The Republican Party is a Mess

By Rich Kozlovich

Definition leads to clarity, and this article, Congressional RINOs do Democrats' bidding, by Patricia McCarthy is the essence of clarity when it comes to defining the Republican party.  Did the Texas Republicans punish the fleeing Democrats as they promised? No.  And she goes on to expose all the RINO's who talk big and walk small, afraid they might offend the Democrats, who are playing just as dirty as they ever have, with:

..........the Soros/Reed Hoffman left ......spending billions to recruit and pay protestors to scream and march against anything Trump does" [forcing the] "Democrats into defending all manner of criminals – rapists, child molesters, murderers and of course lesser thugs that torment law-abiding citizens in all major cities, especially DC, Chicago, NYC and LA. They thrive on the chaos they foment.

The Republican Party has no shared vision or goals.  The leadership in every state is filled with RINO's who are lying to their base, just like DeWine in Ohio and their choice for the Senate in 2024, Matt Dolan, whose vision is far more in line with Democrat Sherrod Brown than with Donald Trump.  Fortunately Bernie Moreno, an America First conservative won.  

When Vance became Vice President DeWine picked John Husted to replace him, and many of my friends who are involved in things consider him a RINO, and since he was DeWine's choice, it must be true.  Now, Sherrod Brown is intending to run against DeWine's pick, so it's my view the Democrats must think he's a RINO also.  Why Brown?  Name recognition.  The Democrats have no one, and are an even bigger mess than the Republicans, as a result they're massively losing voters all over the nation.

A number of elected Republicans have gone on the air to be interviewed explaining how Republicans are a mess, and really need to get their act together in order to deliver for the American people, and all that sounds nice, but given the state of affairs in the Republican party, its a bit delusional.

 

How does a party get it's act together when one side wants to continue going along to get along, spending and borrowing as if there's no penalty for such insanity, and is willing to scheme to destroy the Republican majority in the House?  Somehow I find that to be a bit....just a tiny bit... insurmountable.

 

How is a party to find common goals when it has members, like Tom Cotton, Lindsey Graham, Susan Collins, and Alaska Senator Murkowski who was so outraged that Trump was the Republican nominee, she said would not vote for him, and broadcast that to the world.  Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Grassley refuses to confirm Trump's choice for U.S. Attorney for New Jersey, Alina Habba, in spite of the fact it was Trump's support that got him reelected when he was down in the polls.   Clearly a mistake.

 

The Speaker of the House Johnson, and the Majority Leader of the Senate, Thune refuse to recess Congress which would allow the President to make recess appointments.   Appointments they've allowed the Democrats to hold up for months, and even giving Democrats veto power over Trump's picks with something called the Senate Blue Chip rule, which gives Senators veto power over picks for their state and that's not in the Constitution by the way.   That's a Senate rule and can be overturned by the Senate leadership.  The argument against ending that rule is you need to be careful for what you wish for, because at some point the opposition will be in charge.  When the Democrats faced the Blue Chip Rule when in power and it never mattered, they overturned it as it suited them, and did it multiple times. They got what they wanted then just as they're getting now because the Republicans are invertebrates.  

 

The difference between Murkowski, Collins and so many of these others in the Republican party in both the Senate and the House and the Democrats is...... well...... let me think about this for a second.  There isn't any difference.  Imagine that. 

So, what's saving them? The Democrats march in lockstep, but their march is deranged, described as by a CNN's chief data analyst Harry Enten as, "messier than a hoarder’s basement." 

 

I received this via e-mail and have no idea who originated it, but it lists irrefutable facts of life, which I've paraphrased, all of which is an absolute condemnation of the chaos being promoted by the nation's Democrat party.

If you leave the gate open, the cow will wander off.  So if you intentionally leave the gate open, you want the cow to wander off. You can't blame stupidity or laziness. It was intentional, ergo, if the Democrats left the southern border wide open, you get more drug trafficking and human trafficking.  So if the Democrats intentionally left the border wide open, Democrats wanted more drug trafficking and human trafficking. 

 

If the Democrats  cut police budgets, history and reality shows crime increases.  So if Democrats intentionally cut police budgets, Democrats wanted more crime on the streets. 

 

If you cut back the supply of oil, gas prices (and everything else) will go up. So if Democrats intentionally cut back the supply of oil, Democrats wanted gas prices to go up. 

 

If printing trillions of dollars without increasing the supply of goods, inflation will hit hard, and this is a condemnation of both parties.  So if they intentionally print trillions of dollars without more goods they wanted inflation to hit hard. 

You can feel the quality of your life going down with the country. These are not foolish or misguided people. They are attempting to drive the nation somewhere we don't really want to go.  

The Republicans are a mess, and have earned the epithet "the stupid party".  The Democrats are insane and deserve the epithet "the party of treason".   

And those are the choices?  That's what really is a mess. 

California Levin’— Part 3 of 3 parts

Republicans Vote Themselves a Raise

By Robin Itzler, Part I, Part II

Editor's Note:  This is one of the commentaries selected from Robin's weekly newsletter Patriot Neighbors.  If you wish to get the full edition, E-mail her at PatriotNeighbors@yahoo.com to get on her list, it's free.

In this three-part series, we share examples of California Republican “leaders” failing the America First agenda. Part one was about the California Republican Party’s recently elected chairwoman Corrin Rankin approving without board approval hiring her opera singer friend to sing The Star-Spangled Banner for an outrageous $10,000 at the September convention.

Part 2 focused on six GOP lawmakers from around the state who don’t know the difference between legal and illegal immigrants. Part 3 takes place in Orange County (once the most conservative county in the country and today purple thanks to Republicans moving out and many remaining elected Republicans having jellyfish spines). The Orange County Board of Supervisors (OCBOS) discreetly voted itself a hefty 25 percent salary increase. The five-member OCBOS has three Democrats and two Republicans. Democrat Katrinia Foley is up for re-election this year, so it made “cents” for her to vote “no” to avoid giving her opponents another talking point about her radical leftist views.

With Democrat Foley voting it down, the two Republican supervisors had an outstanding opportunity to stop this wasteful $49,000 per supervisor expenditure. To quote John Belushi from Saturday Night Live (when the show was funny), “But Nooooo!” Instead, Republican Supervisors Janet Nguyen and Donald Wagner voted yes to give themselves an enormous raise!

Following the public outcry the two Democrats who voted yes promised to donate their raise, which really means that Democrat Supervisors Vicente Sarmiento and Doug Chaffee are donating OUR tax dollars. Sarmiento plans to donate his entire $49,000 raise (OUR tax dollars) to help illegal aliens pay legal fees in immigration courts. What joy! Chaffee will give his raise (OUR tax dollars) to a University of Redlands scholarship fund for students studying environmental studies. More joy!

Democrat policies in California provide the hammers that are building a third-world state with some Republican “leaders” providing the nails.

Learn more about Orange County’s fascinating history with John Moorlach. Click here for OC History Hunters.  

California’s Useless Republicans

July 10, 2025 By Robin M. Itzler @ American Thinker

Almost weekly, another Republican in the once golden state tells me he or she is leaving for a red state. Formerly the envy of the nation, California is now in steep decline due to decades of botched Democrat leadership and policies. However, some pathetic Republican leaders share responsibility for the state’s failures, which pile up faster than feces and needles on a San Francisco street. When accused of not holding firm, they claim there is little they can do as the minority party.

