Tag Archives: Red State

Quote Of The Day

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You can always count on Senator Kennedy from Louisiana for a good quote.

On Tuesday, Red State quoted Senator Kennedy who was sharing his advice to the Democrat Party:

“Look, you just gotta try harder not to suck,” said Kennedy. 

Kennedy elaborated, saying that Democrats spent the past four years mismanaging everything they were put in charge of, including congress, the pandemic, the economy, Afghanistan, and more. Now, with Trump and Musk ripping through the government to trim away the fat and corruption, they’re going out of their way to side with bureaucracy. 

This is one of those losing “80/20” positions Scott Jennings talked about a while back, but Democrats can’t stop themselves from automatically taking the opposite position that Trump is at every turn. 

Kennedy continues by noting the Democrat Party’s support for illegal immigration and transgendered people in women’s sports, and sympathize with Hamas, which are just more 80/20 positions Democrats can’t seem to stop advocating for. 

“The party is being controlled, right now, by people who majored in online activism with a minor in puberty blockers,” said Kennedy. “I know these people. They think men can breastfeed!” 

“Most fair-minded Americans look at this, and they go, ‘these people are about ten exits past normal!” he added. 

It’s hard to believe the Democrats are fighting to keep the corruption in Washington going.

This Might Explain Some Of The Hysteria

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The attacks on Elon Musk and DOGE have dominated the news in recent days. Americans wonder why some of the people supposedly in charge are so upset about cutting federal spending. Some of the people in charge have claimed for years that they wanted to cut federal spending.

On Saturday, Red State posted an article that explains some of the hysteria.

The article reports:

Congress illegally spent at least $516 billion in 2024 on programs for which there was no authorization. Yes, billion, with a “b.”  A stunning report by the Congressional Budget Office underscores the reason for the legal assault upon President Trump’s right to audit payments by the Treasury Department.

In a report titled “Expired and Expiring Authorizations of Appropriations for Fiscal Year 2024,” the CBO observes: “Historically, House and Senate rules restrict lawmakers from considering an appropriation if it lacks a current authorization.” Nevertheless, “CBO estimates that $516 billion was appropriated for 2024 for activities with expired authorizations, which the agency identified for each House and Senate authorizing committee and appropriations subcommittee.” That $516 billion in illegal payments cover “1,264 authorizations of appropriations that expired before the beginning of fiscal year 2024 and 251 authorizations of appropriations that were set to expire by the end of fiscal year 2024.” The legal authority for some of these payments expired 40 — that’s not a typo — years ago.

The article includes a chart of the expenditures.

The article concludes:

Making this all the more intriguing is that it would seem that the President could stop those payments without worrying about violating the Impoundment Control Act as they are not legal appropriations by Congress’s rules.

I will guarantee you that when DOGE really digs into this, they are going to find other ongoing illegal payments on a Biblical scale.

I think we are learning why most Americans who pay taxes spend at least 33 percent on taxes, including state and local taxes.

When Your Past Actions Come Back To Haunt You

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We all remember when in 2022 fifty illegal immigrants showed up on Martha’s Vineyard and were escorted off of the island in record time. The residents of the island claimed that it was a ‘humanitarian crisis’ that they were there.I guess being a sanctuary island only works when no one can get to you easily. Well, the actions of the residents of the island need to be remembered in light of recent events.

On Tuesday, Red State posted an article explaining that the residents of the Island are now planning to resist President Trump’s efforts to send illegal aliens home.

The article quotes Breitbart:

Residents of the wealthy, liberal enclave … defended illegal aliens as the Trump administration has ramped up deportations.

Several older residents of Martha’s Vineyard reportedly attended a rally, with some people holding signs that read, “I pledge to resist,” and “Protect people, resist hate,” according to the MV Times. 

[…]

One rallygoer, Marina Kaufman told the outlet that they “have to protect” illegal aliens, citing how “they are part of the workforce of the Vineyard.”

“We have to protect these people because they are part of the workforce of the Vineyard,” Kaufman said. “And they’re human beings. They have children in schools, they’re scared. And it breaks my heart, it really does.”

They are resisting what they actually did a few years ago! They only want to protect illegal aliens when they are not on their island!

The article notes:

Meanwhile, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters last Tuesday that all illegal aliens are criminals because they illegally entered the United States after a reporter asked, “How many have a criminal record versus those who are just in the country illegally?”

Leavitt responded:

All of them because they illegally broke our nation’s laws, and therefore, they are criminals, as far as this administration goes. I know the last administration didn’t see it that way, so it’s a big culture shift in our nation to view someone who breaks our immigration laws as a criminal, but that’s exactly what they are.

We seem to have forgotten that breaking the law should involve penalties. Otherwise, what incentive is there to follow the law?

A Second Look At The Charges Against The January 6th Defendants

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On Tuesday, Red State reported on a reevaluation of the charges that were used to keep the January 6th protestors in jail for four years.

The article reports:

On Monday, the Interim U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, Ed Martin, announced that his office would undertake a review of the decision-making that led to the charging of hundreds of January 6 protesters with “obstructing Congress” in violation of 18 U.S.C. Sec. 1512(c). That was a statute passed by Congress in 2005 to address an alleged hole revealed in an obstruction of justice statute criminalizing the destruction of records, documents, materials, etc., to obstruct an investigation. The “hole” was the fact that the language of the existing statute made it a crime to direct third parties to undertake such obstructive acts, but it did not – by its plain language – make it a criminal act to take such action yourself.

This was the finding of the Supreme Court in Arthur Andersen v. United States, an infamous case related to the Enron scandal where then-U.S. Attorney Andrew Weissmann put one of the “Big 5” accounting firms out of business – costing maybe 80,000 Arthur Andersen employees their jobs – only to eventually be reversed by the Supreme Court in a 9-0 decision.

