The Democratic Party's Far-Left Candidates


The Democratic Party is moving further to the political left, and adjectives like Socialist are no longer being avoided.  Some of the candidates who are being enthusiastically promoted by the party are indistinguishable from communists.  For years, the Democratic Party platform has been completely out of sync with the American mainstream, even though it has the reliable support of the national news media.  But some of the newcomers have ideas that are really odious.


Subsections on this page:
Previously-unknown candidates appearing from nowhere
Cory Booker
Kirsten Gillibrand
Amy Klobuchar
Howard Schultz
Robert F. "Beto" O'Rourke
Julia Salazar
Pete Buttigieg
Michael Avenatti
Andrew Gillum
Julián Castro
Cynthia Nixon
Jay Inslee
John Hickenlooper
Andrew Yang
Eric Swalwell
Stacey Abrams
Bill de Blasio
Marianne Williamson
Michael Bloomberg
Tom Steyer
Kanye West
Others / various combinations / everybody / somebody else
Democratic Party debates, June 26 and 27, 2019
Democratic Party debates, July 30 and 31, 2019
Democratic Party debate, Houston, September 12, 2019
CNN's one-sided global warming infomercial, September 4, 2019
CNN's infomercial for homosexuality, October 10, 2019
Democratic Party debate #4, October 15, 2019

Note:
The Editor has neither the time nor the inclination to gather feedback and commentary about any further debates.


Related topics on other pages:
Joe Biden
Kamala Harris
Elizabeth Warren
Bernie Sanders
Michelle Obama
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and the Green New Deal
The Socialist Democratic Party platform
Liberals are out of step with America




Previously-unknown candidates appearing from nowhere

How Does a Straight White Male Democrat Run for President?  Of the nine candidates officially running in the Democratic presidential primary, only one is a heterosexual white man.  And that guy, former Rep. John Delaney, generally polls somewhere between zero and 1 percent.  But of the 17 Democrats reportedly still pondering a presidential bid, all but one is a straight white man.  It's hard to chalk that up to coincidence.  Clearly, the women and minority candidates sensed that the water is warm for them, and the straight white men appear to be worried that this is just not their year.

The Democrats' Nomination Contest Promises Great Fun for Conservatives.  This may be the election cycle where we watch identity politics destroy itself live on stage.  It'll be the greatest show on earth.  With multiple declared candidates, the 2020 election season is now underway.  And there couldn't be more hype for the forthcoming Democratic primaries, which will feature candidates with plenty of flaws trying desperately to prove their woke credentials.

Democratic Presidential Clown Car Update for January 21, 2019.  This week in the clown car update:  Lots climbing in, one getting out.  New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand and California Senator Kamala Harris are both In and Pennsylvania Senator Bob Casey. Jr. is Out.  Plus a few more no-hope longshots considering a run.

2020 Candidate Tulsi Gabbard Once Worked For Anti-LGBT Group, Railed Against 'Homosexual Extremists'.  According to a new report by CNN's Andrew Kaczynski, Rep. Tulsi Gabbard — who just announced her intentions to run for president in 2020 — once touted her work for an anti-LGBT organization and railed against "homosexual extremists."  Gabbard's prior comments are in sharp contrast to her more recent record in support of LGBT rights and seem to stem to work she did with her father.  Gabbard's father, Mike, was an anti-LGBT activist in Hawaii and ran a political action group that promoted traditional marriage.

Two Obscure Dems Enter Presidential Race.  Technically, Elizabeth Warren is "exploring" whether to run for president.  For all intents and purposes, she's running.  Now, she's been joined by Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii and former HUD Secretary Julian Castro.  Gabbard announced her candidacy yesterday; Castro entered the race today [1/12/2019].

The Limits of the Invisible Primary.  Elizabeth Warren launched the 2020 cycle on New Year's Eve when she announced the formation of her presidential exploratory committee.  She'll be traveling to Iowa this coming weekend.  Meanwhile, Kamala Harris is about to embark on a national book tour.  Julian Castro is set to announce his candidacy January 12.  The Atlantic says Washington governor Jay Inslee will run on climate change.  (He's against it.)  John Delaney, Richard Ojeda, and Andrew Yang are already in the mix.  Bernie, Biden, Bloomberg, Beto, Booker, Bennett, Bullock, Gillibrand, Hickenlooper, Schultz, and Klobuchar may soon join them.

Michelle Obama is the Democrat 2020 frontrunner, even if she doesn't want to be.  Sales records for her memoirs confirm that her candidacy would combine the slobbering media and Democrat love affair for her husband with the steroid of Trump Derangement Syndrome.

More about Michelle Obama.

The Democratic Party's Alt-Left.  The Democratic Party has an alt-left problem, and no one at CNN seems to care.  The DSA has been aggressively pushing its members to run as Democrats, and they're winning.  Here are three that embody what's going on:  Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Summer Lee, and Sara Innamorato.  Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is, of course, the poster-girl for the new zeitgeist.  That unclean spirit is the wind of "democratic socialism," which is the rage among the Trump "resistance."  But Ocasio-Cortez isn't the only young woman scoring big in the Democratic Party for the DSA. Two others are here in my backyard of Western Pennsylvania, Summer Lee and Sara Innamorato, who defeated longtime state reps Paul and Dom Costa.  The Costas (they are cousins) were classic Western Pennsylvania Democrats, expected to hold their seats for life, until they were beat soundly in May in the primary by Lee and Innamorato, both of which now run unopposed in the general election and will glide into the state house as elected socialists.  Well, actually, as "democratic socialists" who ran as Democrats.

Democrat Candidate for Governor Is Dead Broke, Owes $77,522 in Credit Card Debt, and Wants to Run Georgia Economy.  Georgia Democrat Stacey Abrams became the first black female candidate to win a major party primary for governor in May.  Stacey Abrams was the guest of honor at the Democrat "Way to Win: 2022 Victory Party" at the party's annual spring conference.  Abrams and fellow Democrats want reparations for blacks and free college for all kids.  It's a socialist's dream.  Stacey wants to run the Georgia economy.  But she is deeply in debt.  Stacey owes $96,512 in student loan debt and $77,522 in credit card debt.

November is coming
November Is Coming.  If you don't show up in November, these will be your new leaders in Congress:  [Illustration]  Impeachment proceedings?  Non-stop subpoenas?  More appeasement of China and Iran?  Marxists in Congress?  Start mobilizing your family, your friends, your colleagues now.  It is our mission to send these Communists packing in November.

Note:  Keith Ellison is running for Attorney General of Minnesota, not for re-election to Congress.


Cory Booker

Cory Booker ends 2020 presidential campaign.  Sen. Cory Booker announced Monday that he will end his campaign after failing to qualify for the Democratic debate planned for Tuesday in Iowa.  "It was a difficult decision to make, but I got in this race to win, and I've always said I wouldn't continue if there was no longer a path to victory," Booker said in an email to supporters Monday [1/13/2020].

Booker Downplays Trump Economy — Americans Don't Measure Their 'Well-Being' Based on GDP, Stock Market.  During Friday's "New Day" on CNN, 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) discussed a new CNN poll that shows the United States economy's highest rating in almost 20 years.  Booker said the economy is "overall good" but Americans are "not measuring their well-being" based on the GDP or stock market.

Booker leads whining about debate qualifications.  The last round of Democratic presidential debates is scheduled for next week and Senator Cory Booker isn't happy about it.  More specifically, he's upset that he won't be invited to attend under the current DNC rules.  Of course, he's hardly alone in that boat.  We still have well over a dozen contenders but only seven of them have qualified.  As a result, Booker is circulating a petition asking the DNC to relax the rules, and surprisingly, some of his leading competitors have already signed on.

Cory Booker's statement on Jersey City slaughter doesn't mention Jews or antisemitism.  New Jersey Senator Cory Booker delivered a slap in the face of Jews everywhere with his statement on the horrific attack on his constituents in Jersey City targeted because they were Jews.  Not a word about Jews or Jew-hatred, or the spread of violence directed against Jews.  Nothing!  Booker is traveling the same road as his buddy Barack Obama, who could only bring himself to condemn "zealots who behead people or randomly shoot a bunch of folks in a deli in Paris," on the parallel targeted slaughter of Jews in Paris at a kosher supermarket.  They were not "randomly" targeted, and to pretend that Jew-hatred was not the motive is dishonest and dangerous.  Booker is equally irresponsible, using only the word "residents" to describe the victims.  At least he didn't call the slaughter random, but he gave no reason behind it, calling it merely "senseless," as if there were no motive behind it.

What's the difference between this and bigotry?
Cory Booker laments potentially all-white Democratic debate stage.  Sen. Cory A. Booker of New Jersey on Tuesday [12/3/2019] said he's "a little angry" that a supposedly diverse Democratic presidential field will now be without Sen. Kamala D. Harris of California and that the next debate stage could feature no minority candidates.  "Today, I'm a little angry, I have to say, that we started with one of the most diverse fields in our history, giving people pride," Mr. Booker said on MSNBC Tuesday evening.  "And it's a [...] shame now that the only African-American woman in this race ... is now no longer in it, and we're spiraling towards a debate stage ... that could have six people with no diversity whatsoever."

Democrats Disturbed by the White 2020 Candidates Left in Field.  Sen. Kamala Harris's (D-CA) dramatic exit from the 2020 Democrat presidential primary race has many on the left lamenting the current lineup for the upcoming debate, which currently has six candidates qualifying, all of whom are white.  Harris exited the race on Tuesday as one of the seven Democrat candidates who met the fundraising and polling thresholds required to qualify for the December 19 debate in Los Angeles at Loyola Marymount University.

Cory's complaint.  Cory Booker moans that the Democrats are "spiraling towards a debate stage that could have six people with no diversity whatsoever."  This statement is flatly false.  The six Dems who have locked up places on the debate stage are Elizabeth Warren, Amy Klobuchar, Pete Buttigieg, Bernie Sanders, Joe Biden, and Tom Steyer.  On this list are two women, a gay male, and a Jew.  Clearly, it is a diverse group. [...] What Booker means is that there may be no black and Latino candidates on the debate stage.  Kamala Harris would have been, but she dropped out of the race.  Whose fault is that?

Cory Booker Bets $100 Billion on Historically Black Colleges and Universities.  Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey on Tuesday proposed investing $100 billion in historically black colleges and universities and other minority-serving institutions, a broad proposal in a Democratic field that has offered varying plans to prop up this longstanding yet struggling arm of the educational system.

Super PAC backing Cory Booker's presidential bid shuts down.  A super PAC formed to support Cory Booker's Democratic presidential campaign is shutting down.  The group's founder, San Francisco lawyer Steve Phillips, indicated in a news release Wednesday that Dream United had struggled to raise money.  Booker, a New Jersey senator, has publicly disavowed support from super PACs, which aren't required to disclose their donors publicly.

2020 Democrat Hopeful Elizabeth Warren Speaks to Nearly Empty Hall at Environmental Justice Forum.  The Democrat Senator from Massachusetts last week claimed she will give 'Medicare for all' — including illegal aliens... without raising taxes.  Sure.  Warren was also just endorsed by a radical black liberation feminist group.  Pocahontas is out of touch with the average American.  Democrat Cory Booker was also at the forum and spoke to an empty hall.  Awkward.

Cory Booker: 'Climate Change Must be the Lens Through Which We View Everything'.  "Climate change must be the lens through which we view everything — it's the existential crisis of our lifetime and the only way we're going to deal with this threat is if the United States leads," Booker said in his Tweet.

The Editor says...
I've heard some alarmist claims about global warming in the last 20 years, but "the existential crisis of our lifetime" is a bit much.

East Coast Elitist Cory Booker Says He Will Create Office to Combat White Supremacy if Elected President.  East Coast elitist Cory Booker says he will create a White House office to combat white supremacy if elected president.  Spartacus Booker is going for the guilty white liberal vote.

Cory Booker has missed more votes than any of the Democratic presidential candidates.  U.S. Sen. Cory Booker has missed more congressional votes than any other lawmaker running for president in 2020.  The New Jersey Democrat missed 45 percent of the votes brought before the Senate in the 116th Congress, which began Jan. 3, according to an analysis by NJ Advance Media of data from govtrack.us.  Fellow Sen. Kamala Harris of California was second with an absentee rate of 44 percent, missing one fewer vote than Booker.

Cory Booker Thinks Trump Won Because Russia Suppressed the Black Vote in Michigan.  Senator Cory Booker provided one of the more irrational conspiracy theories about the 2016 election, claiming Trump won because Russians suppressed the black vote in Michigan.  Booker (D-Sparta) made the bizarre comments during the Democratic debate Wednesday night in Detroit.  "Look this is one of those times when we are not staring at the truth and calling it out.  And this is a case for the Democratic Party:  The truth will set us free," Booker said as he launched into a provable lie.  "We lost the state of Michigan because everybody from Republicans to Russians were targeting the suppression of African American voters," Booker spouted.

Four Pinocchios for Cory Booker.  The claim in dispute had to do yet again with the 2016 elections.  As I'm sure you all recall, Donald Trump managed to pull off what most considered a rather shocking win by carrying the state of Michigan by roughly ten thousand votes.  Booker had an explanation for that.  It was the Republicans suppressing voter turnout and the Russians doing whatever the Russians supposedly do to help Donald Trump.  Generally, when a Democrat tosses out something dodgy, most of the media fact-checkers tend to give them a pass because they're too busy vetting the President's Twitter feed.  But this time the WaPo actually stepped up to the plate and put that claim to the test.  It didn't go well for Booker.

Why the Left So Despises Donald Trump.  Cory Booker, struggling to get to one percent in the polls, began his campaign by telling Iowans that fighting climate change was like the D-Day landings to liberate western Europe, and has moved on to the assertion that Mr. Trump is worse than George Wallace.  Wallace, some of us remember, said "segregation today, segregation tomorrow, and segregation forever!"

Cory Booker's brother opened a school so bad it got shut down.  N.J. just gave him a $150K education job.  After working as a policy consultant on [New Jersey Gov. Phil] Murphy's campaign in 2017, Cary Booker became the administration's senior education adviser in 2018, earning $120,000.  This June, six days before Murphy stumped for Cory Booker's presidential campaign in Iowa, the Democratic governor's administration awarded Cary Booker a new $150,000 position leading the state's Division of Early Childhood Education, which focuses on birth to third grade.  Yet Cary Booker has never worked in preschools in any capacity, and his primary experience with young elementary school students was at Omni Prep, according to a resume obtained through an open records request.  His tenure as an administrator at the small charter school should raise questions about how qualified he is to lead a department shaping pre-K and early elementary education for an entire state, former employees said.

Booker Moves Further Left On Gun Control But Forgets This Important Tidbit.  Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) decided to move further left on gun control than his debate stage colleagues.  Most of his colleagues focused on the typical gun control pushes: an assault weapons ban and a call for universal background checks.  "This is something that I'm tired of and I'm tired of hearing people all they have to offer is 'thoughts and prayers.'  In my faith, people say, 'faith without works' is dead," Booker said.  "So we will find a way.  The reason we have a problem is we've let the corporate gun lobby frame this debate.  It is time that we have bold actions and a bold agenda.  I will get that done as President of the United States because this not about policy.  This is personal."

Cory Booker:  We Need to Talk More About Transgender Americans.  Sen. Cory Booker argued during the Democrat presidential debate on Wednesday [6/26/2019] that Americans need to talk more about transgender people.  "We do not talk enough about trans-Americans, especially African American trans-Americans, and even incredibly high rates of murder right now," he said.  He compared the transgender rights struggles to the civil rights of black Americans, recalling a time when they were lynched in America.

Cory Booker Will Establish White House Office Dedicated to Promoting Abortions.  Democratic presidential candidate Cory Booker tried to win votes from abortion activists Tuesday by proposing a new White House office dedicated to promoting aborting unborn babies.  Booker, a U.S. senator from New Jersey, is one of more than two dozen Democrats hoping to defeat President Donald Trump in 2020.  Banking on abortion activists' outrage about new pro-life laws in Georgia and Alabama, Booker introduced his plan for defending abortion if elected president. [...]

The Question that Americans Should Be Asking their Acting Representatives:  Where Did You Get that Authority?  Recently, Communist and representative of special interest groups Cory Booker said Americans should be 'thrown in jail' if they won't give up their guns.  Wow, that is a pretty strong statement to make especially when Cory has armed security details protecting himself from the people that he is to serve.

Booker Receives Three Pinocchios for Claiming Toy Guns are More Regulated Than Firearms.  The Washington Post's fact-checker awarded Democrat presidential candidate Sen. Cory Booker (D., N.J.) three Pinocchios for his false claim that in the United States there is "more federal regulation over toy guns than real ones."  Polling in the low single digits in the Democrat presidential primary, Booker last week rolled out a 14 point policy proposal to combat gun violence which the New York Times described as one of the "the most progressive gun-control measures suggested by a candidate seeking the Democratic nomination for president."

Cory Booker Proposes National Gun-Licensing Program.  Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ), who recently promised to "bring a fight to the NRA like they have never ever seen before," on Monday morning introduced a sweeping gun-violence prevention plan that centers around a national gun-licensing program, the most comprehensive and far-reaching of any candidate in the Democratic presidential field.  "My plan to address gun violence is simple — we will make it harder for people who should not have a gun to get one," Booker said in a statement, pledging to take executive action on the first day of his desired presidency.

Democratic Candidates Say Obama is the Reason the Economy is So Good.  Democratic Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Cory Booker both argued during Sunday [5/5/2019] interviews that former President Barack Obama deserves the credit for a good economy under President Donald Trump.  The U.S. Labor Department announced Wednesday that the unemployment rate had hit 3.6%, the lowest rate since 1969.  The report did note that 490,000 people left the workforce, but the gain was due in part to an increase in hiring in professional and business services, along with construction and healthcare jobs.

The Editor says...
In a roundabout way, they're right:  The economy looks so good in comparison to the economy under the thumb of Barack H. Obama.  Remember, Barack H. Obama gave George W. Bush all the blame and none of the credit for all the economic news during all eight of the Obama years.  Now he wants all the credit and none of the blame.

Larry Kudlow fires back at Cory Booker's claim Obama deserves credit for economic recovery.  National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow denounced Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., Sunday [5/5/2019] after the 2020 White House candidate said President Trump was "taking credit for a recovery that started under [former President Barack] Obama."  "What Mr. Booker and some others are saying is simply not true factually," Kudlow told Fox News' "America's News HQ".  Kudlow spoke two days after the publication of the April jobs report, which showed that the American economy added 263,000 jobs last month while the unemployment rate fell to 3.6 percent, the lowest since 1969.  Despite the rosy numbers, Booker insisted that the boom's effects were not being felt across all economic levels.

The Editor says...
If the effects of good economic news are not realized in every neighborhood, that doesn't prove unfairness, and it certainly doesn't prove that Obama deserves the credit.  The only reason the economy is booming is Obama is no longer the President!

Data Undermine Booker Claim of Newark Rebound.  Presidential contender Cory Booker (D.) claimed in a Tuesday [4/23/2019] interview with the Carroll Times Herald that he can bring the same revitalization to rural America that he did to Newark, N.J.  But if Booker wants to do to rural America what he did to Newark, then rural America needs to watch out.  Data show that the New Jersey metropolis where Booker was a city council member (1998-2002) and mayor (2006-2013) continued to struggle during and after his time in government.

Should Cory Booker Pay Slavery Reparations to Himself?  Senator Cory Booker has promised to introduce a bill to study a proposal for slavery reparations.  The bill will be a companion to a bill by Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee who had once declared on the House floor, "I stand here as a freed slave." Since Sheila also believed that there are two Vietnams, that the Constitution is 400 years old, and that Neil Armstrong planted a flag on Mars, that may have been metaphor or the addled understanding of a woman who confused Wikileaks and Wikipedia.  Booker, who claims to care about the victims of sexual violence, might have been dissuaded from backing a bill introduced by a politician who was recently forced to resign from chairing the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation after firing a woman who was raped by one of her subordinates.  But Senator Booker has never found a principle that he wouldn't passionately embrace and betray.

Booker announces legislation to pave path for slavery reparations.  Sen. Cory Booker announced a bill Monday [4/8/2019] to form a commission to recommend reparations for slavery, taking the reins of one of the most intriguing and controversial agenda items from the 2020 campaign.  Mr. Booker becomes the highest-profile lawmaker to sign onto reparations legislation, saying it could solve persistent racism and discrimination that have been built into the system for decades, leading to disparate outcomes for all black Americans.  "This bill is a way of addressing head-on the persistence of racism, white supremacy, and implicit racial bias in our country," he said.

Cory Booker goes nuclear.  In a break with his Democratic opponents and the leftists dominating the debate in the House, Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey is an unapologetic supporter of using nuclear energy to displace carbon fuels. [...] His pro-nuclear power stance runs contrary to other 2020 Democratic presidential candidates who are skeptical of nuclear energy.

Cory Booker blames flooding in the Midwest on lack of empathy.  Senator Cory Booker got his sanctimonious platitudes mixed up yesterday [3/18/2019] in an on-air interview with Chris Matthews on MSNBC.  The topic was "hate" and the unspoken target beyond obvious, so perhaps secure in the knowledge that there would no probing challenges coming his way from MSDNC, he put his brain on auto-pilot as he activated the synapses, leading to his store of vaguely profound-sounding empty banalities.

Sen. Cory Booker Vows That as Commander in Chief He Will Put Transgenders in the Military.  Sen. Cory Booker vowed on Sunday [3/17/2019] that if he is elected president he will put transgenders into the United States military.  Booker was speaking at an event in Davenport, Iowa, and was asked by an individual in the crowd about "LGBTQ rights."

Sen. Cory Booker Plans for Government to Give $46,215 to All 18-Year-Olds in 'Lowest Income Bracket'.  Sen. Cory Booker (D.-N.J.) is proposing a plan — the American Opportunity Accounts Act — that he calculates will provide $46,215 to every 18-year-old in the lowest income bracket by giving them annual subsidies in a federally managed savings account.  Booker cited his plan in a Tweet he sent out this morning [2/20/2019].  "We must close the wealth gap that's undermining equal opportunity in our country," Booker said in his Tweet.  "My baby bonds will help level the playing field by creating a savings account for every U.S. child — to invest in themselves through things like paying for higher education."

Cory Booker Says The Earth 'Can't Sustain' People Eating Meat.  On Tuesday, Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) had a pointed response to Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ), who is a vegetarian and was quoted saying that the earth "can't sustain" people eating meat. [...] Booker co-introduced the Green New Deal, which had its own problems with cows.  He stated: ["]Climate change is a pressing and serious environmental and economic crisis that threatens the way of life for our kids and grandkids.  This challenge must be met with a commitment from the federal government that is commensurate with the level of commitment we saw in this country during the original New Deal.  And that's exactly the type of determination this proposal brings.  Communities of color, low income communities, indigenous communities and our family farmers are on the front lines of climate change, and I'm particularly encouraged that this blueprint addresses climate change in a way that promotes both economic and environmental justice."

Spartacus Compares Bovine Flatulence Regulation to Defeat of Nazis and Moon Landing.  Cory "Spartacus" Booker rallies his presidential coalition to advocate for the Green New Deal by comparing bovine flatulence regulation to the U.S. moon landing and defeat of World War II Nazism.  The over-their-head irony is that "Nazism" is technically national socialism; which is exactly the current point of political advocacy within the Spartacus coalition.

Cory Booker makes himself look the fool, again.  Sen. Cory Booker made himself look the fool yet again this week while questioning judicial nominee Neomi Rao.  At Tuesday's [2/5/2019] confirmation hearing, the Jersey Democrat senator went after Rao with the clear suspicion that she's some kind of religious bigot, asking first:  "Have you ever had an LGBTQ law clerk?"  Her reply exposed Booker's total lack of preparation:  "I have not been a judge, so I don't have any law clerks."  He fell back to asking if anyone now working for her is LGBTQ — and she humiliated him again:  "To be honest, I don't know the sexual orientation of my staff.  I take people as they come, irrespective of their race, ethnicity, sexual orientation."

Vacuous Gasbag Joins the 2020 Clown Car.  Just what we need.  Yesterday Spartacus Booker declared that he is a candidate for President.  Unlike vapid lightweights Kamala Harris, Elizabeth Warren, and Kirsten Gillibrand, this preening, vacuous gasbag actually has executive experience.  He served as the Mayor of the Murder Capital of New Jersey.

Democratic Senator Cory Booker declares bid for presidency.  New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, the former mayor of Newark, on Friday [2/1/2019] said he will seek the Democratic nomination for president with a sweeping call to unite the nation around a "common purpose."  The 49-year-old Democrat, the second black candidate in a primary field that's already historically diverse, made his announcement in an email and video on the first day of Black History Month.

Booker calls for legalizing marijuana as he launches 2020 bid.  Democratic Sen. Cory Booker (N.J.) is calling for the legalization of marijuana as part of his 2020 presidential campaign.  Booker discussed criminal justice reform and the need for "changing our drug laws," including "ending [the] prohibition against marijuana" on the radio-syndicated "Tom Joyner Morning Show" on Friday [2/1/2019].


Kamala Harris

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


Kirsten Gillibrand

NY Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand drops out of 2020 presidential race.  New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand is dropping out of the 2020 presidential race.  The 52-year-old Democrat announced her decision in a tweet Wednesday as her campaign, which once looked to ride strong #MeToo credentials, was plagued by low polling and fundraising struggles.

Kirsten Gillibrand Unveils $10 Trillion Climate Change Plan.  Democrat presidential hopeful Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) announced Friday [sic] a climate change plan that would cost taxpayers an estimated $10 trillion if she is elected.  As part of her proposal, named the "Climate Change Moonshot Plan," Kirsten Gillibrand aims to achieve net-zero carbon and greenhouse emissions by the year 2050, phase out fossil fuels, and "hold polluters accountable."

Kirsten Gillibrand Wants Ten Trillion of Your Dollars to Fight Climate Change Or Whatever.  Such a bargain!  Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) is going to save the world, and it's only going to cost $10 trillion dollars.  That's a one followed by 13 zeros, if you're keeping score at home.  Politico reports that Gillibrand's plan "relies on on several policy levers:  government procurement, stronger regulations, pollution fees and research and development spending."  I'm sure this is just a coincidence, but that much additional government intrusion into [almost] everything also creates new avenues for corruption and graft.  And as we've seen in similar efforts in Europe, not always the promised reductions in carbon emissions.

Gillibrand releases $10 trillion climate change plan.  Presidential hopeful Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) on Thursday released a $10 trillion climate change plan.  The wide-ranging "Climate Change Moonshot Plan" plan aims to achieve net-zero carbon emissions, "hold polluters accountable" and phase out fossil fuels, among other goals.  Gillibrand said in a Medium post that she intended to mobilize $10 trillion in public and private funds over the next decade to achieve her goals.

The Editor says...
Any time you hear a politician talk about "net-zero carbon emissions," you are listening to deception in the making.  First of all, carbon dioxide is not carbon.  Second, carbon dioxide is not a pollutant.  Third, the "net zero" part means you will have to pay a "carbon [dioxide!] tax" for the privilege of using an internal combustion engine.  The $10 trillion required by her plan will come from your pocket and go to the federal government, where it will be redistributed to those who are unwilling to work, so they will forever vote for the Socialist Democrats.

Gillibrand: Pro-Lifers Are Ineligible To Be Judges.  [Video clip]

Gillibrand's run is going nowhere fast.  Kirsten Gillibrand should give up the chase.  Her presidential bid is going nowhere.  Put it this way:  If I had told you in January, when Gillibrand officially announced she was running for the Democratic nomination, that polls in June would show her trailing someone named Andrew Yang, I imagine you'd have been flabbergasted. [...] In a Quinnipiac poll released last week, Yang had one percent of the vote while Gillibrand had ... zero percent.

