Marco Rubio, Lebanon, and The World Watches

Life is about patterns and circles. Patterns of behavior, and the social circles prompting that behavior.   

 By Rich Kozlovich

The EU is a mess in every aspect of their governance.  Their embrace of open immigration is destroying Europe ethnically and culturally.  They're embrace of Anthropogenic Climate Change policies and solutions is destroying them economically.  They choose leaders who are total nitwits following even worse nitwits like Henry Kissinger, and his acolyte from the globalist, open immigration, Marxist oriented World Economic Forum, Klaus Schwab who thinks China's communist system represents the world's prefect government.

The Four Jokers of the Apocalypse: Carney, Starmer, Macron, and Merz - Net-zero communism, online censorship, Christian persecution, and endless war — these are all pillars of the globalist, “progressive,” anti-Western apocalypse that Carney, Starmer, Macron, and Merz continue to unleash.  The “Build Back Better”-“Green New Deal”-“Net-Zero”-“Great Reset”-“Climate Change” program will make it impossible for people to own anything.  “Protect the children” controls over the Internet will make it impossible for people to exchange information freely and anonymously.

There are people who are great friends.  The kind who when push come to shove, you want them on you side because they won't back down, the won't walk away, and they won't stab you in the back.  When discussing involvement of the EU and the UN in Middle East affairs this article by Bonnie Glick clarifies just how worthless both the UN and the EU are as friends.  

She goes on to note that for 40 years the UN and the international community supported fiction over fact, delusion over reality, ignoring the unending violations of agreements by Hezbollah for decades.  Oh sure, they would wag their fingers but while they were wagging their fingers "Hezbollah built one of the largest terrorist arsenals in the world within sight of observation posts manned by peacekeepers from the feckless UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL)."

Every ceasefire and every demand for de-escalation were opportunities for Hezbollah to expand it's "military infrastructure" concealing "the reality that Iran-backed Hezbollah was becoming stronger, more sophisticated, and more deeply embedded inside Lebanese society."  They willing accepted Lebanon's bankruptcy as a state, and demanded Israel continue to trust all the failed mechanisms they put into place to assure peace. 

Well, Marco Rubio has brought Israel, Lebanon and the United States together signing a new agreement to bring stability to Lebanon.  This deal will require commitment from the Lebanese military, which is in my view a big risk, Israel and America, but it's doable.  The big benefit? They're pretty much kicking the UN and the international community (the EU) to the curb. That's a good start for any kind of a deal anywhere regarding anything.  Purging the stupid, incompetent and corrupt is a really good start. 

1.  EU Hides Taliban Travel to Brussels Over “Security Concerns”
2.  Palestinian Man Arrested on Suspicion of Planning Attacks in Europe
3.  EU Sanctions Israel, Welcomes Taliban
4.  Europe’s Suicide Pact: Citizens Double-Victimised by Savage Migrants AND a Traitor State That Protects the Butchers
5.  Europe 2.0, Beyond Brussels: The End of the European Union as We Know It
6. Europe Capitulates, Sees Iranian Hormuz Fee Collection as “Inevitable”
7. Europe’s Bureaucratization of Parenting 
8. More Than 100 UNRWA Staff Reportedly Helped Hamas Carry Out Oct. 7 Attack

Then reality strikes, but.... will it matter? They destroyed Europe, and now I hope they don't plan on moving to America. We already have enough of our own leftists who abandoned the states they destroyed and are now destroying the states they moved to. 

1. Why Are Europeans Leaving Their Own Countries?  'The mask is off': European Union 'hates Europeans,' say activists trying to save continent's culture from Muslim invasion
2.  It Looks Like Europe's Parliament Has Finally Had Enough of Illegal Immigration
3.  EU Parliament Passes Major Deportation Reforms, Including Third Country Return Hubs

One final point. Marco Rubio is looking better and better all the time.

Doesn't Anyone Read History Books Any Longer?

By Rich Kozlovich

This article,  Rubio unveils 'framework for lasting peace' between Israel and Lebanon, appeared on the World Net Daily news site with Marco Rubio having "unveiled a U.S. plan for an end to the military hostilities between Lebanon and Israel." calling this plan a "framework for lasting peace and security." 