The crime that Arthur Andersen supposedly committed? It followed its internal policy for destroying client records – Enron in this case – before it received a federal grand jury subpoena for those records as part of the probe into Enron’s accounting practices. Arthur Andersen was charged under Sec. 1512(b)(2) – there was no subsection (c) at that time – which made it a crime to “knowingly [and] … corruptly persuade another person … with intent to … cause” that person to “withhold” or “alter” documents intended for use in an “official proceeding.”

The article concludes:

What is also significant about each of the cases listed above is that the convictions in each case were affirmed by the federal Appeals Court — just like Joseph Fischer’s conviction was affirmed — before the convictions were reversed by the Supreme Court, and those reversals were unanimous in almost every case.

This unbroken line of decisions by the Supreme Court should have been warning enough to Biden DOJ prosecutors who decided to charge hundreds of January 6 protesters with a felony using a novel legal theory under a new statute.

Some involved in making that decision may now pay a price for having done with their jobs – and rightly so.

Please click on the link above for further details. Someone needs to be held accountable for violating the civil rights of the January 6th prisoners.

We May Have To Review The Chain Of Command

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President Trump has been elected as President. He is the head of the Executive Branch of government. That position has authority over the Justice Department and the Departments in the Justice Department.

On January 22, Red State reported:

A day after President Trump issued pardons or sentence commutations for all January 6 defendants (Promise Kept: With the Stroke of a Pen, President Trump Issues Mass Pardons for J6 Defendants – RedState), a large number of them remained confined in the DC jail.

…The authority to hold these prisoners expired at midnight on Monday. The Fourteenth Amendment clearly states that the government can’t “deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.” Instead, they were subject to unlawful detention that is nearly indistinguishable from kidnapping or abduction.

This is from RedState columnist and former contributor Bill Shipley, who represented several dozen January 6 defendants and who is not given to hyperbole:

I’m just now getting up to speed on the problems at DOC in the District. 

This is UNBELIEVABLE. 

These defendants now have a civil rights suit against DC.   

The pardon’s were dated yesterday – 1/20.  Any lawful authority to keep a defendant in custody ended at 11:59 pm. 

Beyond that it was an “unlawful seizure” in violation of the 4th Amendment.   

Defendants are housed at DOC under a contract with the U.S. Marshal’s Service because there is not U.S. Govt holding facility in DC.   

The U.S. Marshal for the District of Columbia is a Presidential Appointee, and the USMS is part of the Justice Department.  So, what is apparently happening now is the Trump DOJ has directed the USMS to go into the DOC and physically remove those J6 defendants still being held. 

If I was giving the instructions, I would have DOC officials removed in handcuffs and taken across the river to EDVA to be held pending a investigation into Sec. 242 violations. 

As Sen. Lee posted yesterday — maybe it is time for Congress to revisit “Home Rule” in DC.

People in our government are not laws unto themselves–they are subject to the laws of the land and the chain of command.

A Disturbing, But Not Surprising, Story

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On Saturday, Red State posted an article about the workings of the Biden administration, including some comments by Speaker of the House Mike Johnson.

The article includes the following story:

JOHNSON: They wouldn’t let me meet with him, and his staff kept giving me excuses. This went on for like eight or nine weeks, “I’m sorry Mr. Speaker, he doesn’t have time.” What are you talking about? I’m second in line to the presidency, he has time. I need to talk to him. We had, I can’t say the classified parts, but we had some big national concerns at the time that I was losing sleep over. Finally, I just went to the whole press corps and said the president is not being allowed to meet with the speaker so they start putting pressure on him. 

Long story short, they finally relented, they invited me to the White House, I show up and I realize it’s actually an ambush because it’s not just me and the president. It’s actually Kamala Harris, Chuck Schumer, Hakeem, the CIA Director, and everybody, and then so I walk into the Oval, and I say, “Ah, I know what this is. They’re going to hotbox the Speaker on Ukraine funding.” That’s what it was. 

This is probably the third week of January. We sit down, we’re in the midst of it and I’m saying, “We don’t need to have this conversation.” The president reaches over, just like this, we were sitting right next to the fireplace in the Oval, and he says, “The Speaker and I just need a couple minutes together. We y’all just leave us alone?” And I looked up on the faces of some of staff standing around the wall, and they were like, “No, he did it.” 

He called it, he’s the commander in chief, so everybody leaves, and he and I are standing awkwardly in the middle of the Oval Office right over the rug by that coffee table, and I said, “Mr. President, thanks for the moments, you know, this is very important, I’ve got some big national security things I need to talk to you about that I’ve heard, and I think you know, but first, real quickly, Mr. President, can I ask you a question?”

“I can’t answer this for my constituents in Louisiana. Sir, why did you pause LNG exports? Liquified natural gas is in great demand by our allies, why would you do that? Cause you understand, we just talked about Ukraine, you understand you’re fueling Putin’s war machine?”  And he looked at me, stunned, and he said, “I didn’t do that.” And I said, “Mr. President, yes you did, it was an executive order like three weeks ago.” He said, “No, I didn’t do that,” he was arguing with me. 

The story continues:

That’s where things get even crazier. Biden went on to admit he signed an executive order, but he told Johnson that believed he had only authorized a study on the effects of LNG. 

JOHNSON: I said, “No you’re not sir, you paused it, I have the terminal, the export terminal in our state, I talked to those people this morning. This is doing massive damage to our economy, to our national security.”

I thought, “We are in serious trouble.” Who’s running the country?” I don’t know who put the paper in front of him, but he didn’t know.

In other words, someone had used subterfuge to get the President of the United States to sign an executive order he didn’t even know he was signing. Those around him were weaponizing his senility to push through their far-left agenda, and Biden wasn’t even sentient enough to notice. That is the very definition of shocking. 

