Tag Archives: House of Representatives

Trying To Get Back To Where We Started

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Up until 2008, there was a definite process for funding our government. It involved separate spending bills for each department. Up until that time, there were still government shutdowns, but they were rare. The current House of Representatives is trying to bring us back to the regular order of passing budgets.

On Saturday, The Daily Signal reported:

The House of Representatives took a major step toward averting another government shutdown when it passed a funding package Thursday. 

But perhaps more importantly, House Freedom Caucus members influenced the process around the bill’s consideration in ways they say could help government spending in the future.

The House’s “minibus” package covers three of the 12 funding areas for the federal government: Energy-Water, Interior-Environment, and Commerce-Justice-Science. Appropriators have attempted to reconcile both chambers’ priorities, and the package will be considered in the Senate next week.

The article concludes:

House Freedom Caucus Chairman Andy Harris, R-Md., told The Daily Signal after the vote on Thursday that he views the outcome as a victory for his caucus, which has long called for separate votes on individual appropriations bills.

“We’ve already done away with what we call the ‘Christmas omnibus’ [where] you pile all 12 bills together, you work them out in a smoke-filled room, nobody has any chance to say anything about them,” Harris said.

“What we did today for the first time ever is say, ‘oh, and by the way, we’re going to have a separate vote on some of the bills,’” he added.

Harris also praised the stripping of the “very offensive million-dollar earmark to a Somali led organization where the brother of the organizer was arrested as a terrorist.”

In Harris’ view, the process this process should be replicated in the future.

“The framework we’ve laid out, especially this past week, allows us to… return to… what we call regular order: Each bill considered separately, amendments allowed on the floor—you know, the way it was when I first came here, and the way we should return to.”

The legislation could still face headwinds in the Senate, though, where Paul is complaining of “billions in refugee money” in the bills.

There is too much pork in the bills. However, until we elect people who actually have a sense of fiscal responsibility, we have to consider what will actually pass Congress.

Why The Census Matters

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The  Census matters. It impacts our elections by determining the number of electors a state gets in the Electoral College. If non-citizens are included in the census, certain states will get more Electoral College votes (and more representatives in the House of Representatives) than they are actually entitled to.

On Friday, The Daily Wire posted an article explaining how the census impacted the 2024 presidential election.

The article reports:

There is no doubt that President-elect Donald Trump has won a sweeping victory, becoming only the second U.S. president to be elected to a second, non-consecutive term in one of the most remarkable political comeback stories in American history. But his victory in the Electoral College would’ve been even bigger if two factors hadn’t cheated him out of the additional votes he should have received. 

Why do I say this? Because of the jarring errors the Census Bureau admitted it made in its population numbers for multiple states, and its unfair inclusion of aliens in the population used for congressional apportionment. That inclusion dilutes the votes of U.S. citizens, distorting representation in the U.S. House of Representatives and in the Electoral College.

The article notes:

First, the costly errors. In 2022, the Census Bureau issued a report in which it announced that a post-census survey revealed that its count was wrong in 14 states. It undercounted the populations of Arkansas, Florida, Illinois, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Texas, while overcounting the populations of Delaware, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Rhode Island, and Utah. The errors ranged from a low of 1.49% to a high of 6.79%. 

I realize that this is just an incredible coincidence, but only one of the under-counted states, Illinois, voted for Vice-President Kamala Harris, and only two of the over-counted states, Ohio and Utah, voted for President Trump.

The article notes:

The final result with these corrections? As this article was being written, Trump had 295 Electoral College votes to Harris’s 226, with Arizona and Nevada still outstanding. But adjusting for the errors and inclusion of aliens means that Trump actually should have won 304 votes and Harris should only have 220 (not including Arizona’s 11 votes and Nevada’s 6 votes). In a close election, even those numbers could make a difference. 

This fundamental injustice ought to be fixed. There is no excuse for what happened at the Census Bureau. It needs a major review of its personnel, procedures and policies, to determine the cause of its mistakes. It did not make this large a substantive error in the 2010 Census, in which the Bureau’s post-census survey disclosed a mere 0.01 percent overcount. 

We need to require a more accurate census. Also, the census needs to include only American citizens. Our government should not be representing people who are not citizens.

Curiouser And Curiouser

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On Thursday, The Epoch Times posted an article about the person who attempted to assassinate President Trump. We have a whole lot more questions about that attempt than we do answers.

The article reports:

The man who fired shots at former President Donald Trump during a rally in Pennsylvania had encrypted accounts in multiple countries, according to a member of the U.S. House of Representatives task force investigating the attempted assassination.

“We haven’t learned much about those overseas accounts,” Rep. Michael Waltz (R-Fla.) said at a press conference in Chicago on Aug. 21. “We do know they were in … Belgium, New Zealand, and Germany.”

Waltz is on the “Task Force on the Attempted Assassination of Donald J. Trump.”

…“Why does a 19-year-old kid who is a health care aide need encrypted platforms, not even based in the United States, but based abroad, where most terrorist organizations know it is harder for our law enforcement to get into?” Waltz said.

He said that the question had not yet been answered.

The article concludes:

Acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe Jr. told Congress in July that discipline may follow once the agency finishes its internal probe into the situation.

“That roof should have had better coverage, and we will get to the bottom of if there were any policy violations,” he said at one point.

Rowe added later that he would not provide real-time updates on disciplinary measures but would “at a high level provide at least some type of statement that people are being held accountable.”

