Displaying posts published in

December 2018

HOLIDAY WISHES 2018

T’WAS THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS AND ALL THROUGH THE HOUSE
THE GOP LAME DUCKS DID NOTHING BUT GROUSE
THEY ANALYZED AND GROANED AND COMPLAINED PLENTY
WITH VISIONS OF BIGGER LOSSES IN TWENTY TWENTY.

I TOSSED AND I TURNED WITH INTERRUPTED SLEEP
WITH NIGHTMARES OF DEMS WITH AGENDAS TO KEEP.
WHEN OUT ON THE LAWN THERE AROSE SUCH A CLATTER
I SPRANG FROM MY BED TO SEE WHAT WAS THE MATTER.

AN ANTI TRUMP RODEO WAS FORMING A LINE
NADLER, SCHUMER AND COMEY RODE IN ON SWINE
MUELLER WAS GALLOPING ON A HORNED STEER
HOLDING A RAT AT THE END OF HIS SPEAR.

BERNIE, BIDEN AND CORY TROTTED ON ASSES PAINTED BLUE
BETO, KAMALA AND GILLIBRAND SAYING #ME TOO!
A HUMAN CARAVAN HOISTING FLAGS OF DISPARATE NATIONS
SHOUTED AND FLAUNTED THEIR VOTER REGISTRATIONS.

THE CHAOTIC SCENE ALMOST MADE ME SCREAM
WHEN I AWOKE FROM THE TERRIBLE DREAM.
TOO LATE FOR SLUMBER I SAT UP AND REFLECTED
ON THE MANY GOOD POLICIES THAT TRUMP EFFECTED.

FAKE NEWS, CLIMATE FRAUD AND OBAMACARE TANKED
MORE JOBS, FEWER TAXES AND MORE INCOME BANKED.
IN TRADE WITH CANADA AND CHINA TRUMP HELD THE FORT
AND KAVANAUGH AND GORSUCH JOINED THE COURT.

ON NATIONAL SPEECH HE BECAME A DEFENDER
OF HE AND SHE AND REAL PRONOUNS OF GENDER
WHILE MERKEL, MACRON AND TERESA FACE DOOM
OPTIMISM AND PRIDE GREET OUR ENERGY BOOM.

WITH SINCERE HOPE THAT ONLY GOOD DREAMS COME TRUE
I WISH YOU A HAPPY NOEL AND A GREAT NEW YEAR TOO.
RUTH KING

House Republicans approve bill to fund border wall, setting up a final showdown in the Senate

House Republicans approve bill to fund border wall, setting up a final showdown in the Senate originally appeared on abcnews.go.com

House Republicans voted to approve a bill to fund President Donald Trump’s $5 billion demand for a border wall, setting up a final showdown in the Senate ahead of Friday’s deadline to avert a government shutdown.

The vote received no Democratic support, and the bill’s prospects in the Senate are dim as Democrats have pledged to defeat the divisive measure.

The final tally was 217-185, with eight Republicans voting against the package, which includes $5.7 billion to construct a border wall, $7.8 billion for disaster relief and would fund the government until Feb. 8.

Trump praised House Republicans for passing the measure Thursday night, while noting that upcoming speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, said last week in the Oval Office that the GOP did not have the votes.

Lawless Judge Strikes Down Trump’s Asylum Policy A Democrat-appointed judge ignores what the actual law says. Matthew Vadum

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/272311/lawless-judge-strikes-down-trumps-asylum-policy-matthew-vadum

As President Trump made significant progress in his bid to win congressional funding for a border wall with Mexico, a swamp-dwelling federal judge in Washington struck down Trump administration policies that made it more difficult for foreigners who claim to be victims of domestic or gang violence to seek asylum.