Why Gillibrand Is the Most Vapid Clown in the Car.  Gillibrand was a Clinton neophyte and sycophant.  She traveled with them, campaigned for them, and they for her.  They raised money for her.  Despite everyone knowing about Bill Clinton's history with Paula Jones, Kathleen Willey, Juanita Broaddrick, and Monica Lewinsky — among others — Gillibrand was only too eager to associate closely with Bill.  And it paid off.  When Hillary was named by Obama as Secretary of State, she had to give up her Senate seat.  Gillibrand, an Utter Unknown in a field of possibilities that included Andrew Cuomo and Caroline Kennedy, nevertheless was named by New York Governor David Paterson to that vacated Clinton seat.  She has been running for President ever since.

Gillibrand Works Gay Bar to Celebrate Pride.  New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand is making sure everyone knows how seriously she takes LGBT pride month and did so by working a gay bar in Des Moines, Iowa to show her support.  The Democrat presidential hopeful worked The Blazing Saddle Friday [6/7/2019], mixing and serving drinks and wearing a rainbow shirt reading, "Love Is Brave."

Shameless Kirsten Gillibrand embarrasses herself pandering at an Iowa gay bar.  Unfortunately for the junior senator from New York, it takes more brains than she possesses to pull off unprincipled political pandering.  Over the course of her political career, Kirsten Gillibrand has demonstrated a willingness to embrace any policy or group that she thinks will work to her advantage.

Kirsten Gillibrand Trashed The NRA, Then They Produced A Letter From Her And Things Got Awkward.  Kirsten Gillibrand has currently earned the votes of her immediate family (we think) and sits at 0% in all the latest polling.  It doesn't appear she's even going to make the cutoff for the first Democrat primary debate.  To say her campaign has fallen flat is a bit of an understatement but that hasn't stopped her from continuing to fight the good fight.  After relentlessly trashing Fox News previously, she decided to do a town hall on the network and let's just say that it didn't go well.  She's basically Hillary Clinton but even more inauthentic.  Figure that one out.

Gillibrand Rips Fox News' Abortion Coverage During Network's Town Hall.  Democratic New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand ripped Fox News for its abortion coverage, while appearing on the network for a town hall Sunday night [6/2/2019].  The 2020 presidential candidate pointed to Fox News' coverage of the issue leading up to President Donald Trump's State of the Union speech in which he chided Gillibrand's home state of New York for passing a bill that effectively legalizes abortion up until birth.  He also criticized Democratic Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam for comments he made that appeared to justify abortion right up until the point of birth.

Hypocrite Alert:  Gillibrand Admits She Never Truly Believed In The 2A.  Sen Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) recently came out with a proposal to "end gun violence."  In her plan, she called for the typical points ant-gunners love to cling to.  She wants to establish universal background checks; create a federal law against trafficking guns; reestablish an assault weapons ban; ban bump stocks (hello, that's already been done) and "large-capacity" magazines.

Gillibrand wrote her thesis on Chinese oppression in Tibet but has been silent about it in Congress.  U.S. Ambassador to China Terry Branstad is scheduled to make a rare visit to Tibet this week to raise concerns about Chinese restrictions on Buddhist practices and to advocate for the preservation of Tibetan culture.  If he wanted, he could seek knowledge and advice from a surprising source:  Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, who wrote her college thesis on Tibet, but has been strangely quiet about the issue while in Congress.  Gillibrand is proficient in Mandarin and interviewed the Dalai Lama, Tibet's exiled spiritual leader, as part of her 1988 senior thesis at Dartmouth College on the history of Tibetan resistance to Chinese occupation.  The New York senator was an Asian Studies major at Dartmouth and studied abroad in China and Taiwan.

Gillibrand says Roe faces doom with Kavanaugh on SCOTUS.  Presidential hopeful Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., warned Wednesday that "radical" Supreme Court Justices like Brett Kavanaugh put abortion rights in grave danger.  "We used to believe in precedent in this country," Gillibrand said during an appearance on MSNBC.  "But under President Trump, he's trying to upend the entire court system."  Gillibrand was reacting to news that broke late Tuesday [5/14/2019] that the Alabama Senate had passed a measure virtually outlawing all abortions within state lines — including in instances of rape or incest.

Kirsten Gillibrand on being underestimated for 2020 Democratic nod: 'I think it's just gender bias'.  Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., said Saturday she feels like she's being underestimated in the race for the Democratic nomination for president, who will likely go up against President Trump in 2020.  Gillibrand is one of nearly two dozen major candidates who have declared their intention to run for president.  She spoke about her campaign during her trip to New Hampshire.  "I think it's just gender bias.  I think people are generally biased against women.  I think also biased against young women," she said in an interview, according to CNN.  "There's just bias and it's real and it exists, but you have to overcome it."

'Democracy Dollars': Gillibrand's plan to give every voter $600 to donate to campaigns.  Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., unveiled a plan on Wednesday [5/1/2019] to give every voter up to $600 in what she calls "Democracy Dollars" that they can donate to federal candidates for office.

A Reckoning Is in Store for Democrats.  Kirsten Gillibrand, who has done and said absolutely nothing to merit consideration as president, has launched and sunk down the slipways and beneath the waves — her candidacy has attracted zero support.  Most of the other candidates are equally unprepossessing.

Being 'Not-Trump' is not enough.  [Scroll down]  Gillibrand, meanwhile, has stirred herself up into a warlike anti-Trumpism. 'Will you be brave,' she shouted in a recent speech, 'Will you do what it takes to defeat President Trump... Will you fight like your life depends on it, because the truth is it does.'  By the end you're is unsure if she is asking people to vote for her or to stockpile ammunition.

Gillibrand: 'I Support Getting Rid of the Electoral College'.  Friday, 2020 Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) voiced her support of eliminating the Electoral College, something many Democrats have supported since President Donald Trump defeated Hillary Clinton in 2016.

What If You Launch a Presidential Campaign and No One Shows Up?  Starting your rally in a place where Hillary Clinton won 80% of the vote isn't brave.  It's cowardly.  Gillibrand would have shown more courage by going back to her old district where Hillary only won 54% of the vote.  But instead her campaign threw up a giant American flag and then brought out two illegal aliens.  "Our next president will lead with bravery.  Our next president with be Kirsten Gillibrand," declared Monica Sibri, an illegal alien who won't be able to vote for Gillibrand.  It was a balmy spring day in the Big Apple with sunshine and a high of 60.  The NYPD, out in force, had roped off blocks to accommodate the crowds of the brave expected to turn out on Trump's doorstep.  The actual audience barely filled half a block according to photojournalist Pamela Hall.  The Washington Times estimated that the turnout amounted to 1,000 people.

A Brief Survey of 2020's Psychotic Democratic Roster.  [Scroll down]  Then there is the thoroughly insubstantial Kirsten Gillibrand, who has never held a position longer than politically convenient.  Now she is so pro-illegal immigration that she even wants to reward illegal aliens' law-breaking with Social Security.  This woman's character is as ephemeral as a puff of smoke.  She also sounds like a little girl who never developed an adult voice, rather like Ocasio-Cortez.

Gillibrand's laughable 'be brave' talk exposes the hollowness of her entire candidacy.  Most successful politicians, like most lizards, are masters of camouflage — adjusting their, ahem, principles to fit new opportunities, all the while hoping nobody's paying attention.  But here's where Gillibrand is different:  She's rubbing America's nose in her hypocrisy, and doesn't seem to care who notices.

Whatta Bunch of Phony Baloneys.  [Scroll down]  In many ways, Kirsten Gillibrand is the worst power-hungry phony of them all.  She changes her beliefs every ten minutes, as soon as the Left adopts a new position antithetical to hers.  As Women's March arose in 2017, she muscled in to be photographed with Jew-haters Linda Sarsour and Tamika Mallory, praising them to the heavens.  As #MeToo arose, she emerged to play a lead role in shaming Al Franken into resigning from the Senate, Gillibrand self-righteously also attacked the Clintons, saying that Bill should have resigned during the Monica Lewinsky mess.  Yet, for two decades after Lewinsky Gillibrand continued allying tightly with the Clintons.  She boasted that Bill had campaigned for her in 2006, and she got Bill to keynote a fundraiser for her in 2009.  Only after Hillary lost in 2016 did Gillibrand suddenly step on them to stand higher.  Meanwhile, amid her #MeToo posturing and moralizing, Gillibrand protected a male staffer in her own office, her personal chauffeur and Guy Friday, even as women in her office complained bitterly that he engaged in ongoing misogyny, rape jokes, and sexual innuendos.  Only after the full extended story broke in Politico did this phony finally fire the creep.

2020 contender Kirsten Gillibrand backs third gender classification at federal level.  New York Democratic Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, a 2020 candidate, endorsed federal implementation of a third gender listing for Americans who identify as non-binary.  Speaking at an LGBTQ-focused meet and greet in New Hampshire on Friday [2/15/2019], Gillibrand emphatically said "yes" about recognizing "X" as a third gender marker.  Palana Belken, a transgender woman and organizer for the American Civil Liberties Union of New Hampshire, asked Gillibrand the question and applauded her quick answer.  According to the Human Rights Campaign, the largest LGBTQ civil rights organization in the U.S., non-binary is an "adjective describing a person who does not identify exclusively as a man or a woman."

The Editor says...
"Insane" is not a gender.  If you "identify" as the opposite sex, that doesn't change your chromosomes.

Kirsten Gillibrand Gets Awkward While Preaching At Church.  Presidential hopeful Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) got awkward last week while preaching at Al Sharpton's National Action Network's King Day Public Policy Forum on Martin Luther King Jr.  Day.  "We will wear the belt of truth because we know the truth," Gillibrand yelled to the crowd while making awkward gestures.  "We speak truth to power.  We will put on the bright breastplate of righteousness because we know right from wrong."  "And we will not forget it," Gillibrand continued.  "We will hold that shield of faith, as Dr. King said, faith is taking the first step, even when you don't see the whole staircase.  So hold on to that faith tightly."

The Editor says...
Ordinarily the separation of church and state people get very upset when Republicans deliver campaign speeches in churches, but when Democrats do it, that's okay.


Amy Klobuchar

Amy Klobuchar Says Its 'Offensive' for Republicans to Criticize Biden's SCOTUS Pick as 'Far-Left'.  Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota said Sunday that she finds it "offensive" for Republicans to call President Joe Biden's Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson "far-left."  After "Fox News Sunday" guest host Harris Faulkner pointed out that some Republicans have taken issue with the Supreme Court pick for being "far-left," noting attorney Jonathan Turley saying recently that "this is a political deliverable, a good one for President Biden" because the other potential nominees were not as far-left, Klobuchar said the ideological term is "offensive" to her.

Amy Klobuchar Bails Out.  Senator Amy Klobuchar has suspended her campaign for President ahead of tomorrows big super-[T]uesday vote.  The timing tells a story here.  Quitting the race today means Klobuchar's internal polling showed she was going to lose her home state of Minnesota tomorrow to Bernie Sanders.  It's likely Bernie Sanders is going to crush Klobuchar and the rest of the field in Minnesota.  Quitting today allows Klobuchar to avoid the embarrassment of a big defeat.

Amy Klobuchar Ends Presidential Campaign, Will Support Biden.  Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) announced Monday [3/2/2020] that she will suspend her presidential campaign and fly to Dallas to endorse former Vice President Joe Biden.  Klobuchar is set to appear at Biden's rally Monday night, just hours before voters in 14 different states head to the polls on Super Tuesday.

Klobuchar dropping out of 2020 race and endorsing Biden.  Senator Amy Klobuchar is suspending her presidential campaign and plans to endorse former Vice President Joe Biden at a rally in Dallas on Monday night [3/2/2020], a campaign spokesman said, just hours before voters in 14 states go to the polls on Super Tuesday.  While the Minnesota Democrat often boasted about kicking off her campaign in the middle of a blizzard, the end of her run was marked by a storm of frustrations and stalled momentum.  Aides and allies told CBS News they took solace in the fact that her campaign performed better and lasted longer than many had initially expected.

Amy Klobuchar quits presidential race and endorses Joe Biden, and so does Pete Buttigieg.  Amy Klobuchar will suspend her campaign and endorse Joe Biden Monday night in Dallas, Texas, her campaign confirmed to DailyMail.com.  Pete Buttigieg, who dropped out of the race Sunday night [3/1/2020], will also endorse Biden, Reuters reported minutes after Klobuchar pulled the plug on her campaign.  Klobuchar, a senator from Minnesota, had momentum coming out of the New Hampshire primary, but couldn't repeat the result in the more diverse states of Nevada and South Carolina who held contests the last two Saturdays.

Klobuchar congratulates herself for 'exceeding expectations' as early Nevada results show her in distant 5th.  Sen. Amy Klobuchar's (D-Minn.) 2020 momentum may be sputtering, but she doesn't seem to notice.  While the Democratic presidential candidate turned out a surprising third place finish in New Hampshire's Democratic primary earlier this month, that luck hasn't seemed to extend to Nevada's caucuses.  Still, Klobuchar delivered a self-congratulatory speech on Saturday where she praised her team for having "exceeded expectations," despite early results showing her in a distant fifth place.

NBC's Chuck Todd Was Amy Klobuchar's Landlord In Arlington.  NBC's Chuck Todd, who moderated Wednesday night's Las Vegas debate, was Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar's landlord in Arlington, Virginia, according to six sources who spoke to Page Six.  Klobuchar, with her husband attorney John Bessler, rented a three-bedroom house owned by Todd.  Page Six reports Klobuchar and her husband began renting the Virginia real estate in 2008 but are no longer living there as a second residence.  It is unknown when the couple relocated.

Union workers once opposed Klobuchar endorsement over 'hostile' treatment of staff.  When then-Hennepin County Attorney Amy Klobuchar was running for the U.S. Senate in Minnesota in 2006, members of the local public employees' union that represented the lawyers on her staff wrote to their state union headquarters asking it to withhold its endorsement from the Democrat.  On behalf of AFSCME Local 2938, chapter President James Appleby penned a letter to the AFSCME state headquarters in South St.  Paul, Minn. making the case that Klobuchar was "wholly undeserving of AFSCME's endorsement."  The document, obtained by Fox News but previously reported by HuffPost, takes on new relevance as Klobuchar seeks the Democratic nomination for president and the primary campaign moves to union-heavy Nevada.

'Order at the border': Klobuchar demands illegal immigrants learn English in 2006 clip.  2020 presidential candidate Amy Klobuchar once called for the United States to restore "order at the border" by building a fence and cracking down on companies who hire illegal immigrants, according to a recently unearthed 2006 video.  "I do believe that we need more resources at the border, and that includes a fence," Klobuchar said during a 2006 debate.  "We have people waiting to come in legally, thousands of people waiting to come in legally to this country, and we have people coming in illegally — that's not right."

Sen. Klobuchar says English should not be US national language; reverses 2007 stand.  Sen. Amy Klobuchar has reversed her position on English being the official language of the U.S. The Minnesota Democrat and Democratic presidential hopeful announced that she now holds a "strong position against" the English-language amendment which she voted in favor of back in 2007. [...] Her remarks come a week ahead of the nation's third nominating contest in the 2020 Democratic Party presidential primaries set to take place in a state with a large Latino population.

Amy Klobuchar, Tom Steyer couldn't name Mexican president in interview.  Democratic presidential candidates Amy Klobuchar and Tom Steyer couldn't name the Mexican president when asked for it during a televised interview in Nevada Thursday [2/13/2020].  The two, along with Pete Buttigieg, were separately interviewed by Spanish-language station Telemundo after a candidate forum hosted by the League of United Latin American Citizens.

Democratic Party presidential candidate are unqualified... and weird.  [Scroll down]  The candidates are just plain weird.  For example, Senator Amy Klobuchar, in discussing the need for rehabilitation of drug addicts, said her father, now age 91 in a nursing home, was an alcoholic who had three DUIs and was told after his third DUI that he could go to rehab or to jail.  This is nice.  The poor guy is in a nursing home, and his daughter used his story to get some applause.  Even the audience, composed of the rabid Democratic base, was silent.  Klobuchar has no shame.  This was elder abuse.

Democrat Candidates Use Creative Accounting to Boost Financial Reports.  Democrats running for the 2020 presidential nomination are using some creative bookkeeping to appear more lucrative on paper than may really be the case.  Sen. Amy Klobuchar's (D-MN) Federal Election Commission filings, for example, showed she spent an average of about $55,000 a day on her campaign through June but spent $624,000 on the first day of April, including $300,000 to one vendor.

Keywords:  Shell game, subterfuge, cooking the books.
2020 Candidates Delayed Paying Staff to Look Richer on Paper.  For months, Sen. Amy Klobuchar's (D-MN) presidential campaign made regular payments to its staff and vendors, with varying daily expenditures that never exceeded $335,000.  But on April 1, 2019, the campaign's spending exploded.  Whereas Klobuchar's campaign spent an average of about $55,000 per day through the end of June, according to FEC filings, it dropped a whopping $624,000 on the first day of April, including a $300,000 payment to the campaign's digital vendor.  That massive uptick in expenses was likely due to the fact that April 1 marked the beginning of the new fundraising quarter.  By putting off the payments until then, Klobuchar was able to put the best possible spin on her presidential campaign's financial position during the previous three months.

Dem Candidates Crave Catastrophic Carter.  Democrats seeking the White House are turning to Georgia Democrat Jimmy Carter, who occupied the residence from 1976 to 1980.  Presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg was born two years after Carter lost to Ronald Reagan, but pronounced the one-term Democrat "an extraordinary person."  For Cory Booker, 50, Jimmy Carter was a "guiding light and inspiration" but the most outspoken candidate was Minnesota Democrat Amy Klobuchar.  "Jimmy Carter is a decent, well-meaning person, someone who people are talking about again given the time that we are in," explained Klobuchar, who was 16 when Carter was elected.

Comey And Wife Donate To Klobuchar's Campaign.  Former FBI Director James Comey and his wife separately donated $2,700 to Democratic Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar's presidential campaign, according to Rolling Stone.  The contributions near the $2,800 maximum donation permitted during the primary.

Cringe-worthy moment Senator Amy Klobuchar tells the crowd they're 'supposed to cheer' her as she touts her achievements at Democrat town hall.  The awkward moment came when the Democratic senator from Minnesota was asked how she could win back supporters of President Trump.  'Every single time I have won, I have won every single congressional district in my state — including Michele Bachmann's, OK?  That's when you guys are supposed to cheer, OK?' Klobuchar told the crowd in the cringe-worthy moment.  [Video clip]

Being 'Not-Trump' is not enough.  Klobuchar has been presenting herself as a kind, motherly figure who has transcended her humble, troubled origins, uploading a quirky campaign video made by her daughter and talking about her father's history of alcoholism.  The image of a good woman who rose from nothing is clearly intended to be set against the image of the boorish son of privilege now in the White House.  But since Klobuchar has been dogged by charges of workplace bullying it is hard to imagine this homely act taking off.

Amy Klobuchar joins Kamala Harris, desperately trying to 'victim up'.  Like her rival Democratic presidential candidate, Sen. Kamala Harris, Sen. Amy Klobuchar is out poor-mouthing herself as a identity-politics pioneer who rose up through inconquerable barriers and impossible discouragement as a woman, and for that now deserves the right to rule us.  Here she is speaking to Chuck Todd, telling us all how tough she had it: [...] It doesn't get more fake than that, given that Klobuchar grew up in the 1970s, back when little girls were being told rather loudly by Gloria Steinem and the entire establishment that they could be anything they wanted to be.

Amy Klobuchar calls on Trump to publicly defend Muslims after mosque attack.  Sen. Amy Klobuchar said Sunday that President Trump should be defending Muslims publicly after the white nationalist terror attack last week that killed roughly 50 people at two mosques.  "At the very least, he is dividing people," the 2020 Democratic presidential candidate told CNN of the president.

Whatta Bunch of Phony Baloneys.  [Scroll down]  Then Sen. Amy Klobuchar, representing "Minnesota Nice."  Remember how nice she was during the Kavanaugh hearings?  So nice!  We were told that is why she is running for President:  Not because she is another power-hungry egomaniac, but because she is nice — and this is a time that America, riven by political partisanship, needs a leader who is just-plain nice.  And then we find out that she actually is an insane sociopath.  She throws solid items around her office in fits of temper, and her staffers need to duck for dear life.  She demeans her underlings and forces them to recite their failings to other people.  She sabotages the efforts of staffers who depart when they seek to get new jobs.  And she will eat her salads with a comb and then make her staffers clean the comb.  Nice?  Baloney!

The Anger of Amy Klobuchar.  Amy Klobuchar has a problem.  Apparently it's been an open secret in Washington and Minnesota, but because she didn't have much of a national reputation, the press lacked occasion to expose it.  But when she made a name for herself during the Kavanaugh hearings, suggesting that a presidential campaign was likely, the press had the necessary occasion, and now we all know about it.  Her problem is rage, easily uncorked, and directed not at the various forces that might thwart the needs of her constituents, but at the people — many of them young — who work for her.  During Klobuchar's first senatorial campaign, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees decried her "shameful treatment of her employees" in the Hennepin County Attorney's Office; in March of 2018, Politico reported that she had the highest staff turnover in the Senate.  But it has been the recent reporting of BuzzFeed News, HuffPost, The New York Times, and others that has provided the vivid and ugly details of what apparently lies behind those facts.

Hillary Clinton Is Not a Candidate.  She Looms Over 2020 Anyway.  Senator Amy Klobuchar seemed quite clear when she revealed the first state she would visit as a presidential candidate:  Wisconsin.  "Because, as you remember, there wasn't a lot of campaigning in Wisconsin in 2016," she said.  "With me, that changes."  Many Democrats took it as an unmistakable swipe at Hillary Clinton, who lost that battleground state after never appearing there during the 2016 general election campaign.  The jab ricocheted across the internet, enraging Clinton admirers and earning Ms. Klobuchar attention as a Midwesterner willing to speak hard truths.  But behind the scenes, Ms. Klobuchar of Minnesota sprang into damage control mode, firing off an email to Mrs. Clinton.  In a phone call that soon followed, she apologized and said her off-the-cuff remark had been misinterpreted, according to people familiar with the episode.

The Amy Klobucahr Experience.  In today's [2/23/2019] New York Times Matt Flegenheimer and Sydney Ember perform the proverbial deep dive on the experience of working for Minnesota's own presidential candidate, Amy Klobuchar.  The The [sic] Amy Klobucahr Experience is not pleasant.  Klobucahr's Minnesota nice thing is a facade.  You probably wouldn't want to work as a direct report for Klobuchar.  The story does not come as a great shock.  It has been out there for a while.  The Times adds depth and specificity to previous reports.

NYT: Amy Klobuchar Ate with Her Comb, Then Made Staff Clean It.  The New York Times provided a new exposé Friday about allegations that Democratic presidential contender Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) is cruel to her staff — and it includes a somewhat groteqsue episode involving a comb.

The NRA Wrecks Klobuchar After She Uses Aurora Shooting To Push Gun Control.  Three things are certain.  Death, taxes, and Democrats using a tragic shooting to push for "sensible" or "common sense" gun control laws that are really just slow plays to confiscation.  The latest up to bat is 2020 presidential candidate Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), who played the same tired tune during a campaign stop in Eau Clair, Wisconsin.  The Minnesota Dem decided to use the recent shooting in Aurora, Illinois, as a soapbox to stand on.

Amy Klobuchar shoots herself in the foot with comments on the Aurora shooting.  Only a week after launching her presidential campaign decrying global warming during a snowstorm in Minneapolis, the woman who wants to claim the mantle of a "moderate" Democrat has beclowned herself with a nonsensical statement.  Even worse, as a veteran prosecutor — county attorney (D.A.) in the most populous county in Minnesota, responsible for all criminal prosecution — she missed a point squarely within her area of purported professional competence.

Klobuchar Says She Can Be 'Tough' on Staff in Response to Mistreatment Reports.  Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D., Minn.) responded to reports that she has mistreated her staff for years following the announcement that she would be entering the Democratic field for president by saying she can be "tough" on employees because she has "high expectations."  "Yes, I can be tough, and yes I can push people," Klobuchar said Sunday afternoon at Boom Island Park just outside downtown Minneapolis.  "I have high expectations for myself, I have high expectations for the people that work for me, but I have high expectations for this country."

Prospective Dem candidate Amy Klobuchar's treatment of staff led to rebuke from Harry Reid: report.  Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., is expected to launch her 2020 presidential campaign on Sunday, but is facing an early crisis over a wave of accusations that she has mistreated staff — with her conduct reportedly getting so bad that then-Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid told her to change her behavior.  Klobuchar is expected to announce her 2020 run in Minneapolis on Sunday.  But that announcement was overshadowed this week when HuffPost reported this week that Klobuchar has such a bad reputation over her treatment of staff that a number of potential staffers have withdrawn from consideration to manage her campaign because of it.

Klobuchar's opening pitch sidetracked by staff horror stories.  Sen. Amy Klobuchar is pitching herself for the White House as the commonsense Midwestern answer to President Donald Trump — while former staffers portray her as a brutal boss who mistreated them.  The run-up to Klobuchar's expected presidential campaign launch on Sunday was sidetracked by former aides, speaking anonymously for fear of retribution, who described a toxic office environment including demeaning emails, thrown office supplies and requests for staff to perform personal chores for the senator.

'Klobuchar's Wrath': Minnesota Senator Once Hit Aide After Throwing Binder.  Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D., Minn.) regularly left employees in tears and at one point hit an aide with a binder after throwing it in anger, according to former staffers who spoke to BuzzFeed News.  The Minnesota senator's former staffers suggest she ran an office "controlled by fear, anger, and shame," BuzzFeed reports.  Based on interviews and emails reviewed by BuzzFeed, Klobuchar "demeaned and berated her staff almost daily, subjecting them to bouts of explosive rage and regular humiliation within the office."  Several staffers said employees were frequently left crying due to Klobuchar's anger, which involved yelling, throwing papers, and, in one case, accidentally hitting an employee with a binder.

Amy Klobuchar Reportedly Can't Get a 2020 Campaign Chief Because of Reputation For Mistreating Staff.  Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) will announce this Sunday whether she is running for president.  But one new report asserts that the Minnesota senator has had quite a bit of trouble getting someone to run her 2020 camapign — thanks to a reputation for mistreating her staff.  According to HuffPost, at least three people have pulled out of consideration from running Klobuchar's presidential campaign.  Klobuchar, according to the database Legistorm (via The New York Times), has the third most staff turnover of anyone in Congress.  From 2001-2016, she was ranked No. 1 in that dubious category.


Howard Schultz

Whatever Happened To Howard Schultz?  Maybe Joe Biden's footprint in the 2020 campaign is bigger than we predicted.  Ever since the former veep jumped into the race, another candidate has become very, very silent.  The Daily Beast wonders why we've heard more about a Starbucks cup on the Game of Thrones set than we have about former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz, who spent a lot of time raising his political profile before mid-April.

Being 'Not-Trump' is not enough.  The saddest example of a not-Trumper is Howard Schultz, the blissfully blinkered overpriced coffee baron who has surrounded himself with so many yes men that he thinks America craves a shambling technocrat.  He claims that a 'silent majority' of Americans are socially and economically liberal and dislike Republican and Democrat extremism.  Sometimes a silent majority is nothing more than a figment of the imagination.  Pressed on what he will do, and how, Schultz has cheerful buzzwords such as 'civility', 'honesty' and 'results' which are as effective in political rhetoric as they would be as chat-up lines.  The most charitable explanation for his campaign is that he has confused the feelings of his advisers for the feelings of the nation.

