I Know This Is Just An Incredible Coincidence…

On Monday, Townhall posted an article about the family of the first American hostage released by Hamas. Oddly enough, in the past that family had purchased one of Hunter Biden’s pictures.

The article quotes CBS News:

Abigail Mor Edan, the youngest U.S. citizen held by Hamas, was among the group of hostages released back to Israel on Sunday, both President Biden and the Israeli military confirmed. 

Abigail, whose parents were killed in Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks on Israel, turned 4 years old last week while in captivity in Gaza. She was kidnapped and taken to the Palestinian enclave during the deadly rampage along with an estimated 240 others, according to Israeli officials. 

…President Biden spoke about Abigail’s release in televised remarks Sunday. 

“She’s free and she’s in Israel now,” Mr. Biden said, adding that Abigail has “been through a terrible trauma.” The child’s mother was killed in front of her by Hamas militants before her father was also gunned down while using his body to shield Abigail from the attack. Abigail then ran to neighbors for help, Mr. Biden said. 

“What she endured is unthinkable,” he said. 

Abigail’s great-aunt, Liz Hirsh Naftali, and her cousin, Noa Naftali, said in a statement Sunday, “We hoped and prayed today would come. There are no words to express our relief and gratitude that Abigail is safe and coming home.”

The article includes the following:

 

I guess it matters who you know, even when you are four years old.

 

The History Explains A Lot

Obviously there will be a lot of refugees from the war in the Gaza Strip. The infrastructure has been destroyed and peoples’ homes have been destroyed. So why are the other Arab nations in the area unwilling to take in the Palestinian refugees?  The history of the refugees explains a lot. Understand that the refugee problem began in 1948 when Arabs who were living peacefully in Israel were told that if they left their homes to fight Israel they would get their land back plus land owned by the Jews who would be ‘driven into the sea.’ Well, it didn’t work out that way. The refugee problem was further exacerbated in 1967 when Israel reclaimed more of the land it had been promised in agreements with the League of Nations.

On Sunday, Townhall posted an article that explains some of the reasons the neighboring Arab countries are unwilling to take in the refugees from the Gaza Strip.

The article notes:

As the Left rages against Israel, hurling antisemitic slurs and chanting for more Jews to die, some might want to consider why the civilians have nowhere to go. Okay, maybe these folks do know but don’t care, but liberals are historically illiterate, so who knows? It goes beyond geography. The Palestinians bring trouble and have a long, sordid history of fomenting mayhem and terrorism in other Arab nations. 

…Egypt is the logical destination for these Palestinians, but Cairo doesn’t want them, and for good reason: terrorism. The border crossing at Rafah remains closed, with tanks now deployed to ensure their border is secure. Egypt’s prime minister even said his country is willing to sacrifice millions to ensure no Palestinians ever enter Egypt en masse (via WSJ):

The article concludes:

If Hamas and the Palestinians aren’t freely moving into Egypt, they’ll be okay with it. Also, Israel has resisted ceasefires and has continued to chip away at the terror group’s infrastructure in Gaza, but a humanitarian crisis could still emerge. 

As the tweet above mentioned, the Palestinians tried to take over Jordan in the 1970s, leading to the late King Hussein declaring war on them and driving them out. They were booted from Kuwait after collaborating with Saddam Hussein’s forces before the Gulf War. They set off a powder keg in Lebanon, a nation that has yet to recover from its brutal civil war that lasted 15 years. No Arab country wants these people because they bring instability and trouble. They’re not importing terrorism; that’s what we’re doing wholesale.

What country wants to import a bunch of dedicated terrorists?

A Second Chance?

The elections last week did not go well for Republicans. There were a lot of reasons for this, some real and some made up by non-Republicans. One state that had disappointing results was Virginia–the Democrats retained control of the Senate and retook the House of Delegates. Well, that may not be the end of the story.

On Saturday, Townhall reported:

We have reports that some funny business with a Virginia Democratic state senator might give control of the upper chamber to the Republicans. The Daily Wire’s Luke Rosiak wrote that there might be serious questions regarding the validity of Sen. Ghazala Hashmi’s residency. You must live in the district you’re representing, and multiple sources say Hashmi’s paperwork is inaccurate. Hashmi represented Senate District 10 but opted to run for the 15th district this cycle post-redistricting. The reason is apparent: this is a slam-dunk blue district encompassing parts of Richmond and Chesterfield County

On Saturday, The Daily Wire reported:

…Hashmi filed candidacy paperwork saying she lived in an apartment on Boulder Lake Drive in North Chesterfield in Senate District 15.

But four neighbors filed a complaint saying she actually lives outside the district on Bosham Lane in Midlothian, and they provided a spreadsheet saying they had driven by the house 62 times during the month of October to document her residency. The notes include her car being there late at night and early in the morning, and her leaving the house shortly after 8 a.m. It also includes photographic evidence.

Putting Hashmi in a particular bind, if she did live in the Chesterfield apartment, then she may have committed a felony by concealing her ownership of the Midlothian home on sworn election forms.

The Certificate of Candidacy Qualification, which she signed March 14, 2023, says, “I now reside at the address shown below in the district in which I seek office,” under which she listed the North Chesterfield apartment.

The form also asks, “Do you or a member of your immediately family, separately or together, hold an interest valued at more than $5,000 in real property? DO NOT INCLUDE your principal residence.” She checked “no,” and did not list the Midlothian home. Real estate records show that she and her husband have owned that — worth nearly $600,000 — since 1999.

Stay tuned.