There are four major points to note in this story:

1. President Biden’s staff was reluctant to have him meet with Speaker Johnson.

2. President Biden’s staff did not want him to meet with Speaker Johnson alone.

3. What President Biden signed was not what he was told he was signing.

4. Why did Speaker Johnson wait until now to tell this story?

I Suspect This May Be A Very Temporary Agreement

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The big news right now is the cease-fire agreement between Israel and Hamas. The fact that the hostages are coming home is wonderful, but I am not sure the rest of the deal will hold for very long if it happens. Hamas has a way of changing the rules on the way to the signing of an agreement. Right now, it is a great idea to get the hostages out, but with President Trump coming into office and Netanyahu in charge in Israel, I suspect Hamas is not going to be happy for very long.

On Wednesday, Red State reported:

On Wednesday, we reported that Israel and Hamas had reached a tentative ceasefire deal, which will result in the release of some of the terror group’s hostages. Debate has raged in the ensuing hours over whether it is a good deal for Israel and which American commander-in-chief deserves the credit: lame-duck President Joe Biden or incoming President-elect Donald Trump.

While we certainly hope for the release of all the hostages taken in Hamas’ savage Oct. 7, 2023 attack, their newest chief is sounding anything but peaceful. In fact, despite the deal being reached, Hamas leader Khalil al-Haya delivered a sick, bloodthirsty call for more violence and said he was “proud” of Oct. 7.

His words are deeply disturbing:

Hamas Leader Khalil al-Haya allegedly promised another October 7 style attack during a press conference Wednesday just after a tentative ceasefire was announced, according to multiple reports.

Al-Haya said that the Oct. 7 attacks on Israel “will forever be a source of pride for our people” and expressed no regret for the destruction caused by the terrorist group, according to multiple sources. As of Wednesday afternoon, a six-week ceasefire is set to begin on Sunday, with both sides set to exchange hostages and Israeli troops withdrawing from Gaza.

The article concludes:

The message continues to be delivered over and over again—usually by Hamas itself—that a civilized world cannot exist alongside such a barbaric death cult that believes in sadistic violence over everything else. Joe Biden could never wrap his head around this, but hopefully incoming President Donald Trump does understand it. While it would be beautiful to see some of the hostages released, the fact that the terrorists still hold them after all this time shows the depths of their depravity.

The reality is that there will be no true peace until these maniacal zealots are wiped off the face of the earth.

We can’t put Hamas in jail because they will take hostages to get their members back. The solution to the Hamas problem is one I don’t want to think about.

Laying Another Land Mine For The Trump Administration

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I wasn’t aware that the peaceful transition of power included laying land mines for the incoming administration, but apparently in the mind of President Biden, it does.

On Friday, Red State reported the following:

The press for years tried to sell you on the narrative that Joe Biden is a decent, genial, value-driven guy, but so many of his actions have proven otherwise. Since Donald Trump officially became the president-elect in November, the lame-duck commander-in-chief has been waxing poetic about a smooth transition, but almost every official act he takes is designed to kneecap Trump’s stated agenda—you know, the one the American people overwhelming chose over the Biden-Harris failed vision.

His latest move: extending temporary humanitarian protections for about 230,000 Salvadorans and 600,000 Venezuelans living in this country. It’s unclear how many of them are here illegally, but I don’t think it’s a stretch to say: a lot.

…Biden is making a mockery of the transition period and doing everything in his power to thwart Trump’s –and the American people’s—hopes and desires. He was all toothy grins when he met with the president-elect in the Oval Office in November, but behind the scenes he’s been consistently stabbing him in the back. Perhaps that was what he was smiling about like a diabolical comic book villain—he knew what he had in store for the incoming commander-in-chief.

I think it is time to consider carefully a constitutional amendment moving the inauguration day for an incoming President closer to the actual election. The amount of damage President Biden continues to do in his final days in office is staggering. I suspect we are all going to be shocked when the final list of pardons comes out.

Will Speaker Of The House Nancy Pelosi Have A Second Career As A Stockbroker?

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On Thursday, Red State posted an article reporting how well Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s stock trades did in 2024. She would make an amazing stock broker.

The article reports:

Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi has long been criticized for her seemingly uncanny ability to grow her investment portfolio at dizzyingly high rates of return. Pelosi and her husband Paul Pelosi have a combined net worth of nearly $250 million. In 2024, they managed to beat the S&P 500 stock index by 200 percent.

According to financial data platform Unusual Whales’ 2024 Congress Trading Report, the Pelosi portfolio grew 70.9 percent between December 29, 2023, and December 30, 2024, beating the S&P 500 stock index by nearly 200 percent in 2024 and continuing their year-over-year streak of outperforming the index. 

The Pelosis’ 2024 results exceeded their impressive 2023 performance of 65.5 percent, outperforming that year’s S&P 500 return of 24.8 percent by roughly 164 percent. 

The article includes the following chart:

Let’s get them all out of Congress and make them stock brokers!

Rats Deserting A Sinking Ship

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On Sunday, Red State posted an article about the resignation of Jay Bratt, a 30-plus-year veteran of the Department of Justice.

The article reports:

The Department of Justice official who pushed for the armed raid on Mar-a-Lago, which ended up with documents that were available for the asking and a chance to riffle through Melania’s underwear drawer, has retired. Jay Bratt, a 30-plus-year veteran of the Department of Justice, has tendered his resignation, saying staying on “wasn’t worth it.” 

…According to the report, Bratt, a senior executive service member, expected to be fired by incoming Attorney General Pam Bondi, and he would face a long-running and expensive “wrongful dismissal” lawsuit to be allowed to retire a la Andrew McCabe.

