House Republicans boycott intel hearing, accuse Schiff of ignoring FISA abuse

 

 Article by Brooke Singman in "Fox News":

Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee dramatically boycotted a public hearing Wednesday morning, after accusing Chairman Adam Schiff of ignoring Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) abuse following the release of a scathing Justice Department inspector general report which revealed significant misconduct.

The House Intelligence Subcommittee on Strategic Technologies and Advance Research (STAR) held a hearing on “Emerging Technologies and National Security” on Wednesday. Every GOP member skipped the forum, blasting it as a “publicity” event.

In a letter obtained by Fox News, Reps. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., and Chris Stewart, R-Utah, the ranking members of the committee and subcommittee, respectively, joined GOP colleagues in blasting Schiff, D-Calif., for not holding hearings on FISA in the wake of the IG report.

“Under your chairmanship, the House Intelligence Committee has strayed far from its mandate of overseeing the Intelligence Community. In fact, we have gone months at a time in which we’ve hardly held any oversight-related briefings or hearings at all,” they wrote Wednesday.

“During this period of inadequate oversight, numerous critical issues pertinent to this Committee’s jurisdiction were ignored,” they continued, noting that DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz issued his FISA report on Dec. 9 which identified “seventeen serious shortcomings related to the conduct” of the surveillance of former Trump campaign foreign policy aide Carter Page.

The Republicans argued that the committee is “uniquely positioned to consider” the “serious legal and policy questions” that arose from Horowitz’s report.

“The IG Report was followed by the release of a declassified assessment by the Department of Justice acknowledging that at least two of the four FISA applications lacked probable cause,” they continued. “Despite the seriousness of these issues and our clear jurisdiction, you have failed to hold a single briefing or hearing on this matter.”

They added: “Until the Committee prioritizes oversight activities related to urgent and critical concerns, Republican Members cannot support distractions from our core responsibilities.”

“We hope this Committee can move past political investigations and publicity stunts and get back to the important work we traditionally have undertaken on a bipartisan basis,” they concluded.

The letter, penned by Nunes and Stewart, was signed by Republican Reps. Michael Conaway, Michael Turner, Brad Wenstrup, Rick Crawford, Elise Stefanik, Will Hurd, and John Ratcliffe.
Meanwhile, after subcommittee Chairman Jim Himes’, D-Conn., opening statement at the hearing Wednesday, he acknowledged that no Republicans were in attendance.

The Republicans’ letter comes after Horowitz issued a long-awaited report finding that the FBI made repeated errors and misrepresentations before the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court as the FBI sought to monitor Page in 2016 and 2017.

Horowitz confirmed that the FBI’s FISA applications to monitor Page heavily relied on the unverified Trump dossier and news reports rooted in dossier author Christopher Steele’s unverified research.
At the time of the report's release, Schiff touted findings that the FBI's initial Russia probe had "sufficient factual basis" and was opened for an "authorized purpose."

“The IG’s investigation did identify issues and errors in the FISA process, including potential misconduct," Schiff acknowledged at the time while stressing that bureau leadership was moving to implement the IG's recommendations.

The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) recently released a newly declassified summary of a Justice Department assessment revealing at least two of the FBI’s surveillance applications to monitor Page lacked probable cause.

The FISC has ordered an inquiry into a slew of FBI surveillance abuses over the past several years but has stopped short of requiring the bureau to reverify several potentially impacted warrant applications.

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/house-republicans-boycott-intel-hearing-accuse-schiff-of-ignoring-fisa-abuse

Trump and the Forgotten American

Townhall
Kay Coles James

Trump and the Forgotten American

The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Townhall.com.

Source: AP Photo/ Jacquelyn Martin

In his 2016 victory speech, Donald Trump talked about “the forgotten men and women of our country,” declaring that they “will be forgotten no longer.” Today, after months of impeachment proceedings, accusations of wrongdoing, and a media that has reported overwhelmingly negative stories about him for three years, his polling numbers are at their highest ever.

Why? Because the president kept his promise to remember the forgotten, and he’s continued to push ahead with policies to help them and every American.

President Trump’s “forgotten men and women” are the farmer, the factory worker, and the middle-class men and women who have been ignored or even sneered at by Washington politicians. They are the people of “flyover country” and “Middle America.” They are the people CNN host Don Lemon and his guests recently made fun of when they called Trump supporters rubes and used mock Southern accents to paint them as uneducated, illiterate, and unable to find places like Ukraine on a map.

President Trump’s “forgotten” are the average, patriotic hard-working Americans who pay taxes for government programs many of them will never use. Many are religious. Some are gun-owners. A surprising number are Democrats, independents, or political agnostics.

Indeed, black Americans are part of the forgotten, too. For decades, politicians have repeatedly promised urban communities good jobs, good schools, and safe neighborhoods. Instead, they have delivered policies that more often increased crime, degraded educational standards, and made it harder to get work. As the daughter of a former welfare recipient who spent my early years growing up in government housing, I know this more than most.

