The Political Career of
Donald Trump

Donald Trump, with all his well-known flaws, has won the 2016 election and has defeated both the Clinton machine and the news media.  Please forgive me for being poorly prepared for this outcome.  This page is a collection of news articles about Mr. Trump that was initiated six months before Election Day, and originally it was a collection of opinion pieces with one common theme:  Is this the best we can do?  I still don't think Mr. Trump was the best available candidate, but he was good enough to defeat Hillary Clinton (and the heavily biased news media), and that's really all that matters for now.

As I said weeks ago, at least Mr. Trump appears to want to make America a better place, even if he doesn't have political experience, whereas Mrs. Clinton appears to have sought the presidency strictly to advance her own personal power trip.  Mr. Trump comes across a loose cannon, whereas Mrs. Clinton was inclined to be a ruthless dictator.

Added 7/5/2017:
Mr. Trump seems to lack self-restraint, he occasionally does things that a Democrat would do, and he sometimes says things he shouldn't.  I voted for him reluctantly, because the only alternative was a lying socialist carpetbagger whose party supports homosexuality, abortion and tyranny.  (More recently, it has proven to be a political party that condones violent insurrection.)  The best thing I can say about Mr. Trump is that he has shown the national news media to be rabidly partisan and dishonest.  Even so, if Mr. Trump runs against Hillary Clinton again, I will reluctantly vote for Trump again.

Added 8/3/2023:
The 2020 presidential election was stolen.  A senile old man who never really campaigned nevertheless got 81 millions votes?  Impossible.  Millions of those voters do not exist  It is now clear that Donald Trump is not just the political opponent of the Democratic Party.  He's in a battle with The Swamp, also known as the Deep State.  The so-called Department of Justice is apparently corrupt from top to bottom.  The relentless attacks on President Trump show that he's on target, the Left is deeply afraid of his return to the White House, and he is the one person who might be able to fight the swamp and win. 

On this page:

Overview of (and reaction to) Trump's victory

Trump's interaction with the news media

Media bias against Trump

Related topics:
  Media bias in Hillary Clinton's favor
  Media bias in Barack H. Obama's favor


Cabinet and Senior White House Staff

Platform / agenda / mandate

Protests / sore losers

Trump vs the Deep State

The clamor for Trump's impeachment (or worse) — beginning on day one!

Beneficial side effects / icing on the cake / fringe benefits

Flaws / disappointing decisions / flip-flops / bait-and-switch

Intra-party friction

President Trump's speech to the UN, September 19, 2017

Accomplishments

Lies about President Trump

The Fusion GPS Dossier

Other signals and noise




Overview of (and reaction to) Trump's victory:

The 'Great Revolt' Enters a New Phase.  The election of President Donald Trump cemented a realignment of the two political parties rooted in cultural and economic change years in the making.  Although he has been the epicenter of all politics since his announcement of candidacy in 2015, Trump is the product of this realignment more than its cause, a fact that becomes clear as you travel the back roads to the places that made him the most unlikely president of our era.

A Tale of Two Inaugurations.  In retrospect, what we experienced proved the resistance was planned well in advance, and launched on President Trump's Inauguration Day, not on the day after.  The entire debate regarding total attendance at President Trump's inauguration came up again when Carlson Tucker opined on Trump's predilection for bragging, and the nagging question of total inauguration attendance numbers at Trump's inauguration.  In fact, there was such a negative factor in force that day that attendance numbers are impossible to accurately count.  Antifa thugs were out in droves, causing mayhem and major disruptions that prevented untold thousands from actually gaining access to not only the inauguration area but into arteries near it as well.  I can attest to the bedlam, because I was there.

Freedom Is on the March, and the Elites Can't Stand It.  A glaring sign of our intelligentsia's decrepitude is their absolute lack of interest in understanding either the Brexit vote or the election of Donald Trump.  With a few notable exceptions, those who claim to spend their lives doing the public "thinking" that must surely require higher faculties than possessed by common people, have shown no intellectual curiosity for the social shifts of our day.  You would think people who do thinking for a living would find the events in the U.K. and the U.S. fascinating and historically compelling, if for no other reason than that neither outcome was expected by the public intellectuals themselves.  After decades of incremental movement toward a one-government Europe, the people of the U.K. pushed back.  After decades of uni-party leadership in D.C., Americans said, "No more."

Trump's Effort to Take Back the Constitution and Self-Government.  What really excites some of us supporters of this president is that he may be our last, best chance to recapture the Constitution, and with it our right to govern ourselves.  The administrative state — our permanent federal bureaucracy — and the elite class who manage, run, and profit by it, have been our real rulers for several decades.  That class is terrified by this president and has managed, through such nonsense and chicanery as the Russia hoax and its attendant obstruction of justice replacement, to continue wrongfully casting aspersions on Donald Trump.  The absurdity of the obstruction argument — a thinly veiled political tactic — has been exposed even by such loyal Democrats as former Harvard Professor Alan Dershowitz.  It will evaporate, if it has not already, but it will be replaced by other such dubious undertakings as the attempt to make public the tax returns of the president, and other private financial matters regarding his businesses and those of his family, before he entered the White House.

NeverTrumping to Oblivion.  [A] large cohort of Americans — across both parties — increasingly have felt isolated and abandoned by Democrats and Republicans alike.  In fact, polling data conducted over the last 30 years have proven that countless Americans who otherwise could have voted in presidential elections largely sat them out.  They sat out, that is, until Donald Trump descended from Trump Tower in 2015, and announced his bid for the presidency.  Trump fused nationalism, populism, and conservatism into a cohesive campaign.  He disrupted and destabilized a political system that had been in dire need of a proper shake-up for decades.

Suppose BLM and Antifa Are Just Democratic 'Muscle' like the Old KKK.  The reason that Donald Trump won the Republican nomination was that he stood up for ordinary Republican voters that liberals routinely name and shame as racists, sexists, and homophobes.  That's why he beat out Ted Cruz (R-TX) and the GOP squishes.  Ordinary middle-class Republicans know that, at any moment, they could be accused of racism by some SJW at work and lose their job.  They are afraid; they want a president who will stand up for them.  The reason Donald Trump won the election was that his economic nationalism appealed to the white working class that is dying of despair, abandoned by the Democrats forty years ago.

The Media-Democratic Party Suicide Pact.  The national media and the Democratic Party have gone stark raving mad over President Trump's election victory; they refuse to accept it. [...] Yet the more they double- and triple-down on their strategy and tactics, the more the American people realize how thoroughly demented are the media and their Democrat lapdogs.  The more they contrive new tales of misconduct, chaos and/or incompetence, the more the rest of us realize how threatened they are by his successes:  unemployment is down, illegal border crossings are down, the stock market is just fine, and the rescue of our medical care has begun.

Like Watergate 44 years ago, Obama's scandal slowly unfolds.  In his first bid for public office, President Trump defeated two political machines that between them had owned the presidency for two consecutive decades — the House of Bush and the House of Clinton.  He did so despite being outspent two-to-one, and despite media coverage that by the end of the election cycle was 90 percent negative.  President Trump did so by openly challenging the Republican Party, the Democratic Party, and the media.  He won because all three are losers who failed the people miserably in the 21st century. [...] The failures of the Washington Establishment paved the way for Donald Trump to win.

President Trump won the election by rejecting GOP orthodoxy.  Now he's embracing it.  Donald Trump had many advantages in the presidential election, from the divided field to the incompetence of his primary and general election opponents.  But unquestionably his greatest positive advantage was how he ditched traditional Republican notions on social programs.  Republicans have traditionally said that Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid need to be cut, citing a supposed national debt crisis.  This was a tough line to sell — first because that argument is duplicitous claptrap, but more importantly, because all those programs are quite popular, particularly among enrollees.

The Left's Romance with Violence.  We hear the Left in their final agonies, vexed by howls and pinches in defeat — understanding now, a world too late, that they let America slip through their fumbling hands. [...] President Trump has shaken the political earth, and anything made of the Left's weak argument will fall of its own corruption.  In the aftermath of a transformative election, the American people have torn liberalism open to the bleeding center, and we are hearing the screams of a dying animal.  When those who have abused their power begin to act like victims — when the guilty cry foul — we know we have done a good thing.

Thousands expected at 'Not My Presidents Day' rallies.  A broad range of activists opposed to the month-old Trump administration used Monday's Presidents Day holiday to hold "Not My Presidents Day" rallies nationwide. [...] Many people carried placards — some of them strident, some amusing.  "I don't pay taxes to fund a golf weekend," said one, while others pleaded that Americans "Just say no to fascist pigs" and "NO! We refuse to accept a fascist America."

The Editor says...
If you object to paying for golf, not to mention annual vacations in Hawaii, you should read this page.

Obama PACs Bus Protesters To GOP Town Halls.  Political action committees that fundraised for President Barrack Obama during the 2012 presidential election, bused protesters to Republican town hall events nationwide earlier in February, according to a Sunday [2/12/2017] report from The Washington Post.  Democrats nationwide continue to search for ways to oppose President Donald Trump after the 2016 election, and they are digging deep into funding from years ago.  An unnamed pro-Obama super PAC organized protests at several town halls, going so far as busing protesters outside the member's districts.  Since super PACS were legalized in the 2010 Citizens United Supreme Court decision, this marks the first time that money raised to elect one president was used to undermine another.

Trump's Political Blitzkrieg.  Trump correctly discerned that ordinary citizens who desire nothing more than to be left alone to enjoy peace and while at an actual job or sitting by their undisturbed hearths are sick to death of constantly being roiled by the incessant demands of the latest approved victim of the month.  They are fed up with the constant assaults on authority and on their faith.  For them, the old tactics from radicals' playbooks dating from the 1960s have become merely irritating and meaningless liturgical chants rather than urgent and legitimate calls for justice.

This Is What Post-Christian Dissent Looks Like.  The people whose faces shone in 2008 have weeping eyes in 2016. Some can't function.  In the energy department, staffers are offered counseling.  At the EPA, they come to work in tears.  Some skip work entirely.  Colleges offer safe spaces and opportunities for "self-care," and even workers in "real America" are taking time off to gather themselves.  I'm getting reports from friends across the country of bosses and colleagues who are gone for days and return deeply depressed.  Celebrity buffoonery is off the charts, with extraordinarily wealthy and powerful actors casting themselves as the rabble-rousing heroes of the world's least dangerous resistance.

Rasmussen: President Trump's Approval Index Booms Up Since Inauguration.  While the media may be continuing their attacks on him, President Donald Trump is off to a strong start with the American people, according to his approval rating index from Rasmussen Reports.  In the four days since his inauguration on Jan. 20, President Trump's approval index has boomed upward a whopping seven points.  Back on January 20 — Inauguration Day — Trump's approval index was plus two points.  Now, four days later, it's plus nine points — after being plus four points on Monday.

President's 'dark' speech a ray of light for millions.  The inaugural speech was "dark" — that's the storyline among the Democrats and their allies in the Fake News industry.  It was "radical," "Hitlerian," or maybe Mussolini-ian — or both, according to Comrade Chris Matthews.  But mostly it was dark.  What else could it have been?  If it was all sweetness and light in America, how far would Donald J. Trump have gotten in his campaign?

Trump inauguration ratings second biggest in 36 years.  Donald Trump's inauguration ratings were the second-highest in 36 years, according to Nielsen.  The swearing-in of the 45th president was seen by 30.6 million viewers across 12 networks.  The only inauguration over the last three decades that tops Trump's number in the linear ratings?  Barack Obama's first inauguration back in 2009, which had a record-setting 37.8 million viewers.  So Trump was down from the last new president to take office.  But before that, to get an Inauguration Day number this high, you'd have to go all the way back to Ronald Reagan in 1981, who was seen by 41.8 million viewers (Nielsen released tracking for inauguration ratings back to 1969).

Definitive CNN Gigapixel Image of Crowd During Trump Inauguration Speech Confirms Sean Spicer Correct.  The New York Times and Trump Press Secretary, Sean Spicer, appear to be in an argument over the crowd attending the President Trump inauguration.  In the politicized era of jaw-dropping media bias, fake news and constructed Potemkin villages, does this come as a surprise.  Generally speaking, most intellectually honest political followers/researchers already anticipated a massive amount of DC-based hostility in all things related to President Trump.  After all, Hillary Clinton won the DC vote with 91%, and only 4% of DC residents supported Donald Trump.

'Breathing Exercises' In The Rose Garden Got The White House Through Election Night.  Breathing exercises in the Rose Garden and a steady stream of booze got the White House through election night, a communications staffer wrote in a story recounting his experience watching Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton lose.  Pat Cunnane had been so confident Clinton would win that when he penciled in plans for former President Barack Obama to meet the president-elect that week, he wrote down her name in his calendar.  A few days later, he found himself "ugly crying" in the Oval Office as Obama gave the White House staff a pep talk about President Donald Trump's stunning victory.

8 Most Unhinged Inaugural Media Meltdowns.  Donald Trump is now the 45th president of the United States, having been sworn in by John Roberts, chief justice of the United States.  At least the hysterical denial and anger from his detractors and the media is over.  Maybe.  But as the moment approached, many in the mainstream media could not help themselves and disgraced journalism and themselves with over-the-top pronouncements of alarm and bitterness.  They fretted.  They sweated.  They worried.  And, of course, they made outrageous comments about Trump as the sand in the hourglass ran out.

The 75 Leftist Groups Trying to Stop Donald Trump from Taking Office.  This is the most comprehensive list of the leftist groups supporting the DisruptJ20 event designed to thwart President-elect Donald Trump and his supporters.  These are the anarchist cells, affinity groups, student consortiums, left-wing bookstores, propaganda distribution outlets, anti-American websites, hacker collectives, and other leftist groups on the shadowy edge of the worldwide radical movement that sees Trump's political victory as the main barrier to their goal of fundamentally transforming the world.  This is the far left of the far left — the anarchist, communist, and socialist organizations, some of which urge lawbreaking "direct action" including violence, arson, and intimidation.

The Real Reason John Lewis and Company Boycott the Inauguration.  When people "act out," it's often because a particularly raw nerve has been touched, some basic fear triggered.  And acting out is clearly what John Lewis and the umpteen (as of now 58) other Democrats are doing in refusing to attend the inauguration (Lewis apparently not for the first time).  They claim this is because Donald Trump is a racist, sexist, etc., etc., anathema to everything an "inclusive" America should be, and therefore unfit for the office.  Not only that, Vladimir Putin put him there.  But that's the surface of what's really upsetting them, what the shrinks call the "presenting complaint."  Deep down it's something else, something far more potent.  They're afraid Donald Trump might actually succeed.

Trump Gores a Sacred Cow, and Liberals Lament.  On the 20th of January, the dustbin of history will slam shut on the Utopian American Progressive Left. Followers, leaders, and philosophers of this dangerous and failed global movement will not go quietly, however; ideas die hard, and ideologies, movements, and political theories do not simply disappear overnight. Inauguration Day 2016 will mark perhaps the greatest political and cultural shift in American history as the Utopians of the Progressive Left kick and scream, wail and whine as they shuffle off into forced retirement and irrelevance. Perhaps not since Lincoln's trip to Washington in early 1861 to begin his first term has so much vitriol, so many official and unofficial attempts to derail and delegitimize the president-elect, been seen.

Trump's education secretary won't take a salary from taxpayers.  At her Senate confirmation hearing Tuesday [1/17/2017], President-elect Trump's selection to lead the Education Department, Betsy DeVos, said she won't accept a salary, assuming she's confirmed for the job.  "If confirmed, I will only take a salary of $1, to be official, but I don't intend to take a salary either," DeVos said.  DeVos and her family are worth approximately $5.1 billion combined, thanks to their success building the Amway company.

And Now The Left's War On Normal Americans Truly Begins.  [Scroll down]  In Hollywood, the left is piling on anyone who refuses to completely reject Trump and, by extension, all of us normals.  Look at Nicole Kidman, who the fascists attempted to crucify for simply saying what Hillary Clinton had been saying right up until she lost — that you ought to accept the legitimacy of the winner.  Look at the death threats against a blind opera singer.  Look at those clowns lecturing us at their awards shows/narcissism orgies.  As the left always does, it is relying one fear to enforce its creepy conformity.

Church Won't Mention Trump in Prayers Because His Name Is 'a Dangerous Trauma Trigger'.  Pasadena's All Saints Episcopal Church will not mention Donald Trump by name in prayers, saying that mentions of the President-elect are "literally a trauma trigger to some people."  For years, the California church has offered prayers for people in positions of power, including President Obama.  The church will continue offering those prayers — but it will no longer use proper names, said rector Mike Kinman in a blog post, because "prayer should never be a trauma-causing act."

State Department Held Stress Workshops After Trump's Win.  The State Department held stress management sessions following Donald Trump's presidential election victory, providing employees tips for how to cope with change so they do not "become paralyzed by fear."  The workshops, titled "The Emotional Transition:  Managing the Stress of Change," were held by the State Department's Bureau of Medical Services on Dec. 8 and 14, just one month after the department's former boss, Hillary Clinton, was defeated.

Democratic Party Bullies try to Scuttle Trump's Inauguration.  This morning [1/15/2016] on Meet the Press, Democratic Party hack John Lewis said that he will not attend Donald Trump's inauguration because Trump is "not a legitimate president."  Shocking though it may be, this anti-democratic rhetoric is common in the Democratic Party, and many have taken it to an even lower level.  Never before in our history has one party been so petty as to try to interfere with the traditional celebrations that accompany a presidential inauguration, but that is what the Democrats are doing now.  Every performer who has agreed to participate in the inaugural has been bullied mercilessly by the Democrats, and most are unable to take the heat, or to sustain the financial loss that could result from a boycott.  One after another, they have either dropped out or declined to appear in the first place.  Opera singer Andrea Bocelli has withdrawn, saying he has gotten death threats from liberals.

The Inauguration War.  According to Gallup, the average presidential honeymoon lasts seven months.  This is a window when the losing party declares a partisan peace, allows the incoming president to pick his cabinet and launch the agenda his victory mandates.  Presidential honeymoons are not only a venerable American tradition they are one of democracy's pillars.  For generations they have been ceremonial supports for the peaceful transition of power, and the peaceful resolution of partisan conflicts.  Not this election year.

Obama accused of wrecking Trump's transition.  A leading House Republican charges that President Obama is implementing a "scorched earth" exit strategy aimed at undermining President-elect Trump first months while cementing his own legacy through a frenzy of midnight regulations.  California Rep. Darrell Issa also hit Obama's post-campaign effort to blame Russia for the outcome of the election, which has sparked some Democrats to suggest that the results are illegitimate.

Opera star Andrea Bocelli backs out of singing at Trump's inauguration after receiving death threats.  Opera star Andrea Bocelli backed out of singing at Donald Trump's inauguration after receiving death threats, The Mail on Sunday has learnt.  The revelation came as another singer — Broadway legend Jennifer Holliday — last night pulled out of the President-elect's festivities after being threatened and branded an 'Uncle Tom'.  When blind tenor Bocelli announced he would not sing at this Friday's celebration, it was widely reported it was because fans had said they would boycott his concerts and records.

Jennifer Holliday Pulls Out of Trump's Inauguration After Backlash.  Jennifer Holliday will not be among the performers during Donald Trump's upcoming inaugural festivities in Washington, D.C. [...] A day after the announcement, Holliday, 56, confirmed to ABC News that she would not be performing.  In an open letter addressed "To My Beloved LGBT Community," the "Dreamgirls" star apologized for her "lapse in judgment."

The Editor says...
Really?  Singing at a presidential inauguration is a mistake?  No, a man who thinks he's a woman is someone who has suffered a "lapse in judgment."

Why the left hates Trump so intensely.  The intensity of the hatred for a newly elected president faced by Donald Trump is equaled only by the reaction of the Confederacy to the election of Abraham Lincoln.  That ended up in civil war, a precedent that one hopes will not be equaled.  But there has been a remarkable fury at people who do not shun Trump:  boycotts of a company whose shareholder contributed to a PAC supporting Trump, attempts to pressure the president of a historically black college to prevent its marching band from performing at the inaugural, and hateful rhetoric at Hollywood awards ceremonies.  With much more to come.

The Real Reason Trump Won:  Part 1 of 4.  Trump and Hillary finished first and second in every state, even Utah, where Evan McMullin cleared 20 percent of the vote as a pure protest.  Gary Johnson and Jill Stein both gained votes from their 2012 campaigns, but mostly due to voter disenchantment with the existing options.  Trump ran what amounted to a third-party campaign, but he did so in the traditional American fashion of capturing control of one party.  And so, as unconventional as Trump was, he was the receptacle for the votes of most partisan Republicans as well as many voters who were open to a cyclical swing away from the party in power.  The gravitational forces of the two-party system proved larger than Trump himself.

Liberals Awake From an 8-Year Moral Coma.  We are awash in leftist, progressive, liberal mystics, telling us through tears and in panicked tones exactly what Donald Trump's presidency will look like and how it will end, before he has held the job for even one second.  In hysterics, they speak of the un-American things Trump will do in the future, and how "afraid" the leftists are of someone whose personal history shows no hint of the things they predict.  Bruce Springsteen expresses his concerns about competence, and the newly dark dynamic that Trump allegedly brings to politics.  Robert Reich produces instructional videos for mindless liberals about how Trump controls the media message, which is a harbinger of tyranny.  Where have these people been for eight years?

For Democrats, 2017 Will Be The Year of Living Stupidly.  As 2016 ends, progressives enter the new year terrified that Donald Trump will continue to run circles around them, and their epic meltdown is only going to get more epically meltdownier.  They've been shrill, stupid, and annoying for the last two months, but brace yourself for the next 12.  Fear is going to make them go nuts — not the fear that Trump will be a failure, but the gut-wrenching, mind-numbing fear that Donald Trump will be a success.

10 Things The Right Can Teach The Left About Accepting The Reality Of Trump Conservatives.  The media never for a moment considered how heartbreaking [Mitt Romney's] loss was for many Americans worried about the direction of the country.  But as the media overwhelmingly tend to the political left and chose not obscure their bias so much this round, we've been given daily examples of the difficulty folks on that side of the political divide are having with the reality of Donald Trump.  The crying, the protests, the riots, the subway art installations, the artist boycotts, the recount efforts, the organized and funded push to have the Electoral College do ... something, the media-fed conspiracy theories about Russian vote hacking.  Pundits on TV shake their head at everything Trump says and does, and journalists on Twitter react like rabid Pavlovian dogs to every utterance the president-elect makes.  Folks on the Right, regardless of how they feel about Trump, have been enjoying this meltdown.

Man Of The Year:  Chief Trump Strategist Stephen K. Bannon.  Trump won the primaries and eventually the election because, unlike Republicans before him, he refused to be intimidated by leftist witch-hunters and their reputation-burning attacks.  But Trump's very fearlessness, self-confidence and disregard for progressive bigotry — his indisputable strengths — came with a downside that threatened to undo him.  Even as he responded to the defamation from whatever quarter it came, his campaign message was pushed into the background until it was in danger of being altogether lost.  Questions began to be raised and not only by opponents.  Could Trump be presidential?  Could he stick to a winning message?

The Vast Cognitive Gulf between the Left and the Right.  From the top of the legacy media chain, the New York Times, Washington Post, New Yorker, CNN, MSNBC, there is nothing but anger and accusations.  Someone must be blamed for their loss and it must not be their candidate.  No way.  There has to be a nefarious, outisde-of-the-campaign cause.  It was Comey, it was Russia, it was Wikileaks.

What Are They Afraid Of?  Now that Donald Trump has been elected, hope is gone.  That's more or less what Michelle Obama told Oprah Winfrey in a recent interview.  "We are feeling what not having hope feels like," she said.  There are millions of liberals feeling hopeless these days.  The left's fear of a Trump administration is like nothing seen since the election of Ronald Reagan in 1980, which reversed 50 years of liberal politics.  Not only are they bawling in public, threatening to relocate to Canada, and cuddling up with therapy dogs, but they've tried every undemocratic trick in the book to deny Trump the election.  Trump obviously threatens something of crucial importance to the left, but what is it?

Evidence emerging that Dems' disparagement of Trump victory is backfiring.  Sorry Dems, but you no longer have the ability to control the national discussion, even with the full-throated, near-unanimous support of the legacy media.  They, and you, have lost credibility, and are being ignored and rejected by enough people that you only harm yourselves.  Salena Zito, one of a handful of pundits to understand the Trump phenomenon, clearly sees what is going on as the Democrats continue their spiral into marginality.  Writing in the New York Post, she finds polling signs as well as anecdotal evidence that the Dems are driving away support.

Hope is dead.  Since the election of Donald Trump, America's confidence in the future has skyrocketed.  For the first time in years, people feel hopeful about the direction of the country.  But for Michelle Obama, hope is dead.  In her interview with Oprah Winfrey, Michelle declared an era of hopelessness has begun.  Ironically enough, it coincides perfectly with she and Barack vacating the White House.  For Michelle and Barack, America's sense of hope is directly tied to their own.

U.S. Economic Confidence Surges To The Highest Level That Gallup Has Ever Recorded.  The "Trumphoria" that has gripped the nation ever since Donald Trump's miraculous victory on election night shows no signs of letting up.  Tens of millions of Americans that were deeply troubled by Barack Obama's policies over the last eight years are feeling optimistic about the future for the first time in a very long time.  And it is hard to blame them, because what we have already seen happen since November 8th is nothing short of extraordinary.  The stock market keeps hitting record high after record high, the U.S. dollar is now the strongest that it has been in 14 years, and CEOs are personally promising Trump that they will bring jobs back to the United States.

The United States Of Crybabies.  The hyper-emotional reactions to Donald Trump's election occasioned much commentary about the state of America's millennials.  On college campuses across the country there were "cry-ins," group "primal screams," and designated "healing spaces."  The general mood was captured in a tweet from the student body president at American University:  "For those who viewed [the election outcome] as unfavorable, anger, sadness, grief, and frustration were brought to the fore.  It's important to note that those feelings are valid and justified.  People are scared and people are worried about their futures and their lives."

Gay Editor on NPR: LGBT Community More Scared After Trump's Election Than Pulse Shooting.  On Tuesday's [12/20/2016] edition of NPR's All Things Considered, the editor of Orlando's LGBT newspaper Watermark Billy Manes said that he and his community were more on edge and more likely to hide their identities after the election of Donald Trump than they were in the aftermath of the massacre at the Pulse gay nightclub.  In an end-of-the-year retrospective, host Ari Shapiro asked if Manes still felt the kind of fear he said he felt after the June shooting.  "I think almost more so," Manes responded.

Two Jackies and John.  Fresh on the heels of its scoop about women who cut off their hair to teach Trump a lesson, New York magazine is back with Phase Two in its stirring Stress-and-Grief-Management series, this time with eight therapists dealing with cases of Trump-Based dementia, as afflicting their clients and them.  All, it appears, can barely stop sobbing, including the doctors.  "Trump's election was a death of a sort to me and my clients," said one of them.

Democrats Descend into Madness.  It's been more than six weeks since Donald Trump's victory in the presidential election and Democrats are not yet fully reconciled to the prospect of a Trump presidency.  By endorsing just about every daft conspiracy theory that crosses their transom, liberals appear set on delaying that process of reconciliation for as long as possible.  Depending on how inclined toward charitability you are, former Hillary Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta's op-ed in the Washington Post on Friday [12/16/2016] claims that the FBI is either partisan, corrupt, or just plain riddled with incompetents.

Podesta refuses to say election was 'fair and free'.  Hillary Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta on Sunday [12/18/2016] refused to say the presidential election was "free and fair."  Asked on NBC's "Meet the Press" if the [sic] he thought the election was "free and fair," Podesta demurred.

The Associated Press:  Still Bitter That Trump Won.  Democrats are still anguished over Hillary Clinton's defeat at the polls, and that includes the Democrats at the Associated Press.  Today's complaint is that Donald Trump isn't doing enough to unify the country:  "On victory lap, few signs Trump focusing on unified nation." [...] Remember the beginning of the Obama administration, when Obama said "I won," and "elections have consequences"?  And when the Democrats rammed Obamacare and the ill-fated "stimulus" bill through Congress with zero Republican input and zero Republican support?  Remember how the AP criticized Obama for not doing more to "unite a divided nation"?  No, I don't remember that either.

Maine Gas Distributor Won't Deliver to Trump Supporters.  An owner of a propane dealership in Maine is refusing to deliver gas to anyone who voted for President-Elect Donald Trump.  Michael Turner, owner of Turner LP Gas in Skowhegan, Maine, recorded a voicemail greeting that leaves little question as to his feelings for those in his community who supported Trump.  "Thank you for calling Turner LP Gas.  If you voted for Donald Trump for president, I will no longer be delivering your gas — please find someone else," the message states.

The most amazing Trump Derangement Syndrome meltdown yet.  The American Left is clearly in crisis, with mental health becoming an issue on a mass level.  Watch the whole thing.  You won't be sorry:  [Video clip]

CNN's Rye:  Trump's Election 'Far From Legitimate,' 'That Guy Is Not My President'.  On Friday's [12/16/2016] broadcast of CNN's "AC360," CNN Political Commentator Angela Rye stated that "Donald Trump's election, in my mind, is far from legitimate."  Rye said, "Donald Trump's election, in my mind, is far from legitimate, at this point.  I have every issue with the world that the fact that Hillary Clinton gets closer and closer every day to three million vote — to a three million vote lead against Donald Trump.  I have every issue in the world with the fact that electors feel like they can't, in some instances, in good conscience, support this man as president.  I have every issue in the world with the fact that the intelligence community is questioning the legacy of legitimacy of this election.  If someone can hack into, not just our process — ."

Disgrace under pressure.  A month after the surprise election of Donald Trump in November (surprising to no one more than to Trump and Clinton), the losers are still working through the stages of anguish in ways that seem strange to many observers but of which they appear oddly proud.  Not only do they brag of the length and intensity of their bouts of sobbing — "crying as if someone died" was a common description — but, as New York magazine reported days later, professional women all over the country are making a brave stand to protest Trump's election by doing hideous things to their hair.  Because "the election results felt like an attack on minorities, women, and marginalized people in general," a "vegan chef" cut her hair off to send Trump a "message."  Others like her got buzz cuts, flat tops or tossed out their extensions, and went platinum, or black.

Trying to overturn a free and fair election.  The world has turned itself upside down.  Only yesterday the liberals and the left (the "progressives," as they want to be called) regarded the CIA as the locus of evil, the gang that couldn't shoot straight, forever poisoning gentle minds with a diet of conspiracy and tall tale. [...] Now the CIA, in the liberal/left's fevered dreams, is the last bulwark of the republic, the last remaining hope to turn the 2016 election result on its head and deprive Donald Trump of the victory he won.  The Russians, it now turns out, are just as bad as the conservatives said they were.

The Democrats' Days of Rage and Denial.  Donald Trump won while being relentlessly attacked with negative media coverage of his every lie and scandal.  He received a variation of every criticism ever thrown at a Republican presidential candidate — the alleged nuclear warmongering of Goldwater, the alleged ignorance of George W. Bush, the alleged erratic temperament of John McCain, the alleged plutocratic greed of Mitt Romney — and was elected anyway.  It's fascinating to see what infuriated partisans define as "fighting dirty."  Apparently the entire Trump victory can be attributed to this moral flexibility; it couldn't possibly reflect President Obama's record, a national appetite for change, or Hillary Clinton's agenda, character, and record.

Activists Tell Scientists To Download Climate Change Data Before Trump Deletes It.  Environmental activists are afraid the Trump administration will alter or delete data sets scientists use to track global warming after the president-elect takes control in January.  The accusation, first reported by Mashable, has gotten at least one climate scientist to create a list of climate data sets his colleagues don't want to see deleted.

Retired Female Marine Breaks Down Why Trump Won The White House.  Jessie Jane Duff is an energetic retired Marine who campaigned for President-elect Donald Trump and believes the new administration will turn America from President Barack Obama's dangerous, failed national security and foreign policies.  A senior fellow at the London School for Policy Research and a frequent guest on Fox News, CNN and MSNBC discussing national security, veterans, military and economic issues, this Marine finds it "appalling" when "racist" epithets are cavalierly thrown at Trump supporters.

Hillary Clinton: hail to the thief.  Arguably at no time since the aftermath of the Civil War has there ever been a time when unity in America was more critical.  In a unique position to facilitate that unity, Hillary Rodham Clinton decided instead to champion divisiveness by actively questioning the outcome of the election.  For those who intimately know and understand the Clinton Playbook, this is business as usual.  There are never any real surprises with Hillary.  For the President-elect who has been remarkably magnanimous concerning his erstwhile opponent, this divisive tactic will make his enormous job all the more difficult.  And that is precisely the point.

Can You Imagine How Defrosted President Stompy Feet Is?  Nothing makes a miserable blame-casting leftist more filled with angst and teeth gnashing rage than to see people enjoying life.  The professional white-paper analysts are calling it the Trump effect:
  •   The stock market is soaring;
  •   domestic futures are through the roof;
  •   the KPI economic indicators are all pointing to the cusp of massive economic expansion;
  •   the first 24 hours of holiday sales are exceeding all expectations;
  •   and the consumer confidence index has had the largest single two-week surge in its history.

All This Silliness about Abolishing the Electoral College.  "How could this have happened?" the media pundit bemoans, as he looks over the foolproof election data that he disseminated prior to the election.  "How do I tell my daughter that America elected a racist, sexist bully?" the self-loathing, white-privileged mother cries, as she glances at her previous article about how a state law prohibiting confused men from entering what may be a little girls' bathroom is somehow tantamount to misogyny.  "Love trumps hate!" reads a banner among the rioters in the street, as they visit violence and destruction upon innocent people and businesses in their community.  Perhaps sillier than all of that, however, is the incessant mantra amongst all of these people about how Hillary may have actually won the election because she garnered more of the popular vote than Trump.

President-elect Donald Trump 'beats Hillary Clinton in Michigan by just 10,704 votes'.  President-elect Donald Trump has defeated Hillary Clinton in the swing state of Michigan by just 10,704 votes, according to local reports.  According to unofficial results released on Wednesday by the Michigan secretary of state, Trump received 2,279,543 votes compared to Clinton's 2,268,839 in the closest race for President in Michigan's history.  The midwestern state gave Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson 172,136 votes, while Green candidate Jill Stein was selected by just 51,463 voters.

We Are in Good Hands with Trump.  For those of you pearl-clutchers on the right who haven't understood why Donald Trump is president-elect, here it is.  The man known for the phrase "you're fired" should actually be known for another talent, which is to size up people well and hire them to get things done well.  He's not just pretty good; it's a gift that needs to be seen for what it is, which is simple excellence in a time of mediocrity.

Donald Trump Will Prove to Be One of the Greatest and Most Consequential Presidents.  Will he get everything he wishes accomplished?  Of course not.  But he is wasting no time in moving forward and willing to make smart compromises to get things done.  On healthcare, he would keep two popular features of Obamacare — the guarantee of insurance for preexisting conditions and the ability to keep children on the family plan to age 26.  On immigration, he is open to some of the wall being a fence.  None of these things should be faintly surprising to anyone paying the slightest attention.  Trump has indicated, even told us at times, his stances are negotiating positions.  That's what businessmen do, in case you haven't heard.  And there's nothing America needs more right now than a businessman who can finally get things moving.

Scenes from the liberal meltdown.  Anti-Trump protests have spread to more cities and continue to turn violent.  In Portland Thursday night, rioters stoned police and vandalized businesses and cars.  Anyone expressing support for Trump has become the target of unrestrained venom:  There are calls to boycott New Balance — its sneakers have been publicly burned — because an official said Trump would be better on trade issues.  Meanwhile, the CEO of Grubhub, the online food-delivery service, demanded that employees who agree with Trump resign, because "you have no place here."  (He had to retreat:  His lawyers read him the First Amendment and noted that political discrimination also violates California law.)

Give us Barabbas!
The Real Clinton Conspiracy that Backfired — The Worst Candiate in American History.  What is very clear putting all the emails together, the rise of Donald Trump was orchestrated by Hillary herself conspiring with mainstream media, and they they sought to burn him to the ground.  Their strategy backfired and now this is why she has not come out to to speak against the violence she has manipulated and inspired.

Anti-Trump Protesters and Their Five 'Demands'.  CNN has done America a great service by cataloging what it is exactly that the anti-Trump protesters want now that The Donald has gotten himself elected president.  Most of these same people were baying about accepting the results of the election when Donald Trump hinted he might not want to concede.  Well, these folks not only don't want to concede that Trump won fair and square, they want an entirely different result.

Dow posts best week since 2011 after Donald Trump election win.  U.S. equities closed mostly higher on Friday [11/11/2016], with the three major indexes posting their best weekly gains of the year on the back of a surprise Republican sweep.  "I think you're seeing a transition from a government that had its thumb on growth to a free economy," said Bruce Bittles, chief investment strategist at Baird.  "We're now looking at an economy that can reach its full potential."  The Dow Jones industrial average closed about 37 points higher, with Goldman Sachs contributing the most gains.  For the week, the Dow rose around 5.4 percent, marking its best weekly performance since December 2011.

5 Ways Trump Shows How To Win Elections.  [#3] Go Right Young Man:  Obama was much closer to Bernie Sanders than to Bill Clinton.  He promised to destroy coal jobs, defended wealth redistribution and turned "You didn't build that" into his mantra.  It was a long way from Hillary's ultra-cautious campaign.  And it worked.  Obama's left-wing base turned out for him.  Trump won by unapologetically going to the right and infuriating the left.  And it also worked.  Hillary hired plenty of Obama's people, but it was Trump who had truly learned the lesson of Obama's victories.  American elections are no longer won by going to the center.  Some of the most endangered senators had been centrists.  The Republican moderate strategy cost them two presidential elections.

Female Muslim immigrant who said she voted for Trump because she was tired of 'Obama dancing around radical Islam.  A Muslim woman who immigrated to America from India as a child has spoken out about why she decided to vote for Donald Trump — and has received threats and hate in the process.  Asra Nomani, 51, a former Wall Street Journal reporter, [...] said she knows Trump can be ineloquent at times but said she has no fears for herself in Donald Trump's America.  'The checks and balances in America and our rich history of social justice and civil rights will never allow the fear-mongering that has been attached to candidate Trump's rhetoric to come to fruition,' she wrote.

Quit Whining, Liberals.  You Brought Trump on Yourselves.  Last month, Project Veritas released a bombshell video about the violence at Trump rallies.  The Clinton campaign and Democratic Party operatives planned to incite that violence, and it backfired.  The Democrats intended that violence to dissuade Trump supporters and convince most Americans that there was something very wrong with him.  Instead, it merely convinced millions of Americans that Trump stands for something, in spite of strong opposition.  Just as liberal attacks that Trump is a "fascist" convinced Republicans that he was their champion, so the violence at his rallies convinced Americans he was a real political force.

How Trump won the presidency.  [Scroll down]  Clinton was a terrible traditional campaigner.  Her proposals were often detailed and small picture, intentionally tailored to appeal to the Democratic coalition's countless micro-communities.  That might work if Clinton had a gram of charisma.  Turns out, Barack Obama was too tough an act to follow.  So, despite his help, her money, his political veterans and her grassroots army, millions stayed home or switched sides.  When Clinton did break through in media, it was usually bad news reinforcing her wealthy insider image.  Constant coughing, then collapsing on camera on 9/11 didn't help.  And when Gallup said her name, the overwhelming response was "email."  She set up a private, unsecured email server in early 2009 to avoid government archiving and public scrutiny of her secretary of State and lucrative family Foundation connections.  That decision with its compounding lies, leaks and FBI probes has hemorrhaged for 20 months.  In that sense, the 2016 election outcome was indeed rigged — by Hillary Clinton.

RIP Clinton, Inc..  [Scroll down]  We conservatives do not think very much of Donald Trump either, and many of us expect to think less of him the more we get to know him.  His election may very well prove to be the equivalent of using a neutron bomb to clear out a cockroach infestation, or a ball-peen hammer to remove an achy tooth — but what a human toothache we had in Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Trump beat Clinton by spending less than half of the $521 million she plowed into contest.  Relying heavily on an unorthodox mix of social media, unfiltered rhetoric, and a knack for winning free TV time, the New York real estate magnate likely paid less than $5 per vote during his insurgent White House bid, about half what Clinton paid, according to a Reuters analysis of campaign finance records and voting data.

President-Elect Trump Did Not Create the Movement, It Created Him.  I don't know what the Trump years will bring, but I think there is a lot we can learn from how he made his way to the White House.  Meantime, though there is lots of water under the bridge, let's remember that he ran as a conservative.  Whether that is because he has become one or because he recognized he needed to adopt some conservative positions to be viable, we will find out in due course.

How Donald Trump broke the old rules of politics — and won the White House.  Donald Trump ran against himself and won.  The Manhattan billionaire who for decades boasted of his playboy lifestyle, stiffed contractors and vendors, hired illegal immigrants, eschewed churchgoing, embraced liberal causes, and counted Hillary and Bill Clinton as friends and allies pulled off one of the most brazen pivots in American history, selling himself to American voters as a populist hero who understood their frustrations and guaranteed a blizzard of wins.

Trump's victory is no surprise except to deluded elites.  Trump's victory is not just a revolt of the political Right.  Huge numbers of Democrats were appalled that Hillary Clinton was forced upon them by their own party establishment.  Bewildered elites in democracies everywhere are being rejected.  If they don't change tack, they consign themselves to oblivion.

Trump's triumph has crushed the lefty luvvies, useless pollsters, multicultural mafia and gender Nazis.  I was right.  Donald Trump won.  Not only did he win, he won by a convincing margin — turning America red with patriotic pride and the faces of commentators ever redder as they tried to explain how they had been so spectacularly wrong.  The news came as a shock to all those who have failed — yet again — to understand the feelings of regular Americans — people who want to work hard, keep their family safe and secure for the future.  Real people.  Not the loud voices in wealthy cities.  Not the multicultural mafia in the liberal heartland of LA or New York.  But in the towns, rural outposts and forgotten homes across the States.

Understanding Legislative Priorities Through the Eyes of the UniParty.  One of the more complex nuances to understand in this election cycle is the construct of the DC UniParty.  When it comes to substantive legislative priorities the Republican and Democrat parties are ideologically aligned.  It has been this way for decades and until recently almost everyone ignored the evidence.  Donald Trump's campaign for the presidency is the first time anyone has ever challenged the modern UniParty, essentially presenting a second party option.

Drudge, Breitbart See Massive Traffic Surges as NRO, Weekly Standard Melt Down.  Whatever you might think of Donald Trump as a candidate, it's clear there's a significant chunk of the American population with whom his message resonates.  For ostensibly conservative- and/or Republican-leaning sites like National Review and Weekly Standard to utterly reject Mr. Trump is curious, to be sure.  For the pro-life constituency, embracing the #NeverTrump position is to, in effect, support partial-birth abortions.  That is because rejecting Trump is tacit support for the ultra-progressive Obama/Clinton doctrine that states a baby can be ripped to pieces in the womb one second before birth.

Donald Trump vs. the Sleepwalkers.  Contrary to conventional wisdom, the world should hope for the election of Donald Trump next Tuesday.  American policy has become a fetid morass in which ideology and influence-peddling jointly serve to insulate its leaders from the real world.  It is not simply that America's leaders are out of touch, but that they are in continuous touch with a fictitious construct of the world that excludes the possibility of policy course correction.  America's policy elites are sleepwalkers in the way that historian Christopher Clark described Europe's leaders in August 1914 on the eve of the First World War.

British establishment eats its words after Donald Trump victory.  British politicians stand divided after Donald Trump's US presidential victory, with several being forced to eat their previous words and offer diplomatic gestures of congratulations.  Some UK lawmakers are being unusually candid about Trump's election, while others are carefully backtracking on comments made at a time when the idea of a Trump presidency seemed ludicrous.

David Brooks:  Trump Will 'Resign or Be Impeached within a Year'.  In his Friday [11/11/2016] column, New York Times columnist David Brooks speculates about a new political dichotomy and writes that President-elect Donald Trump will "resign or be impeached within a year."

The Editor says...
First of all, the Republican-controlled House is not going to send Articles of Impeachment to the Republican-controlled Senate and get President Trump impeached.  But just in case, Vice President Pence should make it abundantly clear that if he has to take over as President, he will appoint Ted Cruz to be Vice-President.  That should stop the impeachment rumors overnight.

Donald Trump's Astounding Victory:  How and Why.  It didn't help that Clinton called half of Trump supporters "irredeemable" and "deplorables" and infected with "implicit racism."  They may have been shy in responding to telephone or exit polls, but they voted in unanticipatedly large numbers, at a time when turnout generally sagged.  At the same time, Clinton was unable to reassemble Obama's 2012 51 percent coalition.  Turnout fell in heavily black Philadelphia, Cleveland, Detroit and Milwaukee.  Millennial generation turnout was tepid, and Trump carried white millennials by 5 points.  Unexpectedly, Trump won higher percentages of Hispanics and Asians than Mitt Romney did in 2012.

'Prediction professor' who called Trump's big win also made another forecast:  Trump will be impeached.  Allan Lichtman uses a historically based system of what he calls "keys" to predict election results ahead of time.  The keys are explained in-depth in Lichtman's book, "Predicting the Next President:  The Keys to the White House 2016."  In our conversations in September and October, he outlined how President Obama's second term set the Democrats up for a tight race, and his keys tipped the balance in Trump's favor, even if just barely.  At the end of our September conversation, Lichtman made another call:  that if elected, Trump would eventually be impeached by a Republican Congress that would prefer a President Mike Pence — someone whom establishment Republicans know and trust.

After Donald Trump victory, Oregonians submit ballot proposal to secede from the union.  The petition for this ballot measure has been withdrawn after overwhelming positive and negative responses.  Two days after Donald Trump was elected president of the United States, two Portlanders have submitted a petition for a 2018 ballot initiative to have Oregon secede from the United States.  On Thursday morning, Jennifer Rollins, a lawyer, and Christian Trejbal, a writer, filed the Oregon Secession Act.

The Editor says...
I think if you look into these west-coast secession "movements" you'll find it's only a handful of noisy activists who are pushing the idea.


Trump's interaction with the news media:

This subsection has moved to here.


Media bias against Trump:

This subsection has moved to a page of its own, located here.