Kimberly Cheatle, who was the Secret Service’s director before stepping down after Trump was nearly assassinated, said on July 22 that the Secret Service’s initial report about rally security would be ready in 60 days.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s inspector general is also conducting an investigation.

I don’t care if there were any policy violations–a President was almost killed while supposedly under Secret Service protections. Heads need to roll.

I Hate To Discriminate On The Basis Of Age, But…

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On Sunday, Politico reported that New Jersey Representative Bill Pascrell Jr.is back in the hospital after returning home briefly after a three-week stay in the hospital. Representative Pascrell is 87 years old. Why is he still in Congress?

Statista has a graph on its website showing the mean age of Congress. Here is the chart:

Mean age of Members of Congress in the United States from 2009 to 2023

According to usafacts.org , only 17.3 percent of America’s population is age 65 or older and 18.9 percent is ages 50 to 64. To be fully representative, the age of Congress needs to move down to somewhere between 50 and 60 to be truly representative.

Representative Pascrell will probably get re-elected and may be in attendance for at least some of the House of Representatives activities, but wouldn’t it be wise for the voters of New Jersey to find someone a bit younger?

 

A Step In The Right Direction

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On Wednesday, The Epoch Times reported that the House of Representatives has passed the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act (SAVE), which requires proof of citizenship to vote in federal elections in America.

The article notes:

The bill was approved in a mostly party-line vote of 221–198.

Five Democrats—Reps. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas), Donald Davis (D-N.C.), Jared Golden (D-Maine), Vincente Gonzalez Jr. (D-Texas), and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (D-Wash.)—joined all Republicans in voting for the legislation. Other Democrats opposed the bill, arguing that it’s redundant with existing prohibitions on noncitizen voting.

Are these the same people who are giving instructions on how to register to vote to illegal aliens at the southern border?

The article reports some of the discussion:

It would also require states to purge their voter rolls of any current noncitizens, in part by giving states no-cost access to databases run by the Department of Homeland Security and Social Security Administration.

In a whip notice, House Minority Whip Katherine Clark (D-Mass.) advised Democrats against voting for the legislation, saying that it “irresponsibly [calls] into question the credibility of our elections.”

Democrats say that under the terms of the bill, it would become more difficult for natural-born and naturalized citizens to register to vote.

“It is already illegal under current law for noncitizens to register to vote or to vote in federal elections,” Ms. Clark’s office stated.

Republicans acknowledge that federal law technically prohibits voting by illegal immigrants, but they say there are loopholes that make it possible for an illegal immigrant to vote.

…Republicans’ concerns are primarily related to the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (NVRA), dubbed the Motor Voter law, which allows people to register to vote at the same time that they pick up a driver’s license from a Department of Motor Vehicles or other state agency.

Foreigners living permanently in the United States are encouraged to get a U.S. driver’s license; 19 states and the District of Columbia allow illegal immigrants to obtain driver’s licenses.

The NVRA does not allow states to ask for documentary proof of citizenship, instead requiring that they take an individual’s word that they are a citizen unless the individual’s eligibility is called into question.

There are non-citizens currently voting in our elections. The penalty for voting when you are not a citizen needs to be deportation, and that rule needs to be enforced. I believe that will help solve the problem.

 

What You Need To Register To Vote In California

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On Tuesday, The Federalist posted an article about voter registration in California. The article illustrates the reason Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives are trying to pass a law requiring proof of citizenship to vote.

The article reports:

In California, voters with no government ID can still vote so long as they show a gym membership, credit card, utility bill, or other low-security identification.

Individuals wishing to register to vote in California are prompted on the secretary of state’s website to provide their driver’s license identification number and/or the last four digits of their Social Security number. But both sections give applicants the option to select a box indicating they lack that form of identification.

If an applicant checks both boxes, he would later be prompted to provide other identification, the California secretary of state’s office told The Federalist. Upon further inquiry, an office representative said individuals could provide proof of identity by showing items such as a credit card, a utility bill, or their gym membership.

When I called back for additional clarification, the woman told me she had been informed not to speak to the press, and gave me an email address to try.

In response to my email, the secretary of state’s press office affirmed that if “an applicant cannot be validated [using his driver’s license number or SSN], they are required to show ID at the polls the first time they vote.”

The email directed me to a state statute that lists acceptable documents with which voters who have no SSN or driver’s license may prove their identity. The list includes a “health club identification card” or other “identification card provided by a commercial establishment,” a credit or debit card, student ID, a bank statement, a utility bill, an insurance card, or even a sample ballot, among other options.

The article notes:

Once a prior license is terminated, the prior state can also cancel the individual’s voter registration associated with that license. In contrast, gym cards, or non-photo IDs like utility bills, don’t tell election officials anything about whether that voter is already registered to vote in another state.

Remember Smokey The Bear saying, “Only you can prevent forest fires”? Only you can prevent the obliteration of our republic at the hands of those who do not want to hear the voice of the people.

As Steve Bannon Prepares For Jail…

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Steve Bannon is preparing to go to jail on July 1st on charges that he defied a subpoena from the Jan. 6 committee. Peter Navarro is currently in jail on contempt of Congress charges. Meanwhile, the Department of Justice has stated that it will not press charges against Attorney General Merrick Garland for defying a subpoena from a Congressional Committee. I guess contempt of Congress only matters if you are a Republican.

On Friday, The Gateway Pundit reported:

The Justice Department won’t prosecute Merrick Garland for contempt of Congress over the Biden audio tapes.