 

We Are Not Immune

The attacks in Israel were horrific, but even more horrific is the brutality involved. The hatred for Israel (the little satan) and unfortunately America (the great satan) is such that there is no value put on a life that is not Muslim. The goal of the extreme Islamist has always been the destruction of Israel followed by the destruction of America. Unfortunately America has been complicit in both. In Israel’s case, we have provided money and weapons to be used against her. In America’s case, we have opened out borders to let terrorists, drugs, and human traffickers flow freely into our country.

On Tuesday, Townhall reported:

The crisis unfolding along the U.S.-Mexico border is nothing new at this point, but — as Katie reported earlier this week — the Hamas terrorist invasion of Israel from the Gaza Strip highlighted the national security ramifications of border security, specifically the lack of critical information the United States government has about the individuals illegally entering our country.

“Since President Joe Biden took office in January 2021, more than two million individuals have entered the country as ‘gotaways,'” Katie reminded. “The more than seven million illegal immigrants who have entered the country and been processed by Border Patrol have not been vetted. We know nearly 400 individuals on the terrorist watch list have been apprehended attempting to enter and the FBI is currently looking for potential members of an ISIS terrorist ring that was smuggled into the country,” her report emphasized. 

That’s not good news.

The article lists specifics:

According to Biden administration data on countries of origin confirmed by CBP, here’s how many SIAs (special interest aliens) were apprehended — and where they were from — between October 2021 and October 2023:

Syria: 538

Yemen: 139

Iran: 659

Iraq: 123

Afghanistan: 6,386

Lebanon: 164

Egypt: 3,153

Pakistan: 1,613

Mauritania: 15,594

Uzbekistan: 13,624

Turkey: 30,830

As Melugin (Fox News Channel’s Bill Melugin) emphasized, his Border Patrol sources said they have “extreme concerns about who is coming into the country because they have little to no way of vetting people from these special interest countries.” If an apprehended SIA hasn’t previously committed a crime inside the U.S. and isn’t already flagged on a terror watch list, “there’s no way to know who they are because most of their home countries don’t share data/records with the US.” That is, according to Melugin and his sources, “there is nothing to match a name to when BP agents run fingerprints.”

Protecting Your Job At The Country’s Expense

On Wednesday, Townhall posted an article about voting trends in America. It is no coincidence that some of the richest counties in America are located within commuting distance to Washington, D.C., and that those counties can be depended upon to vote Democrat.

The article reports:

The Congressional Research Service this month published a report entitled “Current Federal Civilian Employment by State and Congressional District.”

“This report provides a snapshot of recent statistics for U.S. government employment in each state and territory, as well as estimates for how many federal workers live in each congressional district,” said the report.

It then noted that “these figures do not include uniformed military personnel or federal contractors.”

The report included a table that listed each of the nation’s 435 congressional districts with an estimate — based on the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey — of the total number of federal civilian employees who lived in that district in 2022. The table also listed “a calculation of federal workers as a percentage of all employed civilians (aged 16 and older) who live in that district.”

This table showed there were seven congressional districts in which more than 10% of all employed civilians worked for the federal government. Not surprisingly, each of these districts sits in Maryland or Virginia — near Washington, D.C.

Last November, every one of these seven districts elected a Democrat to Congress.

Indeed, 12 of the 13 districts that had the highest percentages of federal civilian workers among their employed population were districts that elected Democrats. So, too, were 16 of the top 20.

The article concludes:

A subsection of this paper is headlined “Democrats are overrepresented among civil servants.”

“Democrats make up the plurality of civil servants,” the paper says. “(T)he share of Democrat-leaning civil servants hovers around 50% across the entire 1997-2019 period. By contrast, the share of Republicans ranges from approximately 32% in 1997 to about 26% in 2019, with a corresponding increase in the share of independents. To put these numbers in perspective, the share of Democrats in the universe of individuals in our voter registration data is 40.8%, while the share of Republicans is 30.7%.

“This,” the paper says, “implies an overrepresentation of Democrats among federal civil servants of about 10 p.p., or about 20% relative to their share in the population.”

The advent of the uniparty has slightly changed things; but generally any efforts to shrink government come from Republicans. Federal civil servants vote Democrat because they want to keep their jobs.

No Direct Evidence

One of the things to watch when listening to either the mainstream media or democrat politicians is the words they use. Controlling the vocabulary can control the spin. One of the phrases we can expect to hear in the coming days is “no direct evidence.”

On Tuesday, Townhall posted the following headline:

There’s Been a Narrative Shift on Joe Biden’s Business Dealings

The article reports:

“Since January, House Republicans have uncovered an overwhelming amount of evidence showing President Joe Biden lied to the American people about his knowledge and participation in his family’s influence peddling schemes. Bank records, suspicious activity reports, emails, texts, and witness testimony reveal Joe Biden allowed his family to sell him as ‘the brand’ around the world to enrich the Bidens. And, thanks to two brave IRS whistleblowers, we know that the Justice Department – which has been sitting on much of this evidence – has prevented career investigators from pursuing information that could have led to Joe Biden,” McCarthy released in a statement Tuesday afternoon with House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan and Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer. 

“Based on the evidence, we support the opening of an impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden. The House Committees on Oversight and Accountability, Judiciary, and Ways and Means, will continue to work to follow the facts to ensure President Biden is held accountable for abusing public office for his family’s financial gain. The American people demand and deserve answers, transparency, and accountability for this blatant abuse of public office,” they continued. 

…Now, Democrats and their allies in the media are attempting to change the definition of “evidence.”

The article includes the following tweet:

…We’re getting close to an admission Joe Biden was in business with his son, but that it was legitimate and not corrupt (it was).

Expect to hear the term ‘no direct evidence’ repeated endlessly in the mainstream media in the coming days.