According to books and reporting on the issue, the FBI did not want to conduct a SWAT-style raid with shoot-to-kill orders on Mar-a-Lago, but Bratt insisted; see The Battle Over Raiding Mar-a-Lago: Some FBI Officials Were Concerned About the DOJ’s Ultimate Goal.

The article notes:

Bratt was also credibly accused of pressuring the attorney of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago valet into getting his client to testify against Trump in exchange for a federal judgeship.

In addition, Stanley Woodward, a lawyer representing Walt Nauta, a co-defendant in your classified documents case against President Trump, accused you of improperly pressuring him by implying that the Biden Administration would look more favorably on Mr. Woodward’s candidacy for a judgeship if his client cooperated with the Office of the Special Counsel.10 According to Mr. Woodward, you advised him that you “wouldn’t want [him] to do anything to mess that up,” in reference to Mr. Woodward’s judgeship application, and your desire to turn his client into a government cooperator.

The article concludes:

Somehow, we’re all supposed to be concerned about the mass exodus of “seasoned government lawyers and FBI agents” who engaged in lawfare against President Trump and members of his 2017-2021 team. They could have learned a valuable life lesson by watching the HBO series “The Wire” before engaging in political warfare against the once and future president.

The people who conducted the illegal lawfare against President Trump and many other Republicans assumed that they would be in power indefinitely and would never be held accountable for their actions. I suspect that assumption is about to be proven false. I hope so.

Thank God For The Amish

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On Tuesday, Red State posted an article about the ongoing recovery efforts in western North Carolina following Hurricane Helene (in late September). There are still people sleeping in tents, and western North Carolina is cold right now!

The article reports:

The people of Western North Carolina have had a stable Christmas and will definitely have a happier New Year thanks to a number of organizations, from Samaritan’s Purse to United Cajun Navy to individuals like Shawn Hendrix, Chris Hall, and so many others. They have worked (and are still working) to provide food, shelter, and resources to the families affected by September’s Hurricane Helene disaster, and they also brought Christmas to everyone in the region who experienced the devastation of their homes and their lives. 

But the Amish of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, have risen like cream to the top. This is not even their region of the country, but a group of them with “Cabins for Christ” came down in October, created campsites for themselves away from the wreckage so that they would not disrupt the cleanup and assessment, and set themselves to build homes for the people who had lost theirs.

But to no one’s surprise, the resurrection of Western North Carolina will have little to do with the governmental agency that is supposed to be boots on the ground in the midst of disaster: The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). They claim, “Our mission is helping people before, during and after disasters. Our core values and goals help us achieve it.” Tragically, despite billions being poured into their coffers, they haven’t achieved much for the citizens of Western North Carolina who had their homes destroyed by Helene. And winter is already here, and more storms are coming.

Twelve homes in 48 hours versus three homes over three months.

The article includes the following:

A spokesperson for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, apologized Wednesday in response to a question from WBTV about why the agency failed to deliver dozens of travel trailers and manufactured homes to North Carolina residents displaced by Hurricane Helene.

Our questions came after a FEMA spokesperson told WBTV the week of Thanksgiving that the agency would deliver a total of 103 temporary travel trailers and manufactured homes to families in North Carolina by the end of that week. At the time, FEMA had delivered 27 homes.

By Wednesday, Dec. 4, FEMA had still only delivered 46 homes — well short of the number of promised temporary homes.

WBTV learned that more than 500 families have been approved for a FEMA travel trailer or manufactured home in the wake of Helene. The agency’s slow deployment of the homes means hundreds of families are weathering the snow and freezing temperatures currently hitting the North Carolina mountains.

This is unacceptable and hopefully will change in the next month.

Joe Manchin Burns His Bridges On The Way Out

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On Sunday, Red State posted an article about a few of Senator Joe Manchin’s statements as he is leaving the Senate. He is definitely burning a few bridges.

The article reports:

Sen. Joe Manchin (I-WV) is still bitter about how his ex-party treated him, and he’s wearing that animosity on his sleeve. In an interview that aired Sunday, the soon-to-be ex-senator sat down with CNN and set the Democratic Party on fire, calling it “toxic.” Manchin also took a clear shot at Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and what is left of “the squad.”

“The D-brand has been so maligned from the standpoint of, it’s just, it’s toxic,” Manchin told CNN’s Manu Raju in an interview airing Sunday, citing the shift as the reason why he left the party.    

Adding that he no longer considers himself a Democrat “in the form of what Democratic Party has turned itself into,” Manchin — who has long been a pivotal swing vote in the Senate — said the party’s brand has become about telling people what they can and can’t do, blaming progressives for the change.    

“They have basically expanded upon thinking, ‘Well, we want to protect you there, but we’re going to tell you how you should live your life from that far on,’” Manchin added.    

Manchin cast progressives — a small number of lawmakers within the party who he claims have an outsize influence — as being out of touch with the majority of Americans.    

“This country is not going left,” he said.    

…He added: “You might say, ‘That’s too far right.’ OK. If that’s the case, then why did they go too far right when Kamala was trying to come back to the middle a little bit?”    

Instead, Manchin blamed Vice President Harris’ loss on her inability to cast herself as a moderate candidate after championing progressive issues during her first presidential run in 2019.    

“If you try to be somebody you’re not, it’s hard,” Manchin said. He declined to endorse the vice president ahead of the election.    

The article concludes:

Manchin will likely retire for good after leaving the Senate in January. His desire to run for governor in West Virginia appears to have been quelled, and he can forever say “I told you so” to the former colleagues who stabbed him in the back.

Senator Manchin was never a reliable vote for either the Democrats or the Republicans. He eventually caved on the Inflation Reduction Act after he was promised something regarding permitting on energy. The Democrats eventually reneged on that promise, which might explain some of his hostility toward the party. Generally speaking, he was a good middle-or-the-road Senator who voted with his party.