The current voter registration in California breaks out this way:

• Democrats 46.2%
• Republicans 24.7%
• Other 29.1%

Some of those “other” voters are former Republicans who threw up their hands in disgust and re-registered as No Party Preference. The category also includes folks who want to turn cities into communist cesspools—but enough about Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass.

Here are three recent examples of California Republicans “leaders” lacking strong America First values:

$10,000 to Sing The Star-Spangled Banner

Registered Republicans are regularly inundated with emails, texts, and letters from the California Republican Party (CRP) begging for contributions. Steve Frank of California News & Views reported that CRP will be paying a massive $10,000 for an opera singer to sing The Star-Spangled Banner during the CRP’s September three-day statewide convention in Orange County. The performance is planned for the Saturday evening dinner.

According to those who follow the CRP, Chair Corrin Rankin approved the outlay without board approval. Chair Rankin informed the board that her “friend” is singing at a discount, and she did not allow any discussion.

California Republicans, whose mailboxes and inboxes are stuffed with CRP donation requests, will be thrilled that the previous chair earned a huge annual salary of $250,000 plus benefits, bonuses, and travel expenses. The current chair’s salary was increased to a whopping $260,000 plus benefits, bonuses and travel expenses. Mind you, the governor of California (a state with nearly 40 million residents) is only paid $224,000.

Compare the Republican chair’s huge salary to the chairman of the California Democrat Party, who earns just $127,500 a year. (Guess losing pays better.)

There are about 85 words in our national anthem. At $10,000, it comes to approximately $118 per word. How many local talented singers would have been honored to sing this glorious song at the Republican convention? Instead, CAGOP Chair Corrine Rankin signed the contract that will let her opera singer friend belt out the song for $10,000. Maybe the song will start with:

O say can you see

How the California GOP

Wastes our money on thee…

This extravagant $10,000 expenditure by CRP Chair Corrin Rankin offers a prime example of why many America First Patriots in California donate directly to candidates and ignore the elitist CRP.

Some GOP State Lawmakers Don’t Know the Meaning of Illegal

Anyone who enters the United States of America illegally has broken our laws. While no one disputes that some illegal aliens are worse than others, it doesn’t change the fact that if someone comes into our country without proper documentation and processing, they are here illegally!

On June 27, six Republican legislators signed a letter to President Trump that now provides Democrats with “ammunition” in their assault on President Trump’s goal of deporting all ILLEGAL ALIENS. These Republicans are:

• Diane Dixon, Assembly Member, 72^nd District
• Laurie Davies, Assembly Member, 74^th District
• Rosilicie Ochoa Bogh, Senator, 19^th District
• Heath Flora, Assembly Member, 9^th District
• Suzette Valladares, Senator, 23^rd District
• Brian Jones, Senate Minority Leader

The two-page letter includes the usual yada-yada-yada about supporting ICE, wanting illegal alien criminals deported, and working with the Trump administration on an immigration program. That’s all fine, but what part of “illegal” do these Republican senators and assembly members not understand?

Americans did this dance with President Reagan in 1986 (Immigration Reform and Control Act), and won’t do it again! It would be grossly unfair to immigrants who legally come to the United States through the long and costly legal process.

As President Trump repeatedly said during the campaign, all illegal immigrants who invaded our country must return to their home nations. Trump never hinted at work programs, exemptions, visa programs, or anything except mass deportation! America First Patriots will be livid if exceptions or amnesty are offered after the “Big Beautiful Bill” gives ICE and other law enforcement agencies the necessary funding to deport illegal aliens.

Republicans Vote Themselves a Raise

The Orange County Board of Supervisors (OCBOS) discreetly voted itself a hefty 25 percent salary increase. The five-member OCBOS has three Democrats and two Republicans. Democrat Katrinia Foley is up for re-election this year, so it made “cents” for her to vote “no” to avoid giving her opponents another talking point about her radical leftist views.

With Democrat Foley voting it down, the two Republican supervisors had an outstanding opportunity to stop this wasteful $49,000 per supervisor expenditure. To quote John Belushi from Saturday Night Live (when the show was funny), “But Nooooo!” Instead, Republican Supervisors Janet Nguyen and Donald Wagner voted yes to give themselves an enormous raise!

Following the public outcry, the two Democrats who voted yes promised to donate their raise, which really means that Democrat Supervisors Vicente Sarmiento and Doug Chaffee are donating our tax dollars. Sarmiento plans to donate his entire $49,000 raise (our tax dollars) to help illegal aliens pay legal fees in immigration courts. What joy! Chaffee will give his raise (our tax dollars) to a University of Redlands scholarship fund for students studying environmental studies. More joy!

Democrat policies in California provide the hammers that are building a third-world state, with some Republican “leaders” providing the nails.

Robin M. Itzler is a regular contributor to American Thinker. She is the founder and editor of Patriot Neighbors, a free weekly national newsletter. Robin can be reached at PatriotNeighbors@yahoo.com.

Now, Back to the House

By Rich Kozlovich

 

There was an article that described three Republican Senators as traitors who voted with the Democrats forcing the Vice President to break a 50/50 vote tie over Trump's Big Beautiful Bill.

I don't think traitor is appropriate for all three.  Tom Tillis, Susan Collins, and Ron Paul.  Ron Paul has been consistent in his position forever so that's not an act of treason.   Susan Collins and Tom Tellis fall in that category in my view.  Collins positions have been at best strange over the years, and Thom Tillis clearly has issues.  The only thing that's really surprises me is Murkowski didn't join them, which would have sent the bill crashing to the floor.

1. Senate Dems, RINO Susan Collins Reject BBB Amendment Cutting Medicaid for Illegal Aliens
2. BBB Update: 44 Democrats Vote to Allow Criminal Illegals on Medicaid

But here we are, and the bill passed.  Now it has to go back to the House, where all tax bills must originate.  So, what do we have in this complex, nearly 900-page bill involving taxes, energy, and healthcare?

There's a $5 trillion debt ceiling increase in the package, and the price tag will most likely cause the national debt to surge to another four trillion dollars, with an accounting gimmick to hide much of that red ink.

Medicaid will be increased. Government support for EVs and solar companies are set to be eliminated as tax credits phase out, and we're heading back to sanity on so-called "fossil fuels".  Alternative energy, net zero, and global warming schemes have wasted trillions of dollars, and that's going to be brought to a screeching halt.  Trump just boosted support for Republicans in coal producing states saying, "We're doing coal!"   It warms my heart in watching the the global warming movement collapsing, and I like to believe I played a small part in exposing their corruption.

The one size fits all rule preventing states from passing regulations regarding AI has been ditched.  That will not be an issue that will go away, and in fact, by the next budget it's my view it will be a major issue.  AI is still mostly an unknown factor, and research has shown there are dangerous implication with AI, including lying to protect itself.  All that needs to be challenged and fought over in the states in order to find our way, and not controlled by a bunch of bureaucrats in Washington. 

There will be increased funding for border control, and will make the tax cuts of 2017 permanent with the highest rate remaining at 37%.  Trump’s tax cuts spurred economic growth. Big Beautiful Bill will do it again. 

That was followed by a number of tax changes, some small, such as no taxes of tips and Social Security, but some very impactful for business. The bill will "reinstate credits for corporations for things like property depreciation, capital investments, new factory construction, interest expenses, and research and development costs" in an effort to stimulate growth.  

There will also be a tax credit of "$1,700 tax credit for individuals who contribute to nonprofit organizations that offer scholarships to elementary and secondary students, a move supporters describe as advancing “school choice,” akin to voucher programs" which the Democrats opposed entirely. 