Run, Howard Schultz, Run  — Don't Give In To Democrat Bullies.  Starbucks tycoon Howard Schultz had barely gotten the words out of his mouth about a possible independent bid for president before an angry Democratic mob descended on him.  He should ignore them. [...] Advisors said that the ferocity of these attacks took Schultz by surprise.  They shouldn't have.  This is standard operating procedure for today's Democrats.  So far at least, the attempt to bully him from the stage hasn't deterred him.  He's even showing some Trump-esque spine when it comes to responding to attacks.

The bad news for Democrats about a Howard Schultz run for president keeps getting worse.  As I mentioned yesterday, a poll showed that Democrats have good reason to be very, very afraid of a Howard Schultz candidacy. [...] Their screeching isn't confined to just words.  They've wheeled out their big slime machine, a PAC led by the founder of the George Soros-bankrolled Media Matters, to dig up and "reveal" dirt on Schultz in a bid to destroy his campaign.  Thus far, they're failing miserably.

A republic, not a giant H.R. department.  Democrats are vexed over Schultz.  Spoiler alert:  They consider him a spoiler candidate akin to Ralph Nader in 2000 or Jill Stein in 2016.  In a close race, he would siphon votes from the Democratic Party's nominee and hand the election to President Trump.  Schultz offered a rationale for his candidacy in USA Today on Tuesday:  People seemingly want choice untainted by the Republican or Democratic Party brands.  He noted that 66 percent of likely voters in a recent No Labels/HarrisX poll say "neither party is really representing my needs or interests."  Moreover, a Gallup poll found that 57 percent of Americans believe the country could use a viable third-party.

How many people do what Michael Moore demands?
Michael Moore Says To Boycott Starbucks Until Howard Schultz Drops Out.  The prospect of Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz running for president as an independent against candidates like Kamala Harris has scared the living daylights out of leftists, who fear he may split the vote in President Trump's favor.

The Democrats Lose Their Minds.  I'm not a Democrat — in case you haven't noticed — but Howard Schultz is. [...] He's from Seattle, holds liberal positions on, as far as I can tell, every issue, and has donated gobs of money to the Democratic Party and to the last two Democratic presidents.  But Schultz is also a democratic capitalist who attributes his phenomenal success — his fortune from Starbucks is around $3 billion — at least in part to America's culture of entrepreneurial risk-taking, minimal government interference in commerce, individual responsibility, and rule of law.  He worries that the Democratic Party, radicalized by the presidency of Donald Trump, is in the process of abandoning support for the very aspects of American life that made his life possible.

Howard Schultz 'freaked out' by Democratic backlash to independent presidential run, rethinks effort.  Howard Schultz is getting burned, like a bad cup of Starbucks coffee and it may force him to rethink his presidential aspirations. [...] Schultz has been the recipient in recent days of an angry backlash by leading Democrats after he announced he was exploring running as an independent last Sunday [1/27/2019] during a 60 Minutes interview.  Schultz once described himself as a lifelong Democrat but said he now may break with his old party because he feels it has moved too far to the left on spending and taxes, while promoting programs that will saddle future generations with enormous debt.

Obama appointee claims Howard Schultz owes his success to ... government housing projects.  Like him or not, Howard Schultz is a perfect 10.  On the famous Forbes billionaire's list (Full disclosure:  I once helped compile it), Schultz got a ranking of '10' in terms of how he acquired his Starbucks wealth.  A ranking of '1' reserved for someone who completely inherited his pile and isn't doing a thing to increase it.  A '10' is reserved for someone who started at the absolute bottom with significant disadvantages, broke the shackles, and soared to the top.  Schultz is in that tiny club with a '10,' and in America, that's the highest status one can get, the biggest kind of American success story.  Only in America... and yes, he did revolutionize business.

If Democrats Hadn't Embraced Crazy, Howard Schultz Wouldn't Be A Threat To Them.  He's just a man, one who happens to be very wealthy.  A very wealthy man who is considering using a slice of his substantial fortune to run for president of the United States. [...] Skipping the party process will allow Schultz to make his case more directly and won't require him to try to shift back to the middle like Democrats will after having spent their primary process veering to the left.  But it also means no infrastructure in the states to get his name on all 50 ballots.  The parties didn't construct this to make it easy for people working outside it to win.  The hurdles Schultz faces can be overcome with money, which he has.  Democrats know this and they're scrambling to try to convince him not to do it.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's misplaced criticisms of billionaire Howard Schultz.  Note to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez:  Americans, by and large, don't care if billionaires have billions of bucks.  Americans, by and large, aspire to become billionaires themselves — or millionaires, or otherwise financially independent — and therefore don't have a problem with a country that gives the freedom to meet those economic goals.  Hating wealth, hating the wealthy — those are socialist things.

Howard Schultz:  Democrats Are Too Far Left.  Former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz, who is considering an independent presidential bid, said today's Democratic Party has moved too far to the left, a position hardly likely to win over leading Democrats who already fear that a Schultz candidacy could throw the election to President Donald Trump.  In a spate of interviews Tuesday [1/29/2019], Schultz, a lifelong Democrat, took shots at several policies promoted by Democrats' leading lights.  "I respect the Democratic Party.  I no longer feel affiliated because I don't know their views represent the majority of Americans.  I don't think we want a 70-percent income tax in America," the billionaire told CNBC's Andrew Ross Sorkin, referencing Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's (D-N.Y.) proposed marginal tax rate on incomes over $10 million.

Former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz hires ex-Obama aide as communications advisor as he mulls running for president in 2020.  Howard Schultz has hired ex-Obama aide Bill Burton as a communications advisor as the former Starbucks CEO mulls running for president in 2020, according to two sources with direct knowledge of the matter.  Schultz's team has been speaking with potential staffers as the former Starbucks chairman debates whether to run for president as an independent, the sources added.

At least Mr. Schultz has run a successful business, unlike the last Democrat president.
Trump: Former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz 'doesn't have the guts' to run for president.  In an interview that aired Sunday night on the CBS show, Schultz said he was considering mounting an independent bid for president.  The businessman, a Democrat, blasted his party and the GOP for what he called a "reckless failure" of constitutional responsibility.  And he targeted the president's social media habits.  "I think, like most people, I've become bored with President Trump and his tweets," Schultz told CBS.

Democrats take aim at Starbucks to 'school' Howie Schultz.  It's pretty obvious that's what's going on, a huge plan of personal and professional destruction just one day out the gate of Schultz's 60 Minutes interview, where he said he was merely considering running for president in 2020.  The Democrats' motive is fear — Schultz is a liberal but not the kind of rigid, lockstep, groupthink far leftist seen in their stable of candidates, and worse still, he's likeable and charming, even to Republicans, so he must be irresistible to a lot of the Democrats they expect votes from.  But Schultz says he'd go as an independent, which raises the specter of a Ross Perot-style candidacy that could split the national vote three ways.  For whoever the Democrats' way-too-far-left candidate is, that means going down in flames against President Trump.  So now they've started their pushback, and already it's an ugly spectacle.

Why Starbucks' Howard Schultz Couldn't Run As A Democrat.  Democrats are worrying about former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz running as an independent for president in 2020.  They say it will only help President Trump.  But the only reason this lifelong Democrat is thinking about an independent bid is because the Democratic party has moved so far to the left.

Starbucks' Howard Schultz:  America Exists for Immigrants, Not Americans.  Starbucks investor Howard Schultz wants to get elected president and to amnesty at least 11 million illegal migrants in the United States.  But his justification for the amnesty includes no rules or principles that would prevent his huge amnesty from expanding into an open-borders policy which would benefit investors at the expense of white-collar and blue-collar Americans, said Jessica Vaughan, policy director at the Center for Immigraiton Studies.

Top Democrats fear Howard Schultz is a Perot or Nader who could help re-elect Trump.  Top Democrats were apoplectic Monday about what they fear will be a spoiler campaign by Howard Schultz, the former Starbucks CEO, after he said he is "seriously considering" running for president as an independent.  Many Democrats on Capitol Hill said Schultz's campaign would only split the anti-Trump vote and deliver Trump another victory in 2020.  "It would be hurtful.  History shows it would be hurtful," said House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., in an interview Monday [1/28/2019].  Hoyer likened Schultz to Ross Perot, who helped spoil a second term in the White House for then-President George H.W. Bush in 1992.

Democrats uneasy about potential Howard Schultz bid.  or a businessman who grew a small coffee roaster into an inescapable global chain, who ensured that even his part-time workers had benefits and who has given about $150,000 to Democratic campaigns, former Starbucks Chairman Howard Schultz is generating tepid — or even hostile — responses within the party as he weighs a presidential bid in 2020.

Former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz says Donald Trump is not qualified to be president.  Howard Schultz, the billionaire former CEO of Starbucks, tells Scott Pelley he believes Donald Trump is not qualified to lead the U.S. and that politicians in both parties are failing the American people.

The Editor says...
The candidate who gets the most votes in the Electoral College is the one who's qualified to be president.

Ex-Starbucks CEO Could Get Trump Re-elected.  Before there was Jill Stein, there was Ralph Nader.  Before there was Nader, there was Ross Perot.  None won.  All argued that the Republican Party and the Democratic Party were basically the same, and the only way to make real change was to ditch them both.  Each was blamed for siphoning off enough votes to throw the presidential elections.  These days, the difference between the parties is starker than it's ever been in modern times.  Yet here comes Howard Schultz, a billionaire who feels that he might be the answer to American politics, and that he'd run for president as an independent.


Bernie Sanders

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


Robert F. "Beto" O'Rourke

Gun Control in Canada.  We're coming after your AR-15s, said Beto O'Rourke when running for POTUS in 2019.  But in February, O'Rourke moderated that warning with:  "I'm not interested in taking anything from anyone.  What I want to make sure that what we do is defend the Second Amendment.  I want to make sure that we protect our fellow Texans far better than we're doing right now."  Why did O'Rourke back down?  Because in Texas, no gun-hating political aspirant has much chance of ever winning political office.  More importantly, the Second Amendment says Americans have a right to own guns.  So, unless O'Rourke can somehow arrange to have the Second Amendment removed from the Constitution, Americans may own, buy, sell, or transfer a gun.

Thank God For These Horrible Democrats.  Beto is a poor man's Butthead impersonator and is beloved by the left, probably because he makes them feel smart (which isn't hard).  Born wealthy, he married even wealthier and set about to find meaning in his life externally rather than in himself.  Inheriting wealth, he decided that imbued him with powers to know how best to spend everyone else's money across the board.  He doesn't do it with his money, but he's ready to be generous with yours.  Sweet gig, if you can get it.  Beto can't get it.

Beto O'Rourke Is Making His Last Stand in Texas.  In a cavernous, modern sanctuary at Greater Mt.  Zion Church, the Rev. Gaylon Clark introduced Beto O'Rourke to his congregation one recent Sunday as "the next governor of the state of Texas."  Then he raised his hand and, over the strains of a keyboard, prayed for "victory in the name of Jesus."  In the sanctuary, the churchgoers said, "Amen."  In the lobby, they lined up for pictures with the one-time Democratic sensation now lagging in the polls.  "With God and faith and him being here today," one of the congregants told me, "you should see a change in his numbers by next week."

Reaction to the article above:
Beto O'Rourke profiles just get sadder and sadder.  Politico Magazine published a Beto O'Rourke profile this morning.  The headline sort of hints at the possibility that this particular cottage industry for the media could be coming to an end soon:  "Beto O'Rourke Is Making His Last Stand in Texas."  The story itself doesn't offer much hope that Beto is heading for anything but another disappointment.  He's literally praying for a miracle.

Beto O'Rourke Goes Full Terry McAuliffe and Demolishes His Own Campaign.  Remember when Virginia Democratic gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe tanked his campaign when he argued that parents should not have a say in what is taught to their children in K-12 classrooms?  Well, it appears Robert Francis "Beto" O'Rourke, who is running for Texas governor, made the same blunder.  His chances of winning were slim before.  But now, it appears he will have more in common with McAuliffe than the belief that kids should belong to the state, not their parents.  On Wednesday [8/3/2022], footage of O'Rourke, an Irishman who pretends to be Hispanic to get votes, surfaced on social media in which he lashed out at those who oppose ideas inspired by critical race theory (CRT) being taught in K-12 schools.  He argued that teachers should essentially be allowed to teach what they want to teach.

George Soros contributes $1 million to Beto O'Rourke's Texas gubernatorial campaign.  Progressive mega-donor George Soros contributed $1 million to Texas Democratic gubernatorial nominee Beto O'Rourke's staggering fundraising haul last month.  O'Rourke, who's challenging two-term Republican Gov. Greg Abbott in November's election, last week announced that he hauled in $27.6 million in fundraising from late February through June, topping Abbott by $2.7 million and shattering the existing record for fundraising in Texas.  O'Rourke's campaign finance report was posted online on Tuesday and indicates that Soros contributed $1 million — issued on June 23 — to the Democratic gubernatorial nominee's campaign.

The Liberal Media's 'Rising Stars' Always Seem to Crash and Burn.  Robert Francis O'Rourke, who's main accomplishment is being a one-time Vanity Fair cover model, has run for and lost almost every office he's sought since leaving the U.S. House of Representatives.  Senate?  Loser.  President?  Loser.  Yet, he's continually pumped up by the liberal media as some sort of hero rising to vanquish whichever Republican he runs against and subsequently loses to.  He's running out of offices to run for, but it didn't stop him from trying again this cycle against incumbent Governor Greg Abbott.  The Associated Press has called the serial loser "Democrats' breakout star," but it's a mystery how anyone — Democrats included — can support someone who doesn't even know their own position on critical issues.  "Beto" has flip-flopped on gun confiscation and illegal immigration, explaining in part why Texans won't vote for him.

Beto O'Rourke:  AR-15 Owners Should Not Be Able to Keep Them.  During a campaign event on May 21, Texas Democrat gubernatorial candidate Beto O'Rourke expressed his belief that Americans who own AR-15s should not be able to keep them.  On May 31, FOX News highlighted the comments as part O'Rourke's ongoing effort against the guns.  In the comments, O'Rourke stressed his position that no one should be able "to purchase an AR-15 or AK-47," and added, "I don't think that the people who have them right now in civilian use should be able to keep them."

The Editor says...
What about my gas-guzzling SUV?  Can I keep that?  What about a swimming pool?  What about an air conditioner?  Where does it stop?

Beto O'Rourke Wilts When Pressed on His Gross Political Stunt in Uvalde.  Beto O'Rourke might be the most unimpressive politician currently on the circuit, if it weren't for Kamala Harris.  The man who has failed at running for the Senate and the Presidency is back for another go at it, this time running to be the Governor of Texas.  That stark lack of ability was on full display again, as he attempted to jumpstart his failing gubernatorial bid in Texas by heckling Greg Abbott during a press conference covering the tragic shooting in Uvalde.  In a completely staged stunt, Beto slipped into the theater after two individuals who were in on the plan got up and left.  He then attempted to shout down those on the stage, much to the glee of his ActBlue supporters and MSNBC hosts everywhere.

Beto Blows It:  Exposes Democrats' True Agenda.  The key to being an effective politician in today's Democratic Party is to be able to put up a façade while simultaneously implementing and advancing your actual agenda. [...] But the stunt Beto O'Rourke pulled this week exposed what Democrats really care about.  Power.  Less than 24 hours after the murder of 19 schoolchildren and 2 teachers in Uvalde, Texas, O'Rourke implemented a scheme to attempt to take advantage of the carnage.  According to CBS News, two people saved seats for O'Rourke in an auditorium prior to a press briefing by Texas Governor Greg Abbott that included various members of law enforcement and elected officials, including the mayor of Uvalde and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX).  Just prior to the briefing's commencement, O'Rourke quietly entered and took one of the seats.  Shortly after the proceedings were underway, O'Rourke stood up and approached the dais from where Abbott and the others were speaking.  Among other things, O'Rourke asserted, "This is totally predictable" and "This is on you."  Comments that were directed at Abbott.

CBS reporter on scene describes O'Rourke's shameless stunt at Abbott presser: 'Very clearly staged'.  Remember Beto O'Rourke's "I'm just born to be in it" Vanity Fair magazine cover?  Well, the current Democratic candidate for Texas governor probably hopes you've forgotten it.  After all, he eventually admitted that the pretentious cover and accompanying interview did much to torpedo his absurd dreams of occupying the Oval Office.  But it suggests a pattern of ostentatious political stunts, and O'Rourke apparently hasn't learned his lesson.  On Wednesday afternoon [5/24/2022], he interrupted Texas Governor Greg Abbott's press conference on the Uvalde school shooting to shout and rave at those assembled.  Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who was present, told him he was "out of line and an embarrassment," and Sen. Ted Cruz told him to "sit down."

CBS News Reveals Beto's Interruption of Uvalde Press Conference Was [an] Orchestrated Stunt.  I think it's safe to say that the pathetic stunt Beto O'Rourke pulled Wednesday at the press conference that was held by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to discuss the horrifying Robb Elementary School mass shooting tragedy has not gone over as well as he would have liked it to have.  For those who missed it, watch the moment below where O'Rourke — who is running against Abbott in the 2022 gubernatorial race — made a disgraceful scene at the somber event as he walked up to stand in front of the stage and heckled Abbott and the other Republicans present.  He accused them of "doing nothing" to stop gun violence, and claimed the mass shooting in Uvalde that killed 19 children and two teachers who tried to protect them was "totally predictable":  [Tweet with video clip]

Bedtime for Beto.  Democratic Texas gubernatorial candidate Robert Francis "Beto" O'Rourke disrupted Governor Greg Abbott's press conference called to update the public on yesterday's school shooting.  O'Rourke is one of the breed of politicians — politicians without a conscience and with no thought other than themselves — that finds the moment of unspeakable tragedy fit to undertake histrionic displays and hysterical lectures promoting their favored causes.  I can't believe this is even good politics, but it is what it is, somewhere south of disgusting.

Beto O'Rourke interrupts Texas governor's news conference on school shooting.  Beto O'Rourke, a Democratic candidate for Texas governor, approached the stage during Gov. Greg Abbott's news conference Wednesday, confronting him over the Robb Elementary School shooting that left 19 children and two teachers dead.  O'Rourke told Abbott the shooting was "totally predictable" and that he was "doing nothing."  "This is on you until you choose to do something different," O'Rourke continued.

Beto O'Rourke Flip Flops on Critical Race Theory.  While the Democratic Party has gone all-in endorsing critical race theory (CRT) being taught in school — and claiming opposition to it is racist — Robert "Beto" O'Rourke has opportunistically flip-flopped on the issue as he wages his futile campaign for governor of Texas.  "I think you and I are probably both on the same page as well.  We don't see CRT being taught in our schools right now," O'Rourke told an attendee at a townhall event in Victoria, Texas Friday night.  "It is a course that is taught in law school."  [Tweet]  Make no mistake about it:  Beto O'Rourke supports CRT.  He just knows — especially after the Virginia gubernatorial election — that embracing it while running for statewide office in Texas is a fool's errand.  But that doesn't change the fact that Beto publicly condemned Governor Abbott for signing a law banning the teaching of CRT last year.

I've never bought a gun from you, Beta.  So you can't "buy it back."
Now Beto O'Rourke Says He Will Buy Back Texans' AR-15s.  The shifting sands of Democrat gubernatorial candidate Beto O'Rourke's gun control plans have solidified, for now, into a pledge to buy back AR-15s and AK-47s from Texans if the state legislature will support doing it.  O'Rourke spoke with Texas Tribune CEO Evan Smith on Saturday and KVUE reported O'Rourke's comments.  Smith asked O'Rourke to clarify his position on confiscatory gun control.  O'Rourke stressed his belief that citizens should not be able to buy a AR-15s, then said:  "And if I can find the consensus within the Legislature to have a law in the state of Texas that allows us to buy those AK-47s and AR-15s back, we will."  He has been down this road many times before.

Beto O'Rourke Calls Governor Abbott a 'Thug' and 'Authoritarian'.  What is it about the former congressman, former losing candidate for Senator, and former presidential candidate who dropped out of the race before the first primary that excites Democrats?  Sure, he's handsome, in a rough-hewn sort of way.  He speaks fairly well.  And he's got a nice, toothy smile.  Remind you of anyone?  If you guessed "John F. Kennedy," you win a cookie.  In their never-ending quest to find "the next JFK," Democrats have tapped O'Rourke as the successor to the playboy Massachusetts senator who wowed Americans in the early 1960s.  But that's a tough act to follow.  Where Kennedy was urbane, sophisticated, and witty, O'Rourke is an angry former folk singer who desperately wants to be one of the cool kids.

Texas Energy Tycoon Sues Beto O'Rourke for Defamation.  Texas energy businessman Kelcy Warren, a major donor to Gov. Greg Abbott, sued former Rep. Robert Francis "Beto" O'Rourke for claiming that he paid the governor to profit from last year's power crisis, resulting in several hundred deaths.  O'Rourke said in social media posts that Warren's donations to Abbott, including a $1 million donation during the Republican gubernatorial primary, were efforts to "buy off" the governor, according to HotAir.  Warren, the chairman and CEO of Energy Transfer, filed the defamation lawsuit in San Saba County on Feb. 22.  "O'Rourke intentionally, repeatedly, and widely disseminated his deliberate and defamatory falsehoods through publicly released messages on Twitter, Facebook, and other social media sites and during speaking engagements and interviews," the defamation lawsuit states.

Robert Francis O'Rourke does an about face on guns.  After Robert Francis O'Rourke challenged Ted Cruz, he became a media darling whom voters ignored.  Still, despite losing to Cruz, O'Rourke was so buoyed up by press adoration that he parlayed that failed Senate run into a presidential run, which he also lost.  Now, Robert Francis O'Rourke is back again, this time seeking to unseat Texas governor Gregg Abbott.  O'Rourke, however, has learned something along the way, which is that you pay lip service to leaving Texans' guns alone.

Beto O'Rourke Does A Complete 180 [on Gun Confiscation].  Former Democratic presidential hopeful Beto O'Rourke has apparently done a complete 180-degree turn from at least one of his key stances on the 2020 campaign trail.  During the Democratic primary, O'Rourke famously shouted from the debate stage, "[...] yes, I'm going to take your AR-15, your AK-47."  And his passion on that specific issue was the reason that — at the rally where O'Rourke dropped out of the primary and endorsed President Joe Biden's campaign — then-candidate Biden said that he'd be bringing O'Rourke along to help his administration with a gun control strategy.  O'Rourke doubled down, saying that he still stood by that comment as recently as November of 2021.

Fool's Errand:  Beto O'Rourke chasing down the Texas Latino vote.  Does anything say "out of touch" better than the Democrats running Beto O'Rourke as its prime candidate for governor of Texas?  The hopeless stunt is supposedly all about O'Rourke's appeal to Latino voters.  He has a Spanish nickname.  He speaks Spanish.  What Latino could refuse?  It's incredibly cynical and insulting to Latino voters, whom Texas Democrats consider key to winning back the governorship.  That cynicism was obvious enough in this statement by a Texas Latino GOP observer:  "He uses Beto like he's our Mexican tío, but you're not," he said.  "Just because you put the name out there doesn't mean I'm going to invite you to my house like you're my tío."

Beto O'Rourke's Mysterious Woman.  Robert Francis "Beto" O'Rourke recently announced his candidacy for governor of Texas against incumbent Greg Abbott after the former's failed campaigns for U.S. Senate in 2018 and president in 2020.  One issue that has followed him was his arrest report of a DUI hit-and-run in 1998, released in August 2018 by the Houston Chronicle and San Antonio Express.  Up until that time, he had admitted to the DUI without mentioning the accident and fleeing the scene.  During a debate in September with eventual victor Ted Cruz, a moderator brought it up, and O'Rourke said, "I did not try to leave the scene of the accident." [...] Days later in the Washington Post, fact-checker Glenn Kessler gave O'Rourke "Four Pinocchios," which qualifies as a "whopper."  Just four days later, during friendly questioning by the Texas Tribune, O'Rourke was asked again whether he had fled the scene of the accident.  "I did not flee," he replied, and the "police report is wrong."  O'Rourke then added that he had recently "reached out to a passenger who was in the car," and "she" said that "we did not try to flee."  O'Rourke was not asked and did not volunteer who "she" was.

Beto O'Rourke Doubles Down on Obsession with Getting Rid of AR-15.  Former Rep. Beto O'Rourke (D-TX) who is also a failed senatorial and presidential candidate, and who just recently announced his run for governor of Texas, so as to likely lose a third race, made an appearance on CNN's "State of the Union" for Sunday morning.  He was predictably asked about the "not guilty" verdict in the Kyle Rittenhouse trial, where he once more addressed his preoccupation with wanting AR-15s banned.  Host Dana Bash asked O'Rourke for his reaction, to which he suggested "this entire tragedy makes the case that we should not allow our fellow Americans to own and use weapons that were originally designed for battlefield use."

The Editor says...
In a way, a BLM riot is a battlefield.

Beto's Back and the Dems Are All Out of Fresh Faces and Ideas.  The reemergence of Beto O'Rourke, this time as a candidate for Texas governor, is further proof that we're scraping the bottom of the barrel for saviors to rise from these streets.  Once a rising star, O'Rourke is likely to end his bid to replace Texas Gov. Greg Abbott as a three-time loser.  Despite this, he will soak up plenty of buzz and money along the way — which is good for O'Rourke and bad for Democrats.  Once a charismatic young Texas congressman from El Paso who shared a bromance with then-Republican Rep. Will Hurd, O'Rourke ran a surprisingly strong race against Sen. Ted Cruz in 2018 back when Trump was president.  O'Rourke parlayed the Cruz loss into a failed bid for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020. [...] Aside from losing elections, he also lost his way.  Between 2018 and today, O'Rourke transitioned multiple times from affable "nice guy" to "cool" Gen-Xer to angry woke progressive.  "On issues like universal health care, an assault weapons ban, abortion rights and a higher minimum wage," wrote NPR's Wade Goodwyn in 2018, "O'Rourke has staked out progressive positions."

Is Texas ready for Governor Beto O'Rourke?  Prediction:  The nays of Texas will likely be upon him.  The obvious electoral disaster ahead hasn't stopped Democrats in the Lone Star State from attempting to draft Robert "Beto" O'Rourke for a gubernatorial bid, though.  The Associated Press reports this morning that O'Rourke is giving it serious consideration, despite running to the hard Left in the presidential primary in 2019.

It's hard to swallow this nonsense, as it comes from a former representative of the Abortion Party.
Beto O'Rourke:  Republican Party Is a 'Cult of Death' — They 'Literally Want to Sacrifice' Lives.  Former Rep. Beto O'Rourke (D) said Wednesday [3/3/2021] on MSNBC's "Deadline" the Republican Party is a "cult of death."  Discussing Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX) lifting the COVID-19 mask mandate, anchor Nicolle Wallace said, "It sounds like it isn't going to work on the science side.  There's a lot of skepticism in Texas that it's not going to work on the economic side as well.  Why is he doing it?"  O'Rourke said, "They literally want to sacrifice the lives of our fellow Texans, for I don't know, for political gain?  To satisfy certain powerful interests within the state?  This isn't hyperbole. [...]"

The Editor says...
Yes it is hyperbole.  It's also a pack of lies.  Tyranny is worse than disease, and mask mandates are tyranny.