Every State Is Now A Border State

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On Tuesday, Red State reported that a suspected terrorist, initially detained in Texas but then set free, has been caught in Brooklyn. Why was he set free?

The article reports:

First: This suspected terrorist was “detained” — it’s unclear as to why this word is used, but “detained” is not the same thing as “arrested” — and then he was released. Why? He was picked up for criminal trespassing and just let go? He was in the country illegally; why was he released into the country instead of being hustled forthwith back across the border?

Second: How did he get to Brooklyn? Did he meet anyone there? What do we know about who he was hanging out with and what, if anything, he planned to do?

Third: The investigation revealed he was on a terrorist watch list. Well, that’s good, and it’s good that he was caught before he got up to something bad. But why release him if this investigation was still ongoing? He should have been detained until the investigation was complete, and then he should have been given a one-way ticket back to South Africa.

Fourth and finally: How many more would-be terrorists just like this are out there that have not been caught? Where are they, and what are they doing right now?

The article concludes:

At least he’s now “pending removal,” by which we may infer “awaiting deportation,” preferably assisted on his way by a size 12 Border Patrol boot to the backside. But this is just another illustration of the Biden administration’s disastrous open-border policy; who knows what this suspected terrorist may have gotten up to, and it is only luck and some persistence on the part of the Border Patrol that finally identified him, scooped him up and dropped him into the crowbars.

January 20th can’t come soon enough.

Let’s send everyone home who is here illegally until we can sort out the good guys from the bad guys.

Is Anyone Surprised By This?

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There has been some serious hand wringing about the creation of a new government department–the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) headed by Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy. I am sure there are many bureaucrats in Washington that will say it is completely unnecessary. However, the numbers tell the story.

On Sunday, Red State reported:

It was reported on Friday that the Pentagon, the nation’s largest government agency, failed its seventh audit in a row, still unable to fully account for its more than $824 billion budget. Worry not, suggested Pentagon officials, who stressed that they’re making “good progress” toward a clean audit in 2028.

Two thousand twenty-eight? Something tells me that in the minds of Elon and Vivek, more than four years isn’t good enough.

According to reports, the Department of Defense — led by often-under-fire Secretary Lloyd Austin –technically earned a disclaimer of opinion, meaning it failed to provide sufficient information to auditors to form an accurate opinion. 

First question: Why? I’ll venture a guess that the answer is because sufficient information was nowhere to be found, which raises the second question: Why not?

The article concludes:

Incidentally, the Pentagon has never passed an audit since the agency became legally obligated to conduct them in 2018. 

Without mentioning names, as I suggested earlier, I have a feeling that the Defense Department will be held fully accountable for both its expenditures and its initiatives long before 2028.

I think I’ll just leave it here, for now.

The next two years are going to be very interesting.

Fighting The Fraud Before The Election

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On Wednesday, Red State posted an article about one of the legal cases brought by the Republicans to insure that everyone has the opportunity to vote.

The article reports:

The Donald Trump Campaign and the Pennsylvania GOP won a huge victory today in their efforts to force the Bucks County, Pennsylvania, government to permit voters to request mail-in ballots in person.

The campaign filed a lawsuit on Wednesday, documenting how county officials broke state law and turned away voters hours before the deadline (see Trump Campaign Suing Over Voter Suppression in Major Swing State). This was after video surfaced of a police officer and skeevy individuals, some later identified as local Democrat activists, wearing “Voter Protection” badges but with no visible identification credentials shutting down the line at 1:45 p.m. when the law required the line to stay open to 4:30 p.m.

The article concludes:

There is no indication of any interest on the part of the State of Pennsylvania in why a uniformed police officer and seemingly unauthorized persons countermanded Governor Josh Shapiro’s instructions and state law.

This is the second case in Pennsylvania where early voting has been obstructed, and the courts have stepped in to extend voting deadlines.

I hate the idea that from now on all American elections are going to be decided in the courts, but it sure is looking that way. When there is election interference, there needs to be immediate legal intervention, and the people responsible need to pay a serious price for their actions.

Please follow the link to read the article. There are a number of pictures illustrating actions that were probably illegal.

An Interesting Aspect Of The Death Of Yahya Sinwar

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On Thursday, Yahya Sinwar was killed by Israeli forces. There are some interesting aspects of his death.

On Thursday, Red State posted some interesting details:

On Thursday, October 17th, Yahya Sinwar finally met his deserved end. The mastermind behind the October 7th attacks in Israel, which killed over 1200 people, ate a tank shell after he and two of his bodyguards were located inside the upper floor of a building.

…It’s an incredible scene. A man who committed such evil acts was left sitting in a destroyed room full of debris and tossing a stick while resigning himself to what was coming. He knew he was done for. There was no further attempt to escape, if he was even physically capable of moving, and moments later, another tank shell would finish the job. That’s how the story of Hamas’ leader ended. Not in a grand battle, but cowering in a chair like the rat he was.

It’ll be interesting to find out why Sinwar was above ground at this point. With only two bodyguards around him, one being a UNRWA teacher, there didn’t appear to be much left of Hamas as an operation. It had been reported numerous times over the last year that Sinwar liked to surround himself with hostages. None were found in this location, though, which could indicate he was trying to lower his profile and draw less attention.

Not being underground could also be a result of the IDF’s relentless clearing of Hamas’ tunnel complexes. There may have been nowhere else for Sinwar to go at this late stage. Certainly, his death and the circumstances speak to Israel’s success in destroying Hamas. Whatever mumblings have come from politicians about the terrorist government’s demise being impossible, the IDF sure has made it possible, and in the current technological age, we are seeing it play out like never before.