Let The Games Begin

On September 12th, Townhall reported that Republicans were opening an impeachment inquiry against President Joe Biden. This is an awkward situation. The impeachments of President Trump were purely political. There was very little actual information behind them. This time we have a lot of information, but we need to make impeachment look apolitical. I suspect that the Democrats will do everything possible to avoid that happening.

The article reports:

“We have found that President Biden did lie about his own knowledge of his family’s foreign business dealings,” McCarthy explained, and “joined on multiple phone calls — and multiple interactions — with Hunter’s business partners,” the Speaker recounted of the evidence already uncovered by House committees.

“Bank records show that nearly $20 million in payments were directed to the Biden’s family members and associates through various shell companies,” McCarthy continued, emphasizing that more than 150 transactions involving the Biden family and other business associates were flagged in “Suspicious Activity Reports” by U.S. banks.

“Even a trusted FBI informant has alleged a bribe to the Biden family,” the Speaker said of revelations that arose from the FBI-generated FD-1023 form the Biden administration attempted to keep hidden from lawmakers and the American people.

“Despite the serious allegations, it appears that the president’s family has been offered special treatment by Biden’s own administration,” McCarthy noted of the kid-glove treatment for Hunter and others privileged to have the Biden name.

“These are allegations of abuse of power, obstruction, and corruption,” said McCarthy.

“Today, I am directing our House committees to open a formal impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden,” the House Speaker said of this “logical next step” which “will give our committees the full power to gather all the facts” about President Biden and his family’s activities.

This probably needs to be done, but it is a road filled with minefields. President Biden may actually become a sympathetic character as his slips further into the mental challenges he has exhibited in recent years. There will also be cries of ‘it’s political’ regardless of how much evidence turns up. This is something to follow closely. I don’t want to see either party get away with sweeping any criminal activity that occurred under the rug.

Good Analysis From Victor Davis Hanson

On Friday, Victor Davis Hanson posted an article at Townhall about the media’s handling of recent scandals.

The conclusion of the article is most telling:

The 2020 Biden campaign and an ex-CIA head rounded up “51 intelligence authorities” to mislead the country into believing that Russian gremlins in the Kremlin had fabricated a fake laptop.

Ponder that absurd fantasy: Moscow supposedly had created fake nude pictures, fake photos of Hunter’s drug use, and fake email and text messages from Hunter to the other Bidens.

The media preposterously convinced the country that the Russians and, by extension, Trump had once again sandbagged the Biden campaign.

No apologies followed when the FBI later admitted it had kept the laptop under wraps for more than a year, knew it was authentic, and yet said nothing as the media and former spooks misled the country and warped an election.

Now we are enmeshed in at least four court trials on cooked-up charges that could as easily apply to a host of Democrats as to Trump.

For the last eight years, discredited media has never expressed remorse for any of the damage they did to the country. And they will not again when their latest mythological indictments are eventually exposed.

However, there are some things mentioned in the article that are even more disturbing:

Had journalists just been honest and independent, then-candidate Joe Biden might have lost a presidential debate and even the 2020 election. The public would have learned that Hunter’s business associates and his laptop proved Joe was deeply involved in his son’s illicit businesses.

Later, as the evidence from IRS whistleblowers mounted, the White House stonewalled subpoenaed efforts and sought to craft an outrageous plea deal reduction in Hunter’s legal exposure.

Reporters ignored the Ukrainians who claimed Joe Biden himself talked to them about quid pro quo arrangements.

They again discounted Hunter’s laptop, explicitly demonstrating that Hunter was whining that he had handed over large percentages of his income to his father, Joe –variously referred to as the Big Guy and a “ten percent” recipient on many deals.

Part of being a representative republic is having educated voters. Right now the media is doing everything it can to avoid educating voters on the scandals surrounding the Biden family. Unless you have cultivated a group of alternative news sources, you are an uninformed or misinformed voter. If uninformed or misinformed voters make up the majority of the electorate, our republic will not survive.

Unfortunately, Inflation Is Still With Us

On Thursday, Townhall posted an article about the current inflation levels.

The article reports:

Yet another inflation metric jumped in July, further debunking claims that inflation is in the rear-view mirror and reinforcing Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s remarks earlier this month that additional interest rate hikes would be needed.

The latest Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) price index print released Thursday was in-line with expectations which were higher than previous reads.

Headline PCE inflation showed an increase of 3.3 percent year-over-year and Core PCE inflation — excluding volatile food and energy prices — increased 4.2 percent in the last year.

Compared to the previous release, headline and core PCE inflation increased 3.0 percent and 4.1 percent, respectively, showing that price increases continue to trend in the wrong, more expensive, direction. The July report also (again) debunks President Joe Biden’s wishful claims that inflation is “down.”

So what do higher interest rates mean for Americans?

Today’s fixed interest rate on a thirty-year mortgage is about 7 percent. If you have an $180,000 mortgage and put 10 percent down, your monthly payment at 7 percent (mortgage only) would be about $1,200. For the same down payment and loan amount, your monthly payment (mortgage only) at 3.5 percent would be about $800 (source here). That’s a difference of almost $5,000 a year. That impacts the housing market as well as the ability of young couples starting out to buy a house.

There is also the matter of payments on the national debt. As the interest rate is raised, those payments also go up.

Raising interest rates may slightly slow down inflation, but it will not solve the problem. Until someone deals with the runaway spending in Washington, we will have inflation. The other thing to note is that as the value of the dollar goes down because of inflation, payments on the national debt are made with money that is worth less than it was when the debt was incurred. The whole thing is a viscous circle where working-class Americans pay the price.

