, which has the authority to regulate wages, hours, and working conditions for industries across the state.
The minimum wage was established to give new workers (generally young workers) a chance to enter the workforce. The idea was that these workers would learn the basic skills needed to keep a job and advance in their careers–showing up on time, paying attention to what they were doing, developing a solid work ethic, etc. The minimum wage was never intended as a permanent state of employment. In raising the minimum wage to a supposed ‘living wage,’ politicians are keeping new workers out of the workforce because companies cannot afford to hire them. Theoretically, a worker ads value to a company–a worker is expected to create more value than the salary he receives. Artificially raising the minimum wage negates that principle.
A New Dawn In America
Author: Michael Speciale
A new dawn lies before us in America. Not simply because Trump is going to be sworn in as the 47th President, but because of why he is going to be sworn in as the 47th President.
Donald J. Trump will be sworn in as the 47th President of the Unites States because the American people appear to have reached the point where they have had enough of the status quo.
Enough of the woke madness that has been thrust upon us.
Enough of being lied to by the major media.
Enough of being lied to by the folks that we elected to represent our interests in government.
We have simply had enough!
Donald Trump was elected with a mandate, and that mandate consists of those things that he campaigned on.
He said he will fix the border by stopping the flow of illegal aliens coming into this country and by deporting those who have already made it past the border illegally.
He said he will fix the economy and work toward getting prices lowered and back to what we consider normal. He said he will do this by opening the oil pipelines that were closed by the Biden administration and by allowing fracking, which will lower transportation costs and costs overall.
He said he will make the government trustworthy and credible in the eyes of the citizens again. He said he will do this by replacing those who weaponized the Justice Department. The FBI will be revamped, and the headless nails that have been the deep state bureaucracy will be replaced with true public servants.
He said he will remove the federal income tax on tips. Tipped employees, such as waitresses and waiters, are paid a minimum wage that is lower than the prevailing minimum wage for other jobs. This will help lower income earners keep more of their pay.
He said he would end taxes on Social Security income. This is a smart move designed to help older citizens.
He promised us much more, but you get the point.
Unlike his opponent in the recent General Election, he did not try to baffle us with platitudes or promises of Joy and Hope. He gave us substantive reasons to vote for him, and his opponent gave us no substance at all.
Government is not the harbinger of hope and joy; it is the servant of the people. Trump served us for four years; and, all the while, he was persecuted, impeached over nonsense, and kept busy fighting the madness of those on the left. Imagine if you will, what he could have accomplished if he did not have to spend his time fighting nonsense. That was their motive–to keep him too busy to govern. It did not work, as he accomplished much during his first term.
I could go on, but the meat of this matter is that, unlike most politicians, the American people trust Donald J. Trump to do what he said he will do.
And that, my fellow Americans, is enough!
Can You Pardon Someone Who Has Never Been Charged With Anything?
Can you pardon someone who has never been charged with a crime? We may be about to find that out.
On Friday, Breitbart reported the following:
White House lawyers are studying preemptive pardons that President Joe Biden has discussed with senior aides, according to multiple establishment media reports.
Democrat and media allies have urged Biden in the last several weeks to pardon many of his comrades, including Mark Milley, Christopher Wray, Justice Department lawyers, Joe Biden himself, the whole Biden family, Liz Cheney, Mark Milley, Rep. Nancy Pelosi, and Adam Kinzinger, among others.
All of these people tried to disrupt the first Trump administration. Some of them committed crimes in the process–destroying evidence, illegal contact with foreign leaders, lying before Congress (is that a crime?), blocking investigations, etc. Although it would be nice to see some of them held accountable for their crimes, I think there are probably more important things for the new Trump administration to do. Some of those things are cutting federal spending, de-politicization of the Justice Department, securing our border, reestablishing energy independence, and restoring America’s position on the world state. Those priorities are an indication of the size of the mess the Biden administration has created in the past four years.
According to CBS News:
Among those who could be eligible for preemptive legal relief include well-known names at the center of many of the most rancorous moments of the first Trump administration, many of whom remain the subject of his public ire.
The list includes Dr. Anthony Fauci, who helped coordinate the nation’s COVID-19 response and later served as Mr. Biden’s top science adviser; retired Gen. Mark A. Milley, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who has called Trump a “fascist” and provided information for several books and news reports detailing the former president’s behavior and activities around the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol; California Democratic Senator-elect Adam Schiff, and other Democratic and Republican lawmakers who led the two impeachment cases against Trump or sat on the House committee that reviewed the Jan. 6 attack — a group that includes former Wyoming Republican congresswoman Liz Cheney, who actively campaigned against Trump this past fall.
Fauci, Milley and Cheney were not immediately available for comment. In an interview with NPR in late November, Schiff said he didn’t think a preemptive pardon is a good idea, because “I think the courts are strong enough to withstand” threats made by Trump.
Just because they may belong in jail does not mean it would be constructive to put them there.
A Picture Of A Shift
On Friday, John Hinderaker posted an article at Power Line Blog about the Senate elections in 2020 and 2024.
The article includes two illustrations:
The article concludes:
So the Great Sort continues apace. The GOP has a slight built-in advantage in the Senate, but that edge could be neutralized by the Democrats’ vast financial resources and their control over most of the means of communication and the federal bureaucracy.