Trump has vowed to use the military to build the wall and in recent days sent out mixed messages about whether he would veto a stopgap spending bill needed to avert a partial government shutdown at Friday midnight. After a fierce backlash from conservatives like Ann Coulter apparently prompted Trump to return to his hardline stance insisting on getting border wall funding now before Democrats take over the House of Representatives in two weeks, Republican congressional leaders met with the president at the White House midday Thursday. Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.) emerged from the meeting to announce Trump would veto any spending measure that lacked funding for the wall, the president’s signature issue on the 2016 campaign trail.

Later Thursday the House voted 217 to 185 to approve a temporary spending bill after adding $5.7 billion in appropriations for the wall. Democrats have said they will oppose the measure when it reaches the Senate where under current rules it requires a supermajority of 60 votes for passage. Presently there are 51 Republicans and 49 Democrats in the Senate. As of January 3, there will be 53 Republicans and 47 Democrats. During a White House meeting with incoming Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) last week Trump said he would be happy to shut down the government to gain funding for the wall.

“I am proud to shut down the government for border security, Chuck,” Trump said.

That shutdown now seems certain.

James Wolfe: The Liar No One Is Talking About By Julie Kelly

https://amgreatness.com/2018/12/20/james-wolfe-

In a recent court filing, the defendant’s attorneys begged for mercy. The offender—once a high-level government official assigned with protecting national security secrets—had pleaded guilty to one charge of making a false statement to the FBI in 2017.

Citing his modest upbringing, community involvement, and decorated military service, the defendant’s lawyers asked the judge only to impose a sentence of probation rather than jail time.

“This case has garnered a significant amount of media attention,” the attorneys wrote, “and plainly sends a message to the public that lying to federal agents—even when those lies were denials animated by a desire to conceal a personal failing—has profound consequences.”

The appeal was supported by letters written by powerful people, including top lawmakers on Capitol Hill, who attested to the man’s overall decency, claiming he had already suffered enough and how his “conduct is contradicted sharply by the character of the man that his family and community and country relied upon and loved and respected.”

No, that entreaty was not about Lt. General Michael Flynn; it was on behalf of James Wolfe, the former security chief for the Senate Intelligence Committee who was caught not just lying to FBI officials but illegally leaking classified information to journalists, including his 20-something girlfriend. Wolfe’s misconduct was far more egregious—and damaging—than the process crime committed by Flynn.

MY SAY: ON TROOPS IN SYRIA

Two thousand troops? Only two thousand troops can stabilize, bring peace, destroy Isis, defend the Kurds, and inhibit Iran and Turkey in a sea of tribal and religious wars? I think Trump is right.

We have a volunteer national army. Why risk the life of a single soldier for no real gain? If war is declared against Isis then let full military power destroy them. Remove the ridiculous and politically correct “Rules of Engagement” that endanger our troops and punish those who flout them in self defense.

And finally, stop pussyfooting and name the enemy. They are not “militants” or “combatants”- they are faith driven Jihadist barbarians who hate Western values and are committed to murder the infidels and establish Sharia laws wherever they alight and gain strength. rsk

Mattis was no good By David Archibald

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2018/12/mattis_was_no_good.html

American Thinker readers were warned about General Mattis over a year ago in this article. Briefly, Mattis was and remains a supporter of global warming.

The issue of global warming continues to be a reliable and simple litmus test. If someone believes in global warming, then you can be sure he is a globalist who loathes Western civilization.

Then there was his support for the Islamist Anne Patterson, loathed by the Egyptian people for her support for the Muslim Brotherhood.

Then there was the matter of allowing one of his underlings to throw Fox Company, of Task Force Spartan in Afghanistan in 2007, under bus so he could advance his own career.

Since that article, Mattis’s charge sheet has expanded somewhat. Trump wanted to get trannies out of the military simply because of the costs involved in having them. Mattis pushed back and slow-walked the order. Gender dysphoria is one of the worst mental illnesses, with a 50 percent suicide rate. Who in his right mind would leave people suffering from this condition near weapons or machinery? Someone who ranks ideology above effectiveness and unit cohesion would.