Cabinet, Senior White House Staff, and important appointments:

Breaking: Trump Fires Defense Secretary Who Allegedly Assisted Biden Transition.  President Donald Trump has fired Secretary of Defense Mark Esper after reports surfaced that the political appointee was covertly assisting Joe Biden's transition team, despite votes still being counted and litigation underway in virtually every battleground state.  In his typical fashion, President Trump announced Esper's departure as he heralded his replacement, Christopher C. Miller.  "I am pleased to announce that Christopher C. Miller, the highly respected Director of the National Counterterrorism Center (unanimously confirmed by the Senate), will be the Acting Secretary of Defense, effective immediately."  President Trump then added, "Mark Esper has been terminated.  I would like to thank him for his service," while also noting that he believes Miller "will do a GREAT job!"

Heads roll:  Sweeping staff changes made at VOA after pro-Biden ad released, hiring foreign workers.  There is a new man in charge of the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM).  Confirmed by the Senate in June, Michael Pack oversees government global communications organizations such as the Voice of America, as well as regional networks.  Previously, Pack was President of Manifold Productions, Inc., an independent film and television production company that he founded in 1977.  Pack fired a group of broadcasting chiefs in June.  His mission is one of redirecting the global news agency that was founded during the Cold War.  The Trump administration thinks Voice of America, in particular, has lost its way.  Voice of America does not exist just to deliver news, it a critical soft power component of American global strategy.  It is a public information agency.  It exists to support and promote American values abroad.

Barr installs top DOJ aide, prosecutor of Trump's Mar-a-Lago trespasser, over U.S. prosecutors in Washington.  Attorney General William Barr has installed a new top deputy over the federal prosecutor's office for Washington, raising concerns that a key U.S. attorney's office handling multiple investigations of interest to President Donald Trump is becoming further politicized.  The arrival of Associate Deputy Attorney General Michael Sherwin — who won the conviction of a Chinese trespasser at President Trump's Mar-a-Lago Club in Florida in September — has triggered new accusations that Justice Department leaders are bypassing career prosecutors in the office and intervening in cases favoring the president's allies, current and former federal prosecutors in the office said.

The Left has one problem with Trump's FEC nominee:  He's a Republican.  Since September, campaign finance "reform" groups have been screaming that democracy is in peril.  The Federal Election Commission lost its quorum that month with the resignation of Republican commissioner Matt Petersen.  Only three commissioners, two Democratic appointees and one Republican, remain at the six-member agency, which is structured to have three Republicans and three Democrats.  All three still serving are "holdover" commissioners, meaning that their statutory terms have expired, but they remain in office until their replacements are nominated and confirmed.  The lack of a quorum means that the FEC cannot write new rules, open new investigations, or offer advice to speakers on how to comply with the law.  With no FEC quorum, groups on the Left have stoked fears that the 2020 election will be a "Wild West."

Pro-Trump NSC Staffer Kash Patel Tapped to Serve as Senior Advisor to Grenell to "Clean House" at ODNI.  Pro-Trump NSC staffer Kash Patel has been chosen to serve as senior advisor to Amb.  Richard Grenell, Acting DNI chief.  Mr. Patel previously worked for hero Congressman Devin Nunes and he wrote the 2-page FISA memo released by Nunes in February of 2018 alleging the FBI/DOJ improperly obtained four FISA warrants on Trump campaign advisor Carter Page.  Patel was the lead investigator who annihilated Schiff and the Democrats in the Russia collusion hoax.

'Woke' Media Fail to Notice Historic Cabinet Appointment by Trump.  These days we're often regaled with news stories highlighting firsts [...] So it was rather surprising to discover that mainstream news stories of the first openly gay White House Cabinet member — ever, ever — were left on the newsroom floor.  Rick Grenell, the U.S. Ambassador to Germany, was just named to head the Department of National Intelligence by President Trump.  For those of you not into identity politics, we can understand why you cared not two cents about the state of Grenell's private life.  However, the media hypocrisy shouldn't go by without comment.

Why Richard Grenell As Director Of National Intelligence Is A Loss For The Deep State.  President Donald Trump's pick of U.S. Ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell for acting director of national intelligence (DNI) is an inspired one of great symbolic and substantive significance.  In staffing another crucial position in the executive branch with someone who genuinely shares his worldview, instincts, and tenacity, President Trump is signaling to the Trump-haters of the administrative state, and its Deep State apotheosis, that those who reject or actively seek to undermine his America First agenda will no longer be welcome in meaningful positions.  This is no minor statement because the establishmentarian Resistance, knowing that personnel is policy, has sought to stymie the president's agenda by seeking to undermine if not destroy like-minded individuals the president has considered for top-level posts.

Media Melts Down After Trump Picks Grenell As Acting DNI.  Journalists began to freak out Wednesday evening [2/19/2020] after President Donald Trump named U.S. Ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell to be the next acting director of national intelligence.  Even before Trump confirmed the position in a series of tweets Wednesday, the media began to question the decision.  CNN claimed he would not be nominated beyond acting status because "there is no way he could get confirmed" by the Senate.  Following the official announcement, journalists flooded social media with negative opinions about Trump's pick.

Bolton now promotes the anti-Trump agenda of Schiff and Pelosi.  Nobody elected John Bolton to anything.  That reality is at the core of what appeared to frustrate Mr. Bolton and numerous other senior presidential aides during my time working in the West Wing for President Trump.  As a staffer, if you have a policy disagreement with the president, you have two options:  You either subordinate your views to his and fulfill his wishes — or you quit.  That does not mean you shy away from making your case behind closed doors — and in my experience the president encouraged dissenting views — but once the president makes a decision, it is your job to execute it with the same vigor you would if it had been your idea all along.

Maxine Waters:  Ben Carson Lacks the 'Intelligence' to Be HUD Secretary.  On Sunday's broadcast of MSNBC's "AM Joy," Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) said former neurosurgeon Ben Carson did not have the "intelligence" for his current position as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development.  Carson had said Waters lacks basic manners after she had written President Donald Trump a letter demanding answers on reports that the administration was considering moving homeless people off the streets in California.

The Editor says...
If someone like Ben Stein, or John Sununu, or Bruce Schneier, were to question Ben Carson's intellectual capacity, I might stop and listen.  But Maxine Waters?  No.

Senate confirms White House lawyer as appeals court judge.  A White House lawyer won Senate confirmation as a federal appeals court judge Thursday [11/14/2019] despite complaints by lawmakers from both parties about his record on immigration, race, women's equality and LGBTQ rights.

Trump Judicial Nominee Steven Menashi Advances Despite NYT 'Smear' Story.  The Senate Judiciary Committee (SJC) has advanced President Donald Trump's judicial nominee Steven Menashi despite an attempt by the New York Times to kill his nomination, says Carrie Severino, chief counsel and policy director to Judicial Crisis Network (JCN).

Trump blasts Mattis as 'the world's most overrated general'.  President Donald Trump called former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis "the world's most overrated general" during a tense White House meeting Wednesday with lawmakers over the growing Syria/Turkey conflict, according to sources familiar with the meeting.  The incident wasn't the first time Trump has attacked the popular former Marine Corps general, once one of his most highly praised Cabinet officials.  But since Mattis announced his resignation from the top Defense Department job last December, the president's view of Mattis has increasingly soured.

Calls Amass for DOD Spokeswoman Elissa Smith To Be Fired Over Trump Criticism.  Calls for the firing of Department of Defense spokeswoman Elissa Smith, a career official, have ramped up after it was revealed last week that she boosted and shared criticisms of President Donald Trump through her personal Twitter account.  The Zionist Organization of America (ZOA), one of the oldest pro-Israel groups in the U.S., has joined the calls for Smith's firing.

Labor Secretary Acosta Resigns Amid Backlash Over Handling of Epstein Sex Abuse Case.  Secretary of Labor Alexander Acosta resigned Friday [7/12/2019] amid growing backlash over his handling of the 2008 sex-abuse case against billionaire Jeffrey Epstein.  Speaking to reporters outside the White House Friday morning, Acosta said he offered to resign to spare the administration from any further distractions associated with the mounting scandal surrounding his prosecution of Epstein in 2008.  "I thought the right thing was to step aside," Acosta said.

Trump Plans to Nominate Known Gun-grabber to Head ATF.  President Donald Trump announced his intent to nominate as the head of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) a man with a record of supporting restrictions on the right to keep and bear arms.  As posted on the White House website, President Trump, according to his authority under Article II, Section 2 of the United States Constitution, has tapped Charles Canterbury, Jr. to be the ATF Director.

Ex-DHSers Blocked Trump Plans to Deport Migrants.  Former DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen and immigration official Ronald Vitiello blocked a White House plan for a large 10-city raid to deport thousands of migrants here illegally, according to the Washington Post.

Democratic smears of Bill Barr would be more accurately applied to Obama's AGs.  William Barr has been confirmed by the U.S. Senate four times, has served two U.S. presidents, and has proven himself to be a consummate professional who deeply respects the great responsibilities and boundaries of the office of the attorney general.  Considering the turbulent tenures of President Obama's two attorneys general, Democrats' partisan attacks on Barr's honesty and transparency should fall on deaf ears.  To refresh your memory, Obama's first attorney general, Eric Holder, became embroiled in a scandal when guns illegally sold to Mexican drug cartels by the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) were found at the scene of the murder of a U.S. Border Patrol agent.

It has started:  Nasty, irrelevant, media smear campaign against Stephen Moore.  Now that Herman Cain has exited from President Trump's consideration for a Federal Reserve board seat, the long knives are now out for free market economist Stephen Moore.  One media hit job after another is now rolling out against him in the press today, and none of it has to do with economics.  The left has made a big deal about Moore's presence on the Fed board a matter of 'politicizing' it, but this is what 'politicizing' really looks like.  The New York Times, home of nasty, embittered columnist Paul Krugman, is the worst of them, and most ironically, too, because not long ago, the paper defended its hiring of Sarah Jeong, despite her quite recent history of racist tweets.

Stephen Moore and Herman Cain Are Just What the Fed Needs.  Whether or not one accepts Moore's commodities-index target (I do not) or Cain's belief in the gold standard (I do), their appointment and conrmation would be consistent with President Trump's reported desire for better equitable prosperity.  Moore calls himself a "growth hawk."  Herman Cain is a sure-enough pro-prosperity supply-sider.  Bring it on.  Conrming Stephen Moore and Herman Cain would not undermine the Fed's independence.  There's nothing innately partisan about equitable prosperity.

Trump made a brilliant move replacing Nielsen with the toughest cop on the block.  With Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen abruptly resigning Sunday amid a crisis on the southern border, where Border Patrol has been overwhelmed by illegal immigrants flooding into the country, President Donald Trump made the right move in announcing her replacement.  That's according to Thomas Homan, former acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, who praised the selection of Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Kevin McAleenan to replace Nielsen, saying McAleenan is "probably one of the smartest guys I've ever worked with."

Republicans press Trump to drop Herman Cain's Fed nomination.  Herman Cain is in deep trouble.  And he hasn't yet even been formally nominated to the Federal Reserve.  Senate Republicans are warning the White House that the 2012 presidential candidate will face one of the most difficult confirmation fights of Donald Trump's presidency and are making a behind-the-scenes play to get the president to back off, two GOP senators said.

Don't buy the attacks on Trump's Fed picks.  News that President Trump may nominate Stephen Moore and Herman Cain to the Federal Reserve Board of Governors has invited pushback by pretend-serious people supposedly concerned about these men's qualifications.  The notion that these detractors would accept some other "Good Republican," just not these two, is a farce.  The Good Republican would mostly agree with Democrats about the horribleness of other Republicans, scowl at standard Republican policies and nod along on a panel of liberals on your television.  Moore and Cain aren't Good Republicans, and that's why their credentials are called into question.

The Destruction of Citizen Cain.  In 2016, black businessman extraordinaire Herman Cain terminated his run for the presidency due to allegations of sexual misconduct.  Cain chose to protect his family from the humiliation of enduring leftists' attempt to destroy a black conservative Republican.  It is unfortunate that negative press was many black Americans' national introduction to Herman Cain.  When Cain dropped out of the presidential race, his accusers magically disappeared.  Now that Trump has chosen Cain for the Federal Reserve Board, the allegations have resurfaced to block his appointment.  Folks, we cannot continue allowing leftists to hypocritically use this tactic to disqualify good people.

Trump is removing US Secret Service director.  United States Secret Service director Randolph "Tex" Alles is being removed from his position, multiple administration officials tell CNN.  President Donald Trump instructed his acting chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney, to fire Alles.  Alles remains in his position as of now but has been asked to leave.

Panic Over the Federal Reserve.  What the uproar over these prospective nominations reflects is the sudden realization that the President could well include monetary policy on the list of campaign promises he intends to keep.  Remember?  The Paris climate accord, Iran deal, Jerusalem embassy, tax cuts, full employment, rebuild the military, build the wall, conservative judges — can the Federal Reserve be far behind?  This issue erupted in the Republican primary debate at Boulder, Colorado, a year before the 2016 election.

Republicans trigger 'nuclear option' to speed Trump nominees.  Senate Republicans used the "nuclear option" Wednesday to unilaterally reduce debate time on most presidential nominees, the latest in a series of changes to the fabric of the Senate to dilute the power of the minority.  The move by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) immediately paves the way to expedite confirmations of President Donald Trump's judicial and executive branch picks and comes amid deep GOP frustration with Democrats' delays.  Future presidents will benefit, too, though McConnell and Trump stand to gain inordinately as they seek to fill 130 District Court vacancies during the 18 months before the 2020 elections.

Trump picks Herman Cain for Federal Reserve spot.  President Trump announced Thursday that he was nominating former Godfather's Pizza president Herman Cain to an open seat on the Federal Reserve.  "I have recommended Herman Cain.  He is a very terrific man, a terrific person.  He is a friend of mine," Trump told reporters at the White House.  "I have told my folks that that's the man," Trump said.  Trump's pick of Cain to fill a spot on the seven-person Board of Governors follows the controversial choice last week of Heritage Foundation economist Stephen Moore to fill a different open seat.

Finally! Mitch McConnell shuts down Democrats' obstruction of confirmation of Trump appointees.  Because of unprecedented abuse of Senate rules, two and a half years into his presidency, President Trump has not been able to put all of his own qualified, confirmable appointees into senior-level positions.  This obstructionism has allowed Obama administration holdovers to obstruct and sabotage implementation of his policies (and to leak to the media).  Senate Democrats have cynically exploited the Senate rules allowing 30 hours of debate of each appointee to slow down the staffing of his administration.  Finally, Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell yesterday pushed through a majority-vote measure that changes those rules, limiting debate to two hours per appointment.  The same trick has been used to limit the confirmation of federal judges, and those rules also have been changed.

Rick Perry has surrendered.  Rick Perry, Secretary for Energy, gave a speech last week in Houston. [...] So he has revealed himself to be absolutely clueless with respect to carbon dioxide, increasing levels of which in the atmosphere are wholly beneficial.  He is a useful fool in wanting to help the Marxist plotter Occasional Cortex.  And wanting to help China reduce its emissions is Children's Crusade-level wishful thinking.  The reason Donald Trump won the Republican nomination in 2016 was because the rest of the field were spineless invertebrates.  One of the most spineless was Rick Perry, who was among the first to drop out.

Senate confirms Neomi Rao to DC Circuit in party-line vote.  The Senate voted Wednesday [3/13/2019] to confirm Neomi Rao, President Trump's regulatory czar, to succeed Justice Brett Kavanaugh on a powerful federal appeals court viewed as a springboard to the Supreme Court.  The 53-46 vote to put Rao on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit split Republicans and Democrats as expected, as many Democrats were upset with her academic writings.  Rao was scrutinized for op-eds she wrote while an undergraduate at Yale University about date rape and sexual assault.  She also came under fire for arguing against a ban on dwarf-tossing.

Dems accused of 'religious bigotry' for questioning Trump court pick's Knights of Columbus ties.  Following questions from multiple Democratic senators over the impartiality of Trump judicial nominee Brian Buescher and his ties to the Knights of Columbus, a charitable Roman Catholic organization, Republicans and various religious leaders hit back Monday [12/24/2018] against "religious bigotry."  "This isn't just about the Knights of Columbus or Catholics, this is an ongoing attack from the extremist left of the Democratic Party to silence people of faith and run them out of engaging in public service based on their religious beliefs," Penny Nance, the president of Concerned Women for America, a Christian women's activist group, said in a written statement.  "It is pure and simple religious bigotry," Nance added.

Former Federal Prosecutor:  That Mueller Memo From Trump's AG Nominee is Excellent, and He Shouldn't Withdraw or Recuse.  In June, William Barr — now President Trump's nominee-in-waiting to replace Jeff Sessions as Attorney General — wrote a detailed and narrowly-tailored legal memo regarding specific elements of Robert Mueller's special counsel investigation.  He sent his analysis to Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein, the man overseeing the Mueller probe, as well as the chief of the Office of Legal Counsel at the Justice Department.  Because this memorandum was not a sweeping endorsement of the investigation as it exists (to put it lightly), some legal experts are saying Barr has disqualified himself from presiding over the probe after he's confirmed — if he's confirmed at all.

William Barr Is Right:  Making Comey's Firing A Crime Will Destroy DOJ.  President Donald Trump's pick to run the Justice Department wrote a memo in June that argued against redefining obstruction of justice to include lawful actions taken by the president, according to the Wall Street Journal.  The 20-page memo by William Barr was dated June 8 and sent to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and Steven Engel, head of the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel.  Reporters Sadie Gurman and Aruna Viswanatha reviewed the memo, although they do not reveal who leaked it to them.

Jim Mattis and I Fought Together.  No One Called Him Mad Dog.  General Mattis retired from the Corps in 2013 with four stars and went to work in academia before being recalled to serve as President Trump's secretary of defense.  He gained a reputation as the most independent, and the best, of the president's cabinet officers, serving as a reassuring bulwark to America's allies who sometimes questioned the president's commitment to fighting common enemies.  The reputation Mr. Mattis earned for being the "adult in the room" angered the president, and his admirers knew that his days were numbered.

Manafort's Purge Trial.  I don't care much for Paul Manafort.  Like his Democratic Party doppelgänger Tony Podesta, he is the kind of pond scum that makes what we call The Swamp The Swamp.  Indeed, the two men have worked together in the past, having a natural affinity for exploiting the public interest for maximum profit.  I was going to call this column "The Trial of Tony Podesta" to point out the ridiculous disparity that one is on trial but not the other.  Judge Ellis couldn't have been more right.  This is selective prosecution to get at the president.  The charges are outrageously broad and deliberately so.  Nevertheless, it doesn't speak well of Trump that he chose to work with a man like Manafort.

When it comes to Brett Kavanaugh, fear is the Left's most powerful weapon.  From the moment President Trump announced his second Supreme Court nominee, Judge Brett Kavanaugh, reactions from the Left have been extreme.  Though the president's shortlist contained jurists who struck even greater fear within the hearts of leftists than the final candidate, the usual crowd continues to warn us of impending doom.  Too many individuals see every event during this presidency through an apocalyptic lens.  There is no saving any strength for crises that actually cause legitimate concern.  Each day is an exhausting repeat of the one before, complete with hand-wringing and fear-mongering.  On Tuesday [7/31/2018], Justice Anthony Kennedy ended his 30-year tenure on the high court.  His official departure is the start of a new chapter, one that is sure to include a sharp increase in hysteria as we get closer to confirmation hearings.

Brett Kavanaugh's America.  here's so much being said about Brett Kavanaugh, President Trump's choice for the Supreme Court.  How can anyone keep up?  If you're reading American Greatness, you've probably read about the judge's impeccable credentials and character. [...] But is he the man for the job?  Come on.  Just take a look at him, and you see the Poster Guy for a Supreme Court Justice.  OK, not everyone sees it.  Elected Democrats at all levels, leftist agitators, fraudulent media acolytes — the Excess of Awful — see something entirely different.

Why EPA's Scott Pruitt had to go.  First, it's always good for a White House when a resignation breaks over a holiday period and attention is focused elsewhere.  But more importantly, pressure rose for Pruitt to step down when his travails shifted from the merely humiliating to potential legal violations. [...] The EPA denied there were any "secret calendars or schedules," but there were clear discrepancies between internal EPA documents and Pruitt's official calendar.

Karl Rove:  If Gina Haspel Morally Unfit to Be CIA Director, So Is Nancy Pelosi.  On this weekend's broadcast of "Fox News Sunday," former Bush senior advisor Karl Rove said it was "reprehensible" to say Gina Haspel is morally unfit to be the CIA director because of her involvement in enhanced interrogation after 9/11.  Rove said, "I think it's reprehensible if people say she's morally unfit because she was following a program that was carefully crafted by the lawyers and approved as being within our international obligations and the statutes of the United States. [...]"

Dishonesty About Kelly Sadler.  White House aide Kelly Sadler is the object of this week's outrage mob.  The cycle is well-known:  Dig through someone's past or present comments whether public or private, find something that someone, somewhere finds offensive or can spin as offensive, and then whip up a media frenzy demanding a public shaming, which usually includes public shunning and the loss of a job. [...] There's a scoundrel in this story and it isn't Kelly Sadler.  It's the leaker who violated the trust of the president, the American people for whom he or she works, and everyone else in the room at the time.

Big news that the MSM downplays and ignores.  Democrats are acting as though they are morally opposed to Gina Haspel because of the intensive interrogation techniques after 9-11.  Somehow, they weren't outraged when they voted for John Brennan even though he was higher up than Gina Haspel at the CIA at the time.  They didn't seem concerned at all about waterboarding when they and John McCain voted for Brennan.  Selective outrage and selective morality indicate that they don't really care.  They appear to be sexist because they are willing to vote against an extremely qualified woman while they voted for a man with the same history or worse.

If a Democrat had appointed Gina Haspel, she'd be CIA Director by now.  If Hillary Clinton had won the presidential election and nominated Gina Haspel as the new director of the CIA, she would have been praised (correctly) as the most qualified candidate for the position in history.  Simply the fact that a 9/11 mastermind opposes Haspel's nomination should tell you something, but among her colleagues, she is known as the "spymaster."  What more do you want?  So of course, the hearings are dragging out, simply because she is Trump's choice.

The pathetic push to torpedo Gina Haspel.  Democrats' obsession with opposing President Trump on all fronts, no matter the merits, opens a new phase this week as CIA Director-designate Gina Haspel goes before the Senate Intelligence Committee.  That there's any opposition at all to this supremely qualified candidate only underscores just how petty and partisan the Democrats have become.  Haspel would be not only the first woman to head the CIA, but also the first career officer in 52 years to rise through the ranks directly to the director's chair.

Senate delays hearing for VA nominee amid misconduct allegations.  The Senate will delay the confirmation hearing for secretary of Veterans Affairs nominee Dr. Ronny Jackson amid reported allegations of misconduct.  Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.), the ranking Democrat on the Senate Veterans Affairs committee, asked to have the hearing postponed due to multiple claims of a "hostile work environment," according to CBS News.  The allegations also include "excessive drinking on the job," and "improperly dispensing meds."

Who, If Not Pompeo?  All eyes are on the remaining 13 Democratic senators who helped confirm Pompeo in January 2017.  And several have already come out in opposition, including California senator Dianne Feinstein, who is up for re-election and facing a progressive challenger.  "The Secretary of State is a very different role than CIA director, and it's not the kind of position you learn on the job," she said in a statement.

The Editor says...
I don't recall Senator Feinstein having any objection the Hillary Clinton "learn[ing] on the job."

Pompeo is close to confirmation and 11 senators are close to making a colossal mistake.  For the first time in the history of the republic, it appears increasingly likely that a majority of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee will vote against the president's nominee for secretary of state.  If this happens, it would be a black mark not on Mike Pompeo's record, but on the reputation of this once-storied committee.  There are no instances of a secretary of state nominee ever receiving an unfavorable committee vote since such votes were first publicly recorded in 1925 (before that, the committee voted in closed session).  Democrat John Kerry was approved in a unanimous voice vote, including from Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., who opposes Pompeo.  Democrat Hillary Clinton was approved 16 to 1, despite concerns about foreign donors to the Clinton Foundation.

Scott Pruitt Is a Hero, Unlike Some of His EPA Predecessors.  Trump has finally risen to the defense of his embattled EPA chief Scott Pruitt.  Quite right too, for Pruitt is by some margin the best Administrator the Environmental Protection Agency has had since it was founded by Richard Nixon in 1970.  This is not just because Pruitt is so good.  It's also because his predecessors were so bad.  Not merely incompetent, but in several cases actively corrupt, dishonest, and criminal.  As Steve Milloy notes here, all three past Democrat EPA administrators flagrantly violated public records laws, including the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).

Conservative Leaders, GOP Lawmakers Voice Support for Scott Pruitt.  A growing number of conservative leaders and GOP lawmakers are voicing their support for Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt amid some calls for him to resign.  The Conservative Action Project released a letter Friday with 113 signatures of conservative leaders calling on President Donald Trump to keep Pruitt in the administration.

A 'Strategic Pause' to Fix the Department of Veterans Affairs.  President Trump actually gave President Obama a vote of confidence in his elevating Dr. David Shulkin in rank from Undersecretary for Veterans Health Administration (VHA) to Secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs (DVA) last year.  Now that Shulkin has been fired, let us all now see how that act of bipartisan comity is going to be repaid with the nomination of Rear Admiral Ronny Jackson USN MD.  Adm. Jackson has said that he will retire from the military upon confirmation, forfeiting as much as $1 million in extra retirement pay that would have followed his pending promotion in rank.

Trump and the US need Scott Pruitt to stay at EPA.  "I do," President Trump said Thursday afternoon [4/5/2018] when asked by reporters whether he still has confidence in embattled Environmental Protection Agency head Scott Pruitt.  And well the president should.  Pruitt has been the most effective appointee in implementing the Trump agenda.  If Pruitt is forced out of his job because of charges he behaved unethically, America will suffer.  President Trump was elected as the economy was being choked and jobs were being destroyed by record-breaking, excessive and counterproductive regulations issued by the Obama administration.  The regulatory agency leading the charge against a healthy American economy and American job creation was the EPA.  Candidate Trump knew this and campaigned on it.  Millions of Americans voted for Trump precisely because he came out strongly against regulatory overreach.

Pompeo and Bolton Appointments Raise Alarm Over Ties to Anti-Islam Groups.  Nearly two months after the Boston Marathon bombing, Mike Pompeo, then a congressman from Kansas, took to the floor of the House to denounce American Muslim leaders for what he called their "silence" in response to the heinous terrorist attack.  "Silence has made these Islamic leaders across America potentially complicit in these acts," Mr. Pompeo said, reading from prepared remarks.  In fact, more than half a dozen American Muslim organizations had issued statements condemning the bombing within hours of the attack.  In the days following, Muslim groups organized news conferences, blood drives and prayer vigils.  Mr. Pompeo was immediately informed that he was wrong, but did not apologize or respond to Muslim groups stung by his remarks.

Scott Pruitt Is Doing Great.  Trump Cannot Afford to Let the Green Blob Claim His Scalp.  What on earth did Pruitt do wrong?  Well, there's the Green Blob narrative version of events which is that Scott Pruitt has become embroiled in a number of "scandals" which render him unfit for public office.  If you really care, Google them.  To my, admittedly pro-Pruitt eyes they all seem trivial — negotiating a cheap rate for a DC condo; wangling some of his staffers a better pay deal; thinking about leasing a private jet — to the point of worthlessness.  Ever since Pruitt took the job, the EPA has been deluged with FOIA requests by activist bodies trying to bring him down.  They evidently haven't been able to come up with much.  Pruitt's critics might sound less partisan, more credible if his predecessors hadn't been about a thousand times more venal, profligate and dishonest.

Scott Pruitt Is Trump's Biggest Asset.  That's Why The Left Wants Him Gone.  After Donald Trump, the individual in DC with the biggest target on his back is Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt.  When he was attorney general of Oklahoma, he sued the EPA more than a dozen times to get the powerful regulatory agency to stay within its legal authority.  His nomination was deeply concerning to radical environmentalists inside and outside the media.  As a result, he and his team have been under a microscope since even before his confirmation in early 2017.  Well-funded environmental groups, many with former EPA staffers, deluge the agency with FOIA requests to catch someone in a scandal.  Unlike how they covered Obama-era EPA administrators, media outlets constantly request information about everything Pruitt does, from his schedule to his travel particulars.  Whipped-up partisans have made unprecedented numbers of death threats against him and his family.  Powerful liberals opine against him.

John Bolton Is Good for the U.S. and Bad for Iran.  Judging by the rhetoric coming out of Tehran, John Bolton's appointment as America's National Security Advisor is the worst thing that ever happened. [...] Iran's protests validate the wisdom of making John Bolton America's National Security Advisor.  If Iran thinks he's bad, he must be good.  One thing is certain:  the United States will no longer pursue a policy of appeasement toward the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Ben Rhodes cranks up the smear machine.  Not worried in the least about his own credibility, Ben Rhodes and his minions are making wild, outrageous, fact-free, lunatic-fringe claims against incoming national security adviser John Bolton, correctly perceiving that the new national security adviser will be a threat to their self-vaunted Iran deal.

John Bolton: 'A Reagan Realist' and a Brilliant Choice.  John Bolton is a superb choice for national security advisor, though you wouldn't know that from the lamentations and doomsday prophecies issuing from the media since President Trump tweeted the news that on April 9 Ambassador Bolton will take over this pivotal White House post from Lt. Gen. H. R. McMaster.  As the New York-Washington headline consensus would have it, Bolton is a rogue war-monger, an ultra-hardline uber-hawk, a one-man MIRVed missile raring to blow up the planet.  He inspires terror at the New York Times, where the editorial board assures us, "Yes, John Bolton Really Is That Dangerous."

A zero-tolerance policy for Trump's zero-experience nominees.  The federal capital's incestuous network of revolving-door cronies and entrenched bureaucrats have so protected and increased their own power in recent years that the five wealthiest counties in America are all within commuting distance of Capitol Hill.  These swamp creatures complain that Trump is bringing in too many outsiders.  Beltway insiders consider it a crime that the president has nominated critics of agencies to head those very agencies — see Scott Pruitt at the Environmental Protection Agency and Scott Garrett at the Export-Import Bank — when in truth, it's praiseworthy.  Trump should wear those criticisms as a badge of honor.  But he seems in some areas to have confused the value of bringing in outsiders with a disregard for expertise.  On more than one occasion, the president has hired or nominated people clearly unqualified for the job.

Trump judicial nominee unable to answer basic legal questions withdraws from consideration.  A Trump administration judicial nominee who was widely ridiculed after he was unable to to answer basic questions on the law when he was quizzed by senators, has withdrawn his name for the job.  The President has accepted his decision.  Matthew Petersen who was nominated by Mr Trump to the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, was the subject of no small mockery after he appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee.  The video of Mr Petersen, a member of the Federal Election Commission since 2008 but who has no trial experience, being questioned by Republican senator John Kennedy, made awkward watching.

EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt is reining in the out of control radical environmentalists.  The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has been Republicans least favorite agency for quite some time.  The Obama administration allowed the EPA to expand their influence far past nearly any other executive agency, imposing unprecedented regulatory burdens on the American people.  Under the leadership of EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, President Donald Trump's EPA has taken a dramatic turn to foster innovation within the private sector and remove stifling regulations from state and corporation. [...] Congress has worked with the EPA through the Congressional Review Act (CRA) to remove elements of executive overreach the Obama Administration pushed into place.

Why Mike Pence is the most important man in America.  Mike Pence stands at the confluence of two major trends in American history, the decline of the Old Politics symbolized by Washington D.C., and the rise of the New Politics symbolized and dominated by Donald Trump.  How President Trump decides to utilize this unique human asset to bridge the transition will determine whether his presidency is a success or failure.

Trump must stay.  Jeff Sessions must go.  Usually these Congressional hearings are fun.  Great theater.  Good television.  What's more relaxing than tuning in to watch some poor sucker get carved up by the Committee, any Committee, particularly if the pigeon is someone we can't stand.  Bring on the popcorn.  But it wasn't like that on Tuesday at the House Judiciary Committee Hearings or in my living room.  We like Jeff Sessions.  Good guy.  Totally innocent of all charges.  We want him to succeed if only because we want Trump to succeed.  But this attorney general is so inarticulate that he sounds guilty.  He looks guilty.

Jeff Sessions continues to prove he's Trump's biggest mistake.  Jeff Sessions is a man in search of a banana peel.  When he can't find one to step on, he supplies his own.  Sessions is not a bad man, but he is a bad attorney general, as he demonstrated again Tuesday.  By writing to Republicans in Congress just hours before he was scheduled to testify that he was open to appointing a special prosecutor to examine former FBI Director James Comey's handling of Hillary Clinton's email case and the notorious Uranium One deal, Sessions primed the pump for a really big show.  Democrats arrived furious and Republicans gleefully expected an aha moment.  Both came away unsatisfied and unhappy.  Unfortunately for Sessions, the old conceit in journalism — that if both sides are angry at your story, you've done something right — doesn't apply to being attorney general.  When nobody's happy, including your boss, you're failing.

Former CIA Vet, Obama NSC Spokesman Says CIA Director Is A Dangerous Hack.  Former CIA veteran and Obama National Security Council spokesman Ned Price on Tuesday [11/7/2017] accused CIA Director Mike Pompeo of not only being a hack, but dangerous, as well.  "Remember when CIA Director Pompeo was considered one of the admin's "adults"? Turns out he's more than just a hack; he's dangerous," Price tweeted out Tuesday.  Price worked in the CIA from 2006 to February 2017 as an intelligence analyst.  For part of that time, he was loaned to the National Security Council, where he served as spokesman from 2015 to 2017.  He also served as special assistant to President Barack Obama.

Fox News' Gregg Jarrett Hits Jeff Sessions: 'Nice Man, Incompetent Attorney General'.  On Thursday night [11/2/2017], Fox News took some shots at Attorney General Jeff Sessions for what is being perceived as inactivity on alleged wrongdoings by Hillary Clinton.  Sean Hannity listed off Clinton's alleged crimes from funding the Trump dossier, the corruption surrounding Uranium One, to her financial control over the DNC.  Legal analyst Gregg Jarrett called her actions with the DNC an "elaborate scheme" which he alleged could have violated campaign financial limits, finance reporting laws, and even money laundering.  "I've always liked Jeff Sessions," Hannity said.  "I am now at the limit.  Where is he?  What is he doing?!?  Because there's so much crime, so many crimes... I don't see that the same attention and effort of known lawbreaking is even being followed."

EPA's Scott Pruitt:  Family getting death threats, too.  Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt says the death threats against him have extended to his family.  "The level of protection is dictated by the level of threat," Pruitt told Bloomberg in an expansive interview released Wednesday night, answering questions about his recent request for almost a dozen more 24-hour security agents.  "The quantity and the volume — as well as the type — of threats are different.  What's really disappointing to me as it's not just me — it's family."  Pruitt has an 18-member security team that is charged to guard him around the clock.  It was reported earlier this week that EPA is looking to add as many as 12 new guards to the 18-member squad.

Why is Jeff Sessions hiding the Uranium One informant?  Perhaps as startling as the revelation that the FBI was investigating the Hillary Clinton/Russia/Uranium One collusion and that key figures like Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, Special Counsel Robert Mueller and Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe knew about it and said nothing, is the refusal by Attorney General Jeff Sessions to remove the non-disclosure agreement gag order on the FBI informant who arguably could put Bill and Hillary Clinton and a few others in federal prison.  It was said the Jeff Sessions recused himself from all things Russian because of election campaign conflicts but is it really because he thought it would insulate him from having to divulge what he knew about Uranium One and the people who at the very least knew about the deal, some who approved the deal, including past and present members of the FBI, the DOJ, and Special Counsel Robert Miller's team?  Is Jeff Sessions part of the Uranium One cover-up?

6 Examples of Jeff Sessions' Cowardice.  [Scroll down]  Fifth, it is likely that the FBI is engaged in a cover-up of the mass shooting in Las Vegas, as inexplicably little to no information on the murderer's motives has been forthcoming.  As I opined a few columns back, it is likely Stephen Paddock was in some way an undercover informant for the FBI, and Sessions and the DOJ, while not responsible for the many deaths, does not want to reveal this.

Secretary DeVos Flies Everywhere On Her Own Jet — And Her Own Dime.  Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos flies around the country on a private jet, but unlike other cabinet secretaries criticized for misusing government funds, DeVos pays for the flights herself.  In fact, DeVos travels on a on "personally-owned aircraft," spokeswoman Elizabeth Hill told the Associated Press Thursday [9/21/2017].  "The secretary neither seeks, nor accepts, any reimbursement for her flights, nor for any additional official travel-related expenses, such as lodging and per diem, even though she is entitled to such reimbursement under government travel regulations," Hill said.  "Secretary DeVos accepted her position to serve the public and is fully committed to being a faithful steward of taxpayer dollars."

Sessions should resign, but not before taking action against Clinton, Comey and Rice.  Jeff Sessions should never have accepted the position of Attorney General of the United States.  His leadership has proven unproductive and ineffectual.  There are two reasons for this.  First, he deceived President Trump by concealing his intent to recuse himself from the federal investigation into Russia's meddling in the 2016 election.  Hours after he was sworn in, Sessions began setting his recusal in motion by meeting with Department of Justice officials to discuss stepping aside from the probe.  Failing to disclose such a material matter to the president was an egregious betrayal.

Betsy DeVos Ends a Campus Witch Hunt.  Suppose you're the kind of thoughtful liberal who concluded from Donald Trump's election that you've been living in a bubble and need to better understand the causes of America's distemper.  Suppose, too, that you have friends who voted for Trump — and who you know for a fact are neither bigots nor buffoons.  Why are they so angry?  How could they feel so desperate, politically speaking, to cast their ballots for him?  For a sense of the answer, look no further than Education Secretary Betsy DeVos's announcement Thursday [9/7/2017] that her department would revisit the Obama administration's Title IX guidelines on campus sexual assault.  The guidelines, she said, had "failed too many students" by radically curtailing due process.  She's right.

DeVos Takes on Lawless Campus Tribunals.  Yesterday [9/7/2017], Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos took a welcome step toward restoring a measure of justice and sanity to American higher education.  In a speech at George Mason University — and in a follow-up interview with CBS News — DeVos indicated that she intended to withdraw Obama administration "guidance" on adjudicating sexual-assault claims on campus and replace it with a regulatory rulemaking process that is intended to protect students from sexual assault and preserve essential civil liberties.

President Trump Appoints New NASA Chief.  All the right people are complaining about President Trump's new NASA chief Jim Bridenstine, who once demanded an apology from Obama for squandering money on climate research.

McMaster:  The Ultimate Holdover.  Many in the conservative media are urging President Trump to fire his national security advisor, Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster.  McMaster should be fired forthwith, but the reasons being argued are subsidiary to the primary reasons McMaster has to go.  The debate over McMaster has been framed in terms of his loyalty to Trump.  Though loyalty to the president is important, McMaster's ideology and bad judgment are what make him unfit for the position.

Opposing viewpoint:
McMaster and Mattis Are Rare Assets — Not Deep State Liabilities.  There is a larger context concerning the recent controversies among the architects of Trump's national security team and agenda, and the criticism of National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster.  Recall first that the foreign policy of Barack Obama, Ben Rhodes, Susan Rice, and Hillary Clinton could be best termed "provocative appeasement," and it logically led to the present tensions around the world.  The approach combined the most unfortunate traits of carrying a twig while speaking loudly:  vociferous remonstrations about human rights, occasional bombings, and drone-targeted assassinations, lots of sermonizing and faux red lines, deadlines, and step-over lines — all without either real consequences or accountability.

Scott Pruitt is ready to get the EPA back on track.  [Scott] Pruitt, like the president who appointed him, is determined to end Obama-era excesses, such as the all-pain, trivial-gain Clean Power Plan and the overreaching "Waters of the United States" rule that claimed the right to regulate even puddles.  Instead, the new administrator aims to focus the agency on actually finishing work it's been neglecting.  That includes bringing more of the nation into full attainment of clean air and clean water standards.  And also actually getting Superfund sites cleaned up — when many have been stalled for decades.

The Editor says...
If I were President, the EPA would be one of the first agencies to be terminated, because all 50 states have their own EPA equivalents.  California has six of them.

More Evidence That McMaster Shares Obama's Views on Islam and Terror.  Donald Trump's new national security advisor, Lt. General H.R. McMaster, has made troubling remarks — such as "the Islamic State is not Islamic" — that one expects from the D.C. establishment.  However a hearty endorsement that he gave to a 2010 book points to the totality of McMaster's views on security issues as being worse than simply his parroting politically correct memes on Islam.  The book in question is Militant Islamist Ideology:  Understanding the Global Threat.  Written by CDR Youssef Aboul-Enein, it was published by the Naval Institute Press in 2010.  I read and reviewed it back in 2012 and found its claims — many of which the Obama administration followed to disastrous results — to be incorrect and problematic.  For starters, Aboul-Enein asserts that only "militant Islamists" — ISIS types who behead, crucify, massacre, and burn people alive — are the enemy.  "Non-militant Islamists," however, are not.

Right On Cue, Soros-Financed MoveOn.Org Holds DC Protest Demanding Sessions' Resignation.  Right on cue, the George Soros-financed MoveOn.org progressive activist group on Thursday organized a protest outside the U.S. Department of Justice building calling for the resignation of Attorney General Jeff Sessions.  The protest was organized fairly quickly.  It was held mere hours after reports surfaced that Sessions held two conversations with the Russian ambassador to the U.S. while he was Alabama's senator and served on the Armed Services Committee.  Sessions maintains that the conversations did not concern the 2016 presidential campaign.  He served as an informal advisor to Trump during the presidential race.

Democrats are starting to sound like modern Joe McCarthys.  Attorney General Jeff Sessions' decision to recuse himself from any investigation involving last fall's election is prudent — but it won't satisfy the Democrats now channeling the ghost of Sen. Joe McCarthy.  Back in the '50s, the Wisconsin senator was famously accused of seeing a Russian under every bed.  And now Democrats seem to be conducting the same kind of "witch hunt" as his investigations of Soviet infiltration of the US government.

No, Ms. Pelosi, Attorney General Sessions did not commit perjury.  Napoleon Bonaparte once said, "from the sublime to the ridiculous is but a step."  There is nothing sublime about Nancy Pelosi.  Ridiculous, however, is an apt description.  At a news conference Thursday [3/2/2017], the former Speaker of the House denounced Attorney General Jeff Sessions as a liar, pronounced him guilty of perjury, and demanded his resignation.  This comes just days after she erroneously accused the Trump White House of obstructing justice.  Clearly, she's on a tear.  Who knew the democratic leader, who is not a lawyer, was such an expert on the law?

The Perjury Allegation against Jeff Sessions Is Meritless.  On the overwrought, partisan allegations that Attorney General Jeff Sessions committed perjury in his confirmation-hearing testimony, let's cut to the chase:  There is a good deal of political hay to be made because Sessions made a statement that was inaccurate — or at least incomplete — especially when mined out of its context.  But the claim that his testimony was perjurious as a matter of law is wholly without merit.

The McMaster Pick:  Score One For The Swamp?  President Trump has confirmed that retired Lt. General H.R. McMaster is his new choice to be his National Security Adviser.  There have been indications that the Republican establishment has been trying to co-opt Trump and keep him from effecting the sweeping reform that he has promised, and this appointment could indicate that at least for the moment, these forces have gained the upper hand.

US Marshals guard DeVos after tense nomination process.  U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos is being guarded by the agents from the U.S. Marshals Service after a bruising nomination process, Politico reported.  Drew J. Wade, a spokesman for the service, told the magazine that he is not aware of these agents guarding an education secretary in the past.  The education secretary is traditionally guarded by a small security unit from the education department, the report said.  The report said that few other details are available about the security arrangement.  Despite her win, DeVos emerged bruised from her highly divisive nomination fight.

Elizabeth Warren Gets Mitchslapped.  Tuesday night [2/7/2017], the Democrats tried to show their base they're willing to get off the mat and get back into the ring, this time to unsuccessfully block one of their own, a man they all like personally, but have to now verbally destroy to satisfy their base, Jeff Sessions of Alabama.  Why?  He's going to be a rather effective Attorney General, and the left hates that.

Senate narrowly confirms Betsy DeVos as education secretary.  The Senate confirmed Betsy DeVos as education secretary Tuesday [2/7/2017] by the narrowest of margins, with Vice President Pence casting a historic tiebreaking vote after senators deadlocked over her fitness for the job.  DeVos now takes the helm of the Education Department with questions about whether and how the polarizing fight over her confirmation will affect her power to advance the Trump administration's agenda.  The entire Democratic caucus of 48 senators voted against DeVos, as did two Republicans, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine, who said they did not think that DeVos was qualified for the job.

Senate confirms DeVos with tie-breaking vote by Pence.  The Senate on Tuesday confirmed Betsy DeVos to lead the Department of Education by the slimmest of margins, capping off a rocky, high-stakes fight for President Trump's pick.  Vice President Pence cast the deciding vote on DeVos, breaking a 50-50 tie after Sens. Susan Collins (Maine) and Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) became the first Republican senators to oppose a Trump Cabinet pick, joining all Democrats.  Pence is the first vice president ever to cast a decisive vote on a Cabinet nominee.  The last time a vice president broke a tie in the Senate was 2008, when then-Vice President Dick Cheney voted on tax legislation.

Approve the Cabinet.  The great strategic problem with the Democrats is that when they win, they think they'll never lose again, and when they lose, they think they'll never win again.  When Barack Obama was in the White House, Democrats couldn't get enough of his "pen and phone" strategy to run roughshod over the separation of powers; apparently, it never occurred to them that a Republican president might make use of these same tools.  Now shut out of the White House and holding minority positions in both houses of Congress, Democrats are taking a scorched-earth approach to the president's nominations; apparently, it hasn't occurred to them that it is likely that a future Democratic president will face a Senate in which Republicans are a majority rather than a frustrated minority, and that it is entirely possible that a Republican opposition could do to most — or even all — of that future Democrat's Cabinet picks what they did to Merrick Garland.