Let me think.... when has the last time a ceasefire was honored by Hezbollah?  Oh yeah, I remember, never!

Rubio says this will "put in place a framework for lasting peace and security. And that's what these two nations deserve".  Really?  This agreement requires both Israel's IDF to leave Southern Lebanon turning that over to the Lebanese military, and Hezbollah has agreed to embrace a cease fire.  

Does anyone besides me think that falls under the category of , "you just can't make this stuff up"?

Rubio goes on the say:

"The people of Lebanon have suffered tremendously now for decades, as a result of outside interference in their affair, of countries trying to use the country as a launchpad for attacks. And this is not what the people of Lebanon want and that's not what they deserve."

 "What they deserve to have is what they once had, and of which there is recent history of. And that is a prosperous and peaceful country, a diverse country where people of different backgrounds are able to live and go co-exist side by side, and in many ways was the envy of the region and of the world."

Okay, since Rubio is aware that Lebanon was at one time a peaceful, prosperous nation (which was once called the "Riviera of the Middle East", and it's capital, Beirut, called the Paris of the Middle East), one should ask..... what changed?  Lebanon was a Christian nation, and they allowed massive migration of Muslims into their country.  Result?  A never ending disastrous "forever war" between Muslims and everyone else.   As for the Lebanese military taking control.... That'll be the day. 

"Lebanon is a fractured society", and is incapable of making substantial changes, as they have no ability to enforce anything.  The world knows there is in no way the Lebanese government and military can control Hezbollah.  

1. They were incapable of dismantling Hezbollah's missile manufacturing plants in years past. 
2. They can't control the economy with eighty percent of their nation living beneath the poverty line. 
3. The nation is broken up into four primary groups, Sunni Muslims, Shiite Muslims, Druze Muslims, all of which hate each other, and Christians who all of them hate, and, a scattering of others.  

In 2020 Hilal Khashan writing for Geopolitical Futures (subscription site only) noted just how all this came about saying:

The First Lebanese Republic (1943-1975) collapsed because of social injustice and armed Palestinian presence. The Second Republic (1989-2019) collapsed because of rampant corruption and Hezbollah’s political domination. The Third Republic is on hold pending the fate of Hezbollah and restructuring of the Lebanese political system. For the past century, the Lebanese demonstrated an inability to solve their problems. It does not look like they have become more capable today. 

Lebanese Druze leader Walid Jumblatt believes there is a major international struggle for the Middle East, and Lebanon lies beyond the ability of the Lebanese people to control. He advised his coreligionists to keep their heads low until the storm is over.

The Druze are an offshoot of Islam, and they're aware of the government's inability to protect them from the other sects of Islam, and they're scared of Hezbollah, and yet, we're to believe this "agreement" is the framework for lasting peace and security."  

The patterns of life repeat over and over again.  Here's what happened in 2018, Obama’s Shadow Looms Over US Lebanon Policy, and truthfully, I have no doubt Hezbollah continues to infest the power institutions of Lebanon, including their military, and they have no intention of honoring any agreement that will forestall their efforts to attack Israel.  To believe otherwise is historically, intellectually and realistically irrational.  Rubio can't possibly believe what he's saying!

Secretary of State Rubio Takes the Reins at Secretive USAID

When delegation just won't cut it. 

By Dave Patterson | Feb 6, 2025 @ Liberty Nation News, Tags: Articles, Military Affairs, Opinion

Marco Rubio (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

As Secretary of State Marco Rubio wrapped up his first diplomatic travels, he quickly found himself with some expanded responsibilities. Rubio made news with negotiations in Panama, but then he announced the new interim director for the suddenly controversial US Agency for International Development (USAID). The chief US foreign policy leader has decided that if the United States wants its aid to be distributed in a manner consistent with US foreign policy, he would do it himself.

Numerous secretaries of state and presidents have tried to get the USAID under control, but with President Donald Trump at the helm and the chief foreign policy executive leading the charge, the agency may finally be managed in a way more consistent with America’s international development objectives.