This Really Isn’t A Good Look

The catastrophe in Hawaii is horrible. I can’t even imagine what the people there are going through. It would have been nice if the leader of the country had been more sensitive to their plight. Unfortunately, he wasn’t.

On Tuesday, Townhall posted an article about President Biden’s total mishandling of the tragedy in Hawaii. The article lists nine missteps that could have easily been avoided.

Here is the list:

1. Lying on the Beach While Maui Burns to the Ground

2. “No Comment” While on Vacation

3. No Comments for a Full Week

4. Refused to Visit Maui for Two Weeks

5. Maui Residents Blast Biden’s Lack of Response

6. Biden Uses Maui Visit to Tell Unintelligible Jokes About “Hot Ground”

7. Biden Offers Devastated Maui Households a Cool $700 Each

8. Biden Uses Maui Tragedy to Lie About Nearly Losing His Home and Wife

9. Biden Dozes Off During Ceremony Honoring Maui Victims

Unfortunately, non of this is surprising from a President who seems to be in the throes of dementia. It is very obvious that President Biden needs to retire and live quietly at home. The Democrat party has been cruel not to allow him to do that. Impeachment, although probably deserved, is really not the right answer–the 25th Amendment should be used to remove President Biden. As much as I don’t think the current Vice-President is qualified to be President, at least she is basically coherent.

 

Privacy?

On Saturday, Townhall posted an article about a subpoena issued by House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan to Citibank.

The article reports:

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) issued a subpoena to Citibank over allegations that the company provided private information of customers involved in the January 6 Capitol Hill protests to the weaponized Department of Justice.

The subpoena came after Jordan declared the bank was not cooperating with the Committee’s requests to turn over crucial documentation.

“The Committee and Select Subcommittee have obtained evidence showing that at least one major financial institution provided the FBI with private financial data without legal process,” Jordan wrote to Sunil Garg, CEO of Citibank North America. “Bank of America (BoA) provided the FBI — voluntarily and without any legal process — with a list of individuals who made transactions in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area with a BoA credit or debit card between January 5 and January 7, 2021.”

Jordan’s letter also stated that individuals who previously bought a firearm with a BoA product were moved to the top of that list— regardless of the time or place of the firearm purchase.

The Committee alleges that the bank shared individuals’ private information regarding their accounts with the FBI despite having no criminal past.

Keep in mind that the purchases were tracked because people used their credit cards. How much easier would it be to track the purchases of all Americans if we were using digital currency?

The article concludes:

“These documents suggest that the executive branch was brainstorming informal methods— outside of legal process—for obtaining private customer information from financial institutions,” Jordan’s letter continued.

Jordan has also sought information from JPMorgan, PNC, U.S. Bancorp, Wells Fargo, and Trust Financial Corporation.

“Given this concerning testimony, the Committee has written to other major financial institutions, including Citibank, to determine whether those entities were involved in similar conduct,” he said.

The Ohio congressman hinted at future legislation that would hold financial institutions responsible if they participate in such activity.

I know someone whose PayPal account was closed because she purchased a hamburger with her credit card in Washington on January 6th. She attended the rally, but went back to her hotel afterwards. Sharing credit card records of people who have not committed a crime should be illegal if it is not already. If it is illegal, those who broke the law need to be held accountable.

Losing The Freedom To Feed Your Family

On Friday, Townhall posted an article about an Amish farmer in Virginia who has personally experienced government overreach.

The article reports:

The firestorm of Big Government saber-rattling ignited in mid-June when an inspector with the Virginia Department of Agriculture (VDAC), without warning, paid the Fisher family a visit. To date, Fisher has no idea what could’ve prompted VDAC’s impromptu inspection on June 14, except “maybe they just finally found us through word of mouth,” the farmer speculated.

What was clear: The state sought to penalize Fisher for selling meat that was not processed by a USDA-inspected facility (U.S. Department of Agriculture). Fisher processes—an industry euphemism for butchering—his farm-raised meat on-site and sells it directly to his customers, feeding about 500 consumers and their families, who are part of a buying club. As members enrolled in the Golden Valley Farms program, they’re buying into the herd of 100% grass-fed golden Guernsey cows.

“They own part of the business. They own some of the herd,” Fisher explained. “My thinking was […] We can butcher their cows, process it, and sell it to them. I told the state all of this, but they said, ‘No, there’s no way around that. You can’t do that.’ They asked permission to get in here” to search the farm, which Fisher denied. “And, they told me, ‘We’ll be back,’ and left.”

The next day, on June 15, the VDAC inspector did, in fact, return, this time with a Cumberland County sheriff’s deputy to serve Fisher a search warrant. “They went through everything, house, every building, in the barn. They just raided through everything, put their nose in everything, and wanted to know every detail of everything. They went out back, trying to find all the failure they can find on a farm, which, of course, some of their stuff, which they think is wrong, is just normal stuff on a farm,” Fisher stated.

The article also notes:

“Anybody can go and raise animals for their own family to eat. That’s where I got to the point: He [the VDAC inspector] crossed the line, so I’m going to cross the line,” Fisher stated. “He crossed the line by telling me I cannot feed my own family with this meat. So, I decided I’m going to cross the line, I’m going to sell it. And that’s why I didn’t honor the state.”

This makes me wonder why the state did not even want his own family eating the animals they raised. Is the state going to start inspecting people’s vegetable gardens and taking their produce? This is ridiculous.

Putting The Cart Before The Horse

On Monday, Townhall reported that the charges brought against President Trump in Georgia have been released before the Grand Jury is done interviewing witnesses. A two-page report was posted on the Fulton County, Georgia, website before someone realized the mistake and quickly took it down. How can the charges be released before the Grand Jury is done?