Thank God for Kellyanne Conway.  She's one of the smartest, most kind, most thoughtful people you could ever hope to meet.  And the mass media are intent on destroying her.  Kellyanne Conway made history as the nation's first female manager of a successful presidential campaign.  Yet the mass media will not ever sincerely congratulate her as the woman who broke that glass ceiling.

From George Washington To Barack Obama:  Senate Democrats' Cabinet Blockade Has Never Been Seen Before.  The Senate Democrats' obstruction of President Trump's cabinet nominees has reached a record-setting level.  Yesterday [2/2/2017], ABC News reported:  "President Trump has more unconfirmed Cabinet nominees at this point in his term than all previous presidents combined." Senate Democrats have failed to a historical magnitude to offer deference to the president, running counter to what they argued for during previous administrations.

Donald Trump's pest control problem.  As a liberal Obama holdover, one can safely assume that Ms. Yates surmised that when Senator Jeff Sessions was confirmed as Attorney General, one of his first acts would be to let her go.  So, rather than doing the honorable thing and resign over her disagreement with President Trump, Ms. Yates chose a course of action transparently designed to make her a hero in the eyes of the left.

Democrats boycott vote on EPA nominee Scott Pruitt.  The boycott by Democrats on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee comes amid other attempts to hold up Mr. Trump's nominees.  In the case of Mr. Pruitt specifically, Democrats claim he's failed to answer substantive questions.  But Republican leaders say that excuse simply doesn't hold water.  "The minority may not like all of Attorney General Pruitt's answers, but he's given them answers," said Sen. John Barrasso, Wyoming Republican and committee chairman.  "Mr. Pruitt ought to get at least a vote."

Senate committee approves DeVos nomination.  The Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) on Tuesday morning approved Betsy DeVos's nomination to lead the Department of Education.  DeVos was confirmed 12-11 along party lines.  Her nomination will now go to the Senate floor, where she'll need only need a simple majority to be confirmed.

Steve Bannon in 2010: 'Islam is not a religion of peace.  Islam is a religion of submission'.  President Trump's chief strategist, former Breitbart executive Steve Bannon, once dismissed the notion that Islam is a religion of peace, describing it in a 2010 radio interview as "a religion of submission."  Bannon made the comments on "Western Word Radio with Avi Davis," an online right-wing radio station.  In the segment, Bannon, who at the time served on the board of Breitbart, criticized former President George W. Bush for what he and fellow guest conservative columnist Diana West described as injecting political correctness into the federal government.

The Editor asks...
What did Mr. Bannon say that isn't absolutely correct?

What I Learned in Washington DC.  If you listen to the media you might have the impression that the Trump transition team is in complete disarray.  Talking with leaders of the transition team certainly didn't leave me with that impression.  They have broken the transition process down into over 30 departments and have created a "landing document" for each department.  The analogy they are using is that this process is like planning an invasion, and they are going to hand the landing document off to the "beachhead teams" who will then execute the plans.

Dems Force Trump's Ed.  Nominee To Answer 1,397 Questions In Writing — Obama's TWO Had 109, Combined.  Democrats are blocking the confirmation of Donald Trump's Secretary of Education nominee Betsy Devos by forcing her to answer 837 written, followup questions from her Senate confirmation hearing.  "Mrs. Devos' Senate opponents are grasping for straws," Sen. Lamar Alexander said of the decision in a post for Medium.  "We didn't have time to question her, they say, even though she met with each one of them in their offices, and her hearing lasted nearly an hour and a half longer than either of President Obama's education secretaries."

Trump's Nominees Face 'Unprecedented' Democrat Obstructionism.  President Donald Trump starts his first full week in the White House with just two Cabinet secretaries confirmed by the U.S. Senate.  That's the lowest number in decades and a sharp contrast from former President Barack Obama.  Trump's picks have fared worse than past Cabinet nominees.  Even though Trump enjoys a Republican-led Senate, Democrats have kept their promise to delay confirmation of his nominees, even if they lack the votes to ultimately defeat them.

Also posted under Leftist obstructionism.

Senate confirms retired Gen. James Mattis as defense secretary, breaking with decades of precedent.  The Senate confirmed James N. Mattis as President Trump's defense secretary Friday, breaking with decades of precedent by making a recently retired general the Pentagon's top civilian leader.  Mattis, 66, will lead the Defense Department's 1.9 million active-duty service members and reservists and oversee a budget of more than $580 billion as Trump prepares to expand the military.  He becomes the first senior military officer to serve as defense secretary since President Truman nominated Army Gen. George C. Marshall for the job in 1950, as the U.S. military struggled in the Korean War.  Many lawmakers and long-time foreign policy observers hope Mattis can be a moderating voice of experience in an administration that has notably few senior officials with national security experience in Washington.

Trump nominee Nikki Haley set to show skepticism about value of U.N..  South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley pledged Wednesday to forcefully advance American interests as the U.S. ambassador at the United Nations after what she called a retreat from global leadership under the Obama administration.  Haley questioned the priorities and effectiveness of the world body,which President-elect Donald Trump has called a toothless debating society, but said she intends to "fix" what doesn't work.

THIS is going to "make America great again?"
Interior nominee Ryan Zinke defends expansive federal reach in land policies.  Rep. Ryan Zinke, the nominee to head the Interior Department, will cast himself Tuesday [1/17/2017] as a champion of the federal government expanding its reach over federal lands, in a move that could signal friction with his own GOP colleagues.  He also hinted, in testimony prepared for his confirmation hearing Tuesday afternoon, that President-elect Donald Trump's promised infrastructure plans will include money to shore up the crown jewels of the national park system, many of which are crumbling under a $12 billion maintenance backlog.  Mr. Zinke will call himself an "unapologetic admirer of Teddy Roosevelt," saying the former president "had it right" when he expanded the government's reach to millions of acres of lands.

Trump's pick for Education Secretary wants everyone to get a great education.  Dems hate her for it.  In Louisiana we enacted the biggest school choice statewide program in the country.  And in New Orleans every public school will soon be a charter school, allowing for real innovation.  There will be literally zero traditional public schools, and education is improving.  But let's be clear, this is Holy Grail for the American Left.  They will fight to the last gasp to stop anyone from delivering equal opportunity in education.  They attacked me for it every waking hour after we got our program enacted, in the same irrational and nasty manner they are now attacking Betsy [Devos].

What Betsy DeVos Should Tell the Senate.  One week from today, the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions will hold its confirmation hearing for Betsy DeVos, Donald Trump's pick for U.S. secretary of education. [...] Her confirmation provides a golden chance to sketch out a principled vision of school reform and explain to a national audience just where school choice fits into that vision.  On the national stage, conservatives have long had trouble articulating a coherent, winning approach to education policy.  This is strange, because they have a sensible, appealing prescription to offer.  Here's what DeVos could say: [...]

Ted Cruz Challenges Media, Champions Truth Through Far-Left's Smear of Jeff Sessions.  Texas Senator Ted Cruz challenged the news media during Tuesday's confirmation hearing to tell the truth about his colleague Jeff Sessions' record on championing civil rights and fighting bigotry — in particular Sessions' role in sentencing a well-known Klansman to death and helping to financially bankrupt the Klan in the state of Alabama.

Cabinet hearings' only 'surprise' is Democrats' grandstanding.  Confirmation hearings for President-elect Trump's Cabinet picks are now under way and — despite some Democratic posturing — the nominees are acquitting themselves well.  The most blatant pandering came from New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, who essentially launched his 2020 presidential campaign with a broadside against Attorney General-designate Jeff Sessions.  It was the first time a senator has ever testified against a sitting colleague at a confirmation hearing, but Booker sanctimoniously claimed he had to defer to his "conscience and country."  (As if Republicans don't care about either.)  Then again, the Cory Booker who accused Sessions of "hostility" to civil rights is the same senator who last year declared he was "blessed and honored" to work with Sessions in honoring '60s-era civil-rights activists.

Watch Ted Cruz Obliterate Leftist Senator Al Franken In Defense Of Jeff Sessions.  Al Franken attempted to paint Senator Jeff Sessions as a liar and a racist — accusations which are in direct opposition to the actual facts of Senator Jeff Sessions' remarkable law enforcement and legislative career.  Sessions was fighting against real racism when Franken was a third-rate comedian and writer on SNL.  How refreshing is it to see a conservative like Ted Cruz, a man who intellectually laps the likes of Franken many times over, come so quickly and forcefully to Senator Sessions' defense.  Perhaps the persistent rumors of a Cruz nomination to the Supreme Court remains a very real possibility in a Trump administration.  If so, America would be better for it.

'We Know in Alabama Who Jeff Sessions Is': Black Pastors Defend Trump's AG Pick Against Charges of Racism.  Senator Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) is a "very decent man" who has "served well and whose track record speaks for itself," an Alabama pastor said on Capitol Hill Monday, as he and other black pastors spoke out in support for President-elect Donald Trump's pick for Attorney General.  "We know in Alabama who Jeff Sessions is," Bishop Kyle Searcy, senior pastor of the multi-racial, nondenominational Fresh Anointing House of Worship in Montgomery, Ala., told CNSNews.com.

Sharpton Promises 'Season of Civil Disobedience' in Response to Sessions Nomination.  National Action Network president Rev. Al Sharpton promised a "season of civil disobedience" in reaction to the nomination of Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) for attorney general in the Trump administration.  Sharpton, an MSNBC host, said activists have planned a march in Washington on Jan. 14 during the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend to protest the Sessions nomination.  Sharpton recalled spending 90 days in jail for protesting on U.S. Navy land against military exercises on the island of Vieques in 2001 when George W. Bush was president, adding that civil disobedience usually works because it changes policy.

How Jeff Sessions would change the Justice Department.  On Tuesday morning attorney general-designate Jeff Sessions will become the first Trump nominee to undergo a Senate confirmation hearing.  It could be rough.  Democrats have spent weeks noting that Sessions — their colleague in the Senate for the last 20 years — was denied a federal judgeship in 1986 over charges he was "racially insensitive."  The outside groups and journalists that support Democrats have been less tactful; just Google "Sessions" and "racist."  But the key questions in confirming Sessions are not about what happened, or didn't happen, in the 1980s.  They are about what Sessions would do as attorney general.

Reaction To Trump's Team Proves Climate Alarmists Are The Real Deniers.  Today is the Day Against Denial, where climate change activists around the country are protesting President-elect Donald Trump's cabinet picks.  Activists will supposedly converge on U.S. Senate offices and demand that their senators "reject Donald Trump's reckless climate-denying cabinet nominees" particularly secretary of State nominee Rex Tillerson, Environmental Protection Agency administrator Scott Pruitt, and Energy secretary pick Rick Perry.

The Sessions Smear.  NAACP officials have already been arrested in an anti-Jeff Sessions protest and his confirmation hearing as attorney general is not until next week.  The Sessions confirmation battle is sure to generate lots of heat and very little light.  Sessions will likely prevail, but not before his name is dragged through the gutter in an execrable exercise in contemporary racial politics.  At least Sessions is familiar with how this works.  He went through the experience in 1986 when his nomination to a federal judgeship was rejected by a U.S. Senate committee on spurious grounds.

Scott Pruitt Applying Our Constitution Will Rein In Bureaucratic Abuses at the EPA.  Passions are exploding over Oklahoma's Attorney General, Scott Pruitt, becoming the Secretary of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).  Particularly, the Sierra Club is furious and has started an Alinsky-style assault of vilifying the nominee.

The Case for Scott Pruitt to Serve as EPA Administrator.  Scott Pruitt has established himself as a bold and principled conservative, unable to rest easy while the separation of powers is violated and legislative authority is taken away from the hands of Congress. He has a unique understanding of the unconstitutional regulatory branch and he would surely be pleased to see an environmental policy that works not only for the environment of the natural world, but also the environment of the American worker and consumer.  Voters sent a loud message to Washington:  Americans want change.  The status quo is not working and America can do better.  Regulatory overreach has become the status quo and has proven to have negative effects on Americans of every state and every class.  A country that respects the rule of law needs a law that is clear, realistic, and stable.

Pray for Jeff Sessions.  Everyone who believes in prayer should say some for attorney general nominee Jeff Sessions.  Senator Sessions is experiencing the full wrath of the worst hateful lies that the modern Left and Democrat Party can conjure.  Lies, half-truths, and smears have become the strategy to attack his nomination.  The age of Obama has seen the rise of bricks-and-mortar operations with deep cash reserves designed to permanently transform the nation, and the Justice Department has been ground zero.  That's why Jeff Sessions is the perfect pick for attorney general, and that's why the liars on the Left are willing to smear this good man.  They've served up all their familiar charges against him from their phobia smorgasbord:  homo-, xeno-, Islamo- or trans-.  That's why the NAACP decided to trespass and occupy his Senate office — an action far worse than the one that landed James O'Keefe in jail.  Don't expect Loretta Lynch to do anything.  Who commits the crime is sometimes more important than what they did.  O'Keefe played for the wrong team.

National Sheriffs' Association Supports Senator Jeff Sessions for Attorney General.  A little known fact most are not familiar with — within your local jurisdiction, unless removed by State legislative construct, the County Sheriff is the highest recognized constitutional officer in your area.

Schumer: "Democrats Will Resist Trump's Picks Vehemently!"  According to [a report in The Washington Post], Schumer told Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell that he will target Trump's pick for the head of State, Sen. Jeff Sessions for head of the Justice Department, and two other notable appointees.  Democrats will also target picks for the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Labor, Treasury and the Environmental Protection Agency.

Democrats target eight cabinet nominees, threaten to drag out process.  Senate Democrats are vowing to stall action on eight of Donald Trump's Cabinet nominees tasked with carrying out his economic, law enforcement and regulatory agenda, a senior Democratic aide told CNN Monday.  If carried through, the threat that could delay confirming the President-elect's choices for months.  Those targeted include secretary of state nominee Rex Tillerson, attorney general pick Jeff Sessions and health and human services secretary hopeful Tom Price.

Time for Trump's EPA pick to rein in the agency.  When Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt is confirmed as the next administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, he will inherit an agency that should be declaring victory in its 46-year battle for a cleaner, healthier environment.  The next administrator must focus on reining in an agency that has far exceeded its original mission.

Dissecting Slander:  The Untold Story of Jeff Sessions' 1986 'Borking'.  Decades-old racially charged allegations against Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) parroted by the establishment media and a handful of far left Senate Democrats do not hold up under scrutiny, an extensive investigation conducted by Breitbart News has found.  There are essentially three central allegations the left levels against Sessions.  The first pertains to his involvement in a 1980s voter fraud case, which, evidence shows, Sessions prosecuted to ensure a fair elections for black Democratic citizens of the county.  The second involves allegations from a former assistant attorney, who was described by co-workers as a "disaffected" employee with a "bad attitude problem" and whose testimony was vigorously debunked by highly credible witnesses.  The third involves accusations from an ex-Department of Justice attorney whose credibility was brought into question after he was forced to recant portions of his testimony, in which he fabricated false allegations against Sessions.

Mucking Out the Justice Department.  Of Donald Trump's most prominent allies in the presidential campaign, Jeff Sessions is the last one standing.  Newt Gingrich is an outside adviser to Trump and occasional critic.  Chris Christie works full-time as governor of New Jersey.  Rudy Giuliani didn't get the position he wanted — secretary of state — and turned down several he didn't want.  Sessions, as Trump's choice for attorney general, has the job of draining the swamp at the Department of Justice and making DoJ great again.  It's going to be a grueling job with many facets.  The good news is that Sessions, a former U.S. attorney and Alabama attorney general before he was elected to the Senate in 1996, is familiar with all of them.

Freezing Cold?  Time to Rename the EPA the Conservation Agency.  As many have noted, global warming and, more generally, environmentalism have become the religion of the liberal.  Gaia has replaced God.  Whatever your opinion of the theological implications, scientific blindness and bias have been the results.  The economy has also suffered, especially for the working class.  What do we do about it?  Donald Trump has nominated someone more realistic — Scott Pruitt — for head of the Environmental Protection Agency currently dominated by climate totalitarians.

Donald Trump's Cabinet is awesome.  One of the many unprecedented things about the election of Donald Trump is what a black box he is.  The day after the election, I pinned the following message at the top of my Twitter profile:  "We still don't know what President Trump is going to do."  And it's true:  Trump likes being unpredictable.  He thinks of himself first and foremost as a dealmaker, and one of his key dealmaking tactics is to keep as many options on the table as possible.  This is why watching who he appoints to various Cabinet positions is so important.  They give us some flavor of what his administration is going to be like, and what his priorities might be.

Here's Why A Military Officer Might Be A Terrible Pick For The Next VA Secretary.  President-elect Donald Trump is considering a military flag officer to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), but a career military person would likely lack experience dealing with the civil service rules that have been the department's primary barrier to ending scandals.  Trump has said that he's taken longer to fill that department's top slot because its life-or-death challenges and long-running scandals make it so important.  But now there are only four Cabinet posts left to be chosen, and there is pressure to use the slot to shape a larger image of the administration.

John Brennan is completely unqualified to be Director of Central Intelligence.  Allegations that Brennan is a convert to Islam are based upon firsthand reports of those who served with him in Saudi Arabia.  Those allegations include that Brennan was the target of a Saudi intelligence influence operation, one outcome of which was Brennan's conversion to Islam.  At that time, Brennan was chief of station, a billet that is designed for an operationally trained officer with experience in the CIA's Directorate of Operations, which Brennan was not.  Brennan's background is that of an analyst, which may explain why he lacked the sophistication and experience to understand that he was being played by the Saudis in an influence operation.  Anyone so inept as to be oblivious to basic hostile intelligence tactics such as this influence operation is unqualified to be DCI.

Trump appoints even more skeptics.  Mazin Sidahmed at The Guardian has posted a handy list of Trumps Cabinet Picks.  The times have changed so much that it's not a case of "spot the skeptic" but a hunt to find any believers in the climate doctrine.  Make no mistake, things are very, very bad for the fans of human-caused-weather.  Almost every name on this list would be the "top target" of green protests if they had been the one appointee among the standard Obama-Clinton picks.  But almost all of them are drawing fire.

G.O.P. Resistance Builds to John Bolton as State Dept.  Deputy.  President-elect Donald J. Trump's extended deliberations over assembling a team to run the State Department are reviving some of the same debates that consumed the years of war and strife in the administration of George W. Bush.  And in some cases, the cast of rivals is even the same.  The conflict has come to a head over choosing a deputy to serve under Rex W. Tillerson, the Exxon Mobil chief executive whom Mr. Trump selected this week to be secretary of state.  Mr. Trump is weighing whether to choose John R. Bolton, a combative and strident advocate for an expansive American foreign policy who was closely aligned with Vice President Dick Cheney in the Bush administration.

Democratic Researchers Descend On Trump Nominees.  A leading Democratic opposition group, American Bridge, is gearing up to play a critical role in an effort to take down, or publicly taint, President-elect Donald Trump's cabinet nominees by enlisting backup from Hillary Clinton's transition team and sharing in-depth research in meetings with key senators.  The super PAC, which also has a nonprofit arm, is digging into nominees' past statements, voting records, tax documents, and business ties in detail, passing along their findings to a group of senators and their staff members in an effort to coordinate attacks on Trump's nominees in confirmation hearings, the group's founder David Brock told BuzzFeed News, laying out his plans in an interview.

Perry, make Yucca Mountain great again.  The Obama White House made an unfortunate and ungracious choice in launching a preemptive attack on Rick Perry's nomination this week.  Spokesman Josh Earnest did his best deadpan as he disparaged the choice as one based on politics and not merit.  But what about President Obama's appointments of Ken Salazar, Kathleen Sebelius, Tom Vilsack and Janet Napolitano?  They were all lawyers without specific expertise in the issue areas of the departments they led.  But each, having experience as elected Democratic statewide officials, knew enough about their respective issue areas that their status as non-experts never really mattered.

Democrats Have No Room to Claim People Are Unqualified.  Eight years ago the Democrats nominated a man who had not even served a full term in the United States and whose primary job had been as a failed community organizer in Chicago.  He got elected President of the United States then promptly surrounded himself with career bureaucrats and non-profit devotees who had never had real jobs in their lives in the private sector.  And he used those people to try to regulate the private sector they neither understood nor had worked in.  Now, eight years later, their party is in ruin, the majority of states are held by Republicans, the House and Senate are held by Republicans, and the man they allowed into their party to seek their nomination this time left it once he lost.

Liberal media's hypocrisy about conservative women on full display in Politico hit piece.  She's unqualified.  She's a policy lightweight.  She worked as a typist.  She's not a thinker.  She's been raising kids since the '80s ... and at 65, does she even have the stamina for the office?  If the president-elect were Hillary Clinton and journalistic breadcrumbs like these were written about one of her female appointees, the howling accusations of ageism and sexism would be deafening.  But while the mainstream media and what passes today for the women's movement wasted no time lobbing such accusations at Donald Trump when he called Clinton's stamina into question, there has been only silence this week after Politico published a story by Michael Crowley about incoming Deputy National Security Adviser KT McFarland, entitled "Flynn deputy raises more doubts about Trump team."  It seems virtuous indignation is reserved for women of the liberal order exclusively.

Trump picks his Interior chief, a supporter of more drilling.  Edging closer to completing his Cabinet, President-elect Donald Trump announced his choice of Montana Rep. Ryan Zinke as Interior secretary Thursday, picking a man who should fit smoothly into an administration favoring more energy drilling and less regulation.

Rex Tillerson, Carbon-Tax-Backing Climate Change Believer.  What do you know about Secretary of State nominee Rex Tillerson based upon the coverage of him so far? [...] Has any of the coverage so far pointed out that Tillerson believes in climate change and supports a carbon tax?

A big 'whoops' for Donald Trump.  Arguably for the most important cabinet position, that of the secretary of state, third in line of succession for the presidency, Mr. Trump chose someone who may well have been Hillary's pick:  Rex Tillerson, supporter of Planned Parenthood, wrecker of the Boy Scouts of America, and a medal recipient from the KBG thug Vladimir Putin.  The nominee has no military or diplomatic experience. [...] Mr. Trump appears to have picked someone in his own image:  a tycoon and a deal-maker, a social liberal who succeeded in business.

The Editor says...
If Mr. Tillerson is not qualified for the job, or he comes with too much baggage, the Senate will send him back to Exxon.

Trump nominees face brutal hearings, but Senate rarely rejects Cabinet picks.  President-elect Donald Trump's nominees are headed for brutal confirmation hearings, and his choice of ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson for secretary of state is shaping up to be the most grueling, but history shows that the Senate rarely musters the nerve to reject Cabinet picks.  Only nine Cabinet nominees in U.S. history have been defeated in committee or Senate votes, although 12 others have been withdrawn in the face of strong opposition.  The last time a nominee was defeated outright came in 1989, when former Sen. John Tower, President George H.W. Bush's pick for defense secretary, went down in a party-line vote in a Democrat-majority Senate.

Awkward: Dem critics of Jeff Sessions spent 20 years praising him.  A growing number of key Democrats raising questions about Attorney General-nominee Sen. Jeff Sessions have spent 20 years praising his character and bipartisanship, leading to a potentially awkward and hypocritical challenge at his upcoming Senate confirmation hearing.  A review of past public statements that show support and admiration for the Alabama senator includes words from Labor Secretary Thomas Perez who plans a spirited bid for the chairmanship of the Democratic National Committee.

Trump taps Montana congressman Ryan Zinke as Interior secretary.  President-elect Trump has tapped GOP Rep. Ryan Zinke, who has represented Montana's at-large congressional seat for one term, to serve as secretary of the Department of the Interior, according to an individual with first-hand knowledge of the decision.  Zinke, who studied geology as an undergraduate at the University of Oregon and served as a Navy SEAL from 1986 to 2008 before entering politics, campaigned for his House seat on a platform of achieving North American energy independence.  He sits on the House Natural Resources Committee as well as the Armed Services Committee.

Tillerson's Assault on Scouting.  [Scroll down]  Unless one takes a "Progressive" view of his faith or adopts some fringe religion, homosexual activity is forbidden.  If it is forbidden, how can one be "morally straight" or do one's duty to God while embracing it?  President-Elect Donald J. Trump recently announced he is considering Rex Tillerson to lead the State Department.  Tillerson, CEO of ExxonMobil, was, among other things, the former head of the Boy Scouts of America and one of the people responsible for opening the BSA to homosexuals.  It was Tillerson who lobbied to end the "don't ask, don't tell" policy of the BSA.

Tony Perkins pans Rex Tillerson pick to lead the State Department.  Evangelical leader Tony Perkins is raising concerns about Rex Tillerson, calling the nominated secretary of state the "greatest ally" liberals would have in the forthcoming Trump administration due to the oil and gas executive's stances on social issues.  President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday morning [12/13/2016] named Mr. Tillerson to be his secretary of state.  The Senate then decides whether or not to confirm.  Mr. Perkins, who heads the Family Research Council, pointed specifically to Mr. Tillerson's advocacy to allow openly gay youths to join the Boy Scouts of America and donations made by ExxonMobil, where Mr. Tillerson is CEO and chairman, to Planned Parenthood.

The DOE vs.  Ugly Reality.  Over at the Washington Post, Chris Mooney and the usual suspects are seriously alarmed by a memo sent out by the Transition Team at the Department of Energy.  They describe it in breathless terms in an article entitled "Trump transition team for Energy Department seeks names of employees involved in climate meetings". [...] Oh — you mean like say the Attorneys General of a bunch of states holding up their lists of known "denier" organizations and tacitly urging the public to go after them?  You mean like government officials of a variety of stripes ranting about how "deniers" should be brought to trial or otherwise penalized?

Rand Paul Explains Why John Bolton Should Be 'Nowhere Close' to the State Department.  Former Republican presidential candidate and Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul has a strong opinion on John Bolton's candidacy to serve in Donald Trump's State Department.  The former UN ambassador is being considered for the No. 2 spot in the agency, yet Paul argues that Bolton's endorsement of the Iraq War disqualifies him from working in the administration.

Why on earth does Trump want Rex Tillerson at the State Department?  Up until this historical moment, the great powers have been unable to act in concert to help Islam find its way back to something resembling peaceful coexistence with the infidels of the world, and with modernity itself.  The reason is simple:  oil.  The Islamic nations have so far controlled so much of it that the West had no choice but to accept their funding of a jihad war for global dominance, as scripturally mandated but only intermittently acted upon by Muslims worldwide.  But now fracking and related technologies have lessened the chokehold, especially of Gulf nations, on the world's energy supply.  Maybe it is time for a new grand bargain.  The Gulf potentates stop supporting fundamentalist clergy, publications, and mosques overseas.  In return, they be allowed to continue a very profitable industry, one that their own citizens mostly do not directly manage.

Pruitt to Dismantle EPA Climate Agenda.  The goal is to use climate change as a means to increase government power over every aspect of our lives, what we make, how we make it, what energy we use, what cars we drive, even what food we eat.  The scientific record, as IBD notes, shows that climate change is a scam: [...] And now the high priests of the global warming religion are demanding what other false religions have demanded — human sacrifices upon their altar.  Pruitt is the right man to expose climate fraud and end the job and freedom-killing actions of the EPA.

How Can You Tell A Good Trump Pick?  By The Establishment Freakout.  An easy way to tell whether one of Donald Trump's leadership picks is a good one is to gauge the freakout level among the left.  By that measure alone, the person Trump is considering as head of the Food and Drug Administration would be an outstanding choice.  Jim O'Neill, whose name got floated this week, is a managing director at of Trump pal Peter Thiel's Mithril Capital Management.  In addition to private sector experience, O'Neill worked at the Department of Health and Human Services under President Bush.  But he's also — gasp! — a libertarian!

Trump's EPA pick is causing green heads to explode.  From E&E Legal:  "We are delighted with President-elect Trump's selection of Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt to head the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).  Mr. Pruitt has led the charge in recent years to confront head on the enormous federal regulatory overreach proposed by the EPA as epitomized by the Clean Power Plan and Waters of the U.S. rule.  As a litigator, he also understands how environmental fringe groups like the Sierra Club and the NRDC — who are bankrolled by renewable energy tycoons like Tom Steyer and George Soros — use the state and federal court systems to essentially create new laws through such schemes as 'sue & settle.'  It is also reassuring that President-Elect Trump has chosen someone from the state ranks, particularly a state so important to energy production, since it's the states and their citizens who are suffering the most by this Administration's out-of-control EPA. [...]"

Flashback: Obama had three 4-stars on his team and no one seemed to mind.  News outlets ran a spate of articles and columns in recent days reflecting a level of anxiety over President-elect Trump choosing a number of retired generals for top positions in his White House.  But in January 2009, President Obama appointed the same number of retired high-ranking officers to posts that Trump has so far.  Trump has reportedly named retired Marine Gen. John Kelly as his secretary of homeland security, which brings the number of retired generals to three.  Kelly would join retired Army Lt. Gen. Mike Flynn as national security adviser and retired Marine Gen. James Mattis as secretary of defense.

Trump's EPA Pick Spooks Liberals and the Environmental Lobby.  Liberals and the environmental left have gone into a tizzy over the selection of Oklahoma attorney general Scott Pruitt as Donald Trump's pick to head of the Environmental Protection Agency.  House minority leader Nancy Pelosi says the Pruitt nomination must be blocked "for the sake of the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the planet we will leave our children."  New York AG Eric Schneiderman says Pruitt is a "dangerous and an unqualified choice."  Independent socialist senator Bernie Sanders declares the Pruitt pick is not only dangerous but also "sad."  The League of Conservation Voters calls Pruitt not just a global warming skeptic but "an outright climate denier."

We Looked at Cabinet Picks Over the Last 40 Years.  Here's How Trump Stacks Up So Far.  A Daily Signal analysis of Cabinet nominations dating back 40 years reveals that President-elect Donald Trump is outpacing all of his predecessors, including George H.W. Bush, who was a sitting vice president at the time of his election.  Trump's selection of Jeff Sessions as attorney general on Nov. 18 made him the second-fastest president-elect in recent history to pick a Cabinet nominee.  He added another on Nov. 23 with Besty DeVos as education secretary.  In the fourth week of the transition, Trump has named five nominees:  Rep. Tom Price at the Department of Health and Human Services, Elaine Chao at the Department of Transportation, Steven Mnuchin at the Treasury Department, Wilbur Ross at the Commerce Department, and retired Marine Gen. James Mattis at the Department of Defense.

The Left's Panic Attack Over Dr. Ben Carson.  The progressive Left's opposition to President-elect Donald Trump's nomination of Ben Carson to be the next Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is predictably condescending, biased and hypocritical.  For example, out-of-touch Democratic House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi called Carson a "disconcerting and disturbingly unqualified choice."

Reports: Oklahoma AG tapped to lead Trump EPA.  President-elect Trump has picked Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt, a vocal opponent of the Obama administration's environmental policies, to lead the Environmental Protection Agency, according to multiple reports.  Pruitt has opposed EPA climate rules and the Clean Power Plan for power plants, the signature policy of the president's agenda to combat global warming.  Pruitt is one of 28 attorneys general opposing the EPA plan in federal appeals court.

Donald Trump's Environment Chief Could be his Best Pick Yet.  Since Richard Nixon founded the EPA in 1970 — presumably as a cynical bid to greenwash his tarnished image at the height of the last eco-craze — the organisation has been run by a string of useless placemen and placewomen, who've done little that actually helps the environment, but plenty to burden the economy, consumers and business alike with more pointless regulation.  Typical of these was its first Administrator William Ruckelshaus.  A lawyer, by training, not a scientist, Ruckelshaus was the man responsible for instituting the America-wide ban on DDT.  He did this on no scientific basis whatsoever. [...] But the knock-on effects of the near worldwide ban that followed meant that DDT could no longer be used to control mosquito populations, which in turn led to an explosion in malaria, causing the death of millions.

Donald Trump hit for assembling team lacking executive experience to run massive federal agencies.  Forget "Team of Rivals."  President-elect Donald Trump is instead assembling what critics are calling a team of novices — government outsiders or politicians who have little executive experience at the helm of the kinds of massive federal agencies they'll be running.  Mr. Trump's pick of retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson to be secretary of Housing and Urban Development is the latest to rankle Democrats, who said the doctor's skill with a scalpel doesn't translate into managing an 8,300-person department that oversees fair lending, subsidized housing and neighborhood revitalization.

Democrats Prepare to Bork Tom Price.  Until a week ago, the adjectives most frequently applied to Georgia Rep. Tom Price were "mild-mannered" and "low-key."  This isn't surprising.  Like his father and his grandfather, he is a physician and thus trained to approach problems in a calm, analytical fashion.  However, now that President-elect Trump has picked Price to be his Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), the Democrats and their accomplices in the media have suddenly discovered that he is a wild-eyed radical, an extremist who will use HHS to launch a "war on seniors," escalate the "war on women," and declare "war on the poor."

A Chance for School Choice?  Outraged liberal ideologues and the teachers' unions are reassuring themselves that Betsy DeVos won't be able to accomplish much as secretary of education.  They shouldn't be so sure.  Since Donald Trump tapped her for the job last week, the rumblings from the left about DeVos have been loud enough to signal that the public education establishment understands that it has something to fear.  Not since William Bennett led the Department of Education in Ronald Reagan's second term has the nation had a person in this position who could be counted on to push back against the unions in a manner that might actually make a difference.

How James Mattis As Defense Secretary Could Bust Our Deathly Political Correctness About Islam.  Is political Islam in America's best interests?  This question should be central to our strategy of fighting ISIS and Islamist terrorism in general.  Yet it's one that many political leaders would rather not answer, because of our politically correct climate.  But since Trump's transition team announced last week that it's considering retired Gen. James Mattis for secretary of defense, this reluctance might fade.  In a speech given at the Heritage Foundation last year, Mattis spoke about America's position vis à vis political Islam.  Rather than equivocating on the matter in order to avoid saying something uncomfortable or politically incorrect, Mattis simply pointed out that America needs to make a decision about its stance toward this ideology.

Calling Jeff Sessions "racist" conveniently ignores the work he's done for Alabama's black community.  As liberal pundits continue their drumbeat against President-elect Trump, they have targeted some of his Cabinet selections, including Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions as attorney general.  Some of the attacks against Sessions hinge on hearsay from decades-old conversations that included racist terms.  If Sessions did use this language, it would obviously be reprehensible.  But disqualifying Sessions based on these words alone would ignore the hard work Sessions has done for more than 15 years to uplift the poor and vulnerable.

Veterans Affairs leader must be more than political ally.  In just about every one of his campaign rallies, how many times did we hear Donald Trump pledge, "We've gotta take care of our veterans, folks."  Now the former host of "Celebrity Apprentice" and future host of the White House is floating the names of Sarah Palin and Scott Brown, two of the most attractive and vacuous cabinet suggestions ever, for the post of secretary of Veterans Affairs.  The news did not sit well with either Tom Lyons or Dan Magoon, two veterans who endured combat on opposite ends of the generational divide.

Senate Democrats plan to 'Ashcroft' their good friend Jeff Sessions.  [Scroll down]  Sessions has, of course, seen it all, from both sides.  He was famously rejected by the committee in 1986 when he was nominated to a seat on the U.S. District Court in Alabama.  (Many Republicans believe that Sessions' confirmation fight was a Democratic trial run for attacking the Supreme Court nomination of Robert Bork the next year, meaning Sessions was borked before Bork.)

Chuck Grassley wants hearing on Trump attorney general pick before inauguration.  The chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee said Tuesday he intends to move quickly to hold a hearing on the nomination of Sen. Jeff Sessions as attorney general.  Sen. Chuck Grassley said he intends to schedule a hearing on the nominee ahead of President-elect Donald Trump's Jan. 20 swearing in, noting that hearings were previously held before inaugurations for Eric Holder and John Ashcroft.

Trump to pick Elaine Chao as Transportation Secretary.  President-elect Donald Trump has nominated Elaine Chao as Transportation Secretary, he announced late Tuesday [11/29/2016].  Chao, a Washington insider who met with Trump on Monday, was the first Asian-America woman named to a president's cabinet when George W. Bush made her secretary of labor in 2001.

Border hawks riled after Trump meeting with Texas' McCaul for Homeland post.  Donald Trump's interview Tuesday with Rep. Michael T. McCaul for secretary of homeland security set off alarms for illegal immigration opponents who view the congressman as weak on border security and latently pro-amnesty.  Mr. McCaul, Texas Republican and chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, has repeatedly riled conservatives with what they describe as ineffective posturing against President Obama's lax enforcement of immigration laws.  His chief offense was co-authoring the 2015 Secure Our Borders First Act, which conservatives and activists reviled as a fig leaf to Democrats that included tough language but ignored the estimated 11 million illegal immigrants living in the U.S. and kept too much decision-making in the hands of the Obama administration.

Trump to Nominate Georgia Rep. Tom Price as Health Secretary.  President-elect Donald Trump has selected Georgia Rep. Tom Price, a leading critic of President Barack Obama's sweeping health care law, to head the Department of Health and Human Services.

Trump to name Obamacare critic as health secretary.  President-elect Donald Trump says he plans to nominate Georgia Representative Tom Price, an ardent critic of Obamacare, to head the Department of Health and Human Services.  In a statement early Tuesday, Trump called Price "exceptionally qualified to shepherd our commitment to repeal and replace Obamacare and bring affordable and accessible healthcare to every American."  One of Price's top priorities as health secretary will be to dismantle the sweeping health reform law that his two predecessors spent six years implementing.

Trump Nominating Betsy DeVos To Be Education Secretary.  Donald Trump announced Wednesday [11/23/2016] he has selected Michigan education activist and political megadonor Betsy DeVos as his nominee for secretary of education.  The pick will please backers of school choice initiatives, but has the potential to upset grassroots activists against Common Core.  DeVos was one of two major education figures who met with Trump over the previous weekend.  The other, former Washington, D.C., schools chancellor Michelle Rhee, announced Tuesday she was not seeking a job in the Trump administration.  DeVos, a billionaire businesswoman, is also the chairwoman of the American Federation for Children, a conservative non-profit that promotes school choice around the country.

Betsy DeVos, the Right Choice for Education Secretary.  First under George W. Bush and the No Child Left Behind Act, then under Barack Obama and a long list of intrusive initiatives, the federal government's role in education has metastasized, growing more and more aggressively in recent years.  The Department of Education has bribed states with "Race to the Top" funds to adopt its standards, established prohibitive teacher-licensing requirements that keep competent teachers out of the classroom, and even inserted itself into the prosecution of on-campus sex crimes.  And what is there to show for it?  In October 2015, the semi-annual National Assessment of Educational Progress, the "nation's report card," showed no student progress in mathematics for the first time in 20 years and reading scores dropping for the first time in a decade.  Betsy DeVos will be a desperately needed shock to this inept system.

A Proper Contempt for the UN.  In the announcement that South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley will accept the role of American Ambassador to the United Nations under President Donald Trump, there is plenty to celebrate.  The foremost of which is perhaps the contempt for the prevailing diplomatic culture in Turtle Bay inherent in the selection.

Obama Team In Despair Over Flynn Pick.  If you thought the handwringing among the cast of Hamilton over the impending Trump presidency was bad, it apparently does not compare to the growing despair among the Obama White House team.  What has them most upset?  The elevation of Steve Bannon or Jeff Sessions?  No, it turns out that the most "devastating blow" was the selection of a fellow Democrat, Lieutenant General Michael Fynn, as national security adviser.

Trump appoints Betsy DeVos to education secretary post.  President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday said he intends to appoint west Michigan GOP mega donor and philanthropist Betsy DeVos to be his education secretary, putting an ardent supporter of school choice in charge of the nation's education policy.

Trump picks Betsy DeVos to be education secretary.  President-elect Donald Trump has selected a charter school advocate and GOP donor from Michigan to be education secretary.

Borking:
How ugly will Democrats get in smearing Jeff Sessions?  Sen. Jeff Sessions, President-elect Donald Trump's pick for attorney general, will likely face a tough confirmation fight.  What remains to be seen is how ugly those hearings will get.  No sooner had Sessions been named than the left — and much of the press — were tarring the Alabama senator as a racist.  The NAACP tweeted that he "supports an old, ugly history" when it comes to civil rights.  Most of this traces to 1986, when the Senate rejected his nomination for a federal judgeship, based on hearsay testimony from two lawyers alleging he'd made racially charged statements.

Here's why Jeff Sessions is the perfect pick for attorney general.  President-elect Donald Trump has picked Sen. Jeff Sessions to serve as the 84th Attorney General of the United States — and he couldn't have made a better choice.  Throughout his career, Sessions has demonstrated unshakable commitment and fidelity to the Constitution, the rule of law, and protecting the freedom and liberty that is our birthright as Americans.  He has almost the perfect professional background to be the attorney general.  As the former U.S. Attorney of the Southern District of Alabama under President Ronald Reagan, he gained practical experience in the most important prosecutorial work that the Justice Department is supposed to do every day:  enforce the criminal and civil statutes of the United States.

Mike Pompeo:  A Great Appointment.  So far, Donald Trump's appointments are going a long way to reassure observers like me, who worried that the GOP had nominated a candidate who was not a conservative.  Let's just say that anyone who puts Jeff Sessions in charge of the Department of Justice is no liberal.  A less high-profile but equally stellar appointment is Trump's selection of Congressman Mike Pompeo, from Kansas, to head the CIA.  Pompeo is a brilliant guy who was valedictorian of his class at West Point, spent five years as an Army officer, went to Harvard Law School, where he was a member of the Law Review, made money in business and then ran for Congress.

In Alabama, Jeff Sessions Desegregated Schools and Got the Death Penalty for KKK Head.  Now that Jeff Sessions is Donald Trump's pick for attorney general, you're going to hear a lot of people dig up old accusations that Sessions is a racist.  In fact, CNN did so last night.  However, between the nature of the accusations and Sessions's actual record of desegregating schools and taking on the Klan in Alabama, it strains credulity to believe that he is a racist.  These accusations all center around the bruising judicial nomination process Sessions went through in 1986.

Mark Levin Takes Jeff Sessions' Leftist Borkers to the Woodshed.  Mark Levin made much of Trump's new pick for attorney general, Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., on his radio show Friday night [11/18/2016].  The Alabama lawmaker has already come under intense scrutiny from the Left, having been labeled a racist.  But Levin quickly dispelled this heinous notion.  "He is a thoroughly decent human being.  He does not have a racist bone in his body.  He is a soft-spoken man.  He is an extremely intelligent man ... and he would make an outstanding attorney general of the United States," Levin said.  He then went on to say "we cannot tolerate" the witch hunts employed by the Left.

Democrats honed the dog whistle of racism on Sessions.  It all began with Jeff Sessions from Alabama.  Even before they coined a term for it — Borking — they did it to Jeff Sessions, a decent man with a stellar legal reputation as a fearless and tough but fair federal prosecutor down South.  In 1986, President Reagan nominated Jefferson Beauregard Sessions to the federal bench.  The son of a general store keeper, Mr. Sessions was highly regarded for his intellect and devotion to the Constitution.  The American Bar Association deemed him "qualified" for the post.  But then he came to Washington and met the United States Senate for confirmation hearings. [...] Sen. Edward M. Kennedy — 17 years removed from leaving Mary Jo Kopechne to die her watery death on Chappaquiddick Island — smelled injustice.  Liberal special interest groups in Washington had hatched a plan for Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee to begin smearing Republican nominees to the federal bench.

The Borking Bullies of the Left.  [Scroll down]  [T]he Borking bullies of the left [are] gearing up for a savage trashing of Sen. Jeff Sessions.  Newspapers under their control are publishing glorious reminiscences of Sen. Ted Kennedy's opposition to President Ronald Reagan's appointment of Sessions to the federal court.  But anyone who bothers to study that Borking can quickly see what a Soviet-style show trial Sessions suffered.  Ted Kennedy's opening statement against Sessions was pitiful in its crudeness.  Kennedy thundered against Sessions on the most nebulous of charges — that he had the wrong "attitude," that he criticized the NAACP (so what?), that he made a handful of comments which liberals in the pocket of Kennedy construed willfully as racist.

Trump Cabinet Picks Incite Liberal Backlash.  President-elect Donald Trump's picks for three key Cabinet positions incited a chorus of denunciations from Democrats and liberal groups Friday [11/18/2016].  After announcing former Breitbart News executive Stephen Bannon would be a top adviser earlier this week, Friday's selections further confounded conjectures that Trump would return to his moderate roots as he assembled his Cabinet.

Justice is served by the appointment of Jeff Sessions.  Donald Trump's appointment of Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) as attorney general does a lot to signal the president-elect wants a no-nonsense, by-the-book Justice Department.  Sessions has been my friend for 30 years and my senator for 20 years.  His Justice Department will not meddle with local governments, it will be respectful and deferential to state legislatures and it won't look to make trouble with universities, school systems or private businesses.  Importantly, Sessions's appointment tells the United States' beleaguered law enforcement agencies help is on the way.  It also shows Trump wants to strike a blow to the corrosive, pretentious, sanctimonious political correctness his voters soundly rejected on Nov. 8.

Rep. Rohrabacher, Afghan expert, Putin friend, emerges as State pick.  With confirmation concerns increasing for President-elect Trump's top two picks to run the State Department, Rudy Giuliani and John Bolton, top officials are now considering California Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, a top House foreign policy expert, according to sources.  Rohrabacher, once a Reagan speechwriter and a House member since 1989, emerged Tuesday night as a possible Trump pick.  His views jive closely with Trump's on foreign policy, immigration and global warming.

Firings and Discord Put Trump Transition, Team in a State of Disarray.  ne week after Mr. Trump scored an upset victory that took him by surprise, his team was improvising the most basic traditions of assuming power.  That included working without official State Department briefing materials in his first conversations with foreign leaders.  Two officials who had been handling national security for the transition, former Representative Mike Rogers of Michigan and Matthew Freedman, a lobbyist who consults with corporations and foreign governments, were fired.  Both were part of what officials described as a purge orchestrated by Jared Kushner, Mr. Trump's son-in-law and close adviser.

Bias alert!
There seems to be a lot of talk in the news media about friction and upheaval in the Trump transition team, but I think it's largely overblown:  Individual players are always likely to drop out as the organization takes shape.

Trump vows to cut all lobbyists from transition team.  President-elect Trump's White House transition team has vowed to go lobbyist-free, after coming under criticism for staffing up on lobbyists despite campaign promises to fight the influence of special interests in Washington.  Vice President-elect Pence and the White House transition have signaled plans to clear out any lobbyists serving in official roles as they begin the 10-week transition process until Trump's inaugration on Jan. 20, according to a report from Fox News.