Then there's the $40,000 SALT deduction, which is a bone of contention as that is in effect forcing small population states with sound economic practices to subsidize large population states with radical spending practices, like California and New York.  And the sale of public lands has been ditched, which I think is insane, along with the reasoning behind it, and work requirements non-disabled adults without dependents...but there are caveats in that also.  I see that as an unending bone of contention as there are too many caveats.  

Planned Parenthood, "which received $792 million in government grants and reimbursements"  will no longer get the American taxpayer to fund the murder of the innocent unborn, and gender transitions will not be covered in Medicaid.  Some funding for food stamps will be transferred to the states,

If you subscribe to the Wall Street Journal, I don't, here's their take on the BBB. Tax cuts and Medicaid spending reductions head to House, with the July 4 deadline reachable – 

Then there's this econ-babble from Real Clear Markets: Deficit Hawks Should Look In the Mirror.  That's why I have economists.  As for being a deficit hawk, I would fall into that category.  Would I have voted for this bill?  In my heart the answer would be a resounding no as I believe the national debt is toxic to the point of national suicide.  

However, in my mind I would recognize this Republican "controlled" Congress isn't a Republican controlled Congress and don't have all that much control over what's passed and what's not since the "loyal opposition" is in point of fact the "disloyal opposition" that votes in lock step fighting tooth and nail to disrupt any reductions in taxes and spending,  doing all it can to destroy the only thing standing between freedom and socialist tyranny in the world, the American Constitution.

So, in my mind I would have to rationalize voting for it in order to get what was worthwhile passed, and then prepare for the next budget battle, and embrace an incrementalist mentality.  The left believes in incrementalism, one step at a time to reach their goals,  and conservatives in the Congress are forced to implement that same strategy.  

But time is running out.  

The world's nations, including the U.S., have a debt load of almost 310 trillion dollars, and much of that cannot be repaid.  The consequences for that are soon to be felt, including Europe and China.  We're looking at a worldwide economic crisis that will be, at least in my opinion, massively destructive to much of the world's population, and the structure of many nations. 

Now... back to the House, and that's going to be another screaming match.  As for the Fourth of July deadline.... that's not a matter of law, it's a line in the sand drawn by the President, and it seems likely it's going to be crossed.     

Here's more give and take on the economy and this bill, especially this post by Ned Barnett - BBB: Congressional Democrats Turn On Blue-Collar Workers and Retirees

1. Powell confirms that the Fed would have cut by now were it not for tariffs
2. The Market Crash That Wasn’t Yet 
3. WSJ: Say, Remember the Great Stock Market Crash of 2025? Well 
4. For The First Time In Four Years, Americans Aren’t Paying More For Their July 4 Cookouts 
5. Income up 8 times inflation  

Senators, Judges, Presidential Appointments, and Media Hyperbole

 By Rich Kozlovich

I've been seeing headlines like this for two days, Urgent! The Clock Is Ticking, Boasberg Is In the Wings, warning the nation that RICO Senator Thom Tellis will not vote for Ed Martin as Trump's choice for the job as US attorney for DC.  Currently he's the "acting" AG and has had a major impact on reducing crime in DC, but Tellis, who refused to vote of Hegseth, while having happily voted for Merritt Garland, a far left nutroll that needs to be seriously investigated for his actions as Attorney General of the United States, and claims he did so because he's Trump's friend and he's covering Trumps back.  Yeah, and rain isn't wet.   He claims he's against Martin because he dared to defend the J6ers.  

Is he insane?  I don't think he's insane, but I do think he has some serious corruption issues .... criminal issues.... massive felonies, similar to those Letitia James is facing over mortgage fraud.

According to all these articles there's a system in place.... via federal law or just an accepted system... I'm not sure what the basis is for all this, but it says if the Senate fails to confirm an U.S. Attorney in a district within 120 days, the judges in that federal district court can "name" one.  In this case it could potentially be far left radical James Boasberg as Chief Justice of that district.

It seems what's really incensed the leftists and their familiars, aka, RINO's like Tillis is:

Martin has been his effort to restore justice by challenging the left’s lawfare efforts, ranging from Jan. 6 to Russiagate. Martin has sought transparency and accountability regarding the railroading of J6 defendants by the Biden administration. This includes Martin’s internal review of the Biden DOJ’s use of the Enron-driven “obstruction of an official proceeding” charge to hit protesters with a felony punishable by up to 20 years in prison. It also includes Martin’s firing of attorneys who arguably weaponized and politicized their offices in pursuing J6ers. Martin also appears to be probing the Justice Department’s role in Russiagate, among other threatened investigatory actions touching on regime third rails. 

Okay, the above linked article goes on to explain the intricacies of all this, but the fact is under the Appointments Clause of Article II of the Constitution the only person in the United States who can appoint federal officials is the President of the United States, and then can only do so if they're confirmed by the Senate, and no federal law or accepted system can overturn that.  

So, this is in my opinion a lot of hyperbole that Trump can easily overcome by refusing to swear in any pick other than his own, or fire their pick, or simply ignore anything they offer and tell everyone at the Justice Department, starting with Pam Bondi, to refuse their pick access to the Justice Department in any way shape or form.  Will that cause a massive stir?  Sure.  Does anyone really thinks Trump cares? 

Update: Trump pulled him as his pick.  I think that's a mistake, but I don't have 500 things on my plate daily,.....so.... I get it.   The article says something that is obvious to the most casual observer, Tillis is in trouble from here on in, and we now know Trump has nominated Judge Jeanine Pirro for that spot, and it seems to me it's really gonna get interesting now. 

Hating on Trump: Ex-Conservatives Share Their TDS at DC Summit

It will likely resemble a funeral for a disgraced and extinct movement. 

By Tim Donner Feb 21, 2025 @ Liberty Nation News, Tags: Articles, Opinion, Politics

Watching people associated with a spent force scream into the darkness is a sad spectacle. Of course, we are witnessing that in the Democrats’ fallen world, though it is exactly what you would expect from a party still reeling from losing an election that both sides rightly portrayed as the most important in a lifetime. But what about those who abandoned (some would say betrayed) their party and made bed with the opposition (some would say enemy)? Knowing when to quit is a mark of maturity in politics, as in life. Still, there remain plenty of Trump-hating former conservatives and mainstream Republicans suffering so mightily from Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS) that they openly supported Kamala Harris for president. And they’re bringing the gang back together this weekend to console each other now that their world has crashed and burned.

The Principles First Summit (PFS), a name implying moral superiority, will be held in Washington starting Friday. It will feature a roster of speakers heavily populated by one-time conservatives who have raised tens of millions of dollars over three election cycles to take down Donald Trump. The timing of PFS was deliberately chosen to coincide with CPAC, the much-anticipated annual event that serves as a gathering for conservatives/Republicans, with President Trump scheduled to speak there on Saturday. Perhaps the organizers of PFS, including founder Heath Mayo, were convinced their girl Kamala would be victorious and that they would gather to celebrate as pro-Trumpers simultaneously drowned their sorrows. But now that the opposite has come to pass in emphatic fashion, the rhetoric at this scheduled celebration of self-proclaimed virtue will probably more closely resemble a funeral dirge.

It’s one thing to dislike or even express disdain for a politician in your party. It’s quite another to fall into the welcoming arms of those on the other side and then consummate your betrayal by openly supporting a candidate who stands for everything you have fought against for your entire public career. You have then become a useful idiot. Imagine being a conservative who hates Donald Trump so severely that you would openly advocate for a left-wing radical who would alter the face of our republic. We all know Kamala Harris would have done just that.