The article reports:

According to the document that was reportedly (and briefly) posted to the county’s website, it appears Trump will face a total of 39 felony counts on the following charges that the docket lists with dates ranging from November 4, 2020 through September 17, 2021:

…While officials in Fulton County have been tight-lipped on the situation so far, Monday’s events raised more questions about how the grand jury was considering charges against the 45th president — especially if charges were ready to go before the panel had finished hearing testimony from witnesses.

Trump primary opponent Vivek Ramaswamy chimed in on the matter Monday afternoon, calling the indictment “disastrous” and “downright pathetic.”

In his Street Law 101 article posted at substack, Robert DuChemin (my favorite Florida lawyer) states:

As to the forthcoming Georgia case, whatever it is, it should be easy to get dismissed because the chairman of the grand jury, some ugly wokie chick, went on national TV claiming that she told the prosecutor to bring them anything he had and they would return a decision recommending prosecution of President Trump. Not only does this give the state unclean hands because it is a felony for anybody on the jury to discuss what went on but it also demonstrates her prejudice prior to being presented with any of the facts. I do not see how Georgia can overcome such a blatant abuse of the law. That case should be easily dismissed.

Generally the state or county waits for the Grand Jury to finish before posting their findings on the county website. The lack of professionalism on the part of those out to get President Trump is amazing.

How Much Evidence Will It Take Before Someone Is Held Accountable?

On Wednesday, Townhall reported that House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer has released records of overseas deposits into Hunter Biden’s back accounts during the time that Joe Biden was Vice-President.

The article reports:

“During Joe Biden’s vice presidency, Hunter Biden sold him as ‘the brand’ to reap millions from oligarchs in Kazakhstan, Russia, and Ukraine. It appears no real services were provided other than access to the Biden network, including Joe Biden himself. And Hunter Biden seems to have delivered. This is made clear by meals at Café Milano where then-Vice President Joe Biden dined with oligarchs from around the world who had sent money to his son,” Comer released in a statement. “It’s clear Joe Biden knew about his son’s business dealings and allowed himself to be ‘the brand’ sold to enrich the Biden family while he was Vice President of the United States. The House Oversight Committee will continue to follow the money trail and obtain witness testimony to determine whether foreign actors targeted the Bidens, President Biden is compromised or corrupt, and our national security is threatened.”

…According to the memo released by Comer, the Biden family received over $20 million in foreign transactions and the payments were distributed to multiple members. The payments were hidden through shell companies and funneled through Hunter Biden’s business partners, including Devon Archer. Archer and Biden earned $6.5 million from Burisma alone.

The article concludes:

“When President Biden ran as a presidential candidate, he assured the American people his family received no money from China. President Biden recently claimed the Committee’s bank records regarding his family’s receipt of funds from China are ‘not true,'” a second Committee memo states. “The White House refuses to correct President Biden’s dishonest statements. The lack of transparency surrounding the Biden family’s foreign business deals raises serious national security concerns.” 

There is no happy ending to this story. Impeaching President Biden will not work–even with overwhelming evidence, the Senate will NOT impeach. Even if the Senate were to impeach, we would then have President Kamala Harris. Meanwhile we have a President who not only is mentally compromised but is probably being blackmailed by half the countries in the world. At some point this charade has to end.

Some Wisdom From A Judge

On Monday, Townhall posted an article about a Judge’s decision in one of the cases against President Trump.

The article reports:

In an order filed Monday morning in the classified documents case against President Donald Trump, Florida District Judge Aileen Cannon questioned “the legal propriety” of prosecutors working for Special Counsel Jack Smith to use “an out-of-district grand jury proceeding to continue to investigate.” She also struck down the sealed filings of two prosecutors. 

“The Special Counsel’s motion for leave to file under seal [ECF No. 95] is DENIED. The Clerk is directed to STRIKE from the docket sealed entries 95 and 96. Waltine Nauta shall file a response to the Motion for a Garcia hearing [ECF No. 97] on or before August 17, 2023. Among other topics as raised in the Motion, the response shall address the legal propriety of using an out-of-district grand jury proceeding to continue to investigate and/or to seek post-indictment hearings on matters pertinent to the instant indicted matter in this district. The Special Counsel shall respond to that discussion in a Reply in Support of the Motion [ECF No. 97], due on or before August 22, 2023. The remaining Defendants may, but are not required to, file briefs of their own related to the grand jury issue referenced herein, but any such briefs are due by August 17, 2023, and may be submitted in combined or individual fashion,” Cannon wrote. 

The use of the government bureaucracy to undermine the presidential candidacy of a political opponent is probably not new, but it has definitely been in play since 2016. The first instance I remember is the Russia hoax that we supposed to prevent President Trump from winning the election and then cripple his presidency. It failed to achieve the first goal, but was somewhat successful in achieving the second goal.

I truly believe that the only way to be done with this foolishness is to put President Trump back in the White House and let him drain the swamp. Unfortunately during his first term, there were numerous swamp creatures within his administration. Many of those creatures have now revealed themselves and can be dealt with. If we want our country back, we need to elect a President who supports the people–not the swamp.

 

Hoping That Americans Have Short Memories

On Thursday, Townhall posted an article that illustrates the media’s hope that Americans have short memories.

This is the headline:

Reporters Are Still Pushing the False Claim Obama Had No Scandals

Let’s take a short walk down memory lane. The first thing that I saw in the Obama administration that gave me concern was the way the New Black Panthers case was handled. There was YouTube video of the New Black Panthers standing outside a polling place in Philadelphia dressed in black, holding billy clubs and looking intimidating. However, the people involved were never charged with voter intimidation.