Michael Savage Warns Donald Trump: 'Rinse' Reince; He's 'Everything the Voters Rejected'.  President-elect Donald Trump should not select Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus as his Chief of Staff, says Michael Savage, the national talk radio host and author of the new book Scorched Earth:  Restoring the Country After Obama. Priebus is "the enemy within," Savage warns.  "He's the RNC!  Everything the voters rejected," Savage tells Breitbart News.  "He will steer Trump away from every policy we sent him to D.C. to change.  He is the enemy within.  He is [Paul] Ryan, [Mitch] McConnell, and the Old Guard.  They do not want change.  'Out with the old, in with the new.'"

RNC's Reince Priebus Enlists In Democrats' War on Whites.  When Republican National Committee Chairthing Reince Priebus heard about a "War on Whites," he immediately enlisted.  Priebus condemned a Congressman in his own party, calling Mo Brooks's comments about Democrats waging a "War on Whites" as "obviously a pretty idiotic thing to say." [...] Indeed, if the GOP or the USA are to even have a future, it depends on overcoming political flunkies like Priebus and his unhinged anti-white allies in the Democratic Party.  Priebus has never won a campaign, losing a run for the Wisconsin state Senate ten years ago despite enjoying a fundraising advantage.  In the words of the man who beat him, Democratic state Senator Bob Wirch, "He was like a Paul Ryan without the charm... He played very well with businessmen, but they didn't like him at McDonald's.

John Bolton for secretary of state.  John Robert Bolton is the right person to take the helm of the State Department.  Donald Trump himself has praised Bolton and suggested him for the post.  Here I am going to tell you why his hunch was right, and why he must stay on that track.  Bolton is best for three reasons.  First, he is well versed in security matters, and we live in volatile times when security issues have come to overwhelmingly dominate U.S. foreign affairs and thus should be adeptly tackled in foreign policy.  Bolton is quite familiar with security threats, as he has been studying them and working to neutralize them for the greater part of his career.

Tea Party Patriots warn against Priebus for chief of staff.  President-elect Donald Trump hasn't yet publicly named a chief of staff, but already, a major tea party group is warning him against naming one of his reported top choices.  The Tea Party Patriots Citizens Fund warned against a "Washington insider" to run Trump's White House, specifically naming Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus, who is said to be one of Trump's top two choices.  Jenny Beth Martin, the co-founder of TPPCF, told CNN in a statement that the group wants Trump to "drain the swamp."

Donald Trump Cabinet:  Anti-Black Lives Matter Sheriff David Clarke Eyed For Department Of Homeland Security.  Donald Trump's ascension to the White House means one of the president-elect's top priorities will be to name a cabinet to help lead the U.S. forward.  With the lingering threat of terror attacks in the U.S., the leadership of the Department of Homeland Security may take precedence for Trump.  One person reportedly under consideration for the position is David Clarke Jr., the Milwaukee County sheriff who made a national name for himself after speaking at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland this summer.  The 60-year-old African-American law enforcement official's reinforced his support for Trump by describing the protesters demonstrating against the president-elect "radical anarchists" Wednesday night [11/10/2016].

Myron Ebell Perfectly Suited for EPA.  Over the last eight years the Obama administration has abandoned this successful approach to environmental protection as envisioned by Congress.  Instead, they have turned to special interest groups to drive centralized planning.  Prime examples include the 2015 EPA Power Plan and the Waters of the United States (WOTUS) rule.  These rules contain illusory flexibility to states when in reality they represent a huge shift of control from states to the federal government.  Even the current administration acknowledged that the power plan was symbolic and would do little to improve air quality.  The power plan would be expensive and shut down energy plants that have not yet been paid for, thereby stranding those costs with ratepayers.  It would harm the industrial sector by significantly increasing electricity rates, which would throttle manufacturing industries that require low energy prices to compete.

Donald Trump On D.C.: 'The Whole Place is One Big Lobbyist'.  President-elect Donald Trump says he wants to drain the swamp of Washington D.C., but he admits in a recent interview that he might have to rely on lobbyists to help his transition team.  During an interview with CBS correspondent Lesley Stahl, Trump admitted that he did have lobbyists on his team, but explained that it was the current state of the culture in Washington D.C.

The next great battle for conservatives:  Keeping RINO insiders out of the administration.  [For example,] Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX) — potential pick for DHS Secretary:  There is no doubt that the issues of immigration and Islamic terror are the two biggest factors in Trump's win.  This is why it's so important to keep McCaul away from DHS.  As we've chronicled in this column, McCaul has done nothing to fight the open borders crowd, and in fact, proposed terrible immigration bills as chairman of the Homeland Security Committee.  This is the exact sort of "bad experience" the voters want Trump to reject.  More importantly, McCaul has been a leader in the promotion of "Countering Violent Extremism," which is subversion agenda advanced by North American Muslim Brotherhood affiliates to obfuscate any mention of Islamic terrorism.  This is the very willful blindness that Americans so desperately wanted to change with the outcome of this election.


Platform / agenda / mandate:

This subsection has moved to a page of its own, located here.


Protests / sore losers:

The Celebrities Who Said They'll Leave the U.S. if Trump Re-Elected.  After nearly two dozen celebrities vowed to leave the U.S. in 2016 if Donald Trump was elected president, there are still a few promising to leave the country should Trump win re-election.  In the 2016 cycle, celebrities including Bryan Cranston, Samuel L. Jackson, Whoopi Goldberg, Lena Dunham, Miley Cyrus, Amy Schumer, Barbra Streisand, Jon Stewart, Cher, Chelsea Handler, and many others said they would leave the country if Trump won.  Here's a round up of the celebrities who've said they will leave the U.S if Trump wins the White House again. [...]

The Editor says...
Put it in writing!  Buy some non-refundable one-way tickets to another country.  Sell your house.  Burn your passport.

New contender for top unstable liberal meltdown could be right here, folks.  Enjoy!  For people who claim to be so reasonable, sane and democratic, self-identified Democrats have a proven record of acting stunningly unhinged.  From threatening to blow up the White House to assaulting children, Democrats have exhibited a loud, endless cacophony of unbridled rage ever since President Donald Trump stepped into the White House as president roughly four years ago.  One would think that their shenanigans would have tapered off once they'd seen that the president wasn't going to usher in "a new age of darkness," as the Democrats at The Guardian had put it in a piece published right before the 2016 election.  But no, it hasn't — if anything, their irrationality has only grown, so much so that these days it's hard to tell whether they're under the influence or not.  [Video clip]

[#1] Bon voyage!  [#2] Who cares?
"I'll see you on the next plane": Bruce Springsteen says he'll "move to Australia" if Donald Trump is re-elected.  He may have been born in the USA, but Bruce Springsteen has joked that he'll move to Australia if Donald Trump is re-elected.  The 20-time Grammy winner made the lighthearted comment on Wednesday during a virtual press conference promoting his new album, Letter to You.  Springsteen, a longtime critic of the president, was asked by an Australian reporter if he would consider moving Down Under in the event of Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden losing the election on November 3.

[#1] Why wait until November?  [#2] Who cares?
Mötley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee plans to leave US if Trump wins re-election.  Tommy Lee, known best as the drummer of the heavy metal band Mötley Crüe , has promised to leave the United States if President Trump wins re-election in November.  The 58-year-old musician told The Big Issue he'll go back to Greece, where he was born.  "Dude, I swear to god if that happens then I'm coming over to visit the U.K.  I'm out of here," Lee said.  "I'll go back to my motherland, go back to go Greece and get a house on one of the islands."

On Trump and the virus.  President Trump was discharged from Walter Reed Medical Center a few days ago.  His messaging during this unfolding drama first drew criticism from those who claimed he should have been more transparent about every detail, every step of the way.  And the usual venomous bile and frenzied attacks came spewing from the the cackle of hyenas that is the White House press corps no less than #resistance goons like Ilhan Omar and Jennifer Rubin.  But why should they hold back?  They have all but stated publicly that they want the president dead, lo these four long years.  It would be dishonest of them at this point to wish him well.  We aren't just watching different movies anymore, as Scott Adams used to say — we need an analogy that goes far beyond that one.  The new norm the press has established is a baseline of fear and hysteria.  They live in a completely alternative intellectual, emotional, and psychological reality.

Biden Surrogate, Known For Fraternizing With Enemy Troops, On COVID: 'God's Gift To The Left'.  Actress Jane Fonda, a far-left activist known for fraternizing with enemy troops in Vietnam who were fighting against U.S. forces, declared this week that COVID-19 was "God's gift to" the political Left.  The Washington Free Beacon reported, "Fonda appeared alongside vice presidential candidate Kamala Harris and the Biden campaign in a virtual event in September."  In a video posted online, Fonda said, "We are people who can help determine which way humanity goes.  What a great gift, what a tremendous opportunity, we're just so lucky, we just have to use it with every ounce of intelligence and courage and wherewithal we have."

Jane Fonda says coronavirus is 'God's gift to the left' because it could help Biden defeat Trump.  Actress Jane Fonda called coronavirus "God's gift to the left" because it allowed Americans to see President Trump isn't helping the working class.  The far-left star was busy urging Americans to vote for Democratic nominee Joe Biden and said the upcoming election is a crossroads for the nation.  "We are people who can help determine which way humanity goes.  What a great gift, what a tremendous opportunity, we're just so lucky, we just have to use it with every ounce of intelligence and courage and wherewithal we have," Fonda said in a video published online.

Godless Hanoi Jane Fonda Celebrates Coronavirus as a 'Gift From God'.  In a virtual appearance with Maurice Mitchell of the Working Families Party, "Hanoi" Jane Fonda made some mortifying comments about the Wuhan coronavirus, and judging by her comments, her hatred of Donald Trump has made her a believer in God. [...] Jane, this pandemic was not from God.  It was from China.  And what's being done to "average people and working people" in this country, and especially in your state (California), is a complete and utter annihilation of their civil rights through the fascist dictates of Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-Dep Hair Gel).  But one thing you're absolutely correct about is that "people who couldn't see it before, you know, they see it now."  They see the utter depravity of the left that is so perfectly encapsulated by your statement.

Trump haters rejoicing in his testing positive for COVID-19.  Some prominent Donald Trump-haters — including "The Wire" actor Dominic West and a former spokeswoman for Hillary Clinton — are openly rejoicing over the president catching COVID-19.  West, 50, told "Good Morning Britain" on Friday that he felt "joy" at the news of Trump's illness.  Ex-spokeswoman Zara Rahim, who has also worked for Barack Obama and Vogue magazine, said in a since-deleted tweet that she "hopes he dies."

Trump sign thief.  50 lb test fishing line did the trick.  [Video clip]

Editor's piece 'How To Cope When A Family Member Says They're Voting For Trump' goes viral for wrong reasons.  A woman who works as an associate editor for a news outlet geared toward "millennial moms" has gone viral for all the wrong reasons.  Last week she penned a piece advising people "How To Cope When A Family Member Says They're Voting For Trump." [...] The piece went viral because folks rightly feel that differing viewpoints shouldn't require therapeutic advice to handle.  Not unless you're 13, that is.  It also went viral because of the author's typical misconception of what it means to be a supporter of President Donald Trump.

Joe Biden Supporter Cries When She Spots Trucks With Trump Flags.  Thanks to Twitter and other social media echo chambers, we've created a segment of society that can't handle an opinion different than their own.  Watch as this Joe Biden supporter have a complete meltdown when she spots a couple of pickup trucks flying Trump 2020 flags.  [Video clip]

John Legend: "Americans have to start thinking about going somewhere else" if Trump wins re-election.  Singer/songwriter John Legend is sending out his hot takes on the possibility of President Trump's re-election.  He is so traumatized over the mere thoughts of Trump winning four more years in the White House that he is advising Americans to leave the country.  In years past, celebrities and public officials that opposed whichever Republican was running for president have been moved to dramatically threaten to move to another country if that person won the election.  They usually choose France or some other European country.  Some already have second homes overseas to go to.  Alas, these threats always come up empty and the celebrities never actually leave.

The Editor says...
What has kept you here since 2016?  If you're a sore loser, stop talking about it and leave!  Maybe you'd be happier in Liberia.  Be sure to formally renounce your U.S. citizenship and sell your house on the way out, so you can't come back.  If you still live in the U.S. six months after Trump is re-elected, your credibility is shot.

Revolution 2020.  [Scroll down]  Events since 2016 have surprised because of the ever-increasing speed with which this revolution's logic has unfolded.  Hillary Clinton's 2016 suggestion that Donald Trump might refuse to accept losing the election seemed a speck of gratuitous campaign mud.  Even if Trump had lost and been so minded, his recalcitrance could not have amounted to anything.  No one imagined, however, that the Democratic Party — the party of government, of the entertainment industry, of the educational establishment, of the judiciary, of corporate America, the party of the ruling class — that this party, having lost the 2016 elections, would refuse to accept popular rejection and launch a full-court "Resistance" against the voters who had rejected them.  But that is what happened.

Trump Greeted With Boos, Heckling as He Pays Respects to Justice Ginsburg.  People greeted Trump with boos and heckles as he paid respects to Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in front of the Supreme Court building.  The people also chanted, "Honor her wish!"  Ginsburg supposedly said her last wish is for the November presidential winner to pick her replacement.

Ascent of the Yard Sign Prophets.  Shortly after Trump was elected president, "Hate Has No Home Here" (HHNHH) yard signs began adorning the minority-manicured lawns of white-collar, white-skinned liberals. [...] The underlying message of the HHNHH yard sign is two-fold.  First, it's virtue signaling in its most tawdry form.  Yard signs announcing "Poverty is bad" and "I support curing cancer" would ring just as hollow.  Sorry, but you don't get a cookie for broadcasting to the world that you oppose hate.  Most people do, and their daily actions are sufficient proof thereof.  A lion doesn't need to convince people it's a lion.  Second, the HHNHH yard sign alludes that a home which opposes President Trump is axiomatically hate-free, and, by deductive logic, a home which supports President Trump categorically welcomes hate with open arms.  The sign smugly implies, "I'm a good person, and it's a shame that you're not."

Pro-Trump aisle art in Hobby Lobby causes woke left-wingers to come unglued.  Easily triggered left-wingers seem to be becoming unglued, as it were, on social media and calling for a boycott in response to a trending tweet featuring a Hobby Lobby store display that reads "USA Vote Trump."  So far, it has yet to be determined if an employee or just a random customer at the unidentified shop is responsible for the pro-Trump aisle art.  Whether you're a fan/customer or not of Hobby Lobby or its sometimes controversial business practices, it's worth noting that the woke crowd seldom has an issue with importing into and insisting upon far-left policies at the workplace.

The Editor says...
If you're a godless, lying, baby-killing Democrat, stay out of Hobby Lobby and everyone will be happier.  In exchange, I'll stay out of Starbucks.

Thousands Of Americans Renounce Citizenship, Citing Trump, Coronavirus As Reasons.  Nearly six thousand Americans renounced their citizenship in the first six months of 2020, a massive increase over the previous six months.  The numbers were reported by Bambridge Accountants New York, a firm which specializes in taxes for United Kingdom expatriates and U.S. citizens, which reviewed a government list of Americans who have renounced their citizenship.  An IRS rule requires the government to publish these names every three months.  In the first six months of 2020, a whopping 5,816 Americans renounced their citizenship, more than twice the number who renounced in all of 2019.  The first six months also showed a massive increase over the previous six months — a 1,210% increase from the 444 people who renounced during that time.

The Editor says...
Deport them all, before they vote again.

The left is laying the groundwork to challenge Trump's election.  The polls currently show Biden in the lead, but there are reasons to suspect their accuracy.  For example, in 2016, at the same time during the election cycle the polls also showed Hillary in the lead.  Another problem is that many of the polls are national, which is irrelevant.  We don't have a national vote; we have fifty state votes, plus D.C. Whether Biden wins by one vote or three million votes in California, he still gets the same number of electoral college votes.  But the single most significant indicator that the polls are untrustworthy is the fact that the Democrats are starting to lay the groundwork for rejecting Trump's possible (or probable?) victory.  If you thought the last three and a half years of "resistance" were terrible, as Al Jolson would say, "You ain't seen nothing yet."  The most prominent person to start getting ducks in a row for an attack against Trump's victory is Hillary Clinton.  Hillary, who has spent the last three-and-a-half years being the mother of all sore losers, has announced that she thinks Trump, when he inevitably loses, will refuse to leave the White House.

NJ man admits neighbor's Trump flag made him so mad, he dumped trash in yard for months.  New Jersey police said that a man faces charges of criminal mischief and harassment for repeatedly throwing trash onto the lawn of a Sussex County home where a Donald Trump flag was posted.  "I think you know why," Richard Keller, 58, reportedly told police when they asked why he had thrown garbage onto the lawn, according to a local news outlet.  "Because of that flag."  "Mr. Keller had such disdain for President Trump that it enraged him that someone was displaying a Trump flag," Sparta Lt. John Lamon said Tuesday [7/7/2020].

The Editor says...
It's one thing to get mad at your neighbor and throw trash in his yard.  It's quite another thing to do so over a period of months.

The Obama Years Sowed the Seeds for the Current Societal Chaos.  The unfathomable loss to Donald Trump in 2016 was the first major setback to the American left since the election of Ronald Reagan.  Their giddiness during the Obama years over implementing their plans for permanent hegemony in American politics was replaced with uncontrolled anger, pettiness and an insatiable determination to exact revenge on those who dared deny them their birthright.  The left would have reluctantly accepted a loss to a Mitt Romney clone, viewing it a setback, albeit a minor one, that would simply delay the inevitable.  But Donald Trump together with all the factions that voted for him, as well as the conservative media, represented an existential threat to their grandiose plans for themselves.  Their mortal enemies must not only be annihilated by any means possible but their ashes strewn across the desert regardless of the consequences to the nation as a whole.

Roswell Park VP fired over anti-Trump Facebook posts.  Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center has terminated a top executive for Facebook posts that bashed President Trump's response to the Covid-19 outbreak.  Laura Krolczyk, Roswell Park's vice president for external affairs, was initially placed on administrative leave from her position but was fired following the conclusion of an investigation into her remarks, spokeswoman Annie Deck-Miller confirmed Saturday [3/28/2020].

These people take politics too seriously:
Poll: New Hampshire Democrats would prefer an extinction-causing meteor over Trump reelection.  A majority of New Hampshire Democrats said in a new poll that they would rather a "giant meteor strikes the Earth, extinguishing all human life" than see President Trump reelected.  The University of Massachusetts Lowell survey of 400 Democratic voters asked which candidates they would support in the state's primary Tuesday, with former Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) tying for first place at 23 percent support.

Celebs in panic-mode over impeachment fail, as protesters go to desperate measures.  America's wealthy, spoiled, entitled, arguably rotten liberal celebrities experienced one of the most emotional days of their lives this Wednesday [2/5/2020].  On one hand, President Donald Trump's acquittal by the GOP-led Senate and his post-acquittal celebration inspired unadulterated CAPS LOCK rage and tears: [...]

After Impeachment:  Our New Narrative.  I believe that the one thing "our democracy" needs to do is have proper alternation of the parties in power.  That means that the losing presidential candidate gets up on election night and concedes the election and says we are all Americans and wait until next time.  But Hillary Clinton didn't do that.  And the rest of the Democratic leaders didn't either.  In retrospect you can see what a weak, feeble decision that was.  Because it licensed all the usual suspects in the activist community to rile up their supporters and encourage the deep state actors to continue their anti-Trump shenanigans and all the rest of the last three years of epic stupidity.

The Most Irritating person of 2019 is....  [Scroll down]  To those irritated by the President, nothing will sooth their pain.  Not the lowest unemployment in decades, not the return of the manufacturing jobs we were told would never return, not the continued rise in the Dow, the S&P, and the Nasdaq and not the increase in tax revenue generated, as promised, from the tax cuts.  The only thing that will end their pain is the elimination of the Trump Presidency.

Woman lets out agonising screams as Trump is sworn in as President.  [Video clip]

The heavy price of Trump hatred.  My friends have a house by the water with a deck facing west so they can watch nature create a Monet at dusk as they enjoy a glass of wine.  But they haven't enjoyed that blissful serenity since 2016 because "we spend 80% of our time worrying about Trump."  Staunch Democrats, they despised Reagan and the Bushes, especially George W. "and his wars."  But no Republican has got inside their head — posed a real and present danger to their health — like Trump.  For them, he's political sciatica, a piercingly painful condition that won't go away.

Hell Hath No Fury Like A President (And His Supporters) Scorned.  Trump's opposition is an eclectic mix, well beyond elected Democrats.  There are members of his own party, the NeverTrumpers, entertainers, athletes, and other celebrities who were once happy to hang out in business mogul Donald Trump's orbit, but now call him a racist, sexist, pig, wishing for his imprisonment or his death.  Doug Wead, in his recent book Inside Trump's White House, notes Trump saying to his son shortly before his campaign announcement in June 2015, "Now we find out who our real friends are."  And so he has.

The Editor says...
Mrs. Editor just read Doug Wead's book last week, and she says it's good.

Kristy Swanson Wrecks Fellow Actress Alyssa Milano After 'Bad Panic Attack'.  Actress Kristy Swanson — who became famous for her role as "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" — is one of the most vocal and popular MAGA stars out there.  Every day, she takes to Twitter to defend President Trump and take on his most ardent critics — especially those living in Hollywood.  Fellow actress Alyssa Milano is, politically, the exact opposite of Swanson: she truly hates Trump.  Day after day, Milano shares tweets and videos in which she accuses Trump of the vilest possible crimes and vices.  Where Swanson is beloved by the right, Milano is the left's Hollywood darling.

Actor Robert Redford Loses It: 'A Dictator-Like Attack by Trump on Everything American Stands For'.  It's always entertaining when famous actors or singers think that we — normal people — are curious to know their political views.  I mean, we all know that members of Hollywood are generally radically liberal.  If they take a political position, it's going to be in favor of abortion, against "climate change," or — of course — passionately anti-Trump.  Case in point:  this op-ed written by actor Robert Redford for NBC News.  "We're up against a crisis I never thought I'd see in my lifetime."  Namely:  "A dictator-like attack by President Donald Trump on everything this country stands for.  As last week's impeachment hearings made clear, our shared tolerance and respect for the truth, our sacred rule of law, our essential freedom of the press and our precious freedoms of speech — all have been threatened by a single man."  Clearly, Redford has moved from Hollywood to Crazy Town.  He's free to disagree with President Trump's policies (and his tweets), but this is insane.  There's literally no reason whatsoever to believe that he's some kind of dictator.

Lessons of the Gallagher Case.  The latest hero of the Never Trumpers — the ex-secretary of the Navy, Richard V. Spencer — is out with an op-ed column on what he learned from getting fired.  The answer, it appears, is not much.  His column, which appears in the Washington Post, turns out to be an exercise in constitutional misconception, self-righteousness, whinging, bellyaching about his superiors, and tin-eared politicking.

Trump and Thanksgiving.  Immediately after [President] Trump was elected, a coup was launched to remove him from office by President Obama, Hillary Clinton, Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats, Obama's weaponized CIA and FBI, along with leftover Obama staffers Trump should have fired.  Not only did Obama's weaponized agencies conspire to destroy the president, they jailed and destroyed innocent people for being associated or supportive of him.  Federal abuse was standard practice under Obama.  Remember when Obama used the IRS to punish the Tea Party?  Under the cloak of secrecy without accountability, Obama's federal agencies horribly abused American families and small businesses.

Bill Kristol:  Trump Is a Bigger Threat to Free Markets Than Warren.  Hatred makes you crazy.  There is perhaps no surer example of this principle than Never Trump stalwart Bill Kristol.  Early Monday morning, he tweeted that another four years of Donald Trump would be more dangerous for free markets than four years of Elizabeth Warren as president.

Peggy Noonan Reminds Us Why Trump Won.  Three years after outsider Donald Trump blew up the political world with his implausible victory over the consummate insider, Hillary Clinton, many establishment Republicans still don't get it. [...] The grande dame of the disgruntled NeverTrump Republicans has been the Wall Street Journal's Peggy Noonan, whose columns on Trump usually sound like a mash-up of the prescriptions of Emily Post and a snobbery redolent of Lady Violet Crawley from Downton Abbey.

The Swamp's Swingline Stapler.  Shortly after Trump's election, employees at the Environmental Protection Agency reportedly cried at the news; some needed a mental health day.  "People are upset.  Some people took the day off because they were depressed," a government union representative told an industry journal on November 11, 2016.  "They were recommending that people take sick leave and go home."  Employees were later offered counseling.  Obama Administration holdovers, particularly those involved in one of the biggest political scandals of all time, frequently remind Americans how lucky we are to have them around.

If the Resistance Wins.  In early May 2016, Hillary Clinton declared herself "an activist citizen and part of what she called The Resistance.  Later that month, May 17, 2017, she officially launched a "political organization aimed at funding 'resistance' groups" to oppose and undermine the president.  As early as June 2, 2016, the sore loser had been questioning President Trump's "fitness to lead" and given a "tour-de-force assault on his record," calling him "too dangerous and unstable" to be president.  She has spent the past three years declaring herself the real winner of the 2016 election and attacking the president's fitness for office.  Looking at her pitiful illusions in multiple interviews, her recent book, and her desperate quest for the presidency, it's not hard to guess what drives her compulsion to lead what she calls "The Resistance."

The War on Trump Represents Fear, Not Hatred.  We hear regularly from conservative commentators that those who attack Trump do it because they hate him.  I believe that the actions of the Deep State can be explained by fear of Trump more than hatred.  They fear that their many criminal actions will be exposed, so their nonstop campaign against Trump represents self-love more than anything else. [...] We are watching criminals who do not want to be caught and punished.  We are watching criminals who expected to be rewarded by President Clinton for their valiant and daring criminality.  They are just the kind of soldiers that every tyrant needs, willing to bend any rule in the service of power.  But Trump won, and that changed everything.

How Did Democrats Get Here?  The ginned up hysteria over Trump's election has grown with Trump's triumphant successes with the economy and national security.  The Democrats' motivation for the fake impeachment crisis is obvious — they have no platform and no candidate that gives them a path to the White House.  What is less obvious is why three years of ugly, crude propaganda, threatened and actual violence, wearisome agitation and lies is playing so well to previously normal Democrats.  The Democrat Party has veered far left very fast, without any pushback from within the party.  Their voters have turned, seemingly overnight, from normal American citizens to a deranged mob after Trump's blood.  This weird transformation is normalized by blaming it on Trump himself, and the shock of his victory.  A moment's reflection shows how superficial that derangement explanation is. [...] The propaganda war against Trump hasn't touched his loyal, grateful, voters, but it has turned normal Democrats into mindless haters.

NeverTrumpism Is a Mental Illness.  One of the best ways to understand a person's state of mind about politics is to ask him whether he thinks that a politician he generally disagrees with has ever done anything good.  Is there one decision or policy he favors?  Just one?  If the answer is "no," you know you're dealing with someone who's so blinded by and obsessed with hatred that he can't possibly be taken seriously.  About anything.

Cornel West on Lynching Tweet: 'We Got to Hit the Streets, We've Got to Go to Jail' to Fight Trump.  On Tuesday night's [10/22/2019] broadcast of "CNN Tonight," Harvard professor Cornel West called for protests if President Donald Trump was not held accountable for things like referring to the impeachment inquiry as a "lynching" on social media.

The Editor says...
Yes, please go to jail to fight Trump.  Or to fight global warming, or income inequality, or something.  Go to jail and stay there.

Adam Schiff's Intelligence Committee chairmanship is Pelosi's big mistake.  Voltaire wrote that "It is dangerous to be right in matters where established men are wrong."  This is precisely what has brought the intent to destroy Donald Trump upon his head.  He won the 2016 election by speaking to the American people, not the jaded, constrained political class.  His assessment of the public's frustration with the DC establishment was wise and correct.  Hillary Clinton was, and remains, just another authoritarian pol who has nothing but contempt for said people so it should have been no surprise that she lost.  But a huge shock it was, and the Left has yet to accept that electoral outcome.  So, they are still trying to undo those results.  Trump's many successes as president only serve to incite their wrath.

Why Do They Hate Him So?  Joe Biden claims he wants to take Trump behind the gym and beat him up.  Senator Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) jokes that she would like to go into an elevator with him and see Trump never come out alive.  Robert De Niro has exhausted the ways in which he dreams of punching Trump out and the intonations in which he yells to audiences, "F*** Trump!"  The humanists and social justice warriors of Hollywood, from Madonna to Johnny Depp, cannot agree whether their elected president should be beheaded, blown up, stabbed, shot, or incinerated.

Here's one more product to boycott — except that I've never heard of them.
Wisconsin spice company Penzeys peppers Facebook with anti-Trump ads.  The nation's largest independent spice retailer is peppering Facebook with ads calling for the impeachment of President Donald Trump.  Wisconsin-based Penzeys Spices spent nearly $100,000 on Facebook ads last week calling for Trump's impeachment, making it one of the largest social media spenders on impeachment to date.

Bush-Gore war seems quaint by today's standards.  It was a time of great political passion, a time so nasty that few could have imagined it would ever be seen as the good old days.  OK, maybe that's overstating it; the loathing of George W. Bush by Democrats and their standard bearer, Al Gore, back in the election of 2000, was every bit as visceral, personal and lowbrow as what we're seeing now in the Dems' relentless denigration of Donald Trump.  But it eventually faded into history because its shelf life came to an end, unlike the ugly refusal of Trump's detractors to cease, desist and move on, even as he nears the end of his third year in the Oval Office.

Celebrity 'Impeachment Task Force' Is Formed to Hold POTUS 'Accountable for Crimes'.  Something called "The Democratic Coalition" is taking themselves and their roles in the as-yet-to-happen impeachment inquiry very seriously.  They are unleashing an internet "rapid response" force made up of celebrities and other people who have too much time on their hands. [...] Every foul-mouthed, mentally unstable celebrity who has been making a case to be involuntarily committed to a mental institution for the last three years is now the official lunatic social media team for House Democrats.

The Party of 'Impeach!'  Stunned, angry and bewildered by Trump's win, some Democrats urged the Electoral College to refuse to certify his victory.  In a Washington Post op-ed, John Podesta, Hillary Clinton's campaign chairman, said, "The (Obama) administration should brief members of the electoral college on the extent and manner of Russia's interference in our election before they vote on Dec. 19 (2016)."  Nearly 70 Democratic lawmakers vowed to boycott Trump's inauguration.  Nearly a dozen Democrats refused to attend Trump's first State of the Union address.  In explaining his refusal to attend, Rep. Bobby Rush, D-Ill., said, "This is a presidency that has been built on racism, stupidity and lies, which has already wasted enough of America's time and I will not waste any more of mine."

Trump's Total Culture War.  [N]ot even former President George W. Bush has incurred the degree of hatred from the left that is now directed at Trump.  For most of his time in office, Trump, his family, his friends and his businesses have been investigated, probed, dissected and constantly attacked.  In 2016 and early 2017, Barack Obama appointees in the FBI, CIA and Department of Justice tried to subvert the Trump campaign, interfere with his transition and, ultimately, abort his presidency.  Now, congressional Democrats promise impeachment before the 2020 election.

The Democrats' desperate do-overs.  When Donald Trump was elected President of the United States on Nov. 7, 2016, it came as a shock to the country.  The tough campaign worked for the billionaire businessman, who had never held public office before.  He tore down the once reliable blue wall of Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania, beating the Clinton dynasty once and for all.  This is when the delusion and denial began.  Democrats and their allies in the media, led by twice failed presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, were stunned and in disbelief.  Instead of accepting the results put forward by the voting American public, Democrats tried to discredit Trump's victory through allegations of cheating and Russian collusion.

When Trump Fights the Left, He Punches Up.  Liberals own the mainstream media, academia, the entire entertainment industry, union leadership, the government bureaucracy, the publishing industry, the music industry, and social media, among others.  Conservatives hold mere pockets of influence within these cultural forces.  Any conservative who punches at a liberal or even threatens liberals' monopoly on a cultural power is automatically punching upward, since liberals can and will rain fire down on any conservative, to include the president.  No matter how many tweets President Trump sends out, there will still be a power disparity between him and the liberal cultural institutions that does not favor the president.

'Will & Grace' star calls for straight-up blacklist of Hollywood Trump supporters.  "Will & Grace" star Eric McCormack channeled a modern-day, leftist Joe McCarthy when he demanded that Hollywood Trump supporters be doxxed so he can shame them and make sure they never work again in Tinseltown.  Yesterday [8/30/2019], McCormack urged the Hollywood Reporter to publish the names of anyone who attends a forthcoming fundraiser for President Trump being held in Beverly Hills, California.

Bill Maher:  Recession 'Worth It' To Prevent Trump Winning.  Comedian Bill Maher of HBO, a wealthy man who will most likely never experience economic hardship for as long as he lives, now actively hopes that people lose their jobs, having their lives completely upended by way of a recession so that President Trump loses the 2020 election.

Kathy Griffin and the Consequences of the Politics of Stupidity.  In the days, weeks, and months following Donald Trump's election and inauguration, liberal America took its collective mind, threw it in a Vitamix, and poured it down the toilet.  It has been lost and floating around in a sewer of rage ever since.  One of the more notable Trump Derangement Syndrome meltdowns back then was publicly offered by comedian Kathy Griffin, who infamously posted a picture of her with a mock, blood covered, severed head of President Trump.  The stunt was so beyond the pale that even the notorious Trump-hating execs at CNN severed the network's professional relationship with her.  She also lost an endorsement gig with "Squatty Potty," and the world is probably a better place for it.

So much for the First Amendment and the free exchange of ideas.
Bette Midler to Jack Dorsey:  Shut Down Trump's Twitter 'Until the Next Election'.  Left-wing actress Bette Midler called on Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey to ban President Donald Trump from the social media platform "until the next election" in order to "improve the course of history."  "Dear #JackDorsey, why don't you help your country & the planet, by kicking #Trump off #Twitter?  Or shutting down until the next election?" said Midler.  "You've made more than enough money & Trump is strangling the free world w/his racist bile," continued the actress in her tweet.  "Be strong!  You can improve the course of history!"

The Editor says...
Did I miss something?  Is President Trump really strangling the free world?

On Jeffrey Epstein and a New Yorker attack on me.  The election of Donald Trump has pulled American debate away from objectivity and turned publications into actors in a political battle.  After Donald Trump's election, the New Yorker magazine lost no time nailing its colors to the anti-Trump mast.  David Remnick, its editor, lamented that Obama — a 'man of integrity, dignity, and generous spirit' — was being supplanted by 'vulgarity unbounded, a knowledge-free national leader' who would 'set markets tumbling', 'strike fear into the hearts of the vulnerable, the weak' etc.  This set the tone for the magazine's subsequent reporting.  Those sympathetic to Trump are treated in the same way — as I have found out.

Rosie O'Donnell Leads Protest Against Migrant Shelters: 'Take the Fascist Out of the White House'.  Rosie O'Donnell attended one of the many far-left vigils across the country Friday night, protesting migrant shelters and amping up fellow activists to "take the fascist out of the White House."  O'Donnell spoke at the vigil in New York City Friday night [7/12/2019], asking the crowd to "look around" and see what "America stands for."

The Editor says...
The article was accompanied by a photo, but it's from Getty Images, so you'll have to view the original article to see it.  In my opinion, the photo makes Rosie O'Donnell looks a lot like Archie Bunker with bad glasses.

Code Pink applies for permit to fly 'Baby Trump' on July 4, and Trump supporters are cheering them on.  Code Pink, the radically far-left group whose cognitively dissonant members think President Donald Trump is a dictator but love themselves Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro, reportedly intends to protest the president's Lincoln Memorial address on Independence Day.  The group's plan involves importing a "Baby Trump" balloon and flying it over "any open grassy area nearest to [the] Lincoln Memorial," according to a permit application reviewed by The Washington Post.  The goal?  Presumably to aggravate Trump and his supporters?  There's just one problem:  From the looks of it, Trump and his supporters reportedly love "Baby Trump."

More about Code Pink.

Nancy Pelosi needs to stop her endless war against Trump.  [Scroll down]  The majority of voters understand that Mueller had the time, investigators, and incentive to find any dirt he could.  His probe was vast and expensive — he summoned 500 witnesses, issued 2,800 subpoenas and used grand juries and heavily armed agents in search warrant raids.  If Trump had broken the law, Mueller would have found it.  Forget the noise and legalisms:  in a binary world, the president was cleared.  So it's past time for the left to get over 2016 and accept that Trump was legitimately elected and is entitled to the full powers of the presidency.  Her party's continual denial of that reality is the dry tinder that makes Pelosi's gamble so reckless.  Mueller was their best shot and to talk of prison now smacks of third-world countries where there is no peaceful transfer of power.

Sen. Kennedy blasts Democrats' three-year 'tantrum' over 2016 election.  Democrats are in the midst of a nearly three-year "tantrum" over the 2016 election of President Trump and their behavior has become "abusive," Sen. John Kennedy said Wednesday [6/5/2019].  Kennedy, R-La., responded on "America's Newsroom" to the ongoing battle between the Justice Department and House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y. who surprised some by offering to negotiate with the DOJ "without conditions" on his subpoena requests.

Arnav Gupta, man who set himself on fire near White House, dies.  A man who set himself on fire near the White House has died of his injuries, authorities confirmed Thursday [5/30/2019].  Arnav Gupta, of Bethesda, Md., erupted into a bright orange fireball at the Ellipse, a tourist-filled 52-acre public park that sits north of the Washington Monument, around 12:20 p.m.  Wednesday.

Hillary Clinton claims no one ever told a male loser to shut up.  Nobody likes a loser who can't accept defeat.  Hillary Clinton apparently can't understand that American voters just didn't like her.  She's still reenacting the 2016 presidential campaign in her mind and finding new ways to blame us all for her loss.

Study: Many Democrats Claiming Mental Distress After Trump Election Were Faking It.  In the wake of the 2016 election, liberals nationwide were claiming significant mental/emotional distress.  Last month so-called comedian Chelsea Handler claimed Trump's election drove her to drugs and to seek psychiatrist help for anxiety relief, yada, yada, yada.  But, according to a new study published in SAGE Open (an open-access, peer-reviewed, academic journal), many registered Democrats were embellishing their mental anguish "as a means to back their party."

Are Impeachment Democrats Geniuses or Idiots?  [Scroll down]  Suppose that your party had controlled Congress, man and boy, for about 60 years, from 1930 to 1990, and then the music changed and Congress became pretty well balanced, shifting from one party to the other.  You'd be pretty upset.  Suppose that your guys ran the administrative state for about 100 years, and then a populist candidate with no political experience walked in and took the presidency.  You'd be beside yourself.

Adam Schiff:  America Will Not Survive Another Four Years with Trump.  Sunday on ABC's "This Week," House Intelligence Committee chairman Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) proclaimed America could not survive another four years of Donald Trump as president.  Schiff said, "I don't think this country could survive another four years with a president like this who gets up every day trying to find new and inventive ways to divide us."

The Democrats' Sore Loser Syndrome.  [Scroll down]  Hillary lost it in the Electoral College and she still is apoplectic about it.  It is now well over two years since her defeat and she has most of her party still raging against the Russians, President Trump, and anyone in agreement with the President.  Yet the evidence proves that there was no collusion.  Her call to "resistance," should remind us of the Hillary of 1968.

The Brainwashing of a Nation.  The "Resistance" isn't a political movement.  It's a political cult whose crisis was the 2016 election.  Its irrational belief that Trump is a Russian agent is typical of the conspiratorial mindset of cults.  Its inability to understand that its convictions are completely irrational show how brainwashing works.  The 2016 election inflicted on its members a loss of control.  Trump became the crisis embodying their loss of control.  Their fear, guilt and anger induced stress that altered their behavior and beliefs.  And, within the very recent past, millions came to believe that Trump was really working for Moscow.  This is brainwashing on a timescale so immediate that we can easily recall it.  Yet most of us have trouble understanding how it works and why it works.

Celebrities Express Anger and Depression Over President.  Therapists in Hollywood must be raking it in this month, as celebrities from Chelsea Handler to Amy Poehler confessed to having emotional breakdowns and "panic attacks" over Donald Trump.  Some of them were just sad as they cried over no collusion in the Russia case.  Singer Bette Midler claimed Trump had "caused depression, despair, confusion and death."  Others expressed anger.  Actor Robert De Niro raged against the "wannabee gangster in the White House."  Comedian D.L. Hughley demanded action as he insisted if Democrats didn't impeach Trump then the word "justice" has no meaning.

Rosanna Arquette:  I Feel Terrorized 'Living Under a Fascist Regime'.  Actress Rosanna Arquette melted down in a social media screed, wishing she could wake up without feeling "terrorized" by President Donald Trump's "fascist regime."  "I just want to wake up and feel some peace and love in the world," Rosanna Arquette said, "and not feel terrorized that we are living under a fascist regime as of today."

The Editor says...
Donald Trump doesn't adversely affect most of us.  If you are so uncomfortable, maybe you should leave.

All the Progressive Plotters.  Right after the 2016 election, Green Party candidate Jill Stein — cheered on by Hillary Clinton dead-enders — sued in three states to recount votes and thereby overturn Donald Trump's victory in the Electoral College.  Before the quixotic effort imploded, Stein was praised as an iconic progressive social justice warrior who might stop the hated Trump from even entering the White House.  When that did not work, B-list Hollywood celebrities mobilized, with television and radio commercials, to shame electors in Trump-won states into not voting for the president-elect during the official Electoral College balloting in December 2016. [...] When that did not work, more than 60 Democratic House members voted to bring up Trump's impeachment for vote.  Trump had only been in office a few weeks.

Barbarians are well past the gate.  What's up with TV commentators like Rachel Maddow?  For two years, she relished the impending impeachment of the president and built her TV ratings high as an Aspen ski gondola full of spring-breakers.  When the investigator's report finally debunked her impeachment fantasy, she fought back tears.  Why?  I'm old enough to remember when the determination that a president committed no crimes would be seen as a good thing, not something to cry about.  But that was before cable TV news.  I mean "news."

Chelsea Handler describes how Trump's election win devastated her, led her to weed.  The right is often criticized for calling Democrats out for being "unhinged" when it comes to President Donald Trump, or for putting an emphasis on the "deranged" in Trump Derangement Syndrome, but a revelation by comedian Chelsea Handler put that all to rest.  In an appearance Friday night [4/5/2019] on HBO's "Real Time," Handler told host Bill Maher she had to see a shrink after Trump defeated Hillary Clinton in 2016, saying her life never felt "so unhinged."  How bad was it, given that the liberal media had all but declared that Trump had no chance of winning?  Bad enough for Handler to turn on and drop out — though we suspect that the left-wing zealot had an affinity for weed long before Trump.

Mueller report quashes left's top excuse for Hillary's 2016 loss — Trump won fair and square.  Breaking news:  Donald J. Trump won the presidency, fair and square.  He does not occupy the Oval Office due to an elaborate plot involving the KGB, the Kremlin, Russian Federation President Vladimir Putin, or the ghosts of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg.  Instead, he won the old-fashioned way:  He followed the rules and out-foxed and out-worked Democratic Party nominee Hillary Clinton.  Hillary, in turn, appeared at only 63 rallies in the final 99 days of the 2016 general-election campaign (versus 132 for Trump), as Gateway Pundit's Joe Hoft calculated.  She addressed, on average, 1,734 people at each of these rallies (versus 7,297 for Trump).  Hillary barely made it to Michigan and never managed to find Wisconsin on a map of the USA.

The Left:  Seething with apoplectic rage.  The right:  Happy and optimistic.  Leftists, since the administration of Woodrow Wilson, when they first called themselves "progressives," have been regressive ever since.  They crave the socially stratified societies of the Middle Ages, with an elite ruling class that garners all the wealth and wields the power to tell everyone else how to live.  California has pretty much re-created exactly that today, as have New York and D.C. and its environs.  Even so, all those rich, intolerant liberals are always angry and unhappy.  Since Trump was elected, they are well and truly forlorn.

What is the purpose of a secret Facebook account?
Malia Obama's secret Facebook account reveals just how much former First Daughter hates Trump.  Malia Obama described President Trump as 'evil' on a secret Facebook page where she exchanges messages friends including Joe Biden's granddaughter, DailyMail.com can reveal.  The Facebook page operates under a pseudonym and does not appear to have been publicly updated since 2017.

Store Clerk Loses His Mind When Man Wearing Trump Gear Walks In.  A video of a vape store clerk going absolutely ballistic when a man wearing a pro-Trump hat walked into the store has gone viral.  Even better is the reaction of the Trump supporter.  [Video clip]

The Weekly Standard's Ongoing Suicide Finally Achieves Results.  Back in the late 1990s, I used to subscribe to The Weekly Standard, and they did some good articles.  They were the first place I read about how the French government had lost control of the predominately Muslim banlieues.  But I dropped my subscription because I wasn't reading as many magazines any longer as my Internet reading increased, and National Review filled my "what I read at breakfast and dinner" needs.  There were always oddities in The Weekly Standard's worldview, including their embrace of "National Greatness" conservatism, which struck me as Big Government with a conservative facade.  But judging from their Twitter timelines, the 2016 election seems to given them a more severe case of Trump Derangement Syndrome than any other institution on the right.

Report: Weekly Standard Staff 'Bracing for the Worst' After Search for Buyer Fails.  The future of The Weekly Standard, a conservative opinion magazine turned Never-Trump publication, is "uncertain," a top editor has told staffers, according to a report.  CNN, citing two unnamed sources, reports Editor-in-Chief Stephen Hayes phoned employees Tuesday [12/3/2018], saying he is unsure what will happen to the magazine.

Weekly Standard Employees Brace for the Worst.  On Tuesday, Emerald Robinson, chief White House correspondent for One America News Network (OANN), unleashed a powerful rumor that The Weekly Standard is on its last legs.  Sources confirmed to CNN that Editor-in-Chief Stephen Hayes warned staff the future of the paper is uncertain.  One of the magazine's key editors, Bill Kristol, has adopted a firmly anti-Trump stance, becoming a well-known #NeverTrump leader.

