Displaying posts published in

December 2020

‘Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their country’ By Patricia McCarthy

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2020/12/now_is_the_time_for_all_good_men_to_come_to_the_aid_of_their_country.html

‘Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their country’

The above sentence was devised by Charles E. Weller as a typing drill.  Originally the last two words were “the party” but typing books long ago changed that to “their country.”  Suddenly it seems a very important call to arms, so to speak.  The United States as founded is certainly under attack; that has been true almost from the beginning.  It began in earnest with the election of Abraham Lincoln and his intent to end slavery.  The racists hated Lincoln easily as much as our left hates Trump and for pretty much all the same reasons.  Clearly it is the left today that values skin color and sexual orientation over any and all other human characteristics.  

That Lincoln prevailed until he didn’t was a miracle.  Trump’s 2016 victory was an unexpected lightning bolt for left that assumed a Clinton victory was in the bag.  

Then there was the Woodrow Wilson administration and his “progressive” (racist) agenda.  His crowd too wanted to diminish the profundity of the Constitution.  In short, there have always been anti-freedom anarchists among our population thanks in part to the freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution they want to shred because “it was written by old white men.”   They could not care less about the fact of those men’s brilliance, courage, dedication and loss that went into the writing of that singular document.

They Stole It Fair And Square: Steven Hayward

• The Democrats stole the election fair and square. Of course I don’t mean that literally; what I mean is that the election was effectively stolen months ago before any ballots were cast when legislatures (and sometimes governors and state courts such Pennsylvania) changed the voting rules to allow expanded mail-in voting, and the cascade of related vulnerabilities that followed. Republican legislatures that went along with these COVID-induced panic changes were foolish if not derelict in their duty. And the Trump campaign was negligent in not fighting against this months ago. President Trump was correct to warn about this outcome. Why wasn’t his campaign better organized to resist this months ago? (I know they did file a few lawsuits, a few of which had some effect, but it wasn’t enough.) I suspect the long-rumored campaign infighting and attention to other things distracted Trump’s senior campaign managers from paying sufficient attention to this.

• Fraud is very easy in our election system. Remember that our elections are run by part-timers, amateurs, and volunteers on the county level in America—and we have over 3,000 counties. In such a diffuse system it is easy to conjure up a few dozen votes here, a few hundred votes there. Or worse. It is at once a glory of self-government in America that we actually conduct our elections in this decentralized way involving tens of thousands of citizen volunteers. It is also astounding that we use such a vulnerable and chaotic system to choose our president.

• So the problem with vote fraud is that a remedy is difficult to apply. There aren’t good remedies. If a race is within a few hundred votes or less, a recount or ballot challenges can work to reverse the outcome, though not often. The plain fact is that once a fraudulent ballot is inside the ballot box and counted, it is very hard to get it back out of the box and un-counted. Fraudulent ballots need to be intercepted before they reach the ballot box. It is likely not possible to disqualify enough ballots to change the outcome in three states, which is what Trump would need. The statistical anomalies of this election are good circumstantial evidence of vote fraud, but exactly which ballots, or which vote totals, do you change, and how?

No court is going to overturn an election result on circumstantial evidence and affidavits of incorrect polling place procedure alone. (I reserve judgment for the time being about the Dominion computer system question.) And the thorough fact-finding necessary for judicial intervention would take time that we haven’t got. This is why both the Constitution and most state election statutes make the legislatures the arbiters of presidential election results.

Wisconsin Supreme Court rules state erred by giving blanket exemption to voter ID rules during COVID Ruling opens door to challenge potentially tens of thousands of ballots in state where difference between Biden, Trump is just about 20,000 votes.

https://justthenews.com/politics-policy/elections/wisconsin-supreme-court-rules-state-erred-giving-blanket-exemption-voter

The Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled Monday that state and local election officials erred when they gave blanket permission allowing voters to declare themselves homebound and skip voter ID requirements in the 2020 election, potentially opening the door for Republicans to challenge tens of thousand of ballots.

In a case challenging the practice in Dane County, one of Wisconsin’s large urban center around the city of Madison, the state’s highest court ruled only those voters whose “own age, physical illness or infirmity” makes them homebound could declare themselves “indefinitely confined” and avoid complying with a requirement for photo ID.

The mere existence of a COVID-19 pandemic and shutdown orders was not sufficient under Wisconsin law for all persons to skip the voter ID requirements to seek to vote absentee, the justices ruled.