The more fundamental question, which I won’t address for now, is whether the Great Sort renders futile the entire notion of a United States that includes both its red zones–pro-America, pro-Constitutional government, pro-free enterprise, indifferent to race–and its blue zones–anti-American, anti-Constitution, socialist and racist. On what basis, exactly, can we form a common polity?
That question may become acute much sooner than most observers realize.
I believe that most voters rejected some of the strange ideas the political left has espoused in recent years such as ‘affirmative gender care’ for children and drag queen story hour. Those things may be okay in liberal cities, but they are not acceptable with mainstream Americans trying to raise children. Until some of the more extreme ideas of the political left are jettisoned, there will be little common ground. The extreme right also has its problems. We can’t legislate morality, but we can encourage it. Sometimes the right forgets the old expression that says you can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar. The political right needs to stand for the values that made this country great, but they need to do it with compassion.
Posted on Twitter:
Some Important Mistakes The Japanese Made At Pearl Harbor
Eighty-three years ago, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. It was a surprise attack which occurred before Japan actually delivered a declaration of war to the United States. On that day, Japanese airplanes destroyed nearly 20 American naval vessels, including eight battleships, and over 300 airplanes. However, the Japanese made a few mistakes in their attack which allowed America to fight back after the attack. The obvious mistake is that they awakened the sleeping giant that was America’s manufacturing strength. The other mistakes had to do with their military planning.
According to the Pearl Harbor website, these are the major mistakes the Japanese made at Pearl Harbor:
1. The Shallow Waters of Pearl Harbor
One issue with attacking the ships lined up at Battleship Row was that the water wasn’t deep enough to hinder relief efforts. That meant the Japanese fleet would have to completely destroy the vessels to ensure they wouldn’t be able to return to service.
Of the eight battleships attacked on December 7th, only the USS Utah and USS Arizona were unsalvageable, meaning that the Japanese fleet failed in its objective of crippling the US Navy. By February of 1942, the first of the damaged battleships returned to service in the fight in the Pacific.
2. Missing Targets
That quiet Sunday morning in December of 1941 was carefully chosen by Japan’s Navy. The surprise attack was effective in that many sailors were on leave. A major flaw with the choice of that date, however, was that some of the highest-value targets—the American aircraft carriers—were absent from the Pearl Harbor.
The USS Lexington, USS Enterprise, and USS Saratoga were on missions that kept them at sea on the day of the attack. Though the Enterprise was scheduled to return the night before the attack, dangerous weather conditions delayed her return by a day.
3. Fuel Tanks at Pearl Harbor, October 1941
The battleships were far from the only vital target at Pearl Harbor. While the Japanese planes also targeted nearby airfields, they failed to pay any attention to other important assets. The dry docks in the harbor and the fuel depots were largely ignored by Japan’s assault force and both proved imperative in the relief, rescue, and repair efforts that followed.
As we remember that day, we also need to remember that by the grace of God, our nation was spared a devastating defeat.
Culture And Birthrate
Author: R. Alan Harrop, Ph.D.
History clearly shows us that the culture of a society determines whether that society will advance the quality of life of its citizens or lead to a deterioration and eventual downfall. In most cases, cultural deterioration is not obvious to the members of a society until it may be too late to turn things around. A declining birthrate to a level that is less than needed to maintain its population (usually about 2.3 children per woman) can be a significant warning sign. The U.S. birthrate has been declining for several years and now is at 1.6 births per woman for year 2022, which is considerably below replacement levels. The birthrate in 1960 was 3.5. What is true for the U.S. is also true for most, if not all, Western countries.
As a result of the declining birthrate, the percentage of the U.S. population over 65 has been steadily increasing and is now at 17.3%. That percentage is expected to increase to over 22% by the year 2040. This will put increasing demands on the Social Security system since there will be fewer workers paying into the system. It will also make it more difficult for the younger population to achieve their goals since they will have to pay higher taxes.
Now some people may argue that this is a reason to increase immigration to offset the declining birthrate. The difficulty with that solution is the impact of large numbers of immigrants who do not share our cultural values. Instead of a unified population, the result is a splintering of the population into subcultures that may be at odds with our values and beliefs. The idea of the United States as a “melting pot” has definite limitations. In fact, in the mid-1920s, Congress passed immigration restrictions that severely limited immigration into our country because of concern that the high number of immigrants would not be able to be assimilated smoothly into our culture. Those restrictions were in place until the late 1960s when Democrat Ted Kennedy led an effort to greatly expand the allowable number of immigrants and opened immigration to America up to countries from around the world. The recent flood of illegal immigrants encouraged by the Biden administration has created substantial problems with crime, economic dependency, and the public-school systems.
The question before us is how do we encourage our native-born women to have more children? This will be a challenge for not only the new Trump administration, but for subsequent administrations. Part of the problem comes from young people marrying later than they used to. In the 1960’s, the average age of first marriages was the early twenties. Now it is in the thirties, which of course leaves fewer years for child rearing. There was a time when being married was expected before two people lived together. Now it is commonplace for young people to live together without being married. This seems to be totally acceptable where previously it would have been highly frowned upon and disapproved of. Another issue is economic. In the 1960’s it was still expected that the man would be the sole support of the family; and generally, a man could find a job that would allow him to be the “bread winner.” The economic realities of increasing inflation have made it difficult for a young family to live comfortably with only one income. Another factor, of course, is the increasing expectation that women should have a career, and motherhood is not valued as it once was in our society.
The solution to this problem may not be easy, but the problem is one that needs to be recognized and efforts made to solve it if we are not to lose our cultural heritage.