Beto O'Rourke Exploring Another Likely Failure.  His campaign for the senate against Ted Cruz in 2018 ended in failure.  His campaign for the Democrat Party's presidential nomination in 2019 ended in epic, buffonish failure.  His campaign to turn Texas blue in 2020 ended in abject, hilarious failure.  So, naturally, Irish Bob "Beto" O'Rourke, the undeservedly-famous deletant offspring of a fabulously wealthy family married to an even more-fabulously wealthy wife in El Paso, Texas, is now considering mounting yet another destined-to-fail campaign in 2022.  This time, Irish Bob is exploring the possibility of running for the Texas governor's mansion, against either incumbent Gregg Abbott — who is likely to run for re-election — or against another GOP candidate should Abbott decide to bow out after two terms in office.

Beto O'Rourke says he's thinking about running for Texas governor.  Democrat Beto O'Rourke has left no doubt that he's weighing a run for governor next year.  "You know what, it's something I'm going to think about," O'Rourke said in an exclusive interview on an El Paso radio station earlier this week.

The Editor says...
Governor Abbott, in preparation for a presidential run in 2024, is gradually turning into a RINO, with his protracted mask mandates and Covid-related restrictions, but unless he gets "primaried," I still have to vote for him for Governor, if the only alternative is a loose-cannon leftist like Robert F. O'Rourke.

Beto O'Rourke considering run for Texas governor, cites Abbott's failed virus efforts.  Former El Paso Democratic congressman Beto O'Rourke said in a radio interview that he is contemplating a run for governor of Texas next year against Republican incumbent Greg Abbott.  Abbott will be seeking his third term in office and O'Rourke told ABC-7's media partners at KLAQ radio that he's considering a bid to oust the governor.  "It's something I'm going to think about," O'Rourke said.  "This state has suffered perhaps more than any other in the midst of this pandemic."

The Editor says...
[#1] Exactly the opposite is true.  Texas has been affected far less by Covid than most other states.  [#2] If the state has "suffered" at all, it's because of endless lockdowns and mask mandates inflicted by ledftist politicians like Robert F. "Beto" O'Rourke.

Beto O'Rourke to teach politics course at Texas State next spring.  Former Democratic presidential and Senate candidate Beto O'Rourke will teach a class on Texas politics at Texas State University in spring 2021, pending finalization of his hire.  As an adjunct lecturer, the former Congressman will teach PS 4325 (Texas Politics), a synchronous online class that will feature remote lectures with up to 15% of instruction delivered in-person, COVID-19 permitting, says the university.

Beto O'Rourke blames GOP 'death cult mentality' for rise in US violence.  As violent crime spikes in some U.S. cities, former U.S. Rep. Beto O'Rourke claims a Republican Party "death cult mentality" is to blame.  Speaking on MSNBC, O'Rourke, a Texas Democrat, was asked to comment on Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott both recently calling for schools to reopen for the fall semester, despite the continuing coronavirus pandemic.  The former lawmaker quickly pivoted from talking about the virus to talking about gun violence.  "These are the same people who want us to accept that more people, including children, will die of gun violence this year in America than in any other developed country, bar none," O'Rourke said, referring to Republican leaders.

The Editor says...
When you ask a question, and a Democrat immediately changes the subject, that means you've won the argument.

Joe Biden Declares Beto O'Rourke To Lead Biden's Anti-Gun Agenda.  Democrat presidential candidate Joe Biden embraced far-left anti-gun extremist Robert Francis O'Rourke during a rally on Monday night in Texas, declaring that the failed Senate and presidential candidate was going to lead Biden's anti-Second Amendment efforts.  "I wanna make something clear, I'm going to guarantee you this is not the last you've seen of [O'Rourke]," Biden told the audience.  "You're going to take care of the gun problem with me.  You're going to be the one who leads this effort."

O'Rourke endorses Biden at Dallas rally on eve of Super Tuesday, as ex-VP appears to offer gun-control role.  In a surprise moment at the end of his Dallas rally on the eve of Super Tuesday, former Vice President Joe Biden called former Texas Rep. Beto O'Rourke up to the stage — and vowed to put O'Rourke, who has said the government should forcibly seize assault rifles from Americans, in charge of gun-control efforts. [...] O'Rourke called President Trump an "existential threat" to "free and fair elections," and urged rallygoers to view Biden as the "antithesis of Donald Trump," someone who is "decent, kind, caring, and empathetic."

Beto O'Rourke Decides Not to Run for Senate.  Beto O'Rourke isn't running for Senate again, and Democrats who have unusually high hopes for Texas in 2020 are facing an unsettled landscape.  There's no clear frontrunner among a dozen Democrats challenging Republican incumbent John Cornyn.

Texas Democrats:  Let's get Beto O'Rourke to run against Cornyn.  There are some die-hard Beto O'Rourke supporters in Texas who want him to run against Senator John Cornyn in 2020.  I thought we were all past this conversation, but apparently we are not.

Beto O'Rourke backers cite poll showing he'd sail through Senate primary; Cornyn wary he'll heed the call.  With just a week remaining before the deadline to run for office in Texas next year, some Democrats are still hoping to see Beto O'Rourke jump into the race to unseat Sen. John Cornyn.  Poll after poll shows Cornyn would trounce the dozen or so contenders for the Democratic nomination at this point.  None can touch the near-universal name recognition O'Rourke enjoys among Texas Democrats after his near-miss against Sen. Ted Cruz last year.  And a new poll commissioned by backers worried that the current crop of candidates would fall short shows that O'Rourke is by far the top choice of Democratic voters in Texas at 58%, with the runner-up, state Sen. Royce West of Dallas at 13%.

The Editor says...
I like Royce West.  He represents me in the Texas State Senate, despite all my efforts.  But he seems like a nice guy.  He's a South Dallas superstar.  I saw him in the hardware store one day and he was quickly surrounded by fans.  Too bad he's a Democrat.

The End of Betomania.  The Right has had great fun mocking the O'Rourke campaign, but it is to Beto's credit that he took the Left's premises to their logical conclusions.  He was the most honest person in their primary field, saying things that Democrats have long said in private or on Vox.  "Hell yes," he wanted to take your AR-15 and your church's tax-exempt status.  "There can be no reward, no benefit, no tax break for anyone, any institution, any organization in America that denies the full human rights and the full civil rights of every single one of us," said a man hell-bent on stripping the constitutional rights of millions of law-abiding citizens.

Bye-Bye Beto.  Beto O'Rourke announced today [11/1/2019] that he is ending his presidential campaign and will not be a candidate for any office in 2020.  Given O'Rourke's inability to make headway in the polls, it is not surprising that he is dropping out.  What is noteworthy, perhaps, is the fact that he was ever taken seriously as a presidential candidate.  Beto was largely a creation of the media, which rooted unabashedly for him to defeat the despised Ted Cruz in the 2018 Senate race.  That contest made O'Rourke a celebrity on the left.  But evidence that he was in any way ready for prime time was entirely lacking, and once his usefulness as a Cruz opponent was over, interest waned.

Beto's pathetic cheer guide
'So sad!': Beto O'Rourke campaign 'cheer guides' uncovered in Des Moines arena.  A reporter disseminated a picture of fliers that gave crowd instructions for Beto O'Rourke supporters at an Iowa conference center.  New York Times politics reporter Katie Glueck noticed the papers abandoned on a table at the Des Moines, Iowa, conference center where O'Rourke had been scheduled to speak before abruptly dropping out of the race Friday [11/1/2019].  "A stack of these Beto cheer guides were in a box on an abandoned table at the arena here in DSM [Des Moines]," she tweeted.


Beto O'Rourke Calls It Quits.  We gather today to say a hearty RIP to the Beto O'Rourke political project, helmed by one Beto O'Rourke, who ran one of the most remarkable Senate campaigns and one of the most underwhelming presidential campaigns in modern American history — all in the space of about 31 months.

Skateboarding hacker poet pervert with drunk driving and burglary raps drops out of presidential race.  Beto O'Rourke, the smarmy, smug, monied Texas junior who got rich on his wife's inherited fortune, is out of the Democratic presidential race. [...] Beto certainly was part of the problem, having gone unusually crazy in his last miserable days of campaigning with toxic proposals.  The wannabe Latino candidate from El Paso vowed to tax churches, expropriate guns, jail all sorts of people but amnesty illegals, which didn't wash even with many Democrats.  No wonder his polling numbers went to around 1% or maybe zero.

Beto O'Rourke Spent $14 Million on Failed Presidential Campaign.  The latest campaign finance report issued on September 30 showed [Former Congressman Beto] O'Rourke spent $13,965,478, according to Open Secrets.  The former Texas congressman ended up with only about $3 million cash on hand.  Final numbers for his campaign have yet to be released, but he likely surpassed $14 million in money spent the 30 days since his last report.

Beto O'Rourke's Moment of Truth.  The dashing of Beto O'Rourke's presidential hopes can be traced, in our estimation, to one moment of truth.  It wasn't his tendency to flap his arms, say, or his radical green agenda or his claim that he was born to be in the political fray, unconvincing as all those might be.  It was his vow after the mass shooting at El Paso.  "Hell yes," he shouted during the Democratic debate in Houston, "we're going to take your AR-15."

Beto O'Rourke's dashed White House dreams trolled by NRA: 'Hell yes'.  The National Rifle Association wasted no time on Friday trolling Beto O'Rourke's failed presidential dreams by referencing his "Hell yes!" response on the idea of AR-15 confiscations.  "Beto O'Rourke has dropped out of the 2020 presidential race.  That makes it two failed campaigns in one year!" the NRA tweeted after Mr. O'Rourke ended his campaign.  "Let this be a lesson:  Running on destroying the Second Amendment and stripping Americans of their firearms is never a good idea.

Beto O'Rourke Quits 2020 Race.  Former Rep. Robert Francis "Beto" O'Rourke (D-TX) announced Friday evening that he is dropping out of the 2020 presidential race.  "Though it is difficult to accept, it is clear to me now that this campaign does not have the means to move forward successfully.  My service to the country will not be as a candidate or as the nominee," O'Rourke said in a statement posted to Medium.

Beto O'Rourke drops out of race to be Democratic 2020 presidential candidate.  Beto O'Rourke has dropped out of the 2020 democratic presidential primary race, after a months-long campaign in which he struggled to recapture the excitement of his failed 2018 Senate run.  The former US congressman had struggled to stand out in a crowded Democratic field, which includes several other big political personalities who managed to capture much of the race's attention as the Texan's campaign struggled.

O'Rourke: 'Very Compelling' Case That Baghdadi Raid Succeeded 'Despite' Trump.  During an interview aired on Monday's broadcast of Comedy Central's "Daily Show," 2020 presidential candidate former Representative Beto O'Rourke (D-TX) stated that there is a "very compelling" case that the raid that killed ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi succeeded "despite" President Trump.

Beto O'Rourke releases plan to overhaul 'racist' criminal justice system.  Democratic presidential hopeful Beto O'Rourke on Monday released a plan to reform a "racist" U.S. criminal justice system that includes a goal of reducing incarceration by at least 25,000 inmates during his first term.  Mr. O'Rourke said it's unacceptable that America locks up "more of our own" than any other country on the planet.  "We will not only reform this racist system, but we will work to end mass incarceration by ensuring fewer Americans enter the system in the first place while prioritizing rehabilitation and successful re-entry for those who have been locked out of it — or locked up in it," said Mr. O'Rourke, a former congressman from Texas.

Beto O'Rourke:  We will use 'criminal code' against people who refuse to turn in AR-15s.  Beto O'Rourke said he would use the criminal code to back up his proposal to confiscate AR-15s and other "weapons of war" from Americans.  "If we're able to pass mandatory buybacks and I'm able to sign that into law, then I fully expect our fellow Americans to turn in their AR-15s and their AK-47s," the former Texas congressman said in a Thursday CBS News interview when asked if his policy was "too retroactive."  O'Rourke continued his answer by saying there would be criminal consequences if people were to "persist" in holding onto their weapons.

Democratic Debate: 10 Questions Left on the Cutting Room Floor.  [#9] Rep. Beto O'Rourke, you say you've benefited from "white privilege" and that America is built on "endemic" and "foundational" racism.  On the stage with you are Sen. Cory Booker, of African descent; Andrew Yang, of Chinese descent; Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, who is Samoan American; and Sen. Kamala Harris, whose background is Jamaican and Indian.  Why didn't "endemic" and "foundational" racism prevent these candidates of color from being on the same stage with you, on the same night, competing for the same job?

Beto O'Rourke the America Hating, Gun Grabbing, Wannabe Tyrant Compares Donald Trump to Hitler.  During an interview with MSNBC propagandist Al Sharpton, Democrat Beto O'Rourke, the dirt-eating, America-hating, wannabe tyrant who said he would make gun owners sell their weapons to the government, falsely claimed that Donald Trump is inspired by Hitler and Nazi propagandist Josef Goebbels.

Beto's 15 minutes of fame are up.  The former Texas Democratic congressman's 15 minutes of fame were up last November after he lost a U.S. Senate race to Republican Sen. Ted Cruz, but apparently, no one thought to tell him.  Mr. O'Rourke didn't need to find a real job after losing the Senate contest (in which he became a liberal media darling for nearly upsetting Mr. Cruz, whom they loathe) because he's married to the daughter of a billionaire, so this "1 percenter" by marriage instead opted to fail upward.  Despite serving three terms in the House that were at best undistinguished, Mr. O'Rourke surveyed a weak Democratic presidential field for 2020 and concluded that his closer-than-expected Senate contest entitled him to serious consideration for the party's nomination for president.  Despite his Kennedy-esque (as in "Robert F.") looks, Mr. O'Rourke's presidential bid has thus far failed to generate much traction.

Beto O'Rourke Announces Support for Menstrual Equity Act on National Period Day.  Not to be outdone by Cory Booker's "women are people" moment in the last debate, Beto O'Rourke decided to virtue signal his pro-woman accolades on Saturday by tweeting that "women across America don't have access to the period products they need," and since it is #NationalPeriodDay (who knew that was a thing?), that "men need to join women in demanding real change."  Beto wants "real change" and identifies as a man for the moment (at least until he needs a Hail Mary for his campaign) and he's announced his support for the Menstrual Equity Act.

Police Groups Slam Beto's Plan to Send Cops to Collect Americans' Guns.  National law enforcement organizations harshly criticized Democratic presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke's plan to send police officers to collect AR-15s and AK-47s from those who refuse to turn them in under his mandatory buyback scheme.  In interviews with the Washington Free Beacon, leaders from groups representing hundreds of thousands of law enforcement officers described Beto's gun confiscation plan as "ridiculous," "asinine," and likely unconstitutional.

The Editor says...
LIKELY unconstitutional?  Please explain the loopholes and legal contortions that would be needed to justify a decree that the Second Amendment permits door-to-door gun confiscation.

Sheriffs Send Beto to the Burn Ward Over His Threat to Send Law Enforcement to Gun Owner's Homes.  While on MSNBC's Morning Joe, Democratic 2020 candidate and wannabe tyrant Robert "Beto" O'Rourke made it clear that in an America where he's president, he will send law enforcement to the homes of people who choose not to participate in the mandatory buyback program and take their gun by force.  O'Rourke told "Morning Joe" host Joe Scarborough that in the instance of a gun owner keeping his AR-15 to himself, then he can count on a visit by someone with a badge and a gun. [...] It would appear that law enforcement has some things to say about that, and O'Rourke may not like what they have to say.

Beto's 2020 Legacy:  Offering Frightening Glimpses Into the Authoritarian Left's Ultimate Goals.  Beto O'Rourke, who is still running for president, has been in 'say anything' mode for months.  Desperate to gain traction in a race in which he's been an overhyped bit player, the former Texas Congressman continues to pander to the hard Left on various social issues, telling them what they want to hear, and framing his radicalism as 'bravery' that rival candidates don't possess.  The more potent effect he's having, it seems, is on the Right.  He's steadily confirming the worst fears of conservatives by publicly and enthusiastically sliding to the bottom of several slippery slopes — and he's attracting loud applause from progressive audiences, further entrenching center-right Americans' fears.

Beto Would Risk Another Waco.  In an interview with "Morning Joe" host Joe Scarborough on MSNBC on Wednesday [10/16/2019], presidential candidate Peter Francis O'Rourke admitted that, yes, he was willing to pry your AR-15 from your cold dead hands. [...] Which part of "the right to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed" in the Second Amendment do you not understand? [...] Of course, Beto expects the law-abiding citizen, perhaps a veteran, protecting his family will simply answer the door and respond to the demand that he surrender his legally owned firearm along with his constitutional rights by saying, "Excuse me, officer, I know I fought for my country and have threatened no one, but since some politician who is protected by armed security thinks I'm a danger to my community, well, here they are.

O'Rourke's America.  [Scroll down]  O'Rourke is a cretin, and an ambitious cretin at that.  And what are his ambitions?  Turning America into the airport.  O'Rourke proposes to gut the Bill of Rights — beginning with the First Amendment and the Second Amendment — to stick the federal snout into Americans' bedrooms and churches, and anywhere else he detects the scent of nonconformity. [...] O'Rourke has announced plans to dispatch armed federal agents to conduct door-to-door raids to seize such firearms, because they offend his personal sensibilities.  It is not as though this is part of some greater "tough on crime" posture.  O'Rourke isn't exactly a law-and-order man:  He has no interest in enforcing our immigration laws, for instance.  And he has proposed to enfranchise felons, too — not after they've served their time and completed their sentences, but while they are incarcerated.

Beto Admits Non-Compliant AR-15 Owners Would Receive a 'Visit from a Law-Enforcement Officer' under His Plan.  Democratic presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke admitted on Wednesday [10/16/2019] that under his federal gun "buyback" plan, police officers would go to the homes of those gun owners who refused to sell their weapons to the government in order to "recover" the banned semi-automatic rifles.  "What's the next step for the federal government there?" Joe Scarborough asked O'Rourke on MSNBC, giving the example of a "rancher in Texas" who refuses to give up his AR-15.  "I think just as in any law that is not followed or flagrantly abused there have to be consequences or else there is no respect for the law," O'Rourke responded.  "So in that case I think there would be a visit by law enforcement to recover that firearm and make sure that it is purchased, bought back, so that it cannot be potentially used against somebody else."

Beto's Gospel of Despair.  [Scroll down]  Behold the words of flaky far-left presidential wannabe Robert Francis O'Rourke.  He goes by "Beto," a culturally appropriated nickname that his politically savvy father gave him so he eventually could bamboozle El Paso's overwhelmingly Hispanic voters into believing that the tube-sock-white Robert is actually Roberto and, thus, Hispanic.  This poser told the New Hampshire Democratic party convention last Saturday that America in 2019 is defined by its original sin:  slavery.  "This is a country that has been defined by foundational, systemic, endemic racism since the very founding of this country," O'Rourke shouted, his arms typically flapping about, like the late Leonard Bernstein conducting the New York Philharmonic.

Meghan McCain predicts Beto O'Rourke will land MSNBC show after 2020 raceThe View co-host Meghan McCain suggested that 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke is tailoring his campaign in order to get a show on MSNBC after he drops out of the race.  McCain, 34, made the claim on Wednesday morning, the day after the fourth presidential primary debate.  In one viral moment, O'Rourke tangled with South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg over his proposed gun confiscation plan.

Here are five questions that need to be asked.  [#2] Second, do the other Democratic presidential candidates support Beto O'Rourke's proposal to cut off tax deductibility for any church or other religious institution that does not recognize gay marriage?  This is a boldly radical idea comparable to O'Rourke's call for compulsory gun confiscation.  How do the other candidates handle their slavish devotion to identity politics when faced with this bold but politically deadly proposal?

Michael Bloomberg:  O'Rourke's Confiscation Talk Just Strengthens Opposition.  Gun control proponent Michael Bloomberg [...] gave an interview to the Firing Line with Margaret Hoover, where he intimated O'Rourke's approach is a, "rallying cry for people that say they are overstepping their bounds."  Town Hall quoted Bloomberg describing O'Rourke's confiscatory plan as "so impractical."  Bloomberg made clear his opposition to civilian ownership of many commonly-owned semiautomatic rifles, but added that O'Rourke's approach, "is not the way to win this issue."

What We Can Learn from the Candidacy of 'Beto' O'Rourke.  What happened to Beto?  One short year ago, Robert Francis "Beto" O'Rourke was riding high, primed to upset Sen. Ted Cruz in in the 2018 Senate election. [...] And then came the fall — well, maybe less a fall and more a steady deflation.  It was nothing O'Rourke did specifically that set his fortunes downward; it was general fizzing.  After a phenomenal first month, he couldn't raise as much money for his campaign.  Members of the media seemed to notice that there was nothing noteworthy about him.  While Biden offered to continue Obama's legacy, Warren and Sanders offered soft socialism, and Harris, Booker, and Buttigieg offered diversity, O'Rourke offered... a culturally appropriated nickname.  He was a blank slate ready to say whatever the crowd wanted him to say.

Beto O'Rourke Just Learned His Son's Email Address.  Failed Senate candidate Beto O'Rourke, who has been criticized in the past for joking about being an absentee dad who "sometimes" helps his wife raise their three children, said Thursday [9/19/2019] that he only recently learned his 12-year-old son's email address.  "We emailed each other," O'Rourke told podcast host Bill Simmons during a conversation about the Democrat's eldest son, Ulysses.  "It was the first kind of independent contact I'd had with him, where it wasn't his mom saying, 'Hey, write your dad a letter, he'd love that.'  I found his email address — I didn't know that kids emailed — found his email address and just shot him a note yesterday."

Pro-Second Amendment Columbine Survivor Gets Beto to Admit:  I'm Open to Banning All Guns.  During an event in Colorado Thursday night [9/19/2019], 2020 Democratic Presidential Candidate Beto O'Rourke was asked if he is open to a ban on all semi-automatic firearms.

NRA crowns Beto O'Rourke AR-15 salesman of the month: 'Possibly even of the year'.  The National Rifle Association labeled presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke the "AR-15 salesman of the month" after he called for the confiscation of AR-15s and AK-47s.  The gun rights group suggested the former Texas congressman could even be the AR-15 salesman of the year.

They're not alarmed, they're embarrassed.
O'Rourke gun confiscation talk alarms Democrats.  Former Rep. Beto O'Rourke's (D-Texas) full-throated endorsement of a mandatory gun buyback proposal has raised alarms among Democrats.  They see the presidential candidate's proposal as playing into Republican hands and putting Democratic candidates on the back foot.  They also say it could be used by the National Rifle Association (NRA) to raise money and members, and to fight efforts to impose tougher background checks and other measures that might reduce gun violence.  "I think we should be focused on the stuff that we can get across the finish line and I think that was a bit of a gift to the NRA," Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) told The Hill.

Beto O'Rourke:  Fines will 'compel' AR-15 owners to turn their guns.  Former Rep. Beto O'Rourke provided insight into how police would enforce his proposal for a government confiscation of AR-15s and AK-47s.  The Democratic presidential candidate told reporters he would impose a fine on AR-15 owners to "compel" them to follow the law and turn in their banned firearms.  Owners who turn in the guns will then be compensated.  "We expect our fellow Americans to follow the law.  If they do not, there would be a fine imposed to compel them to follow the law," O'Rourke said.  "We've seen this implemented successfully in Australia, where you've seen a near 50% reduction in gun violence deaths in that country."

Beto O'Rourke Thinks that Fines Will 'Compel' AR-15 Owners to Give Up their Guns.  To claim that there was a 50 percent decline in gun violence because of a government gun confiscation program is an outright lie.  There were about a dozen other gun control laws passed at the same time that made it damn near impossible to buy or own a gun of any kind.  O'Rourke knows this — or at least he should.

In Aurora, Beto O'Rourke says he's open to broadening gun buyback proposal.  Democratic presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke says he's open to broadening his proposal to require owners of AK-47s and AR-15s to sell them to the government.  During an emotional town hall Thursday in Aurora, a man who identified himself as a survivor of the 1999 Columbine massacre noted that the shooters there didn't use the military-style weapons O'Rourke wants to take.  They instead used regular semi-automatic weapons.  He challenged O'Rourke to confiscate those arms as well.  O'Rourke told reporters afterward:  "If there's a way to improve what we proposed, I want to make sure we're reflecting that."

Fact-check:  Would Beto O'Rourke's criminal history prevent him from purchasing a gun?  O'Rourke was arrested for two misdemeanors in the 1990s — for burglary and DWI. Both cases were dismissed and he was not convicted of either charge.  O'Rourke could have passed a gun-purchase background check and obtained a license to carry once the charges were dismissed.  Even if he had been convicted of these charges, he still could purchase a gun today.

Beto O'Rourke:  AR-15 Salesman of the Month, Perhaps the Year.  In a Democrat presidential field where the front runners are drawing 30 to 34 percent support, Robert "Beto" Rourke is only drawing 4 percent, but he sure can sell some AR-15s.

The price just went up.
Colt suspends production of AR-15 for civilian market.  Colt's chief executive officer, Dennis Veilleux, says it is not permanently ending production but believes there is already an adequate supply of sporting rifles on the market.  He said in a statement Thursday [9/19/2019] the company will concentrate on fulfilling military and law enforcement contracts with its rifle manufacturing.

The Alternative History of the United States.  In the early going of the presidential race, Beto was figured to be a prime contender:  An April poll showed him in a solid third place.  But he's faded dramatically; now the once-media darling is polling below 3 percent.  So O'Rourke has refashioned himself into a woke warrior.  He's declared that he wants to forcibly remove guns from law-abiding Americans, that President Trump is a "white supremacist" posing a "mortal threat to people of color" and that the time has come for race reparations.  Most dramatically, O'Rourke has refashioned his vision of American history.

Arizona Gun Store Offers 'Beto Special' On AR15s And AK47s — Sells Out In One Day.  When Obama was president, people called him America's greatest gun salesman because every time he talked about gun control, sales would go through the roof.  Now Beto O'Rourke is getting in on that action.  After Beto declared his intentions to confiscate guns at the last Democrat debate, one Arizona gun store decided to do a sale in his name.  It worked out pretty well for them.

Related topic:  Barack H. Obama: Gun Salesman of the Year.

Beto's Gun Grab And Constitution Day.  September 17 is Constitution Day and Peter Francis O'Rourke plans on celebrating it by gutting the document's Second Amendment, infringing on the right to bear arms that the Constitution says shall not be infringed.  Of course, O'Rourke also shares the Democrat belief that the Constitution's "penumbras and emanations" confers a right to privacy allowing unborn children to be aborted until the moment of birth.  There he was on Sunday's [9/15/2019] "Meet the Press," his dental work complete and ear hair properly trimmed, to claim his plan to confiscate from law-abiding citizens by force and under penalty of law their AR-15s was in fact constitutional under the Constitution's Commerce clause.

Beto's Racist City Upon a Hill.  "We can mark the creation of this country not at the Fourth of July, 1776, but August 20, 1619, when the first kidnapped African was brought to this country against his will and in bondage and as a slave built the greatness, and the success, and the wealth that neither he nor his descendants would ever be able to participate in or enjoy."  So says Beto O'Rourke, Boy Beto, here in the form of Professor Beto, lecturing the Democrat faithful at the party debate in Houston last week, the day after America mourned the anniversary of 9/11.  But it wasn't the evil of 9/11 that was in Beto's crosshairs; it was America, at its very core.  Beto explained that racism was not merely "endemic" to America but "foundational."  It's a line that works fabulously for Beto among fellow progressives, who stomp and applaud enthusiastically.

Why Beto O' Rourke's Embrace Of The 1619 Project Is Dangerous.  In Thursday night's Democratic primary debate, candidate Beto O' Rourke claimed that Americans should "mark the creation of this country not at the Fourth of July, 1776, but August 20, 1619, when the first kidnapped African was brought to this country against his will."  O'Rourke's comments were inspired by The New York Times' 1619 Project, which "aims to reframe the country's history" by placing 1619 as our true founding.  The project is a collection of essays, literary works, and curriculum all aimed at this new understanding of American history.  This project is dangerous enough as a misguided intellectual exercise, but its danger to our republic increases exponentially once put in the hands of a radical politician who could one day be president.