The Weekly Standard expected to shut down.  The Weekly Standard — the conservative magazine that has stubbornly cleaved to an anti-Trump stance — is expected to fold unless a white-knight investor swoops in.  The current owner of the 23-year-old publication, Media DC, a subsidiary of Philip Anschutz's Clarity Media Group, did nothing on Wednesday to tamp down reports of the Weekly Standard's imminent demise.

Study: Hillary's 2016 Defeat Causing Mental Health Problems In College Students.  In normal development, children do not usually have difficulty "losing" by the age of ten.  Some of the responses of these Hillary-voting college students suggest that they have the emotional maturity of Kindergartners.

Study: College Students Felt Depressed, 'Rejected' After 2016 Election.  A new academic study strongly suggests that Hillary Clinton's defeat during the 2016 election is exacerbating the mental health crisis among college students.  Led by University of Miami Professor Heather Claypool, the study sought to determine if the election would impact students' mental health and well-being.  Claypool surveyed 262 students at the school before and after the 2016 election.  Students answered questions such as "I feel meaningless" and "I feel rejected," as well as questions about their political leanings and — after the election — if they actually voted.  Only 166 students had — 70 percent of them voted for Clinton.  The results, published two years later in a peer-reviewed psychology journal, found that students who supported Clinton emotionally struggled with the results of the election.  The authors predicted this was likely felt among students across the nation.

Trump Dared to Build Up Our Military — and the Left Is Angry.  The media, together with RINO Republicans and the whole pack of Democrats, are having a meltdown for one reason.  Trump won.  It's not because he's abrasive or because he is a prolific tweeter of every thought that comes to mind.  No, they are infuriated because Trump and his "deplorable" supporters disturbed their carefully crafted globalist plans for America.  That kind of anger will not be appeased.

Triggered by Trump Week in Higher Education.  Here's an important question.  How can you study anything related to Trump if his existence gives you PTSD?

Uber Driver Dumps Mother & Daughter Roadside at Night Because She Supports Trump.  Imagine your wife and 13-year-old daughter were left in a bad part of town at night by an Uber driver because they support President Trump.  Claudine is a college friend and this is her story in her own words.

Fake bombs are not bombs.  Fake news is fake news.  The American left to this day is unable to accept the results of the 2016 election.  So certain that their candidate would prevail, they have suffered a psychotic break from which they have not recovered.  Every sentient being now knows that it was Hillary, the DNC, the FBI, the DOJ, and the NSA that collaborated to prevent Trump from becoming president.  She and they fabricated the "dossier," planted spies in the Trump campaign, falsified FISA warrants, and leaked to the media.  Their plan was a Deep State coup like nothing else in U.S. history.

NBC's Ken Dilanian:  North Dakota, New York Having Same Number of Senate Votes 'Has to Change'.  Ken Dilanian, a reporter for NBC News, tweeted on Monday [10/8/2018] that the idea of North Dakota and New York having the same amount of senators "has to change" because of the confirmation of Justice Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court.  "It may not happen in our lifetimes, but the idea that North Dakota and New York get the same representation in the Senate has to change," Dilanian tweeted, linking to a Washington Post article about the confirmation of Kavanaugh.

Healthy Shame Woefully Absent in Washington, DC.  What is obvious is that the American left has no shame, no conscience.  From Democrat senators Blumenthal, Feinstein, and Booker to Republican counterparts Flake, Collins, and Murkowski, all are happy to participate in the destruction of a decent man and his family to protect abortion or for revenge against a president they don't like — followed in lockstep by the media, driven by a rabid obsession to destroy anything and everything related to President Trump.

Sandwich Chain Closes Because Customers Can't Stomach That Owner Met Donald Trump.  Hoagie sandwich chain Taylor Gourmet will close all 19 of its outlets largely due to a decline in sales after its co-founder attended an event last year led by President Donald Trump, according to Washingtonian.  A Taylor Gourmet spokesperson confirmed the closures in the article.  Seventeen locations are in D.C. and surrounding areas and two more are in Chicago.  Fortune was unable to reach Taylor Gourmet for comment.  While real estate costs, rapid expansion, and competition may have been factors, Washingtonian cites several company insiders who noted that sales dropped after co-founder Casey Patten was photographed with Trump.

Powerline: It's Official, Google Is a Democratic Party Front.  John Hinderaker writes for Powerline about the leaked video posted by Breitbart Wednesday in which the Masters of the Google Universe bemoan the election of Donald Trump and pledge to take action against that deplorable decision by the voters: [...]

Nevada professor SHOOTS himself in campus bathroom to protest President Trump.  An anti-Trump sociology professor at the College of Southern Nevada shot himself on campus last month as way to protest the president, police said.  Mark J. Bird, 69, was found bloodied outside a bathroom in the Charleston campus K building with a self-inflicted gunshot wound the morning of the second day of classes August 28.  Inside the bathroom, was the .22-caliber handgun he used as well as a spent shell casing.  Bird also left a $100 bill taped to the bathroom mirror with a note that read:  'For the janitor,' according to the Review Journal.

The World's Most Important Funeral:  Google's Answer to Trump.  Forget the lamentations for John McCain.  Ditto the wailing for Aretha Franklin.  This week, we just learned about the biggest and most significant funeral dirge in the history of the world:  the private and confidential gathering of tens of thousands of Google employees to mourn the election of Donald Trump.

'This Is Not America's Finest Hour': Madonna Claims She Moved to Portugal over Trump.  Pop star Madonna says she moved her family to Portugal partly due to Donald Trump being elected president of the United States.  In an interview with Vogue Italia released Wednesday [8/1/2018], Madonna said she "needed a change," after the 2016 election.  "I wanted to get out of America for a minute — as you know, this is not America's finest hour," the aging singer said and also cited her son David's ambitions to play professional soccer as motivation to flee the United States.

The Imposters Are Preparing The Final Act in Their Coup d'état.  To all TGP readers and all American patriots we are informing you to prepare yourselves.  This country is at a precipice.  America is either going to be overrun by a power hungry Deep State or it will survive one of the biggest attacks to its existence since the Civil War.  We must all be vigilant and prepared.  The acts of the Deep State are as appalling as they are criminal.  An unelected and elected power hungry minority is attempting a coup d'état of the Trump administration.  Americans voted for Donald J. Trump for President in 2016 because they were tired of the corruption in Washington D.C. as much as Americans were fearful of losing the country that they loved.  Americans were in fear the country that we knew was morphing into something entirely unrecognizable and demented.  Liberals, Democrats, elites, globalists and the Deep State thought Donald Trump was a "clown" as they plotted to hand over the country to Obama's choice — Hillary Clinton.

Poor Sports:  Democrats Pull Out of Annual Softball Game with Republicans.  The Democratic National Committee (DNC) is refusing to play Republicans in the annual Congressional softball game this year.  The DNC's softball boycott "stunned" the Republican National Committee (RNC), The Daily Caller reports.

Out In Left Field:  DNC Refuses To Play RNC In Time-Honored Softball Game.  Despite being a time-honored tradition going back many years, the DNC is refusing to play the RNC at this year's annual softball game.  RNC sources tell The Daily Caller that they were "stunned" when Democrats abruptly pulled out of the good-natured game between leadership and staffers at opposing political organizations.  The game was an opportunity to put aside the partisan bickering and come together in friendly competition.  The decade-old tradition typically ended in staffers having a drink at a nearby bar.

5 Reasons Hillary Clinton Was the Worst Presidential Nominee in History.  Like every presidential election that liberals lose, years later we're still hearing about how unfair it all was.  Of course, the favorite complaint of liberals this time around is "Russia did it!"  Even if you accept for the sake of argument that Russia wanted Trump to win and hacked John Podesta's email (and neither of those assertions may be true), buying some inconsequential Facebook ads for both sides and revealing the contents of John Podesta's emails (none of which turned into truly major stories) wasn't exactly a game changer.  Liberals also noted that Hillary would have won had the election been decided by the popular vote.  This is like noting that if football games were decided by passing yards instead of the score, the Patriots would have beaten the Eagles in the Super Bowl.  It doesn't work that way, by design.

Trump beat Hillary more than a year ago but the left can't let it go.  Never before in American history have disgruntled leaders of the minority party sought to deligimitmize and bring down a duly elected president of the United States.  It's been over 20 months since President Trump defeated Hillary Clinton in the historic election of November 2016, but the left will not let it go and it's doing great damage to our country.  From twice-failed presidential candidate Hillary Clinton to former CIA Director John Brennan to actor Robert DeNiro to fake news, deranged leftists are determined to try to bring down a presidency.  Their attacks are based on a false narrative and they don't care if they tank our country and system of government in the process.

The Constitutional Crisis of Rejecting Election Losses.  "Constitutional crisis" and "Democrat" have never been more closely aligned.  Considering all the dangers of the Democratic Party — exploiting our youth into Redcoat Hitler Youth gun control activists and violence against fellow Americans who don't share their political beliefs, to name just two — one under-the-radar danger will soon, I expect, become over the radar:  The Democrats will never, ever again accept presidential election losses.  So what's to stop them from never accepting congressional losses, either in the House or Senate?  What about gubernatorial and state elections?

Trump Has Been Set Up, Framed And Relentlessly Persecuted By The American Intelligence Community.  Power is the only thing leftists worship, and they are unraveling in front of our eyes without it.  They can't control Mr. Trump.  That alone drives them insane. [...] Each of the president's remarkable accomplishments — from unprecedented high employment, our booming economy and the tax cuts to his historic summit with Kim Jong-un — highlights their abject failures and serves to prick their narcissistic egos.  The country is doing better without them every day.  Even worse, they are desperate to keep their countless crimes and abuses covered up.

DOJ employee who chased Kirstjen Nielsen from restaurant could face discipline.  Federal Hatch Act investigators have opened a complaint file on the Justice Department employee who was part of a mob that chased Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen from a restaurant earlier last month.  The U.S. Office of Special Counsel, which polices employees who illegally engage in politicking as government employees, has assigned a case number and a lawyer to the complaint against Allison Hrabar.  Ms. Hrabar, a paralegal at the Justice Department, was part of a group from the Democratic Socialists of America that showed up at a Mexican restaurant to disrupt Ms. Nielsen's meal.  Their protest was filmed and posted online.

Why the Resistance is futile.  [Reason #2]  The celebrities are not helping the Resistance in part because of all the baggage they carry.  Maybe it is just me, but I laugh when an actress who shed her clothes in a film complains that the President Trump used the P-word.  Indeed, the all-too casual use of vulgarity undermines the message. [...] [Reason #4]  The focus is not on any issue.  The Resistance simply is against everything President Trump does.

Why This Immigration Psychodrama Will Also Pass.  We've already been through the dizzying odyssey of legal suits in three states over supposedly fraudulent voting machines, the nullification of the Electoral College effort, the meltdown on Inauguration Day, the Emoluments Clause tizzy, the 25th Amendment con, the various Russian collusion hysterias, the leaked phone call to the Australian prime minister, the Michael Wolff Fire and Furyfantasies, the Dudley Do-Right James Comey pre-indictment book tour, and all the surreal assassination chic stories, from Kathy Griffin's beheading photo to the Shakespearean troupe's ritual stabbing of Trump.  One day the president is supposedly going to blow up the world by calling Kim Jong-un "little rocket man," and the next he is a partner in genocide for not blowing up the world but reaching out to Kim.

The Permanent Adolescence of the American Left.  Donald Trump's remarkable and unpredicted victory in 2016 unleashed perhaps the pinnacle of all unintended consequences.  By their ongoing nonsensical reaction to the Trump victory, the American left has exposed and validated their irrationality, obliviousness, and immaturity. [...] On the surface, there may appear to be similarities to the left in other nations; however, when it comes to the motivation and personality quirks, it is only the left in Britain that bears any resemblance to the American left.  In fact, the American version consistently denigrates "old white guys" as the scourge of humanity while ostensibly promoting the philosophy of "old white guys" such as Hobbes, Hegel, and Marx.  In reality, American leftism is a unique amalgamation of socialism, Darwinism, and oligarchism requiring an army of foot soldiers who dwell in a state of permanent adolescence.

Progressives on the Brink.  The left's opinion of the president, echoed in every left-leaning corner of the media, is that he is illegitimate; incompetent; racist; sexist; and, in some vague and inchoate sense, "fascist."  Because they view President Trump in these extreme terms, progressives view themselves not as violent extremists, but as "the resistance."  But resistance implies that there exists something worthy of resisting.  The progressive resistance began just seconds after Trump was declared the victor on election night.  The resistance was not engendered by anything Trump had actually done.  It was just a refusal to accept any candidate who varied from the left's own line of thinking.

It's not a debate... it's warfare.  A conservative friend (call him Sam) and I were discussing the bizarre but common phenomenon of Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS). [...] Those with the syndrome have a computer-like repertoire of ready replies to everything.  If you debunk their first accusation, they pull out one more from their list and continue as if the first one was never challenged.  Thus, Sam's utter frustration.  One cannot have an honest discussion with a computer that is preprogrammed to stonewall.  The tenacity these people demonstrate makes one wonder:  why did they never apply their tactics to challenging the corrupt Obama presidency?  Why do they interpret every minute detail of Trump's words and actions in the darkest, most negative possible light, while Obama got the benefit of every doubt, even when no reasonable doubt existed?

The Bitterness Tour.  Last week, Hillary Clinton came to Melbourne, Australia's second largest city, and to Sydney, its largest, with a huge chip on her shoulder.  The chip has been there since the 2016 election and seems to be growing larger with every appearance.  As with almost everything else the Clintons do, it cost to hear her bitterness.  Those who went to hear Clinton speak, more than 5,000 people, paid between $200 and $500 Australian dollars (about $15 to $380 US).  What they heard was criticism of President Trump and his foreign and domestic policies.  Not that long ago, Americans made an effort to stop "partisan politics at the water's edge," but no more.  Especially with some Democratic politicians who seem to believe that government belongs to them and when Republicans win an election it was somehow stolen from its rightful owners.

Trump sculpture on Arctic glacier planned as climate-change protest.  Although President Donald Trump might be skeptical of climate change (or global warming, if you prefer), activists in Finland hope to use the commander-in-chief's likeness to draw awareness to the issue.  They plan to carve Trump's image into the side of an Arctic glacier.  The group, called Melting Ice, is looking to raise 400,00 Euros (about $476,988) to fund "Project Trumpmore," and create the roughly 115 foot-tall ice sculpture in a glacier that is melting, yle.fi reported.

The Editor says...
Has there been an environmental impact study for this project?

Dems prove sore losers.  Who said the Democratic Party is out of ideas?  After failing to raise any significant money with the wall-to-wall hysterical coverage networks like CNN have afforded Dems, they are moving their efforts over to Court TV.  And so the Democratic National Committee on Friday [4/20/2018] sued President Trump's campaign, Donald Trump Jr., Jared Kushner, the Russian Federation, Wikileaks and others.  The gist of the action is that Team Trump had worked with dark cronies like Russian oligarchs, WikiLeaks, Cambridge Analytica, et al. to steal the election.

Winter Is Coming.  Domestic tyranny is spreading across the land as the Deep State attempts to maintain their stranglehold over the financial, political and media levers of our surveillance state.  Our hour of darkness, adversity and peril is approaching like a deadly winter storm.  The arrival of Trump through the wintry mist has not rallied the entire country to his cause.  His entrance into the Swamp has divided the country into two competing camps, unwilling to compromise or cooperate in doing what's right for the long-term benefit of the country.  The advent of Trump has exacerbated the three driving core elements of debt, civic decay and global disorder.  He is a lightning rod, not a healer.  The vitriol, hate, and animosity engulfing the country is reminiscent of the years leading up to the Civil War.

Nursing Election Grievances, Hillary Clinton Supporters Curse Comey.  When it comes to James B. Comey's book-tour crusade against President Trump, the question for hard-core Hillary Clinton fans boils down to this:  Curse Mr. Comey, or cheer him?  Curse him, mostly.  They may be card-carrying members of "the Resistance," who oppose everything that the president stands for, but Mrs. Clinton's former aides and advisers are still too angry at Mr. Comey, the former F.B.I. director, to see past what they view as his egregious actions that handed the White House to Mr. Trump.

Charlize Theron Considers Leaving America: 'Racism Is Much More Alive and Well'.  Actress Charlize Theron said in an interview that she has considered leaving the United States for the sake of her adopted children due to increased concerns over "racism."  "I don't even know how to talk about the last year under our new administration.  But racism is much more alive and well than people thought," she told Elle Magazine.  Theron said due to the current political and social climates in the country, she wants to ensure her African-American children, ages six and two, feel safe.

The Editor says...
Bon voyage.

When Will The Media Finally Get Over The 2016 Election?  We're now into our second year of theorizing about what went wrong in 2016, which is itself illustrative of the prejudice in much of political media.  Most of these stories have nothing to do with Donald Trump's policies or his behavior — topics well worth covering — and everything to do with creating the impression that the electoral process was dangerously flawed.  Whether the Comey Letter swung the election or Fake News swung the election or Facebook data mining swung the election, there have been so many stories intimating that our democratic institutions have been subverted, that you sense certain people might be reluctant to accept the sanctity of the process.  I bring this up, because this week, a new Politico piece theorizes that a lack of "trusted news sources" in rural areas, rather than any particular issues, gave Donald Trump victory in 2016.  It is perhaps the most unconvincing, inference-ridden, self-aggrandizing piece in the entire "What Went Wrong?" genre.

Behold the Lowlights of Michelle Obama's Trump-Bashing Tour.  Judging from their vocal criticism of President Trump, it's clear that neither Mr. nor Mrs. Obama shares G.W. Bush's viewpoint that it's terrible for the country and the presidency to undermine a current president.  Barack does it by praising anything and anyone who opposes the president's policies and, by doing so, manages to disparage the man who took his place.  Michelle, on the other hand, is much less diplomatic.  Instead of using discretion, Mrs. Obama vomits out anti-Trump venom wherever she goes.  Michelle's Trump-Bashing Tour started right after the 2016 election, when Mrs. Hope and Change told Oprah Winfrey that because Trump was elected, "now we're feeling what not having hope feels like."

Hillary Clinton lectures us on values and trust:
Hillary: 'I Worry' Trump Has Harmed America's World Leadership — 'Our Word Is No Longer Trusted'.  Thursday [3/29/2018] at Rutgers University, former secretary of state and presidential candidate Hillary Clinton said she was concerned President Donald Trump had caused a "loss of leadership and leverage" in global politics.  The reason:  She is concerned American's word "is no longer trusted."  When asked what her concerns about our "democratic stability" in the era of Trump were, Clinton replied, "I worry about the degradation of institutions, the dismissing of norms and values, because remember, a democracy is fundamentally held together by trust."

Sacramento Home Seller Refuses to Sell to Trump Supporters.  A homeowner in Sacramento, California, who has put her family home on the local real estate market is refusing to sell it to anyone who supports President Donald Trump.  Experts disagree over whether her approach is illegal.  Some say that her stance, while obnoxious, may not be illegal because political preference is not one of the categories protected by anti-discrimination laws.

Matt Damon Delivers:  Moving Family To Australia Because Trump.  With the rise of President Trump, many celebrities from Barbara Streisand to Cher have vowed to migrate north to Canada or down under to Australia.  None of them delivered ... until now.  Ladies and gentlemen, according to Page Six, actor Matt Damon plans to move his family over to Australia to protest President Trump.  "Damon, 47, reportedly has purchased a property in Byron Bay, New South Wales," reports Page Six.  "The home's next door to a place owned by Chris Hemsworth — with whom Damon recently appeared in 'Thor:  Ragnarok.'"  A source told the outlet, "Matt's telling friends and colleagues in Hollywood that he's moving the family to Australia" to protest President Trump's policies.

Rebuttal:
Matt Damon isn't actually fleeing the country because of President Trump.  Matt Damon is staying stateside.  A rep for the "Downsizing" star denied reports that he, wife Luciana Barroso and their four children are heading Down Under to escape President Trump.  "Matt has visited Australia several times recently," his rep told the Boston Globe Thursday [3/15/2018].  "But he has not bought a house there nor is he moving there."  While Damon has seen the spotlight more for his friendship with Harvey Weinstein originally, the Boston native has spoken out against the President before, particularly after the Charlottesville rally and Trump's "abhorrent" comments about blame on both sides.

Former Nike Executive Distraught by Trump Victory Becomes Hermit to Avoid Consuming News.  A former Nike executive took living "off the grid" to a whole new level after Donald Trump became president when he decided to become a hermit on an Ohio farm and stop consuming news.  Erik Hagerman, 53, told the New York Times moving to the Ohio pig farm where he resides alone is the only way he can cope with "the devastation" of Trump winning the 2016 presidential election.

Our New Secessionists.  As the months pass, however, and Trump's achievements pile up the disjunction between the reality of his administration and the hysteria of his opponents becomes ever more glaring.  We long ago passed through the stage where the antics of "The Resistance"™ seemed merely comic to the stage where they are merely pathetic.  What, after all are they resisting?  The results of a free, open, democratic election in which their candidate lost.

People Hate Lines From Obama's SOTU — When They're Told It's From Trump's.  A new video shows that many people hate lines from Barack Obama's State of the Union addresses — as long as you tell them it's from Donald Trump's.  [Video clip]

Good speech - tough room.  President Trump was good.  Maybe even great at last night's State of the Union address.  One problem, though.  Too many in the room were rooting against him, and always will, no matter what he says.  They want him to lose and when he succeeds, to them, to the Democrats, it's counted as a failure for their cause and their Party.  So, everything that's right for the country is wrong for them — means another seven years on the outside looking in... and they certainly will not join him to Make America Great Again.  While HE'S in office?  No way.  Their job is to trip him up at every turn.  The last thing they want is to "work together."

John Kerry Sabotages US Foreign Policy.  Former Secretary of State John Kerry reportedly sought to undermine the Trump administration's current policy in dealing with the nihilist Palestinian leadership.  According to an article appearing in Maariv, as quoted by the Jerusalem Post, Kerry met a senior Palestinian leader, Hussein Agha, in London recently and told him to convey a clandestine message to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.  The message was that Abbas should "play for time" and "not yield to President [Donald] Trump's demands."  Kerry reportedly predicted that President Trump would not be in office for long — perhaps not more than a year.  Possibly for that reason, Kerry allegedly advised that the Palestinians should aim their criticisms at President Trump personally, rather than more broadly at the United States.

State Department officials say they're in 'career purgatory' for the work they did under Obama.  Several government employees say they are stuck in "career purgatory" within the State Department for work they did under the Obama administration, CNN reported Friday [1/26/2018].  Particularly, public servants who worked on closing the Guantanamo Bay prison — which President Trump has vocally resisted — say they've been intentionally relegated to work that they're overqualified for.  The various employees who spoke to CNN say that they've been assigned to the State Department's Freedom of Information Act office, despite being career foreign affairs officials with years of experience.  There is a well-publicized logjam of public information requests at the department, and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has vowed to clear the backlog of roughly 13,000 outstanding inquiries by the end of the year.  Handling FOIA requests is considered "low-level" work, CNN pointed out.

Schumer listened to the resistance — and lost badly.  Chuck Schumer started a government shutdown he couldn't finish.  The New York Democrat, among the shrewdest operators in national politics, stumbled badly because he succumbed to the siren song of the anti-Trump Resistance.  He believed any charge could be made to stick to President Trump, no matter how implausible, and chose the dictates of an inflamed Democratic base over common sense.

ACLU, Organized Labor, Billionaire Steyer Chart Paths for 2018 Resistance.  As soon as Donald Trump moved into the White House, the American Civil Liberties Union's membership began growing to 1.6 million, four times bigger than during the Obama administration.  Along with filling out ACLU membership cards, liberal/progressive voters also clicked in $93 million in online donations to the organization, an increase of $88 million from the year before.  "We have bodies the likes of which we've never had before," said ACLU executive director Anthony Romero.  "We actually have dollars the likes of which we've never seen before."  With all that new membership and monetary might behind it, Romero told Politico there's no reason that the ACLU can't become the NRA of left-wing politics and the center of anti-Trump resistance.

Dems Lose Health Battle with Trump.  Trump is a fighter.  He was elected to fight and win for Americans, not mollify petri dish progressives and establishment Republicans.  The incessant and absurd attacks on the president's psyche were the outgrowth of a warped worldview come crashing down.  For so long, Americans were told there was one acceptable, cosmopolitan direction for the country — Trump's ascendancy and expeditious success is a bona fide wrecking ball to that narrative.  The president, his constituents, and the America First agenda represent an unconditional rebuke of the quintessentially anti-American crusade that has been waged on the nation in its schools, in its streets, and in its courts.  It makes sense that the opposition should utterly lose their minds and project their anxieties onto Trump, and they have every reason to panic.

A Tribute to the Great Social Justice Warriors of 2017.  [President Trump] is hated because he spoiled the grand ascension of Hillary Clinton to the presidency and thwarted the social justice utopia dreams of the Left, where every other person you met would be an illegal immigrant given amnesty to vote Democrat, where every corporation would be taxed into nationalization, where NRA members would be lined up against a wall and disarmed and humiliated, where the evil patriarchy would be replaced by an aristocracy based on identity politics and sanctified by past grievances, where the military would be downsized to a couple of guys with a baseball bat they would take turns sharing, and where that horrible tune from the 70s Coke commercial would be our national anthem.

Obama's Minions Attack Trump For Standing Tall On Iran.  President Trump, unlike his timorous and tremulous predecessor, has made no bones about his support for Iranians who have revolted against the brutal, repressive, theocratic regime of the mullahs.  His Twitter feed, oft-criticized, has been a haven for those intrepid souls protesting and even dying as they challenge the Iranian regime, as Trump has been clear about his desire to see the despotic Iranian regime overthrown.  As predictably as the sun rising in the east, the minions of Barack Obama, who abandoned Iranian protesters to their fate in 2009, have surfaced from the depths of their defeated status to slam the president for doing exactly the right and moral thing.

Trump's Wildly Successful First Year Again Exposes #NeverTrump as Amoral Saboteurs.  Remember these names:  Jonah Goldberg, David Frum, Bill Kristol, Rich Lowry, Max Boot, Mitt Romney, John Kasich, Joe Scarborough, Jeff Flake, Ben Sasse, Jennifer Rubin, George Will, Josh Jordan, Tom Nichols, Charles Cooke, Stephen Hayes, Tim Miller, John Podhoretz, Nicole Wallace, Steven Schmidt, Bret Stephens, Ross Douthat, Leon Wolf, David Brooks, Rick Wilson, Evan McMullin, Stuart Stevens, Red State, National Review, the Weekly Standard.  These are the so-called conservative men, women, and institutions who (among others) fought the hardest to sabotage Donald Trump's presidential campaign, all in the unforgivable hope that Hillary Clinton would become president.  These are so-called conservatives who have, for nearly two years now, been promoting themselves and fundraising by smearing Trump as incompetent and "not a real conservative," as a "Democrat in sheep's clothing" — when, in fact, all of that best describes #NeverTrump.

Jorge Ramos Says He's Now Having the 'Worst Time' of His Life in U.S..  Nearly a year into the Trump presidency, Univision anchor Jorge Ramos says he's experiencing "the worst moment I've had in the 34 years I've been living in the United States."  "With Donald Trump there, I have never been treated so badly.  I have never been insulted so much.  We've never been attacked so much.  They have never tried to run us out as much as now," Ramos vented in an interview with the Spanish radio network Cadena SER.  Ramos, who proclaimed himself "if not an enemy, an opponent" of Trump in the interview, complained about the massive blowback he has received since deciding to use his media platforms to openly oppose the choice of over 62 million American voters in last year's U.S. presidential election.

John Lewis Refuses To Share Stage with Trump At Civil Rights Museum Opening.  Democratic Rep. John Lewis of Georgia is refusing to attend the Thursday [12/7/2017] opening of the Mississippi Civil Rights museum since President Donald Trump will be there. [...] The ceremony is planned for Saturday to celebrate the 200-year anniversary of Mississippi entering the union.  Republican Gov. Phil Bryant extended an invitation to the president to attend, sparking a wave of outrage from various civil rights organizations.

Lindsey Vonn:  I won't be representing US President at Winter Olympics.  A number of US athletes have spoken out against Donald Trump during his presidency — and skier Lindsey Vonn has become the latest to have her say.  Targeting Olympic gold at February's Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, Vonn is in St.  Moritz, Switzerland, where she spoke passionately about what it means to compete for the US ski team.  "Well I hope to represent the people of the United States, not the president," Vonn told CNN's Alpine Edge.

Cocktail-Wielding Jennifer Lawrence Tells Oprah She is Prepared to Assault President Trump.  Jennifer Lawrence says any encounter she has with President Trump will likely end with "a martini to the face." [...] Lawrence said in 2015 that a Trump presidency would be "the end of the world."  But earlier this year, she preached unity, telling Vogue that the country needs to come together because "we can't continue this divide and anger."

Flashback: Hillary Said Not Accepting Election Results Was 'Direct Threat To Democracy' (VIDEO).  Remember a couple months ago, Hillary attacked Trump for failing to say whether or not he would accept the election results, by claiming it was a "direct threat" to America and to democracy.  Except, now it's Hillary's supporters who won't accept the election results.

Finding the real Obama — the Obama wiretapping edition.  Barack Obama, the outgoing president, had used his last few months in office to undermine Donald Trump, [the] duly elected incoming president and, since leaving the White House, has set himself up as a government-in-exile, and in opposition, using Fifth Columnists still within the government to destroy President Trump.

Mansplaining Trump to National Review.  Rich Lowry awakened Sunday morning to an epiphany:  President Trump is pushing through the conservative agenda by using the powers of the president in a manner that is effective, constitutional, and most rewarding.  This does not please Lowry.  He is trapped inside the DC-Manhattan corridor unable to reconcile how every prediction he and his colleagues have made for the past two years have been wrong.

Kathy Griffin Goes On Unhinged Rant, Blames Fox News For Being Poor Now.  Kathy Griffin is back with another unhinged rant, blaming Hollywood, Trump and Fox News for her complete career self-decapitation.  Griffin saw both her comedic and television hosting career go into free fall after posing with a picture of President Trump's severed head.  Griffin was subsequently fired by CNN and had several gigs canceled in the toxic political fallout from the stunt.  Now, Griffin is asking for sympathy for being poor from an austere hotel room in Europe in the middle of her world tour.  In a raw video posted to her YouTube page, Griffin complains that Hollywood does not want her anymore and she has no paying shows back in America.

Kathy Griffin Upset She Can't Find Work After Gruesome Trump Photo Stunt.  In a recent YouTube video, 57-year-old comedian Kathy Griffin complained about not being able to find work after she says she was blacklisted by Hollywood for posing with a severed, bloodied head of President Trump.

Kathy Griffin Comes Unglued:  Not 'One Single Paid Day Of Work In Front Of Me'.  Kathy Griffin is coming unglued.  The D-list comedian, who was blasted for releasing a photo of herself holding a bloody severed head that looked like President Trump, posted another bizarre video to her YouTube page on Saturday [11/18/2017].

The Editor says...
When someone makes a foolish, career-ending decision for the purpose of self-aggrandizement, it comes as no surprise when that person is permanently unemployed thereafter.

Sore Loser Conspiracy Theorist:  No, I Can't Say the 2016 Election Was 'Legitimate'.  Once upon a time, Hillary Clinton thought the prospect of a presidential candidate declining to pledge to absolutely accept the sanctity of certified election results was "horrifying."  She said so in a general election debate in order to attack Donald Trump — who, at the time, was (recklessly) leaving the door open to challenge the outcome of an election most people expected him to lose.  Chief among these people was Hillary Clinton.  That's why she excoriated his dodging and noncommittal answers on the question as dangerous to American democracy.

Hillary Clinton questions 'legitimacy' of Trump's victory in 2016 election.  One year after losing the presidential race, 2016 Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton is still questioning the "legitimacy" of President Trump's victory, accusing Republicans of voter suppression tactics in swing states and Russians of influencing votes through a "disinformation campaign."  "I think that there are lots of questions about its legitimacy," Clinton said of the election during a video interview posted online Friday [11/17/2017] by the liberal Mother Jones website.  Clinton lamented how "we don't have a method for contesting" the election in the United States and called for an independent commission to "get to the bottom of what happened."

The Editor says...
Every presidential campaign in U.S. history has been well supplied with "disinformation" and conflicting facts.  There's nothing illegal about that.  There's no need to appoint a commission to tell Mrs. Clinton why she lost.  She's won't listen to her critics anyway.

'Traumatized' Feminists Fight To Sue Trump.  Far-left actress Lena Dunham went off the deep end after Donald Trump won the White House and now, she wants him to pay.  Literally.  Dunham wants to sue the president in a court of law.  On Twitter, Dunham mused, "What if 30 million women or so filed a class action suit against the president for emotional distress?  Just spitballing here."  Dunham didn't specify what "emotional distress" the president caused her or what she thought he is legally responsible for allegedly reaping.

Miley Cyrus backtracks on vow to leave America because Trump was elected.  Miley Cyrus is taking back her vow to leave the United States if Donald Trump became president.  She's still happily residing in the country after the election and says now she has zero plans to leave.

Hillary Clinton: Women Only Voted For Trump Because Their Husbands Told Them To.  Hillary Clinton's delusions continue.  It's been almost a year since the election, and now Hillary's blaming married women who voted for Donald Trump for her loss to the president back in November.  Still unwilling to take any responsibility for her loss to Donald Trump, Hillary continues to play the blame game.  So far, she's blamed everyone from her most trusted advisor, Huma Abedin, to the infamous socialist and fellow democrat Bernie Sanders, for the disastrous campaign and ridiculous ideas she championed last year.  But she doesn't stop there anymore.

Trump, racism, and the media's obsession.  If it weren't for their sick obsession with race, the national media would have next to nothing to talk about.  The October issue of The Atlantic magazine features a long essay by Ta-Nehisi Coates on President Trump being "The First White President," a lament about the shame Americans should feel in electing a white man after a black one.  It's been heralded by Coates' media peers as a "blockbuster" and something to "admire," since it goes on and on about racism and nothing else.  Legitimate reasons voters had for choosing Trump are legion (the suffocating politically-correct culture, immigration, Hillary Clinton's laugh) but Coates chalked up the entire 2016 outcome to white racists and Trump's whole agenda to bigotry.

As the Mockery Dwindles.  The moment I have been awaiting with trembling and prayerful anticipation since the week of President Trump's inauguration is dawning:  The hysterical assault by the media and Democrats is starting to crumble and fall apart.  Like shrieking babies who eventually become so angry and exhausted they can't cry anymore, they have to pause since they no longer can maintain an ambiance of endless accusations.

D.C. judge approves government warrant or data from anti-Trump website.  A District of Columbia Superior Court judge on Thursday [8/24/2017] approved a government warrant seeking data from an anti-Trump website related to Inauguration Day protests, but he added protections to safeguard "innocent users."  Chief Judge Robert Morin said DreamHost, a Los Angeles-based web-hosting company, must turn over data about visitors to the website disruptj20.org, which is a home to political activists who organized protests at the time of Donald Trump's inauguration as U.S. president in January.

Trump Gets it.  Trump jumped to the chase.  He gets the progressive mind.  He asked, "Will you tear down George Washington's statue next?  Do you like Jefferson?  He was a slave owner.  Will you tear down his statue, too?  You are changing the history and changing the culture."  Finally, we have a leader who fights back against the tyranny of the culture-changing socialists.  Trump understands that these actions are warm-ups.  The progressives are tearing down Confederate statues, and they are kicking and spitting on the memorials to the dead because they cannot yet kick and spit on President Trump and his voters.  If they could imprison Trump and deport his voters, they would do that and not worry about statues.  They are lashing out where they can.

Michael Moore — 'I Refuse To Live In A Country Where' Trump Is President'.  Good.  Don't let the door hit you [...] on the way out.  Michael Moore is now declaring that he refuses "to live in a country where Donald Trump is President."  Then he went on to make no sense, except in a revolutionary way when he stated that he also wasn't planning on leaving.

Macy's Stock Crumbles After Dumping Trump.  Nearly two years after phasing out its Donald Trump line of menswear, Macy's stock has plummeted to its lowest levels in years.  Macy's dumped Trump merchandise in July 2015 after the then-Republican presidential candidate made "derogatory" comments about Mexican immigrants.  "Macy's is a company that stands for diversity and inclusion," the company said at the time.  "We are disappointed and distressed by recent remarks about immigrants from Mexico."  Trump responded by calling for a boycott of the store, tweeting:  "Those who believe in tight border security, stopping illegal immigration, [and] SMART trade deals [with] other countries should boycott Macy's."

Paying workers to protest:  The controversial trend of social justice benefits.  Since the election, scores of activists have taken to the streets, town halls and rallies to blast President Trump.  That's all with the blessing of their boss thanks to social justice benefits and paid time off work policies that are growing in popularity.  At San Francisco marketing firm Traction, social justice benefits take the form of two so-called "Days of Action" a year.  "They can take part in a protest, they can volunteer for a cause that is meaningful to them," says CEO Adam Kleinberg.  "Civic engagement is a foundation of our democracy, and companies should encourage it."

Hannity Warns About 'Forces' Trying to Stop Trump: 'This is a Serious Moment of Truth for America'.  On Tuesday night [6/13/2017], Sean Hannity called out the five "forces" that are trying to "take down" President Trump.  The Fox News host first identified those in "the deep state" who "selectively leak information to damage the president, like what James Comey did."  Second was the "destroy Trump media," who he referred to as "a bunch of tinfoil hat conspiracy theorists" who were "caught colluding with the Clinton campaign" during the election.  Third were the "unhinged Democrats," who he called a "bunch of sore losers" and "obstructionists" who are still bitter about the election.

Trump Is Winning His War on Washington.  No one who followed closely really believed that the war was over on election night.  The Democrats contested some local results, very unsuccessfully, and then, in their stark disbelief, took out television advertisements reaching tens of millions of people to ask some of the 538 people elevated to the electoral college to break their pledges and vote for Hillary Clinton instead of Donald Trump.  It was an absurd fiasco.  Democratic Senate leaders Chuck Schumer and Richard Durbin made prodigious efforts to block virtually every nominee of the incoming administration to high office.

Useless Idiots.  The useful idiots and fools are turning out to be those detractors who wind up aiding Trump with outlandish critiques.  These make the president seem almost levelheaded by comparison.

Warriors win NBA Finals, unanimously refuse to attend White House celebration.  The Golden State Warriors reached the summit in the second time in three years by defeating the Cleveland Cavaliers in five games to win the NBA Finals. [...] Now that they've been crowned champions, the Warriors unanimously refused to attend the White House celebration because of Donald Trump according to multiple reports.

Trump's education cuts aren't 'devastating,' they're smart.  It's the end of the world as we know it — at least that's what some people would have us believe about President Trump's education budget.  It's "a devastating blow to the country's public education system," according to National School Boards Assn.  CEO Thomas Gentzel.  More like a "wrecking ball," says Lily Eskelsen Garc'a, president of the National Education Assn. teachers' union.  No, it's a veritable "assault on the American Dream," insists John B. King Jr., former Obama administration secretary of education.

Donald Trump Jr.: I'm still waiting for celebrities who promised to move if Trump won to leave US.  Donald Trump Jr. is wondering why all the celebrities who vowed to leave the country if Donald Trump won the presidency haven't left yet.  "I'm still waiting for all those celebs here, who promised to do the same, to go!!!" the president's eldest son wrote in response to liberal French celebrities promising to move to Canada if far-right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen wins France's election in May.

Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz to Step Down after his anti-Trump vow to hire 10,000 refugees backfired.  Howard Schultz, the current CEO of Starbucks, is weeks away from stepping down from his role at the giant coffee chain next month. [...] Earlier this year, Schultz made a vow to hire thousands refugees in response to President Donald Trump's first travel ban.  Trump supporters have called for a boycott of the chain since January 29, when Schultz vowed to hire 10,000 refugees over five years.

Columbia professors link 'cluster of suicides' to 'distress' over Trump.  Two Columbia University professors recently sent a letter to the institution's president that linked a "fog" of political suffering to a "cluster of suicides" by students.  Professors Robert Pollack and Letty Moss-Salentijn, the co-chairs of the Columbia Faculty Affairs Committee, contacted Columbia President Lee Bollinger on Feb. 24 about the need to help "faculty to reach into themselves and find strength to express themselves."

The Editor says...
If the government is your god, then you are like the foolish man who built his house upon the sand:  When the storms come, your house will collapse.

Ex-Obama Official Suggests 'Military Coup' Against Trump.  In a blog post for Foreign Policy magazine, Rosa Brooks, a former Obama administration official, outlined four ways to "get rid" of President Trump, including declaring him mentally unfit for command or carrying out a military coup.  Brooks is a Schwartz senior fellow at the New America Foundation, which is funded by billionaire George Soros's Open Society Foundations.  She served from 2009-2011 as Counselor to the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy and served as a senior adviser at Obama's State Department.  Her posting is titled "3 Ways to Get Rid of President Trump Before 2020," although the piece actually outlines four ways.

Sarah Silverman calls for military overthrow of 'fascist' Donald Trump.  Actress Sarah Silverman called for a military coup against President Trump on Wednesday night [2/1/2017] in the midst of violent riots in Berkeley, California.  In a screaming all-capital-letters tweet exhorted her almost 10 million followers to "wake up & join the resistance," a term from World War II that anti-Trump rioters have used to define themselves.  She then outlined her preferred scenario for the violent overthrow of the legitimately elected government, still in all capital letters.

These Are the Groups Behind Those 'Spontaneous' Anti-Trump-Ban Protests.  News reports and TV broadcasts about the week's protests described the events as "spontaneous protests" mounted in response to the Trump administration's travel and immigration executive order.  But to Make the Road New York, and the groups like it across the country, there was nothing "spontaneous" about it.  As some observers and activists were quick to point out, these grassroots and professional organizers had been waiting and planning for this type of mass, direct action — ready-made to go viral on social media — ever since, well, Nov. 9.  From the moment Trump defeated Hillary Clinton in the general election, they've been anticipating and mapping out their battle plans for Trump's orders on deportations, bans, and detention.

Celebrities Call For 'Total Hollywood Strike' Until Trump Resigns.  Rosie O'Donnell, Amy Schumer, Miley Cyrus and George Clooney are part of a group of celebrities calling for a total Hollywood strike "until Trump resigns".  A group of liberal Hollywood celebrities are threatening a "massive, all-round Hollywood strike" unless Donald Trump resigns.  Describing Hollywood as "the base of the entire modern American culture", the group also claims to be speaking on behalf of "all of humanity."

The Editor says...
Yes, please do shut down all motion picture production in Hollywood for at least the next four years.  This will enable America's impressionable young people to take a break from the endless stream of propaganda films and rediscover reality.  It would be beneficial for everyone to stay out of the theaters for a few years, instead of marinating their minds in depictions of promiscuity and gunfire that's accompanied by thousand-watt sound systems.  The so-called "stars" of Hollywood, after a few years without pay, might re-assess their perceived importance, too.

Trump-hating flag burners in Iowa absolutely, positively foiled.  The Supreme Court may rule that flag-burning is protected expression under the First Amendment, but that doesn't mean that it is acceptable to endanger ordinary citizens, who also have rights to express themselves.  In this case, with a fire extinguisher.  The national media is much less interested in what happens in Iowa City, Iowa than it is in New York, D.C., Los Angeles, and other parts of the Blue Bubble.  So we rely on the Iowa City Press-Citizen to learn about what happened when a couple of America-hating, Trump-hating protesters set multiple versions of Old Glory ablaze.

Video shows anti-Trump activists plotting to set off stink bombs, sprinklers at inaugural fetes.  Anti-Trump protesters are plotting to derail an inaugural ball by setting off stink bombs and the sprinkler system to force the evacuation of celebrants, according to an undercover video released Monday [1/16/2017].  The D.C. Anti-Fascist Coalition, part of the anti-inauguration umbrella group #DisruptJ20, plans to "ruin" the DeploraBall, a sold-out black-tie gathering Thursday night at the National Press Building, according to the Project Veritas investigation.

More than 30 Democratic lawmakers now skipping Trump's inauguration.  A growing group of Democratic lawmakers will boycott President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration Friday as a protest of Trump's worldview and his criticism of civil rights icon John Lewis, congressman of Georgia[.]  There are now more than 40 House Democrats — 42, at last count — who have declared that they will not attend the inauguration on Capitol Hill this week.  The number rose sharply after Trump tweeted Saturday that Lewis is "all talk, talk, talk" and should "finally focus on the burning and crime infested inner-cities."

Not much legitimate about more Dems bashing Trump.  Since Donald Trump's unexpected victory, Democrats have been trying to delegitimize his historic upset.  U.S. Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.), who sent shock waves through the media echo chamber this weekend when he said in an NBC interview, "I don't see this president-elect as a legitimate president.  I think the Russians participated in helping this man get elected.  And they helped destroy the candidacy of Hillary Clinton."  Former Clinton campaign spokesman Brian Fallon went on CNN Friday [1/13/2017] to chime in as well.

A pattern of deeming Republican presidents 'illegitimate'.  It's a free country, and the nineteen (and counting) members of Congress who are planning to boycott President-elect Trump's inauguration are certainly within their rights.  So even is Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., who said over the weekend that Trump's election (or his presidency) is "illegitimate." [...] But this is also part of a pattern.  Lewis and Lee, along with some other Democratic lawmakers at the time, also boycotted to make a point when President George W. Bush was inaugurated in 2001.  The Washington Post reported at the time that Lewis "thought it would be hypocritical to attend Bush's swearing-in because he doesn't believe Bush is the true elected president."

Inasmuch as Trump hasn't been sworn in yet, Mr. Lewis is correct.
John Lewis:  Trump isn't a legitimate president.  Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) doesn't plan to attend President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration next week, saying he doesn't believe Trump is a "legitimate president."  "I believe in forgiveness.  I believe in trying to work with people.  It will be hard.  It's going to be very difficult.  I don't see this president-elect as a legitimate president," Lewis said in an interview for NBC News's "Meet the Press."

I'll Pay Liberals To Fulfill Their Promises To Leave.  As ministers go, Al [Sharpton] is unusual in that he has over $4 million in tax liens against him.  It seems the offering plate he passes around at the White House stays pretty empty.  Anyway, Al announced last year that if Donald Trump were elected, he would leave the country.  But he's still here.  I care about Al and want to help him with his travel plans.  So I hereby offer to buy him a one-way ticket out of the country if he promises never to return.