Rubio Will Manage and Direct USAID

Over the years, the rogue agency has assumed an independence not envisioned when it was established. In an interview with Real Clear Politics, Mike Benz, founder of the Foundation for Freedom Online, explained: “What is USAID? When people hear the name USAID, they focus on ‘aid,’ they focus on thinking like it’s humanitarian work. But ‘aid’ is not actually in the name of US AID. USAID stands for the ‘United States Agency for International Development,’ not aid; it’s not a charity.” What has happened is that even the notion of “aid” has been lost. USAID is nothing more than a funnel for US taxpayers’ hard-earned dollars to be wasted on third-party non-governmental organizations that neither aid the intended recipients nor further the foreign policy goals of the United States.

Secretary Rubio explained in an interview with Fox News:

“They have basically evolved into an agency that believes that they’re not even a US Government agency, that they’re a global charity, that they take the taxpayer money, and they spend it as a global charity irrespective of whether it is in the national interest or not in the national interest. One of the most common complaints you will get if you go to embassies around the world from State Department officials and ambassadors and the like is USAID is not only not cooperative … They are supporting programs that upset the host government.”

Rubio went on to say that his goal was initially to attempt to reform the agency; however, now there is “rank insubordination” in an organization that fundamentally doesn’t believe it works for the US government and instead answers to a global imperative. Worse, USAID officials, in acts of arrogance difficult to fathom, have actively attempted to prevent Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) representatives from accessing data on how it is spending its funding. After the DOGE officials threatened to call in federal marshals, and the USAID director of security and his number two were put on administrative leave, DOGE examiners gained access to the information they sought. Such hubris on the part of civil servants is shocking, but all too predictable.

As Americans have come to expect, the liberals and progressives squealed in horror that one of its favored propaganda machines had come under scrutiny. “The lawmakers gathered outside the main office of the USAID in downtown Washington on February 3 to criticize what they called an ‘illegal maneuver’ by Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, who has been tasked by President Donald Trump with downsizing the government,” Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported. But what the progressive crowd can’t come to grips with is that USAID is an agency of the executive branch of government. An executive order by President John F. Kennedy created it, and an executive order can reorganize it.

USAID Funds Enemies

Of the approximately 130 countries to which USAID provides assistance, “The top 10 recipients of USAID-managed funds in FY2023 were, in descending order of funding, Ukraine, Ethiopia, Jordan, Democratic Republic of Congo, Somalia, Yemen, Afghanistan, Nigeria, South Sudan, and Syria,” according to a 2025 Congressional Research Service (CRS) report, “US Agency for International Development: An Overview.” The question begged is what US foreign policy goals can be achieved by giving US taxpayer dollars to Yemen, Afghanistan, and Syria, where terrorists and organizations whose purpose is inimical to the United States no doubt get the money.

According to the CRS, “USAID Administrator Samantha Power has repeatedly cited diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) as agency priorities.” The divisive DEIA programs, which many might even call racist, are contrary to the Trump administration’s emphasis on establishing a meritocracy within the federal government. Congressional leaders interested in government stewardship of taxpayers’ dollars are not happy with USAID, either. Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) told Fox News Digital, “USAID’s spending shows a blatant disregard for the wishes of American taxpayers, and it is time to disrupt the system. The agency has been wasting millions of tax dollars on things like tourism in Lebanon, Sesame Street in Iraq, sending Ukrainians to Paris Fashion Week, and so much more.”

In a Feb. 5 letter to Secretary Rubio, Ernst explained, “In response to my concerns, USAID has acted in an unacceptably deceptive and egregious manner. The agency’s attempts to thwart congressional oversight amount to exactly the type of gaslighting that the American people despise most and see so frequently from Washington.”

There is a new zeal in the nation’s capital to hold bureaucrats accountable and conscientiously spend Americans’ tax dollars. It seems impossible that liberals and progressives would quibble with that – but they do.

The views expressed are those of the author and not of any other affiliate.

~

Liberty Nation does not endorse candidates, campaigns, or legislation, and this presentation is no endorsement.

Read More From Dave Patterson National Security Correspondent

Secretary of State Marco Rubio Goes to Hotspot Panama

President Trump's foreign policy priority clear made clear with Rubio’s first international visit. 