While some in the media have tried to claim that Mr. Trump’s forgotten Americans are just disaffected, angry white voters, the president has always made clear that his policies to create jobs, lower taxes, and open up opportunities would help everyone, including blacks and other minorities.

In fact, the Trump tax cuts and the repeal of piles of job-killing regulations have grown the economy and reduced unemployment to levels not seen in nearly 50 years. Moreover, minorities and women are seeing some of the greatest benefit, experiencing some of their lowest unemployment rates ever. On top of all that, America’s lowest income earners have seen their wages grow faster (in percentage terms) than any other income group.

The latest jobs report released last week confirms that since President Trump was elected, employment gains have been positive for a record-setting 112 months. Wages and salaries have grown an average of 3.1 percent over the past 12 months, with wages for production and nonsupervisory workers growing even faster at 3.3 percent.

It’s not just the increases in jobs and incomes that are having an impact. America’s increased energy production has lowered energy prices and the costs to heat our homes and drive our cars, and these savings are being felt the most by those with the least disposable incomes.

We know that these successes are resonating with the forgotten. According to a new Gallup survey, Americans' views of their personal financial situation have been climbing since 2018 and are now at record highs. Nearly six in 10 Americans now say they are better off financially than they were a year ago.

More proof that those once forgotten are seeing positive changes came last week from former Obama advisor and CNN commentator Van Jones following the State of the Union address. Mr. Jones told Democrats that African-Americans were starting to gravitate to the president because he had delivered real results for them. “Warning to Democrats,” he said. “What [President Trump] was saying to African-Americans can be effective… We’ve got to wake up, folks.”

The forgotten – black, white, Hispanic, whatever-Americans – are seeing unprecedented successes under a president who said he wouldn’t forget them. Imagine the possibilities if those in Washington opposed to the president put aside their personal animus, ceased looking for ways to stop him, and realized that the successes he is achieving are successes for the American people.

Imagine what could be accomplished if Congress and the president started working together. Those once forgotten could flourish even more.

School Calls Cops on 6-Year-Old

https://reason.com/2020/02/11/finger-gun-school-tredyffrin-valley-forge-down-syndrome/?utm_medium=email

School Calls Cops on 6-Year-Old With Down Syndrome 

Who Made Finger Gun Gesture

The little girl said, "I shoot you," but her mother says she didn't understand what she was saying.

Robby Soave2.11.2020 1:01 PM

(Screenshot via CBS Philly) 

School officials at Valley Forge Elementary in Tredyffrin, Pennsylvania, called the police on a 6-year-old girl who made a finger gun gesture at her teacher and said, "I shoot you." The girl has Down syndrome and didn't understand what she was saying, her mother told CBS Philly.

The principal and teacher agreed that the girl, Margot, had not intended to make a threat. But they informed the authorities anyway, citing a district policy that mandates safety threat assessments in all such cases.

"I was fine with everything up until they said 'and we have to call the police,'" Margot's mother, Maggie Gaines, told reporters. "I said 'you absolutely do not have to call the police.'"

Indeed, it was completely unnecessary for the school to involve the cops, which had the effect of creating a police report referencing Margot's actions. Unfortunately, district officials follow a policy of automatically calling the cops anytime someone's safety is remotely threatened. Per The Washington Post:

According to SAVVY Main Line, the Tredyffrin/Easttown School District ramped up its threat assessment protocols in 2018 in response to a spate of school shootings nationally and a highly publicized incident where a local middle-schooler was subjected to anti-Semitic threats. At a January meeting, one former school board member said the changes were "driven by events that occurred in our middle schools or high school," and that the intent had never been to involve police when elementary school students made "non-substantive" threats.

Another former school member who had a hand in drafting the current policy testified last week that he never imagined it would be applied to a 6-year-old with Down syndrome.

Lawmakers and policy architects frequently suffer from failures of imagination: They presume their laws and policies will be followed in exactly the manner they intend. But the officials who carry out and enforce said policies do not always exercise good judgment. Instead, they over-comply with the policy and follow it to the letter, which produces absurd results like these.

Margot's situation is a good reminder that unthinking public panic about safety in schools—divorced from any actual danger that is statistically significant—has a cost: It drives bad policy that promotes overcriminalization and invites law enforcement to intervene unnecessarily in disputes between students and teachers. Kids who make mistakes should face proportionate punishment—like a timeout, in Margot's case.

Betsy DeVos budget proposal...

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/betsy-devos-budget-proposal-slashes-education-department-in-half

Betsy DeVos budget proposal slashes education department in half

by Eddie Scarry 

 | February 10, 2020 01:00 PM

An underrated feature of President Trump’s first term has, without a doubt, been the visceral hatred directed at Education Secretary Betsy DeVos from self-interested people who defend our garbage public education system with every fiber of their being.

With her budget proposal out Monday, DeVos shows just how much it bothers her — which is to say, it doesn’t. 

Although it’s certain to go nowhere with Democrats in the House, the proposal still serves as a giant middle finger to the teachers unions and lazy school administrators who year after year swear that academic achievement would soar if they only had still more money. 