What no one wants to tell the anti-Trump celebrities (but should).  Whether you like it or not, Donald Trump will become the 45th President of The United States on Friday, January 20, 2017.  That's as much a fact as the sky being the color blue and the grass being green.  Similarly, you wouldn't argue that the Denver Broncos weren't the Super Bowl Champions or that the Chicago Cubs didn't win the World Series, and you can't argue that Donald Trump didn't win the election.  Trump won and there's nothing you nor anyone else can do to change that.  Asking people to sign a petition that urges congress to stand up to Donald Trump is childish and accomplishes absolutely nothing.  Instead of trying to fight the inevitable, how about giving the guy a chance?

Restaurant Won't Add Trump to Its Mural That Depicts Every President Since Eisenhower.  Mama Ayesha's in Washington D.C. has been serving Middle Eastern food in the Adams Morgan neighborhood since 1960. Over the last seven years, however, it's become known for something other than its food.  In 2009, artist Karla "Karlisima" Rodas finished a mural that it took him two years to paint that depicts the restaurant's founder, "Mama" Ayesha Abraham with every U.S. President since Dwight Eisenhower.  A quick location search on Instagram for the restaurant turns up more photos of the mural than of the food.

DC Private Schools Won't Take Kellyanne Conway's Kids.  Kellyanne Conway is worried establishment elites in Washington, DC, are so prejudiced against President-elect Donald Trump that she won't be able to get her kids into private school in the nation's capital. [...] Conway, who was Trump's campaign manager, is moving to DC to be counselor to the president.  Her husband, George, happens to be the lawyer who wrote the Supreme Court brief when Paula Jones sued Bill Clinton for sexual harassment.

Mormon Tabernacle Choir singer resigns, compares Trump to Hitler.  From the pages of the Salt Lake Tribune comes word of a distraught Mormon Tabernacle Choir singer.  Jan Chamberlin has resigned from the famed choir — rather than perform for Donald Trump's inauguration.  "Since 'the announcement,' I have spent several sleepless nights and days in turmoil and agony," she wrote in her resignation letter to the choir.

'You cannot eat here': Hawaii café riles residents with ban on Trump voters.  Honolulu's Café 8½ gets rave reviews on Yelp for its "Radiatore Verde" and "Italian stir fry," among other popular dishes at the eclectic mom-and-pop restaurant — but the response to its new 'policy' barring pro-Trump patrons has been decidedly more mixed.  A bright yellow, handmade sign posted on the restaurant's front glass door declares:  "If you voted for Trump you cannot eat here!  No Nazis."

Skowhegan propane dealer with anti-Trump message is not licensed to sell fuel.  A local propane dealer who said in a recent message that he won't sell to anyone who voted for President-elect Donald Trump has been delivering and dispensing gas without a state license for at least two years, state officials said this week.  Michael Turner, who operates of Turner LP Gas Service on Canaan Road, left a message for would-be customers on his company's voice mail, saying "If you voted for Donald Trump for president, I will no longer be delivering your gas.  Please find someone else."  That message was left on a Friday, when the weather was bitterly cold.  The message goes on to say that the cost of gas remains $110 a bottle, with payment due on delivery.

Oracle employee resigns after CEO sides with Trump.  An Oracle employee has publicly announced his resignation via LinkedIn after learning that Safra Catz, CEO of the software firm, joined U.S President-elect Donald Trump's transition team.  In a post addressed to Catz on Monday [12/19/2016], George A. Polisner, who managed Oracle's Cloud services, described how he refused to help Trump "in any way."  Fierce opposition to Trump's retirement, social and economic policies led Polisner to resign from Oracle, which he referred to as "a once great company."

Why are Hollywood Libs such Poor Losers?  [T]hese real-life "play actors" who get paid outrageous amounts for pretending to have skills they don't have appeared in a PSA calling themselves "Unite for America" — really.  The PSA should be called "Sore Losers."  With the sound turned off, it looks like a Medicaid ad, but turned up, it is a bunch of whiney liberal "play actors" urging the members of the Electoral College to ignore the law, centuries of fair play and tradition, and do what they say, because Hollywood actors know what's best for us rabble.  What qualifies these people who have personal assistants, makeup artists, stand-ins, stunt men, plush motor homes, and their specific brand of chilled sparkling water and treats to even think for a second that they are qualified to comment on "real life" issues, much less subvert a longstanding election process?

Democratic women most likely to block 'friends' on social media over politics.  A survey shows a significant number of Democratic women are reacting to Hillary Clinton's unexpected election loss by blocking, "unfollowing" and "unfriending" people on social media who express political opinions they don't like.  Thirty percent of Democratic women reported cutting off online communication with someone for political reasons since the Nov. 8 election, according to a Public Religion Research Institute poll published Monday.  They are more than twice as likely to blot out dissenting points of view from their social media timelines as Democratic men, who reported doing so at a 14 percent rate.

Hillary Supporter Admitted Himself To The Psych Ward On Election Night When He Realized She Was Losing.  A Hillary Clinton supporter admitted himself to the psychiatric ward on election night because he realized she was going to lose to Donald Trump.  Benjamin Ryan — considered a "Hillblazer" because he raised over $100,000 for the former Democratic nominee — detailed his suicidal nervous breakdown for the Huffington Post on Wednesday [11/30/2016].  He said he was "catatonic, plagued by involuntary jerking motions, speech patterns disjointed, weeping uncontrollably."

SPLC Has Perfected the Politicization of Hate Crimes.  After Hillary Clinton lost the election, she, her staff, and her supporters were sent reeling.  Many have yet to recuperate.  In times past, such distraught persons would be attended to by priests, ministers, and rabbis, but today they have been replaced by grief counselors and puppies.  Coloring books and playdough were given to soothe the anguish of law students at the University of Michigan, and therapists of every shade of grey were summoned to talk to the afflicted.  Others rioted.  They baited the police, beat up Trump supporters, destroyed property, and tied up traffic.  Some were pros — veterans of Occupy Wall Street and Black Lives Matter.  Others were brats:  affluent young men and women so bored with life that they spend most of their waking hours microanalyzing perceived microaggressions against them.  For relief, they take to the streets, providing it is not raining or too chilly.

Obama: If only young people voted, 'Hillary would have gotten 500 electoral votes'.  President Barack Obama told Rolling Stone in an interview the day after the election that was published Tuesday [11/29/2016] that Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton would've won if only young people voted.  "If you look at the data from the election, if it were just young people who were voting, Hillary would have gotten 500 electoral votes," Obama said.  "So we have helped, I think, shape a generation to think about being inclusive, being fair, caring about the environment."  He said young Americans "will have growing influence year by year, which means that America over time will continue to get better."

The Editor says...
Straw man alert!  "If only" covers a lot of ground.  Hillary would have won if only those who are dependent on monthly checks from the government had voted.  Hillary would have won if only unionized government workers had voted.  Hillary would have won if the residents of California had been the only ones voting.  None of that matters.  Donald Trump won an election in which the broadest possible cross-section of America voted.

Gitmo Prisoners 'Thought It Was the End of the World' on Election Night, Asked for Tranquilizers.  Prisoners at the Guantanamo Bay military prison in Cuba "thought it was the end of the world" the night of the presidential election and asked their guards for tranquilizers and sleeping pills, CBS correspondent Margaret Brennan reported Thursday.  David Remes, the lawyer of one of the prisoners at Guantanamo, recounted to Brennan what his client told him about election night.  "He said that many detainees thought that it was the end of the world and felt terrible and that many detainees asked for tranquilizers, sleeping pills because they were so distraught," Remes said.

Spice retailer says Republicans embraced racism by electing Trump.  "The open embrace of racism by the Republican party in this election is now unleashing a wave of ugliness unseen in this country for decades," wrote Penzeys CEO Bill Penzey in an email to customers.  "The American people are taking notice." [...] Penzeys operates dozens of retail outlets in 29 states — along with a popular mail order business.  And many of their customers were outraged by the insinuation that people who voted for Trump are racist.

Trump and College Chaos.  If one needed more evidence of the steep decay in academia, Donald Trump's victory provided it.  Let's begin by examining the responses to his win, not only among our wet-behind-the-ears college students, many of whom act like kindergarteners, but also among college professors and administrators.  The University of Michigan's distressed students were provided with Play-Doh and coloring books, as they sought comfort and distraction.  A University of Michigan professor postponed an exam after many students complained about their "serious stress" over the election results.  Cornell University held a campus-wide "cry-in," with officials handing out tissues and hot chocolate.  One Cornell student said, "I'm looking into flights back to Bangladesh right now so I can remove myself before Trump repatriates me."  The College Fix reported that "a dorm at the University of Pennsylvania ... hosted a post-election 'Breathing Space' for students stressed out by election results that included cuddling with cats and a puppy, coloring and crafting, and snacks such as tea and chocolate."  The University of Kansas reminded its stressed-out students that therapy dogs, a regular campus feature, were available.  An economics professor at Yale University made his midterm exam "optional" in response to "many heartfelt notes from students who are in shock over the election returns."

Tucker Carlson Confronts Business Owner Who Won't Do Business with Trump Supporters.  Tucker Carlson tonight faced off with a business owner who publicly declared that he won't do business with Donald Trump supporters.  Mathew Blanchfield, the CEO of 1st in SEO, wrote online, "If you are a Republican, voted for Donald Trump or support Donald Trump, in any manner, you are not welcome at 1st in SEO and we ask you to leave our firm."  Carlson pressed him tonight on why he would say something like that.  Blanchfield argued this is about the "moral principle" at hand and said he is not tolerant of bigotry or fascism.  He went on to say he strongly believes Trump is a fascist and while he would allow a Trump supporter into his home, a lot of what Trump does alarms him.

Another place to boycott:
New Mexico Business:  If You Support Trump, Get Out.  A business owner in Albuquerque has announced that, due to his opposition to "fascism," he will henceforth refuse to do business with Republicans and President-elect Donald Trump supporters.  According to KOB 4 News, Matthew Blanchfield runs the online marketing company 1st in SEO, and he's so upset about the presidential election he's willing to shed customers to show his disgust.

Democrat Goes Unhinged Over Trump On House Floor!  I've seen a lot of bad reactions to Trump becoming President, but this is by far the worst. [...] Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) couldn't stand it that Donald Trump has won the Presidency, so he has reverted back to a third-grade style of expressing himself where he is slinging insults and stomping his feet.

Scott Baio Tells Liberal Celebrities to Pack Their Bags and Move to Canada.  Scott Baio known for his role as Chachi Arcola in Happy Days has had enough.  In a video posted to Facebook he said[,] "I promise you something," "if you want to watch the best television that's on television right now, watch MSNBC.  You'll have a ball.  It's amazing.  The crying, the literal crying, the anger, the rage."  [Video clip]

Protesters get a lesson in democracy.  Have you noticed how many of the riff-raff can't wait to go in front of the TV cameras to announce in broken English that the reason they hate President-elect Trump is because they're illegal aliens.  Then they hold up their signs saying "NOT MY PRESIDENT!"  Well then, of course he's not your president.  You're from Guatemala, or maybe Honduras.  Last night, as a public service to the viewing public, Fox News Channel started running English-language subtitles under the anti-Trump sound bites.  I'm serious.

Boss tells pro-Trump employees to resign.  If you voted for Donald Trump, you may not feel welcomed at Grubhub.  The CEO of Grubhub, an online food delivery service, sent a company wide email Wednesday suggesting employees who agree with President-elect Donald Trump's behaviors and his campaign rhetoric should resign.  "If you do not agree with this statement then please reply to this email with your resignation because you have no place here," wrote Matt Maloney, Co-Founder of Grubhub.  "We do not tolerate hateful attitudes on our team."

Stars urge their fans to 'fight' after Trump win.  Many stars criticized Donald Trump for suggesting he might not accept the election results.  But now it's Hollywood who is having trouble accepting the results since the real estate mogul was elected president.  Lady Gaga, for one, is pushing for her fans to sign a series of petitions that would hand the presidency over to Hillary Clinton.

The Editor says...
There was already "a series of petitions" to select the next president.  They're called ballots.  You guys lost.  If you prefer to live under socialism, move to Venezuela.  (Bring enough lunch for everybody.)

Celebrities Melt Down: Protests, weeping, snarling, and sadness as stars 'grieve' over Trump victory.  [Actor James] Woods was one of a handful of celebrities in Donald Trump's camp all along.  For much of the election, Hollywood's liberal elite stars took opportunities to bash him and to swear they'd leave the country if he were elected.  Reaction now is ranging from anger to sadness.

Plot to impeach President Trump has already begun.  It is just one day since Donald Trump was elected President - but thousands of furious liberals are already plotting ways to remove him from office.  Within hours of the Republican's unexpected win over Hillary Clinton, people were calling for him to be impeached over claims of sexual abuse, fraud and racketeering.  Online searches for 'How to impeach a president' surged hours after the result, with the question seeing a 4,850 per cent rise on Google.

The Editor says...
If you have courtroom-quality evidence of a crime that will convince the Republican-controlled House and the Republican-controlled Senate, bring it on!  But keep in mind that Barack H. Obama wasn't impeached, even though there were numerous reasons to do so.

Anti-Trump protests erupt across the US.  Thousands of people took to the streets Wednesday night [11/9/2016] to protest Donald Trump's election, chanting anti-Trump slogans and wreaking havoc in major cities, according to Fox News, despite Hilary Clinton's call for unity and affirmation that she accepted Donald Trump as her president.  In Chicago, several thousand people marched in the streets, gathering outside Chicago's Trump Tower and chanting "Not my president!"  Similar protests erupted in New York City, Philadelphia and Boston, with thousands more flooding the streets chanting anti-Trump slogans.

Hollywood Leftists, Stop Being Racist And Move To Cuba.  A wide variety of entertainers (I use the term loosely) and other left-leaning Americans announced during the run-up to the election that they would leave the country if Donald Trump won the presidency.  It has become something of a standard campaign ploy for the Democrats; they actually think they can shock voters into choosing their candidate by posing the question:  "How can America survive without Alec Baldwin?"  Of course this election the stakes were even higher.  More famous people than ever banded together in their opposition of Donald Trump, promising to flee the Trump reign of terror.  They screeched about it desperately to anyone who would listen.  This is where things get complicated.  You see, none of the lefties thought Trump had a chance [...] of winning.


Trump vs the Deep State

This subsection has moved to a page of its own, located here.


The clamor for Trump's impeachment (or worse) — beginning on day one!

This subsection has moved to a page of its own, located here.


Beneficial side effects / icing on the cake / fringe benefits, etc.:

Impeachment Is Destroying CNN.  If Democrats and their media allies thought that the impeachment of President Trump would be his undoing, I've got bad news for them:  it's actually undoing them.  The Democrats' favorite (fake) news channel CNN is suffering from a three-year low in ratings.

Barbra Streisand 'thinking' about moving to Canada if GOP wins the House.  Barbra Streisand is once again thinking about leaving the United States for political reasons.  In a Tuesday [10/30/2018] interview with The New York Times, the 76-year-old star admitted that she's considering moving to Canada if the Democrats don't win a majority in the House of Representatives in the midterm elections next week.  "I want to sleep nights, if we take the House I'll be able to sleep a little bit better," Streisand told the outlet, adding that if they don't take control she's been "thinking about" a potential move.  "I've been thinking about, do I want to move to Canada?  I don't know.  I'm just so saddened by this thing happening to our country."

India Invests $500 Million In Two U.S. Steel Operations.  The passage of the defense spending portion of the Omnibus bill ultimately means there will be increased demand for U.S. steel and aluminum within new defense equipment.  The contracts within the procurement process will predictably require the use of U.S. parts.

The OODA Loop President.  Some have argued that President Trump's recent State of the Union speech was designed primarily to troll Democrats.  I disagree.  The trolling effect (e.g., a steady stream of bad optics televised in prime time — and subsequently easily turned around into an RNC ad — showing Democrats behaving disrespectfully, rolling their eyes, shaking their heads, groaning, looking down at their cell phones, and even walking out in a huff) is real, but was a fully expected side-benefit of the address.

Trump Effect:  Islamic Republic Ceases Naval Provocations in Arabian Gulf.  When it comes to Iran's governing authorities, the Trump administration is under no illusions about the nefarious nature of this fascist theocracy.  "We are restoring clarity about our adversaries," Trump stated in a not too subtle jibe at his predecessor who seemed to be in a perpetual state of confusion about who his friends and enemies were.

Foggy Bottom Begins Self-Draining as "Desperate" Career Diplomats Quit.  A pearl-clutching op-ed in the New York Times declares the hurt sensibilities within the State Department are leading to multiple people quitting.  Specifically citing the different managerial strategy of Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, and the priorities of the entire Dept. of State mission being reset, the career bureaucrats are dropping like flies hitting the T-Rex zapper.  The entire Op-Ed reads like viewing an increasingly bright orb powered by the salty tears of globalists as they fret over the losses like the DoS directorate of global youth disability rights, and shrinkage within the department of international Geo-genitic gender advocacy.

LAPD: Deportation fears possibly impacting Hispanic crime reporting.  The head of the Los Angeles Police Department on Tuesday warned of a "strong correlation" between dramatic drops in violent crimes being reported by Hispanics in Los Angeles and fears of being deported, suggesting that the community may be avoiding contact with local law enforcement in the wake of immigration polices favored by the Trump administration.  Newly-released LAPD crime statistics for 2017 show that among Hispanics, reports of rape have dropped 25 percent while those of spousal abuse have decreased by 9.8 percent.  Similar reductions from the start of this year were not found in any other ethnic group, according to the LAPD numbers.

Foreign Applications Dip at Some Colleges Amid Fear of 'Trump Effect'.  The president of Portland State University, Wim Wiewel, met last week with 10 prospective students in Hyderabad, India.  But what started as a get-acquainted visit quickly turned into more of a counseling session, as the students expressed fears about coming to the United States this fall.  One student, who is Muslim, said his father was worried that America had an anti-Muslim attitude, Mr. Wiewel recounted.  "Several others said they were concerned about the 'Trump effect,'" he said in an email.  "I'd say the rhetoric and actual executive orders are definitely having a chilling effect," Mr. Wiewel wrote, referring to the Trump administration's travel ban.  Like many universities across the country, the Oregon university is getting fewer international applications.

WaPo Devastated As Illegal Immigrants Ditch Food Stamps "So Trump Won't Deport Them".  Caitlin Dewey of the Washington Post would like for you to know that she's super sad that "Immigrants are going hungry so Trump won't deport them."  No, that's not the title of a satirical article published on The Onion, Caitlin actually published a note describing her complete devastation when she discovered that, under a Trump administration, illegal aliens may unilaterally choose to stop breaking numerous federal laws, including multiple counts of identity theft as that's the only conceivable way an illegal immigrant could get food stamps in the first place, in order to avoid being punished for other federal laws they've already broken.

Immigrants are now canceling their food stamps for fear that Trump will deport them.  Luisa Fortin sometimes sits up at night, wondering what her clients are eating.  She is the SNAP Outreach Coordinator for the Chattanooga Food Bank — but lately she has done less outreaching.  Her families, working immigrants in northwest Georgia, are spooked by the political climate, Fortin said.  Increasingly, she's being asked to explain how food stamps may impact immigration status, if not to outright cancel family food benefits.  Since mid-January, five of Fortin's families have withdrawn from the SNAP program.  One, the single mother of three citizen daughters, had fled to Georgia to escape an abusive husband.  Another, two green-card holders with four young children, were thinking of taking on third jobs to compensate for the lost benefits.  These families represent a small fraction of Fortin's caseload — she estimates she has signed 200 immigrant families up for SNAP over the past six months — but based on the calls she gets from other clients, she fears more cancellations are imminent.

Over at EPA, the Swamp Starts Draining Itself.  President Trump is attempting to fire-bomb the overinflated budget over at the corruption-plagued EPA.  And it looks to be having the intended effect:  draining the agency of overpaid, unnecessary Swamp Things.  Because at least one of them has elected to leave, rather than stick around and watch the agency he worships be chopped down to size.  Mustafa Ali, the founder of the EPA's "environmental justice office" has resigned from the agency.

EPA senior staff begin to flee amid budget fears.  A senior staffer at the Environmental Protection Agency resigned from the agency Thursday [3/9/2017] amid concerns that many of agency's programs will be shuttered under the forthcoming Trump budget.  The founder of the EPA's environmental justice office, Mustafa Ali, resigned Thursday [3/9/2017], saying he has never seen such a concerted effort to roll back programs with a track record of helping disadvantaged and low-income communities.

EPA environmental justice leader resigns, amid White House plans to dismantle program.  A key environmental justice leader at the Environmental Protection Agency has resigned, saying that a recent budget proposal to defund such work would harm the people who most rely on the EPA.  Mustafa Ali, a senior adviser and assistant associate administrator for environmental justice, has served more than two decades at the agency, working to ease the burden of air and water pollution in hundreds of poor, minority communities nationwide.  He helped found the EPA's environmental justice office during the early 1990s and became a key adviser to agency administrators under Republican and Democratic presidents.

Illegal border crossings decrease by 40 percent in Trump's first month, report says.  The number of people illegally crossing the U.S. southern border has dropped 40 percent in President Trump's first full month in office, Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly said Wednesday.  U.S. Customs and Border Patrol reported that the number of illegal border crossings dropped from 31,578 to 18,762 persons.  Kelly said border agents usually see a 10 to 20 percent increase in illegal immigrant apprehensions from January to February.

Starbucks Stock Rating Drops 80 Points After Announcing Opposition to President Trump.  Back in January Starbucks announced they were going to stand in opposition to President Trump; and to display their virtuous immigration bona fides they announced their intention to hire 10,000 refugees as employees in lieu of current American applicants for employment.  An almost immediate backlash began as pro-USA consumers and President Trump supporters turned away from the Starbucks brand.  As a consequence the Starbucks business model has been severely impacted.

Tough Trump policies credited for sharp plummet in illegal immigration.  Illegal immigration across the southwest border plummeted in the weeks after President Trump took office, Homeland Security Secretary John F. Kelly said Wednesday, declaring an early victory from Mr. Trump's get-tough policies.  In addition to a drop in number of illegal immigrants nabbed while attempting to cross, Mr. Kelly also said they seen a dramatic spike in the rates charged by smugglers paid to sneak people into the US — surging $3000, to $8,000, since November.

Acting Director of USCIS Lori Scialabba Resigns at Homeland Security.  Lori Scialabba, the Acting Director at the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) in the Department of Homeland Security, "announced her coming retirement from federal service" on Tuesday, a spokesperson for the department has confirmed to Breitbart News.  Scialabba was number one on the list of eight Obama holdover bureaucrats identified by Breitbart News that President Trump "can fire or remove at Homeland Security."

Anti-Trump Employees Quit Jobs at Companies with Ties to Trump.  President Trump has gathered many CEOs and business leaders together since becoming president, but some of these company leaders are facing a backlash from their employees who don't support the president.  Employees are quitting their jobs at some of the companies that have come out in support Trump, Bloomberg News reports.

WSJ Editor Tells Reporters Who Don't Like Objective Trump Coverage To Leave The Paper.  Wall Street Journal editor in chief Gerard Baker told his reporters Monday [2/13/2017] the paper would not abandon objectivity in its coverage of President Donald Trump, and directed them to find work somewhere else if they want to adopt a more oppositional tone.

The Longest Nooooo!  Maryland therapist Steven Stosny described a condition he terms "headline stress disorder", a more virulent version of the "election stress disorder" that he detected prior to November 8, 2016.  Ever since he won Donald Trump's been on the brain of his patients and it's not going away soon. [...] If former vice-president candidate Tim Kaine can be believed, the condition is real.  "Headline stress disorder" is particularly acute among liberals, some of whom are in a state of paroxysmal rage over Trump:  over what he is, stands for, how he looks, etc.

Leftists Go Nuts at the Thought of Betsy DeVos as Education Secretary.  The intolerance of the "tolerant" left has never been more evident than during the many cabinet hearings this year.  The democrat vitriol has been on full display in virtual every hearing, but possibly none more contentious than that of nominee for Education Secretary, Betsy DeVos.  Although it may be a toss-up between her and Jeff Sessions [...]

Morale at Homeland Security has 'skyrocketed' under Trump.  When the House Subcommittee on Government Operations held a hearing in April 2015 titled "The Worst Places to Work in the Federal Government," an agency manager at the Department of Homeland Security was called in to testify.  "[DHS] rests as the worst place to work among cabinet agencies," Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., said at the time.  The third largest federal department had just received an abysmal 44 percent score in the annual Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey.  Fewer than half of its staff felt that morale, leadership and compensation deserved positive ratings.

At the Border Patrol, Trump lifts morale that was at an all-time low.  Despite Mexico's pledge to stem the flow of Central American migrants entering its country from bordering Guatemala, the numbers have increased over the past year.  The number of unaccompanied children apprehended at the Southwest border jumped nearly 50 percent between fiscal years 2015-2016, from 39,970 to 59,692.  In the first three months of this fiscal year (Oct. 1-Dec. 31), 21,321 have already been apprehended, according to Border Patrol stats.  But it is the number of family units apprehended that is staggering.  Apprehensions jumped 95 percent between fiscal years 2015-2016, from 39,838 to 77,674.  The numbers for the 2017 fiscal year have already surpassed the total for 2015, with 44,843 apprehended the past few months, according to Border Patrol.

Trump's Climate Plans Just Made the Media's Heads Explode.  The occasion was a press conference hosted by the Global Warming Policy Foundation for Myron Ebell, head of the Trump administration's Environmental Protection Agency transition team.  Satan's Emissary, as liberals prefer to think of him.  Ebell had come to tell them about Trump's plans for the environment and energy, which I won't repeat here because you know them already.  No, the reason I went wasn't to hear what Ebell had to say but to watch how his audience reacted. [...] They hated it.

Sore Loser Leftists Try Moving to Canada, Get Rejected for Being Deadbeats.  One of the more entertaining aspects of the 2016 post-election season are the "threats" from the losing side to leave the country.  Leftists are refusing to share a country with Trump, so they are packing their stuff up and making their way up to the Canadian border.  That'll show everyone.  Except for the fact that Canada isn't interested in these people.

President Trump's Early Policy Follow Through Propels Dow to 20,000.  After a brief hiatus, the Dow Jones Industrial Average resumed its march toward 20000, crossing the elusive milestone on Wednesday [1/25/2017] as President Donald Trump demonstrates his seriousness about fulfilling campaign promises of lower taxes, less regulation, and more fiscal spending.  The blue-chip index's march to the psychologically-significant level has captivated Wall Street since Trump's surprise election in November, and comes just 64 days after crossing the 19000 threshold for the first time ever.

Where Are They Now?  These 23 Celebrities Said They'd Move If Trump Won.  Back in September, my colleague Catherine Dunn published this nice compilation of 23 celebrities who said they would be leaving the country if Donald Trump were elected president.  Given that Trump was indeed elected president and will be inaugurated on Friday, I thought it would be prudent to check in and see if any of these celebrities had stayed true to their word.  It's time to find out:  have they decided that America is actually already pretty great?

Good news!
28% of federal employees may quit their jobs when Trump assumes office:  Poll.  "More than one in four federal workers, or 28 percent, will definitely or possibly consider leaving their jobs after Jan. 20 when Trump is sworn into office and becomes leader of the executive branch," according to the survey conducted by the Government Business Council and Government Executive, which both track the trends of the field.  Half said that Mr. Trump's business experience would "hinder his management of the federal government" while almost two thirds believe that his business relationships pose a conflict of interest.  Both points are also popular narratives within the Democratic Party as well.

The Editor says...
Turn in your pencil, and don't let the door hit you on the way out.

"What kind of genius loses a billion dollars in a single year?"
George Soros lost nearly $1 billion in weeks after Trump win:  Report.  Billionaire investor George Soros lost nearly $1 billion after the stock market rallied following Donald Trump's surprise Election Day victory, The Wall Street Journalreported Thursday.  Sources familiar with the hedge fund manager's trading said he remained cautious going into the November election and then made the mistake of becoming more bearish immediately after Mr. Trump's win.  The stock market rallied on expectations that Mr. Trump's policies would boost the economy, causing Mr. Soros' trading positions to incur losses approaching $1 billion, sources told The Journal.

Beleaguered Small Businesses Set For Big Rebound Under Trump.  Small businesses and entrepreneurs have had a rough time of it for these past eight years.  New startups and entrepreneurial activity have pretty much been stagnant, weighed down by heavy regulation, high taxes and an economy that's just been stumbling along.  But in recent weeks, there are signs of renewal that could mark a turnaround in the fortunes of small business.

Self-deportation begins:
Mexican Nationals Returning Home and Staying There Ahead of Trump.  Fearing stiffer immigration enforcement in the coming months, approximately half of the Mexican nationals who had traveled through this city on their way to their hometowns claim they will not be returning to the United States, city officials said.  In recent weeks, the Matamoros city government has been preparing logistical and security measures to accommodate not only the returning travelers, but also for a possible increase in deportations, said Matamoros Mayor Jesus "Chuchin" De La Garza.  According to De La Garza, at least 50 percent of the Paisanos who have crossed through the three international bridges in Matamoros have reported to authorities that they will not be returning to the U.S. and plan on seeking jobs in Mexico.

Wealthy Obama Bundlers' Lives 'Upended' by Trump Move.  A group of wealthy elites who bundled millions for Barack Obama's presidential campaigns are having their lives "upended" because their ambassadorships at plum posts will end when Obama leaves office.  The New York Times reported that President-elect Donald Trump's transition staff has informed the State Department that politically appointed ambassadors must leave by Inauguration Day.  The Times called it a "break with precedent" to remove political ambassadors, many of whom received their posts by fundraising for Barack Obama, on schedule by Jan. 20.

We Found 15 Celebs Who Threatened To Leave After Trump's Win — Guess Where They Are!.  Dozens of celebrities threatened to leave the country if Donald Trump was elected president, but after his stunning upset on November 8, many of them rescinded their claims.  Since his win, Miley Cyrus, Lena Dunham, Amy Schumer and all their cohorts have been spotted still residing in the United States.

American Optimism Over Economy Surging with Trump Presidential Win.  A National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index revealed Thursday [12/15/2016] that "Builder confidence in the market for newly-built single-family homes" rose to its highest level since July 2005.  This most recent index jumped seven points to 70.  "This notable rise in builder sentiment is largely attributable to a post-election bounce, as builders are hopeful that President-elect Trump will follow through on his pledge to cut burdensome regulations that are harming small businesses and housing affordability," said NAHB Chairman Ed Brady.

The Case of the Leftie Who Actually Left.  We're used to the dreary quadrennial spectacle of various lefties declaring they will leave the country if this or that conservative wins the White House (even the compassionate variety of conservative puts them off, as we saw in 2000).  But, as we're also used to, the bums never do it.  Never follow through.  Never live up to their word.  They continue to hang on in what they consider to be the hateful US of A because they can't be as privileged, as plain fat, dumb, and happy, anywhere else.  They know it; we do too.

These 18 Celebrities Who Promised To Move If Trump Was Elected Can Get On That Now.  Like clockwork, every four years, in addition to hearing about how it's "the most important election of our lifetimes," we learn that this-or-that comedian or starlet will move elsewhere if the Republican candidate wins.  This year, of course, that angst reached Trumpian proportions. [...] Yet they never leave, do they?

Still waiting for the 19 celebrities who promised to leave America if Trump was elected to get out.  So far as I know, not a single celebrity, even from the D-list, has left the United States, as promised, if Donald Trump were elected.  Fair is fair:  Lena Dunham alone must have motivated thousands of voters to choose Trump, in order to be rid of her.  Let the Canadians deal with her.  I am a hard liner on getting them out of the country.  Every time one of these people appear in public, they should be asked why they are still inhabiting the United States.  Have they decided that Donald Trump is not so bad?  Or have they decided that nobody should ever pay attention to their promises and threats?

Democratic donors tell losing party they're not giving any more after it burned through their millions with nothing to show for it.  Donors to the Democratic Party burnt out after last month's catastrophic electoral losses.  Democrats lost the White House and failed to take enough seats in the House and Senate to constitute a majority, and their top donors have had enough.  'I may very well be done with political giving entirely,' John Morgan, a top Clinton fundraiser in Florida told The Hill.  'My message to anyone reading this is, "Don't call me, I'll call you."

Donors on Hillary Blowing The Election:  We Basically Lit Our Money on Fire.  Supporters of Hillary Clinton are still licking their wounds after her epic and unexpected loss to Republican Donald Trump.  In the aftermath we've seen the civil war in the Democrat Party re-emerge.  Former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi was challenged for her House minority leader position this week.  The DNC is searching for a new leader after interim Chairman Donna Brazil was allegedly screamed at during a staff meeting for losing the election and helping to rig the primary against Bernie Sanders.

Tired Dem donors feel like their money got burned.  Democratic donors stung by Hillary Clinton's upset loss in the presidential race feel like they just set their money on fire.  The sore feelings are a huge problem for the Democratic National Committee (DNC), which is trying to rebuild its image and reinvigorate a defeated party in time for challenging midterm elections in 2018.  It's also a worry for top liberal activists as they prepare for war with President-elect Donald Trump and a GOP Congress that is hell-bent on rolling back President Obama's accomplishments.

More good news:
Teachers unions slam Trump's education secretary.  Two of the nation's largest teachers unions had nothing but criticism on Wednesday for President-elect Trump's decision to pick Betsy DeVos, an outspoken school choice advocate, to lead the Department of Education in his administration.  Trump announced the appointment in the early afternoon, describing DeVos as "a brilliant and passionate education advocate" who is committed to reforming the current public education system and demolishing "the bureaucracy that is holding our children back."  But the unions immediately opposed her.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions is Democrats' nightmare.  President-elect Trump's transition team knew that nominating Jeff Sessions for Attorney General would set off controversy.  Democrats and their allies in the press have at key times in the past called Sessions a racist — they're now using the Alabama senator's full name, Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III, to heighten the Old South effect — and now, as they oppose Trump at nearly every turn, they've turned to race again.  Here's why the effort to stop Sessions is likely to intensify as his confirmation hearings near.  Sessions is the Senate's highest-profile, most determined, and most knowledgeable opponent of comprehensive immigration reform.  Democrats are particularly anxious about immigration because of the unusually tenuous nature of President Obama's policies on the issue.

More Winning — Univision Lays Off 200 As Profits Collapse.  President-Elect Donald Trump did not start the credibility decline of main stream media, he simply greased the rails to speed up their irrelevance.

EPA, DOE Workers Post-Trump Election: 'Employees Were in Tears,' 'Downright Panic'.  People who work at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of Energy are having a hard time coping with the election of Donald Trump as president, with many reporting depression and some being advised to take sick leave, according to an article published Friday [11/11/2016] by Environment and Energy Publishing (E&E).  "U.S. EPA employees were in tears," the article stated.  "Worried Energy Department staffers were offered counseling.  "Some federal employees were so depressed, they took time off," it stated.  "Others might retire early.  "And some employees are in downright panic mode in the aftermath of Donald Trump's victory," the article said.

Hillary Clinton will never be president.  In the biggest electoral upset of living memory, unlikely Republican presidential candidate Donald J. Trump will be elected president of the United States, defeating his Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton.  AP, Politico, and Fox News have called the race.  With victories in Florida, Ohio, North Carolina, Wisconsin, and even Pennsylvania, Trump won the key swing states to pull off the victory over the favored Clinton.  His Rust Belt victories in the Midwest pierced the Democratic firewall many thought would elevate Clinton to the presidency.

Celebs who said they'd leave country if Trump won.  Dozens of celebrities vowed to leave the country if Donald Trump won the White House, saying they'd flee to everywhere from Canada to Jupiter.  The threat is a common one after any election outcome:  Canada's immigration website crashed from heavy traffic as it looked increasingly likely that Trump would win.  But after the real estate mogul clinched the presidency in a stunning victory early Wednesday morning, some of those stars will face questions about making good on their promise.

Still Waiting On Amy Schumer, Rosie O'donnell, Spike Lee to Leave the Country After Trump Win.  At least twenty three so called "celebrities" promised to leave this country if Donald Trump won on Tuesday, which he did.  Here's a list of who promised to leave.

Celebrity Meltdown!.  One of the most gratifying aspects of this post-election morning is witnessing the (predictable) celebrity-meltdown in action.  Those in the entertainment industry who vowed to leave the country should Donald Trump be elected president include:  Cher (who vowed to move to Jupiter), Samuel L. Jackson, Barbara Streisand, Amy Schumer, Jon Stewart and the entire cast of The View, to name but a few.

Mexico's Slim clobbered as richest lose $41 billion on Trump victory.  Mexico's wealthiest person lost $5.1 billion in the wake of Donald Trump's stunning upset over Democratic rival Hillary Clinton.  Carlos Slim, who is fifth-richest in the world, shed 9.2 percent of his fortune after the peso dove as much as 12 percent on the news.

Photos: L.A. street artist 'moving sale' posters for anti-Trump celebrities.  Los Angeles street artist Sabo didn't waste any time celebrating Donald Trump's victory on Tuesday night.  He took to the streets to post parody Sotheby's ads for celebrity "Election Day Sales" overnight.  Several leftist entertainers have vowed to move out of the country if Trump won the presidency, and Sabo is doing his part to help them keep their word.

7 celebrities who said they will leave the US if Trump is elected.  On Thursday pop superstar Will.i.am announced in an interview with CNBC that if Republican nominee Donald Trump wins the election, he plans to move to London.  And he is not the first celebrity to come forward with this claim.  Here are 7 other celebrities who've announced they would be so bothered with President Trump that they would leave America.  Trump supporters are likely willing to help them pack.

Mrs. George Stephanopoulos:  We Will Move to Australia If Trump Wins.  The wife of ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos declared that if Donald Trump wins, the couple is moving to Australia.  That's according to the Hollywood Reporter in a piece from Tuesday [11/1/2016] on how celebrities will react to the election.  Ali Wentworth is an actress, notable for appearing on Seinfeld and marrying Stephanopoulos.  She declared, "If Trump wins, we'll start looking at real estate in Sydney, Australia.  No crime, no guns."  The ABC anchor, it should be reminded, worked for Bill Clinton and secretly donated $75,000 to the Clinton Foundation.

George Stephanopoulos's Wife:  We're Leaving America if Trump Wins.  The wife of prominent ABC news anchor George Stephanopoulos, Ali Wentworth, has claimed the couple will leave the country should Donald Trump become president of the United States.  Talking to The Hollywood Reporter, Wentworth said that "If Trump wins, we'll start looking at real estate in Sydney, Australia.  No crime, no guns."

The Editor says...
I've never heard anyone claim that Australia is a land without crime.  There are criminals, indeed, and even with fewer guns per capita, Australians have their ways of dealing with thieves caught in the act.

A Democrat's Guide to Moving to Canada.  If you were one of the registered living or deceased Democratic voters who made a pledge that if Trump wins, you would be heading north of the border to escape the horrendous possibility of fewer taxes, less government intervention, and fewer handouts, this guide's for you.  A few tips before you head north.  First, if you do keep your promise, bundle up; 22 below zero isn't uncommon in some cities, but the frostbite scars and missing appendages will make you a living testament to your integrity and show all those people in the lower 57 states you are a person of conviction.  Summer isn't that hot, although highs of 113 degrees have been recorded, but the intense humidity helps you sweat and keeps you more comfortable.  Also, watch out for the state bird:  it is actually a mosquito.  Once you have crossed the highly secure border — if your paperwork is in order — great things await you.  If you are polygamous, each one of your wives can get welfare, too.

Defeat likely spells the end of Clinton Dynasty.  Hillary Clinton's second defeat in her quest for the White House — capped by a humbling concession speech Wednesday — may be the farewell for a family that has been Democrat royalty for nearly three decades.  The comeback kid, now 69 years old, is unlikely to get off the mat following her knock-down, drag-out battle with Donald Trump, Democratic strategists told The [New York] Post.  "Over," a party insider said of Bill and Hillary Clinton, who between them have held public office for nearly 30 years.  "No one wants to see anyone named Clinton ever again."

The Editor says...
I hope that includes Chelsea.

Sorry America, we're not leaving!  It is the first broken promise of the incoming Trump administration — and he didn't even make it.  Celebrities who had said they would quit America if he won have abandoned their promises before President-elect Donald Trump is even inaugurated.  Some dismissed what they pledged as a 'joke' and others simply went to ground when asked by DailyMail.com when they were packing up and heading to Canada or other countries.

Amy Schumer will stay in the US despite promise to leave if Trump wins election.  Amy Schumer said she was just joking when she said she'd leave the country if Donald Trump was elected president.  Schumer, a distant cousin of Senator Chuck Schumer, told BBC Newsnight in September she would move to Spain should Trump win.  "My act will change because I will need to learn to speak Spanish because I will move to Spain or somewhere," she said.  "It's beyond my comprehension if Trump won.  It's too crazy."  However, Tuesday morning [11/8/2016] she took to Instagram to inform fans she was staying in America.

Celebrity Meltdowns.  What are all these celebrities still doing here?  Didn't they promise us they were gone if Trump won?  So many of them said they were heading to Canada, street artist Sabo created a fake real estate company to help them move.  Now that it's time to make good on their promise they're strangely silent.  Amy Schumer has been the only one to comment and she says she was "just joking."

Celebrities, Have the Grace to Fulfill Your Promises.  Before any election, some celebrities threaten to leave the country if a Republican is elected.  Barbara Streisand, Whoopi and Cher are perennials, but they always weasel out.  Cher threatened to move to Jupiter — more dramatic, but easier to gainsay.  Miley Cyrus, whose fame results from being the example usually cited when someone speaks of the decay of society and examples of bad taste and no manners.  Samuel L. Jackson is famous for being in every movie ever made.  Other than that, there were some comedians I've never heard of, actors in dramas I have never seen.  All are welcome to depart, they will not be missed, and if they would refrain from giving their political opinions publicly, it would be deeply appreciated.  We really don't care what you think.

Al Sharpton:  I Was Just Kidding About Leaving The Country If Donald Trump Won.  Al Sharpton said he was just kidding when he said he was leaving the country if Donald Trump became president.  Just days after the Republican nominee was declared the winner, the civil rights activist said comments he made previously like that "he was reserving his ticket to get out of here if he wins" was "all in jest."

They might have no choice.
Good News: 35% Of Government Workers Might Quit If Trump Wins.  A new survey finds that more than a third of federal workers are threatening to quit their jobs should Donald Trump prevail in the presidential election.  If only that were true.

The best reason yet to vote for Trump:
Will Obama leave America if Trump's elected?  Aide refuses to deny rumors that the President is preparing to quit the US.  A White House aide has failed to deny rumors President Barack Obama is planning to leave the United States if Donald Trump wins the election.  White House press secretary Josh Earnest was asked whether Obama was planning to flee abroad if Trump, a man he has said is unfit to hold the office, is elected President.

Brace Yourselves:  America is Losing 10 Celebrities.  Not for the first time, many distinguished actors, performers, and otherwise notable figures promised they would do the unthinkable if the wrong candidate got elected: they'd remove themselves from America and move to Mexico.  Check that, I guess it's Canada.  Anyway, it's an unusual threat if for no other reason than it's palpably narcissistic.  The implication, of course, is that if Americans are not careful, they'll lose the inestimable talents of these celebrities, some of whom actually have talent.

The Editor says...
Who cares if a misguided left-wing political activist knows how to sing?

23 great reasons to vote for Trump!
These 23 Celebrities Say They'll Leave The Country If Trump Is Elected.  Amy Schumer recently told BBC Newsnight that anyone who doesn't like Hillary Clinton is uninformed.  She went on to say that she would move to Spain if Trump was elected.  "It's beyond my comprehension if Trump won.  It's just too crazy," she said.  Okay then.  But Schumer's not alone in her anger.

The Editor says...
Yes, please do leave the country, renounce your citizenship, and agree never to return, in person or on film, on social media, on television, or other media yet to be invented.

Good News:  Streisand Says If Trump Wins, She'll Move to Australia.  Thanks, Babs, for reason #499 to vote for Donald Trump.  And Bon Voyage!

Streisand: I'll Leave The Country If Trump Wins.  Acclaimed singer Barbra Streisand is joining the list of disgruntled celebrities threatening to leave America if Donald Trump is elected president.  She made the comments during an interview with Sydney-based journalist Michael Usher during an Australian news program broadcast on Sunday.

Barbra Streisand claims she will relocate to Australia if Donald Trump beats Hillary Clinton in US election.  Barbra Streisand revealed during an Australian TV interview that she will move Down Under if Donald Trump is elected President of the United States in November.  The 74-year-old actress, a lifelong Democrat who endorses Hilary Clinton in the US election, made the admission during an interview with 60 Minutes.  Barbra told Sydney-based journalist Michael Usher on Sunday she would consider relocating to Australia or Canada in the event of a Trump presidency.

The Editor says...
So-called celebrities sometimes "threaten" to leave the country if certain conditions are not met. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] Unfortunately they never seem to follow through.

And the award for the worst election loser goes to ... every deluded millionaire celebrity who can't deal with the fact that America couldn't care less what they think.  [Scroll down]  My favourite was Chelsea Handler, who broke down and wept on live television in abject misery at the result.  One of the reasons for this despair may have been her pre-election pledge on Live with Kelly and Michael to go and live in Spain if Trump won.  'So all of these people that threaten to leave the country and then don't....' she clarified, emphatically, '...I WILL leave the country.'  No wriggle room for any ambiguous doubt there, right Chelsea?  Well, unless you're all mouth and no Hillary pantsuit, which is precisely what you turned out to be.

Lena Dunham won't move to Canada despite Trump win, blasts those calling on her to keep word.  Add Lena Dunham to the list of anti-Trump celebrities who won't be moving to Canada after all.  Miss Dunham, star of the HBO comedy series "Girls," took to Instagram to slam those calling for her to make good on her promise to leave the country if Republican Donald Trump won the presidency.