'Through the Commerce Clause': Beto O'Rourke insists his gun confiscation plan is 'constitutionally sound'.  Presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke defended his plan to confiscate AR-15s and AK-47s and said it would not run counter to the Second Amendment to the Constitution.  "This is something that we're able to do through the Commerce Clause and this is something that is not prevented from — wouldn't prevent the United States from doing by the Second Amendment.  So this is constitutionally sound," O'Rourke told NBC's Meet the Press.  "This is absolutely necessary if we care about the lives of our fellow Americans."  O'Rourke claimed he has had owners of AR-15s come up to him and say, "I own one of these guns, don't need it to hunt, don't need it for self-defense.  This is the right thing to do, I would gladly give it up.'"

The Editor says...
I find it difficult to fully express my skepticism of Beto's dubious anecdote about AR-15 owners telling him they'd be glad to forfeit their guns.  If they don't need such a weapon for hunting or for self-defense, why did they purchase them?  Did they not deliberate their (plural) purchases?  If they had buyer's remorse, why didn't they just sell the guns and forego the political grandstanding?  Guns aren't cheap, and as the likelihood increases that we will see a gun-grabbing commie in the White House, the more expensive guns and ammo will become.

Beto O'Rourke's record on El Paso real estate deal has some Latinos troubled.  Romelia Mendoza remembers seeing a young, amicable Beto O'Rourke ambling through her neighborhood, heading to meetings downtown or his nearby office.  That's why she's baffled — and more than a little miffed — that the Democratic presidential candidate has been so muted on saving her neighborhood from the wrecking ball.  "The way he would come through here, it was like he was a resident," said Mendoza, 66. "But he's turned his back on us.  There's been no support from him at all."

Democrats adopt swearing as a campaign strategy.  A number of low-polling 2020 Democrats are adopting the use of bad language in a bid to gain media attention and propel themselves to relevancy.  Beto O'Rourke began dropping a number of F-bombs when speaking about issues like gun violence around the time his campaign began a relaunch after he failed to gain any traction in polls.

'Beto' O'Rourke Confirms: 'Yes' I Want to Tear Down Border Walls.  Robert Francis "Beto" O'Rourke (D) confirmed in an interview with Latino USA's Maria Hinojosa Friday [9/13/2019] that he is in favor of physically tearing down existing sections of the wall on the U.S.-Mexico border.  "So Beto I just want to be clear.  Have you said you want to tear down the wall?" Hinojosa asked.  "If I'm elected, I will tear down that wall.  Then suddenly the Democrat is quoting the Republican Ronald Reagan — tear down that wall."
Peculiar placement of quotation marks in original.

Democratic senator warns O'Rourke AR-15 pledge could haunt party for years.  Sen. Christopher Coons (D-Del.) on Friday warned that Beto O'Rourke's pledge that the government will confiscate semiautomatic AR-15 rifles will become a rallying cry for gun rights groups for years to come and haunt the Democratic Party far into the future.  "I frankly think that that clip will be played for years at Second Amendment rallies with organizations that try to scare people by saying that Democrats are coming for your guns," Coons, an ally of former Vice President Joe Biden in the Democratic race, told CNN's Poppy Harlow in an interview.

Beto Blows Lid Off 'No One Wants to Take Your Guns'.  Democrats and media members have pledged for years some version of "nobody wants to take your guns away" when gun control laws come up for debate.  Former Rep. Beto O'Rourke (D., Texas), in a reversal of a position he held last year, has called for mandatory buybacks of semi-automatic rifles like the AR-15 and AK-47. [...] Going back to 2012, the Free Beacon found clips of numerous left-leaning figures who promised that such a position wasn't part of any gun control platform.

Beto Is a Disaster for the Gun-Control Movement.  He almost certainly doesn't realize it, but Beto O'Rourke is likely to be the worst thing to happen to the gun-control movement in decades — and, if he continues in this mode, he may turn out to be the worst thing to happen to the Democratic party in a long time, too.  In Houston last night, O'Rourke abandoned his cloying euphemisms ("mandatory buybacks") and delivered a deliberate, carefully scripted endorsement of gun confiscation, which, within minutes, his campaign began to sell on t-shirts.  "Hell yes," Beto said, "we're going to take your AR-15."  Thus, upon the instant, did two decades' worth of Democratic rhetoric go up in a puff of smoke.

Fact Check:  Beto O'Rourke 'Absolutely Wrong' on Ambulance Shortage After Texas Shootings.  Former Rep. Beto O'Rourke (D-TX) received praised from his rivals onstage at the third Democrat debate at Texas Southern University in Houston, Texas, on Thursday evening.  But he is being criticized by local West Texas CBS affiliate KOSA-7, which says that his claim that there were not enough ambulances available is "absolutely wrong."

Yes, They Are Coming for Your Guns.  Prohibition has never been well received in America, and guns have proven no exception to that rule.  In New York, Connecticut, and New Jersey, attempts at the confiscation of "high capacity" magazines and the registration of "assault weapons" have both fallen embarrassingly flat — to the point that the police have simply refused to aid enforcement or to prosecute the dissenters.  Does Beto, who must know this, expect the result to be different in Texas, Wyoming, or Florida?  Earlier this week, the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives was unable to marshal enough votes to pass a ban on the sale of "assault weapons" — let alone to mount a confiscation drive.  Sorry, Robert Francis.  That dog ain't gonna hunt.

What Do You Mean, 'We'?  Robert Francis "Beto" O'Rourke, the former congressman from Texas who couldn't beat Ted Cruz in a U.S. Senate race but who nevertheless believes he can win the presidency, said a curious thing at the Democrats' third primary debate in Houston on Thursday night.  "Hell yes," he said, "we'll take your AR-15 and your AK-47 ..."  As I say, curious.  Who exactly, I wonder, does Beto mean by "we"?  A legion of overgrown adolescent 6-foot-4 rich-kids like him, collecting rifles on skateboards?  Or does he mean the United States government, under his command?  If he intended the latter, then a little history lesson might be in order.

Cruz Criticizes PolitiFact for Claiming O'Rourke Doesn't Plan to 'Take Our Guns'.  Texas senator Ted Cruz took aim at fact-checking website PolitiFact on Friday, criticizing the site for having previously claimed that Democratic presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke does not plan to "take our guns" after O'Rourke explicitly suggested otherwise at Thursday night's Democratic debate. [...] "Just a reminder, when I said it, PolitiFact (a wholly-owned subsidiary of the DNC) rated 'Beto wants to take our guns' as FALSE," Cruz wrote in a tweet.  "Maybe they should buy one of his new t-shirts," he added, along with a picture of a shirt being sold by the O'Rourke campaign which reads, "Hell yes, we're going to take your AR-15."

O'Rourke: USA Should Date Its Creation to 1619 When First Slaves Came, Not to 1776.  Asked why he is the most qualified candidate to address the nation's racial "divide," Beto O'Rourke slammed President Trump as a white supremacist and said the United States should mark its founding, not on July 4, 1776, but on August 20, 1619, "When the first kidnapped African was brought to this country against his will."

The Editor says...
Slaves were not "kidnapped Africans."  They were sold into slavery by other Africans, after losing inter-tribal wars.

Beto Asks Banks to Boycott Gun Industry.  Democratic presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke on Thursday called on big banks and other financial institutions to cut off business with gun companies in an effort to bankrupt them.  "Credit cards have enabled many of America's mass shootings in the last decade — and with Washington unwilling to act, they need to cut off the sales of weapons of war today," O'Rourke tweeted.

This man is a buffoon.
Beto O'Rourke declares 'right' to live close to work; rich should 'be forced' to live among poor.  Presidential hopeful Beto O'Rourke says it is a fundamental "right" for individuals to live near their place of employment and that wealthy Americans should "be forced" to live among the poor.  "Living close to work shouldn't be a luxury for the rich.  It's a right for everyone," the former Texas congressman tweeted Monday evening [9/9/2019].

Democrat Beto O'Rourke: Americans Will Gladly Turn Over their Guns.  This past weekend Beto told Democrats at the New Hampshire Democratic Party Convention that he will buy back guns from Americans and they will gladly turn them over.

O'Rourke: El Paso Shooting Came 'At the Invitation of Our President'.  Beto O'Rourke (D.) accused President Donald Trump of inviting mass shootings during an appearance Saturday [9/7/2019] at the New Hampshire Democratic Party State Convention.  The former Texas congressman said the El Paso shooter, who killed 22 people, was a product of America's racist culture and Trump's racist rhetoric.  "This person drove 600 miles with that hatred, really at the invitation of our president, and opened fire with that AK-47 on innocent people in a Walmart, killing 22 of them and grievously wounding many dozens more," O'Rourke said.

Beto is sticking to the 'Stacey Abrams was robbed' conspiracy theory.  Beto O'Rourke this week claimed, without evidence (because there is none), that failed Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams was robbed of the governor's mansion in 2018.  This is a lie, of course, and a contemptible one that undermines our democracy.  But at least it is a step up from the former congressman's campaign attempts to make his response to mass shootings go viral.

Beto Claims Warnings Against His Anti-Gun Platform Are 'Not Helpful' Because They're 'Self-Fulfilling'.  Democratic presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke criticized opponents of his recent proposal for the federal government to seize firearms from American citizens, arguing that the warning that it could lead to violence is unhelpful.  "I just, I think that kind of language and rhetoric is not helpful," O'Rourke told The Daily Beast on Wednesday.  "It becomes self-fulfilling — you have people on TV, who are almost giving you permission to be violent and saying 'you know, this is, this is going to happen.'"

A Perfect Distillation of Beto O'Rourke.  O'Rourke's campaign has wandered about the political wilderness in pursuit of some transcendent "moment," one that might elevate it above that which it most plainly is:  an ego trip for Robert Francis O'Rourke, who will not be the Democratic nominee, and never, in truth, was anything more than an heir to the Jon Ossoff mania that so exercised a certain sort of MSNBC viewer.  The Blue Wave has come and gone, but Beto O'Rourke has not.

Beto O'Rourke's Campaign is Slinging Mass Shooting T-Shirts, One Day After the Deadly Rampage in Texas.  Beto O'Rourke's campaign released a new t-shirt on Sunday [8/1/2019] in response to the deadly rampage in Texas just one day before.  The seven victims who lost their lives in the mass shooting that took place in Midland and Odessa have not even been buried yet.

Beto O'Rourke reaffirms dark gun control plan — and says it won't be voluntary.  Democratic presidential contender Beto O'Rourke reaffirmed his vision for gun control Sunday in the wake of another shooting tragedy in Texas that left seven people murdered and nearly two dozen others injured.  "What we've been saying, the rhetoric we've been using, the policies and practices and politics of this country has not been as urgent enough as needed.  Doesn't meet this crisis," O'Rourke said on MSNBC.  "So let's speak clearly and bluntly and then take decisive action:  Universal background checks, red flag laws, ending the sales of weapons of war, but also importantly, and politically difficult to say, buy those weapons of war back.  Mandate that.  Not voluntarily," O'Rourke continued

Desperate for Attention, Beto Drops 'F-Bombs' All Over the Place.  It's hard to know what constituency Democratic presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke is targeting by dropping F-bombs all over the media landscape.  Normally, I'd guess high school hipsters but they can't vote.  Maybe Beto is trying to sound "working class" — power to the effin' worker and all that.  But let's face it, Beto doesn't look or sound "working class."  He looks and sounds like a nerdy folk singer — which is exactly what he was.

O'Rourke Assures Everyone:  Yes, I Will Take Your Guns Away.  Fortunately, he's not going to be president.

Crowd Cheers When Beto O'Rourke Voices Support For Day-Before-Birth Abortion.  The Far-left Democrats continue to reveal their true sick and twisted selves every day.  This time, Robert Francis "Beto" O'Rourke told a man during a campaign event that he supports a woman's right to kill her baby even just one day before birth.  [Video clip]

Beto O'Rourke Campaign:  Breitbart Won't Be Banned from More Events.  Robert Francis "Beto" O'Rourke's 2020 campaign, under heavy fire for ejecting Breitbart News senior editor-at-large Joel Pollak from an event on Tuesday [8/27/2019], has confirmed it will not remove Breitbart News reporters from the candidate's future events, according to a report.  Earlier Wednesday, the O'Rourke campaign claimed a staff member booted Breitbart News senior editor-at-large Joel Pollak from a speech at Benedict College, a historically black college in Columbia, South Carolina, in an attempt to protect black students.

Beto O'Rourke Campaign Claims [a] Breitbart Reporter [was] Ejected to Protect Black Students.  The flailing 2020 presidential campaign of former Rep. Robert Francis "Beto" O'Rourke (D-TX) claimed Wednesday [8/28/2019] that a staffer ejected Breitbart News senior editor-at-large Joel Pollak from a speech at Benedict College, a historically black college, to protect black students.  In a statement Wednesday, O'Rourke's press secretary, Aleigha Cavalier, attempted to defend against the growing controversy stemming from Pollak's removal, claiming that while the candidate "believes in the right to a free press," Breitbart News "walks the line between being news and a perpetrator of hate speech."

The Editor says...
You attend an all-black school, and then you accuse others of racism?

Beto O'Rourke Supporters Boo [a] Man for Urging America to Return to God.  Supporters of Beto O'Rourke heckled a man at a campaign event who urged the former congressman to lead America back to more Christian values to reduce violence.  The man stood up and addressed O'Rourke at a town hall event at Seminar Brewing Company in Florence, South Carolina.

Trump Campaign, GOP, Media Respond to Beto Ejecting Breitbart News Reporter.  Members of the Trump campaign, media, and GOP reacted to Beto O'Rourke (D) ejecting a Breitbart News reporter from his speech at Benedict College in Columbia, South Carolina, Tuesday, calling O'Rourke a "fraud" and adding that his action is an "attack on a free press."  O'Rourke, who has lauded himself as a champion of a free press, had Breitbart News's Senior Editor-at-Large Joel Pollak removed from his event at Benedict College Tuesday, with a member of his campaign claiming that Pollak had been "disruptive" at past events — an assertion that is patently false.

Beto Says U.S. to Blame for Guatemala Drought, Not God or 'Mother Nature'.  Beto O'Rourke, a former congressman from El Paso, Texas, knows for certain that Guatemala's drought is the result of carbon emissions more than one thousand miles away.  He knows for certain that neither God nor Mother Nature is responsible for the drought because ... science!  "And Guatemala suffering one of the greatest droughts in their recorded history, caused not by God nor by Mother Nature, but by you and me and all of us and our emissions and our excesses and our inaction in the face of the facts and the science and the truth," O'Rourke told the crowd at the College of Charleston in South Carolina Monday evening [8/26/2019].

The Editor says...
If you're wearing a MAGA hat outside a Portland bar at 1:00 a.m., it would be news if you didn't come under attack.

Beto O'Rourke says abortion on day before a full-term birth is 'a decision for the woman to make'.  Presidential contender Beto O'Rourke said he believes the decision to have a third-trimester abortion should be up to women, and not men or the government.  The 46-year-old Texas Democrat was speaking at the College of Charleston as part of the school's "Bully Pulpit" series, and was asked a question by a man in the audience about third-trimester abortions.

Move over, Beto O'Rourke.  Elizabeth Warren is the new plush profile queen.  Sorry, Beto O'Rourke.  The press has found another.  Like a speed-dater, newsrooms have moved on already.  They have shifted the focus of their plush, overly friendly media profiles away from the former Texas congressman to a hopefully more suitable match:  Sen. Elizabeth Warren.

Beto: Trump Leading a 'Concerted, Organized Attack Against' People of Color.  Sunday [8/18/2019] on NBC's "Meet the Press," 2020 presidential hopeful former Rep. Beto O'Rourke (D-TX) said President Donald Trump was engaged in a "concerted, organized attack against immigrants, against people of color."

Is Beto O'Rourke actually running for office?  Is Robert Francis O'Rourke actually running for president?  Don't misunderstand me.  I am fully aware that he remains, nominally, one of the 400 different generic white guy moderates currently seeking the Democratic nomination.  What I am asking is whether he actually wants to win.  I am wondering because Beto recently announced that he will not be campaigning in Iowa or New Hampshire, the states in which the earliest of these things called "primary contests" are held.

Don't Be Fooled, Omar and Tlaib Maliciously Set Up Israel Ban.  On July 17, 2019, Democrat Congresswoman Ilhan Omar introduced a pro-BDS movement resolution on Capitol Hill.  Her colleague, Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib, co-sponsored the resolution and compared the Israeli treatment of Palestinians to how the Nazis treated European Jews during World War II.  She made the horrific and false accusation during a speech on the House floor.  One day later, Omar and Tlaib announced they were planning a trip to Israel.  Coincidence?  Hardly.  The order and timing of events here is crucial and proves their goading of Israeli officials was a set up from the beginning.

O'Rourke gun plan calls for mandatory buybacks, universal sale checks.  Democratic presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke, having resumed his campaign, detailed a plan Friday to curb gun violence by imposing a national gun licensing system and registry, and a mandatory buyback program for assault weapons.

After Spending $79 Million on Senate Run, Beto Says Senate Seat Not 'Good Enough'.  Less than a year after he spent $79 million in his attempt to get elected to the U.S. Senate, former Democratic congressman Robert "Beto" O'Rourke now says a Senate seat isn't "good enough."  O'Rourke, who came out on the losing side of the most expensive Senate election in U.S. history last cycle, is being urged by many on his side of the aisle to abandon his presidential bid in favor of another shot at a Senate seat, this time against incumbent Republican senator John Cornyn.  He told supporters in his hometown of El Paso on Thursday [8/15/2019] he wasn't interested.

The Editor says...
If you voted for Robert F. O'Rourke rather than Ted Cruz, you should be deeply disillusioned, now that he admits that a mere Senate seat isn't prestigious enough for someone like him.

Take a look at Jake Tapper's face as Beto O'Rourke tries to tell him all Trump voters are racist.  It's an amazingly extended and strung out series of statements from a man who looks every inch the smarmy rich white lordling he is, telling America what a pack of racists they are for voting for President Trump.

Beto Peddles Misleading Charlottesville, 'Muslim Ban' Statements On CNN — No One Stops Him.  Democratic presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke continued to push misleading statements about President Donald Trump's "Muslim ban" and comments on the unrest in Charlottesville, Virginia — while CNN's "State of the Union" host Jake Tapper did not challenge him.

Beto Is Asked If Trump Voters Are Racist.  He Refuses To Answer.  Former Rep. Beto O'Rourke (D-TX) avoided opining on whether or not he believes that the Americans who decide to vote for President Donald Trump in the 2020 election are themselves racist.  "I think it's really hard," O'Rourke responded to CNN's Jake Tapper on Sunday when confronted with the question.  The presidential hopeful quickly pivoted to argue why he believes President Trump is racist, an assertion that he has repeatedly made since launching his bid for the presidency, but ramped up in the wake of back-to-back mass shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio.

Beto O'Rourke goes all-in against the "deplorables".  Because Beto ran as an outspoken lefty in Texas last year and nearly pulled off the upset of the decade, he "learned" that you can't go wrong being your outspoken left-wing self.  That was ... not the right lesson for a national primary in which the left side of the field is crowded with an avowed socialist and several socialist-adjacents, all of whom are better known than O'Rourke.

Beto O'Rourke:  Nazi-Obsessed Goofball.  One week the Democratic presidential candidate compares a Trump rally to the infamous Nazi rally in Nuremberg.  In another he compares America itself to the Third Reich, saying, ["]The only modern Western democracy that I can think of that said anything close to this is the Nazi Germany.["] [...] (News flash:  Nazi Germany was a dictatorship, not a "Western democracy.")

Trump Goes After O'Rourke:  Beto Is 'a Phony Name to Indicate Hispanic Heritage'.  The opportunism and sheer evil of Democrats is quite a sight to behold.  Nobody in their right minds truly believes that Trump "inspired" this attack, just like nobody believes that Elizabeth Warren inspired the equally horrific mass murder in Dayton, Ohio, which was — after all — carried out by a radical leftist.  But do we see and hear any conservative pointing a blaming finger at her, arguing that this act of domestic terrorism was caused by her political views?

Beto O'Rourke on Texas shooting:  Trump 'has no place' in El Paso.  2020 Democratic presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke, who is from El Paso, Texas — the location of a mass shooting where more than 20 people were killed in an apparent racist attack — said Monday that President Donald Trump is not welcome there.  O'Rourke, who has repeatedly labeled Trump a "racist," said that Trump helped create the tragedy in El Paso.

Beto O'Rourke proposes $500 billion fund in plan to address 'structural inequity' in education.  Democratic presidential hopeful Beto O'Rourke on Wednesday [7/24/2019] released a plan intended to close socioeconomic gaps in schools across the country, including a $500 billion fund to address what his campaign called a "structural inequity" in the country's education system.  [O'Rourke quote omitted for brevity, among other things.]  Mr. O'Rourke's campaign said there is an annual $23 billion funding gap between "predominantly white and predominantly non-white" school districts.  The plan also entails a federal ban on corporal punishment in schools, money for schools to implement "restorative justice" programs, and a requirement for teacher prep programs "to address racial bias and cultural competency."

Your Sunday schadenfreude.  Senator Ted Cruz faced down and won re-election in a heated campaign against not just a fake Hispanic pretty boy named Robert Francis O'Rourke, he defeated an intense propaganda offensive undertaken by Texas and national media.  That propaganda was not enough to convince Texas voters to hand a majority to O'Rourke, the already-wealthy populist who married an heiress to an estimated half billion-dollar fortune.

How Beto Made Himself into White-Privilege Guy.  Robert Francis O'Rourke is white.  If it's any consolation, he's very sorry about that.  "Beto" has been running from his Irish ancestry for some time now.  Long before the Left fell headlong into the logical termini of its triune fascination with race, power, and privilege, O'Rourke sensed that there was a currency to be had in becoming "Beto" rather than "Robert Francis."

Beto O'Rourke reveals that both he and his wife Amy are descendants of slave owners.  Democratic presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke said he was recently given documents showing that both he and his wife are descendants of people who owned slaves.  In a post Sunday night for the website Medium, the former Texas congressman wrote that the documents showed that one of his paternal great-great-great grandfathers owned two women, named Rose and Eliza, in the 1850s.  He said records also showed that one ancestor of his wife, Amy, owned slaves while another was part of the Confederate Army.

Genius! Beto O'Rourke:  "In My Administration We Are Going to Make Sure No One Is Criminally Prosecuted for Being a Human Being".  Beto O'Rourke came out with a new promise to voters on Sunday [7/14/2019].  The liberal darling and dunce told reporters he will "make sure" under his administration that "no one is criminally prosecuted for being a human being."  Thank goodness!  That is such a relief.

A desperate Beto O'Rourke goes for broke, claims America was founded on white supremacy.  A failing campaign makes a man desperate, and Beto O'Rourke surely is a desperate man.  The former Texas congressman was asked this week at roundtable event featuring immigrant and refugee participants to explain how President O'Rourke would fight white supremacy in the United States.  "I know this from my home state, Texas, places that formed the Confederacy, that this country was founded on white supremacy," the poorly polling 2020 Democratic primary candidate responded.  He added, "And every single institution and structure that we have in this country still reflects the legacy of slavery and segregation and Jim Crow and suppression, even in our democracy."  Remember:  O'Rourke was addressing immigrants and refugees.  Welcome to America, you idiots.

'This country was founded on white supremacy': Beto O'Rourke speaks with Tennessee immigrants.  On his second day of events in Nashville, Democratic presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke met with immigrants and refugees living in Tennessee on Monday [7/8/2019] for a roundtable discussion.  O'Rourke, a former Texas congressman, first held a rally at Marathon Music Works on Sunday, drawing hundreds of supporters to the campaign event where he largely focused on immigration and decried President Donald Trump's policies on detaining migrants at the southern border.

Rich father-in-law has helped, complicated O'Rourke's career.  Beto O'Rourke was running for the El Paso City Council in 2005 when he asked to meet with the illustrious real estate investor William Sanders.

O'Rourke to visit Mexico, meet turned away US asylum-seekers.  In his first international trip as a White House hopeful, the former congressman will visit Ciudad Juarez, across the Rio Grande from his native El Paso, Texas, on Sunday to view what he calls "the desperate circumstances" some are fleeing.

The Editor says...
Anyone who runs for President of the United States should be primarily concerned with the citizens of the United States, including such matters as providing for the common defense against the very people to whom Beto is pandering.  To put it another way, whose side is he on?  He is attempting to campaign, or at least generate photo ops, on the Mexican side of the border.

Beto Has Flash, Lots of Trust Fund Cash, and Little Else.  Why was Robert O'Rourke — "The Beto," as I like to call him — even on Wednesday night's "debate" stage in Miami?  How was it a debate when everyone there — including the moderators! — peddles almost identical anti-American and anti-nationalist policies?  Answer:  because The Beto is a creation of the Democrat Media Industrial Complex (DMIC).  He is a kind of political Chia Pet: water him, nurture, cultivate, and voila, you have a liberal "icon."

The Democrat debate farce.  During the first night's debates on NBC among ten of the Democratic presidential contenders, Robert "Beto" O'Rourke answered a straightforward question in Spanish, without even translating his answer.  This was a startling and amateurish moment considering that no one knew what he was talking about, and he did not even bother to explain.  Cory Booker looked at him sidewise as did an obviously surprised Elizabeth Warren, though neither laughed although his sudden excursion into a foreign language was excruciatingly funny.  Putting forward an idea you consider vastly important in a language that only a few understand is the height of hilarity.

The Myth and Fraud That There Ever Was an Arab Country or People Called 'Palestine'.  [Scroll down]  Others on the same bandwagon:  Robert O'Rourke, a Scottish-Irish skateboarder best known for break-ins, drunk driving, computer hacking, faking Hispanic heritage, and having his ear hairs cut.  Bernie Sanders, an American Communist.  What these and their ilk all have in common is that they each see nothing anti-Semitic in anything that Ilhan Abdullahi Omar or Rashida Tlaib has written or spoken, but they are unable to tolerate Jewish life in Judea and Samaria.

Democrat O'Rourke proposes 'war tax' on affluent U.S. families without military members.  Democratic presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke on Monday [6/24/2019] proposed taxing affluent American families who do not have members in the U.S. military as a way to fund healthcare for veterans.  The former congressman from Texas unveiled a plan for military veterans that includes a "war tax," in which taxpayers who earn over $200,000 a year would pay $1,000 in a new tax for each war embarked on by the United States.

Beto: U.S. Must Help Minor Illegal Immigrants Get Abortions.  On Saturday [6/22/2019], former Rep. Robert Francis "Beto" O'Rourke, a candidate for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, harped on the old liberal canard that President Donald Trump is somehow turning America into the dystopia in The Handmaid's Tale.  This time, he compared the Trump administration's policy of refusing to facilitate abortions for illegal immigrant minors to oppressive systematic rape to produce children.  Speaking at the Planned Parenthood Action Fund forum "We Decide," O'Rourke made the ridiculous comparison while pandering to abortion activists in a desperate attempt to revive his faltering presidential ambitions.

O'Rourke: 'I Don't Know That Anybody Deserves to Have a Billion Dollars'.  Former Texas congressman Robert Francis "Beto" O'Rourke suggested no one deserves to have a billion dollars during an interview with the New York Times.  "I don't know that anyone deserves to have a billion dollars," O'Rourke told the Times when asked if anyone deserves to have that much money.  It is unclear if O'Rourke thinks his father-in-law, who is estimated to be worth $500 million, deserves his money.