Talk about throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

Where’s Liz?

At the center of the rogue’s gallery of Trump haters sits Liz Cheney, who went even further than her Trump-deranged, pro-Harris fellow travelers by campaigning side-by-side with Joe Biden’s vice president. But as Trump cuts through the disgraced DC Swamp like a hot knife through butter with broad public approval, Ms. Cheney has been reduced to sitting in the peanut gallery, likely waiting for the president to blunder so she can engage in I-told-you-so. But she is evidently so embarrassed by the election outcome – and her role in the campaign – that even as the poster child for TDS, she is not scheduled to appear on the rostrum for the PFS gathering of losers.

 

The list of scheduled speakers reads like a who’s-who of Trump-hating ex-Republicans and conservatives: There is Bill Kristol, the founder of the defunct neoconservative journal The Weekly Standard, who on Thursday penned a column concerning the administration’s negotiations aimed at ending the war in Ukraine, in which he said: “[M]y hope [is] that this American mission abroad fails.” Yes, he actually wrote that.

Also on the list is Trump’s former security advisor and war hawk, John Bolton; then George Conway, who saw fit to constantly embarrass his now ex-wife, Kellyanne Conway, with unhinged rants about Trump when she worked for the 45th president. Adam Kinsinger, the former GOP congressman who worked hand-in-hand with Nancy Pelosi on the January 6 congressional committee, will be there, and so will Michael Steele, former head of the Republican National Committee and now a commentator on fast-fading MSNBC. Then there’s an array of speakers from two platforms created specifically to house disaffected anti-Trump Republicans, The Bulwark and The Dispatch, including Mona Charen, Steve Hayes, and Jonah Goldberg.

Trump Shuns Strong Women?

Also scheduled to speak at PFS is Mark Cuban, one of the few mega-billionaires who has refused to come alongside President Trump. You will recall that during the presidential campaign, Cuban famously declared of Trump that “you never see him around strong, intelligent women. Ever,” a statement that was thrown back in his face when Trump selected the likes of Susie Wiles, Tulsi Gabbard, and Kristi Noem for critical positions in his administration. 

Then there is former New Jersey governor and presidential candidate Chris Christie, who has gone back and forth over the years in supporting and opposing Trump. Noting Christie’s appearance, the New Jersey-based Shore News Network described the gathering in stark terms: “The summit can be called the GOP’s ‘Biggest Loser’ event of the year, featuring the who’s who of the far-left wing of the Republican Party and progressive mainstreamers. The featured speakers roster is a d-list of anti-Trump current and former politicians and bureaucrats.”

Skip the Scrolling – Head to Roku!

In announcing her appearance at PFS, longtime Republican Sarah Longwell, publisher of The Bulwark, wrote: “We’re in a new era now, and it’s obvious people are scared. Billionaires and politicians are self-censoring. Lots of people are choosing to pre-surrender to Trump rather than speak out … Dark times like these are when we need each other most.”

It is hard to imagine a group with less power and influence in the political realm than the featured speakers at PFS. Most of these people have renounced their long-standing affiliations and ideology because of their deranged hatred of a man who stands for almost all of the same policies and principles to which they were long known to subscribe. And their newfound allies on the left no longer have any use for them. They are losers of the worst kind, those who betrayed their own beliefs, failed, and are left to wander in the wilderness.

~

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

Read More From Tim Donner Senior Political Analys

Pete Hegseth Is In, and It's Going to Hit the Fan!

 By Rich Kozlovich

On Friday, November 29, 2024 I published this piece, What About Pete?, which was hit really hard showing me this was a topic that really resonated with America.  Then on Thursday, January 16, 2025 I published, How Did Pete Hegseth Do?, both of which outline who and what Pete Hegseth was and is, along with his qualifications, which are impressive, and the hypocrisy of his detractors, so I won't be repeating all that here, it's done already, so take a look for yourself.

Now Pete Hegseth has been confirmed as Secretary of Defense but that only happened because V.P. Vance was able to break the tie.  Mitch McConnell, Lisa Murkowski, Susan Collins voted no.  Murkowski went on about how impressive Hegseth was but in good conscience had to vote no, but didn't explain how he offended her conscience.   What kind of stupid answer is that?  

As far as I can tell Collins hasn't explained her vote, but one conservative writer Christopher Chantrill in his article What was the Real Problem with Pete Hegseth? explains why, at least in his view, Sens. Lisa Murkowski, and Susan Collins voted no.  They just "gotta go with the cool girls, and all the cool girls are Democrats." 

The cool girls, like Fauxocahontas Elizabeth Warren, Patty Murray,  and Mazie Keiko Hirono, you know..... the cool girls.... who went on about his character, all of whom thought he was too seriously flawed to be SecDef.  

Murkowski and Collins at least didn't play that card.  While playing that card in times past played well for the Dems, it's all worn out now and most on the right no longer care to hear it.  But that tactic is ingrained in the Democrat play book and they can't discard it because that's all they have, along with a corrupt media support.  But that's going down the drain soon. 

1. Alinsky 101: NBC Runs Hegseth Hit Piece Despite Ex-Wife Debunking Accusation
2. How the NBC News Hit Piece Against Pete Hegseth Just Got Worse, But Not in the Way You Think
3. ‘This Isn’t Journalism’: GOP Sen. Bill Hagerty Blasts Propaganda Media’s Smear Campaign Against Pete Hegseth

Actually, we should be shocked the left cares.  Remember when Clinton was President the leftist meme from the Democrats was "character doesn't count"?  Those on the right never agreed with that, but we've seen Trump perform remarkably, in spite of all his character flaws, but corruption isn't one of them, and let's not kid ourselves there has never been more corrupt Presidents than Clinton and Biden, right along with the biggest criminal enterprise in America, the Democrat party.  I'm also inclined to think the thing these two really all have in common with the "cool girls" is they're all old, and dumb.  But wait....there's more!  I'll tell you what, we'll come back to that!

Mitch McConnell who refuses to be interviewed over his vote did release an idiotic statement that should make everyone realize just how corrupt he is, remember, Ole Mitch had no problem voting to confirm Lloyd Austin, Merrick Garland and Pete Buttigieg.

McConnell is Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense, and I gotta tell ya, it's my view his vote stinks of self-interested corruption, and I think Christopher Chantrill's article pretty much confirms that as he gets into what's really going on behind the scenes saying:

........."government, in general, is there to provide jobs for Barnacles and Stiltstockings, as described by Charles Dickens way back in 1857."...........According to this notion, the State Department is there to hand out jobs to educated foreign policy analysts. Environmental programs are there to provide jobs for educated environmentalists. Grants to NGOs are there to provide jobs for lefty activists. Grants to universities are there to provide jobs for lefty academics.  So, the Department of Defense is there to hand out goodies to warfighters and veterans............ Pete Hegseth ............ [is] not going to send money to Democratic supporters like the rest of the federal government.........the Democratic Party’s war on Pete Hegseth was a result of careful expert analysis of his 2020 book American Crusade: Our Fight to Stay Free. Here is a quote:

NATO is not an alliance; it’s a defense arrangement for Europe, paid for and underwritten by the United States [and it should be] scrapped and remade in order for freedom to be truly defended............The defense of Europe is not our problem; been there, done that, twice.