Mattis argued the case for staying in Afghanistan, overriding Trump’s gut instinct. There is no point in staying in Afghanistan. When someone stops paying for the imported grain that allows Afghanistan’s population to double every 25 years, then Afghanistan will collapse. Mattis’s reasoning for staying in Afghanistan is that we either fight them there or fight them here. The opposite is true. By continuing to feed them, we are creating more future terrorists. The way to keep this country safe is to forbid them to enter.

Mattis entered into a “suicide pact” with Steve Mnuchin and Rex Tillerson with the effect that if any one of them was fired, the other two would resign. Normally an employer, upon hearing that his employees have entered into such an undertaking, would fire all three straight away. The president didn’t do that, and Tillerson showed how ineffectual he was. Tillerson won’t be taking much of his time leading the Boy Scouts of America from now on; he allowed gay troop leaders, and now the venerable institution is considering bankruptcy in response to gay rape claims. Like Mattis, Tillerson rose through projecting an image. The reality fell far short of that.

President Trump Is Right about Syria By Mark A. Hewitt

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2018/12/president_trump_is_right_about_syria.html

On the campaign trail in 2012, President Obama took credit for ending the war in Iraq and bringing all U.S. troops home from that country. Military leaders quietly decried the evacuation of troops from Iraq. To do so created a vacuum for hostiles, such as the displaced Baath Party members loyal to Saddam Hussein. In early 2014, the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria appeared, rolling through the upper third of a largely unarmed and unprotected Iraq, setting the country ablaze.

Although removing U.S. forces from an unarmed Iraq was an obvious blunder, by September 2014, President Obama was dismissing complaints of his handling of the outbreak of hostilities. He declared that ISIS was the equivalent of “a jayvee team” and was nothing to worry about. In 2016, we learned from Secretary John Kerry that regime change in Syria, the removal of Bashar Assad, was the Obama administration’s goal. Focused on this agenda, the White House intentionally gave arms to ISIS, betting that ISIS’s success would force the Syrian president to acquiesce toward Obama’s terms and step down.

U.S. political and military leaders knew that Iraq was working to build up its military, but it had not been able to reconstitute its armed forces in effective numbers. They knew that Iraqi recruits and pilots were in schools run by Americans and taught by Americans. The timing was right for war, as Iraq was utterly defenseless if ISIS came to town.

Trump Declares Victory in Syria Too Soon By Shoshana Bryen

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2018/12/trump_declares_victory_in_syria_too_soon.html

In the midst of the Vietnam War, Sen. George Aiken is reported to have said, “Let’s just declare victory and get out.” In October, President Donald Trump did “declare victory” over ISIS. “I want to get out,” the president said. “I want to bring our troops back home. I want to start rebuilding our nation.”

This week, it was announced that our 2,000 or so troops would be pulled out. Job done, go home, right?

There was a bit of a hedge by the Pentagon. Chief spokesperson Dana White said the campaign against ISIS is “not over,” but “we have started the process of returning U.S. troops home from Syria as we transition to the next phase of the campaign. We will continue working with our partners and allies to defeat ISIS wherever it operates.”

OK, still, we’re pretty much done, right? In the narrowest sense, perhaps, although ISIS remains a regional scourge. But it raises the question of what to do when your war aims change in the middle of the war. The defeat of ISIS was, clearly, the first American goal. We were not involved in the Syrian civil war and not planning to be. So American forces took on what appeared to be a limited job. But nothing is limited in the Middle East.

By design or default, United States forces were serving two other functions. In September, secretary of state Mike Pompeo and national security adviser John Bolton made the case for Iran’s continued presence in Syria creating instability that presented a strategic threat to American interests in the region – and would allow Iran to control the “Shiite Crescent” from Iran through Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon to the Mediterranean Sea.

Misinformation on Twitter by Alan M. Dershowitz

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/13446/dershowitz-twitter-misinformation

Lying to the FBI is not a crime if the lie is not material.

“[18 U.S. Code §] 1001 explicitly requires that the lie must be material. The statute (a2) reads ‘…makes any materially false, fictitious, or fraudulent statement or representation;'” — Alan M. Dershowitz, on Twitter.