Double Standards?  HBO is planning to enhance Beto O'Rourke's chances of garnering the presidential nomination in 2020 by airing a documentary about his Senate race against Ted Cruz.  I'm not exactly sure how showing a skateboarding, middle-aged, dunce lose an election in which he out-spent his opponent by millions of dollars is supposed to burnish his image, but I guess HBO figures it can't hurt to get on the good side of Democrats.  Democrats, after all, have a long record of doing favors for their friends in Hollywood, in the teacher's union, in Silicon Valley, in the solar panel industry and in the hood.

Beto O'Rourke says white Americans don't know the full story of slavery, continues to support reparations.  Democratic presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke took an unconventional approach to reaching out to African-American voters Friday, meeting with a small group representing a community of slave descendants in South Carolina and saying white Americans do not know the full story of slavery.  O'Rourke spent Friday [6/14/20919] at a Baptist church in Beaufort, S.C., where the former Texas congressman met with leaders of the Gullah/Geechee Nation, a culture of coastal slave descendants whose separation from the mainland allowed them to retain much of their African heritage, including a unique dialect and skills such as cast-net fishing and basket weaving.

Two-thirds of Texas Democrats want Beto O'Rourke to quit 2020 race.  A majority of Democrats in Texas believe it would be best if Beto O'Rourke stepped down from the 2020 presidential race to run for Senate, with many claiming they are skeptical that the former Texas congressman could beat President Trump.  By a margin of 60% — almost two-thirds — to 27%, those polled expressed a desire that "O'Rourke should challenge Republican incumbent U.S. Sen. John Cornyn in the 2020 U.S. Senate race, rather than continue his campaign for president," according to a Quinnipiac University poll published Wednesday [6/5/2019].

Report:  Beto Is a Bad FriendRoll Call reports that O'Rourke is "very likely" to support the Democratic candidate who wins the nomination to challenge his friend and former colleague, Rep. Will Hurd (R., Texas).  The move would represent a capitulation to partisan critics who challenged O'Rourke's decision to remain neutral during the 2018 midterms, in which Hurd won re-election by a narrow margin.

Beto O'Rourke Announces "Voting Rights" Plan.  O'Rourke's plan is built around three parts.  One would focus on increasing voter turnout.  The plan would allow same-day voter registration.  Twenty states and Washington DC allow same-day registration now.  Sixteen and 17 year olds would be automatically pre-registered.  The second part would "remove barriers within our democracy."  O'Rourke would ask Congress to make voting day a national holiday, extend early voting and expand vote-by mail.  O'Rourke says he would also try to circumvent state voter ID laws, asking the Department of Justice to end "draconian" laws.

The Editor says...
Beto is full of meaningless rhetoric like "barriers within our democracy."  There are no barriers within our democracy.  Anyone who considers Beto's insipid claptrap to be at all plausible is a malleable dupe who should not vote at all.

Beto O'Rourke clings to life in crowded Democratic presidential field.  By all accounts, Democratic presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke has lost his mojo.  He has slipped in the polls, is dismissed as a lightweight by much of the news media, and now serves as a punchline for late-night talk show hosts who used to fawn over him.  And yet he is clinging to a handhold in the race that could give him a path to the nomination if he can hang on into 2020.

In need of cash, Democratic presidential hopefuls turn to wealthy donors.  Last month in Manhattan, Beto O'Rourke held a private reception for supporters who had paid the maximum amount to his campaign or brought in as much as $25,000 by persuading others to do the same.  It was the first such fundraiser of O'Rourke's presidential bid — and a contrast from the early days of his campaign, when he emphasized that he had "no large-dollar fundraisers planned, and I don't plan to do them."

Let's Count The Times Beto Has Flip-Flopped On Impeachment.  Beto O'Rourke is nothing if not consistent.  By consistent, I mean he can change his position on any issue on a moment's notice, and he usually does.  Thursday Beto cashed in on a renewed enthusiasm from his party to impeach President Trump.  In order to provide cover for himself, O'Rourke told supporters in a fundraising appeal via email that he was openly in favor of the impeachment of President Trump last year.  He was for taking a stand before he was against it.  Now that he has lots of company in support of beginning impeachment hearings, he is all for it again.

Beto's two-headed climate change fallacy.  Rising star presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke has put out his own version of the Green New Deal.  It is milder than AOC's monstrosity but it is still a multi-trillion dollar monstrosity.  Unlike the GND, and perhaps wisely, Beto's fantastical blueprint has no name.  In the interest of simplicity, let's just call it his Climate Change Plan.  Warning: on my computer it is printed in white letters on a black background, like an obituary, which it sort of is.  Rather than deal with the impossible details, it is important to look at the fundamentals, which for a change are clearly stated.  They reveal a two-headed fallacy.  This fallacy drives the entire new wave of desperate green measures presently being called for, by Beto, AOC, and a host of other world-changers in waiting.

Beto O'Rourke's sweeping immigration plan will make border crisis 'much, much worse': Texas attorney general.  Democratic presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke has introduced a sweeping new immigration plan as a centerpiece of his campaign, but his home state's attorney general said the proposals would make the situation at the border "much, much worse."  O'Rourke's plan, introduced on Wednesday [5/29/2019], outlines three main areas in which immigration can be improved: by abolishing family separation policies, working with Congress to reform the system, and investing money in Central America to stem the number of migrants coming from those countries.

MSNBC's Nicolle Wallace to Beto O'Rourke:  What Can We Do to Better Cover Your Candidacy?  While interviewing Democratic presidential candidate Robert O'Rourke, MSNBC's Nicole Wallace let their mask of impartiality slip as she asked him how the network can better serve him.  "Play media critic, what can we do better, those of us trying to cover your candidacies, from very far away from where the first votes will be cast in Iowa and New Hampshire," Wallace asked, getting a chuckle out of the failed senate candidate.

Ratings for that CNN town hall with Beto were busto.  It was supposed to be part of the relaunch of Beto O'Rourke's fading Democratic primary campaign to recapture the empty charisma he showed while live-streaming his dental cleaning.  The hour-long town hall on CNN was more of a re-fizzle.  The abysmal overnight audience ratings proved the ancient show biz adage about customers:  If they don't want to come, you can't stop 'em.

Right out of the gate, Beto goes low.  The guy with the skateboard was not at all above board at CNN's town hall appearance on Tuesday night.  The very first question dealt with restoring "global leadership" post-Trump and Beto O'Rourke swung away at the current president, unhindered by facts or the toxicity of his words.  He claimed Trump described immigrants who come to the United States as "rapists and criminals."  At no point has President Trump made such a blanket declaration of all immigrants.  He has rightly noted that there are rapists and criminals coming over the borders.

Beto O'Rourke peddles false claim that Trump called asylum-seekers 'animals'.  Former U.S. Rep. Beto O'Rourke, a candidate for the Democratic Party's 2020 presidential nomination, used a televised town hall event Tuesday night to spread the debunked claim that President Trump called asylum-seekers "animals."  The remarks from the former congressman from El Paso, Texas, came in response to the first question during the CNN event, which took place in Des Moines, Iowa, capital of the state where the first caucuses of next year's election season will be held.

From Beto to Zero in Six Months.  So how did Beto O'Rourke go from being the golden boy of the media to a goat in just six months? [...] So why were there no skeptical or critical pieces about O'Rourke when he was running for the Senate in Texas last year?  Couldn't be media bias could it?  Back then he was running against the hated Ted Cruz, but now he doesn't check off enough correct identity boxes and is running against a field of much more entitled Democrats, so media liberals have decided to trash him.

Beto O'Rourke: 'I don't have complete confidence' Trump was elected fairly.  Democratic presidential hopeful Beto O'Rourke pointed to Russian hacking of Florida voter registration information as support for his suspicions about the 2016 presidential election.  When asked in an MSNBC interview Saturday [5/18/2019] if he was confident President Trump had been elected fairly, the former Texas congressman agreed the use of propaganda on voters and electoral system breaches gave him doubts.

The Editor says...
[#1] Nobody has used misleading propaganda to try to get elected more than Robert F. O'Rourke.  [#2] Nobody has taken advantage of "electoral system breaches," i.e., dead voters, than the Democratic Party.

Beto O'Rourke Claims Stacey Abrams Lost 'Rigged' Election.  Former Rep. Beto O'Rourke joined his fellow 2018 loser Stacey Abrams in claiming Republicans succeeded in rigging her election.  In an appearance with the ladies of 'The View,' O'Rourke made a claim previously described by Democrats as "a direct threat to our democracy."  He accuses Brian Kemp, who defeated Abrams to become Georgia governor, of suppressing votes and fixing the process to benefit himself.

Beto O'Rourke's dumber-than-dumb cult of personality branding.  Pollster Frank Luntz went on Fox News and said that basically, looking at the numbers, Beto O'Rourke was running the dumbest presidential campaign, well, ever.  There's an understatement, if there ever was one.  "All of Beto was about him," Luntz said on Fox.  "It wasn't about policy, it wasn't about politics.  It was cult of personality."

Beto O'Rourke claims border crisis caused by climate change.  Former Texas congressman and 2020 Democratic primary candidate Robert "Beto" O'Rourke is in a tough spot.  There is no real, animating principle behind his White House bid — nothing deeper than "Hey, why not me?" — and the people who billed him last year as the latest, greatest, most exciting political prodigy since former President Barack Obama have taken notice.  Never mind that O'Rourke's vacuity was obvious when he ran against Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas.  How major newsrooms managed to miss this even as they built up the Democratic candidate as God's gift to the electorate is anyone's guess.

Beto O'Rourke blames climate change for the crisis at the Mexican border.  Democratic presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke said climate change is a reason so many Central American migrants arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border.  "These storms, these floods, the historic wildfires that we saw in California, the droughts through which our farmers in Texas attempt to persist to grow the food and the fiber that feeds and clothes not just this country but the world, are going to be exponentially worse going forward," O'Rourke, a former Texas congressman who represented El Paso, said at a campaign stop Thursday [5/9/2019] in Salem, N.H.

Rashida Tlaib criticized over 'twisted' comments on Palestine, the Holocaust.  Democratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib was criticized over the weekend by House Republicans for comments she made about Jews moving into Palestine after the Holocaust.  Speaking on the Yahoo News podcast "Skullduggery" on Friday, the Michigan lawmaker, a Palestinian American, said, "It was my ancestors — Palestinians — who lost their land and some lost their lives, their livelihood, their human dignity.  Their existence, in many ways, had been wiped out.  "I mean, just all of it was in the name of trying to create a safe haven for Jews, post-the Holocaust, post-the tragedy and the horrific persecution of Jews across the world at that time."

Impeachment is the last resort of losing Democratic campaigns.  Former Rep. Beto O'Rourke's campaign for the Democratic nomination is not getting the traction his team likely hoped it would.  As a result, they are searching out shiny objects to spark interest in the Democratic base for his 2020 White House bid.  This week, they dusted off a talking point from his failed 2018 Senate campaign in Texas, and they are using special counsel Robert Mueller's two-year Russia investigation as the hook.  As a presidential candidate, O'Rourke is now officially calling for the impeachment of President Trump.  Of course, he is not the first of the Democratic 2020 candidates to do this — Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., took that distinction — but better late than never, right?

Oh, Beto, we hardly knew ye.  The once wunderkind from El Paso has lost his shine of late, and is now being eclipsed polling-wise by a Midwestern mayor whose sexual predilection scratches off one of the Democrats' diversity boxes.  Perhaps O'Rourke's gringoish nickname is no longer fooling liberal voters; after all, his baptismal name of "Robert Francis" is the kind of icky Anglo-Irish stuff that is de trop in the diversity party.  Or, in a crowd of divas and inflated egos with legs, maybe Beto O'Rourke's assumed qualities no longer stand out.

Beto O'Rourke says he'd put Stacey Abrams in charge of combating voter suppression.  Former Texas congressman Beto O'Rourke says he'd put former Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams in charge of combating voter suppression if elected president.  Speaking to supporters in Fort Worth on Friday [5/3/2019], O'Rourke said he had a conversation on the subject with the rising star in the Democratic Party.  "I called her to thank her for all the work that she's doing on voting rights.  And making sure that every person in this country can vote.  And that every vote counts in this country," O'Rourke said.  "We talked about how in our states of the former Confederacy, really ever since the end of reconstruction, we have drawn people out of their ability to participate in this Democracy."

Also posted under Perpetual victimhood.

The Mainstream Media Has Broken Up with Beto O'Rourke.  One of the more epic romances of the past couple of years seems to have come to an end.  No official statement has been released, but the signs are everywhere.  The mainstream media seems to have moved on from its 2018 heartthrob, one Robert Francis "Beto" O'Rourke.  O'Rourke himself doesn't seem to be aware of it yet, but the signs that the MSM have found another are everywhere.

Beto O'Rourke Blew It.  Beto O'Rourke has flamed out.  It's not just me saying it.  Polls have shown him slipping for weeks and on Wednesday Quinnipiac confirmed the worst.  The one-time wonder Beto O'Rourke is at 5 percent, behind every other first-tier candidate.  You can thank, or blame, women who make up almost 58 percent of the primary electorate for Beto's decline.  Disproportionately, they don't like him.  According to my unscientific poll asking every woman I see, Beto reminds them of the worst boyfriend they ever had:  self-involved, convinced of his own charm, chronically late if he shows up at all, worth a meal or two but definitely not marriage material.

Appealing to his base:
Beto O'Rourke Ran Targeted Facebook Ads in Mexico.  The presidential campaign for Beto O'Rourke targeted social media advertisements at individuals in Mexico, according to Facebook transparency tools.  Facebook has for the past year allowed users to see, using the "info and ads" tab, where a group is targeting its sponsored posts.  A screenshot of O'Rourke's page captured by the Washington Free Beacon last Friday revealed he was paying to have certain posts viewed by Facebook users in Mexico.  Among the posts O'Rourke paid to blast out to Mexican users was an invitation to his Tuesday campaign stop at the Jacobs Center in San Diego, Calif.

Beto O'Rourke on Wildfires, Flooding, Drought: 'This Is Not Caused by God'.  Robert "Beto" O'Rourke, one of 20 people running for the Democrat presidential nomination, went to Yosemite Valley on Monday [4/29/2019] to announce what he calls "the most ambitious climate plan in the history of the United States." [...] O'Rourke said his goal is to make sure that "every sector of the economy," not just the energy sector, contributes to his net-zero greenhouse gas emissions plan.  And he promised to lift up poor and minority communities in California's Central Valley, "which is bearing the brunt of climate change consequences."

The Editor says...
Mr. O'Rourke's vague assertions about the alleged impact of "climate change" don't change the facts.  The climate isn't changing enough for anyone to notice, and even if it did, it would affect everybody.  No specific state or county would "bear the brunt" of world-wide changes.  But a "climate change" of one degree per century is practically nothing, and most of the change is due to natural causes anyway.

Why Activists Are Blasting Beto O'Rourke's Climate Change Plan.  Presidential hopeful Beto O'Rourke unveiled his environmental agenda in California's Yosemite Valley Monday [4/29/2019], declaring it "the most ambitious climate plan in the history of the United States" — only to have the proposal immediately assailed by environmentalists who said it does not go far enough.  Under the plan — which would includes $1.5 trillion investment intended to "mobilize" an additional $5 trillion over 10 years — O'Rourke says the United States can achieve net zero emissions by 2050.

The Editor says...
Apparently the goal is "zero emissions" of carbon dioxide, which is a pointless goal, and impossible anyway.  You're exhaling carbon dioxide right now!

Beto O'Rourke's 'Ambitious Climate Plan' Is Even Worse Than the Green New Deal.  On Monday [4/29/2019], former Rep. Robert Francis "Beto" O'Rourke (D-Texas) released a climate change plan rooted in big government, based on utterly unrealistic expectations, and stuffed with intersectional pablum.  In fact, O'Rourke's plan is arguably worse than the Green New Deal sponsored by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.).  O'Rourke's Alt-GND suggests a complete revamp of the economy is easy, comparatively cheap, and will bring more prosperity without any trade-offs.  Ocasio-Cortez's Green New Deal is a resolution, a first step toward pushing climate change legislation geared toward rebuilding every building in America (who said anything about property rights?), making energy production net-zero by 2050 (cave men lived without electricity, after all), and leveling out America's many inequalities.

Could A Woman Candidate Have Gotten Away With Taking A "Road Trip" Like Beto O'Rourke Did?  [Scroll down]  Beto sold his barnstorming tour as a "road trip" because he knows that he has a cultish core fan base that's elevated him to icon status.  They'd be interested in his emotional journey!  Trump and Obama also benefited from cultish followings.  Bernie's cult may exceed even Trump's in terms of their passion for their candidate.  Which women in American politics have enjoyed a genuine cult of personality, though?  The only one I can think of is Sarah Palin.  (Hillary is an icon of a sort but lacks the populist appeal of which true personality cults are made.)

After flailing around in Yosemite, Beto O'Rourke tells Chris Hayes we have 10 years left.  As Twitchy reported earlier, Beto O'Rourke announced his plan to deal with climate change and immediately took a lot of heat from devotees of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez' Green New Deal, which proceeds from the idea that we have only 12 years (well, 11-and-a-half now) to reverse climate change before human extinction.  O'Rourke was shooting for a zero-emissions future by 2050, long after we'd all be dead.  Since it was climate change day, O'Rourke then released a video of himself at Yosemite National Park, flailing his arms around and spouting some nonsense.  [Video clip]

Beto O'Rourke calls for ethical farm-to-table restaurants in every community.  Former Rep. Beto O'Rourke called for the establishment of farm-to-table restaurants in every community to combat poor nutrition.  Farm-to-table restaurants are part of a socially-conscious movement favored by wealthy urbanites that often feature small, elaborately designed fare from local farms and are typically very expensive.  The Democratic presidential candidate made the gaffe at a Friday [4/26/2019] event hosted at a brewery by the Nevada State Democratic Party in Henderson, a Las Vegas suburb.

The Editor says...
There would already be "ethical farm-to-table restaurants in every community" if such an idea were commercially feasible.  Obviously they are not, so Beto's proposal is to have the government set up and maintain unprofitable restaurants everywhere.  Brilliant!

Beto O'Rourke Might Halt New Oil and Gas Drilling on Federal Land.  Former Texas Congressman Beto O'Rourke said Thursday [4/25/2019] he's willing to consider a moratorium on new leases to drill for oil and gas on federal lands as a way to help combat climate change.

Beto O'Rourke describes illegal immigration as 'modern-day bondage'.  Former Texas Rep. Beto O'Rourke suggested illegal immigrants were akin to slaves during his Saturday afternoon remarks to the Service Employees International Union.  "[With] Immigration.  Millions [are] living in the shadows, working some of the toughest jobs, lucky to make a minimum wage.  Some not even making that," O'Rourke told the audience of roughly 200 labor union members, organizers, and activists at Las Vegas' Enclave venue.  "Kept in modern-day bondage, their immigration status used as leverage to keep them down from fully participating in this country's success."

Dents! Dents! Revolution!
Beto Looks Done As He Draws Hilariously Small Crowd At UNLV.  Has Beto experienced failure to launch?  It sure looks that way.  He had a rally setup for Friday [4/26/2019] on the campus of UNLV.  The advertisements featured him stomping on cars like a revival preacher.  Whoever owns that SUV isn't going to be happy about the big dents he put in the roof.


A Couple Dozen People Go To Beto Campaign Event.  Former Texas Rep. and current presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke had a small crowd for a campaign event at the University of Nevada Las Vegas on Friday [4/26/2019].  "Around 35 people here to see Beto O'Rourke at UNLV," Emma Kinery, a Bloomberg reporter tweeted.  "The rally was supposed to be held in the courtyard outside, but students told me no one is on campus on Fridays bc it's mainly a commuter school."

The Editor says...
The show's over, Beto.  Get off the table!

Robert 'Beto' O'Rourke Pledges ICE Will Not Deport Like Trump and Obama.  Democrat presidential hopeful Robert "Beto" O'Rourke pledged Wednesday [4/24/2019] that under his presidency U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) will not deport people like the Trump and Obama administrations have.

Officers at scene of Beto O'Rourke's 1998 DWI crash say they believe he tried to flee.  Until now, O'Rourke, who denies trying to flee the wreck, was the only person present at the scene of the collision to speak out publicly about what happened that night.  "I believe we have contradicting stories here," says the officer who arrested him.

Beto's Top Advisor Quits Campaign.  Poor little Bobby Francis O'Rourke.  His 2020 presidential campaign's top advisor just quit and took her deputy with her today [4/20/2019].  BuzzFeed News reports that Becky Bond, a progressive activist who has been with "Beto" since his 2019 senate race, has left his presidential campaign.

Beto O'Rourke says he's returning campaign contribution from Chevron lobbyist.  Beto O'Rourke was confronted by an angry voter in New Hampshire Friday morning [4/19/2019] over a contribution he accepted from a fossil fuel lobbyist.  The exchange between O'Rourke and the woman unfolded during a town hall at a tea cafe in Somersworth, N.H., after it came out that the 2020 Democratic presidential hopeful received a $250 donation from a Chevron lobbyist based in New Mexico on Mar. 29.  The Texas Democrat has repeatedly fundraised on the basis that he has no ties to special interest groups.

Why the Media Dumped Beto for Mayor Pete.  The Buttigieg boom has also benefited from the stumbles of our previous political shooting star, Beto O'Rourke.  Was it only weeks ago that the press began swooning for O'Rourke like a drunken conventioneer, writing about him with the same frequency it does for Buttigieg today?  The things that once seemed so appealing about O'Rourke to the press — the generalities, the platitudes, the offhanded charisma, the rolled-up sleeves — seem off-putting now.  The clearest sign of the press corps' O'Rourke infatuation was its routine reference to him by his first name in its stories — something it has moved on to doing with Buttigieg.  Such shameful and transparent familiarity.

O'Rourke Compares Service in Congress to Charitable Giving.  Democratic presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke likened his service in Congress to contributions to charity on Tuesday [4/16/2019] when responding to a critic of his low charitable giving.  The former Texas congressman has taken heat over his 2017 tax return showing he and his wife Amy gave $1,166 out of their $366,455 adjusted gross income that year to charity, a giving rate of just 0.3 percent.  A town hall questioner at the University of Virgina asked O'Rourke why her sister, a recent college graduate, made far less than he did but gave more to charity.  "I've served in public office since 2005," he said.  "I do my best to contribute to the success of my community, my state and now, of my country.  There are ways that I do this that are measurable.  And there are ways that I do this that are immeasurable."

Beto O'Rourke Says His Campaign Sacrifices Make Up for Miserly Charitable Donations.  Fake Hispanic Beto O'Rourke was confronted at a town hall about his miserly campaign donations and responded in such a narcissistic fashion, I suffered a Barry Obama flashback.  According to his tax returns, since 2008, the Irishman O'Rourke has donated less than one percent of his considerable income to charity.  In 2017, he earned a healthy $366,455, but his reported charitable donations totaled just $1,166.  In other words, he donated less than one-third of one-percent to charity.  Over the last ten years, the Irishman O'Rourke reported an average annual income of $340,613 but "donated an average of just $2,430 to charity per year during that time, or 0.7 percent," reports The Washington Free Beacon.

Beto O'Rourke was asked why he doesn't donate much to charity.  He responds that his 'sacrifice' is running for office.  Robert Francis "Beto" O'Rourke and his wife don't give that much of their income to charity, but he says that's OK since he's spent so much of his life running for and holding public office.  Here's the background:  Recent analysis of tax documents from 2020 Democratic presidential candidates puts O'Rourke at the bottom of the list of Democratic donors to charity.  In fact, the O'Rourkes reported donating only $1,166 out of $370,412 in 2017.  That's 0.3 percent.  When asked about the paltry percentage at a recent campaign event in Virginia, the Texas Democrat countered by saying that he gives in ways that can't be quantified on a tax return, like running for president.

Beto O'Rourke Donated Just 0.7% of His Income to Charity Since 2008.  When it comes to raising money, former congressman and failed Senate candidate Beto O'Rourke is a force to be reckoned with.  However, when it comes to charitable giving, O'Rourke's personal contributions are far from generous — typically less than 1 percent of his total income.  O'Rourke earned $366,455 in 2017, according to his tax returns, which he posted on his campaign website on Monday [4/15/2019].  That same year, he reported charitable donation of just $1,166, or 0.3 percent of his total income.  That's even less than rival Democratic candidate Kirsten Gillibrand reported giving to charity on her 2018 tax return.  Gillibrand, who earned $217,634 last year, donated just $3,750 to charity, or 1.7 percent of her total income.

A few kind words from National Review:
'Beto' and Other Names in Politics and Life.  Beto O'Rourke, the ex-congressman from El Paso, has decided to run for president.  He is being teased for jumping on counters, to talk to voters in diners.  He is also being teased about his name:  "Beto."  What's he trying to get away with?  He's no Hispanic.  He's Robert Francis O'Rourke. [...] As a rule, people have a right to the name of their choice, I believe.  They also have a right to the pronunciation of their choice.  Again, this is a rule:  We could think of exceptions, as to almost any rule.  Incidentally, O'Rourke pronounces his name "Bet-o" rather than "Bait-o."

Beto O'Rourke accuses Trump of 'incitement to violence' against Ilhan Omar with 9/11 tweet.  Democratic White House hopeful Beto O'Rourke accused President Trump of inciting "violence against Congresswomen Omar."  The former Texas congressman's comments came at a campaign event in South Carolina on Saturday [4/13/2019] after Trump tweeted a video of remarks by Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., about the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.  O'Rourke said that the video tweeted by Trump on Friday [4/12/2019] is another example of the administration targeting women and minorities.

The Editor says...
The Trump administration has criticized a loudmouth Muslim Congresswoman who appears to be disloyal to the United States.  Islam has declared war on the U.S. long ago, and the Congresswoman has chosen to stand with Islam.  The attack on New York City and other sites on 9/11/2001 was an act of war.  Nothing that Mr. Trump said could be construed as incitement to violence, except by a poorly-educated simpleton.  As another U.S. President once said, "You are either with us, or with the terrorists."

Beto O'Rourke's 3 Lies That Will Cost Him the Election.  [#3] Trump Put Kids in Cages:  This is the biggest lie of the bunch.  Before we destroy it, we'll acknowledge that under President Trump, immigrant children have been separated from their families.  That's the closest thing to a tinge of truth in Beto's statement.  Here's the real breakdown.  The separation of families at the border is a law that was written by Democrats, signed into law by President Clinton and then upheld by Democratic judges in the 9th Circuit.  It isn't President Trump's policy at all, and anyone who paid any attention would know that this practice happened under Obama's 8 year reign.  The change that President Trump introduced was to get rid of the actual cages.  Maybe you've seen a picture circulating of children in chain-link cages?  That was under Obama's Administration.  It was Donald Trump who ended that practice.  Beto isn't stretching the truth on this one.  He's telling as big a lie as there is.

Inside Beto O'Rourke's Million-Dollar Apartment Deal With A Campaign Donor.  The month before he launched his Senate campaign against Republican Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, Democratic presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke offloaded an El Paso, Texas, apartment complex that he valued in financial disclosures at between one and five million dollars.  The buyers were Patricia "Isha" Rogers and her husband, Steve Santamaria, public records show.  Rogers is an old family friend and campaign donor for both Beto's and his father's political campaigns.