“We conclude that both the contention that electors qualify as indefinitely confined solely as the result of the COVID19 pandemic and the declared public health emergency and the contention that Wis. Stat. § 6.86(2)(a) could be used for those who ‘have trouble presenting a valid ID’ are erroneous because those reasons do not come within the statutory criteria,” the court ruled.

Michigan lawmakers issue subpoenas to Detroit, Livonia clerks Craig Mauger

https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/politics/2020/12/15/michigan-lawmakers-issue-subpoenas-detroit-livonia-clerks/3912147001/

Lansing — The Michigan House and Senate oversight committees voted Tuesday to issue subpoenas to clerks in Livonia and Detroit as Republican lawmakers bolstered their push to investigate the Nov. 3 election. 

Under the subpoenas, Detroit Clerk Janice Winfrey and Livonia Clerk Susan Nash will have to produce a trove of documents about how they ran their elections by 5 p.m. Jan. 12.

Detroit has been the focus of the attempt by President Donald Trump’s campaign to discredit Michigan’s election with unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud. Livonia, which is also in Wayne County, had similar rates of out-of-balance precincts compared to Detroit.

That means the number of voters tracked in poll books didn’t match the number of ballots cast in precincts. The imbalances are usually due to human errors, voters moving and other administration problems.

“We’re continuing our due diligence to determine if allegations that were made are true or not,” Senate Oversight Chairman Ed McBroom, R-Vulcan, said after the meeting.

“We’ve heard a lot of explanation for how poll books get out of balance,” he added. “This level is something that we want to check into.”

GOP Sen. Ron Johnson Blasts Dem Sen. Ralph Peters: “You Lied Repeatedly In The Press That I Was Spreading Russian Disinformation” By Tim Hains

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2020/12/16/johnson_vs_peters_this_is_terrible_what_youre_doing_to_this_committee_it_is_what_you_have_done.html

Republican Sen. Ron Johnson blasted Democratic Sen. Gary Peters during a hearing Wednesday for claiming he was pushing Russian disinformation about Hunter Biden and Ukraine.

“You lied repeatedly. You lied repeatedly in the press. That I was spreading Russian disinformation. That was an outright lie and I told you to stop lying and you continued to do it,” Johnson said.

“The people peddling Russian disinformation are not on my side of the aisle. Senior Democrat leaders, including ranking member Peters, were involved in a process of creating a false intelligence product that they leaked to the media that accused Sen. Grassley, the President Pro-Temp of the Senate, and myself, of accepting and disseminating Russian misinformation,” Johnson said. “Sen. Peters introduced that false information, Russian disinformation into our investigation record. 50 members of the intelligence community, after our Hunter Biden investigation, and the revelation of his computer say it is Russian disinformation, now we find out, it is a real investigation by the Justice Department.”

“So, it’s just galling and I just have to point out that the purveyors of Russian disinformation – Hillary Clinton’s campaign, the DNC, the Steele Dossier, the Ranking Member Peters accusing Sen. Grassley and I of disseminating Russian disinformation, that’s where the disinformation is coming. That’s where the false information, the lies, the false allegations,” Johnson said.

Palestinian Track Record Ambassador (Ret.) Yoram Ettinger

December 16, 2020, https://bit.ly/3njMqXI

The Palestinian conflict did not erupt in 1967, nor in 1948.

In November 1917, the Balfour Declaration called for the establishment of “a national home for the Jewish People” in Palestine, which was the accepted international name of the Land of Israel since the 5th century BCE. The declaration, by the British Foreign Minister, stated that “nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities [Arabs] in Palestine.” The declaration acknowledged the ancient national Jewish roots in the Land of Israel (Palestine), and that Jews were indigenous in Palestine, returning to – not colonizing – their homeland.

In April 1920, the post-World War I San Remo Conference reaffirmed the Balfour Declaration and laid the legal foundation for the creation of 22 Arab states and one Jewish state. It was signed by all 51 members of the League of Nations in the August 1920 Treaty of Sevres between the Allied Powers and the Ottoman Empire.

Arab terrorism erupted in Jerusalem, Jaffa and the Galilee in response to the emerging reestablishment of Jewish sovereignty in the Middle East, which is considered by Muslims as the abode of Islam, “divinely-ordained to believers” and off limits to “infidel” sovereignty.