The House of Representatives on Thursday voted to hold Merrick Garland in criminal contempt of Congress for defying a subpoena.

Last month two GOP-led House committees passed resolutions recommending US Attorney General Merrick Garland be held in contempt of Congress for refusing to hand over audio of Biden’s interview with Special Counsel Robert Hur.

Merrick Garland has reportedly “classified at the highest level” the audio tapes of Joe Biden’s embarrassing interview with Special Counsel Hur. The tapes have been locked away in a Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility (SCIF), according to investigative journalist Paul Sperry.

The White House has already admitted that the transcripts of the tapes were slightly altered, and the transcripts have already been released, so what are they hiding?

The article concludes:

It was revealed that during interviews with Special Counsel Robert Hur, Joe Biden struggled to answer even basic questions, such as when he served as Vice President or the year his son Beau passed away from brain cancer.

The Justice Department said Merrick Garland did not commit a crime when he defied a congressional subpoena and refuse to hand over the Biden audio tapes.

The AP reported:

Attorney General Merrick Garland will not be prosecuted for contempt of Congress because his refusal to turn over audio of President Joe Biden’s interview in his classified documents case “did not constitute a crime,” the Justice Department said Friday.

In a letter to House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Justice Department official cited the department’s longstanding policy not to prosecute officials who don’t comply with subpoenas because of a president’s claim of executive privilege.

So why is Peter Navarro in jail and why is Steve Bannon headed for jail?

Exactly Who Pays Our Taxes?

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On Monday, The Washington Examiner posted an article about the progressive tax code in America. Just for the record, we are already overtaxing the wealthy.

The article reports:

The ultra-wealthy are paying the highest average share of taxes, according to a new analysis from a nonpartisan congressional committee.

The Joint Committee on Taxation found that the top 1% of earners pay an average tax rate of around 30% in combined income, employment, and excise taxes, double or more than the share of taxes that the bottom 80% of the country pays. Additionally, the top 5% of earners in the United States make up a whopping 46% of the country’s tax base.

According to the Economics Help page:

The Laffer Curve states that if tax rates are increased above a certain level, then tax revenues can actually fall because higher tax rates discourage people from working.

This is a picture of the Laffer Curve:

The Reagan tax cuts increased federal revenue. Unfortunately, the Democrats who controlled the House of Representatives offset those increases with increased spending. The Trump tax cuts also increased federal revenue, but again the House of Representatives increased their spending. At some point we need to realize that we don’t need more taxes, we need less spending.

The Biden administration is currently pushing for a tax on unrealized capital gains. The talking point is that it would only impact a very small number of taxpayers. Just for the record, this was the argument used to justify the establishment of a federal income tax in 1913.

Shouldn’t Americans Be The Ones Voting In American Elections?

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On Thursday, Fox News reported that the House of Representatives voted to repeal a Washington, D.C. law that allows non-citizens to vote in local elections. The final vote was 262 to 143 to repeal the law. One hundred forty-three Democrats voted to allow non-citizens to vote. Fifty-two of the Democrats voted with the Republicans to limit  voting to American citizens. As our nation gets overrun by illegal aliens, we can expect to see more voting on whether or not elections should be limited to citizens only. Because people who are here illegally are not required to do the studying required to become a citizen (unless they choose to become citizens), many of the non-citizens voting would have no idea of how America works or what it stands for. Since many of the illegal aliens come from countries with non-western cultures, this is a recipe for disaster.

The article reports:

“What we’re doing is, we are talking about passing a law that prohibits citizens of foreign countries from voting in elections in D.C. It prohibits people that are here illegally from voting in elections. It prohibits spies from China from voting in elections. It prohibits people that are here from Russia that have wishes of ill will in the United States from voting in the elections in D.C.,” Rep. Garret Graves, R-La., said during debate for the bill.

GOP lawmakers have also accused Democrats of trying to tip the scales at the ballot box by encouraging illegal immigrants to sign up to vote – something the left has denied.

If the illegal aliens who have entered America during the Biden administration were allowed to vote, they would form a significant voting bloc that American citizens would not be able to overcome.

 

You Can Release Your Hold On Your Gas Stove–At Least Temporarily

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On Tuesday, Just the News reported that the House of Representatives has passed the Hands Off Our Home Appliances Act. The act will at least temporarily keep the government away from our gas stoves.

The article reports:

The bill, which was introduced by Arizona Republican Rep. Debbie Lesko, “modifies the process by which the Department of Energy (DOE) amends, revokes, or implements energy conservation standards for certain consumer products (other than automobiles), such as household appliances,” according to an official summary of the legislation.

The legislation was introduced after the Biden Administration’s Energy Department proposed a rule that would have led to a ban on the sale of about half of the gas stoves currently on the market.

“My constituents in the north and northwest valley of Maricopa County, Arizona, do not want this government interference in their homes and lives,” Lesko told reporters on Tuesday, per Fox News. “I know that millions of Americans around the country feel the same way.”

The Department of Energy has no business making laws–that is supposed to be done by Congress. If a Congressman (or woman) finds it too burdensome to create laws, they should resign.

The article concludes:

No government bureaucrat should ever scheme to take away Americans’ appliances in the name of a radical environmental agenda,” Lesko added.

The House previously passed Lesko’s “Save Our Gas Stoves Act ” last year, which attempted to block the DOE from implementing a proposed efficiency standard for gas cooking products, but it never received a vote in the Democrat-led Senate. 

We could probably end 90 percent of the regulations passed by unelected bureaucrats and still live happily ever after.