DeVos proposes in the budget that the department cease overseeing nearly $20 billion in federal money that goes to various K-12 public school programs such as “Indian Education” and “21st Century Community Learning Centers.” Instead, that money would roll into one block, and states would receive their share to spend on the local level.

For teachers unions, the utterance of the word "local" is akin to throwing holy water on the possessed. “Local” means cutting out high-level bureaucrats and shrinking the power of lobbyists. 

The proposal cuts about $5 billion from the overall existing budget, a department official told me. But what difference would that make? The Obama administration in 2009 pumped $3 billion into a program that awarded an extra $2 million to underperforming public schools, so long as they made certain reforms. The money came from the School Improvement Grants initiative. And yet, according to a study by the education department published at the start of 2017, “Overall, across all grades, we found that implementing any [School Improvement Grant]-funded model had no significant impacts on math or reading test scores, high school graduation, or college enrollment.”

Placing virtually all K-12 funding into the hands of states and school districts would essentially cut the department’s responsibilities in half — a move in the direction that DeVos has pushed for with some success. 

It won’t happen — even under the best circumstances, Congress ignores presidential budgets. But the signal it sends to the public has value — that we don’t have to keep doing things the way they are being done now and are not working. There's also value simply in exposing the teachers unions that keep failing students.

Pete Buttigieg: Flood Small American Towns with Immigration to Grow Population

 

 Article by John Binder in "Breitbart":

 Former Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Indiana, is touting a new visa program to flood small American towns with legal immigrants to grow the regions’ populations — a boon to corporate investors, housing developers, and big business.

During a campaign stop in Merrimack, New Hampshire, Buttigieg touted his investor-friendly plan to inundate small American towns and rural communities with legal immigration for the sole purpose of driving up population growth.
Buttigieg said:

I’m proposing what we call “Community Renewal Visas” that when a community that is very much in need of growing its population, recognizes that, and makes a choice to welcome more than its share of new Americans that we create a fast-track, if they apply for an allotment of visas, that goes to those who are willing to be in those areas that maybe are hurting for population but have great potential.

Buttigieg’s population growth agenda mimics a plan by the Economic Innovation Group, an organization led by investors, that seeks to create a “Heartland Visa” to flood small American towns with more legal immigration to increase the population.

More residents in the U.S. through immigration deliver huge returns for Wall Street, big business, developers, and investors who benefit from the addition of millions of new consumers, as well as residents in need of housing and jobs.

For years, investors and the pro-migration lobby have sought to increase the nation’s population via legal immigration to drive up the need for additional housing, which in return provides developers and contractors with a series of new work while increasing housing prices for Americans.

Already, at current legal immigration levels of about 1.2 million admissions a year, the U.S. population is expected to grow to an unprecedented 404 million residents by 2060 — translating to more cars on the road, more urban sprawl, additional housing and commercial development, and increased living density for Americans.

Buttigieg also hinted that he would back Sen. Mike Lee’s (R-UT) S. 386 to ensure that only Indian nationals obtain nearly all of the nation’s employment-based green cards over the next decade. The legislation is a bonus for outsourcing firms such as Cognizant and Infosys, as well as giant tech conglomerates like Amazon and Facebook, as it solidifies a green card system wherein only foreign workers on H-1B visas are able to obtain employment green cards by creating a backlog of seven to eight years for all foreign nationals.

“And so a couple of steps I think would help make [the legal immigration system] better: One is these country caps that exist that create a longer and longer clock on family reunification and other ways to make sure folks can get through that process,” Buttigieg said. “It’s based on numbers that were settled on in the 1980s. It makes no sense. And it has no relationship to our economic reality. So when we have work-based visas, those pathways to come to the country, it should be something that can be revisited and revised every two years in an administrative process instead of literally taking an act of Congress to go clear up.”

There are now 62 million immigrants and their U.S.-born children residing in the country, a record high, and nearly half of the residents in the country’s five largest cities speak another language other than English in their home.

 https://www.breitbart.com/2020-election/2020/02/11/watch-pete-buttigieg-flood-small-american-towns-with-immigration-to-grow-population/

Jussie Smollett Indicted..

National Review

Jussie Smollett Indicted 

by Special Prosecutor 

over Alleged Hate Crime Hoax

Mairead McArdleFebruary 11, 2020 4:56 PM

Actor Jussie Smollett leaves court after charges against him were dropped by state prosecutors in Chicago, Ill., March 26, 2019. (Kamil Krzaczynski/Reuters)

Jussie Smollett was indicted Tuesday in Chicago by special prosecutor Dan Webb on charges relating to accusations that the actor paid two acquaintances to stage an anti-gay and racist attack on him in January of last year.

“A Cook County grand jury returned a six-count indictment charging Jussie Smollett with making four separate false reports to Chicago Police Department officers related to his false claims that he was the victim of a hate crime,” Webb’s office said.

The former “Empire” actor is scheduled to appear in court February 24, according to a local Fox affiliate.