For those who are regular readers of P&D you know I'm in total agreement with that. The era is over.  We can no longer afford to police the world........"for everyone else's benefit".  Before America gets involved in any foreign interdiction one question must always be asked.  How does this benefit America as a nation and a culture, and not just the big international corporations in America who are in reality traitorous co-conspirators with the World Economic Forum and other multinational organizations.  

Involvement in this Russo/Ukrainian War does not benefit America.  Europe brought this on themselves, let them fix it, or not.  We have no skin in that game.  None of this was our fault, nor our responsibility, and it's costing the nation hundreds of billions of dollars and weakening our own national defense in support of a completely corrupt dictatorial government that had Joe Biden and his crime family in their pockets. 

What this is really all about with all the RINO's is the big money to be made by keeping America at war, and it's long overdue for there to be a public outcry demanding an open debate about America's involvement in NATO and the United Nations.  All the Democrats voted against Hegseth because they were commanded to do so, and like the good little Stalinists they are, they obeyed. The argument that the three RINO senators voted against Pete Hegseth was because of NATO has legs, hard to prove, but credible.   It’s much easier to question character than have an open debate about the relevance of NATO in the 21st century. 

The reality is America is going to stop wasting American lives and American wealth for the dubious benefit of others.  If America does anything it will be because it directly benefits America.   Trump gets it!  Bretton Woods is over! We don't need them, they need us, and watch as these nations fall into line, just as Mexico and other Latin American states have. 

His character isn't what bothered anyone, it's his views on what the military is supposed to be all about, and being used for social experimentation isn't one of them.  His priorities are "a focus on lethality, meritocracy, accountability, standards, and readiness."  All of which the Democrats hate insanely.  

He's already put down the hammer on DEI at U.S. Department of Defense, and "those who do not comply" are fired.  The Air Force is shutting down DEI schemes.  When you see the highest ranks in the military saying "they're willing to work "with"' the President", that makes it abundantly clear clear there needs to be a serious attitude adjustment at the Pentagon, and I think that means saying "You're Fired".  There's nothing like a good firing to get everyone's head on right, and I think Hegseth can deliver. 

But there are a number of RINO's and war hawks in the Senate like Senator Thom Tillis who was secretly working behind the scenes to sabotage Pete Hegseth encouraging former sister-in-law Danielle Hegseth, who was once married to his brother, claims he abused his ex-wife Samantha, all of which Samantha refutes. 

War hawk Lindsey Graham voted for him, and my guess is they know Trump isn't going to take no for an answer, and have no desire to challenge him on his cabinet picks.  They see a man committed, unrelenting, and no matter how polite he may be, he will punish them in the future just as he's done with former members of his administration who turned on him.  I think Tillis is in trouble no matter what now.  

What's ahead is going to be like a fun roller coaster ride with a lot of ups and downs, but it will be entertaining. 

Republican Budget Games

January 4, 2025 by Dan Mitchell @ International Liberty

Donald Trump played Santa Claus in his first term, with both tax cuts and big spending increases.  Unsurprisingly, he wants to play Santa Claus in his second term as well. 

 

But he faces a couple of big challenges.

First, as I wrote about two days ago, the spending baseline is now much higher, meaning there is less “fiscal space.” Though, to be accurate, we’ve moved from less-than-zero fiscal space to far-less-than-zero fiscal space.

Second, to avoid a Senate filibuster, Trump and congressional Republicans will want to use “reconciliation” legislation, but there are budget rules that require some degree of deficit neutrality using that legislative vehicle.

So how will Trump fit a size-18 fiscal agenda into a size-4 outfit?

Jacob Bogage of the Washington Post reports on the “offsets” that Republicans are considering. Here are some excerpts.

Advisers to President-elect Donald Trump and congressional Republicans have begun floating proposals to boost federal revenue and slash spending so their plans for major tax cuts and new security spending won’t further explode the $36.2 trillion national debt. …with most of Trump’s 2017 tax cuts set to expire at the end of 2025, the GOP plan to extend the law could increase the debt by close to $5 trillion over the next decade.

(Nonpartisan scorekeepers project that Trump’s entire campaign platform would add up to $15 trillion to future borrowing.) To avoid busting the budget, Republican leaders are counting on savings from spending cuts and new revenue from tariffs.

The article contains a table showing the projected offsets.

I’ve added my commentary (in blue, just in case that’s not obvious) on the desirability/feasibility of the various options.

The biggest problem with the above list is that there won’t be much if any pro-growth impact of extending the 2017 tax cuts if the “pay-for” is a giant increase in trade taxes.

And don’t forget that there is a huge Laffer Curve for protectionist taxes since consumers can avoid such taxes by buying American-produced goods (indeed, that’s exactly what Trump wants).

 

So there will not be anywhere close to $2.7 trillion of additional revenue, especially when you also consider how the damaging impact of protectionism will mean less income tax revenue and less payroll tax revenue.

I normally like the idea of less revenue for Washington, but I want that to happen because we’re sliding down the left side of the Laffer Curve, not the right side.

Regarding the other offsets, some of them are good (getting rid of Biden’s green-energy pork and his student-loan bailout) while others are too timid (we should be block-granting Medicaid and food stamps, not tinkering with them).

I would love for Republicans to get rid of the Department of Education. I’m not holding my breath.

Last but not least, I obviously want to cut IRS funding, but I can’t resist pointing out that the revenue estimate is nonsensical.

Dealing with Unauthorized Spending

As part of yesterday’s column about potential “offsets” for Trump’s tax agenda, I wrote “Don’t hold your breath” next to the line that stated taxpayers could save more than $500 billion if Congress refuses to spend any money on unauthorized programs.

My skepticism does not mean disagreement.

After all, if Congress is too incompetent to reauthorize the programs (normally a pro-forma step), why not use that as an excuse to stop funding?

The problem is that I don’t think either Trump or congressional Republicans actually have the principles or the courage to actually turn off the spigot for these programs (which are listed in Table 3 of this document from the Congressional Budget Office).

But perhaps I’m being too pessimistic about the potential for progress.

In a column for the Wall Street Journal, Warren Peterson, the president of the Arizona State Senate, recommends that Washington adopt his state’s rule for program authorizations.

Here are some excerpts.

Mr. Trump should also consider pushing for a federal law that has been effective at the state level. Every federal agency should be subject to a periodic sunset review requiring affirmative congressional reauthorization for the agency to continue in existence. …Enacting a sunset law would put in place a process to prevent bureaucratic backsliding…

It will also make the agencies more accountable to voters through their elected representatives. …Since 1978, Arizona has had a sunset law, which was signed by Democratic Gov. Bruce Babbitt. To combat the sins of government complacency, Arizona law requires the automatic expiration of all state agencies in 10 years or less, unless continued by the Legislature.

In recent years, lawmakers have generally renewed agencies for eight years. During an agency’s “sunset review process,” the Legislature’s independent auditor identifies inefficiencies, exposes fraud or abuse, quantifies costs imposed on consumers, and analyzes the continued need for the agency. …Other states such as California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Idaho and Texas, have similar laws.

This sounds good, but I have two cautionary observations.

• First, I notice that Senator Peterson did not provide a list of programs that were eliminated as a result of the rule. I suspect and fear that he didn’t provide a list because nothing would be on it. Or at least nothing major.
• Second, California and Connecticut are two of the most- profligate states in the nation. That doesn’t mean a reauthorization rule should be blamed for their bad fiscal policy, but it does suggest that the rule is not very helpful.