Fixing An Obvious Problem

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On Tuesday, The Epoch Times reported that Representative Chip Roy has introduced a bill in the U.S. House of Representatives that would require documentary proof of United States citizenship in order to register to vote. This is an idea whose time has come. One of the reasons for the flow of illegals into America is to create a new voter base–the old voter base is getting tired of Democrat shenanigans.

The article reports:

It lists several acceptable documents to verify the citizenship of a would-be voter, including a REAL ID compliant identification, a U.S. passport, a military ID card, or any valid state, federal or tribal identification, such as a birth certificate, hospital record, or adoption certificate, showing that the individual was born in, or is a naturalized citizen of, the United States.

The bill also provides for accommodations for mail-in voting registration or those unable to produce documentary proof of citizenship, who can undergo a separate process to have their citizenship verified.

States would also be required to “take affirmative steps on an ongoing basis to ensure that only United States citizens are registered to vote,” including clearing the voter rolls of those who are ineligible to vote due to their status as noncitizens. To that end, the bill also clarifies the conditions under which a state may seek to remove an individual from voter rolls.

Additionally, the bill would require the secretary of the Department of Homeland Security to investigate noncitizens who are illegally registered to vote, up to and including the possibility of removal proceedings.

The article notes:

As so many illegal immigrants are already in the country, current law raises red flags that could potentially affect the outcome of the election, Mr. Johnson said.

“There’s so many millions of illegals in the country, that if only one out of one hundred voted, they would cast potentially hundreds of thousands of votes,” Mr. Johnson said. “That could turn an election.”

Critics of the bill have retorted that federal law already prohibits illegal immigrants from voting.

However, due to the Supreme Court’s expansion of the NVRA in 2013, existing laws include no solid mechanism for states to ensure that their voters are citizens.

When America was founded, only landowners were allowed to vote because they had a ‘stake’ in the government. Today we need to make sure that only people who are American citizens and have a ‘stake’ in the government are allowed to vote.

Moving In The Wrong Direction Rather Than Solving The Problem

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Antisemitism is currently a problem in America and around the world. It isn’t something that can be fixed by laws, although Congress is trying. Censorship of free speech is NOT the answer.

On Thursday, The Daily Caller reported the following:

The Democratic Party is engaged in civil war over the Israel-Gaza conflict, and Republicans can’t help but take a bullet for their supposed political enemies.

It comes in the form of H.R. 6090, a freshly-passed bill by the U.S. House of Representatives aimed at curbing antisemitism on university campuses. Antisemitism on American soil has indeed grown loudly since the Oct. 7 attack in Israel. However, House Speaker Mike Johnson has been unable to step aside and allow Democrats to expose themselves as radicals on the issue. Instead, he’s held multiple press conferences, including one where he was drowned out by protestors on the Columbia University campus, putting an unnecessary bullseye on the Republican party.

…Johnson’s apparent belief that tackling antisemitism is the key to uniting the GOP is doing the exact opposite. Sources in both chambers of Congress told the Daily Caller that members are frustrated with Johnson’s handling of H.R. 6090, known as the Antisemitism Awareness Act, and the target that’s now on their backs.

The dilemma, multiple GOP aides told the Caller: either back down on free speech, or be slandered as an “antisemite.”

“This botched antisemitism resolution is just the cherry on top of the crap sundae Mike Johnson has served Congressional Republicans for six months,” one senior GOP Senate aide told the Caller. “Whether through incompetence or malice, he is a worthy successor to Nancy Pelosi.”

The article notes:

“The Antisemitism Awareness Act will require, through the Department of Education, which has enforcement authority, institutions to crack down constitutionally protected speech. The Antisemitism Awareness Act, however well intended to provide institutions with more tools to address antisemitism on campuses, is overbroad and unconstitutional because it polices constitutionally protected speech,” lead counsel of government affairs for the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), Tyler Coward, told the Daily Caller.

Anti-Semitic speech is not a good thing–but it is protected by the First Amendment. In truth, we need to change people’s hearts. Limiting what people can say is not a step forward.

Tying The Next President’s Hands

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The following was posted on Twitter on Sunday:

This is an attempt to tie the hands of any President who tries to cut off aid to Ukraine in the next ten years. If that is not already illegal, it should be. We should also remember that federal spending is supposed to originate in the House of Representatives–not from the President or from the Senate.

I Have Many Questions About This

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On April 24, The Carolina Journal posted an article (a very favorable article) about the growing North Carolina market for “safe, consistent” hemp products. Now I will admit that safe and consistent is a good idea. There have been some local vape shops that have recently been closed down for ‘inconsistent’ levels of THC in some of their products (levels over the legal limit). However, I have a lot of other questions about this ‘growing market.’

The article notes:

The nascent industry may be showing signs of maturing, however. A pharmaceutical-grade hemp products manufacturing facility located in Nash County has been growing its operational capacity since it first opened in 2019 with a primary focus on offering premium quality. Their mission is to create safe and consistent standards for consumers that range from elderly grandmas taking gummies to help them sleep; to spastic dogs being served bacon-flavored CBD gummies for anxiety; to those interested in more recreational products, like hemp-derived ‘Delta 9.’ 