Smollett, who is a gay African-American, told police last year that two men attacked him as he was walking home around 2a.m. on January 29, 2019, punching him and putting a noose around his neck while shouting, “this is MAGA country,” along with racist and anti-gay slurs.

Chicago police chief Eddie Johnson later announced that Smollett had hired two acquaintances of his, brothers from Nigeria, to stage the attack in order to raise his public profile. The brothers later sued Smollett’s attorneys for defamation, saying the actor, whom they worked with on “Empire” had “directed every aspect of the attack,” including throwing a chemical substance on him.

In February, Smollett was indicted by a grand jury on sixteen charges, including a felony charge for filing a false police report, after evidence from an investigation suggested he had in fact staged the attack in an attempt to boost his career. However, all charges against him were abruptly dropped and his record wiped clean shortly thereafter, sparking a public outcry.

“After reviewing all of the facts and circumstances of the case, including Mr. Smollett’s volunteer service in the community and agreement to forfeit his bond to the City of Chicago, we believe this outcome is a just disposition and appropriate resolution to this case,” the Cook County State’s Attorney’s office said in a statement.

Later in August, a Chicago judge appointed Webb as special prosecutor to probe how local officials handled the case against Smollett.

Smollett continues to deny that the attack was fake.

“I want you to know that not for a moment was it in vain. I’ve been truthful and consistent on every single level since day one,” Smollett said in March.

Don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater

 
 Article by Alison Tempestelli in "The American Thinker":

The propensity of the left to throw out the good with what they believe is bad could not be more pervasive. Whether it is dismantling law enforcement or ridding the planet of fossil fuels, the left’s ideology and blind rage, fomented by decades of grievance mongering, drives their willingness to face failure and uncertainty for a mere instant of smug satisfaction.

The left’s efforts to dismantle law-enforcement agencies for perceived corruption and racism is now center stage. This notion, fueled in part by the mainstream media, is resulting in repercussions that are creating havoc in much of the country.  Just a few days ago, a gunman in New York City attempted to assassinate police in two separate attacks, resulting in serious injuries. This and similar incidents are a result of increasingly dangerous rhetoric. The left believes the police are beyond redemption and want to disassemble local and federal law enforcement agencies in toto. That anarchy and lawlessness would reign if their plan ever came to fruition does not faze that side of the political divide. Their irrational plans and radical designs are a product of anger and resentment towards normalcy and the conventional adherence to societal rules and norms.

The left has a propensity to discard the good for reasons that are a direct result of flawed and deficient beliefs. Their complete and total captivation and preoccupation with the concept of climate catastrophe is enough to call for the end of energy independence and the banning of fossil fuels. They do not wish to be exposed to any evidence or facts contrary to their narrow beliefs but are willing to chance economic collapse and destruction of all standards of living.

The left wants to change direction on a number of policies and institutions without regard to the ramifications. They do not deliberate or concern themselves with what comes next -- it’s expediency in transformation that counts. Border control, capitalism, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights are all in their crosshairs.  Regretfully, they’re ready and willing to throw the baby out with the bathwater.  

Read more: https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2020/02/dont_throw_the_baby_out_with_the_bathwater.html#ixzz6DkQZ5hwE

Trump Derangement Syndrome: Diagnosis and Treatment

 
 Article by Gary Gindler in "The American Thinker":

Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS) is a social mental illness that manifests itself in the refusal to accept the results of the 2016 elections.  This ailment belongs to the category of political psychosis.  Unlike most other mental disorders, TDS is a contagious disease that can cause epidemics and even pandemics.

This syndrome is caused by the new neuropathologic coronavirus Bacillus Anti-Trumpicus (2016-nCoV).  The virus, entering the human brain, selectively eats only those neurons responsible for a coherent political worldview.  Theoretically, the disease is incurable, although some countries have announced successful attempts to combat the epidemic and control the spread of infection.

One of the best known symptoms of TDS is the complete lack of logic in patients' behavior.  For example, those afflicted with this disease claim that "President Trump is a lifelong dictator and fascist.  Therefore, in the 2020 elections, we must choose a different, democratic president."  For those who still do not see a logical contradiction in this phrase, we can say with confidence that your prognosis is unfavorable.

For those who see it, this expression serves as a kind of warning: "Beware — a sick person is before you.  You should not argue with him.  You should not discuss any serious problems with this individual; do not debate or argue with a schizophrenic.  This person needs neuropsychiatric help, not fruitless discussions."

The coronavirus Bacillus Anti-Trumpicus belongs to a well studied class of pathogens known as the Hidden Dogma of Collectivism (Occultatum Fascismo Decretum).

In the same way that Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) had spread for many years among people belonging to well defined social groups, Occultatum Fascismo Decretum viruses have spread for many decades among certain ideological structures, such as the Democrat Party.

Since the late 1960s, this party has become the party of the left, a socialist, Marxist party of the Leninist type.  The Democrats carefully concealed this from their electorate.  On television, they preferred to show moderate rather than radical socialists, such as Bill Clinton.  That was the period when the virus was in a latent state.  Only a small group of specialists could make a correct diagnosis at such an early stage of the disease.