By Dave Patterson Feb 3, 2025 @ Liberty Nation News, Tags: Articles, Military Affairs, Opinion

US foreign policy watchers put a lot of stock in who would be first on Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s dance card. However, it’s no surprise Rubio would look to the south for his first outreach. Now that the United States has adopted a strong stance against the flow of illegal aliens coming through Central America and Mexico, Foggy Bottom is focusing attention there. Especially on Panama. President Donald Trump has made no secret he is dissatisfied with China managing the most important waterway in the Western Hemisphere.

First Diplomatic Trip for Rubio

After receiving a unanimous confirmation vote in the US Senate, Rubio took Trump’s unambiguous message to Panama on Sunday (Feb. 2). To foreshadow his meeting with the country’s President José Raúl Mulino and Foreign Minister Javier Martínez-Acha, Rubio wrote an opinion piece for The Wall Street Journal heralding a new and more pinpointed foreign policy that attends to “our own neighborhood – the Western Hemisphere.” He made unmistakable his concern that malicious forces have been at work in the region over the past four years: “Illegitimate regimes in Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela are intentionally amplifying the chaos.” He pointed out a main sticking point for the Trump administration, explaining, “All the while, the Chinese Communist Party uses diplomatic and economic leverage — such as at the Panama Canal — to oppose the U.S. and turn sovereign nations into vassal states.”

There is more significance to Rubio’s choice of a first diplomatic trip, which includes as well El Salvador, Guatemala, Costa Rica, and the Dominican Republic. As the Trump administration’s special envoy for Latin America, Mauricio Claver-Carone, said in a State Department press briefing, this trip will be the first time a US secretary of state made his or her first official diplomatic visit to Latin America in more than a hundred years, the last time being 1912, “when Philander Chase Knox went to Panama … to oversee the conclusion of the Panama Canal’s construction.”

Adding to the significance of Rubio’s first stop in Panama, of course, was that the central topic of talks was Trump’s abiding dissatisfaction with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) management of the canal. The State Department’s take on the meeting was notably not weasel-worded diplo-speak:

“Secretary Rubio informed President Mulino and Minister Martínez-Acha that President Trump has made a preliminary determination that the current position of influence and control of the Chinese Communist Party over the Panama Canal area is a threat to the Canal and represents a violation of the Treaty Concerning the Permanent Neutrality and Operation of the Panama Canal. Secretary Rubio made clear that this status quo is unacceptable and that absent immediate changes, it would require the United States to take measures necessary to protect its rights under the Treaty.”

After the meeting, Rubio thanked Mulino for reducing the number of illegal aliens transiting Panama and emphasized the US “dedication to making both nations safer, stronger, and more prosperous.” Straight talk works. “Panama’s president vowed Sunday to end a key development deal with China after meeting with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and after complaints from President Donald Trump that the Latin American country had ceded control over its critical shipping canal to Beijing,” Fox News reported shortly after the bilateral discussions ended.

Panama will no longer be part of the Beijing Belt and Road hegemonic scheme it agreed to in 2017. For the long term, Mulino’s decision not to renew the memorandum of agreement with Beijing is a major shift in geopolitical alignment for the Central American country. Additionally, the Associated Press reported, “Despite Mulino’s rejection of any negotiation over ownership, some believe Panama may be open to a compromise under which canal operations on both sides are taken away from the Hong Kong-based Hutchison Ports company.”

National Security Threat

From a national security perspective, having a CCP state business controlling the two portals of the Panama Canal – on the Atlantic side at Colón and on the Pacific at the Bay of Panama — is perilous. Trump was clear in talking with reporters recently, “I can say this: we need them for economic security. The Panama Canal was built for our military,” according to RealClear Politics.

Your News – How You Like It!

The United States is the largest user of the crucial waterway. Estimates are that more than 70% of the Panama Canal traffic is destined there, and nearly 40% of all US container ship traffic moves through the canal, amounting to roughly $270 billion in goods. Furthermore, the waterway is critical for US Navy vessels transiting between the Atlantic and Pacific. A typical example is this US Virginia Class submarine, as seen in this rare YouTube video.