Again, one of his bodyguards was an UNRWA teacher. It really is time for the United Nations to go away. Instead of seeking the peace they were supposedly created to establish, they are siding with terrorists.

State Interference With Hurricane Relief

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I live in North Carolina, so I hear a lot of stories from people with friends and relatives out in the western part of the state. The only good news is the number of people who have joined up with groups and gone out there to help. It’s not a good idea to go by yourself, but hooking up with a group and going is a great idea. Samaritan’s Purse and the Cajun Navy are good groups to partner with. However, there have been some state and federal government groups that have been less than helpful.

On Wednesday, Red State reported the following:

As RedState reported on Tuesday, Brian Trascher, Vice President and PIO of the United Cajun Navy, confirmed the Sunday “rotor washing” event at one of their Hurricane Helene relief stations in North Carolina by what he surmised was a UH60 Blackhawk helicopter.

The article notes:

The North Carolina National Guard (NCNG) is aware of an incident involving a NCNG UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter during a delivery of generators at the request of a local civilian organization to power their distribution outpost in western North Carolina.

While attempting to land, rotor wash caused items to blow away from the local distribution set up by a group of civilians in the area. The crew immediately identified the situation, aborted the landing for safety reasons, and departed the area.

This incident is currently under investigation and the crew has been grounded until the investigation is complete. The NCNG is working with the identified local civilian organization to assess the level of damage caused by the rotor wash.

…There is much-deserved ire against the federal government and its response—or lack thereof—to the Hurricane Helene tragedy in Western North Carolina. The fact that their own state national guard made this error only adds fuel to the fire of the people’s anger. The NCNG probably knew it would only be a matter of time before the discovery that it was their helicopter involved in the incident, so they got ahead of it in order to distract focus off them. This is CYA at its most disgraceful.

In my phone conversation with him on Monday, I asked United Cajun Navy’s Trascher about his suspicions about who it could be, and he mentioned the state’s Air National Guard. “They would answer to the governor of whatever state they came home to, and their own guard general,” Trascher said.

This may have actually been an innocent oversight, but it only adds fuel to the fire. The victims of Hurricane Helene have had almost as much damage done to them by the government (state and federal) as they did from the hurricane.

When Did Americans Become Second-Class Citizens In America?

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On Saturday, Red State posted an article about some changes to the plan for transporting children to school in Stoughton, Massachusetts.

The article reports:

Another day, and another example of taxpayers getting hosed while illegal immigrants get free handouts. This time, it’s the Boston-area suburb of Stoughton, Massachusetts, where parents of 150 schoolchildren have been informed at the last moment that their kids won’t be able to ride the bus to school. The school district has cited “a lack of funding and a shortage of buses.” But is that really it?

The article quotes The Boston Herald:

The 150 students at Stoughton Public Schools will have to find a new way to get to school ahead of the academic year’s September 4 start date, the Boston Herald first reported. The news comes at the same time that the state has started paying for buses for the migrant students of the more than 200 migrant families that recently moved into their community. 

“Unfortunately, for the upcoming 2024-2025 school year, 150 secondary students who signed up to ride a bus were not able to be placed on a bus,” a letter sent to parents from Superintendent of Schools Joseph Baeta read. “Those families not receiving bus transportation were notified this week. Those receiving bus transportation will receive their bus postcards the week of August 19.”

…There is no requirement in the state of Massachusetts to provide transportation for students in grades 7-12, but the district is required to provide busing to students living in hotels and shelters, the letter said. However, according to the superintendent, the arrival of migrant families in Stoughton is not the reason for the shortage of buses.

“We are utilizing funding the state provides to the district to bus the students living in hotels/shelters,” the letter said. “The funding for these two buses does not come from our operational budget. It is inaccurate to suggest that these children receiving busing is the reason yours did not. If we were not receiving the funding from the state for the students living in hotels/shelters, we would not be able to have these two additional buses.”

The article concludes:

This, folks, is why we have school board elections – and elections in general. The Biden/Harris administration hasn’t just been bad on this issue of illegal immigration, they haven’t shown up at all. Their policy has been a non-policy, except when it comes to processing illegal aliens into the country even faster.

As for the taxpayers in Stoughton, Massachusetts, there is an old military acronym that applies: BOHICA.

School Board Elections matter and Presidential elections matter.

When The Mainstream Media Simply Makes Up Stories

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On Thursday, Red State posted an article about a story the mainstream media simply made up.

The article reports:

According to Woodruff ((long-time reporter Judy Woodruff), who was anchoring PBS News’ live coverage from the DNC, Trump colluded with the Israeli prime minister to stop a ceasefire deal in Gaza because it would “help” Harris. Here are her original comments, which occurred on Monday evening.

WOODRUFF: The reporting is that former President Trump is on the phone with the prime minister of Israel urging him not to cut a deal right now because it’s believed that would help the Harris campaign. I don’t know where, I don’t know, who knows whether that will come about or not, but I have to think the Harris campaign would like for President Biden to do what presidents do, which is to work on that one, and maybe there are some other domestic issues that, you know, they’d like to see come home.

That’s quite the accusation, and one you’d think a seasoned reporter wouldn’t make without impeccable sourcing. It smacks of the Russian collusion hoax, being yet another claim that Trump is somehow using foreign sources to “interfere” in the election.

Just for the record, it would be foolish for Prime Minister Netanyahu to accept any deal the allows Hamas to regroup and repeat their actions of October 7th.

The article explains what happened when Judy Woodruff was caught in the lie:

Woodruff then went back on air to offer a quasi-clarification, explaining that she was just repeating reporting from Axios and Reuters.

The only problem with that claim was that neither Axios or Reuters had ever reported the story.