At the helm of the venture is a leading state lawmaker: Rep. John Bell, R-Wayne. Set to serve as chairman of the powerful Rules Committee in the North Carolina House of Representatives, Bell recently became president of Asterra Labs, which develops, manufactures, and distributes hemp-derived products for retail, wholesale, and white-label production partnerships. The goal is to offer consumers a sure-quality alternative to potentially unsafe, inconsistent CBD/THC products in a mostly unregulated space. (emphasis mine)

The hemp products claim to calm dogs with anxiety and help grandmothers sleep. That’s nice, but this looks an awful lot like a pain-killing drug that will be sold on the open market without a prescription. If it can calm anxiety (even though just in dogs), it also has some psychological impact. Also, the North Carolina legislature controls the laws that limit the distribution of certain drugs. It seems to me that having the head of one of the most powerful committees in that legislature as the president of a company producing hemp is questionable at best.

The article is very favorable toward the growing hemp industry in North Carolina. I don’t share their view.

The article concludes:

“The consumer will always know exactly what they’re getting,” said Bell. “This could be a major industry in North Carolina, but we also need regulation to make it happen.” 

He says regulation is needed to prioritize safety and quality rather than unregulated products that likely contain inconsistent ingredients and concentrations. Last week, the House Select Committee on Substance Abuse recommended regulating the sale and distribution of hemp-derived consumable products, as well as kratom products, which are currently widely available across North Carolina. 

Just call me skeptical.

Moving Quickly In The Wrong Direction

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On Monday, Breitbart posted an article about the renewal of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). Somehow the House of Representatives managed to make the law even worse than it was.

The article reports:

Despite the outrage at the passage of the legislation, 110 Republicans also voted for an amendment proposed by House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Turner (R-OH) and committee Ranking Member Jim Himes (D-CT) that would seek dramatically expand the ability for the government to surveil Americans’ communications.

The measure updates the definition of electronic service provider to also include “any other service provider who has access to equipment that is being or may be used to transmit or store wire or electronic communications.”

The amendment would significantly expand the number of businesses and their employees who could be compelled to spy on their customers and provide warrantless access to their communications systems in accordance to this controversial FISA provision.

This provision has been referred to by privacy advocates as a “trojan horse” for “PATRIOT Act 2.0.”

Steve Bradbury, a distinguished fellow at the Heritage Foundation and former Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Counsel at the Justice Department under George W. Bush, told Breitbart News during a press conference on Monday that the Turner-Himes is so vast in scope that experts may not truly understand how many companies, staffers, and other entities may be forced to surveil Americans.

The article concludes:

Those on the left have also cried foul at the Turner-Himes proposal, referring it to as the “Everybody Is a Spy” amendment.

Demand Progress Policy Director Sean Vitka said in a written statement on Monday:

These moves from the Intelligence Committee add up to a brazen and deliberate attempt to sneak through one of the most terrifying expansions in the history of government surveillance. This is not speculative: the amendment clearly allows the government to secretly conscript uninvolved Americans and American businesses to spy on each other. These KGB-style powers pose an existential threat to our civil liberties. The Senate must block this provision.

If the Senate fails to remove this amendment from the bill, it will be handing the president, and whoever the next president is, a knife to ram through the back of democracy. [Emphasis added]

Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR), after the House passed RISAA, said in no uncertain terms:

The House bill represents one of the most dramatic and terrifying expansions of government surveillance authority in history. It allows the government to force any American who installs, maintains, or repairs anything that transmits or stores communications to spy on the government’s behalf. That means anyone with access to a server, a wire, a cable box, a wifi router, or a phone. It would be secret: the Americans receiving the government directives would be bound to silence, and there would be no court oversight. [Emphasis added]

He added, “I will do everything in my power to stop this bill.”

Congress took a bad bill and made it worse.

That Was Then; This Is Now

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On Monday, the trial of President Trump for paying ‘hush money’ began. One of the points being made by the media and other left-wing sources is that keeping the story of Stormy Daniels quiet influenced the 2016 election causing Hillary Clinton to lose (yes, they said that). The money that was used to keep the story silent was put in bookkeeping entries as legal fees. That essentially is the crime that is being charged. But wait a minute–what about the money Hillary Clinton paid to create the Russia Hoax?

An article at PJ Media on April 15th notes:

Before the 2016 election, Hillary Clinton’s campaign denied that it had funded the infamous Steele dossier behind the debunked Russian collusion claims.

The funding was hidden as legal expenses by then-Clinton campaign general counsel Marc Elias. (The FEC later sanctioned the campaign over its hiding of the funding.). When a reporter tried to report the story, he said Elias “pushed back vigorously, saying ‘You (or your sources) are wrong.’” Times reporter Maggie Haberman declared, “Folks involved in funding this lied about it, and with sanctimony, for a year.”

Likewise, John Podesta, Clinton’s campaign chairman, was called before congressional investigators and denied categorically any contractual agreement with Fusion GPS. Sitting beside him was Elias, who reportedly said nothing to correct the misleading information given to Congress.

Yet, there were no charges stemming from the hiding of the funding, though it was all part of the campaign budget.

How is using campaign funds to pay for a fraud different from using campaign funds to hush up a damaging story?

This is the world we currently live in. The justice system in America has been corrupted to the point where it doesn’t matter what you did–it matters who you are. Unfortunately, because of an amendment to the FISA bill that was passed in the House of Representatives on Monday night, things are going to get worse for those of us who do not parrot what the mainstream media tells us. The Himes-Turner amendment to FISA dramatically expands the ability for the government to surveil Americans’ communications, updating the definition of electronic service provider to include “any other service provider who has access to equipment that is being or may be used to transmit or store wire or electronic communications.” This expands the number of businesses and employees who could be asked to spy on customers and provide warrantless access to their communications systems.