US submarines would be a vital strategic asset in a conflict with the People’s Liberation Army in the South China Sea and the Straits of Taiwan. Redeploying Atlantic Fleet attack submarines to the Pacific in a contingency would depend on the Panama Canal being available, which could be stymied by the CCP controlling entrance and exit. Shipping times for logistics transportation of weapons and ammunition to the Indo-Pacific in a conflict could be doubled. Trump is right to task Rubio with ensuring that this waterway remains unimpeded.

The views expressed are those of the author and not of any other affiliate.

~

Liberty Nation does not endorse candidates, campaigns, or legislation, and this presentation is no endorsement.

Read More From Dave Patterson National Security Correspondent

A Letter from Sen. Marco Rubio

Sen. Marco Rubio @ Claremont Institute Top 25 Threats to the American Family

Healthy families are at the core of any strong society. Ancient tradition, modern social science, and common sense all agree on this. And yet today, family life is under attack from powerful forces across the nation.

First and foremost, it is under attack from a powerful faction of cultural Marxists in this country who are openly committed to undermining and destroying the family. This faction represents a small minority of the population, but it has an outsized influence in our elite institutions, from the academy and the media to Hollywood and Silicon Valley. Following their cultural lead, upscale liberals now push the Marxists’ anti-American, anti-family agenda at every level of society. 

During the COVID lockdowns, parents saw just how serious the threat of the far left is. It started with draconian measures that kept American kids out of the classroom for more than a year — over twice the length that other Western countries imposed remote school — to satisfy liberal paranoia. The social and psychological damage inflicted on children, who were at reduced risk from COVID in the first place, will have lasting consequences for years to come.

If that were not enough, parents saw first-hand how woke activists use the public education system to divide the country, tear down religion, and replace the family with the state. Our children were indoctrinated with the destructive idea that every social interaction is based on race. They were told that if they have a mom and a dad, they are members of an oppressive class. And they were subjected to shocking and inappropriate depictions of gender and sexuality. What were recently fringe theories have increasingly entered the mainstream of school curricula.

To defend our families from this insanity, we need to strengthen community institutions that are still free from elite control: local school boards, churches, law enforcement agencies, and more. But those too are under attack. We have seen leftist states ban in-home church meetings while they declare Planned Parenthood an “essential service.” We have seen cities defund and try to abolish their police forces. We have even seen Child Protective Services remove minors from their homes when parents refused to consent to gender transition “therapies.”

This blatant totalitarianism has no place in America. But those who dare speak out against it will find themselves condemned by the legacy media and canceled by Big Tech. Companies like Google, TikTok, Instagram, and Twitter censor conservative voices and spread Marxist propaganda. Meanwhile, they keep our kids hooked on addictive, corrosive content to expand their profit margins. Millions of young people are currently suffering from depression, anxiety, and loneliness, all enhanced by social media use. 

It is no wonder that suicide and drug use rates are on the rise. Our kids are bombarded every minute of every day with negative information and unhealthy stimuli. Without the historic structures of family, faith, and community, they would have nowhere else to turn for help and healing. And yet, it is those very structures that cultural Marxists are working to destroy.

Marxist attacks are enabled by a policy consensus that disempowers Americans from standing up to them. Rescuing our children starts with parents taking back control over their schools. However, it will also require politicians to crack down on Big Tech, even if that’s not what the doctrines of free-market fundamentalism would have once counseled. 

More generally, to push back against the far left, we will have to build a new economic consensus that values Americans as workers, family members, religious believers, and members of their communities, not just as consumers.

Our laws should reflect this consensus by making the stability of American families a priority unto its own. That is why I worked with Ivanka Trump and Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) to double the child tax credit for working families. It is why I created the Paycheck Protection Program to save small and family-owned businesses from COVID lockdowns. And it is why I am pushing to strip Big Tech companies from their ridiculous Section 230 protections, which deprive families whose children have been harmed by them of legal recourse.

America is under attack. It is also at a crossroads. We have the strength, the resources, and the creativity to make the 21st century a new American Century, with healthy, flourishing families at its heart. But we could also be the generation that witnesses cultural Marxism usher in America’s decline.

The choice is ours. I hope and pray for the sake of my family, and for families across the country, that we make the right one.