The article notes:

Worse for Woodruff, both articles she cited on Trump and Netanyahu said the former president encouraged the prime minister to take the deal (with the same source saying he wasn’t sure). Later, Netanyahu would deny the phone call even took place.

The article concludes:

At no point did any news outlet report that Trump told Netanyahu to not take a deal with Hamas, much less for political reasons as Woodruff claimed. She made the story up out of whole cloth, and then, instead of admitting it, doubled down on lying about it by blaming other outlets. That’s a breach of journalistic ethics that would make Dan Rather blush. That she hasn’t been pulled off the air and punished is more proof that PBS shouldn’t be getting a dime of public funding.

You tax dollars paid for these lies. It’s time to stop funding PBS. Let them discover the free market and sink or swim.

Some Things To Be Aware Of

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Kamala Harris’ choice of Tim Walz for her Vice-Presidential nominee is an interesting choice. The mainstream media is touting Walz as a long-serving veteran of the National Guard, but there is other information indicating that his service did not necessarily end as indicated in his publicity information.

On August 8, Red State posted an article detailing some of the problems with Tim Walz using his military service as a positive talking point.

The article notes:

The media has been torn over the subject. CNN debunked Walz’s claims that he served in combat (see Even CNN Torches Tim Walz in Blistering Fact Check About Carrying Weapon ‘In War’ – RedState). But the preponderance of evidence is beginning to indicate that Walz himself portrayed his service as duty in combat. A Bloomberg profile posted the day of Walz’s announcement specifically says that Walz served in Iraq. It has since been edited with no explanation of how the error came to be (see NEW: The Tim Walz Stolen Valor Scandal Just Got Much Worse Following Bombshell Report – RedState).

The Harris campaign has sought to minimize Walz’s lack of manliness by denigrating JD Vance’s service in the US Marine Corps in Anbar Province, Iraq. A top Harris surrogate claimed that Vance had not served in the military; see Top Harris Surrogate’s Claim About Vance’s Military Service Is So Disgusting Jim Acosta Has to Jump In – RedState and Harris and Walz Using the ‘Big Lie’ With No Media Pushback Portends a Very Ugly Campaign – RedState.

It is pretty obvious that Walz left the National Guard to avoid being deployed. A lot of people did that. It is not unusual. The problem in Walz’s case has to do with his role in his unit. One of the lessons learned in Vietnam was that units that were deployed intact had a better success rate than units where individuals were swapped out as individuals. Unit continuity is an important part of success, and units that trained together and deployed together generally had better survival rates. Walz was the top non-commissioned officer in his unit, and the unit depended on his leadership. When he left abruptly after saying he would stay, he left a large vacuum. That is a problem the most veterans will acknowledge. Whether or not they will vote for him I don’t know, but it is a problem.

Please follow the link to the article for further illustrations of the media attempting to put a lot of lipstick on a pig.

The Third Generation Of A Dynasty?

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On Wednesday night, Kai Madison Trump, the oldest daughter of Donald Trump, Jr., spoke at the Republican convention. The young lady is 17 and was poised, articulate, and painted a wonderful picture of her grandfather.

On Wednesday night, Red State reported:

On day three of the Republican National Convention, Donald Trump, Jr. brought out his oldest daughter, Kai, to the stage because she wanted to tell the audience and those watching on television who former President Donald Trump is as a grandfather, something you will never hear from the mainstream media.

The young Trump started off her speech by saying:

Hi everyone, my name is Kai Madison Trump. I am the granddaughter of Donald Trump. I’m speaking today to share the side of my grandpa that people don’t often see. To me, he’s just a normal grandpa. He gives us candy and soda when our parents aren’t looking; he always wants to know how we’re doing in school. 

When I made the high honor roll, he printed it out to show his friends how proud he was of me. He calls me during the middle of the school day to ask how my golf game is going and tells me all about his. But then I have to remind him that I’m in school and I’ll have to call him back later. When we play golf together, if I’m not on his team, he’ll try to get inside my head, and he’s always surprised that I don’t let him get to me. But I have to remind him I’m a Trump, too. Even when he’s going through all these court cases, he always asks me how I’m doing. He always encourages me to push myself to be the most successful person I can be. Obviously, he sets the bar pretty high, but who knows, maybe one day I’ll catch him.

She represented the America we used to know–family, faith, and wholesomeness.

This was a great moment. It provided a wonderful contrast with the way the media has painted Donald Trump. Americans need to remember that Donald Trump is a person, just like the rest of us. The hatred and vitriol need to stop.

The Deal Offered

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On June 1st, Red State posted an article about the peace proposal offered to Israel by President Biden.

These are the details:

Let me provide a little context. Israel has evacuated almost all of Rafah. They have also secured the Egyptian border region and seized the center of the city. There is nothing left to do but clear out the tunnel complexes and finish off Hamas as a military and governing authority. 

With that as the backdrop, Biden is still demanding a “complete ceasefire” and the removal of Israeli forces from Gaza. That would be “phase one” of this stupid proposal, which would allow Hamas to regroup and rearm. What would Israel get in return? The release of “some hostages” and some dead bodies of those murdered by the terrorist group. 

Then there’s “phase two,” which would be a “permanent ceasefire” and an “exchange” for the release of the remaining “living hostages.” Yes, the Biden administration is glossing over the fact that Hamas has executed hostages. Still, the worst part of that line is that Israel would be expected to exchange terrorists who murdered or attempted to murder Israelis even to get those still alive back. 

Of course, “phase three” would be the rest of us paying to rebuild schools that taught Gazan children how to commit terrorist attacks while shouting how much they hate Jews. Isn’t your government great?

Let’s be honest. We all know why Biden put that explainer out minutes before Shabbat took effect (meaning many Israelis wouldn’t see the news). He wanted to try to paint Israel into a corner and force them to accept terrible terms that would ensure Hamas’ continued rule.