In the immortal words of the Chad Mitchell Trio, “If mommie is a commie, then you gotta turn her in.” Only today it’s, “If mommie does not support the Biden regime, you gotta’ turn her in.”

 

Jonathan Turley Comments On The Hearings

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On Tuesday, Red State posted an article about the hearings yesterday in the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee. The article included some interesting comments by Jonathan Turley, a professor at George Washington University Law School.

The article reports:

While Republicans continued to stress the two-tiered justice system in the case of Biden’s classified documents vs. those of Donald Trump, Democrats continually tried to put words in Hur’s mouth that neither he nor his report said. 

So how bad were the Democrats? George Washington University Law Professor Jonathan Turley said the Democrats’ questioning of Hur “seemed almost to border on the delusional.”

During an appearance on Fox News’s “America Reports,” Turley gave a perfect example.

Well, I thought the Republicans did a particularly good job today. Often the Democrats are way ahead in framing of hearings, but at points the Democrats seemed almost a border on the delusional. 

When you had Hur say ‘I did not exonerate the president’ and then Democrats would say ‘OK, so you exonerated the president’ and he would say ‘No, I didn’t’ and they would say ‘Thank you for that, with that exoneration.’ 

So for a lot of people watching, they probably kept on having to sort of reverse and see if they missed something here.

The thing to remember when Democrat politicians play this kind of nonsensical game is that they’re playing solely to their base — low-information voters who don’t give a damn about the facts. 

The article also notes:

Turley continued:

The fact is that Hur tried over and over again to distinguish between his findings, which is that he was not confident he could convict if he did bring any charges, and the statement of Democrats that the president was cleared.

Like most people who aren’t Democrats, Turley remains shocked that no charges were brought against Biden, particularly given the charges against Trump.

But out of this hearing, it came really some quite shocking observations. I mean, at the end, you’re sort of still wondering why he wasn’t charged, including Hur saying ‘Look, we have audio tape of the president referring to the fact that he found classified evidence in his basement.’ Well, okay, that seems like full knowledge. But he kept on coming back to the fact that I think a jury might have been persuaded that this is a nice, elderly man with a faulty memory.

There have been four people that I am aware of in the past few years that have been charged with mishandling classified information. Two of them have had very few consequences–Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden. When does this tell us about our justice system?

An Executive Order That Will Impact The 2024 Election

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Under American law, non-citizens are not allowed to vote in federal elections. In some areas, non-citizens are allowed to vote in local elections, but that is somewhat limited. Unfortunately, due to an Executive Order signed by President Biden in January 2021, non-citizens and illegal immigrants will have an influence on our presidential and Congressional elections.

On Thursday, Fox News reported the following:

Immigration experts are raising the alarm about how the increasing flow of migrants illegally crossing into the U.S. may significantly impact states’ representation in the House of Representatives and Electoral College.

Shortly after taking office in January 2021, President Biden signed an executive order requiring that the U.S. Census Bureau factor in all residents, including noncitizens, as part of its decennial calculation of the U.S. population. As a result, the apportionment of House seats and, therefore, electoral votes for presidential elections, could be swayed as migrants continue to pour over the southern border.

“Illegal immigration has all kinds of effects and among them is that it distorts the mechanics of democratic government,” Mark Krikorian, the executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, told Fox News Digital in an interview. “Illegal immigrants aren’t even supposed to be here, so their inclusion in the census count for purposes of apportionment really is outrageous.”

“There are a lot of close votes in Congress, more than there used to be. So, it can, in fact, make a difference,” Krikorian said. “It shouldn’t be a question of: Does this give you personally more influence in Washington? The question should be: Is it right? Is it healthy for our democratic process to be distorted this way? The answer is no.”

The next President can overturn this order if he chooses to. Vote carefully.

Keeping The SALT Limit Where It Is

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On Wednesday, Yahoo News posted an article about a bill to change the SALT deduction. The bill failed in the House of Representatives. The SALT deduction is the State and Local Tax deduction that President Trump capped at $10,000. High-tax states like New York, New Jersey, California, and Pennsylvania want the limit higher. That way when they charge their residents exorbitant tax rates, the residents can deduct those taxes on their federal income tax. In some high-tax states, just the real estate taxes on an average home are over $10,000. Generally, allowing higher SALT deductions is a gift to wealthy people and to people who live in high-tax states. In a sense, lower-tax states are funding the spending of the higher-tax states.

The article at Yahoo states:

A bill called the SALT Marriage Penalty Elimination Act, which would have raised the tax cap for some married filers and ease some of the burden in high-tax states like New York, was on the table in the House of Representatives. But it was rejected before it could even be formally considered.

“I’m hopeful this can be a moment of unity among my colleagues on both sides of the aisle,” said Rep. Mike Lawler (R.-N.Y.), the bill’s lead sponsor, as the debate got underway on Wednesday afternoon.

But — as was widely expected — it was not to be, with both Republicans and Democrats voting against the bill as it failed to garner agreement in a procedural vote.

The final vote on adopting a combined rule was rejected in a tally of 195-225, a defeat that is likely the end of the bill for the time being.

While I agree that all of our taxes should go down, limiting the SALT deduction was a way to hold high-tax states more accountable.

This Shouldn’t Even Be Constitutional

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On Monday, The Federalist posted an article about the Ukraine spending bill that just passed the Senate. Hopefully it will die in the House of Representatives–it protects everyone’s border but America’s!