On July 30, 2012, I reported:

The article in The Washington Examiner cites the writing of United States District Court Judge Reggie Walton:

The documents reveal that political appointees within DOJ were conferring about the status and resolution of the New Black Panther Party case in the days preceding the DOJ’s dismissal of claims in that case, which would appear to contradict Assistant Attorney General Perez’s testimony that political leadership was not involved in that decision. Surely the public has an interest in documents that cast doubt on the accuracy of government officials’ representations regarding the possible politicization of agency decision-making.

In sum, the Court concludes that three of the four fee entitlement factors weigh in favor of awarding fees to Judicial Watch. Therefore, Judicial Watch is both eligible and entitled to fees and costs, and the Court must now consider the reasonableness of Judicial Watch’s requested award.

Judicial Watch has been on the job for a long time. They demand transparency from both Republican and Democrat administrations. Their website is a very good source of information.

The Townhall article names some of the other scandals:

While there are too many scandals to list for one story, among the most egregious were the Fast and Furious scandal, the Solyndra scandal, the IRS targeting conservative non-profits, and the Taliban Five prisoner swap. A full list of scandals can be found here.

The Obama administration was simply a practice run for all of the current corruption we see in the White House.

This Seems Illogical To Me

On Saturday, Townhall reported that he Biden administration has refused to give Secret Service protection to presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. This is ironic at best because the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy, Sr., was the event that triggered providing Secret Service protection to presidential candidates. Meanwhile, there were a number of government vehicles and security agents that accompanied Hunter Biden to court last week.

The article reports:

“Since the assassination of my father in 1968, candidates for president are provided Secret Service protection. But not me,” RJK Jr. wrote on Twitter.

He added that the “typical turnaround time for pro forma protection requests from presidential candidates is 14 days. After 88 days of no response and after several follow-ups by our campaign, the Biden Administration just denied our request.”

…In response from the Biden Administration, DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said, “I have determined that Secret Service protection for Robert F Kennedy Jr is not warranted at this time.”

Biden’s challenger said his request included a 67-page report from the “world’s leading protection firm, detailing unique and well-established security and safety risks aside from commonplace death threats.”

RFK Jr’s father was assassinated in 1968 at a Los Angeles hotel. Five years earlier, his uncle, President John Kennedy, in 1963 was also assassinated.

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., has been a bit of a thorn in the side of the Biden administration. He has previously testified before Congress regarding the censorship that the Biden administration routinely practices.

We Have The Evidence, Will We Prosecute The Crime?

As President Trump achieves double digits in the number of indictments on spurious charges, the major media has chosen to ignore the overwhelming evidence presented to Congress regarding influence peddling by the Biden family syndicate. On Friday, Townhall posted an article about a document recently released to Senator Grassley and House Oversight Chairman James Comer (R-KY).

The article reports:

After attempts from the Biden administration to restrict access to the FBI-generated FD-1023 form at the center of allegations that then-Vice President Joe Biden was engaged in a criminal bribery scheme with a foreign national, U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) released the full document on Thursday afternoon to finally give the American people the full picture created by the unclassified document.

The document authorized for release to Grassley and House Oversight Chairman James Comer (R-KY) has few redactions and provides the most information on these allegations against Biden to date. After releasing the FBI document, Grassley asked again: “What did FBI do to investigate serious claims from FBIs own trusted source??”

The article includes a transcription of the text of the FD-1023. Please follow the link to read the transcript.

The article represents proof of not only corruption on the part of the Biden family, but evidence of the Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation failing to do their job of enforcing the law equally.

The Democrat talking point on all of this information is that it has been debunked. It has not–in fact more and more corroborating evidence is revealed every day.

To add to the mix, on Thursday The Daily Wire reported the following:

A senior FBI official allegedly informed Twitter that the abandoned laptop believed to have belonged to Hunter Biden was real on the same day the New York Post broke news about the device’s contents in a story that Twitter went on to censor, according to newly-released testimony.

Laura Dehmlow, the section chief of the FBI’s Foreign Influence Task Force (FITF), spoke with the House Judiciary Committee and Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government this week, House Judiciary Republicans announced on Thursday.

Our government and our media are not working in the interests of the American people.

Protecting Our Children

On Tuesday, Townhall reported the following:

On Saturday, a federal appeals panel said a Tennessee law restricting irreversible, experimental transgender care for children could be enforced. 

The Sixth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati, Ohio granted an emergency appeal from Tennessee to allow the legislation to go into effect. Previously, a judge struck blocked components of the law, which Townhall covered.

“The case is far from over, but this is a big win,” Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti said in a statement. “The court of appeals lifted the injunction, meaning the law can be fully enforced, and recognized that Tennessee is likely to win the constitutional argument and the case.”

Reportedly, the ruling is preliminary and will be in effect until the appeals court conducts a full review of the appeal. The case should be resolved by Sept. 30.

Gender reassignment therapy is a money-maker for the medical industry. A person who changes their gender as a young person will be on medication for the rest of their life to maintain that change. There will also be medical complications from that change.

In June 2015, PBS reported:

The physical changes that hormones bring about are irreversible, making the decision more weighty than taking puberty blockers. Some of the known side effects of hormones include things that might sound familiar: acne and changes in mood. Patients are also warned that they may be at higher risk for heart disease or diabetes later in life. The risk of blood clots increases for those who start estrogen. And the risk for cancer is an unknown, but it is included in the warnings doctors give their patients.