But the arrival of Barack Obama in the White House marked the transition of Occultatum Fascismo Decretum viruses from latent to the semi-active stage.  On the television screen, Obama almost always positioned himself as a moderate centrist with a charming smile, but all his actions were the actions of a vicious radical socialist, radical leftist, radical "fighter against American imperialism."

The recent outbreak of TDS represents a metastatic disease that originated in 2016.  By 2020, for a certain number of American citizens, it has reached vital organs.  In particular, the 2016 elections forced the Democrats to peel off the mask of semi-hidden socialists, revealing the inner pathology.  The 2016 election forced Democrats to oppose America with an open socialist visor.

Why?  Because proponents of leftist ideology have come to the (pretty reasonable) conclusion that the beginning of the Trump era means the end of the socialist era.  They realized that it was time to go all in.  Otherwise, the idea of turning 50 American states into 50 Soviet socialist republics would fail.

So they went all-in...Putin, Russia, Mueller, strippers, Ukraine, impeachment.  From the outside, all this looked silly, but what else could be expected from a host in which the number of coronaviruses far exceeds the number of healthy cells?  The Democrat vote in Congress over the impeachment of President Trump confirms this.  The voting results settle the assumption that there are no uninfected individuals left in the Democrat population.  Moreover, for many leftists, the disease entered into the last disseminated and incurable fourth stage.

Viruses Occultatum Fascismo Decretum, as a rule, cause a limited number of symptoms, which facilitates a correct diagnosis.  For example, infected patients always refuse to believe they are sick.  They blame everyone who does not agree with them, referring to them as fascists, projecting onto conservative political opponents their own inner fascist pathology.  Organisms infected with the virus often break into militant gangs, which, as expected, and in Orwellian fashion, call themselves anti-fascists (Antifa).

The incubation period of Bacillus Anti-Trumpicus is unknown.  However, according to experts, it is the shortest among the entire class of Occultatum Fascismo Decretum viruses.  The incubation period depends on many factors, including hereditary ones.  For example, if Karl Marx's books were on the bookshelves of the patient's parents or the Frankfurt School of Socialism was discussed at the dinner table instead of the kid's school affairs, then the incubation period is practically absent.  It is the case of the father of the current Democrat frontrunner, Joseph Buttigieg, who was a Marxist professor.

A recent discovery by American researchers gives hope that the correct approach to the Bacillus Anti-Trumpicus problem will be found eventually.  It turned out that the record-low unemployment rate and noticeable growth of accumulated wealth in pension funds sharply boost the immune system of both societies and individual citizens.  In some cases, a manifestation of a complete cure is the refusal of patients to receive welfare benefits since they have obtained a high-paying job.

Cases of complete massive cures were also observed in patients who took advantage of popular home remedies.  For example, some patients simply stopped watching propaganda television programs that disguised themselves as news media.

Bacillus Anti-Trumpicus is known to prefer an unsanitary, anti-American, and anti-Semitic habitat, which is often created by the heirs of Marxism, known as globalists.

Globalism is a pandemic caused by Occultatum Fascismo Decretum viruses.

Humanity still does not know much about this phenomenon, but experts believe that the globalism pandemic, although caused by a virus, carries mainly the characteristics of a social disease.  Therefore, symptomatic treatment will not lead to success — it is necessary to eradicate the source of infection.  Unfortunately, as of now, the exact recipe for a complete cure is not entirely clear, although the actions of the current administration to start the massive de-Vindmanization process are impressive.

However, the main hope is inspired by the exciting pattern confirmed by scientists: the coronavirus Bacillus Anti-Trumpicus does not survive in a pro-American environment.

Read more: https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2020/02/trump_derangement_syndrome_diagnosis_and_treatment.html#ixzz6DkICl7Gs

Alex Botelho Survives Jet Ski Incident at 2020 WSL Nazaré Tow Surfing Challenge (Portugal)

Big Wave Surfer Alex Botelho was involved in a very serious incident during the Nazaré Tow Surfing Challenge. He was rushed to the hospital and we now have an update on his condition. Currently, he is stable and conscious. He will stay at the hospital for further evaluation. A heartfelt thank you to the safety and medical teams for their quick response. We are wishing Alex a full and speedy recovery. The work of the Water Safety Team in rescuing and saving Alex's life was incredible.

Wednesday Wisdom

This Is Obama-Era Fawning: Buttigieg Is ‘an Amazing Human Being’

 
 Article by Scott Whitlock in "mrcNewsBusters":

MSNBC on Tuesday night managed to sound like it was 2008 all over again. Just after midnight, reporter Vaughn Hillyard offered up Obama-era gush, touting Pete Buttigieg as an “amazing human being” who does “everything perfectly.”