Irony: Liberals can't move to Canada because of their tough immigration laws.  Every presidential election, liberals threaten to move to Canada if their candidate doesn't end up in the Oval Office.  This year's election was no different with liberal celebrities like Raven-Symoné, Lena Dunham, and Bryan Cranston threatening to head to the Great White North if Hillary Clinton didn't take the presidency, or, rather, if Trump did.  Many liberal millennials made the same claim and a surge in traffic actually knocked Canada's immigration website offline after Trump was declared the winner.  There's just one problem with their plan:  Canada probably doesn't want them.

That makes one:  Hollywood's George Lopez insists he really will leave the country due to Trump.  It looks like comedian George Lopez may go where no other anti-Trump celebrity has gone by actually leaving the United States.  Unlike stars like Miley Cyrus, Lena Dunham, Chelsea Handler and Amy Schumer, who have since reneged on their vows to exit the country if Republican Donald Trump were elected, Mr. Lopez is doubling down, indicating he's in the process of buying a home elsewhere.

The Editor says...
I'm not a big fan of Mr. Lopez, but at least he's man enough to follow up on his promise and actually leave the country.


Flaws / disappointing decisions / flip-flops / bait-and-switch:

To the GOP: Trump You!  Trump has been the most powerful person in the world for the past four years, the chief executive of America, with its vast investigative and intelligence capabilities.  He told us repeatedly "we have it all" and "we caught them all," yet there has been no reckoning or punishment for anything.  Trump had the power to act, and if he didn't, then that's on him.  Where are the declassifications?  Where are the spygate indictments?  Where is the DNI report on electoral fraud?  Where's the promised storm?  Where's the kraken?  Who will act if Trump doesn't pull this out?  The myriad scandals will be buried faster than the sexual assault allegations against Biden.  Despite promises of a biblical storm and pain for the corrupt, there has been nothing.  If Trump leaves office and these promises haven't materialized, that's on him.

The coming purge.  In the end, the continuing control by Obama holdovers in this and other intelligence agencies resulted in a fake Russian collusion investigation, spying on the president, and a fake impeachment effort.  All against the duly and legally elected president by a gang of partisan anti-American Democrats acting as a fifth column in the executive branch.  The saddest part of this story however is how so totally typical it is for Republican administrations since the 1980s.  Republican elected officials have routinely been very lax about cleaning house of Democratic appointees, once in power.  They make a few miscellaneous appointments, but in general let the previous Democratic Party operatives hold sway.  The Democrats however have never had any qualms about firing everyone if necessary to get the policies they want enacted.  In fact, both Bill Clinton and Barack Obama were merciless in eliminating as soon as possible any Republican holdovers, so that very quickly their administrations were being run by their supporters, with no dissenting views.  This was Trump's biggest failure.  All he had to do was exercise his due powers and fire a lot of people — like Clinton and Obama — replacing them with those who supported him.  No violence, no illegalities, no brutality was necessary, only the reasonable actions of an executive trying to implement his policies.  Trump, like the Bushes before him, did not do this.

Trump Is Totally Caving On The Ethanol Question — Again.  One of the more disappointing aspects of Donald Trump's presidency, at least for me, has been his continued support for both the execrable Renewable Fuel Standard and the ethanol lobby, particularly in Iowa.  Sadly, in a pre-October surprise, the President has handed yet another gift to those players while dealing yet another blow to America's drivers, boaters and the fossil fuel industry.  This weekend, Trump approved the use of gas pumps designated for 10% ethanol blends for E15, or 15% blends, subject to state approval.  The political component of this decision doesn't even make much sense, to say nothing of the confusion it will cause among consumers and potential, costly damage to small engines and marine motors.  And yet, here we are.

Another Day, Another Anti-Trump Media Freakout.  On Wednesday [9/9/2020], Bob Woodward released some curated recordings from his interviews with President Trump for his new sensational book.  The book is coming out next week.  Who cares.  Now why would Trump talk to Woodward?  WHY?  This was a horrible, horrible decision.  Trump, if you are reading this, stop giving your enemies the bullets with which to shoot you.

After the Stillborn Impeachment Finally Is Dismissed, Trump Should Employ Greater Prudence During the Next Five Years.  [Scroll down]  Trump is not a lawyer.  In many ways that is what we love about him.  No baloney.  Straight to the point.  No time wasted on beating around the bush or being like Bush.  But there really is a value sometimes in getting things done prudently.  When he began his presidency with the wonderful travel ban, just a bit more caution would have made it a slam dunk, the level of caution that his administration now follows.  When he opted to change the way the census is conducted and to stop including illegal immigrants in the count that determines congressional seats, a touch more prudence would have made that a slam dunk, too.

Stop Treating U.S. Military as Mercenary Force Hired Out to Protect Saudi Royals.  President Donald Trump has succeeded because he has a sense of what normal folks believe about a range of issues.  In one area, however, he has gone seriously awry.  He constantly subordinates American interests and values to Saudi Arabia, a brutally repressive and aggressive regime that has promoted Islamism and enabled terrorism worldwide. [...] The president should stop treating American military personnel as mercenaries, hirelings of pampered Saudi princes whose own people are not interested in risking their lives for their oppressors.  Washington selling military services to any nation is a bad idea — but especially to the Saudis.

A Response to the Editor of Christianity Today.  The editor-in-chief of Christianity Today, Mark Galli, wrote an editorial calling for the impeachment of President Donald Trump. [...] The gist of the editorial — and of most religious and conservative opposition to President Trump — is that any good the president has done is dwarfed by his character defects.  This is an amoral view that says more about Galli than it does about the president.  He and the people who share his opinion are making the following statement:  No matter how much good this president does, it is less important than his character flaws.

Harvey Milk:  US Navy ship to be named after lieutenant forced to resign for being gay.  The San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 2012 urged the secretary of the Navy to name a ship after Milk, one of the nation's first openly gay elected officials.  The answer to their request would come four years later.  "When Harvey Milk served in the military, he couldn't tell anyone who he truly was," Scott Wiener, then a San Francisco supervisor, wrote in 2016 when the Navy announced the ship's name.  "Now our country is telling the men and women who serve, and the entire world, that we honour and support people for who they are."

The Editor says...
This sounds like an idea that Barack H. Obama must have come up with, and President Trump merely failed to stop it.

Who's in Charge Here?  As I and many other Trump critics wrote at the time, the Republican nominee's lifetime experience of dissipating his father's fortune and playing a business mogul on television did not leave him very well prepared to do the duties of the presidency.  But Trump's partisans did not understand that as a deficiency. It was, in their view, his greatest virtue:  He was not very much inclined to play by the rules to begin with, and he didn't even know what they were, anyway.

Trump Must Not Break His Promises to Gun-Rights Supporters.  Following the model of George H. W. Bush, Donald Trump is taking a major step toward becoming a one-term president.  Bush thought he could become more popular by betraying his promises to defend the Second Amendment.  Trump now feels the same; according to the New York Times, he has ordered his staff to work with Senate Republicans to pass a major gun-control package that would set the stage for gun confiscation.

Trump never revoked John Brennan's security clearance.  President Trump never revoked former CIA Director John Brennan's security clearance.  The president announced in August that Brennan's security clearance was being stripped due to "erratic behavior" that disqualified him from having access to sensitive information.  But the White House never followed through with the complicated bureaucratic process of revocation, a source told the New York Times.

Eight Years of Corrosive Lies about Syria.  [Scroll down]  But, then I come across another story about Syria in the Wall Street Journal, suggesting that the United States may leave 1,000 troops in that country after all.  The president, if you'll remember, announced a complete withdrawal of troops from Syria months ago.  Then, weeks later the White House announced that a small force of 200 would stay behind.  Now, the Journal was reporting that it would actually be 1,000.  A few hours later the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of staff said the original plan remained unchanged.  I realized that I no longer knew what to believe.

Why Michael Cohen Is Particularly Detestable and Despicable.  We may never know the full extent of Donald J. Trump's familiarity with the pole dancer who took $130,000 from him, via Michael Cohen, to shut up. [...] None of this has anything to do with campaigning for office.  The 2016 voters who elected Trump knew of his 2005 Access Hollywood trailer conversation with NBC's Billy Bush about women.  They knew of Trump's history of dalliances.  They just decided that they cared more about border security, the festering Obama economy, repealing and replacing Obamacare, treating ISIS as more than a Junior Varsity team, China's abusive trade practices, other disastrous trade agreements that leave America on the short end, rescinding the disastrously myopic Iran Deal, standing up to the UN, making Europe pay its fair share of NATO — and, no matter whom the Republicans were proffering, not having any more Hillary anymore.

The Coming Collision.  A quiet Donald Trump — however doubtful that prospect — would do more for the Trump presidency than the Trump who is playing a dangerous game by putting his own visceral reactions and, shall we say, thoughts at the center of practically everything.

The Russia Probe Becomes a Banal Sex Scandal.  Now that Robert Mueller and his merry band of wannabe Inspector Javerts have revealed much of their hand, we can see more clearly what their investigation is all about.  Aside from the nauseatingly familiar Washington corruption of the Manafort/Podesta stripe, the Great Russia Probe of 2016-2018 (and onwards) has morphed into the even more nauseatingly familiar Washington sex scandal.  If we are to believe legal-eagle Jonathan Turley — and why not; he seems pretty competent — Donald Trump's most serious problem (possibly rising to obstruction) is not Russia collusion, whatever that is, but the hush money payoffs he evidently ordered for Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal.

Want to avoid legal trouble?  Start by not cheating on your wife and don't cavort with murderous strongmen or their lobbyists.  Legal trouble for President Trump is coming from all sides.  There's evidence Paul Manafort was still communicating with the White House this year.  There's evidence suggesting the Russian government was offering "synergy" with the Trump campaign.  There's further evidence Trump directed Michael Cohen to make the hush-money payments to pornographer Stormy Daniels.  It's still very unclear whether Trump broke any laws.  It's perfectly clear, however, that Trump got himself in this perfectly avoidable mess through bad behavior.  For starters:  Had Trump not cheated on his wife with a porn actress, he would not have found himself during his presidential campaign, arranging for hush money to be paid to said porn actress.  Now we learn that this hush money might have been illegal.

Double Standards Galore in the Attorney General Fracas.  [Scroll down]  The solicitor general's office is arguably an inferior office, which means that the Constitution only requires Senate confirmation as the default position.  Congress can, by law, vest the appointment of inferior officers in the president alone or in the head of the department.  But that is not the case with either Eric Holder's or Sally Yates's appointments as acting attorney general.  Either their appointments were also unconstitutional — and I don't recall [George] Conway or [Neal] Katyal ever arguing that — or [Matthew] Whitaker's temporary designation as acting attorney general until a successor can be named is equally valid.  Conway and Katyal's implicit attempts to distinguish those cases fall far short of persuasive.

Justice Department Memo Says Whitaker Appointment Is Legal.  The Department of Justice issued an advisory opinion confirming the legality of Matthew Whitaker's appointment as acting attorney general Wednesday, as legal authorities across the ideological spectrum suggested the move violated a federal statute and the Constitution.  The memo, prepared by the Office of Legal Counsel, reveals that the Justice Department previously counseled President Donald Trump on the matter and defends the president's right to designate temporary office holders under the 1998 Vacancies Reform Act and as a matter of history.

Casting Out a Man of Honor and Achievement.  President Donald Trump has finally sacked Attorney General Jeff Sessions.  The only upside to this development is that it ends the grotesque public humiliation of a man of honor and courage.  Trump persuaded himself that Sessions was fungible, in order to justify scapegoating him for the special counsel investigation into alleged collusion between Russia and the Trump presidential campaign.  Trump was wrong about Sessions's disposability, and wrong to blame him for the appointment of a special counsel, which was triggered by Trump's own impetuous firing of FBI director James Comey.  Now that same willfulness threatens the Trump agenda and, possibly, the integrity of the justice system itself.

Is Chaos an Impeachable Offense?  Until 2017, there were certain political assumptions that most people no longer really believed but also preferred not to question — given the likely animus from the so-called bipartisan establishment, a naked entity which, by convention, we all agreed was splendidly clothed.  China could freely cheat on trade, and the U.S. could take the commercial hit, because one day its misbegotten riches would force liberalization and thereby make China a member in good standing of the family of democratic nations.  After 40 years, we are still waiting on the promised democratic transformation — at great cost to the industrial and manufacturing heartland of the United States.

If Hollywood is going to strip Trump of his Walk of Fame star for sexual misconduct then when will Spacey and Cosby lose theirs?  [Scroll down]  Then there's liberal fury over Trump's sexual behaviour, which is perfectly reasonable given his own unedifying admission that he's treated women like pieces of meat.  When playing 'Whataboutery' however, I wonder why the same liberal fury is not extended to Democratic presidential legends Bill Clinton and JFK, whose treatment of women made Trump look like a choirboy?

Trump White House hosts first iftar meal with Muslim groups.  President Trump hosted his first iftar dinner with several prominent Muslims Wednesday night [6/6/2018], a year after he came under fire for failing to carry on the annual tradition at the White House.  Trump was joined by his son-in-law and presidential adviser Jared Kushner, Vice President Mike Pence, several Cabinet secretaries and diplomats from a handful of Muslim-majority countries, including Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Iraq.  The iftar meal marks the end of Ramadan, a 26-day period of religious reflection when Muslims fast from sunrise to sunset.  The president broke the fast with his guests Wednesday night, after delivering brief remarks and reminding the crowd his first foreign trip after taking office was to Saudi Arabia.


"Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful."
Psalm 1:1    

However:
Trump Excludes Brotherhood-Tied Groups from Iftar Dinner.  President Donald Trump excluded a variety of domestic Islamic groups linked to the Muslim Brotherhood from his first White House annual Islamic 'Iftar' dinner.  The exclusion is a sharp change from former President Barack Obama, who put the Brotherhood-linked groups front-and-center in his Iftar dinners and his Middle East strategy.

The Trump Rationale:  The fact that Trump never served in the military or held a political office before 2016 may explain his blunders and coarseness.  But such lacunae in his résumé also may account for why he is not constrained by New York-Washington conventional wisdom.  His background makes elites grimace, though their expertise had increasingly calcified and been proved wrong and incapable of innovative approaches to foreign and domestic crises.

The Media Is Killing the Democratic Party.  Trump became president despite majority personal disapproval.  His victory depended on a coalition between his devoted fans and more traditional Republican voters who, despite misgivings, supported him because they concluded that the alternative was worse personally and politically.  Evaluations of his character are now "priced in" to the electoral market.

Why Do Christians Put Up With Trump?  "How can practicing Catholics and evangelical Protestants support a president as immoral as Donald Trump?" This question assumes that it is morally or intellectually inconsistent to do so — an argument that has been advanced in publications as ideologically distant as the National Review and the Atlantic.  But are Christians who support Trump inconsistent or guilty of fundamental moral errors?  To many conservative Christians, such as myself, Donald Trump offered the hope of making right what they saw as going horribly wrong in our country.  Alternative candidates stood for policies that would make things worse and were beset with deep character flaws of their own.

The Editor says...
As in every presidential election since I've been voting, the voters were given a choice between BAD and WORSE.  Granted, Donald Trump is only a nominal Christian, but Hillary Clinton is believed to be a witch.

How To Counter Democratic Obstruction Of Trump Nominees.  Senate Democrats are holding up President Trump's nominees to a degree never witnessed before in my lifetime, and probably not in all of American history. [...] What is to be done?  Sen. James Lankford has presented a resolution that would cut post-cloture debate for most executive branch nominees from 30 hours to just eight.  It passed the Senate Rules and Administration Committee on a 10-9 straight party line vote.  Unfortunately, it seems destined to fail in the Senate.  Sen. Susan Collins says she opposes the Lankford measure.  With Sen. John McCain absent (and who knows how he would vote if present), the resolution almost surely will fall short of majority support.

How long will the religious stand by Donald Trump?  Perhaps the most enduring puzzlement about Donald Trump the president and candidate is his ability, if that's what it is, to attract a faithful political base founded on fervent evangelical Christians, despite his frequently reinforced reputation for less than righteous acts and statements.

The Editor says...
Donald Trump isn't a perfect man or a perfect political candidate, and everyone knew this in 2016.  But with all his flaws, he's a far better choice for president than Hillary Clinton.  Almost any of the others running for the Republican Party nomination would have been a better choice than Hillary Clinton.  Bernie Sanders would have been a better choice than Hillary Clinton.  Donald Trump was elected primarily because he was not Hillary Clinton.

In concession to ethanol industry, Trump says he backs E15 gasoline year-round.  President Trump on Thursday said the administration will approve year-round sales of gasoline with 15 percent ethanol — a major policy shift for the federal government that indicates the White House is looking to strike a deal between the biofuels industry and its critics.  Mr. Trump made the declaration in the Oval Office on Thursday morning [4/12/2018].  "We're going to raise it up to 15 percent ... makes a lot of people happy," the president said.  "We're going to go to 12 months ... We'll go from eight months to 12 months."

More information — none of it favorable — about ethanol.

If This Is "Representation" Give Me Rebellion.  As I listen to President Trump on his action of signing the current Omnibus bill, I am left with no other conclusion than he is really not as strong a leader as many seem to believe him to be.  He signed this terrible $1.3 trillion bill for all the wrong reasons and lamented its exclusion of terrible other items, like DACA, but nowhere did he castigate these do-nothing "leaders" for adding a bad gun control act called "NICS"; this Omnibus bill is all smoke and mirrors and the 33 miles of added funding for border fencing is just that — a fence [barely], not a wall.  This bill continues to fund Planned Parenthood too.  Oh, and Sanctuary Cities Too.  Really?  What happened to all Trump's talk about "defunding" sanctuary cities?  And how many more times are we going to provide border wall funding only to see a lesser plan offered and implemented for less money and the appropriated money simply disappear?  Into someone's pockets?  Especially now that we see this bill provides funding to secure the borders of Afghanistan and Iraq.

Trump and the Degenerate GOP Spenders.  President Donald J. Trump is unhappy.  Why?  Because he signed a wildly unpopular (outside of Washington, D.C. at least) omnibus spending bill.  Chants of "never again" emanated from the president's mouth as he described the $1.3 trillion spending bill as "ridiculous" (as though he had no choice but to sign the dreadful legislation).  Pathetically, the president hid behind the military, as every Republican president does when they are about to abandon their voters.  It's not that anyone expected Donald Trump to ride into office and start governing by fiat (although, his predecessor certainly did that).

Big Budget Bills and the Death of Small Government.  Speaking of the new $1.3 trillion, 2,232-page omnibus spending bill that Congress hastily crafted, no elected official had read, and that Donald Trump grudgingly signed into law, Fox News' Greg Gutfeld said on The Five, with surprising nonchalance, "I don't understand why people are angry over this.  I mean, how could you not see this coming?  Donald Trump is not a libertarian.  He's not small government."  With a somber smirk, he proclaims, "small government is dead.  Sadly, as a conservative, it is dead."

Once Again, I Ask:  Why Vote Republican?  Republicans control the White House and Congress.  Obamacare has not been repealed, and Mexico has not had to pay for a wall since there is no wall.  The omnibus spending bill sailed through Congress.  One point three trillion dollars in spending passed by the party of fiscal restraint.  Sure, there is increased military spending, but there's only chump change for the border wall, enough funding for only 33 miles on the U.S. southern border.  Instead, Ryan's and McConnell's spend-a-thon provides $500 million for a 274-mile wall on Jordan's border with Syria and Iraq, along with a wall for Tunisia, too.  Planned Parenthood is funded, as are sanctuary cities, with catch and release alive and well.  Didn't Republicans run on defunding all of this?

GOP's Spending Bill Fully Funds Planned Parenthood.  Despite the promises of President Donald Trump, Vice President Mike Pence, and GOP leaders such as House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.) that they want to defund Planned Parenthood, the $1.3-trillion omnibus spending bill pushed through on Wednesday night [3/21/2018] by the Republican-controlled House does not defund the abortion provider.  Rep. Tom Garrett (R-Va.) reportedly is planning to introduce an amendment to the bill that would defund Planned Parenthood, reported The Hill.  However, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), a member of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, told The Hill this amendment and several others have "zero percent" chance of passing out of the House Rules Committee.  The latest annual report of Planned Parenthood, for 2016-17, shows that it performed 321,384 abortions in its fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, 2016.

Judge, Lest Ye Be Judged.  I deeply deplore and heartily condemn adultery, including Donald Trump's (and Dwight D. Eisenhower's, Thomas Jefferson's, Lord Horatio Nelson's, etc.).  It's a grave sin.  It's a grave violation of a sacred oath.  And it does certainly seem that, back when he was still a Democrat (and I deplore that part of his past, as well), Donald J. Trump was an active adulterer.  I certainly hope he's matured since 2006 and that he is sincere in his plan to never, ever be an active adulterer, or a Democrat, again.  Presumably, he's apologized to his wife — about at least one of those.  I hope he's approached the Almighty, as well, the ultimate authority to whom we answer in these matters.  But as for the rest of us ... well, I can't really see that he needs to answer to us as voters, for what he did on his own time, before we hired him. [...] Trump was not elected as a longtime exemplar of Christian values, at least not by anyone who'd been paying attention.

Donald Trump's most casually broken promise.  Politicians break campaign promises all the time.  Some are big promises, some are small.  But few have been broken as completely, as brazenly, and as casually as Donald Trump's promise not to play golf, or at least not to play a lot of golf, as president.  Candidate Trump told campaign crowds many, many times that a President Trump would be so busy serving the American people that golf would be out of the question.  "I'm going to be working for you," he told a campaign rally crowd in August 2016.  "I'm not going to have time to play golf."

Trump on 'Crazy' Owners: 'Take the Guns First, Go Through Due Process Second'.  President Trump proposed confiscating guns from those thought to be potentially dangerous first and adjudicating later at a White House roundtable with congressional Democrats and Republicans to discuss what gun legislation could pass both chambers.  Attendees included Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) and Elizabeth Esty (D-Conn.), staunch gun-control advocates since the Sandy Hook school massacre, and Rep. Ted Deutch (D-Fla.), whose district includes Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.  Trump was flanked by Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn (R-Texas), who introduced a bill to fix parts of the background check system after the Sutherland Springs church mass shooting in his state, and Senate Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), who has long tried to revive the assault weapons ban.

President Trump Bucks NRA, Pushes Forward with Gun Control.  President Trump made clear Wednesday [2/28/2018] that he is moving forward with certain gun controls despite NRA opposition.  CNN quoted Trump saying, "Half of you are so afraid of the NRA.  And you know what?  There's nothing to be afraid of."  A senior administration official confirmed that the big sticking point between Trump and the NRA is Trump's plan to raise the minimum age for rifle purchases from 18-years old 21-years old.  But the White House did caveat that intention by suggesting the increased age may only be on "certain firearms."

Wait — Did Trump Just Give Pro-Gun Control Democrats Everything They Wanted?  Prior to their meeting with President Trump, members of Congress did not know where he stood on gun issues and the Second Amendment.  Well, they might have had an idea, though they wanted more "clarity."  President Trump has said he wants to do a few things in the aftermath of the horrific school shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, which has shocked the nation, but also energized the small, but vocal army of the anti-gun Left.  The meeting went as their previous one on immigration.  Trump went around the room, asked for opinions, and engaged in a dialogue with Democratic and Republican members of Congress.  Some of it was grounded, where the president discussed his desire to keep firearms out of the hands of the mentally ill and the unstable.  No one disagrees with that, but where it went off the hinges is where he advocated for a comprehensive bill that included universal background checks without concealed carry reciprocity and the confiscation of firearms from those who might be considered a danger without due process.

The president may be confused, but the citizenry is not.  The president said some very stupid things yesterday [2/28/2018] about gun rights in this nation.  Nobody wants another school shooting, but you can't take away someone's guns without due process.  And the fact that everything that politicians, the president included, are saying will do nothing to deter another shooting is why a lot of people are considering buying more guns and ammunition with their bigger paychecks.

NRA chief says Trump does NOT want gun control.  A leader of the National Rifle Association has declared that President Donald Trump does not want gun control.  On Thursday [3/1/2018], President Trump said he had a 'great' meeting at the White House with the gun lobby — one day after the president told lawmakers to take people's guns away and 'go through due process second.'  'Good (Great) meeting in the Oval Office tonight with the NRA!' Trump tweeted.  But Chris Cox, the executive director of the NRA Institute for Legislative Action, said that the president supports the Second Amendment and safe schools — but not gun control.

Trump Plans to Ban Bump Stocks by Administrative Fiat.  Today [2/28/2018] President Trump said he plans to prohibit bump stocks by executive order, notwithstanding the lack of legal authority to impose such an administrative ban.  "We can do that with an executive order," Trump told Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas).  "I'm going to write the bump stock, essentially, write it out.  So you won't have to worry about bump stock[s].  Shortly that will be gone."  Trump's determination to ban bump stocks by administrative fiat is a blatantly political attack on the rule of law that conservatives would have immediately condemned as such if Barack Obama had attempted it.  Bump stocks are accessories that increase a rifle's rate of fire by harnessing recoil energy to help the shooter slide the weapon back and forth against his trigger finger.  Previously an obscure novelty, they became notorious after they were used in the mass shooting that killed 58 people in Las Vegas last year.

Trump's Sudden Love of Gun Control Isn't That Sudden.  Just about every gun owner and Second Amendment advocate I know put aside concerns and jumped on the Trump train.  Trump won, bringing cheer to gun owners and the NRA, and then he nominated Neil Gorsuch, elating them even more.  But Wednesday [2/28/2018] we learned that the Trump White House might not be all that different from the Clinton White House on guns after all.

Republicans Astonished by Trump's Gun Control Comments.  During a televised bipartisan meeting to discuss gun control proposals with members of Congress on Wednesday, President Donald Trump split with conventional Republican wisdom and suggested that guns be confiscated from individuals who could pose safety threats before due process is carried out under the law.  Nebraska Republican Ben Sasse issued a statement rebuking those comments Wednesday night.  "We're not ditching any Constitutional protections simply because the last person the president talked to today doesn't like them," Sasse wrote.  Other Republican senators mostly distanced themselves from Trump's statement.

Trump's New Budget Plan Is a Fiscal Disaster.  The federal government's fiscal outlook has been in decline since the Bush administration, and President Trump's new budget plan is another step in the wrong direction.  Trump's 2019 budget ramps up spending on the military and border security.  Although the budget offers some ideas for domestic spending cuts, most of these won't see the light of day.  In other words, it continues the long-term unwinding of the nation's fiscal discipline.

Trump budget abandons fiscal conservatism — and so does hypocritical GOP.  Remember Republicans' enduring commitment over most of our lifetimes to eliminate the federal budget deficit and trim the national debt?  Well, forget it.  In fact, with the GOP controlling the White House and both houses of Congress, the government this year will likely inflict nearly an additional trillion dollars on the existing $20 trillion national debt.  And just like your credit card balance, the total federal obligations will also increase right along with now rising interest rates.  Amazingly after all the promises and pleas for more than two generations, it seems everyone, except maybe a showboat senator making a futile late-night legislative gesture, seems good with such overspending.

In Budget Deal, GOP and Trump Fully Fund Planned Parenthood.  Despite promising to defund Planned Parenthood, President Donald Trump signed a budget Friday, which was passed by the Republican-led Congress, that fully funds the nation's largest abortion provider.  In a letter to pro-lifers during the election, Trump and Vice President Mike Pence said "I am committed to ... Defunding Planned Parenthood as long as they continue to perform abortions, and reallocating their funding to community health centers that provide comprehensive health care for women.  While the budget provides more funding for community health centers, it also fully funds Planned Parenthood.

Here's What You Need To Know About That 'Nationalized 5G' Proposal.  Sunday [1/28/2018] brought a big surprise in the form of a leaked proposal to create a secure, government-controlled "5G" network in the U.S. that would keep out the Chinese (in more ways than one).  The document, leaked to Axios and largely verified by Reuters, was the product of a "senior National Security Council official" who recently presented it to senior officials from other agencies.  The proposal may or may not already be dead in the water, but it looks like the White House will continue to push for certain elements of what was in there.  That means it's worth taking a deeper look at what the memo called for.

Liberty Alert:  White House considers federal takeover of America's 5G wireless network.  It was only yesterday [1/29/2018] that I shared with you some of the many ways Donald Trump is shredding our Constitutional rights in the name of "safety and security" and how, in his world, there's no national security problem so large that it can't be solved by Big-Brother-styled government.  Since publishing that piece, we've been treated to another example of just how far down the 1984-road Trump is willing to take the country before we drive over a cliff.  On Sunday, we learned that national security officials within the administration are considering a federal takeover of America's 5G wireless network in order to nationalize it as a means to combat Chinese spying on US phone calls.  Isn't it a shame that Trump wasn't this concerned about spying when he reauthorized FISA 702 earlier this month.  I guess when it's the government doing the spying, it's all good.

If Trump Nationalizes 5G Wireless, It Will Be The Last 'G' We Ever See.  National security officials in the Trump administration are reportedly considering a plan to have the government build the next-generation 5G wireless network in an effort to thwart China's advances.  It is a terrible idea.  But terrible ideas tend to thrive in the Washington swamp if they're not quickly uprooted.

DACA: What is Trump doing?  Last Thursday afternoon [1/25/2018], President Trump presented the outlines of his proposed "deal" on DACA.  It offers full amnesty with a path to citizenship for 1.8 million DACA eligible illegal aliens.  In so doing he demoralized the huge base of support that carried him into office specifically because he promised to swiftly end DACA, and simultaneously cut off at the knees ongoing efforts to push back against amnesty for illegal aliens. [...] As Ted Cruz so accurately said, the president is betraying the greatest single promise he made to voters. [...] Trump is betting the Democrats are overplaying their hand as they did with the shutdown.

Trump's Draft Amnesty:  Unlimited, Forever, and Before a Wall Is Built.  A near-final draft of the White House's unlimited and forever amnesty bill says the administration wants $25 billion for a wall over the next five years, and will not cancel chain-migration or visa-lottery inflows until the last of the 4 million foreigners now in the pipeline have arrived in the 2030s.  The amnesty is dubbed the Security, Enforcement, and Compassion United Reform Effort Act, or SECURE Act.  It is based on the SUCCEED Act developed by Sen. Thom Tillis and Sen. James Lankford, and it offers amnesty to an unlimited number of people, without any ending date.

Are We Heading for an Immigration Sellout?  First off, can we just say that the country owes these adults (because they're all adults now) nothing.  Their parents broke the law, knowingly and willingly.  The idea that granting them citizenship is the only "moral" option because they're here "through no fault of their own" is ridiculous.  There are millions of Americans with parents in prison, should their parents be released because leaving someone without their parent is a situation they're in "through no fault of their own"? [...] There is no statute of limitations on violating immigration law — every day someone is in the country illegally they are breaking the law.  It's a continual violation.

Mark Levin:  Trump's amnesty for 1.8 million 'pathetic,' worse than Obama.  Just this week, President Trump called for legalizing some 700,000 "DREAMers," but today is a new day, and now Trump is also offering citizenship an additional 1.1 million illegal aliens who never even applied to be "DREAMers" in return for a border wall and an end to chain migration... in 10 years.  Mark Levin said that Trump's offer is terrible for the country and an awful bargaining strategy on his radio show last night[.]

'Extremely Bad Idea:' WH Plan Expands U.S. Citizenship for Illegal Aliens to Potentially Uncontrollable Levels.  Details of a White House plan revealed on Thursday expands the number of illegal aliens who would be eligible for a pathway to U.S. citizenship far beyond the nearly 800,000 illegal aliens enrolled in the President Obama-created Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.  According to senior adviser Stephen Miller, the White House will push for a deal on immigration that gives a pathway to U.S. citizenship for 1.8 million illegal aliens who are enrolled and eligible for Obama's DACA program.

EPA Puts Brakes on Approval Process for Gold, Copper Mine.  In a surprise move, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency reversed itself Friday and stopped the approval process for the proposed Pebble Mine copper and gold mine project in southwest Alaska's Bristol Bay region.  "It is my judgment at this time that any mining projects in the region likely pose a risk to the abundant natural resources that exist there," EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt said in a statement.

More about the EPA vs the Pebble Mine.

The Art of the Choke.  The White House immigration outline was released today and it's not good.  It could change tomorrow, for all we know, but as it stands now, this is a preemptive surrender on several issues.

For Liberals, Every[]Thing In the World Is About Trump.  Trump's record is at least as pro-gay as Barack Obama's or Hillary Clinton's, if you assume that is a good thing:  ["]His history with the gay community is a long one.  He donated to charities focused on the AIDS crisis in the late 1980s and early '90s.  In 2000, when he briefly considered running for president, he gave an interview to The Advocate, a gay magazine, in which he supported amending the 1964 Civil Rights Act to 'include a ban of discrimination based on sexual orientation.'["]

'Let Us Celebrate' — Trump Rings In Kwanzaa.  President Donald Trump released a statement Tuesday [12/26/2017] celebrating the African American holiday of Kwanzaa.  "Today marks the first day of Kwanzaa, a weeklong celebration of African American heritage and culture.  Together, let us celebrate during this joyous time the richness of the past and look with hope toward a brighter future," the statement reads, adding "as families and friends join to light the Kinara, Melania and I extend our warmest wishes for a joyful holiday season and a prosperous year to come."

Report: White House Trying to Sneak LGBT Activist Through Committee.  Earlier today [12/12/2017], I reported on President Trump's re-nomination of Chai Feldblum as EEOC commissioner.  Feldblum is an LGBT activist and the architect of the Obama administration's radical LGBT agenda, including its policy mandating that transgender individuals can use the restroom of their choice.  She believes that in almost all cases where the sexual liberty of gays conflicts with religious belief, "sexual liberty should win because that's the only way that the dignity of gay people can be affirmed in any realistic manner."  Now, a source tells me that the White House is pushing to have the Senate committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions vote Feldblum out of committee tomorrow during executive session.  If this occurs, I'm told it will be with no hearing, no interview by the Committee, and possibly with no completed FBI investigation (this is not clear).  In fact, Feldblum's re-nomination is barely public knowledge.  Bloomberg reported it in the subscription-only Daily Labor Report.  I can't find any report of her nomination on the internet, other than mine.

Trump betrays conservatives:  Nominates anti-Christian, pro-LGBT activist to EEOC.  [Scroll down]  Well, it looks like Donald Trump is ready to give [Chai] Feldblum and the LGBT agenda a big boost.  In an announcement last week, the "most pro-LGBT" Republican candidate for president re-nominated Feldblum to keep her job at the EEOC. And despite claims by some in Trump's inner circle of "evangelical advisors" that this only happened because Trump wasn't briefed on Feldblum or involved in her nomination, the track record of the man who swore to "do everything in (his) power to protect LGBTQ citizens" at the Republican National Convention indicates that this is right in line with the priorities of President Trump and Vice President Pence.  For example, when Trump followed Jared and Ivanka's advice to reaffirm an Obama executive order that essentially legalized discrimination against Christian business owners by requiring them to embrace the LGBT agenda or lose their right to do business with the federal government, Pence — who has a history of his own when it comes to caving to LGBT radicals — defended the pro-LGBT decision.

Tillerson gives another $47M to Muslim "refugees" in Myanmar; $150M so far in 2017.  So much for the America First policy.  Tillerson is following in Clinton's footsteps, wasting American taxpayer dollars on foreign Muslims.

You Can't Hide From Calorie Counts:  FDA Will Implement Obama-Era Rule.  Scott Gottlieb, the Food and Drug Administration commissioner appointed by the Trump administration, has this in common with Michelle Obama:  He wants to know what's in the food he eats.  And this, it seems, includes calorie counts.  Now, the FDA has released its guidance on implementing an Obama-era rule that requires chain restaurants and other food establishments to post calories on menus or menu boards.  The mandate was written into the Affordable Care Act back in 2010.

The Editor says...
No matter how you vote, Republican or Democrat, Obamacare is apparently here to stay, because that's what the Uni-party Establishment wants.  These nanny-state menu rules are just one of Obamacare's tentacles.  The goal of Obamacare is to expand the government and make all of us more dependent on it.

IRS gives illegals welfare, forces Obamacare tax on Americans.  [President] Trump has not fired John Koskinen as Commissioner of the IRS.  House conservatives wanted to impeach him when Obama was president for lying to Congress, but everyone thought either way he would surely be fired on Trump's first day in office.  He's still in power in his full glory.  Now he has announced that the IRS plans to enforce the individual mandate even against those who leave the question blank on their tax forms, something the Obama administration didn't begin enforcing before the election.

EPA chief Scott Pruitt has 'epiphany,' sides with ethanol industry in key policy fight.  After heavy pressure from lawmakers and other stakeholders, EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt on Thursday night sided with pro-ethanol lawmakers and said his agency will abandon many controversial changes to the nation's ethanol mandate — prompting a top biofuels leader to claim that Mr. Pruitt apparently has had an "epiphany" over the past few days.  In a letter to seven key senators, Mr. Pruitt — who had been critical of ethanol during his time as Oklahoma attorney general — shot down several major concerns about looming adjustments to the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), the federal law that requires the blending of ethanol with gasoline.  The letter comes just days after Sen. Charles E. Grassley, Iowa Republican and perhaps the loudest pro-ethanol voice in Congress, threatened to hold up nominees for top-level EPA posts if Mr. Pruitt didn't acquiesce to their demands on the RFS.

Trump Bends The Knee To King Corn.  [T]oday's energy picture makes the ethanol mandate entirely obsolete.  Thanks to the fracking revolution, the U.S. is now awash in domestic supplies of oil and natural gas.  Oil prices have dropped and net imports are lower than they've been in more than 30 years.  The U.S. could become a net exporter of oil within a decade.  So the idea that replacing some oil with ethanol is vital to national security or stable energy prices is a relic of a bygone era.  Nor is the RFS a win for the environment.  In fact, various studies have shown that, when you consider the entire life cycle of each energy source, ethanol is a bigger polluter than gasoline.  A 2014 University of Minnesota study, for example, found that "corn ethanol is about twice as damaging to the air quality as gasoline."  The Environmental Working Group has called ethanol "a disaster for the climate."

Trump on Puerto Rico's debt: 'We're going to have to wipe that out.  President Trump told Fox News Tuesday that "you can say goodbye" to Puerto Rico's debt as the island struggles to recover from the devastation left by Hurricane Maria.  Trump spoke to Fox News' Geraldo Rivera in an interview that aired exclusively on "Hannity" Tuesday evening [10/3/2017].  The president spend the day touring the damage left by Maria, the strongest hurricane to hit Puerto Rico in nearly a century.

Why Trump Must Fire Obama Holdover Cordray.  In the private sector and during his short time as president, Donald J. Trump has never been shy about firing subordinates.  Yet some powerful Obama holdovers seem to have a puzzling staying power.  The recent decision of the Justice Department not to prosecute Lois Lerner for her alleged role in the Internal Revenue Service's targeting of conservative non-profits brought criticism and also highlighted the fact that Obama's appointee John Koskinen is still at the IRS's helm.  Even more frustrating is that Trump has yet to fire Consumer Financial Protection Bureau director Richard Cordray, despite Cordray's actions that go directly against Trump's deregulatory agenda and despite calls for his removal from both Trump's supporters and critics within the GOP.

Luther Strange Endorsement Is Just Latest Awful Advice Trump Received from Jared Kushner.  To no one's surprise, President Donald Trump is apparently "furious" over his woefully misguided decision to go all-in for Luther Strange in Alabama's U.S. Senate primary.  It was a decision that blew spectacularly up in the president's face last night with Strange's massive 10-point loss to Roy Moore, an outsider much closer in spirit to Trumpism than establishment crony Strange.  In what is becoming a disturbing pattern, Trump's son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner was apparently one of those who advised the president to back Strange, to once again sail into big, jagged rocks — a humiliation for Trump that anyone with any real-world political sense should have (and did) seen coming from a mile away.

Illegals rush the border for Trump's promise of amnesty.  During the first few months of Trump's presidency, border crossings declined to the lowest level in a generation.  Now, new data from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) shows that border crossings have spiked for the past four consecutive months, despite the hot weather, which usually causes an annual drop in border crossings in the summer.  It's quite obvious that the initial perception of Trump as a strict law enforcer has been revised in the eyes of potential migrants, following Trump's promise to pass amnesty within the next six months.  When will the political class finally learn the lessons of failed amnesty and place the security of Americans first — before any discussion of amnesty?

The Unaccountable IRS.  To understand the pragmatic realities of federal governance in the 21st century, one must recognize the existence of a fourth branch of government:  the administrative state.  We have some two million federal bureaucrats with extraconstitutional legislative powers.  Not only do they write the reams of regulations that order our lives, they have the authority to enforce them capriciously.  And thanks to absurd civil service protections, it is exceedingly difficult to hold them accountable for abuses of power, even when Congress demands it.  Of course, you can't censure federal bureaucrats for their crimes if you don't even try.  On September 8, Donald Trump's Justice Department announced it would not be reopening an investigation into the conduct of Lois Lerner, the IRS official responsible for targeting and harassing conservative groups in the 2010 and 2012 elections.

Trump Didn't Get Rolled by Pelosi and Schumer.  Trump has run into trouble, mostly as a result of the fact that he does not know what he is doing and is too lazy to learn how to do the job.  He has made an ethic of willful ignorance, and as a result he failed to get some relatively easy things done:  In spite of what you hear on talk radio and from the talking mouths on cable news, Republicans do want to repeal the Affordable Care Act.  But that's a big piece of domestic policy that requires presidential leadership of the sort that Trump is simply unable to offer, having given no serious thought to the question other than to say that he'd prefer a "great" and "terrific" system to the current one, preferably at a lower price.  How do get that done without raising taxes to fund new subsidies — while keeping the expensive and market-distorting but very popular preexisting-conditions rules — is non-obvious.

Levin on DACA: 'We Have a Little Problem'; We Don't Know Where Trump Stands.  On his nationally syndicated radio talk show program Thursday [9/14/2017], host Mark Levin discussed Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), telling his audience "we have a little problem" because it's unclear where President Trump now stands on two key planks of his presidential primary campaign:  DACA and 'The Wall.'  "Well, the backbenchers, TV, the rest, they've kind of caught up where we are here, ladies and gentleman, that we have a little problem," stated Mark Levin.  "We have a little problem.  I'm going to pose a question to you:  Where exactly does President Trump stand on DACA and 'The Wall' today?"

Right explodes in anger over Trump's immigration push.  Only a week ago, Trump thrilled his base by rescinding an Obama-era order on the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which allows about 800,000 young people brought into the country illegally to live and work without fear of deportation.  But the president quickly backtracked, reaching an agreement late Wednesday over dinner with Democratic leaders Sen. Charles Schumer (N.Y.)and Rep. Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) that would extend protection to the so-called Dreamers in exchange for promises to enhance border security.

Morning Joe:  Time to Put 'Right-Wing Media' 'Out of Business' and 'Break Their Backs'.  Instead of rallying the troops to curb stomp conservative media into a bloody pulp, perhaps [Steve] Schmidt and other analysts at MSNBC should take a look at a broader array of polls.  For example, as Nate Silver's outfit FiveThirtyEight has recently pointed out, it was likely Trump's hardline campaign stance on immigration that propelled him to victory in the primaries last year.  Across the country, Trump voters who rated immigration as their top issue consistently voted for him in huge numbers.  Considering that Trump explicitly promised to end DACA, reversing course on that could well be seen as a betrayal.

Hurricane Harvey Relief Comes With an Extra-Large Side of Pork.  It was just a matter of time before our ideologically flexible president started making deals across the aisle.  The result is a $15 billion Harvey relief package that includes short-term debt ceiling and government funding increases, along with the promise of a messy end-of-year negotiation process.  President Donald Trump most likely equates making deals with getting things done.  But all deals aren't created equal, and for anyone who believes in fiscal responsibility, this deal, which passed the House and the Senate in spite of many disgruntled members, was particularly lousy.

9/11/2017: Trump, Pence, Mattis, Sessions Fail to Name 'Radical Islamic Terrorism'.  On the sixteenth anniversary of the September 11, 2001, Islamic terrorist attacks, President Donald Trump did not once mention the terms "radical Islam" or "Islamic terrorism" during a commemoration ceremony at the Pentagon.  Those phrases were also not mentioned in speeches today [9/11/2017] by other Trump administration senior officials, including Vice President Mike Pence, Defense Secretary James Mattis, and Attorney General Jeff Sessions.  Instead of naming the enemy, Trump seemingly went out of his way to use other descriptors in his speech, including "terrorists who attacked us," "barbaric forces of evil and destruction," "horrible, horrible enemies," "enemies of all civilized people," and "enemies like we've never seen before."

The "Hillary Was Worse" Justification Grows Weaker.  People whose ultimate objective is the advancement of conservatism find no joy in seeing Trump morph back into the Democrat he's always been.  But make no mistake, that's precisely what is unfolding. [...] Hillary could have never pushed through amnesty like Trump is poised to do.  Hillary could have never gotten Republicans to go along with repealing the debt ceiling altogether and granting the government a blank check to spend more than it has, which is precisely what Trump is poised to do.

Trump Has Always Backed Amnesty, White House Says.  President Donald Trump's request that Congress protect illegal immigrants is not a change of heart, but something Trump has always supported, according to White House press secretary Sarah Sanders.  Trump presented a hard-line immigration policy on the campaign trail and said during an August 2016 campaign speech that "there will be no amnesty."

Trump's DOJ won't pursue charges against Lois Lerner, former IRS senior executive.  The Trump Justice Department has once again cleared former IRS senior executive Lois G. Lerner of criminal liability stemming from the tea party targeting.  In a letter to top Republicans, Assistant Attorney General Stephen E. Boyd said they re-reviewed the case and concluded there isn't enough evidence to charge Ms. Lerner, who was at the center of the targeting.  Mr. Boyd said the new review included lawyers who only recently joined the department and weren't part of the Obama administration's earlier decision.

Trump DOJ: No plans to charge Lois Lerner in IRS scandal.  The Trump administration has no plans to charge former IRS official Lois Lerner over her role in the Tea Party targeting scandal, the Justice Department said Friday [9/8/2017] in response to calls by Republican lawmakers to revisit the case.  In a letter to the lawmakers, the Justice Department said that "reopening the criminal investigation would not be appropriate based on the available evidence."  This past April, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady, R-Texas, and Rep. Peter Roskam, R-Ill., had asked Attorney General Jeff Sessions to take a "fresh look" at the case.