In July 1922, the League of Nations entrusted Britain with the Mandate for Palestine, which was authored by the San Remo Conference. The Mandate highlighted “the historical connection of the Jewish people to Palestine, and the grounds for reconstituting their national home in that country.” The sole purpose of the Mandate was to establish a Jewish national home in Palestine, referring to the Land of Israel. The Mandate for Palestine has been included, since 1945, in Article 80 of the UN Charter, which preserves the inherent Jewish national rights in the Land of Israel.

In September 1922, the League of Nations and Britain transferred 3/4 of Palestine to the Hashemite Emirate of Transjordan, which gained independence in 1946.

Why Black conservatives in academia have supported Israel for decades Contrasting Dr. Walter E. Williams with Israel-hater Dr. Lamont Hill is a stark reminder of what so much of academia has become. Moshe Phillips

https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/292867

The death of Dr. Walter E. Williams (1936-2020) at age 84 in early December presents an opportunity to examine why so many Black conservatives in academia and media have supported Israel for decades compared to Israel-haters like Marc Lamont Hill.

Williams was Professor of Economics at George Mason University, as well as a syndicated columnist.
From 1973 to 1980 Williams was an economics professor at Temple University. He promoted free market ideas and in its December 2 obituary, the Wall Street Journal noted that “America has lost one of its greatest economists and public intellectuals.”

By contrast Lamont Hill, age 41, says he is “Present Assistant Professor of Urban Education & American Studies (at) Temple University (Affiliated Professor of Anthropology) (Affiliated Professor of American Studies)” on the CV on his website.

That is a stark reminder of what Temple and so much of academia has become. A change from Economics taught to understand the destructive nature of socialism has become to. “Urban Education & American Studies” taught to denigrate America at every turn.

But, there is more. Much more.

THE AUDACITY OF THIS MAN TRUMP

https://abyssum.org/2020/12/13/how-dare-donald-trump-turn-out-to-be-one-of-the-best-presidents-the-united-states-of-america-has-ever-had-in-spite-of-his-personal-flaws-which-he-never-tried-to-hide-

I’m still trying to understand what 80 million voters disliked about President Trump so much that they decided to cast their votes for a man who served forty-seven years in government and has done absolutely nothing for the American people. And, I’m still flabbergasted that those same people would vote for a woman to serve as Vice President, a heartbeat away from the Presidency, with a rather checkered and not so moral past. I wondered why they despised and hated President Trump so much.

And so, I have many questions:

Did you dislike that Trump made cruelty to animals a felony?

Did you dislike he raised billions to stop the opioid crisis? 

Perhaps you feel that he destroyed ISIS, killed terrorists, including the leader of ISIS and the Iranian General responsible for thousands of American deaths, all without going to war? 

Did you dislike the fact that the media and democrats, Joy Behar and Whoopi Goldberg, Chris Cuomo, and Jim Acosta said we’d be in World War III by now with North Korea, and their prophecies did not come to pass?

Did you dislike Trump because under his leadership we became energy-independent and an exporter rather than an importer of oil, no longer relying on the Middle East for our petroleum needs? 

Did you dislike him because he wanted to build a wall to keep criminals and drugs from coming into our country?

Did you dislike him because he just slashed the price for medications in some cases by 50%, which is driving big Pharma nuts?

Perhaps you dislike that he signed a law ending the gag-order on pharmacists that prevented them from sharing money-saving options on prescriptions? 

Is your dislike for President Trump based on the fact that he signed the Save Our Seas Act, which funds $10 million per year to clean tons of plastic and garbage from the ocean?  

Senator Ron Johnson to Hold Election Irregularities Hearing Today By Liz Sheld

https://amgreatness.com/2020/12/16/morning-greatness-senator-ronjohn-to-hold-election-irregularities-hearing-today/

EXCERPT:

Today, the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs will hold a hearing, “Examining Election Irregularities in the 2020 Election.” (Here is a link to C-SPAN.) The Committee is chaired by Senator Ron Johnson, a Wisconsin Republican. As I’m sure you know, Wisconsin is one of the states where serious fraud allegations have been alleged so RonJohn is doing his job and holding a hearing to air out the fraud and corruption. Ken Starr will be testifying as will Trump lawyers James R. Troupis and Jessie R. Binnall. Pennsylvania State Representative Francis X. Ryan is on the panel along with Commissioner Donald Palmer of the Election Assistance Commission. We can also look forward to Former Director (2018-2020) Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Chris Krebs.