The article includes a screenshot of Israel’s response:

I believe that Hamas crossed a line on October 7th. Hamas may be able to manipulate world opinion to some degree, but Israel remembers October 7th and still awaits the return of the hostages. To release terrorists in exchange for hostages (or the dead bodies of hostages) and allow Hamas to regroup would be folly. Most sensible people realize that. To return Gaza to the control of those who support Hamas would only pave the way for another October 7th style attack. My prayer is that Prime Minister Netanyahu will stand strong to preserve the safety of Israel.

Curiouser And Curiouser

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Curiouser and Curiouser is a phrase from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. I am using it here to refer to an article I posted on Sunday about a shooting in North Carolina. A Chechen man was shot by a  Fort Liberty (formerly Fort Bragg) Special Forces officer under strange circumstances.

On Monday, Red State posted more information about the shooting.

The article includes a quote from The Moore Country Sheriff’s Office:

Daraev (Ramzan Daraev) was reported to have been working as a subcontractor for Utilities One, a company based in New Jersey, at the time of his death. Investigators are still working to verify his official employment status. At the time of the incident, Daraev was not in possession of any utility equipment, utility clothing, or identification. The incident has been reported to the U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).

I am not sure OSHA should have been the agency contacted.

Red State reports:

First, most utilities send some kind of notice to residents that there will be workers/subcontractors out in the field who might access their property. This is an especially good idea in rural North Carolina, and an even better idea in an area so close to Fort Bragg/Liberty, where so many Special Forces soldiers live. Apparently there was no such notification in this case.

Second, generally utilities workers, even if subcontractors, wear some kind of identifying gear and/or reflective vests. Daraev was found 250 yards (more than the length of two football fields) from the roadway and along a power line, according to the MCSD. The Sandhills area of North Carolina (where Carthage is located) is extremely wooded and it’s strange that Daraev wasn’t at least be wearing a reflective vest, since that’s hunting country. It’s also interesting that MCSD doesn’t say what Daraev was wearing when he was shot. Was he wearing camouflage?

Please follow the link above to read the entire article. There are a lot of unanswered questions in this story.

 

Can Lies Get Him Re-elected?

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Recently President Biden did a sit-down interview with CNN’s Erin Burnett. She didn’t ask him any really hard questions, but she did ask about his current low standing in the polls. On Wednesday, Red State posted some highlights from the interview and also did some fact checking.

The article reports:

Burnett said that the polls showed that voters trusted former President Donald Trump more on the economy. She ticked off several problems with the Biden economy including the cost of buying a home which has doubled, real income is down, economic growth is down “far short of expectations,” and consumer confidence was at a “two-year low.”

“With less than six months to go until Election Day, are you worried you’re running out of time to turn that around?” she asked him. Biden looked out of it while she was talking, and his response was pure denial of reality.

…”We’ve already turned around,” Biden claimed falsely. He simply refuses to accept the facts, claiming the polling data “has been wrong.”

Bottom line? Trump is ahead in the polls, including in all the swing states. That’s what Joe can’t deal with.

…Then he straight-up lied and said that inflation was at 9 percent when he came into office.

In fact, inflation was at 1.4 percent when he came in and he helped to drive it up above 9 percent.

Recently President Biden blamed corporate greed for the inflation problem. What he fails to note is that corporations are in business to make money. It is not up to him to decide how much money corporations make. Generally speaking, the free market determines profit margins. If the government would get out of the way of the free market, they might see the beginning of a true economic recovery.

Where Is Congress? Where Are The Courts? Who Is Representing The Citizens?

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I remember a time in America when if you committed a crime you went to jail. And everyone who committed that same crime went to jail. And if you committed a serious crime like murder, you were kept in jail without bail. Well, those days are gone. Murderers are let out without bail, and January 6th prisoners have been in jail for more than three years with no bail and no trials. Some of the January 6th defendants are guilty of simply walking through the Capitol after the Capitol Police opened the doors for them. Meanwhile, people guilty of serious crimes are walking free.

On Saturday, Red State posted an article about former Trump aide Peter Navarro. Peter Navarro is serving jail time because he ignored a congressional subpoena.

Meanwhile, the article at Red State reports:

U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes laid into Department of Justice lawyers Friday for telling DOJ Tax Division attorneys to ignore congressional subpoenas even as prosecutors sent former Trump aide Peter Navarro to prison for doing just that.

Does the law apply to everyone or are only Trump supporters subject to the law?

The article notes a Politico report:

Politico reports that she was appalled by the blatant hypocrisy:

“There’s a person in jail right now because you all brought a criminal lawsuit against him because he did not appear for a House subpoena,” Reyes said, referring to the recent imprisonment of Peter Navarro, a former Trump trade adviser, for defying a subpoena from the Jan. 6 select committee. “And now you guys are flouting those subpoenas. … And you don’t have to show up?”

“I think it’s quite rich you guys pursue criminal investigations and put people in jail for not showing up,” but then direct current executive branch employees to take the same approach, the judge added. “You all are making a bunch of arguments that you would never accept from any other litigant.”

The article concludes:

The DOJ’s position on this matter once again shows their blatant two-tiered view of justice—Peter Navarro sits in a Miami prison cell for defying a subpoena, but Hunter Biden is walking around a free man and enjoying the White House Easter Egg roll despite blowing off his own order to appear. Meanwhile, the Department is counseling its own lawyers to defy the House. 

Politico called the judge’s takedown of the DOJ a “remarkable, frenetic thrashing,” and I for one hope they get plenty more of that as more and more people wake up to how profoundly they’ve politicized and weaponized the department.

Does anyone in Congress or in Washington have the intestinal fortitude to stand up for the rule of law that all of us are supposed to be living under?