The article reports:

A Ukraine aid supplemental negotiated by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and Senate GOP leadership includes a provision setting the stage for a potential third impeachment of Donald Trump, according to Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance.

“The supplemental represents an attempt by the foreign policy blob/deep state to stop President Trump from pursuing his desired policy, and if he does so anyways, to provide grounds to impeach him and undermine his administration,” Vance wrote in a letter sent to congressional Republicans on Monday. “All Republicans should oppose its passage.”

Vance’s letter is in reference to a $95 billion aid package advanced by the Senate on Sunday, which includes funding for (mostly) Ukraine, as well as Israel and Taiwan. Noticeably, the measure — which was supported by 18 Republicans — does not address the ongoing invasion at the U.S. southern border.

Just as Congress is not supposed to pass laws that limit or control the actions of future Congresses, Congress should not be allowed to pass a law that limits the foreign policy of a future President. 

The article notes:

“If President Trump were to withdraw from or pause financial support for the war in Ukraine in order to bring the conflict to a peaceful conclusion, ‘over the objections of career experts,’” as Democrats claimed in their 2019 impeachment of Trump, “it would amount to the same fake violation of budget law from the first impeachment, under markedly similar facts and circumstances,” Vance wrote. An anonymous U.S. official told The Washington Post last month that the Biden administration is hoping to provide “’future-proof’ aid for Ukraine against the possibility that former president Donald Trump wins his reelection bid.”

In recent days, the Senate has proposed a horrible border bill followed up by a horrible foreign aid bill. Neither bill did anything significant to help with American border security. If this continues, we need a new Senate.

What Is The Penalty For A U.S. Citizen?

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An American who is arrested for Driving Under the Influence faces jail time, losing his license, and heavy fines. What should the penalty be for a person who is here illegally who is arrested for Driving Under the Influence?

On Thursday, The Conservative Review reported that 150 Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives voted against a measure to state that aliens who drive “while intoxicated or impaired” are inadmissible and, if convicted of such an offense, deportable. How in the world would voting against the measure keep Americans safe?

The article reports:

In a bipartisan 274-150 vote, the House of Representatives passed a measure on Thursday that would declare that aliens who drive “while intoxicated or impaired” are inadmissible and, if convicted of such an offense, deportable.

The 150 lawmakers who voted against the measure were all Democrats. But 59 other Democrats joined 215 Republicans in voting to approve the measure.

“Any alien who has been convicted of an offense for driving while intoxicated or impaired, as those terms are defined under the law of the jurisdiction where the conviction occurred (including a conviction for driving while under the influence of or impaired by alcohol or drugs), without regard to whether the conviction is classified as a misdemeanor or felony under Federal, State, tribal, or local law, is deportable,” the measure reads.

There is currently on the books a law making an illegal deportable if he is guilty of moral turpitude. This law simply clarifies the current law. At any rate, isn’t entering a country illegally breaking the law? Shouldn’t that be subject to deportation?

Where The Money Is Actually Going

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On Friday, Zero Hedge reported the following:

President Joe Biden is heaping another $5 billion onto a $136 billion pile of taxpayer-funded student loan debt forgiveness, as one of his signature 2024 (vote buying) schemes heading into the 2024 election.

Not only has moral hazard been reduced to an academic concept, shouldn’t taxpayer funds be used to bail out poverty-stricken Americans before people with college degrees who signed their names to a contract for non-dischargeable debt? We digress.

Around 74,000 student loan borrowers will now see debt canceled as a result of administrative changes enacted by the US Department of Education in the latest round of relief – including borrowers enrolled in the government’s income-driven repayment and public service loan forgiveness programs, Bloomberg reports.

Each program requires at least a decade of payment or service to be eligible for relief. Mismanaged federal student-loan plans have left some borrowers without promised relief after making payments for as long as 25 years. -Bloomberg

“My administration is able to deliver relief to these borrowers – and millions more – because of fixes we made to broken student loan programs that were preventing borrowers from getting relief they were entitled to under the law,” Biden said in a Friday statement written by other people.

Of those receiving taxpayer-funded assistance, roughly 60% are taxpayer-funded “public servants” – so the snake continues to eat its tail. So, buying votes with voters’ money.

Since when is the federal government able to change the details of a contract mid-stream? Since this is essentially an expenditure, why is it coming from the Executive Branch? The House of Representatives is supposed to be in charge of spending. This should quickly be found unconstitutional by the courts, but I seriously doubt anyone will bring the case.

Action Is Good, But When Do We See Results?

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On Friday, Townhall reported that Congressman Jim Jordan is seeking a specific document from FBI Director Christopher Wray regarding payments to the Biden family from overseas entities.

The article reports:

As House Republicans continue to explore impeaching President Joe Biden, House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) has a request for FBI Director Christopher Wray. On Thursday night, Jordan sent Wray a letter informing him that the Committee is seeking an FBI FD-1023 form from March 1, 2017 to do with “a confidential human source (CHS) report about payments made to the Biden family from foreign entities.” As the letter explained, the FD-1023 in question “is referenced in a second FD-1023 from June 2020 detailing bribery allegations that involve President Biden and his son, Hunter,” and is needed to “evaluate whether sufficient grounds exist to consider drafting articles of impeachment.” 

The Committee knows about the FD-1023 thanks to testimony  that former U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania Scott Brady provided, who had asked the FBI to find information on files to do with Burisma–where Hunter Biden served on the board of directors–after he had been tasked by then Attorney Bill Barr to sort through FBI files. 