Talking to Katy Tur and other MSNBC journalists, Hillyard rhapsodized over Buttigieg’s ability to give speeches: “If you go back and read the transcript of his speech, it’s like he typed it out and he has the comma and everything perfectly because he speaks in perfect sentences. It’s impressive. He's an amazing human being.”

https://cdn.mrctv.org/videos/34720/34720-480p.mp4

Hillyard cheered, “People are looking at him, oftentimes you hear especially these older voters who he's doing well with, is their son or the person they want their son or daughter to be friends with or date. I think that is the part that makes him so compelling to these people is he is that guy that everybody wanted their kids to be friends with at school.”

“Perfect.” “Amazing human being.” Who does this sound like? Why, Chris Matthews talking about Obama. In 2012, he thrilled: “He’s the perfect father, the perfect husband, the perfect American.”

Considering that 2020 Matthews has soured on the current Democratic field, comparing them to drunks who need a “ride home,” perhaps Hillyard can be the new face of fawning MSNBC.

Not to be outdone, however, fellow MSNBC journalist Ali Vitali praised her experience with the “generally warm” Elizabeth Warren:

I find her to be generally warm. She answers a lot of the questions that you ask her and truly —  like she's not messing around when she says she loves to talk about policy. If you ask her a policy question, be prepared fo her to go into the policy weeds on it. It's not fake. She actually really likes this stuff. When she gets up on stage and she's like, “Nerds,” that's real.

A partial transcript is below. Click “expand” to read more:

MSNBC's New Hampshire live coverage
2/12/2020
12:41 AM
ALI VITALI: I find her to be generally warm. She answers a lot of the questions that you ask her and truly -- like she's not messing around when she says she loves to talk about policy. If you ask her a policy question, be prepared fo her to go into the policy weeds on it. It's not fake. She actually really likes this stuff. When she gets up on stage and she's like, “Nerds,” that's real.
...
12:42 AM ET
KATY TUR: What is Pete Buttigieg like?
VAUGHN HILLYARD: A year ago if you had asked me who would be the nominee at this point, I would have thought it was like an emotional leader, somebody like a Steve Bullock or a Beto or Kamala Harris who would be leading the march down Fifth Avenue.  I thought I knew things, you know. But then, look, God bless Pete Buttigieg, but he kind of talks at the level of Mr. Rogers and with that composure and poise and he just did it up here on the stage in New Hampshire.
TUR: I saw him stumble just for a beat in his speech tonight and I thought, “I've never seen that. I’ve never seen him pause in any sort of awkward way and he did that tonight.” He’s always so on.
HILLYARD: And if you go back and read the transcript of his speech, it’s like he typed it out and he has the comma and everything perfectly because he speaks in perfect sentences. It’s impressive. He's an amazing human being. Conversationally, I'd like to get to that point where we get to know Pete huttigieg a little more. We haven’t quite had that yet.
I was talking to his advisers. They said this is who he is. This, what you see on stage is Pete Buttigieg. There's nothing more. Speechless. Vaughn Hillyard is never speechless.
GARRETT HAAKE:  In a long campaign, don't you have to show that part of yourself eventually. How long can you be the TV character version of yourself? I don't mean that in a derogatory way.
HILLYARD: People are looking at him, oftentimes you hear especially these older voters who he's doing well with, is their son or the person they want their son or daughter to be friends with or date. I think that is the part that makes him so compelling to these people is he is that guy that everybody wanted their kids to be friends with at school.

https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/scott-whitlock/2020/02/12/obama-era-fawning-buttigieg-amazing-human-being

Tired of Winning Yet?

Bernie Sanders wins New Hampshire!

In his speech he announces, "this is the beginning of the end for Donald Trump!!!"

Hmm.......... Where have we heard that before?
- 2016 - Access Hollywood Tape - People yawn.
- 2017 - Faithless Electors - Hillary loses 5 electors
- 2016 - 2019 - The Dossier - Proven false
- 2018 - Flynn - Case under review
- 2019 - Firing Comey - Proven liar and leaker
- 2017 - 2019 - Mueller - No proof of Collusion, Mueller proven a pawn- -2016 - 2019 - Fire and Fury - TDS on display
- 2018 - 2019 -Stormy Daniels - OwesTrump $293,000 after losing 3 suits -2018 - 2019 - Avenatti - On his way to jail.
- 2018 - Kavanaugh - Supreme Court Justice Kavanaugh
- 2016 - 2019 - Mueller Report - Nothing Burger
- 2019 - IG Report - Proof of Democrat corruption for coup attempt
- 2019 - Ukraine -Creepy Uncle Joe exposed
- 2019 - Vindman - Proven a liar and insubordinate
- 2019 - Impeachment - TDS on display fails

- 2020 - You are here!

Trump/Pence 2020!

You are here

A More or Less Perfect Union

 
 Article by Walter E. Williams in "Townhall":

"A More or Less Perfect Union" is a three-part series, produced by Free to Choose Network, that will air on various PBS stations across the nation starting in February. The documentary is a personal exploration of the U.S. Constitution by Justice Douglas Ginsburg, who served on the U.S. Court of Appeals D.C. Circuit and is now a senior justice on the court. Ginsburg explores the U.S. Constitution and features interviews with and gains the perspectives from constitutional experts of all political views -- liberal, conservative and libertarian. He examines the key issues of liberty in the U.S. both from a historical and contemporary perspective. Among those issues are freedom of the press and religion, slavery and civil rights, the Second Amendment, separation of powers and the number of ways that the Constitution's framers sought to limit the power of the federal government.