Another potential dilemma facing transgender children, their families and their doctors is this: Taking cross hormones can reduce fertility. And there isn’t enough research to find out of it is reversible or not. So when children make the decision to start taking hormones, they have to consider whether they ever want to have biological children.

These are not decisions young teenagers are equipped to make. The drugs and medical procedures need to be postponed until a person is mature enough to comprehend the risks of what they are doing.

Quotes From Senator Kennedy

On Wednesday, Townhall posted an article that featured Senator John Kennedy’s comments on the Biden family scandal.

Here are some of the wonderful quotes:

Noting that “it’s almost always the cover-up and not the crime” that proves most damaging, Sen. Kennedy added he is “repeatedly amazed at how many smart people there are in Washington, D.C. who have no sense.”

…”I do know this — and I think the American people can see it — the Washington managerial elite, the establishment if you will, is working harder than an ugly stripper to cover up whatever happened,” said Kennedy. “And that’s all that Congress is asking for, is the facts.”

…”To the point that they have no sense,” Kennedy continued, “the elite in Washington think that the American people don’t see that they’re covering up and that they’re being obstructionist. Maybe it’s a reflection of the contempt they have for the American people, but any fair-minded person can see that our efforts to get to just the facts are being obstructed,” said Sen. Kennedy.

“It started with Hunter Biden’s laptop,” Kennedy explained of the D.C. establishment’s demonstrated track record of working to cover for Hunter Biden. “They tried to convince the American people it wasn’t real and it was,” he reminded. “And I think many people in the federal government knew almost from the inception that it was real, and so a lot of folks lied to the American people.”

No one says it quite like Senator Kennedy.

When Your Children Write On The Sidewalk

On Friday, Townhall posted an article about a recent incident at the Arkansas Governor’s Mansion. As the Governor of Arkansas, Sarah Huckabee Sanders currently lives in the Governor’s Mansion.

The article reports:

Joyless leftists, as they are prone to do, got all triggered when Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ kids used chalk to draw a cross surrounded by colorful stained glass-like shapes on the driveway at the governor’s mansion this week.

Gov. Sanders had shared a photo of her kids and their artwork to social media, which naturally upset the usual suspects.

Quickly, the hall monitors at Americans United for the Separation of Church and State issued a demand letter: remove the chalk rendering of a cross.

The group claimed that its presence at the official home of Arkansas’ executive was a violation of the Constitution.

…Never mind, apparently, that “separation of church and state” is not found in the Constitution, nor does having a kids’ chalk depiction of a rather universal religious symbol rise to the level of establishing a state religion.

In what should come as a surprise to no one, Gov. Sanders is not backing down, bending to the will of the no-God-in-government crowd at Americans United, or agreeing to relegate her family’s beliefs to only private expressions.

In an official letter of her own obtained by Townhall on Friday, Sanders responded to Americans United.

“I have received your letter and my answer is no,” Sanders wrote. “I will not erase the beautiful cross my kids drew in chalk on the driveway of the Governor’s Mansion or remove my post on social media, and I will not now or ever hide that I am a Christian, saved by Christ.”

Sanders continued, explaining that Americans United is “wrong to claim that our Constitution prevents public officials, let alone their families, from making earnest expressions of religious faith. Our founding documents are riddled with religious language – stating plainly that the very rights you claim to defend are ‘endowed by our Creator,'” Sanders reminded. “You are asking me to ignore that truth and hide a crucial part of my identity and the identity of my kids. That, I will not do,” she reiterated.

I can’t imagine anyone getting upset at a children’s drawing of a cross on the driveway. Frankly, looking at the picture, I am amazed at the beauty of the drawing. My kids and grandkids only drew stick figures and strangely shaped hearts. Haven’t the kill-joys got better things to do that attack kids’ drawings on driveways?

Does This Surprise Anyone?

On Tuesday, Townhall reported that the California wild fire that was blamed on climate change was actually the result of arson.

The article reports:

Last summer, a large wildfire that came to be known as the Oak Fire scorched its way across California’s Mariposa County and threatened Yosemite National Park. First reported on July 22, 2022, the Oak Fire burned more than 19,000 acres of land, cost more than $90 million, and evacuations forced the displacement of thousands of Californians and visitors in the fire’s path as it rapidly expanded.

“Experts say dry air, strong winds, parched trees and grass and soaring temperatures caused the Oak fire to expand rapidly through the rugged foothills in recent days. The area has experienced nearly two weeks of triple digit temperatures and low humidity,” The Guardian reported of the Oak Fire as it spread. “All this comes at a time when the state is seeing increasingly destructive and deadly blazes and the climate crisis creates conditions ripe for destruction.”

Taxpayer funded (in part) PBS emphasized that the Oak Fire was one of the “devastating consequences” of the “global climate crisis.”

Not so fast.

The article quotes the Washington Free Beacon:

Authorities busted a Democratic donor for allegedly starting a “ginormous inferno” in Yosemite National Park. Democratic politicians had insisted climate change was to blame for the blaze, which destroyed more than 100 homes and injured several firefighters in July 2022. 

Edward Fredrick Wackerman (his actual name) of Mariposa, Calif., faces a number of charges including aggravated arson following his arrest on Friday.

By the numbers: The arson suspect has donated $1,775 to Democratic candidates and committees since 2020, government records show, including a $1,000 donation to Tim Ryan’s failed U.S. Senate campaign in 2022 and $400 to the Lincoln Project, a disgraced liberal super PAC.

The article notes that all of the restrictions being put on Californians in the name of climate change would not have stopped the Democrat donor who used a match to make it appear that climate change was a major threat. People who have no regard for the property or the welfare of their fellow Americans are a bigger threat.

Come, Mister Tally Man, Tally Me Banana

We have officially reached banana republic status.