Being 'Not-Trump' is not enough.  While Trump has been cold and boorish, O'Rourke has tried to seem warm-hearted and sensitive.  Trump shouts.  He listens.  Beto's arms windmill, his eyes are doleful and his mouth is overflowing with right-on sentimentality.  Asked if he would back attempts to mandate that when babies survive abortions they should be kept alive, for example, he said Americans should trust women to make decisions for their own bodies, as if this was a profound answer to the question and not just blather.  Hearing clichés spout from him like water from a broken dam makes you wish that he had never left his youthful edgelord days, when his poems about godlike cows and genitals did at least express some kind of personality.  If you had a slim chance of securing the nomination you would think you would do something to stand out a little:  draw attention to neglected issues, for example, or offer original policies.

Robert 'Beto' O'Rourke to Farmers:  Give 'Fair Share' of Crops for Climate Change.  Democrat 2020 presidential candidate Robert "Beto" O'Rourke proposed Friday in Iowa that the U.S. "allow" farmers to give up their "fair share" of crops to fight climate change.

The Editor says...
The farmer's fair share of his crops is 100 percent.  The farmer owns all of his crops, his animals, his tractors, and his buildings.  Socialists either misunderstand, or they abhor, the concept of private property.

Also posted under Everything causes global warming.

Don't Worry, Israelis:  Beto Knows What You Want Better Than You Do.  Nearly a month after Beto O'Rourke announced his candidacy for president, the Texas Democrat has yet to articulate any meaningful views on policy.  His campaign is a series of empty platitudes, lacking any substance.  To the extent that O'Rourke discusses actual issues, he just calls for debates or national conversations to determine what to do, no matter the subject.  Interested in concrete solutions to the problems facing the American people?  Do not look to O'Rourke, who, during six years in the House of Representatives, sponsored no major legislation and only passed three bills.  Even liberal and leftist publications have castigated O'Rourke for his lack of specifics, arguing he has no clear agenda or ideology.  As the Atlantic reported last month, while the candidate wants to offer hope that America can rise above its partisanship and hateful politics, "he hasn't landed on how he'll propose to actually make that happen."

WaPo Gives O'Rourke 'Three Pinocchios' for Claim U.S. Has Spent '27 Years' in Iraq.  The Washington Post's fact checker gave Democratic presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke a "Three Pinocchios" rating for claiming the United States been involved in Iraq for "27-years."  O'Rourke has repeatedly denounced America's "endless wars" since announcing his campaign for president last month.  The "political math" utilized by the Texas Democrat to measure the length of those wars, however, caught the Post's attention as inaccurate.

O'Rourke: Netanyahu A 'Racist' Prime Minister, Defies Prospects Of Peace.  Democrat presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke had harsh words for Israel's prime minister at a recent rally.  While speaking in Iowa City Sunday, O'Rourke slammed Benjamin Netanyahu's policies in Israel by saying the prime minister defies the prospects of peace in the region.  Netanyahu is up for reelection and Israeli voters are set to head to the polls Tuesday [4/9/2019].  O'Rourke called America's relationship with Israel "one of the most important on the planet," which must transcend a "racist" prime minister.

Beto O'Rourke's Israel Comments Are Astoundingly Bad And Only Help Antisemitic Radicals.  Former Texas Congressman Robert "Beto" O'Rourke has proven he's willing to jump in radical camps when it comes to various issues, but the latest one falls in line with a problem of antisemitism that the Democratic party has been having lately.  To be clear, I'm not accusing O'Rourke of being an antisemite himself, but he seems to be playing right into their hands.  According to O'Rourke Israel is too in league with Republicans and following Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu down a bad path because, as O'Rourke claimed, Netanyahu is racist.

Reality bites Beto after high-flying kickoff.  Between the prom proposal from a young admirer, the long lines for photographs and the conservative tracker recording his every word, Beto O'Rourke had all the hallmarks of a top-tier candidate during his latest swing through Iowa.  Yet by the time he left the state on Sunday, it was also clear that the euphoria that greeted O'Rourke's entry into the race three weeks earlier has started to subside.  The inevitable slog of competing in a packed Democratic primary is underway, and O'Rourke has not yet drawn the wave of national adulation from the left that his Senate run against Ted Cruz last year received.

Beto O'Rourke compares Trump administration rhetoric to Nazi Germany.  Democratic 2020 contender Beto O'Rourke on Thursday [4/4/2019] compared President Trump's rhetoric regarding immigration to that of Nazi Germany.  Speaking to reporters in Iowa, the former congressman — in response to a question about how he would address attacks from Republicans — called out "the rhetoric of a president who not only describes immigrants as rapists and criminals but as animals and an infestation."

Democrat Beto O'Rourke Calls Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu a 'Racist'.  Democrat presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a "racist" on Sunday, telling an audience in Iowa that the U.S.-Israel relationship must "transcend a prime minister who is racist."

Beto O'Rourke Is Fauxbama.  "Let us be clear: we will not be defined by our fears or the smallness of our differences; we will instead be known by our ambitions, our aspirations and the resolve, the creativity, the service and sacrifice by which we will have achieved them," O'Rourke says on Twitter, delivering the kind of pre-chewed pablum Obama could have delivered, and probably did.  It's possible to get excited about this kind of thing, but it takes some doing.  "Whatever our differences — where you live, who you love, to whom you pray, for whom you voted in the last election, let those differences not define us or divide us at this moment," O'Rourke said at his El Paso campaign kickoff.  "Let's agree going forward, before we are anything else, we are Americans first."  As if anyone was saying we were Hungarians first.

FEC: Beto O'Rourke Funneled $110,000 in Campaign Funds to His Web Development Company.  Democrat 2020 presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke funneled roughly $110,000 in campaign money to a private web development company he and his wife owned at one time while he served as a congressman, according to FEC rules.  O'Rourke's campaign, Beto for Texas, donated money to Stanton Street Technology Group in several different election cycles.

Why Beto and Buttigieg Pretend to Be Kennedys.  The generation of politicians that immediately followed John F. Kennedy — John Kerry, John Tunney and even Republicans like John Lindsay — tried so hard to emulate JFK that they enacted impersonations:  fastening the top button of their suit jackets to flap in precisely the same patterns as his, chopping the air with their hands like he did, extending their necks to mimic his chin-in-the-air stance at the lectern.  In more recent years, such candidates felt freer to adopt their own mannerisms but their political posture remained pure JFK:  that of the young and earnest outsider, alone on the stage, a prince suffused in a golden aura of charisma.  Now, as the 2020 contenders emerge from the wings, the Kennedy ghost is alive again, mostly in the person of former Texas Rep. Robert Francis "Beto" O'Rourke. [...] He even shares Bobby Kennedy's first two names.

Beto O'Rourke:  Amnesty for Illegal Aliens Will Make Angel Families 'Demonstrably Safer' in U.S..  Former Rep. Beto O'Rourke (D-TX), a 2020 Democrat presidential candidate, says giving amnesty to all 11 to 22 million illegal aliens will make American citizens — and specifically, the Angel Families who have lost loved ones to illegal alien crime — "demonstrably safer" in the United States.  During a town hall in Iowa this week, O'Rourke was asked about the thousands of Angel Families who have lost children, parents, grandparents, relatives, and friends to crimes committed by illegal aliens living in the U.S.

Also posted under Lies about immigration.

Beto O'Rourke:  As President I Would 'Absolutely' Sign Slavery Reparations Bill into Law.  Wednesday [4/3/2019] MSNBC played a clip of 2020 Democratic presidential primary candidate Beto O'Rourke at the Nation Action Network's convention.  O'Rourke was asked if he would sign Sheila Jackson Lee's bill which would consider reparations proposals for Africans-Americans.

Amateur Hour in the Democrat Primaries.  Former Texas Congressman Robert O'Rourke, known as "Beto" did diddlysquat in Congress and lost his recent senatorial race to Senator Ted Cruz.  O'Rourke was arrested for burglary and leaving the scene of an accident in the 1990s.  He is known for writing erotic verses about cows, and eating dirt after his loss to Ted Cruz.  (I would have eaten crow or humble pie, but not dirt.)  Beto fed his wife feces telling her it was avocado.  That says much about him and his wife.  Evidently, Beto thinks of himself as a wit and he may be half right.  He supports abolishing the Electoral College, packing the Supreme Court, and will consider reparations.  He has apologized for many zany and dumb statements, even for being born.

AP offers correction after reporting Beto O'Rourke spoke 'in his native Spanish'.  The Associated Press faced backlash on social media Monday [4/1/2019] after writing that Democratic presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke spoke "in his native Spanish" at a rally in El Paso, Texas.  Although O'Rourke speaks Spanish, he a fourth-generation Irish-American whose full name is Robert Francis O'Rouke.  The AP report originally wrote:  "O'Rourke also spoke at length in his native Spanish, eliciting loud and sustained cheers."

Robert Francis 'Beto' O'Rourke:  El Paso Safe Because of Immigrants, Asylum Seekers.  Former Rep. Robert Francis "Beto" O'Rourke (D-TX) on Saturday formally kicked off his 2020 presidential campaign, declaring at a rally in El Paso, Texas, that immigrants and asylum seekers make the border town safe.

Beto Goes Full Leftist In Campaign Launch Tour.  Back when he was running to unseat Ted Cruz, O'Rourke appeared to walk a fairly careful line, sticking to a more moderate approach on some issues so as not to scare off the independents and right-leaning centrists he would need to win a statewide bid the Lone[ S]tar State.  Now that he's running for national office, all bets are off.  Beto is free to be Beto and he was out there pounding away at some of the hottest liberal takes in the 2020 race.

Beto O'Rourke confronted by black voter on opposition to reparations.  Democratic candidate Beto O'Rourke was confronted by a black voter for his opposition to "traditional reparations" for slavery.  "Why should I, as a black man, vote for you when you oppose reparations?" O'Rourke was asked at a campaign event at USC on Friday, which was posted online Wednesday [3/27/2019], according to Mediaite.  A day after O'Rourke announced he was running in the Democratic primaries earlier this month, the Associated Press reported he was not in favor of compensatory payment to descendents of slaves.

Loser grievance culture grips the left - and empowers the losers in the Democratic Party.  [Scroll down]  Well, then there is our third loser, Beto O'Rourke.  Now he's treated like the crown prince of Texas, despite suffering a significant defeat at the hands of Ted Cruz in the Texas Senate race.  Remember, he had the whole landscape of the media behind him and spent all this money.  But Beto has issues grasping reality.  "You have a president, who, in my opinion, beyond the shadow of a doubt, sought to however ham-handedly collude with the Russian government, a foreign power to undermine and influence our elections," he said to supporters.

Still Dreaming of Watergate II.  [Scroll down]  Naturally, the grand prize goes to the vapidest person ever touted as a presidential candidate in my 63 years as an observer of American politics, Beto O'Rourke.  Just before the revelation that there would be no further indictments, Beto asserted his knowledge "beyond the slightest doubt" that the president was guilty, in effect, of high treason — that he would only escape the death penalty because the United States and Russia were not at war.  (But neither were they when Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were executed in 1953.)  And the day Trump was completely cleared of the collusion suspicion, O'Rourke declared that the investigation of Trump must continue.

It's already clear who the Democratic presidential nominee will be in 2020.  If you read or watch political news these days, you've probably already realized the Democrats' presidential nominee next year will be Robert Francis "Beto" O'Rourke.  So great was the media's adulation over that campaign launch this month that his selection seems preordained.  So, you have to wonder why Democrats are going through the painfully divisive and expensive process of staging primaries to determine who will actually face President Donald Trump in 84 weeks.

Hunt for Blue November:  Democrats would sooner destroy America than lose to Trump in 2020.  Perhaps in other less delusional periods of American history, Beto the marionette, who gesticulates as if his strings were being yanked by an epileptic after a tasing, would be seen for what he is.  Exactly what that might be is hard to nail down, but it is certainly not presidential material.  Yet the fact that so many Democrats and media have worked themselves into collective hysteria over this guy, whose most notable career moves to date are marrying an heiress, writing exceptionally bad poetry and losing to Ted Cruz in the Texas Senate race, speaks volumes as to how shallow the Democratic bench is, where a host of other unlikely players include Elizabeth 'Pocohantas' Warren and Bernie 'the multi-millionaire Socialist' Sanders.

Delusional:
Beto O'Rourke:  Beyond A Shadow Of A Doubt, Trump Sought To Collude With Russia.  Is this really from today, not from the campaign trail in Texas last year?  I can't believe any Democrat would have the stones to double down on collusion the morning after we find out that not only won't Trump be indicted for conspiring with Russia, none of his inner circle will either.

The man certainly has a propensity for emotional outbursts.
Beto O'Rourke:  If Mueller Report Is Held, America May Not See 244th Year.  Democrat 2020 candidate Robert "Beto" O'Rourke warned from the campaign trail in South Carolina Friday night there may not be another year of America if the Mueller report is not made public.  "Republicans and Democrats should do whatever they can to make sure their constituents, the American people, can read that report, form their own judgement, make their own decisions, and that the truth comes out," O'Rourke said at a campaign stop in South Carolina Friday [3/22/2019].

And a Bronx Bartender Shall Lead Them?  [Scroll down]  The vaporous Beto, who appears to be totally free of any policy positions beyond all-we-need-is-love, is a current favorite among Democrats for reasons known only to themselves.  After decades of covering politicians, I thought I would never encounter an emptier suit than Florida's Charlie Crist.  But Beto is about as light as Charlie.

Why are 2020 Democrats so weird?  [Scroll down]  Meanwhile, there is Beto.  I don't particularly care that in 1988 the young Robert Francis O'Rourke posted some erotic verses about cows [...] online.  I didn't even know until yesterday that there was such a thing as "online" in 1988.  Nor am I going to get all worked up about his weird murder spree fantasy story, which is the kind of thing stupid teenagers write every day.  But what I do want to know is whether he actually took a handful of green feces, put it in a bowl, and served it to his wife once, telling her that it was avocado.  Asked by a journalist recently to confirm the anecdote, which had been reported by a supposed friend of the candidate, he responded that while he didn't remember this happening it "sounds like the kind of thing I would do."  Come again?  If you fed excrement to the mother of your children, I feel like you would recall.  I almost certainly think she would.  If there was ever something to lie about as a politician, this is it.

Who anointed Beto O'Rourke to be our political saviour?  He did.  One of Beto's favorite books is The Hero's Journey, an overview by the literary theorist Joseph Campbell of Campbell's theory of heroic myth. [...] A lot of Beto O'Rourke's more puzzling decisions, like his choice to run for president, make sense once you learn that he is a fan of Campbell's work.  He sees himself as a hero, anointed for greatness as if by divine or supernatural forces, and he feels a deep conviction that he is destined for bigger things.  This is why, in the fawning Vanity Fair profile that heralded his presidential announcement, Beto made numerous references to film and literary epics.  Famously, of his run for president, Beto said, "Man, I'm just born to be in it," a statement of his own sense of anointedness that sounds less like a serious assertion of political purpose and more like the kind of faux profundity that a teenager would say after a gurgling bong rip.

Beto O'Rourke grilled by Penn State student: 'When am I going to get an actual policy from you?'.  A student at Pennsylvania State University confronted Democratic presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke this week for giving potential voters "platitudes and nice stories" instead of solid policy proposals. [...] "When am I going to get an actual policy from you instead of just platitudes and nice stories?" the student asked.  Mr. O'Rourke responded by saying he's running his campaign on issues such as criminal justice reform, marijuana legalization and universal health care.

'He's Apologized For Being Born': Bloomberg Takes On Beto's Unusual Campaign Approach.  Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg poked fun at Democrats running for office Thursday night [3/21/2019] while explaining his reason for not jumping into a crowded presidential race.  One of the prerequisites for running in 2020 is the need to go on an apology tour, Bloomberg said during a Bermuda Executive Forum in New York.  The billionaire businessman gave former Vice President Joe Biden and former Texas Democratic Rep. Beto O'Rourke as examples of politicians willing to prostrate themselves.

Major Obama Fundraisers and a Former Obama Aide Embrace Beto for 2020.  What Beto O'Rourke lacks in policy chops, he seems to make up for in fundraising abilities.  During the 2018 midterms he amassed a war chest of $80 million dollars.  After officially launching his 2020 presidential bid, he raked in over $6 million in 24 hours.  Now Beto has attracted some of Obama's top funders and a former Obama aide.

A Brief Survey of 2020's Psychotic Democratic Roster.  [Robert F.] O'Rourke, who has zero accomplishments as a Texas congressman, has captured the hearts of some mindless citizens and millions of Hollywood dollars, to which effect he got close to beating Ted Cruz in 2016.  But he has a creepy history of weird behavior:  he was part of a hacking conclave, he eats dirt, he plays vicious pranks even on his wife, and he wrote about running down happy children when he was a teen.  He was arrested for burglary, for a DUI, and for leaving the scene of an accident.  The Democrats don't care about such things, since the Kennedys were guilty of all that and much more.  But clearly, this man is not presidential material.  His only stated policy is to legalize marijuana and invalidate all arrests for crimes related to use or sale of it.

More Commentary on O'Rourke.  [Scroll down]  He's NOT a strong supporter of gun rights but believes in relaxed restrictions on immigration, marijuana, LGBTQ rights, protecting DREAMers, impeaching and indicting Trump, and taking a knee by pro athletes during the anthem.  He also supports single-payer universal health care, abortion, and gay marriage.

Beto Just Can't Stop Leaping On Countertops To Deliver Speeches.  For some reason, Robert "Beto" O'Rourke just can't stop leaping onto counters and tables in restaurants and coffee houses to deliver speeches as he tours the country on his 2020 presidential campaign.  The 46-year-old Texas Democrat does it so often, it's become a thing, as in a memey thing on the interwebs.

The 4 Contradictions of Beto O'Rourke.  [#3] Debt = bad, domestic spending = good.  O'Rourke last night [3/19/2019] not only doubled down on his previous criticisms about the size of federal deficits and debt, he did so while denouncing overseas wars, occupations, and nation-building: [...] Does the once and future New Democrat blame anything else besides war for the size of deficits and debt?  Yep:  Tax cuts.  That was it, last night at least.  Meanwhile, he's out there touting a Medicare expansion program that in his own words would be "measured in the trillions of dollars."

Robert Francis O'Rourke, Reloaded.  Like Mr. Obama, who said he could "probably do every job on the campaign better than the people I'll hire to do it," Mr. O'Rourke seems to suspect he's the smartest man around.  In his Senate race, he made a point of not hiring consultants or pollsters.  He could pull that off in Texas — though he lost the election — but running for president is a bigger enterprise by orders of magnitude.  To win, Mr. O'Rourke must build a team of smart people and listen to them.  That requires leadership and management skills that may be beyond the reach of a punk-rock musician turned web-services small-business founder turned politician — unless he changes tack.

Disturbing Details Emerge On Bizarre Behavior From Beto O'Rourke, Report Says.  A new profile piece from The Washington Post on Democratic presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke documented multiple instances of highly disturbing behavior from the failed Senate candidate, including eating dirt and taking poop from his kid's diaper and putting it into a bowl and telling his wife that it was an avocado.  The piece specifically focused on Beto's marriage to his wife Amy, who indicated that she was not exactly thrilled to be in a marriage that was so heavily involved in politics.  Buried deep in the article was a paragraph that documented his "'Psycho'-style scares in the shower," and another bizarre incident from their marriage.

Stick a Fork in O'Rourke.  No one has ever heard or seen anything like this candidate:  a hyperactive limb-flailing imbecile, babbling compulsively in a torrent of extremist nonsense barely couched in comprehensible syntax.  No idea is too stupid to be endorsed in terms of absolute finality:  "If we do not abolish all fossil fuels within twelve years, everything on the planet will be dead.  The scientists are 100 percent united on this.  Just as Americans of the past had to fight at Normandy, we have to fight this now, and save our planet."  It does not require an immensely sophisticated political scientist to see that there are a few problems with that sequence, as there are with all Beto's sentences, and with his much more numerous and even more idiotic non-sentences. [...] The media of America will not allow this asinine mockery of a presidential campaign to go another week before it picks up this wild, scrawny, noisy, incoherent nincompoop and shreds him.

Keywords:  oaf, lout, boor.
Baristas to Beto O'Rourke:  Come On Man, Get Off Our Counters.  When Democratic presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke arrived for a campaign stop at Beancounter Coffeehouse in Burlington, Iowa, he hopped right up on the shop's counter and addressed the masses below.  During a visit to Narrow Way Cafe in Detroit, Michigan, O'Rourke grabbed a microphone and scrambled up onto the counter.  At Sing-A-Long Bar and Grill in Mount Vernon, Iowa?  You bet he got up on that counter.  Critics have accused O'Rourke of running on a vague political platform.  But there's one platform the Democratic hopeful openly stands on: the sturdy countertops of Midwest cafes.  After a week of stump speeches from a perch next to the cash register, Beto's countertop habit has become a meme.  And some of the nation's baristas are asking him to please get down from there.

'Beto' O'Rourke Not Sure if He's 'Bi-Cultural'.  Robert Francis "Beto" O'Rourke said this weekend that he is not sure if he is "bi-cultural."  "I live in a bi-cultural community.  My folks and their parents and generation that preceded them were from all over Europe so I don't know if I would consider myself bi-cultural if you're asking US and Mexico, but I'm very proud to live in a bicultural community," O'Rourke reportedly told reporters days after formally entering the 2020 presidential race.

Beto's jaw-dropping windfall quiets critics.  One great question surrounding Beto O'Rourke has been whether he could replicate the massive fundraising totals he mustered in the Texas Senate race last year.  On Monday [3/18/2019], O'Rourke put any doubt to rest, announcing that in the first 24 hours of his campaign, he had raised a staggering $6.1 million.

Keywords:  weird-o, pagan, fruitcake.
Report: Beto O'Rourke Ate Dirt with Fabled 'Regenerative Powers' After Losing to Ted Cruz.  A new report on 2020 Democrat presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke's marriage to real estate heiress Amy Sanders O'Rourke reveals the former Texas congressman indulged in some bizarre cuisine following his failed U.S. Senate bid in Texas.  O'Rourke, who in January launched a five-state road trip across the Southwest, found himself eating dirt told to possess "regenerative powers" during one stop in New Mexico, according to the Washington Post.  The newspaper said he also brought some of the dirt back home to Texas for the family to eat, as well.

Beto chows down.  Breitbart reports that, after being defeated by Ted Cruz, Beto made his way to New Mexico, where he ate a portion of some kind of magic dirt supposedly possessing "regenerative powers."  It appears that he also took some home for the family.

AP debunks Beto O'Rourke claim that world has just 12 years to combat climate change.  The Associated Press has thrown cold water on an increasingly popular Democratic talking point:  That the earth has just 12 years to stave off climate doomsday.  "There is no scientific consensus, much less unanimity, that the planet only has 12 years to fix the problem," said the AP in a Monday fact-check.  The wire service weighed in after former Texas Rep. Beto O'Rourke made the 12-year claim as he kicked off his run for the Democratic presidential nomination last week in Keokuk, Iowa.

O'Rourke faces sharp backlash from left.  Former Rep. Beto O'Rourke (D-Texas) has faced sharp backlash from progressives in the days since his presidential campaign launched to great fanfare last week.  Left-leaning Democrats have criticized O'Rourke for a string of comments made in a Vanity Fair story preceding the opening of his campaign and in his subsequent days on the trail.  Some of the remarks — such as O'Rourke's statement to Vanity Fair, referring to the presidential race, that he was "just born to be in it" — have fanned complaints that the Texan is blinded by "white privilege."  Others have brought charges of sexism or male privilege.  O'Rourke's nonchalant quip that his wife cares for the couple's three children "sometimes with my help" irked a number of the former Texas congressman's critics, who saw it as belittling.

The unbearable lightness of Beto.  Beto O'Rourke is the Democratic front-runner today because he stands for nothing.  In the first 24 hours of his presidential race, the former congressman from El Paso raised $6.1 million.  That's a record haul, and to date, it is the most meaningful objective measure of support in the crowded Democratic primary field.  Polls this early measure only name recognition.  Beto is the front-runner.  The question is why.  The answer is bleak.

Whatta Bunch of Phony Baloneys.  Let's start with Beto the Skate-o. [...] Turns out that this guy is the Most White Privileged Male in the whole country!  How many Americans know this about "El Beto"?
  [#1]   Mom was stepdaughter of President John F. Kennedy's Secretary of the Navy.
  [#2]   Mom was a business owner.
  [#3]   Dad was a county commissioner, county judge, tight with the Texas Governor, and was Texas state chairman of two Presidential campaigns:  Jesse Jackson 1984 and Jesse Jackson 1988.  (Run, Jesse, Run!)
  [#4]   Once Dad got to know Jesse Jackson and all his backers really well, Dad switched parties and became a Republican. [...]
  [#5]   After two years at a public high school in El Paso, "Beto" was moved to The Woodberry Forest School, a foo-foo, high-falutin' private all-male boarding school in Virginia whose alumni include, oh, the brother of George W. and Jeb Bush, the actor Randolph Scott, a former National Security Advisor, a boatload of Congressmen, a bunch of powerhouse corporate CEOs, and a New York Times film critic.
  [#6]   Then he went to my alma mater, Columbia University, where he co-captained the crew team.
  [#7]   He graduated college in May 1995 and was arrested in May 1995 for burglary back in Texas.  Was locked up.  Seven months later the charges were dropped. [...]
  [#8]   Three years later the "Kennedyesque" Beto was arrested for driving while intoxicated, fortunately not on a bridge.  He crashed into a truck so hard that the impact sent his car careening across the center median and into oncoming traffic — and he then tried racing to get away without being caught by the cops.

Why Beto is a Beta.  Beto O'Rourke is about to launch a presidential campaign off the back of a failed Senate bid.  He's not the first to do so — Abraham Lincoln famously followed exactly that path to the White House.  But nobody else is Lincoln, and Beto is hardly anyone at all: as a contender for the 2020 Democratic nomination, he's the 'not' candidate.  He's not the most electable.  He's not the most left-wing.  He's not a woman or a minority.  He's not the most wonkish candidate. [...] But he's not particularly experienced either, of course, after just three terms as a congressman and another six years before that as an El Paso city councilman.  O'Rourke's advantage lies mostly in the fact that he's the most photogenic male on the Democratic side.  That and a bit of self-delusion is all it takes for some voters and many pundits to convince themselves that he's the next Bill Clinton, the center-left's Goldilocks: left-wing but not too left-wing, appealing beyond the blue base, and a youthful star on the rise.

Beto O'Rourke, The Ultimate Limousine Liberal Gen Xer, Announces For Prez.  [Scroll down]  In other words, 2020 contender Beto is getting a heavy lift from the media.  Expect this to continue throughout the election, unfortunately.  Of course, perhaps his candor and coolness is a double-edged sword — a selling point that makes profiles of him oh-so-colorful that media ilk just can't resist churning them out, and a cringey furtherance of limousine liberal stereotypes that make him far too mockable on Twitter.

For Latinos, 'Beto' O'Rourke is just another privileged white guy trying to manipulate them.  I've distilled it down.  And that's basically the refrain I've heard from dozens of Latinos who — unlike the news media, run by white liberals who are fascinated by other white liberals — refuse to go loco for Beto.  They're concerned that Robert Francis O'Rourke, 46, who on Thursday joined an already-crowded field of 2020 Democratic presidential hopefuls, is trying to put one over on Latinos by tricking them into thinking he's one of them.  Or, at the very least, they think that his strategy, or that of his handlers, is to come across to Latinos as a simpatico who connects with them the way that Bill Clinton — whom writer Toni Morrison mischievously dubbed "our first black president" — connected with African-Americans.  At least until Barack Obama came along, and the Clinton machine tried, and failed, to destroy him.  So is that the deal?  Is O'Rourke aiming to become America's first Latino president?