I’ll close by saying that it’s good news that people are complaining about unauthorized spending. And I hope Elon Musk’s unofficial Department of Government Efficiency gets people angry about the way Washington wastes our money.

But don’t count on Republicans to eliminate unauthorized programs as part of this year’s tax bill.

P.S. I’m focused on real results, not feel-good policies. It’s why I favor a spending cap over a balanced-budget requirement.

The End of Never Trump

By Daniel Greenfield @ Sultan Knish Blog 

The Lincoln Project, the crown jewel of the Never Trump movement, raised $67 million meant to swing Republicans toward the Democrats in the 2024 election. Instead, Kamala’s share of the Republican vote dropped from Hillary’s 7% and Biden’s 6% all the way down to 5%.

The Lincoln Project had been co-founded by McCain’s manager who had overseen a campaign where Obama had won 9% of Republican votes. Trump not only performed better (94%) with Republicans than McCain had (90%), but Kamala’s share of the Republican vote was a little over half what it had been under Obama despite spending $67 million on Republicans.

That $67 million was only a part of the money spent by Democrats and leftists on the Never Trump movement even though there was never any reason to think that it was working.

Defending Democracy Together, Bill Kristol’s operation, partnered with the Lincoln Project to become the largest ‘dark money’ spender in 2020 and after blowing through $35 million, had nothing to show in the exit polls except another single digit drop in Republican support for its chosen candidate. Every presidential election cycle that Never Trump has intervened in, Republican support for Democrats has not only failed to go up, but actually went down.

During 2020 and 2024, when Never Trump’s political operation was most active, CNN exit polls showed Trump’s share of the Republican vote rose from 88% in 2016 to 94%. The only thing that Never Trump seemed to accomplish was to unify Republicans around Trump.

Kristol’s Defending Democracy Together Institute and its various projects like The Bulwark and Lyceum Labs have taken in millions of dollars annually with nothing to show for it except gathering up various useless political operatives and staffers like Romney’s former counsel and policy director, a former Dick Armey staffer and Beto O’Rourke’s South Carolina staff director.

This Never Trump political cruft was funded by leftist billionaires like Persian eBay founder Pierre Omidyar and foundations, including $500,000 from the liberal Hewlett Foundation (Lyceum’s director Daniel Stid conveniently also ran Hewlett’s Democracy Program).

The Hewlett Foundation along with Soros, the Rockefeller Foundation, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker’s family foundation, and assorted liberal foundations, also funds the Niskanen Center, a pre-Trump hub for liberal Republicans and libertarians which responded to Trump’s win by insightfully blaming it on the lack of public school integration. And it only got worse from there.

The Bulwark, the Substack magazine of Kristol’s movement, funded by Omidyar, is largely indistinguishable from Slate or MSNBC, and has nothing to offer to anyone who isn’t already obsessed with hating Trump, analyzing his connections to Vladimir Putin and fuming at the media including ABC News, the LA Times and the Wall Street Journal (WSJ Isn’t a Serious Publication Anymore. Just another Fox News!) for not being sufficiently anti-Trump.

The Bulwark’s Jonathan V. Last responded to Trump’s victory by urging that “Democrats should not try to save America from itself” and proposed that Democrats should not fight deportations of illegal aliens because Latinos voted for Trump. “Democrats should spend exactly zero political capital stopping any Trump deportation efforts,” he broadcast. “It is madness to spend capital trying to help people who are no longer a major part of your electoral coalition.”

While professional Never Trumpers shot further down the radicalization rabbit hole, Bret Stephens at the New York Times headlined his column, “Done With Never Trump” dismissing the “heavy moralizing and incessant doomsaying that typified so much of the Never Trump movement”, conceding that the Russiagate “collusion allegations were a smear” and that “Trump’s Russia policy — whether it was his opposition to the Nord Stream 2 pipeline or his covert aid to Ukraine — was much tougher” than Obama’s or Biden’s had been or would be.

Stephens wrote about the hypocrisy of Trump’s critics asking “why were the same people who demanded investigations into every corner of the Trump family’s business dealings so incurious about the Biden family’s dealings, like the curiously high prices for Hunter’s paintings?” and argued that ” as much as we fear Trump could wreck some of our institutions, whether it’s higher education or the F.B.I., many of those institutions are already broken and may need to be reconceived or replaced.”

The reactions from The Bulwark and Stephens typify the two poles of Never Trumperism.

Serious adults like Stephens proved capable of reevaluating their positions in the face of a landslide election and a major shift in public sentiment while professional Never Trumpers doubled down on trying to out-MSNBC the actual MSNBC in the fanatical fashion of past defectors from the conservative movement like Media Matters guru David Brock.

But they’re imitating a model that may be dead. MSNBC’s ratings are struggling and from the Washington Post to the Los Angeles Times, the media’s Trump-baiters are rethinking their offerings. The liberal base is tired of rants about Trump and has been tuning out. And after three election cycles of failure, the big liberal foundations may grow weary of funding the vanity projects of Never Trumpers which have never been anything other than a social club for political operatives who had found a way to use the rise of Trump to make money from his enemies.

‘Never Trump: The Revolt of the Conservative Elites’, a book funded in part by the movement, warned that Never Trump’s “funding has come from left-of-center sources including Democracy Fund Voice, an initiative solely sponsored by tech entrepreneur Pierre Omidyar, and the Hewlett Foundation.” Will the money keep on coming especially with Trump in his final term in office?

Never Trump built its movement around opposing one man who has won his last election. What are they going to do for a next act? Rebrand around opposing the next GOP candidate?

When the money dries up, the campaign consultants who were the real force behind Never Trumperism will move on and the handful of intellectuals who lent their name to this facade will have to do likewise. And that may end up happening even sooner than anyone expects.

The Lincoln Project, like the rest of the Never Trump movement, proved to be a political dead end, but enormously profitable for those connected with it. Its operatives failed to elect Kamala, but by diverting millions in Democrat funds, they may have helped to reelect Trump.

Daniel Greenfield is a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center. This article previously appeared at the Center's Front Page Magazine. Click here to subscribe to my articles. And click here to support my work with a donation. Thank you for reading.

 

Domestic Enemies: The Founding Fathers’ Fight Against the Left tells the untold story of the Left's 200-Year War against America And readers love it.

P&D and The Week That Was

Truth is the Sublime Convergence of History and Reality

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De Omnibus Dubitandum, (Everything is to be questioned!)

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This Link will take you to My Commentaries. 

By Rich Kozlovich

 

George Stephanopoulos, that mighty dwarf of ABC News, who has a show no one watches, was warned by the producer at ABC.... repeatedly.... do not use the word rape.  But Mighty George would not be deterred because  in his arrogance and stupidity he would do what he wanted because he's Mighty George, the dwarf who roars, and so he did it anyway.  Now he's outraged..... outraged I tell you.... that ABC has to shell out 15 million just to Trump, and he has to read an apology.   

Why?  Well, the rules have changed.  

First all this all goes back to the Supreme Court's decision in New York Times vs. Sullivan, which decided the media had special rights not available to the rest of the nation, and can't be sued for libel or defamation unless the claimant could prove, "actual malice".  Meaning the claimant had to show they deliberately stated a falsehood knowing it was false, showing "reckless disregard for the truth".  That's the rocky shore all these kind of lawsuits crashed on.  Almost impossible to prove.   