Townhall reported the following today:

According to The Washington Post’s reporting on court papers filed Tuesday morning, Hunter Biden has reached a “tentative agreement” to “plead guilty to two minor tax crimes and admit to the facts of a gun charge under terms that would likely keep him out of jail.”

This sweetheart deal for Hunter Biden would still require validation by a federal judge at such time Hunter appears in court to enter his plea.

According to the Washington Post:

The court papers indicate the younger Biden has tentatively agreed to plead guilty to two misdemeanor tax charges of failure to pay in 2017 and 2018. The combined tax liability is roughly $1.2 million over those years, according to people familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe details of the agreement that are not yet public. Prosecutors plan to recommend a sentence of probation for those counts, these people said. Biden’s representatives have said he previously paid back the IRS what he owed.

Additionally, Biden plans to admit to illegally possessing a weapon following his 2018 purchase of a handgun. As part of that admission, he expects to be entered in a diversion program, a less punitive form of sentence typically applied to people with substance abuse problems. In all, prosecutors would recommend two years of probation and diversion conditions. If Biden successfully meets the conditions of the diversion program, the gun charge would be removed from his record at the end of that period, the people said.

Has anyone questioned where Hunter Biden got the money that the $1.2 million taxes were owed on? Does anyone doubt that they money would never have been paid were it not for the public pressure surrounding this case?

The Hill reported today:

House Oversight and Accountability Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) vowed on Tuesday to continue investigating Hunter Biden, despite his “sweetheart plea deal” reached with federal prosecutors.

“These charges against Hunter Biden and sweetheart plea deal have no impact on the Oversight Committee’s investigation,” Comer said in a statement. “We will not rest until the full extent of President Biden’s involvement in the family’s schemes are revealed.”

 

Will There Be Consequences?

We have watched for a number of years as the Department of Justice reacted differently to crimes according to the political alignment of the person who committed them. Unfortunately, we may be about to see that happen again.

On Tuesday, Townhall reported the following:

The Republican Majority on the House Oversight Committee announced it would be taking further action against the Biden FBI on Tuesday after the agency again refused to provide unclassified documents responsive to a committee subpoena regarding an alleged criminal bribery scheme between then-Vice President Joe Biden and a foreign national.

In a statement, Oversight Chairman James Comer (R-KY) said that the Federal Bureau of Investigation had informed his committee “that it will not provide the unclassified documents subpoenaed by the Committee,” defying the House’s oversight powers on a matter of significant interest to members of Congress and the American people.

“The FBI’s decision to stiff-arm Congress and hide this information from the American people is obstructionist and unacceptable,” Comer continued. “While I have a call scheduled with FBI Director Wray tomorrow to discuss his response further, the Committee has been clear in its intent to protect Congressional oversight authorities and will now be taking steps to hold the FBI Director in contempt of Congress for refusing to comply with a lawful subpoena,” he explained.

The article concludes:

As Katie reported previously on the FBI’s refusal to turn over the unclassified documents related to the whistleblower allegations that the agency had knowledge of this alleged criminal scheme between Biden during his time as VP and an unknown foreign national:

The document in question allegedly shows then Vice President Joe Biden taking bribe money in exchange for changes in U.S. foreign policy. Earlier this month a whistleblower, who is now protected under federal law, came forward with the bribery allegation in testimony to House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer and Senate Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Chuck Grassley. 

The FBI missed a deadline to turn over the document two weeks ago and sent a letter justifying their belief Congress isn’t entitled to the information. 

“I can’t speak to the specific document. We are committed to working collaboratively with both committees but we also have to balance sources and methods and ongoing investigations,” Wray recently said during testimony on Capitol Hill. “I really can’t get into the specifics here.”

The only thing that I can conclude here is that Christopher Wray thinks that the consequences of not handing over the document will be less severe than the consequences of handing over the document. That simply adds fuel to the idea that the document is important. It also adds fuel to the idea that we are watching carefully orchestrated theater that will eventually remove President Biden from the 2024 presidential race.

Do You Feel That Someone Is Watching You?

On Sunday, Townhall posted an article about the number of warrantless searches on American citizens.

The article reports:

In the fiscal year for the U.S. government that ended in November 2021, the FBI conducted more than 278,000 warrantless searches on U.S. citizens.

The information was unsealed in a FISA court ruling this past week.

So on average, during just that one year, the FBI was carrying out as many as 762 warrantless searches per day. That’s 32 improper searches per hour. That breaks down to a new warrantless search every 2 minutes.

These numbers do not include proper searches that used warrants and carried out the usual function of the bureau.

It also does not include the 3,400,000 times the FBI searched citizens’ data without warrants. That’s 9,315 per day, 388 per hour, and 6.5 per minute.

So in 2021–every two minutes—the FBI conducted a physical search and 13 data searches—illegally—for the entire year.

The same agency we now know tipped off that Hillary Clinton was colluding with Russia to frame Donald Trump and did nothing about it…

The same agency that lied to the FISA court to extend search warrants to surveil people that were later vindicated and cleared…

The same agency that allowed agents to conduct extra-marital relationships (an action that violates the FBI code of conduct) and feverishly work to remove a lawfully elected President…

The same agency that has held the Hunter Biden laptop in its possession has chosen to do zero in enforcement….

The same agency that knew that one political party was attempting to smear, frame, and remove an incoming President and briefed then-President Barack Obama and then-Vice-President Joe Biden as to the plans…

Please follow the link above to read the entire article. Unfortunately there is more.

Our Constitution protects us from unlawful searches:

Fourth Amendment

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

The people engaged in this unlawful surveillance need to be arrested.