Lois Lerner:  Free As A Bird — For Now.  There's a name we haven't seen in the news for a while.  What has former IRS honcho Lois Lerner been up to since her somewhat abrupt "retirement" in the wake of the IRS scandal?  Well, having failed to secure a pardon from Barack Obama before he moved out of the Oval Office, there have been investigations going on into her department's handling of conservative non-profit groups.  This may have had Ms. Lerner a bit on the nervous side for a while but now it appears that she can rest easy.

The Editor says...
Donald Trump was elected because he said he was going to go to Washington and "drain the swamp."  What part of the swamp affects voters most directly?  The IRS.  Letting Lois Lerner skate, and leaving Rudy Koskinen in place is a betrayal of the voters.

Jeff Sessions Gives Disgraced Obama-Era IRS Official Lois Lerner Get-Out-Of-Jail Free Card.  Somebody wake up Jeff Sessions and inform him he is supposed to be the Attorney General of the United States.  The Sessions-led Justice Department, which has acted much like its Democratic predecessors, has denied a Congressional request to prosecute Obama-era IRS official Lois Lerner for any of her alleged illegal transgressions committed while targeting conservatives while at Treasury.  Lerner is now officially the newest member of The Swamp with a get-out-of-jail free card.

Sessions welcomes restoration of asset forfeiture:  "I love that program".  Attorney General Jeff Sessions welcomed the restoration of the practice of asset forfeiture Friday [9/1/2017] in a speech at a law enforcement conference in Alabama.  "I love that program," Sessions said.  "We had so much fun doing that, taking drug dealers' money and passing it out to people trying to put drug dealers in jail.  What's wrong with that?"  Sessions, reviewing some of the steps the DOJ has taken recently under his watch, went off script from his prepared remarks to express his excitement about the restoration of the controversial practice.

Trump plans to lift Obama-era ban on giving local police military equipment.  The Trump administration will bring back the movement of surplus military equipment to local law enforcement.  Documents obtained by Fox News reveal President Trump will sign an executive order reversing an Obama-era policy which restricted local police agencies' ability to get access to gear such as armored personnel carriers, grenade launchers and other military-grade equipment.  Trump's executive order will restore "The full scope of a longstanding program for recycling surplus, lifesaving gear from the Department of Defense."

President Trump Reverses Obama Executive Order Blocking Military Surplus From Police Purchase.  Today President Trump has issued an executive order revoking a previous Executive Order #13688, put in place by President Obama, which blocked local and state law enforcement from purchasing military surplus gear.  Effective with today's order local law enforcement will have access to U.S. military equipment.  Attorney General Jeff Sessions cited two studies which concluded that the use of military-style equipment can have positive effects, reducing citizen complaints and assaults on officers.

Trump Gives Obama Project to Help Food-Stamp Recipients Eat More Fruit & Veggies $16.8 Million.  The Trump administration is throwing more money at a controversial Obama-era program that dedicated tens of millions of dollars to help food-stamp recipients eat more fruits and vegetables.  It was part of a project launched by the former president and his wife to provide low-income minorities — already getting free groceries from the government — with healthier foods, compliments of Uncle Sam.  In the last two years alone of the Obama presidency the initiative, known as Food Insecurity Nutrition Incentive Grant Program, received an astounding $62.5 million.  This month, the Trump administration announced that the cash will keep flowing via the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the agency that administers the nation's monstrous food-stamp program.

Remember that Time Trump Said "Get Out of Afghanistan"? Neither Does He.  As Matt Welch and Ed Krayewski have noted, President Donald Trump's plans for a United States military presence in Afghanistan aren't just secretive and undefined.  They represent a total reversal of earlier statements condemning America's longest war for its utter lack of effectiveness and unconscionable loss of life and gigantic waste of money.  To date, over 2,400 U.S. military have died in the war in Afghanistan and estimates of the cost run between $840 billion and $2 trillion.

Are There Any Adults In The Room?  Being elected president is an accomplishment, but it's more of a means than an end.  The end should be goals for policy changes, and there haven't been any of those.  None on any of the major issues on which Donald Trump campaigned, anyway.  Yes, the Justice Department is enforcing immigration laws once again, but a wall isn't being built and there has been zero movement on the idea of merit-based immigration reform.  Some Obamacare regulations have been rendered inactive, but the law still stands.  "Tax reform" is now used interchangeably with "tax cuts" which, although they'd be nice, aren't exactly gutting the ridiculous and burdensome tax code.  We were supposed to get tired of winning.  Now we're just tired.  Tired of the pointless bickering.  Tired of the drama.

A second special counsel must investigate Clinton, Comey, Lynch and others.  There was a time, not so long ago, when candidate Donald Trump vowed, if elected, to have his attorney general appoint a special counsel to reopen the Hillary Clinton investigation and, if warranted, bring criminal charges against her.  It never happened, of course.  And the president has only himself to blame.  President-elect Trump had a change of heart after winning the election, signaling that his new administration would let bygones be bygones, explaining that Clinton had "suffered" enough.

Jeff Sessions Lets Cops Be Robbers.  Donald Trump made two things abundantly clear during a meeting with county sheriffs last February:  He did not know what civil asset forfeiture was, and he wanted to see more of it.  The president will get his wish thanks to a directive issued last week by Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who has a clearer idea of what civil forfeiture entails but is only slightly more sensitive to its potential for abuse.  That potential is built into the very concept of civil forfeiture, which allows police to take property allegedly tied to crime without charging the owner.  Worse, law enforcement agencies get to keep revenue generated by forfeitures they initiate, which gives them a financial incentive to target people based on the assets they own rather than the threat they pose.

State Department Lawyers Removing References to ISIS 'Genocide' Against Christians, Other Religious Minorities.  The State Department's top lawyers are systematically removing the word "genocide" to describe the Islamic State's mass slaughter of Christians, Yazidis, and other ethnic minorities in Iraq and Syria from speeches before they are delivered and other official documents, according to human rights activists and attorneys familiar with the policies.  Additionally, Democratic senators are delaying confirmation of Mark Green, Trump's pick to head the U.S. Agency for International Development who has broad bipartisan support.

The New DOJ Guidelines On Asset Forfeiture Are Obscene.  The Justice Department's new guidelines on civil asset forfeiture are an obscenity to our founders and the Constitution they wrote.  Attorney General Jeff Sessions released the directive today he claims will actually help make sure criminals can't keep their ill-gotten gains, but are really just an affront to the Fourth Amendment.  The key factor in the new guidelines is that the federal government no longer has to pay attention to state and local laws which make it harder for police to seize assets without a criminal conviction.  One of the few things Attorney General Eric Holder got right during his tenure was telling federal agencies they had to follow state law with the equitable-sharing program.  Sessions is undoing this policy.

Trump Recertifies Iran Nuclear Deal, but Only Reluctantly.  President Trump agreed on Monday [7/17/2017] to certify again that Iran is complying with an international nuclear agreement that he has strongly criticized, but only after hours of arguing with his top national security advisers, briefly upending a planned announcement as a legal deadline loomed.  Mr. Trump has repeatedly condemned the deal brokered by President Barack Obama as a dangerous capitulation to Iran, but six months into his presidency he has not abandoned it.  The decision on Monday was the second time his administration certified Iran's compliance, and aides said a frustrated Mr. Trump had told his security team that he would not keep doing so indefinitely.

Jeff Sessions Announces Justice Department Will Increase Asset Forfeiture.  U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions said the Justice Department will issue new directives to increase the federal govenment's use of civil asset forfeiture, a controversial practice that allows law enforcement to seize property from suspected criminals without charging them with a crime.  Speaking at a National District Attorneys Association conference in Minneapolis Monday [7/17/2017], Sessions said state and local law enforcement could expect changes from U.S. Attorneys in several areas: increased prosecution of gun crimes, immigration offenses, gang activity, and prescription drug abuse, as well as increased asset seizure by the federal government.

24 Republicans Vote To Preserve Transgender Ideology in Military.  Twenty-four Republicans banded together on Thursday [7/13/2017] to defeat an amendment which would have ended former President Barack Obama's 2016 policy of funding "gender-reassignment" surgery for soldiers who want to live as members of the opposite sex.  The amendment to the 2018 National Defense Authorization Act was offered by Rep. Vicky Hartzler (R, Mo.).  It would have prohibited the use of taxpayer dollars to pay for the non-military medical task of converting healthy soldiers into "transgender" soldiers who face lifelong dependence on hormones and surgery.

Trump's biggest mistake — not going after Hillary.  When Donald Trump said he would not pursue legal action against Hillary Clinton after he won the election, the majority of his supporters were not happy.  After all, what Hillary, her family, and the Clinton Foundation actually did, or were accused of doing through credible evidence, was obviously criminal.  Fast-forward to today, and the onslaught of false Russian collusion accusations against President Trump, and it is obvious why not going after Hillary was a huge mistake.

Pentagon to keep paying for sex-change surgeries.  Two-dozen House Republicans broke with their pro-defense brethren Thursday and helped Democrats kill an amendment that would have barred the military from funding transgender sex reassignment surgeries and hormone therapies.  The amendment to the annual National Defense Authorization Act, which sets out policies on America's $696 billion military budget, failed 214-209, with all Democrats and 24 Republicans opposing.  It means the military health care system will be called on to provide such surgeries as routine treatments for the first time, unless the Trump administration changes Obama-era policies that allow transgender troops to remain on duty.

Trump Admin Continues Obama-Era Tradition Of Giving Millions To Soros-Linked Groups.  The Trump administration gave $6.3 million to a group linked to liberal mega-donor George Soros as part of an effort to to develop "independent, professional media" in Moldova, The Daily Caller has learned.  The Agency for International Development (USAID) doles out millions of dollars to groups around the world, and frequently this money ends up in the hands of organizations supported by Soros.  The Daily Caller has previously reported that USAID during the Obama administration gave at least $15.8 million in Macedonia to groups ran by Soros and to organizations tied to his Open Society Foundations.

Junkie Running Dry.  [Donald] Trump has shown himself intellectually and emotionally incapable of making the transition from minor entertainment figure to major political figure.  He is in the strange position of being a B-list celebrity who is also the most famous man in the world.  His recent Twitter attack on Mika Brzezinski of MSNBC's Morning Joe exemplifies that as much as it does the president's other by-now-familiar pathologies, notably his strange psychological need to verbally abuse women in physical terms.  Trump may have his problems with women, but it is his unrequited love of the media that is undoing him.

US planning to create 'Space Corps' as sixth branch of armed forces.  The House Armed Services Committee has voted to create a US "Space Corps", which would become a new branch of the armed forces and incorporate the current space missions of the US Air Force.  If the US Space Corps goes ahead, it would be the first new military service in the country since 1947.  The move has caused consternation as committee members of the panel say they were only recently informed, giving them little time to protest against the proposal.

The Editor says...
Expansion of the federal government is exactly what we would have expected from President Hillary Clinton.

This is exactly what President Hillary Clinton would have done:
Trump to prosecute schools that fail to embrace transgender lie.  Many LGBT groups considered Trump to be "the most pro-LGBT candidate" to ever be nominated by the GOP — a title he gleefully embraced during the Republican National Convention.  In his acceptance speech, Trump told the crowd, "As your president, I will do everything in my power to protect LGBTQ citizens."  One of his first actions as president, taken even before his nothing-burger executive order that supposedly protects religious liberty, Trump — actually Ivanka — reaffirmed an executive order first issued by Obama that required government contractors to embrace the LGBT agenda or lose their right to do business with the federal government.  Many LGBT groups considered Trump to be "the most pro-LGBT candidate" to ever be nominated by the GOP — a title he gleefully embraced during the Republican National Convention.  In his acceptance speech, Trump told the crowd, "As your president, I will do everything in my power to protect LGBTQ citizens."

Chaffetz: Trump's Administration Isn't Very Different Than Obama's.  Departing Utah Republican Rep. Jason Chaffetz is disappointed that President Donald Trump's administration has not been responsive to congressional oversight requests.  Chaffetz, the former chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, said that Trump's administration is almost worse than the previous one when it comes to responding to oversight requests from Congress.  "The reality is, sadly, I don't see much difference between the Trump administration and the Obama administration," Chaffetz said Sunday [6/18/2017] on Full Measure with Sharyl Attkisson.

Army's transgender policy includes guidelines on male pregnancies.  The Army has begun mandatory transgender sensitivity training for soldiers.  The training covers everything from "transfemale" soldiers to transgender shower etiquette to dealing with a male soldier who becomes pregnant. [...] "That pregnancy scenario is beyond words," Chaplain Alliance for Religious Liberty executive director Ron Crews told me.  "This is an example of how this social policy can be used simply to promote personal agendas at the expense of taxpayers with no regard for being what the military is all about."

Border Numbers Up 31 Percent in One Month as 'Catch and Release' Continues.  The apprehension of illegal border crossers by Border Patrol agents jumped 31 percent in May from the previous month.  The jump follows a six-month decline in apprehensions after the election of President Donald Trump.  The increase comes as Border Patrol agents report "catch and release" programs are quietly continuing.

Trump's reversal allowing amnesty for Dreamers enrages conservative base.  The Trump administration has approved tens of thousands of temporary amnesties for illegal immigrant Dreamers, according to numbers released Thursday [6/8/2017] that underscore a major reversal for President Trump.  The decision has enraged the president's conservative base, which hoped he would make good on his promise to revoke the policy, known in governmentspeak as DACA.  But immigrant rights advocates, who were harshly critical of Mr. Trump during the campaign, said he deserves some credit for defying his right wing and keeping the program intact.

DOJ Decides Not To Prosecute VA Execs Accused Of Intentionally Misleading Congress.  The Department of Justice won't prosecute VA executives accused of intentionally misleading Congress about cost overruns at the new VA hospital in Denver.  The House Committee on Veterans Affairs asked the DOJ for a perjury investigation in 2016, as the committee believed executives were misleading lawmakers to cover up exploding costs for the facility under construction, but the DOJ maintains there is not enough evidence to move forward with prosecution, the Associated Press reports.

Betrayal! Trump grants amnesty to 125,000 illegals in 3 months.  While much of the conservative media is consumed with Comey and Russia, they are missing the irony of defending an administration without even securing some key policy outcomes.  The latest betrayal to the Right is the confirmation that Trump's DHS has issued almost 125,000 "DACA" cards (per Obama's unlawful Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals order) to illegal aliens through the second quarter of this fiscal year (January through March).  According to newly published data from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the Trump administration has issued 17,275 initial amnesty cards and over 107,500 renewals of existing status.  This surpasses the 122,000 level of amnesty cards issued during the final quarter of Obama's presidency (Oct. 1-Dec. 31, 2016), which means the Trump administration is not even slowing down the pace!

I guess the swamp drain must be clogged.
DOJ Decides Not To Prosecute VA Execs Accused Of Intentionally Misleading Congress.  The Department of Justice won't prosecute VA executives accused of intentionally misleading Congress about cost overruns at the new VA hospital in Denver.  The House Committee on Veterans Affairs asked the DOJ for a perjury investigation in 2016, as the committee believed executives were misleading lawmakers to cover up exploding costs for the facility under construction, but the DOJ maintains there is not enough evidence to move forward with prosecution, the Associated Press reports.  Lawmakers wanted the DOJ to look into Glenn Haggstrom and Stella Fiortes, specifically.  At the time, Haggstrom served as principal executive director of the Office of Acquisition, Logistics and Construction (OALC) and Fiortes worked as director of the VA's Office of Construction and Facilities Management.

50,000 new mining jobs thanks to Trump.  President Trump is putting Americans back to work, and the Marxists are in denial.  But a mining industry owner who is hiring workers to try to keep pace with demand said the mining industry is outing the Fake News liars.

DHS Secretary Kelly says he's not deporting Dreamers, suggests Congress grant full legalization.  Homeland Security Secretary John F. Kelly said Wednesday that his agents are not actively trying to deport illegal immigrant Dreamers approved for tentative status President Obama's 2012 deportation amnesty, and suggested Congress should find a way to grant them full legalization.  Mr. Kelly declined to take a position on whether the program is legal, saying only that he's heard from both sides of the debate over the amnesty program, known as DACA, or Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals.  "We are not, not, not targeting DACA registrants right now," Mr. Kelly told the House Homeland Security Committee.

U.S. Quietly Lifts Limit on Number of Refugees Allowed In.  Despite repeated efforts by President Trump to curtail refugee resettlements, the State Department this week quietly lifted the department's restriction on the number of refugees allowed to enter the United States.  The result could be a near doubling of refugees entering the country, from about 830 people a week in the first three weeks of this month to well over 1,500 people per week by next month, according to refugee advocates.  Tens of thousands of refugees are waiting to come to the United States.

The Ethanol Boondoggle Will Continue.  Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue informed reporters this past weekend that one promise Donald Trump intends to keep is his support for ethanol.  At a farming event in Iowa with Republican Senator Chuck Grassley and Rep. Steve King, Perdue said, "Ethanol is here to stay, and we're going to work for new technologies to be more efficient."  Unfortunately, this is one Trump campaign promise that would have been good to break.  The Renewable Fuel Standard — known as the ethanol mandate — is a classic example of what happens when the government interferes in the marketplace, with an agenda to boot.  Through presidential administrations both Republican and Democrat, the government has heavily subsidized the production and distribution of ethanol, as well as required a certain amount of its use, in the hopes of making renewable fuels the next great thing.  That hope hasn't been realized.

The DACA Betrayal.  During the presidential campaign, President Trump said he was going to end President Barack Obama's Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals amnesty, DACA, on "day one."  Then candidate Trump was also forceful in pushing back against those who constantly gave these maudlin tributes to "Dreamers," saying that it was about time Americans started talking about the dreams of their own children.  Well, we are well past day one.  Donald Trump has not done anything on DACA.  Worse, he is now signaling that he is never going to do anything.

Trump's agriculture secretary, Sonny Perdue, declares that 'ethanol is here to stay'.  For a few moments, President Trump seemed like he might back away from the country's costly ethanol mandate.  First, Trump tapped an ethanol opponent to head up the Environmental Protection Agency.  Then in February the president plugged market deregulation for the renewable fuel industry instead of government subsidization.  But those hopes officially came crashing down this weekend when U.S. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue fastened a little pin to his jacket lapel that read "Don't mess with the RFS."

More information — none of it favorable — about ethanol.

Ivanka Trump to Head Review of U.S Role in Paris Climate Change Agreement.  Ivanka Trump has been tapped by her father, President Donald Trump, to review the United States' commitment to the Paris Climate Change agreement, signed by former President Barack Obama as an executive agreement in 2015 without congressional approval, the Associated Press is reporting.  The agreement requires countries to cut greenhouse emissions on a country-by-country basis, with Obama committing the U.S. to reduce carbon emissions by at least 26 percent below 2005 levels by 2025.  The U.S. is expected to have a representative at the United Nations' climate change meeting in Bonn, Germany, next week but Trump's advisers — including daughter Ivanka and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt — are meeting on Tuesday [5/7/2017] in Washington to decide whether to stick with or withdraw from the deal.

Unworthy Abbas Honored in the White House.  As a great supporter of President Trump, I was saddened to see the leader of the free world welcome to the White House the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, who has been a tyrant, Holocaust denier and the cofounder of modern Islamic terrorism.  What is the most disturbing is the fact, that this meeting has elevated the untrustworthy Abbas's prestige and credibility and made him relevant at the time when he is a weakened political figure who is unpopular among his own people and the moderate Sunni states who see the Palestinian issue as an obstacle to getting closer to Israel and America in a united front against Iran.  How do you explain the fact that Trump said during the meeting that it was "an honor" to have the Palestinian president, who was the cofounder of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) and modern Islamic Terrorism, and who was second in command to the notorious Yasser Arafat, whose sole purpose was the total and complete destruction of the Jewish state?

Trump's Executive Order on Religious Liberty Is Worse Than Useless.  Fresh on the heels of a budget deal that fully funds Planned Parenthood, Donald Trump has signed a religious-liberty executive order that — if reports are correct — is constitutionally dubious, dangerously misleading, and ultimately harmful to the very cause that it purports to protect.

Trump Voters:  Ya Got Took.  [Scroll down]  No fighting China on currency, no [Mexican border] wall, no NATO reform.  Add a few more items to the list:  Janet Yellen was definitely out before she wasn't; our relationship with Russia was "great" during the campaign but today is a "horrible relationship" that is "at an all-time low" (he may not know about the Cuban missile crisis); the president could not make war on Syria without congressional approval ("big mistake if he does not!") until he could.  The Affordable Care Act remains the law of the land.

Of Promises Broken — President Trump Signs Stop-Gap Spending Bill.  Under normal fiscal year budget agreements, Trump would have had no input anyway, because this is merely the last five months of last year's budget.  So he signed it.  And all for what?  To avert a shutdown we all know is not a shutdown, but barely a temporary slowdown.  The President should have refused to sign this pig and allowed the government to go into slow-down mode.  Trump and the Republicans are going to get blamed for this anyway, so why not go to the mat and fight for your principles?

Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago trips cost taxpayers estimated $20m in 100 days — Obama's cost $97m in 8 years.  President Donald Trump has racked up an historic amount of travel expenses in his first 100 days in office, by far surpassing the president who came before him.  Mr Trump has made a point of repeatedly visiting his private Mar-a-Lago resort and golf course, which he and his administration have referred to as the "winter White House," on the weekends.  Those Florida trips require a nearly 1,000 mile flight aboard Air Force One south from Washington.  Joining the president on that journey are cargo planes carrying motorcade limousines, aircraft transporting staff for security sweeps, and the deployment of the Coast Guard in the waters near the resort.

The Unnoticed Consequences of Incompetent Governance.  While the Trump administration is still trying to figure out how to fund and pass a massive infrastructure bill, at least $20 billion worth of big energy-infrastructure projects — 15 of them in 14 states, all 100 percent privately funded and all holding the potential to create thousands of new construction jobs — are sitting in front of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, awaiting approval.  The commission isn't simply choosing to stall the projects; it can't approve them, because it needs a quorum of three commissioners to make an official decision and it's been operating with only two since the beginning of February, while three empty seats are yet to be filled by President Trump.  This is an unbelievably vivid illustration of how few people around Trump understand the federal government they've been tasked with running.

PC Pentagon Caves To CAIR, Agrees To 'Review' Anti-Terror Training Program.  The Pentagon has agreed to formally review an anti-terror training program taught to special forces by a private contractor for material deemed offensive to Islam and Muslims, even though the Muslim group that lodged a complaint against the allegedly "Islamophobic" program has been accused by the Justice Department of supporting terrorism and is currently banned from outreach activities by the FBI.  The instructor hired to teach the program says he fears his class might not get a fair hearing, because military brass have assigned the review to a Muslim military chaplain who graduated from a radical Saudi-funded Islamic school raided by federal agents after 9/11 on suspicion of terrorist activities.  He is their second choice for conducting the review.  They had originally picked a more radical military chaplain to inspect the training materials before learning he has ties to an imam with a history of ministering to Muslims later convicted of terrorism.

Why did we vote for the Republican in the 2016 election, if this is the result?
US should stay in Paris climate accord says energy secretary Rick Perry.  The United States should stay in the Paris climate accord but renegotiate it, energy secretary Rick Perry said on Tuesday, alleging that some European countries were not doing enough to curb emissions.  A decision is expected by president Donald Trump next month on whether or not to stay in the landmark 2015 Paris Agreement limiting global carbon emissions, signed by 194 countries.

Folding like a cheap suitcase:
Trump Indicates He's Open To Delaying Border Wall Funding In Order To Avoid Government Shutdown.  Donald Trump signaled that he is willing to delay funding for the border wall in order to pass a spending bill and avoid a government shutdown at the end of the week.  The president said he was open to delaying funding for construction of the wall until September in a meeting with a group of reporters at the White House Monday evening [4/24/2017].

Great news — if you like Syrians:
Trump Is Resettling Syrian Refugees At A Much Quicker Pace Than Obama.  President Donald Trump called Syrian refugees a "great Trojan horse" during the 2016 campaign, but his administration has resettled them in a quicker pace than President Barack Obama did.  Since Trump was inaugurated, 1,401 Syrian refugees have been resettled, State Department figures as of Wednesday reveal.  This is more than double the 625 Syrian refugees resettled under President Obama in the same time frame last year.  The president has admitted about a third fewer refugees from all nations than Obama's State Department did in this time span, as he has resettled 10,565 refugees so far and Obama resettled 14,841.  Syrian refugees, however, were a particular focus of President Trump's when he was running for office.

Trump's Failure to Fill Key Government Posts Is Stalling Key Pipeline Projects.  The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is not the country's most well-known or controversial government agency.  But if you care about building natural gas and oil pipelines or expanding the American power grid, it's pretty important.  FERC consists of five members who can approve or reject plans for major energy-infrastructure projects.  The Trump administration has been slow to nominate candidates to some of the 600 or so significant positions in the executive branch, including the three empty spots on FERC, which has been short of a quorum since President Obama's appointed chairman, Norman Bay, resigned on February 3.

Conservatives Confused Why Koskinen Still Has Job at IRS.  Current IRS Commissioner John Koskinen was not leading the agency when it was targeting conservative groups that opposed President Obama's policies, but he was pretty uncooperative during Congress's investigation into the scandal during his own tenure.  It's for that reason Republicans are wondering why President Trump has not relieved him of his duties.  "President Trump should fire Commissioner Koskinen and replace him with someone that will bring integrity and competence to the IRS," Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) told Fox News on Tuesday [4/4/2017].  Fifty-four of Goodlatte's colleagues also penned a letter to the White House urging the administration to remove Koskinen.

An Estimated 36,000 Illegal Immigrants Have Received Amnesty Under Trump, As He Reneges On Promise.  Obama also launched Deferred Action for Parents of Americans (DAPA), which is an amnesty for illegal immigrant parents of American citizen children, however, this has been blocked from implementation by court decisions.  President Trump said during an August speech in Phoenix that he will "immediately terminate" Obama's "illegal executive amnesties," but he has yet to do so.

Trump Admin to Host Convicted Palestinian Terrorist Despite Outrage.  The Trump administration says it will permit a Palestinian official known for endorsing terrorism and murder to enter the United States next week for a series of high-level meetings on the Israel-Palestinian peace process, a move likely to prompt outrage in the pro-Israel community.  The State Department confirmed to the Washington Free Beacon late Thursday [3/30/2017] that it intends to permit Jibril Rajoub, secretary of the Fatah Central Committee, to participate in meetings with U.S. officials next week, despite his repeated calls for terrorism against Israel and a 15-year stint in Israeli prison for committing terror acts.  A State Department official who spoke to the Free Beacon acknowledged Rajoub's radical rhetoric, but maintained he can serve a positive role in peace talks set to take place between Trump administration officials and a Palestinian delegation including Mahmoud Abbas.

Ann Coulter:  Trump 'starting to look like every other Republican administration'.  President Trump is straying from the platform that put him in the Oval Office, rendering his administration like any other Republican White House, Ann Coulter said Tuesday [3/21/2017].  During a radio interview for the "Sean Hannity Show," the conservative pundit rebuked House GOP leaders' measure to repeal and replace ObamaCare and slammed the president for backing it, urging him to stick to the issues that helped him win the election.  "Trump has got to get off this stuff and get off tax cuts and get back on the stuff that got him elected," Coulter said Tuesday.

This is exactly what President Hillary Clinton would have done.
President Trump's Proposed OMB Budget.  The President's 2018 Budget [...] Provides $3.7 billion for continued development of the Orion crew vehicle, Space Launch System, and associated ground system, to send American astronauts on deep-space missions.  To accommodate increasing development costs, the Budget cancels the multi-billion-dollar Asteroid Redirect Mission.

Trump Preserves the Export-Import Bank.  When early drafts of the Trump budget started to circulate after the inauguration, the Export-Import Bank — one of Washington's most notorious corporate-welfare programs — was among the agencies destined for the chopping block.  Now the actual budget is out, and the bank has been spared the ax.  The Washington Examiner's Tim Carney reports that this "follows many reports from congressional fans of Ex-Im that Trump had been persuaded to love the agency, which primarily subsidizes Boeing sales."  (Barack Obama underwent a similar transformation, denouncing the bank as "little more than a fund for corporate welfare" while he was running for president but fighting to preserve it once in office.)

Trump's White House follows Obama's lead telling court not to locate more of Clinton's emails.  President Trump's new administration isn't fighting any harder to have more of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's emails released.  In fact, based off of court proceedings this week, the Trump Justice Department is following the same playbook as President Obama's, with government lawyers saying they will continue to seek a dismissal of a Judicial Watch case that is trying to force them to locate more of Clinton's emails.  'It's incredible,' said Judicial Watch's head Tom Fitton to the Washington Post.  'They're taking the same position as the Obama administration on Clinton.'

Trump's State Department refuses to look for Hillary Clinton's emails.  Judicial Watch was hoping that "Team Trump" would also mean team transparency.  But the conservative watchdog group was disappointed Monday after State Department lawyers were still insisting — even under their new President Trump-appointed leadership — that they have no intention of trying to find any potential as-yet uncovered Hillary Clinton emails from her time at the department.  Given that Trump once joked that Russia should find Hillary's missing emails, it's an ironic twist for Judicial Watch that it can't get Trump's own State Department to cooperate.

Stuff like this is the reason Americans voted against Hillary Clinton.
White House:  Trump will enforce LGBTQ workplace protections.  The White House said early Tuesday that President Trump will continue to enforce an Obama-era executive order protecting the rights of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer community in the workplace.  "President Donald J. Trump is determined to protect the rights of all Americans, including the LGBTQ community," said a statement from his press secretary's office.

Trump to enforce Obama's LGBTQ anti-discrimination order.  President Trump will continue to enforce President Obama's 2014 executive order protecting LGBTQ people from discrimination while working as federal contractors, the White House announced Tuesday [1/31/2017].  "President Donald J. Trump is determined to protect the rights of all Americans, including the LGBTQ community.  President Trump continues to be respectful and supportive of LGBTQ rights, just as he was throughout the election," the White House announced in a statement.

The Editor says...
One thing this country does not need is a spineless, centrist, politically correct Uniparty that grants special rights and privileges to sacred cows because the party fears the castigation of the press or the onslaught of baseless litigation.  Homosexuality is perversion, and is not something to be normalized and legitimized by the federal government.

Loose cannon:
Trump launches a Twitter rant at the New York Times, hours after promising to be restrained online. Donald Trump fired off against his enemies on Sunday in one of his trademark Twitter sprees — hours after vowing to be 'more restrained' on social media.  The President-elect attacked The New York Times for its coverage of him, claiming it had cost them 'thousands of subscribers' since his election win.  In a flurry of tweets on Sunday morning [11/13/2016], he slammed the publication for its 'bad, poor and inaccurate' reports.  It swiftly responded to say subscriptions were up.

No It's Not Cool To Be 70 Going On 14.  It's really rich to hear Democrats rail on about Trump's indefensible womanizing talk (and actions).  But they have a point.  If the Republican Party is aligned with Godliness, what have we done nominating this clown as the paragon of family values and virtue?  They could just say "you guys are stupid" and be right.

This Is No Way To Elect A President.  Trump isn't stupid.  He personally may be a pig, but he's a smart man.  He's just shown himself to be stubborn when it comes to taking advice, undisciplined when it comes to messaging and unprepared (and either oblivious or delusional) for the level of scrutiny he'd face when it comes to running against a Democrat.

The Biggest Blunder of the 2016 Campaign.  [T]he members of the Republican National Committee had to know that the primary aspect of the Democrat' game plan was to crucify Trump with women.  Certainly Trump had to know, as a forty-year tabloid headliner, a 15-year reality TV star, books and interviews in which he boasted about his female conquests, and his own upbringing in a world of male chauvinism that hours of tapes and videos existed that would be used against him.

The coming Trump vs.  Clinton sex scandal showdown.  Consider Trump's reaction to reports on his lewd hot mic moment.  "This was locker room banter, a private conversation that took place many years ago.  Bill Clinton has said far worse to me on the golf course — not even close," he said in a statement.  "I apologize if anyone was offended."

The Editor says...
Incidentally, nobody on television has mentioned this, but when the offensive remarks were made, Trump was a Democrat.

The Sun Is Setting on America as Founded.  The Party's current standard bearer, Donald Trump, has proposed further expansion and maintenance of the current central government as he has declared his support for 1) expanded government paid maternity leave and child care, 2) mandatory increases in the minimum wage, 3) punitive tariffs on imported goods, 4) retaliatory steps against business who relocate overseas, 5) taxpayer funding for Planned Parenthood, 6) leaving Social Security, medicare and all welfare programs in place with no reforms although all are heading for insolvency, 7) doubling the infrastructure spending as proposed by Hillary Clinton, 8) unilaterally abrogating treaties and agreements, 8[$frac12;]) the continued unfettered use of executive orders as he sees fit, and 9) limitations on free speech and changes to libel laws.  The Republican Party, regardless of whether Trump wins or loses, appears irreversibly committed to cementing its status as the socialist-lite party versus the Democratic Party's staunch socialist status.  There is little difference between them.

Trump Has Not Read The Constitution, Or The Bible.  In Trump's America, nobody gets the benefit of the doubt, except Trump.  And that's why I (like many others more important than myself) am willing to suffer losing some friendships or professional hardship to expose him as the shallow, small, corrupt man he is.

Never Trump, Now More Than Ever.  [Scroll down]  Ideas matter, and supporting Trump means advancing ideas I find not just wrong, but destructive.  I've defended the unborn my entire career; he praises Planned Parenthood.  I believe that marriage is a sacred covenant between husband and wife; he's a serial adulterer.  I believe America should lead the world in defense not just of its territorial integrity but also of civilization itself; he would retreat into glorified isolationism.  I believe that free trade has made America more prosperous and enriched the lives of its citizens; he threatens to start ruinous economic conflicts.


Intra-party friction:

Trump's final humiliation of the GOP.  When the news hit on Tuesday that the Trump campaign has washed its hands of fund-raising efforts two weeks before the election, the humiliation of the traditional Republican Party at the hands of Donald Trump was all but complete.  His refusal to help fill party coffers just as the last push for voters commences — which is an expensive process and requires cash on hand — is the perfect capper to 16 months in which Trump has gleefully terrorized weak-kneed Republican officials, forced them to comply with his wishes and then screwed them.

10 Signs That An All-Out Attempt Is Being Made To Sabotage The Trump Campaign.  We always knew that politics in America is a dirty game, and that the Clintons are the dirtiest players in the game.  And we always knew that the mainstream media was going to be in Clinton's corner, although it has been a shock to what degree they have completely abandoned any pretense of objectivity during this election cycle.  So it was always going to be an uphill battle for Donald Trump, but what he didn't anticipate was blatant and widespread sabotage of his campaign from within his own party.  In recent days it has become clear that the worst sabotage to the Trump campaign is being done by people that are supposed to be on his side.  It is being called "the Republican civil war," and I don't think that is overstating the case at all.

The GOP civil war is finally here.  And Trump is winning.  With the release of the 2005 "Access Hollywood" tape and Donald Trump's subsequent drop in the polls, many already reluctant Republicans are now running for cover from him and his campaign.  House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senator John McCain are the most prominent among them, and Trump has responded by calling them out individually on his Twitter feed.  The GOP civil war so close to erupting so many times during the course of the Trump campaign is finally here.  All because of a new drop in the polls that may or may not last very long.  There may be no winners in the end of this intramural battle, but the only one who can win is Trump.  And that's why Trump should not just continue to play up this growing rift with the establishment, he should play it up as much as possible.

Shedding Light On Years Of Terrible Blindness Among Conservatives.  Republicans [...] face a boatload of challenges and divisions that arose with the nomination of Donald Trump as the GOP presidential nominee.  Trump secured the nomination by being the outsider candidate who would take on the "establishment" and the political "ruling class" in Washington DC.  There is considerable irony in the fact that 14 million primary voters believed a Manhattan-based real estate billionaire who aligned himself with Democratic policies and politicians for three decades is the ideal person to fight the "ruling class," but it is where the GOP found itself.  Trump's nomination has created deep divisions within the party that may never be healed.

Trump's Curious Habit of Denigrating Fellow Republicans.  Donald Trump, who last week accepted the presidential nomination of the Republican party, suggested in an interview Tuesday with Bill O'Reilly that Republicans don't like to help people.  Trump made the claim during a discussion of the minimum wage, in which he said he'd both maintain the minimum wage and would raise it to $10 per hour.

Donald Trump Is Crazy, and So Is the GOP for Embracing Him.  Both Cruz and his father have vehemently — and repeatedly — denied any suggestion that the man in the photograph is the elder Cruz or that he was an associate of Oswald, contrary to Trump's claim.  That hasn't stopped Trump's innuendo.  In May, when he first raised questions about the elder Cruz, Trump said:  "What was he doing with Lee Harvey Oswald shortly before the shooting?"  The Kennedy assassination is one of the most heavily investigated events in the past century.  Cruz's father was not implicated.  There is no evidence to support claims that he was ever in the presence of Lee Harvey Oswald or had a role in the Kennedy assassination.  And scholars who have studied those events have said without qualification that Cruz wasn't involved.  But Trump peddles his nonsense anyway.

Trump doubles down on anti-Cruz JFK assassination slander.  Sen. Ted Cruz was roundly condemned for not endorsing Trump in his convention speech.  But if it is true that the Texas firebrand doomed his political future, then Trump would have been wise to heed the advice of the Chinese military leader Sun Tzu, who said never to disturb your enemy when he is destroying himself.  Instead, Trump proved to be a sore winner and showed why Ted Cruz was right in withholding his endorsement.  There are few among us who, if someone slandered their fathers in a similar way, would not simply deck the miscreant.  Methinks Trump protested his innocence too much even as he defamed his opponent's father.


President Trump's speech to the UN, September 19, 2017:

Conservatives Need a Remedial Course in Sovereignty.  [Daniel] Henninger allows that he understands the necessity of protecting a sovereign nation's "national security and economic interests."  President Trump, however, "seems to be talking about something more transcendent."  Henninger suggests the concept of "sovereignty as a mystical force" is "an idea brought into the Trump presidency by [former adviser] Steve Bannon and articulated... by [chief speechwriter] Stephen Miller."  As a matter of fact, the concept of sovereignty as an overarching principle of the American republic originated not with Bannon and Miller, but with James Madison, John Adams, and the American Founders.

Trump's UN speech was a grand slam.  On Tuesday [9/19/2017], addressing the United Nations for the first time as president, President Trump delivered a powerful message.  On the peril, Trump was clear.  He spared no ire in confronting the efforts of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to acquire an intercontinental ballistic missile plus nuclear warhead capability.  Trump warned that if the U.S. is "forced to defend itself or its allies, we will have no choice but to totally destroy North Korea."  Referencing Kim specifically, Trump warned that "Rocket Man is on a suicide mission for him and his regime."

Netanyahu Praised Trump's UN Speech As Bold And Courageous.  Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had "never heard a bolder or more courageous speech" after hearing President Donald Trump's Tuesday address to the United National General Assembly.  Netanyahu tweeted his support for Trump's speech shortly after the president's speech to the group of foreign leaders from 193 different countries at the U.N.'s 72nd annual gathering in New York City.  "In over 30 years in my experience with the UN, I never heard a bolder or more courageous speech," Netanyahu tweeted, followed by some more tweets about the speech.

Bolton: Trump's U.N. Speech the Best of His Presidency.  Fox News contributor John Bolton called Donald Trump's speech before the United Nations Tuesday the best of his young presidency.  Bolton, who served as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations under President George W. Bush, praised Trump for his direct denunciation of North Korea's nuclear ambitions and criticism of the Iran nuclear deal brokered by the Obama administration.  "This was the best speech of the Trump presidency, in my view," Bolton said.  "I think he was as clear and direct as it's possible to be."

Why Trump's UN Speech Was a Triumph.  Donald Trump on Tuesday [9/19/2017] confirmed yet again why he is the most robust president since Ronald Reagan.  Following up on his brilliant speeches before a joint session of Congress in February, his speech about combating Islamic terrorism before Arab leaders in Saudi Arabia, and his splendid defense of Western civilizational values in Warsaw a few months ago, Trump addressed the United Nations and articulated for the 150 delegates at that ostentatiously corrupt institution the signal lesson of successful international relations: that freedom within nations, and comity among them, is best served not by the effacement or attenuation of national sovereignty but its frank and manly embrace.

Trump's fiery UN speech earns him international praise.  Despite his increasingly strong rhetoric toward North Korea, President Donald Trump once promised his former national security aid Sebastian Gorka that he did not want to go to war over the Korean peninsula.  "People need to take that to heart," Gorka told FOX Business' Trish Regan on 'The Intelligence Report' on Tuesday.  "Nevertheless, if you threaten us, if you threaten our territory with nuclear weapons, with ballistic missiles, look at that team he's got.  Secretary [of Defense James] Mattis is not going to take that lying down."

Trump at the U.N..  The headline obviously was the threat to destroy North Korea if we are forced to defend ourselves.  If the point of the speech was to get the world to take notice, this surely succeeded.  But it's still an open question of what exactly the administration's North Korea policy is — a rhetorically forceful version of the usual hope that we can get China to pressure North Korea and eventually sit down to negotiate again with Pyongyang, or something different?  Also, Trump called the Iran nuclear deal an embarrassment to our country, which is a pretty strong indication that he wants to get out of the agreement and probably will (even if this continues to be an internal battle in the administration).  It's very safe to say that the reference to Kim Jong-un as "rocket man" aside (which will occasion twelve hours of intense cable debate), we've never heard such direct, undiplomatic language from a U.S. president at Turtle Bay.

Trump Hits Home Run for America in UN Speech.  What's relatively rare [at the UN] is plain-spoken truth.  So, by UN standards, Trump's speech certainly did not fit in.  But by American standards, he told some extremely important truths, including his observation that "America does more than speak for the values expressed in the United Nations Charter.  Our citizens have paid the ultimate price to defend our freedom and the freedom of many nations represented in this great hall."  He spelled out, quite accurately, that "the scourge of our planet today is a small group of rogue regimes that violate every principle on which the United Nations is based."  In particular, and in detail, Trump called out the rogue states of North Korea and Iran.

CNN Hated Trump's 'Dark,' 'Frightening,' 'Incoherent' 'Sermon' to U.N..  From the moment President Trump's Tuesday speech to the United Nations General Assembly ended, CNN made clear that they would be providing the liberal, pro-Obama response, lambasting his remarks as contradictory, "dark," "frightening," "incoherent," and even weak.  Now, if you're skeptical that this video supercut included only partisan commentators, that sadly did not happen as the same rhetoric was espoused by supposedly neutral analysts, anchors, and reporters.

Families of Americans Imprisoned in Iran Applaud Trump's Call for Their Return in UN Speech.  Families and advocates for Americans imprisoned in Iran applauded President Trump for demanding the release of all U.S. prisoners and others unjustly detained in Tehran during his speech to the United Nations General Assembly Tuesday [9/19/2017].  Family members of Siamak and Baquer Namazi, a father and son who are being held in Iran's notorious Evin prison, also urged Trump to take urgent action to try to secure their release.  They warned that 81-year-old Baquer Namazi's life is hanging in the balance after he underwent heart surgery to install a pacemaker just hours before Trump spoke.

ABC Assails Trump Speech as 'Bordering on Threat' of 'War Crime'.  ABC journalist Terry Moran suffered a full meltdown as he reacted to Donald Trump's United Nations speech on Tuesday [9/19/2017].  The network's chief foreign correspondent condemned the President's warning to North Korea as "bordering on the threat of a war crime."  Bizarrely, he claimed that the speech, which warned Iran and condemned socialism in Venezuela, was one Vladimir Putin would give and that dictators everywhere would love.

MSNBC Frets Trump Calling America Sovereign At UN Was 'Over the Top,' Did 'Permanent Damage'.  In the hours following President Trump's speech to the United Nations Tuesday, the media frantically wondered if Trump wasn't inviting nuclear war by condemning North Korea.  Some networks like NBC, even sympathized with the American-hating regime of Iran while condemning our own president.  MSNBC was no different, with anchor Brian Williams panicking on The Eleventh Hour September 20, that by Trump calling America "sovereign" he was sending a "dog whistle" to the UN that we didn't need them anymore.  Williams was joined by a panel of liberal guests who shared his negative take on Trump's speech.

Trump boxed in the globalists in his UN speech.  It's safe to say that none of his many enemies among the global elites anticipated an intellectual challenge from Donald Trump.  He doesn't look or talk or act the way they think an intellectual should.  Yet somehow, he has placed them in a box.  In his U.N. debut, he challenged the intellectual basis of the world order they are working toward.  He personally addressed many of the political leaders in the audience when he said:  ["]...you, as the leaders of your countries will always, and should always, put your countries first.["]

Joe Scarborough agrees:  Trump's U.N. speech [was] a winner.  MSNBC's Joe Scarborough, normally no fan of Donald Trump's — to put it mildly — nonetheless came out in defense of the president's speech before the United Nations.  In short, Scarborough actually liked it.

Morning Joe Hosts 'Totally Agree' With Madeleine Albright Claiming Trump's U.N. Speech 'Weakened America'.  On Wednesday's [9/20/2017] Morning Joe, the guests and hosts actually had a moderately balanced (particularly by MSNBC standards) discussion running for much of the broadcast with respect to evaluating Trump's address to the United Nations General Assembly yesterday.  However, in a segment with former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski facilitated her unleashing a series of ridiculous assertions about Trump's speech completely unchecked by basic reality.

Brian Williams Suggests 'Sovereignty' Is a Racist Dog Whistle.  MSNBC's Brian Williams, McClatchy reporter Anita Kumar, former CIA chief of staff Jeremy Bash, and The Wall Street Journal's White House correspondent, Eli Stokols, all apparently think the words "sovereign" and "sovereignty" are some kind of racist, isolationist dog whistles.  During a discussion of President Donald Trump's speech at the U.N. General Assembly, Williams and his guests did their utmost to attribute a nefarious meaning to Trump's use of the word "sovereign."


Accomplishments:

This subsection has moved to a page of its own, located here.


Lies about President Trump:

This subsection has moved to a page of its own, located here.


Other signals and noise:

This subsection has moved to a page of its own, located here.





Back to the Home page

Bookmark and Share


Document location http://akdart.com/dt.html
Updated August 3, 2023.

©2023 by Andrew K. Dart