If Twitter users wish to spread stories as pseudo-reporters, they must also fact-check what they publish. If they do not, they become complicit in the spreading of disinformation.

Controversy over the responsibility Twitter has in policing its users has been at the forefront of our national discourse. There is also a role for individuals to play in propagating fair and accurate stories on this platform. On Twitter, information seems to spread at lightning speed and “news” stories have a way of taking on a life of their own. Twitter undoubtably has some virtue — I myself am a frequent user. It is a forum where otherwise disparate people can communicate quickly and information can be democratized. However, Twitter all too frequently can be used to deceive and mislead.

On Twitter, I am often the target of misleading news stories based on out of context or truncated quotes as well as outright lies. My recent commentary on Michael Flynn’s lying to the FBI is a perfect example of just that. On December 17, I was interviewed by Bill Hemmer and was asked about the repercussions of Flynn lying to the FBI. I first responded by stating:

“I hope the judge understands when he has the case tomorrow; Flynn did not commit a crime by lying because the lie has to be material to the investigation, and if the FBI already knew the answer to the question and only asked the question to give him an opportunity to lie, his answer, even if false, was not material to the investigation.”

My point was clearly laid out. A few minutes later, Hemmer brought the topic back to Flynn. I then, once again, clearly stated my aforementioned argument around materiality:

“The lie has to be material to the investigation, and if the FBI already knew the answer to the question and only asked him the question in order to give them an opportunity to lie, his answer, even if false, was not material to the investigation. Which answers the question [Hemmer interrupts]… Lying to the FBI is not a crime [Hemmer interrupts]…”

I was interrupted and unable to finish my point which was “lying to the FBI is not a crime if the lie is not material.”

Backlash in Budapest Hungary becomes the latest site of protests in Europe.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/backlash-in-budapest-11545091778?cx_testId=16&cx_testVariant=cx&cx_artPos=1&cx_tag=contextual&cx_navSource=newsReel#cxrecs_s

Hungary has moved in an anti-democratic direction since Viktor Orban returned to power in 2010. But the protests in Budapest in recent days are a reminder that he hasn’t dragged all of his countrymen along with his program.

The demonstrations began Wednesday after the National Assembly, where Mr. Orban’s Fidesz Party has a two-thirds majority, passed labor legislation that critics call the “slave law.” It lets businesses ask employees to work up to 400 overtime hours annually, up from 250. The legislation also gives employers more time to settle overtime payments.

Hungary isn’t welcoming to immigrants, many of its most-qualified workers leave for better-paying work elsewhere in Europe, and its roughly 1.5 births per woman is one of the lowest fertility rates in the world. All of this has led to a severe labor shortage, and liberalizing overtime laws is a good economic idea. But the measure is opposed even by nearly two-thirds of Mr. Orban’s supporters.

The Assembly also created new administrative courts to handle government matters like taxes and elections. The government says the courts will be independent, but Mr. Orban’s Justice Minister oversees them.

Freezing temperatures haven’t been enough to deter thousands of Hungarians from marching against these measures. They see a threat to their democracy, especially given Mr. Orban’s bad record on press freedom and the rule of law. Mr. Orban effectively has forced Central European University, an American institution founded by financier George Soros, to leave the country by next year. The ruling party has also dealt harshly with media critics while overseeing free but unfair elections.

Like the Yellow Vest protests in France, the demonstrations in Budapest started over a particular policy. But they’ve unified a disparate opposition and become a broader critique of Mr. Orban’s heavy-handed rule. Some protesters have turned violent and thrown smoke grenades. Security forces retaliated with tear gas, but the government acknowledges lawful demonstrators have a right to assemble.

Mr. Orban isn’t bending on the policies. His bet may be that he can ride out the protesters the way he has objections from the European Union to his limits on press freedom. The protests are a signal that Hungary’s voters don’t want their country to follow the authoritarian path of Vladimir Putin’s Russia.