As Jordan explained during his Thursday night appearance on Fox News’ “Hannity,” the 2017 FD-1023 “became the basis for…Brady… asking to talk to the [CHS] that produced the 1023 form we have.” They’re now asking for this form. 

Brady testified it was “correct” that the FD-1023 in question “was not information provided from the public.” The FBI also waited until being contacted by Brady to reach out to the CHS for more information. Brady categorized the FD-1023 as having “not been developed,” making clear “it’s fair to say that it had not been looked into or developed any further.” It was because of Brady’s directive that the FBI took action to develop the information in the FD-1023. 

Frankly, it is my opinion that all that will become of this is that Christopher Wray will stall until the end of the year, hoping that a few more Democrats will be elected to the House of Representatives and the issue will go away. We have seen so much obvious evidence of wrongdoing for years, and nothing has been done. I am not optimistic about that changing.

Stopping The Invasion

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Author:  R. Alan Harrop, Ph.D    

I support the Republican effort to investigate Joe Biden for influence peddling.  However, they also need to impeach him for failure to enforce the immigration laws that he swore to uphold. Not only has he failed to enforce the law, but he has intentionally encouraged what amounts to an invasion of this country. It is realistic to assume that our country may ultimately be destroyed if this invasion is allowed to continue. No country can survive when it is over-run by unvetted people many of whom do not share its values and beliefs. Rome was not destroyed by a stronger military force but by the invasion of so-called barbarians who disrupted their system of government. We are facing the same threat.   

The Washington Examiner estimates that over 10 million illegals have flooded this country since Biden took office. This is more people than the total population of 40 states.  This amounts to about 7,000 per day, and since Biden has about 400 days left to his term of office we can expect a minimum of another 2.8 million. The Heritage Foundation reported that 60% of these illegals are receiving some form of social services support further burdening the taxpayers. The immigration policy used to be that an immigrant would not be admitted unless they could prove they had a means of their own support. We are actually paying them to invade.   Unbelievable! It should also be remembered that most come seeking so-called asylum and if admitted are then able to bring in members of their families. 

The Biden regime has encouraged the abuse of the asylum law. Essentially, the asylum law allows anyone to be admitted to this country who claims that they are being persecuted (or fear persecution) in their home country as a result of their race, religion, nationality, or membership in a particular group. According to recent data, only 14% of these asylum claims that make it to a hearing are declared to be valid. Most of those admitted never show up for their asylum hearing–currently there is an 8 to 9 year backlog.  It should be noted that the asylum law wording follows almost exactly the wording of a United Nations Declaration that encourages the elimination of national borders.   

Here are some reasonable solutions to this crisis: 

  1. Place a cap on the total number of asylum cases per year.
  2. Remove the category of “ …membership in a particular social group” from the asylum law. It is too vague and limitless in scope. 
  3. Remove the so-called “anchor baby” rule that makes the children of illegals citizens if they are born in this country.
  4. Reinstate President Trump’s policy of remaining in country of origin or intervening country when applying for asylum. Crossing the border illegally should preclude any asylum claim. 
  5. Stop any and all illegals from receiving any form of social services. 
  6. Identify and deport anyone here illegally. 

Of course Biden will never voluntarily agree to any of the above. This is where the rubber hits the road. The House of Representatives should identify key spending budget line items important to Biden and cease/cut funding them until the above items are agreed to. Start with green energy incentives, electric car incentives and funding for aspects the federal Department of Education, the FBI and Department of Justice.  

The House has the so-called “power of the purse”.  Now let’s see if they have the courage to use it.    

What Are They Thinking? 

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Author:  R. Alan Harrop, Ph.D

The recent expulsion of U.S. Representative (R) George Santos was only the sixth time a person was ever expelled from the House of Representatives. The question is why? Is he the only person in the House that has ever been suspected of questionable integrity? Obviously not! He is also the only one of the six who was expelled without being convicted of a crime. What is particularly troubling, is that over one hundred of his fellow Republicans voted for his expulsion. Would the Democrats ever vote to expel a fellow Democrat? Not only no, but hell no! Proof? Democrat Senator Menendez of New Jersey is accused of far worse, such as taking bribes from foreign countries, and has not been expelled–nor will he be.

So what did George Santos do that was so terrible? We do not know yet, since he has only been charged and not convicted by a court of law. He is accused of misspending campaign funds and lying about his background.   Does not sound that terrible to me. Look how many politicians have become multi-millionaires on a government salary that makes that impossible. Can you say:  Joe Biden, Nancy Pelosi, and Harry Reid? to just name a few.   Another disturbing fact is that the House Ethics Committee that examined his actions did NOT recommend expulsion. Further, the Republican leadership, including Speaker Mike Johnson, all voted not to expel.

This is a perfect example of why voters get angry at Republicans who want to play by some “holier than thou” rules rather than focusing on what needs to be done to save this country from a Leftist takeover. The GOP razor thin majority just got thinner. There will be a special election to replace Santos but his district usually votes Democrat.

Not only is this one of the dumbest things Republicans have done, but it sets a dangerous precedent for the future by lowering the bar for expulsion.    What happened to the principle of innocent until proven guilty? The fact that Santos is being charged by Democrat investigators and corrupt DOJ does not seem to bother them.  At the same time, the Republicans voted not to impeach Alexandro Myorkas who is clearly violating his oath of office and threatening the security of our country with his unwillingness to enforce the immigration laws

This is very disappointing to say the least.  I am also disappointed that our Congressman Dr. Greg Murphy voted to expel Santos!