Sen. Marco Rubio

When Marco Rubio was first elected to the United States Senate in 2010, he set one objective for himself: to help bring the American Dream back within reach of those who feel it is slipping away. From the Paycheck Protection Program and Everglades restoration to supporting veterans and bringing jobs back from China, that is the goal he works towards every single day. Rubio has spent most of his life in West Miami and still lives there today with his wife Jeanette and their four children.

 

Trump was right about little Marco

By Bob Weir

As I watched some of the Senate confirmation hearings, my decision to vote for Donald Trump was once again validated. The president-elect has chosen the absolute cream of the crop in every category! As one of the most successful and brilliant business minds on the planet, Trump has exhibited a pragmatism seldom seen in the meretricious selection process of national politics. His choice of Rex Tillerson for secretary of state is pure genius. Tillerson isn't a politician with a record of voting on issues consonant with a particular constituency. Instead, he's very much like the man who nominated him: a man who can bring his vast experience in the practical world of commerce and industry to Washington, where the lack of such expertise has put us in debt to the tune of twenty trillion dollars............Read more

Washington Post: Even Rubio’s Supporters Don’t Know What He Believes

By: streiff (Diary)

Earlier this evening, we reported on the woofing the Rubio campaign was doing to everyone within earshot of how they were going to demolish Ted Cruz by developing the narrative that he was some sort of unprincipled opportunist who would say whatever it took to win votes. According to the Washington Post, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) 94% has a much bigger problem. His | Read More »

Chris Christie is a political suicide bomber detonating next to Marco Rubio

By Ed Straker

Chris Christie could be single-handedly responsible for the political downfall of Marco Rubio.  The Times revealed that he basically has no staff outside Iowa and New Hampshire.  He is banking on big poll numbers in New Hampshire to jump-start his campaign.  But while a candidate can expect a boost from a good showing in New Hampshire, he still needs a state-by-state organization in place in order to take advantage of it.  If Chris Christie expects to do well in New Hampshire and then suddenly build up in other states, it simply isn't going to happen.  There's no historical precedent for it.....To Read More....

What Did Ted Cruz And Marco Rubio Learn From George W. Bush?

A key argument is developing between Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, and it raises the question: What did the GOP learn from George W. Bush?

 

By Ben Domenech

An interesting and somewhat unexpected argument is beginning to take shape in the context of the 2016 Republican Presidential Primary between the two most prominent Tea Party Senators running for the nomination – Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio. It is compelling because it demonstrates a real gap in terms of vision and priorities, but also because it speaks to very divergent views of the lessons of George W. Bush’s presidency, and how those lessons ought to be applied to the role of a future Commander in Chief.  It was technically Marco Rubio who fired the first shot – responding to Ted Cruz’s rising poll numbers with a series of ads slamming him for joining with the ACLU and others (er, supermajorities of others) to pass the USA Freedom Act, thereby weakening the NSA surveillance Rubio values so much and views as essential to protecting the homeland.........

 

When Cruz says Rubio and Clinton have “learned nothing”........Clinton, the obvious implication is that she has learned nothing from the fecklessness of President Obama’s lead from behind approach. But when he says Rubio and the “Washington neo-cons” have “advocated military adventurism” that has benefited “radical Islamic terrorists”, he is saying something different: he is accusing Rubio of not learning anything from the errors of the George W. Bush administration..........Of course, it’s no secret that Rubio was always miscast as a Tea Partier..........Rather than distance himself from George W. Bush’s approach to policy, Rubio has largely embraced it.........To Read More....

Election 2016

By Rich Kozlovich

It’s just been announced that Bobby Jindal has dropped out of the 2016 Republican primary race following Perry and Walker. So who’s next? Here’s the way I see it.

Graham is wasted space so I have no idea what he thinks he’s doing, but no matter what he does or doesn’t do – he’s already out whether he says so or not. As for Pataki, Huckabee and Santorum - they will be the next to drop out before the first primary in Iowa on February 1. None of them have anything to say the Republican base wants to hear and no money will be coming their way. Pataki would have been a good Democratic candidate twenty or thirty years ago, but he has nothing to say worth listening to now. Huckabee has some strange ideas and doesn’t seem to have convictions that conservatives are comfortable with or with which he’s consistent. As for Santorum - conservatives have never forgotten or forgiven Santorum for siding with Arlen Specter instead of Pat Toomey a solid conservative.