The first episode is titled "A Constitution in Writing." It examines the contentious atmosphere that arose among the delegates in that hot, humid Philadelphia summer of 1787. State delegates were sent to Philadelphia to work out the problems of the Articles of Confederation, which served as the first Constitution of the 13 original states. This part of the documentary examines some of the efforts to deal with the problems of the Articles of Confederation while maintaining its guiding principle to preserve the independence and sovereignty of the states. It also examines the compromises and struggles that led to the document we know as the U.S. Constitution. Some of the framers, particularly the Anti-Federalists, led by Patrick Henry, saw the Constitution as defective and demanded amendments be added that contained specific guarantees of personal freedoms and rights and clear limitations on the federal government's power. They swore that they would never ratify the Constitution unless it contained a Bill of Rights.

The second episode is titled "A Constitution for All." One major emphasis of this episode is the examination of the Supreme Court decisions that undermined racial justice both for slaves and later ex-slaves for a century after the Civil War. Several constitutional scholars discuss how the courts and states ignored and weakened the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments, known collectively as the Civil War Amendments, which were designed to ensure equality for recently emancipated slaves. There is also discussion of Bill of Rights guarantees to people accused of a crime. There is more exploration into the Bill of Rights guarantees of free speech, religious freedom and the notion that "due process of law" be part of any proceeding that denies a citizen "life, liberty or property." This forced the government to compensate citizens when it takes private property for public use.

Episode three, "Our Constitution at Risk," examines the many ways that our Constitution is under assault today. It points out that the framers would be shocked by how all three branches of government have grown as a result of what we the people demand from our elected representatives. There's a discussion about how some of our Bill of Rights guarantees mean absolutely nothing today, namely the 9th and 10th Amendments, which reaffirm personal liberty by specifically limiting the federal government to its "enumerated powers."

"A More or Less Perfect Union" is not just a bunch of academics and constitutional experts preaching. It features interviews with everyday Americans weighing in with their visions on the rule of law, the branches of government and the debate over originalism. There's a companion book titled "Voices of Our Republic," edited by Ginsburg. It is a collection of thoughts about the Constitution from judges, journalists, and academics. It includes the thoughts of Supreme Court Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Neil Gorsuch and Sandra Day O'Connor, publisher Arthur Sulzberger, professor Alan Dershowitz, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, and historians Joseph Ellis and Ron Chernow, along with Jack Nicklaus, Gene Simmons and many others.

The most important audience for "A More or Less Perfect Union" is high school and college students. For it is they who stand a good chance of losing the liberties that made our nation the greatest and freest on earth.

https://townhall.com/columnists/walterewilliams/2020/02/12/a-more-or-less-perfect-union-n2561089

Fix the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, and Punish the Crooks Who Abused It

 
 Article by Austin Bay in "Townhall":

Two months have passed since Dec. 9, 2019, the day Justice Department inspector general Michael Horowitz exposed the profound damage done to a judicial institution vital to successfully defending America in a world of complex threats: the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, or FISC.

The damage done to American public trust in the court is not incidental. Trust is a source of strength, among friends or in the world's most powerful nation. Trust promotes cooperation, which enhances systemic strength. When trust disappears, expect discord seeding division and weakness.

The FISC was created to protect a citizen's constitutional rights while permitting intelligence community surveillance of legitimate suspects. To protect necessary cloak-and-dagger secrets, the FISC meets in secret. A secret court in a free society requires two things: (1) legitimate existential threats to citizens and assets: (2) trust in security agency professionalism and integrity, and trust in the judgment of the court judges.

Unfortunately, the abuse of the FISC by corrupt members of U.S. security and legal agencies -- specifically within the FBI and DOJ -- may have squandered that trust forever. Evidence is emerging that other corrupt actors, perhaps in the CIA, conducted illegal surveillance.

With the documented abuse acknowledged, America needs an FISC-type legal tool to combat covert threats like terrorism, transnational crime and enemy espionage. Twenty-first-century digital and financial connectivity, and commercial jet transportation, reduce police and Pentagon response time.

A FISC with integrity must also protect an American citizen's constitutional rights from crooks and crony government. Horowitz discovered premeditated fraud on the FISC by a DOJ attorney. In 2016, the attorney "altered" email from "the other U.S. government agency" (CIA) and submitted a fraudulent application for a warrant to the court. So the FISC approved the warrant.

The target: Carter Page, a Naval Academy graduate and a former Trump presidential campaign associate. Spying on Page -- an innocent man -- opened a door to spying on President Donald Trump.