I would like to point out nowhere in the Constitution do the word's "actual malice" appear, and nowhere in the Constitution does it give special privileges for the press to lie that's any different than the liability any citizen would face for libel or defamation of character.   SCOTUS  made it all up, as they've done for decades with their, "It Really is Time to Revisit New York Times v. Sullivan, and it seems there's a movement afoot for SCOTUS to do so.  Long overdue. 

But the left .... as usual.... corrupted and abused the system deciding that if they couldn't take out their enemies in the public arena, they'd take them out financially with lawfare.   Criminal charges with twisted and illegal "legal" maneuvers, and corrupt civil suits amounting to hundreds of millions of dollars in penalties, all promoted by corrupt prosecutors, and judges.  Well, that scheme is coming back to haunt them.  What's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander and that sauce is called "discovery", and it seems likely ABC wanted to avoid that at all costs.  

Discovery is a process where you can depose individuals, demand written answers to questions, and demand the production of documents. Those documents could’ve been very, very embarrassing. People put the most horrendous and incriminating things in writing, and that’s all discoverable. The deposition of the tiny TV man would’ve been glorious. Discovery can be a fishing expedition........and who knows what all their documents, e-mails, texts, and voicemails.... might have shown.....  A lot of people have told the same lie as George Stephanopoulos and a whole bunch of other lies as well, and I look forward to many, many more lawsuits in courthouses out in red America.

And now Fani Willis has been kicked off her fraudulent case, and the left is unglued.  If a sane prosecutor is appointed, he'll dismiss that case as having no merit.  Willis is heading into a maelstrom of trouble, (more here, and here) and I'm expecting to see a massive broad based RICO investigation of all these cases based on the legal concept of "deprivation of rights", since this clearly was election interference, and it's becoming clear this was a nationwide conspiracy to destroy Trump and his associates in a deliberate and illegal attempt to interfere with the election.  

"Discovery" is on it's way, and if there's any justice in America,  a lot of prominent people are going to end up in jail, including Willis.  There's now ample evidence the Biden DOJ is not only corrupt but is pure evil:

"If there is anything Americans have learned from the horrific four years of the Biden administration, it is that our government and its institutions operate as any mafia or crime family organization does".  

Mike Johnson has turned out to be a major disappointment, and it's now pretty clear he's nothing more than a flunky for the Democrats promoting a massive funding continuing resolution that's nothing more than a wish list for the Democrats, and it's corrupt beyond belief. 

Perhaps Johnson needs an epiphany, and reading this piece might be a good start. The Case for Eliminating Property Taxes: What North Dakota’s Vote Means for True Homeownership.... "Eliminating property taxes, or better yet income taxes, makes a state an attractive destination. But neither works without spending cuts."

and rightly so. He needs to be dumped as Speaker, and primaried the next election, and he's not alone among the Republicans.   

In November, the House Republicans voted to keep Johnson as Speaker for another two years, and Trump supported that, so I don't know what can be done.   

Johnson is a disgrace, he even helped save a RINO who voted to impeach Trump, so why Trump supported him is beyond me, but this bill is causing that support at all levels to crumble.  And it appears there's another vote for Speaker on January 3rd, so, we'll see if they've learned their lesson and choose Ohio Representative Jim Jordan as Speaker.  That would change everything.

Is there a floor fight in the offing?  I think so, even as feckless as the Republicans are, this may be the step too far.  Just how bad is that spending bill? Elon brings the receipts,....

"Elon Musk exposed waste galore in the 1,500-page omnibus spending bill, and it's having an impact....." 

This Continuing Resolution is as vile and gutless as every other CR that's been passed, and probably worse.

Can anyone tell me if the term continuing resolution appears in the Constitution?  It doesn't, however, the word budget does appear and the Constitution requires the Congress to produce a budget every year, not a continuing resolution.  If that means the government shuts down, so be it.  Does it really matter?  No, what they've fallaciously called a "shut down" for years isn't a "shut down" and costs America's economy almost nothing.  America will survive it, but will "No Guts No Glory" Speaker Johnson survive? 

Ask yourself, this.  Why is it all these massive CR bills, that no one can possibly read before the vote are always offered at the last minute instead of weeks before where they could be debated and fought over?   Now that's the easiest question to answer of them all.  Because it's a corrupt scam!  

Schumer, McConnell, Johnson, and Jeffries secretly worked on this $1.7 trillion CR for over 85 days, and now at the last minute want to sneak it though before the Holidays with a pass it or shut down scare.   It's  all a scam to intimidate the weak minded invertebrates into a "do it or else " scenario, and Speaker Johnson was part and parcel of that corruption or this would have never occurred.  He's as bad as was Kevin McCarthy, and should be ousted for the same reasons McCarthy was ousted.

Well, as for me, I prefer the "or else" option.  Let the government "shut down".  

Let's try and get this right once, just once, please.  The government does not shut down!  That's just the emotional hook the media uses to scare America into allowing Congress to pass bills that are vile.   Money is pouring into the government daily, and based on the yearly intake of 4.5 trillion dollars, that comes in to the tune of over 12 billion dollars a day seven days a week, and they're spending that money, and Social Security payments will be made. 

Republicans are willing to pass a clear CR, meaning dumping a lot of pork and vile components of this bill, including a massive pay raise for themselves, and protecting themselves from investigations into any of their bad behavior.  But the Democrats will oppose any ‘clean’ funding bill, and if the government shuts down, they'll blame the Republicans because the Pravda media will scream that to high heaven.  But no one is listening to them these days, so....who cares?   Shut it down... and do it on Biden's time. Oh, one more thing.  In the bill that passed, all that money designated to help farmers, 80% of it is funding for food stamps’, and I'm betting a huge chunk of that will go to illegal aliens.

Here's another thing we need to get right.  Definition leads to clarity, and while the election was won, the war hasn't been won.  This CR bill is an excellent example of just how true that is, exposing just how gutless and corrupt the Republicans really are.   Here was my November 14th analysis on how and why the Democrats will still control Congress, as Republicans excel at only one thing:  Snatching Defeat Out of the Jaws of Victory. 

Well, it's now Saturday morning, and late yesterday Johnson caved, and the government won't be shut down.   As far as I'm concerned anything other than forcing a shutdown is a failure, but if I'm reading this correctly this bill has been massively cut down, (those 1500 pages were quickly whittled down to 116), and is far better than what they started out with, and if you think passing a bill in the first place was a good thing, then Johnson did as well as could be expected, and if he's started with this, and did it in the open instead of conniving in secret with the Schumer, McConnell, and Jeffries, he would have look like a real leader, but not now, the history of his actions are against him.  Will it save his Speakership.  I don't think so. At any rate, the Senate passed this bill at one in the morning today, but as of 6:39 AM Biden has yet to sign it, so technically the government is shut down.

Let's not delude ourselves here,  the only ones coming out of this with a win are RINO's and Democrats, as House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries says, "they 'defeated' Elon Musk and Donald Trump with the current spending bill - Punchbowl", and all the Democrats voted for it.  You may hate the vile rule of Democrats but they know how to rule.  This merely further exposes the deep philosophical problems that exist in the Republican party, and as I point out in the 2021 article, that problem has existed among Republicans forever.  

If you want victory, then unity of thought is an absolute, but the Republicans are not unified, and they're not a conservative party.  They just happen to be the only port in the storm for conservatives, and conservatives need to purge the party and make it a conservative party, just as the left as taken over the Democrat party and made it a solidly socialist party of treason. 