Perhaps you remember the fired Krebs when he was belching out claims that the 2020 election was the most secure election ever in the history of the world. “The November 3rd election was the most secure in American history. There is no evidence that any voting system deleted or lost votes or changed votes or was in any way compromised.” Really? What is remarkable about this statement is that it was made without examining any equipment, records or reading sworn statements from observers and participants. Krebs must have magical powers to make such categorical statements. The Cathedral is obsessed with Krebs as CNN, ABC, and Politico have manufactured shiny puff pieces on him in preparation for the narrative they are going to advertise to you once the hearing his over. Politico wins a Scooby snack with a hit piece on RonJohn. Politico writes, Senator Johnson is “linking himself to President Donald Trump’s election challenge” or put in a better way, he is linking himself to the voters who are furious that their election was a hot mess.

It’s a risky political gamble for Johnson, who is betting that his embrace of Trump through his prior probes and his upcoming election hearing will energize the president’s base, which remains strong in Wisconsin despite Democratic wins statewide in 2018 and 2020. Still, Johnson’s decision to hold Wednesday’s hearing is drawing bipartisan ire as Trump’s allegations of voter fraud continue to crumble in federal court. It also comes two days after the Electoral College sealed Biden’s victory.

Is it a risky political gamble? Johnson doesn’t represent the snots writing copy for the anti-Trump advertisement published in Politico, he represents the people of Wisconsin. They are angry about their election and the fact that Politico wants to turn this into a Trump issue shows how divorced they are from the concerns of regular people. The election “irregularities” are not about Trump, they are about people who want to trust their voting process, a process they use to make their interests known to their representatives.

“So now you’ve got President Trump’s supporters seeing some real problems. There are some irregularities here that need to be explained,” said Johnson. “These issues have to be highlighted and hopefully corrected so that, in the next election, people have, just going into it, greater assurances.”

One has to wonder, why on earth would there be a controversy about examining election integrity? At the very least it looks like media advertorials such as Politico are supporting a coverup and at worse, endorsing the fraud.

Back to the Democrats’ star witness Krebs, this guy was head of the Homeland’s cybersecurity and we had a massive, serious hack across multiple government computer systems when he was on duty. “This is probably going to be one of the most consequential cyberattacks in U.S. history,” one U.S. official said, after the National Security Council held its second meeting in three days about the attacks, which security experts have linked to Russian intelligence. “That’s the view from inside government — that we’re dealing with something of a scale that I don’t think we’ve had to deal with before.”

So how capable and competent is Krebs? Not very, it seems.

Reckless Courts Codify Chaos Republican cowardice, a missing Justice Department, and feckless judges—not a few lawsuits—are the true dangers to our democracy. By Julie Kelly

https://amgreatness.com/2020/12/15/reckless-courts-codify-chaos/

Flagrant election cheating in several swing states, it seems, is of no interest to the self-appointed watchdogs of American democracy or even to those specifically tasked with investigating such unlawfulness.

The U.S. Department of Justice, despite its preachy corporate motto, is thus far blind to it. Journalists and professional pundits on both sides of the aisle downplay talk of what has happened as “baseless conspiracy theories” pushed by cult-like Trump loyalists. Most Senate Republicans are eager to move on while ignoring provable instances of voting fraud in their own states and urging the president to concede “for the good of the country.”

Even with a potentially power-shifting Senate election on January 5, no one seems particularly motivated to quickly remedy how absentee ballots have been mishandled, manipulated, and doctored in the 2020 presidential election.

And the entity usually considered the final and most impartial arbiter of injustice in the country—the court system—now, too, is in on the election fix.

Dangerous Precedents

Using COVID-19 panic as the pretext, election officials across the country turned a once-venerated quadrennial tradition into a rogue farce. Nearly 66 million mail-in votes were cast in the 2020 presidential election, double the number from 2016; the overwhelming majority were for Joe Biden.

Numerous lawsuits have detailed how state election laws, particularly those related to mail-in ballots, were broken. One would think that given Biden’s slim margin of victory in three states—only about 250,000 votes separate Biden from President Trump in Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania—judges sworn to uphold the rule of law might exhibit at least a passing interest in exhausting all the evidence.

After all, if Americans can’t depend on the Justice Department or their state attorneys general, Democrats in those three states, or even local Republican leaders to come to the rescue, surely the black-robed referees perched on the bench will step up, right?

Wrong. Not only are the courts dismissing lawsuits, judges are setting dangerous precedents that will have more election-eroding consequences later.