Following Horowitz's report, the FISC's then-presiding judge, Rosemary Collyer, issued a public order regarding the Page application and the FBI's lack of "candor": "The frequency with which representations made by FBI personnel turned out to be unsupported or contradicted by information in their possession, and with which they withheld information detrimental to their case, calls into question whether information contained in other FBI applications is reliable. The FISC expects the government to provide complete and accurate information in every filing with the Court."

Collyer should chastise herself as well. She and her colleagues failed to responsibly question the application. The FBI alleges a Naval Academy grad associated with a presidential campaign in an election year is a Russian asset? Judge, wake the hell up. Page was actually a CIA asset.

Trump administration Attorney General William Barr knows the court is a national security asset and wants to save it. On Feb. 6, he put his personal reputation on the line and issued a memo requiring the FBI to have him sign off on FISC applications. Harvard Law School professor Alan Dershowitz pegs the FISC's structural weakness: Alleged perpetrators have no defender. So assign a lawyer to question government evidence.

To restore public trust, the individuals who abused the court must be investigated, arrested, tried, convicted and sent to prison. They committed an array of crimes -- including criminal mishandling of classified material. The FISC is a classified court.

In the past, the public expected responsible reporters to scrutinize government operations. In the FISC saga, contemporary mainstream media served as a PR tool for crooked cops and spies. So-called elite press outfits like The New York Times and The Washington Post unquestioningly touted intelligence leaks that have proven to be false.

Though mainstream media outlets take scant notice, angry calls to disband the court have not faded. The decibels will increase when federal prosecutor John Durham's investigation into the origins of the Russia collusion hoax becomes headline news.

I wager Durham will expose crony government at its worst -- dirty government officials, bureaucrats and agents who are politically exploiting and criminally manipulating the U.S. national security structure to harm their political opponents.
We shall see.

https://townhall.com/columnists/austinbay/2020/02/12/fix-the-foreign-intelligence-surveillance-court-and-punish-the-crooks-who-abused-it-n2561175

Luring Children: How Socialism Got Its Groove Back

 
 Article by Marina Medvin in "Townhall":

Bernie Sanders keeps telling young people how he will give them so much free stuff, if only they will go with him, vote for him. Bernie basically stands in front of a windowless van, telling kids to get in, luring them with candy and puppies.

Back in my day, I was taught to be wary of people luring me with promises of Utopia. I was taught that if someone offers something for free, I should tell them, "no, thank you, I can't afford it." But those days are gone. At the start of the new millennium, adults have lost sight of teaching kids the basics. 

Today's youngest voters grew up tightly packed in bubble wrap, never exploring on their own, never making mistakes from which they can learn, never getting to understand reality. These young people spent their lives dependent on authority, on guidance. Yet those who were supposed to guide them have failed them.

Millennials grew up as a generation expecting handouts but not learning work ethic or personal responsibility, never finding the inner drive to succeed independently. The idea of autonomy and freedom are genuinely frightening concepts for these youths. Socialism simply fits their expectations more comfortably. If you grow up with white-glove care from a nanny, why wouldn't you ask for a nanny-state to continue coddling you through your illusory adulthood? (And illusory it sure is.) 

Which brings me back to the old man who wants to show us the puppies in his van. I was taught to stay away from the man because my mother wouldn't be there on the street with me as I played. You see, I didn't grow up in bubble wrap. I was able to go out on my own as a kid, make choices, make mistakes, learn lessons, explore the world. It is easier for me to understand human nature than it is for today's youth. So when old man Bernie asks me to come into his unmarked van to pet a puppy, I turn my back in disgust. I know that there is no such thing as "free," that someone always pays for it. I know that if someone is offering something to me, he wants something in return. I also received a historically-accurate and thorough education about the evils of socialism and the forced division of wealth, and I can navigate through a politician's fairy tales. I adored people like Margaret Thatcher, who passionately hated socialists. My favorite quote from the Iron Lady to nescient socialists of her day is, "Grow up, get a real job for a change and learn something from history and economics!"

It's not as easy for generation bubble-wrap to see past the puppies. They don't admire capitalists like Margaret Thatcher; they admire communists like Che Guevara. Bernie knows this. He capitalizes on this. Free healthcare for all! Legal weed for all! Free college for all! Cancel student debt for all! Free childcare for all! And so on. Young voters did not grow up understanding the consequences of what Bernie proposes or what Che did to his people. They don't ask questions about what happens when the working class isn't motivated to keep working and just shrugs. Millennials don't understand that socialism is a division of wealth, while capitalism is a multiplication. Their inability to compute or to question, something these youths have been conditioned to ignore, has led to the inevitable empty-minded predisposition to craving socialism. Bernie has simply taken advantage of what public education has served him on a silver platter: Marxist youths. 

Ineffectual parenting, combined with leftist indoctrination at schools, has created a generation of cockeyed optimists thirsty for deceptive socialism. Bernie stepped up to the plate at the right time. 

And so there you have it: luring children is how socialism got its groove back.

https://townhall.com/columnists/marinamedvin/2020/02/11/luring-children-how-socialism-got-its-groove-back-n2561107