They will be followed by Kasich, Fiorina, and Christie after the Iowa primary or just before. There’s no money pouring into their campaigns worth mentioning. The debates killed Kasich, who is now viewed as a RINO. With one conservative writer openly saying he thinks he's strange.  Oh, yeah, strange isn't he word he used.

Christie has way too much baggage, and his aggressive bully boy approach will wear thin to the base when he has to outline his solutions. He’s clearly a RINO. Fiorina will be out around the same time. She was a novel counterweight to Hillary, but the conservative base is concerned about her rotating positions over the years. What does she really believe and can she really be the Commander in Chief is the common refrain?

That leaves Bush, Cruz, Paul, Rubio and Trump. Paul will stick to the end even if he’s not on ballots in a number of states in hopes of influencing the end candidates. Bush is toast, but because his campaign has a lot of money – money he’s burning through fast to raise more money – not a good indicator of a successful campaign – and he will be out after New Hampshire on February 9. He will lose in Iowa and it seems to me New Hampshire will crush him. However – Iowa and New Hampshire are very different states. He may survive and even win one but if that happens he'll be crushed in South Carolina and will be out. No more money for him.

The final four will be Carson, Cruz, Rubio, Trump and Bush as a long shot left after New Hampshire. But after South Carolina Bush will definately be out and either Trump, Carson or both will be on the ropes and Nevada will be next, but Nevada is only a minor win or loss. The big deal will be Super Tuesday on March 1 with Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Colorado, Georgia, Massachusetts Minnesota, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia.

 

By Super Tuesday these love affairs with “outsiders” will have worn thin, especially for Trump, and the electorate will be far more interested and attentive! They will be far less emotional and more intellectual in their approach to the primaries, and will be more concerned in what they really believe, what they intend to do and promote, what policies they will try to put in place to fix the deficit, pay down the national debt, protect America from terrorists, and how to handle illegal immigration and how their plans will be implemented.

Carson is probably the most liked candidate to appear on the political scene for decades, but being a doctor and a good guy doesn’t necessarily overcome the lack of political experience and judgment, and there are concerns by conservatives he’s another Colin Powell conservative. Not a good comparison, especially when that view comes from a black conservative writer. Trump will shove his foot into his mouth one too many times, and let’s face it – he has no ideas or he would have shared them already. After Super Tuesday both Trump and Carson will be gone leaving Rubio and Cruz.

As for the Democrats - Hillary has to be the most unlikable candidate to ever run for the Presidency in my life. I don't think even the Democrats like or trust her. As for Bernie Sanders - he may be a loon, but he's not afraid to say exactly what he believes, even when it's loony, and that’s what so attractive to the Democratic base – which may be even farther left than Bernie! Like Trump – he’s been a perpetual candidate – both with huge egos, both obnoxious, both with big mouths, and both of whom never dreamed they would go this far.  I think the difference between Trump and Bernie is this - I think Bernie's going to win the Democratic nomination!

Rand Paul, Marco Rubio Join Cruz on Senate Floor

Daniel Doherty | Sep 24, 2013

Around 5:30 PM EST this evening, Rand Paul joined Ted Cruz on the Senate Floor to discuss the prospect of defunding Obamacare. Cruz began his much-anticipated "filibuster" to overhaul the Affordable Care Act at 2:40 PM this afternoon.

“We should not shut down the government,” Cruz said in response to the Kentucky Senator's question asking if that was his singular objective. “And I sincerely hope that Senator Reid and President Obama” don’t force a government shutdown either by ignoring the will of the American people.

Asked in a follow-up question by Senator Paul if he was open to negotiating with Democrats -- i.e., brokering a “middle ground” compromise short of fully defunding the president’s health care law -- Cruz was unambiguous.  “No,” Cruz said emphatically. “Because I have repeatedly told Texans I will not vote for a Continuing Resolution that funds one penny of Obamacare.”....To Read More.......