Make no mistake, Congress is deeply divided because the nation is deeply divided.  Here's what millions of Americans believe:

Murdering the innocent unborn is a right, and voted accordingly in six states, three of them red states.  Men can be women and vise versa, illegal drugs that are destroying young lives should be legal, arresting criminals is discrimination, the police should be disbanded, the border should be wide open, energy production should be destroyed by green initiatives, hating Jews, Christians, and conservatives is not only reasonable, it's required. 

Merit selection for jobs is racist, massive spending and borrowing is good economics, and anyone who disagrees should be censored, disbarred, have the banks "debank" them, and those who disagree should be charged with crimes that aren't crimes in order to bankrupt them.  And you will obey or else. Even murder is justified by these misfits.  

All of this is being promoted by insane billionaires, such as George Soros....  "a well-known left-wing critic of American society, a virtual prophet of suicidal anarchy.  His Open Society Foundation wants to defund the police, close prisons, open borders, and staff local governments with officials who will not prosecute criminals or cooperate with federal immigration laws. Championing “enemies within” naturally extends to embracing enemies overseas as well. His society is “open” to barbarians."

And they think that saves democracy?  How twisted can a leftist mind become?   Twisted beyond belief, and we have the history to show it.  This is a must read piece:

Communism’s Lingering Grip on Soul and Society: ‘Generations of Devastation’.   Those who weren’t slaughtered or starved to death still bear psychological scars of being utterly controlled by others.

There's been a lot of talk that Trump can't fire Biden appointees, and as I understand it there are thousands of them.  But Biden fixed that when he fired Sean Spicer:

"as they were forced to argue in the affirmative that they had the ultimate authority to fire anybody at any time, which they did. And the court accepted that. So the Biden administration is now on record in court, and the court agreed that the president had absolute authority to fire anyone he wants...."

To most of America it was obvious Biden was lost in a haze most of the time from the very beginning of his run for President, and it was well known he was as dumb as dirt before that.  But everyone on the left insisted he was just as sharp as a tack, and guess what, as it turns out The Dems Lied Through Their Teeth About Biden's Senility.  Democrats lied!  Imagine that!  I have to say, I'm just gonna have to channel Captain Renault here saying: I'm shocked, shocked I tell you!  

C'mon man, if Biden's lips are moving, he's lying, as in Biden's claim he toppled Syria's Assad.   There's only one problem with that, and that problem's called truth, something Biden's amazingly allergic to.   The reality is Biden wanted to save Assad, and his administration is filled with equally despicable anti Israel, antisemitic actors, and does anyone know why there were 1000 American troops in Syria, whose responsible for that, and why the media isn't asking?

This meme by the left that immigration made America great, is a logical fallacy.   This is the story that needs telling over and over again as it's the history of so many families. Poor hard working immigrants who came here to build a better future for their children and grandchildren and worked hard for it, often suffering in the process.

But it wasn't immigration that made America great, it was the American value system these immigrants embraced that made America great. A greatness they believed in and wanted to be a part of.  A greatness they could pass along with their children and grand children.  

This is the first P&D I've published in two weeks, as I've had some health issues and I'm just now coming out of the haze my mind has been in, so, I only have two commentaries of my own, both of which were published before this, including my annual article that eviscerates the Theory of Evolution.  

I have a number of authors who send me articles regularly, and since I didn't publish anything for so many days, and my last P&D was on November 30, I had a back log of articles sent to me. As a result there are a lot of commentaries from a few writers, going back to December 2nd.  All profound and provocative, all 40 of them.

One last thing.  I've been reading Barbara W. Tuchman's, "The March of Folly, From Troy to Vietnam, where she asks why so many leaders, religious and secular, make decisions that are so obviously detrimental to the societies they're leading.  This spending insanity is just one example of how the leaders, both religious and secular, are destroying western civilization.  It's worth your time. 

Have a great weekend, and my very best wishes to "all people of good will."

My Commentaries

1. Hollywood is Just a Big Masquerade
2. Shall Every Knee Bow

Commentaries

1. Alvin Bragg’s Final Gambit By Mark Angelides
2. From the Back Forty: Biden Celebrates as the Crazy Bubbles Over By Sarah Cowgill
3. The Obama Pyramid is the Heart of Darkness By Susan Daniels
4. Trust Your Lawyer or Don't By Susan Daniels
5. Trump Administration energy and climate policy imperatives By Paul Driessen
6. International and State Interference in US Energy Policy Must End By Paul Driessen
7. Joe Biden’s Legacy Hits the Wall By Tim Donner
8. Critically Thinking about the FDA By John Droz, Jr.
9. Rudyard Kipling's Words of Wisdom By John Droz, Jr.
10. The True Cost of Wind Energy By John Droz, Jr.
11. Media Balance Newsletter, December 9, 2024 By John Droz, Jr.
12. Critically Thinking about Eric Hoffer: 1 and 2 By John Droz, Jr.
13. Critically Thinking about the US Department of Education, What is the best path forward for this troubled agency?  By John Droz, Jr.
14. Trouble in Paradise: GOP Faces Desertion, Mutiny, and a Shutdown By James Fite
15. White House Islamophobia Strategy Says Muslims Were the Real Victims of Oct 7th  By Daniel Greenfield
16. We Hate Them. Why Won’t They Vote for Us?  By Daniel Greenfield
17. Mass Deportations Would Save Americans $62 Billion a Year  By Daniel Greenfield
18. "The Most Lawless Administration in History" By Robin Itzler 
19. Events Here and Around the World By Robin Itzler 
20. Communist California  By Robin Itzler 
21. Democrat Finger Pointing Continues By Robin Itzler 
22. Resistance to the Resistance By Robin Itzler 
23. The Biden Crime Family  By Robin Itzler 
24. Happy Hear Year! By Robin Itzler 
25. Republican Senators Allow Radical Judges  By Robin Itzler 
26. Experience Only Demanded For Trump Nominees By Robin Itzler 
27. Anti-Money Laundering Enforcement And De-Banking By Francis Menton
28. How The Régime Treats Is Enemies, And Its Friends By Francis Menton
29. A Safe Bet: Politicized Consensus "Science" Is Wrong By Francis Menton
30. Anti-Money Laundering Enforcement: What Happened To Due Process Of Law? By Francis Menton
31. The Case for Capitalism, Part VII By Dan Mitchell
32. The Worst Statistics from America’s Worst City By Dan Mitchell
33. France and Fiscal Suicide, Part II By Dan Mitchell
34. The OECD Pushes Higher Taxes for High-Tax Greece
35. Louisiana Joins the Flat Tax Club By Dan Mitchell
36. Advice for DOGE: Fiscal Federalism By Dan Mitchell
37. Assessing Javier Milei, the World’s Best Leader: Part V By Dan Mitchell
38. Understanding Consumer Spending and the Economy By Dan Mitchell
39. Healthcare, Government, and Insurance Companies By Dan Mitchell
40. US Crosses $36 Trillion National Debt Milestone – Swamponomics By Andrew Moran

Permanent Links

1. 45 Communist Goals to Destroy America as Listed in the 1963 Congressional Record
2. My Seven Rules of Geopolitics
3. The John Boyd Legion of Honor

No matter what anyone says, you can’t marginalize the truth!  You can suppress it, you can ignore it, you can avoid it, you can attempt to undermine it, you can attempt to subvert it, you can attempt to organize against it, you can even laugh at it, but if we have the courage and the fortitude to stand and confront the lies, irrespective of the personal costs, the truth will stand the test of time, because truth and time are on the same side.

Constant as the North Star