Beto O'Rourke says nothing in his past will hinder 2020 run.  Democratic presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke told supporters Sunday that he's never taken LSD and there's "nothing" he hasn't already revealed about his past that could come back to hurt his run for office.  The former Texas congressman — who has become known for his propensity for using the "f-word" — also promised again to clean up his language, despite breaking such past vows.

Beto O'Rourke:  Ban AR-15 Sales in America.  During a weekend interview presidential hopeful Robert Francis "Beto" O'Rourke said AR-15 sales should be banned in America.  This is a continuation of the anti-Second Amendment campaign O'Rourke conducted in his failed 2018 Senate bid.  For example, in February 2018 interview with CBS News O'Rourke supported banning bump stocks and made clear his belief that AR-15s ought not be sold in America.

Reuters Journalist Withheld Damaging Info About Beto O'Rourke Until After Senate Race.  Reuters bragged Friday [3/15/2019] about its scoop that Democratic presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke was once involved in a notorious hacker group, but revealed in the process that one of its reporters willingly sat on the story until after O'Rourke lost his Texas Senate race to incumbent Ted Cruz.  Reuters' Joseph Menn reported exclusively Friday morning that O'Rourke, a former member of Congress and the latest Democrat to join the 2020 presidential race, had a secret membership in an infamous hacking group.

Beto:  Sorry About All That Kid Murdering Stuff.  Yesterday [3/15/2019], Ed looked at recent revelations about newly minted presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke's early history as a "hacktivist" with the Cult of the Dead Cow.  Since any crimes he committed with the group are long since past the statute of limitations, he has little to fear there.  But some of his published writings from that period are also coming to light and leading to questions.  Most notable thus far is a short piece of fiction that involves the narrator murdering a large number of people, including children that he runs down with a car.  The political press reluctantly asked him about it during one of his many campaign stops in Iowa and O'Rourke at least owned up to it.

Weirdo O'Rourke.  The former El Paso congressman's spastic "Hey, I'm still figuring out these new hands" presidential-kickoff video, in which his upper limbs appeared to be subject to mad random yanks by an angry puppeteer, was merely the latest odd detail in the saga of Weirdo O'Rourke.  It was even weirder than Elizabeth Warren's "Greetings fellow earthlings, I too enjoy fermented malt beverages!" video.  Robert/Beto is a man so apart from other human beings that he recently thought nothing of ditching his wife and three kids so he could drive around the country, alone, accosting unsuspecting dentists to help him apply Novocaine to his aching soul.  He might be the first person ever to run for the White House on a platform of asking the nation to help him figure out who he is.  The source of the angst is evident:  Beto is a brainless rich kid who yearned to be cool and wasn't very good at it.  He flunked out of punk.  He failed as a fiction writer.  He belly-flopped as an alternative-newspaper publisher.  And he's so clueless that his apartment was once robbed while he was sitting in it.

Beto the Buffoon.  During his online announcement speech, O'Rourke warned that the United States faces "maximum peril," but the nation remains the "the last great hope of Earth."  At a speech in Iowa, O'Rourke warned that "not to be dramatic, but literally, the future of the world depends on us right now."  In other words, if Americans do not elect Beto as their next President, the world may self-destruct.  Clearly, this candidate is a total clown.

Beto O'Rourke apologizes for jokes about wife, says he has benefited from 'white privilege'.  Beto O'Rourke said Friday night that he had been wrong for joking at several events in his first two days campaigning in Iowa that his wife has been raising their three children "sometimes with my help."  The former congressman from Texas, who launched his bid for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination Thursday, addressed the remarks during a recording of the podcast Political Party LIVE! in Cedar Rapids.  The comments triggered complaints from Democratic operatives and activists, many of them women, that female candidates could never similarly joke about their roles raising their children.

Beto is the poor man's Obama — Dems can do better.  [Scroll down]  Surprisingly, the personification of coming from a privileged family hasn't hurt the candidate.  To an astonishing degree, Beto taps into the inner workings of the Democratic base even more than intersectional candidates like Kamala Harris and Cory Booker.  He is an aimless product of privilege with a short resume and the added benefit of his wife's millions.  He can skateboard, he can play guitar, he can make being unemployed look like an adventure.  He can call in favors to get away with Aggravated DWI and fleeing the scene.  For aspiring white trust funders just dropping off the keys at the Austin U-haul station, Beto speaks to them — for them — in a profound and shallow way.

Dr. Drew says 'something's not right' with Beto O'Rourke.  Beto O'Rourke's announcement he's running for president may have captured the hearts and minds of many Democrats who believe he can beat President Trump in 2020, but as far as TV's Dr. Drew Pinsky is concerned, "something's not right" with the former congressman.  "I thought that was Tony Robbins," Pinsky, a board-certified internist and addiction medicine specialist, said on the "Brian Kilmeade Show" in response to audio of O'Rourke's presidential announcement video.  "I'm just saying, there's something gonna go down there.  I can feel it coming.  I don't know what it is... There's something not right," Pinsky said.

America Deserves Much Beto than O'Rourke.  Funded with mega-millions from outsiders, O'Rourke's entire U.S. Senate campaign was built upon deceiving voters.  For example:  While claiming to be pro-Second Amendment, great deceiver O'Rourke voted against every piece of pro-gun legislation that came to his desk.  To deceive voters into believing he is a regular guy, millionaire O'Rourke posted video of himself in a laundromat doing laundry.  O'Rourke came disturbingly close to scamming Texans into electing him over Ted Cruz.  In his elect-me-or-we're-all-gonna-die presidential campaign announcement, O'Rourke claimed there are crises in our economy, democracy, and climate.  O'Rourke urgently warned Americans that we are in a "moment of peril."  What on Earth is O'Rourke talking about?

Watch Beto O'Rourke destroy Joe Biden's presidential run.  Beto is the new rock star on the left.  He cannot stake a moderate position, as he has already supported the usual extreme positions that most of his opponents have previously enumerated.  But his most ardent followers are younger and highly motivated to change the world.  Already pundits are arguing that he is moderate.  If that is so, which it is not unless his opponent is Bernie Sanders, he is likely to take votes and polling numbers from Biden.  So far, Uncle Joe presents the most reasonable option to fend off Trump's attack on socialism.  But at 76 and clearly without any energy in his last few speeches, he lacks the support of the media, which have chosen Beto.

Backstory: How Reuters uncovered Beto O'Rourke's teenage hacking days.  Reuters reporter Joseph Menn exclusively revealed on Friday that Democratic presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke belonged to one of the best-known groups of computer hackers as a teenager.

Betomania: Media in a lovesick swoon over Dems' 2020 contender.  Betomania is a lot like Beatlemania — except instead of teenage girls in the 1960s, journalists are now the ones swooning for their star.  If the Beatles were around today to sing about media infatuation with newly announced Democratic presidential hopeful Robert Francis "Beto" O'Rourke, their song would be titled "They love him, yeah, yeah, yeah."  O'Rourke is a skateboarding mix of rock 'n' roll (he was in a punk band named Foss), lefty politics, dictatorial ambition and media adoration.  Wrap it up in a hip social media package with a logo ripped off from Whataburger Spicy Ketchup (I'm not joking) and, voila, you have the perfect creation.

Beto Says He'll End Federal Death Penalty.  [Robert] O'Rourke's announcement of his views on the death penalty came just hours after he first announced his bid for the White House, Fox News reported.  En route to another appearance, O'Rourke called in to Radio Iowa, where he was asked about California Gov. Gavin Newsom's (D.) recent decision to issue a moratorium on the death penalty in his own state.  "As president, would you suspend capital punishment at the federal level?" O'Rourke's interviewer asked.  "I would.  It's not an equitable, fair, just system right now — the guarantees and safeguards against wrongful prosecution, the disproportionate number of people of color who comprise our criminal justice system," O'Rourke said in response.

O'Rourke calls America's capitalist economy 'racist'.  Beto O'Rourke said Friday [3/15/2019] that America's capitalist economy is "racist," while he praised a proposal to give infants so-called baby bonds to address systemic inequalities.  Responding to a question at a meet-and-greet in Iowa about whether he is a socialist, O'Rourke reiterated that "I consider myself a capitalist" and said capitalism is necessary to meet myriad "historic challenges" facing the country.

O'Rourke: 'Beyond the Shadow of a Doubt' That Trump Attempted to Collude and Obstruct.  During an interview broadcast on Friday's "CBS This Morning," 2020 presidential candidate former Representative Beto O'Rourke (D-TX) stated that it is "beyond the shadow of a doubt" that President Trump at least attempted to collude and to obstruct justice, but that the election is "perhaps... the best way for us to resolve these outstanding questions."

Number Eleven:  Robert Francis O'Rourke Announces Presidential Bid.  Robert Francis "Beto" O'Rourke has reversed his prior position and has announced his intent to run for the 2020 Presidential Race.  His entrance narrows the lane currently occupied Bernie Sanders and is likely to fracture the college crowd.  O'Rourke has no experience as an executive; failed in an election run against Senator Ted Cruz; and is generally goofy, lacking any seriousness in disposition.

Go Beto!.  The Democrats have a remarkable number of bad presidential candidates, but I think my favorite might be Beto O'Rourke.  His campaign is off to, shall we say, a rocky start.

Special Report:  Beto O'Rourke's secret membership in a legendary hacking group.  One thing you didn't know:  While a teenager, O'Rourke acknowledged in an exclusive interview, he belonged to the oldest group of computer hackers in U.S. history.  Members of the hugely influential Cult of the Dead Cow, jokingly named after an abandoned Texas slaughterhouse, have protected his secret for decades, reluctant to compromise his political viability.  Now, in a series of interviews, CDC members have acknowledged O'Rourke as one of their own.

Beto Admits Membership In Notorious "Hacktivist" Programming Group.  "An ex-hacker running for national office would have been unimaginable just a few years ago," Reuters' Joseph Menn writes this morning.  Thanks to Robert "Beto" O'Rourke and his shadowy past in "hactivist" circles, that moment has been thrust upon us.  In an interview with Menn, O'Rourke admits to his membership in a notorious hacking collective known as the Cult of the Dead Cow, which created hacking tools targeting Microsoft Windows as well as engaged in political activism through their hacking.  At least for now, everyone seems interested in downplaying O'Rourke's contributions to the CDC collective.

Reporter Asks Pelosi What Beto O'Rourke Has Accomplished.  She Can't Answer.  House Speaker Nancy Pelosi struggled to name a single accomplishment that former Rep. Beto O'Rourke (D-TX) had while he was in the House of Representatives when she was asked by a reporter on Thursday [3/14/2019] during a press conference.  "Beto O'Rourke announced today that he is running for president," NBC News' Kasie Hunt said.  "What in your view was Beto O'Rourke's signature accomplishment as a member of the House?"  "Beto brought vitality to Congress... when he came, he came as a real champion for the environment," Pelosi responded.  "He got a great deal of support from the environmental community in his district, he won a primary on that subject."

Senate Loser Beto O'Rourke Now Claims He Was Born to Be President.  When rich kid, legend-in-his-own mind Beto O'Rourke swiped Hillary Clinton's born-to-be-president mantra, using the concept as his own, he cut voting masses an unintended break, by, in effect, setting off soon to be Democrat Cannibalism.  The roomful of Democrat presidential hopefuls will soon be voraciously eating their own.  While he may have tried to go for a collegial look in his sweater when announcing his run for the 2020 presidency, Senators Liz Warren, Kamala Harris, Kirsten Gillibrand and others will be bound to see him as a silver-spoon, "WHITE MAN OF PRIVILEGE"!

Beto O'Rourke is no moderate Democrat — he's now part of the extreme left.  After failed Democratic Senate candidate Robert "Beto" O'Rourke joined the presidential fracas this week, many in the media began parroting the talking point that he is a moderate, citing his Texas roots and reasonable-sounding persona. [...] But sensing how far left the Democratic base has moved, Beto is now embracing the Green New Deal.  In January he declared he is "supportive of the concept" of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's, D-N.Y., plan.  By February, he doubled down and called the Green New Deal the "best proposal" he has seen, adding he is "really excited" by the plan to socialize our economy and decimate our energy industry.

Flashback: That Time Beto Said He Wouldn't Run in 2020 Because His Family 'Could Not Survive' It.  Democrats seem to enjoy "falling in love" with politicians, and Beto will make a strong play for many liberals' hearts. [...] He's much more progressive than he may seem at first blush, masking his ideology with aspirational, unity-themed rhetoric, which may sound familiar.  On the other hand, his "cool" persona is marred by comical try-hardism, his background as a privileged white male may hurt him among identity-obsessed partisans (many people are likely willing to overlook his DWI arrest and attempt to flee the scene), and it's not as if he's amassed a stellar list of legislative accomplishments.

Former Hillary Aide Not Happy That Beto Is Getting the Media Treatment Her Boss Deserved.  Former Hillary Clinton campaign aide Jess McIntosh is happy for Beto O'Rourke and his 2020 plans.  She just wishes her former boss would have received the same positive media treatment that he's now enjoying.  She sounded off on the "double standard" during an interview with CNN's Poppy Harlow on Thursday [3/14/2019].  In Thursday's glowing Vanity Fair cover story about O'Rourke, the former Texas state senator said he was "born" to run and that he had to follow his calling, despite how it might affect his kids.

'Not one woman got that kind of coverage': Beto backlash begins.  The breathless, sweeps-like cable television coverage that greeted the former Texas congressman's first campaign events stunned and frustrated many Democratic operatives — particularly women — who viewed it as an example of the double standard at work in the historically diverse presidential field.  To them, O'Rourke, a white, male candidate had already been ordained the next sensation, his entry into the race greased by live television shots and O'Rourke-centric panels.  And that was after the national press swarmed him in El Paso during a recent Donald Trump appearance there, after O'Rourke graced the latest Vanity Fair cover, and after Oprah Winfrey, who had her choice of accomplished women candidates to feature on her program, instead zeroed in on the white guy from Texas.

Beto on Vanity Fair cover
Has Phony Betomania Already Bitten the Dust?  In retrospect, the biggest surprise was that Beto O'Rourke did not announce his long-expected (though recently denied) presidential candidacy last week in his native habitat of South by Southwest, while he was promoting an HBO documentary about his stirring failure to unseat one of the most reviled incumbents in American politics.  But then, the former El Paso congressman, whose occasionally moody Gen X uplift has almost completely overshadowed his unusual political path and heterodox policy beliefs, probably knew he was about to get the full Vanity Fair Annie Leibovitz cover treatment:  [Photo]


Beto O'Rourke Confirms He's Running For President.  Beto O'Rourke says he's running for president.  The former Texas congressman confirmed to El Paso NBC affiliate KTSM that he's tossing his hat in the ring for 2020.  "I'm really proud of what El Paso did and what El Paso represents," O'Rourke said in a text to the NBC affiliate.  "It's a big part of why I'm running.  This city is the best example of this country at its best."

Left Mocks Beto's 'Messiah-Esque' 'Born' to Run Remarks: 'Peak White Male Privilege'.  Left-wing activists and liberal journalists were quick to mock former Rep. Robert Francis "Beto" O'Rourke (D-TX) on Wednesday evening [3/13/2019] after he told Vanity Fair that he was "born" to run for president.  O'Rourke told Vanity Fair, "You can probably tell that I want to run... I do.  I think I'd be good at it."

Donald Trump Mocks Beto O'Rourke Hand Movement: 'Is He Crazy?'.  President Donald Trump mocked Beto O'Rourke's presidential run announcement Thursday, suggesting that the 2020 candidate might be crazy.  The president appeared to be commenting on O'Rourke's video released Thursday morning announcing his decision to run for president in 2020.

Beto 2020 Has No Reason to Exist.  Beto O'Rourke is finally ready to end the suspense.  The former Texas congressman is expected to formally kick off his presidential campaign Thursday, one day after tipping his hand to a local TV station in Texas.  "I'm really proud of what El Paso did and what El Paso represents," O'Rourke told KTSM El Paso via text.  "It's a big part of why I'm running."  His apparent confirmation came on the heels of a new Vanity Fair cover story — complete with glossy photo shoot — in which he told the magazine that he wanted to run.  "I want to be in it," he said, after describing our current political moment as an existential fight.  "Man, I'm just born to be in it, and want to do everything I humanly can for this country at this moment."

Beto O'Rourke's 'privilege' may be hurting candidate with women, column says.  [Robert F.] O'Rourke is already facing criticism over the way he tried to raise his profile across the country, which included less talk about policies and more about publishing odd diary entries, visiting college campuses and listening to Metallica.  "Imagine, they say, if Beto were Betsy," Lisa Lerer, a reporter, wrote in The New York Times.  "What would the reception have been if a female candidate left her three small children home and spent several weeks traveling the country, posting stream-of-consciousness diary entries?  Or if she chose to forgo a Senate race that would provide a greater opportunity for victory?"

Beto O'Rourke drops f-bombs, snaps at staff, stresses out in revealing new documentary.  After a period of self-imposed exile, the former Democratic congressman returned to center stage Saturday as he ramps up for a potential 2020 presidential bid, appearing at South by Southwest for the premiere of a new documentary about his failed Senate campaign against Ted Cruz.  It's been 10 days since O'Rourke said publicly that he's made a decision about his political future, but he told reporters on Saturday [3/9/2019] that he wanted to reveal "it the right way and tell everyone at the same time."

Blacks and the Democrats.  The ongoing battle between Democrats and Republicans regarding the southern border is another clear example of how Democrats protect their power at the expense of the black community.  Republicans are in favor of strong border security, which in addition to saving lives protects the economic stability of minorities.  Democrats not only object to guarding against an increase in the flow of low-wage illegal workers which would economically destroy minority communities in the U.S. by bringing down wages, but have even suggested dismantling already existing boundaries, as was proposed by Beto O'Rourke, a rising star in the Democratic party./p>

Beto's Sky-High Expectations.  If, as expected, Beto O'Rourke enters the presidential race in the coming weeks, the former three-term Texas congressman will arguably face the highest expectations of any Democratic candidate in the 2020 lot.  His fate will likely be determined if he can meet the sky-high bar quickly and sufficiently.  "Beto's a real wild card," says Charles Chamberlain, the executive director of Democracy for America.  "He has the potential to be a dark horse that surprises everybody.  He also has the potential to be a flash in the pan."

Beto O'Rourke heads to a Metallica concert after making 2020 decision.  Beto O'Rourke is running ... to Metallica's El Paso concert, apparently.  O'Rourke was spotted at the Texas show on Thursday night [2/28/2019], according to journalist Ivan Pierre Aguirre, who posted pictures of the former congressman looking extremely out of place drowned in a sea of Metallica T-shirts.

Four reasons Beto shouldn't run for president, and four reasons he should.  Beto O'Rourke is closing in on making a decision about whether he'll run for president.  For weeks, O'Rourke has said he could make his decision as soon as the end of the month.  With just days left in February and at least 10 Democratic contenders having already jumped into the race, the El Paso Democrat has told reporters that a decision is near.  "I'm trying to figure out how I can best serve this country, where I can do the greatest good for the United States of America, so yeah, I'm thinking through that, and it, you know, may involve running for the presidency, it may involve something else," O'Rourke said in El Paso last week.

Beto Tries to Trick Hispanics Into Thinking He's One of Them.  As he ponders his 2020 plans, voters and media people need to get it right.  He's a political chimichanga — an American invention that just seems Mexican.

Beto O'Rourke Is a Democrat Media Chia Pet.  As Robert O'Rourke, whom I refer to as The Beto, tests the 2020 presidential waters, an obvious question has been glaringly absent in the DMIC (Democrat Media Industrial Complex)'s fawning coverage of The Beto: if the majority of Texans didn't want his policies, as evidenced by his loss to Sen. Ted Cruz in the 2018 Senate election, why does he think the majority of Americans in the majority of states would?  After he announced his candidacy against Cruz, The Beto channeled his inner Ramones, eliciting a gaggle of groupie journalists.  Recall when ABC News reporter Paula Faris oglingly called The Beto a "rock star" — not once, but twice!  Faris, of course, didn't call the incumbent senator whom The Beto was challenging a rock star.

Trump builds, Beto destroys.  President Donald Trump said yes to the budget bill to keep open government, but then bypassed Congress and declared a national emergency to free up funding to build his long-promised border wall.  And on the other side of town, Beto O'Rourke — Robert Francis "Beto" O'Rourke — says let's go ahead and rip 'em all down.  The campaign lines for 2020 and beyond couldn't be any clearer.

Beto: 'Racism' and 'Hatred' Define Trump Presidency.  Former Rep. Robert Francis "Beto" O'Rourke (D-TX) said on Friday evening in Wisconsin that "hatred" and "racism" have defined Donald Trump's presidency.  Speaking to political science students at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, O'Rourke told the Badgers that President Trump came to the border in El Paso, Texas, this week to "stoke the anxiety and the paranoia and the fear and the hatred and the racism that has defined his campaigns and his presidency."

Beto O'Rourke is being a hypocrite about the border wall.  Donald Trump has a lot of things going for him, a sense of humor, a willingness to say whatever is on his mind, but his best asset is his ability to turn his opponents into absolute idiots.  There used to be something called the Monster Raving Loony Party in Britain, and that's what the Democrats are beginning to sound like.  No, this isn't about AOC and the Green New Deal.  It's about Beto.  Robert Francis O'Rourke, the great Democratic hope who lost the Texas Senate race in 2018, but somehow didn't descend into oblivion.  Right now, he thinks he has the wind at his back with Trump's campaign for a border wall.  If Trump wants to erect a new wall, Beto wants to tear down the existing one.

In El Paso, Beto O'Rourke Makes It Easy For Trump To Target 'Extreme' Democrats.  It was altogether fitting that President Trump's rally Monday night in El Paso was something of a circus.  After all, it was the first official campaign event of his 2020 reelection bid.  The rally had all the trappings of any other Trump rally:  itinerant Trump vendors hawking their wares outside the venue, supporters decked out in MAGA gear who traveled from several states away, a handful of angry protesters who managed to sneak signs into the stadium and disrupt things for a minute or two.

Beto O'Rourke says he 'absolutely' supports destroying existing walls on southern border.  Former Texas Democratic Rep. Beto O'Rourke said Thursday that he would "absolutely" support tearing down existing barriers along the southern border with Mexico, in a full-throated embrace of open-borders rhetoric that has left conservatives wondering where other potential 2020 Democratic White House hopefuls stand on the issue.  O'Rourke's comments came as the House and Senate passed a compromise spending bill that would partially fund President Trump's proposed border wall, to the tune of $1.4 billion.  Trump, who had been pressing for billions more, has vowed to declare a national state of emergency to fund the remainder of the project.

Beto's Chances.  One purported top contender for the Democrats' presidential nomination so far has stayed on the sidelines:  former Representative Robert Francis O'Rourke of Texas, better known as "Beto" O'Rourke.  A rising star in the Democratic Party, even after his unsuccessful attempt to win Ted Cruz's Senate seat last year, he has been the subject of numerous media puff pieces, and liberals are going gaga over him the same way they did over Barack Obama in 2008.  O'Rourke is a polarizing figure.  To some, he is an optimistic, clean-cut, inspirational politician at a dark and foreboding time.  To others, he is a living embodiment of the "how do you do, fellow kids?" meme; a 46-year old man trying a bit too hard to seem cool and appeal to youngsters, skateboarding onto stage and live-streaming his dental appointment on Instagram.  Though they laugh and roll their eyes as him, Republicans should not underestimate O'Rourke.

Beto O'Rourke Holds Protest Against Barrier for Our Southern Border — While Being Protected by a Fence.  Robert "Beto" O'Rourke held a protest on Monday against protecting America with a barrier at our southern border — while being protected himself by really tall fences.  O'Rourke, the former congressman from El Paso who had unsuccessfully attempted to unseat Senator Ted Cruz, held the protest in response to President Donald Trump holding a campaign rally nearby in support of a border wall.

Beto Was 'Robert O'Rourke' in High School, Won Award for 'Imaginative Poetry'.  The high school yearbooks of former Texas congressman Robert Francis O'Rourke make no mention of him as "Beto," the nickname he says "just stuck" with him ever since he was growing up.  The yearbooks from his time at the Woodberry Forest School, an all-boys Virginia boarding school O'Rourke attended after leaving his local high school in El Paso, Texas, refer to O'Rourke as either "Rob" or "Robert," the names he also went by while in college and while trying to find himself in New York City after graduating.

Beto O'Rourke tells Oprah he will make 2020 announcement by 'end of this month'.  Beto O'Rourke told Oprah on Tuesday that he will make his decision about whether he will run for president in 2020 "by the end of this month."  During an interview with Winfrey in New York City, the Texas politician, whose grassroots Senate campaign against Ted Cruz in the 2018 midterm election attracted national coverage due to his success in a predominantly red state, said that he has "been thinking about running for president," but remained vague on specifics.  When Winfrey asked "When are you going to know the answer?" O'Rourke answered:  "The serious answer is really soon.  Before the end of this month."

Democrats who say there is no threat of terrorists crossing our border are delusional.  [Scroll down]  Rising Democratic superstar Beto O'Rourke, for example, slammed the president's "rhetoric" on illegal immigration last year, arguing that there is simply no connection between terrorism and the southern border.  "[Z]ero, precisely zero, terrorists, terrorist groups, or terror plots have ever been connected with the U.S.-Mexico border to do harm to people within the United States," Beto said during a campaign event.  Sadly, O'Rourke is not alone in his delusions.

There's No Way Beto O'Rourke Can Duplicate Obama's Success.  A new Washington Post interview of Beto O'Rourke, whom many Democrats would like to see run for president, leaves the impression that he is an empty shirt.  He is probably counting on it.  On issue after issue, O'Rourke — who just lost a Senate campaign — seems determined to avoid being pinned down.  Regarding immigration, he has been very critical of President Trump's proposed border wall, but when asked what America should do about visa overstays, his answer is, "I don't know."  According to former Democratic representative Luis Gutierrez, immigration was not a big issue for O'Rourke, even though he hails from El Paso and represented a majority-Hispanic district along the Texas-Mexico border.

Beto O'Rourke Is Our Postmodern Nostradamus.  Nostradamus, too, was ridiculed in his day, as Beto is mocked in his.  Both men's writings appear abstruse to the unenlightened eyes who cannot (or is it will not?) dare to glean the world-redeeming prognostications which are so patently evident to we, the enlightened.  Yet there is a difference.  Nostradamus' crystalline quatrains predict what will happen; Beto's rambunctious prose prognosticates what will come to pass — if we allow it.  Together.

As Beto O'Rourke Weighs 2020 Run, Democrats Chafe at His Go-It-Alone Style.  Mr. O'Rourke's very presence as a would-be presidential contender for 2020 is an issue of heated debate within the party.  He is a prolific fund-raiser who proved he can energize younger voters, and some early polls place him third behind Joseph R. Biden Jr. and Senator Bernie Sanders, well ahead of many more decorated politicians.  But he is also a relatively inexperienced lawmaker who lost his Senate race against Ted Cruz.

Preseason is over for Beto O'Rourke.  Beto O'Rourke:  Welcome to the National Football League.  As a potential top-tier presidential candidate, O'Rourke has arrived at a much tougher level of competition, and he had better raise his game quickly.  To continue the metaphor, he is like a No. 1 draft pick, and everyone is looking to see if he's worth it.  The nation's best and toughest reporters have his number and want nothing more than to take his measure and knock him down.  Now that he is under a whole new burden of proof, he is going to have a more thoughtful positions on national issues than the one O'Rourke gave The Post's Jenna Johnson, published in an article on Tuesday.

O'Rourke's Close with Guy Who Says Police Are Terrorists, US Is Nazi Germany.  The Daily Caller [DCNF] revealed that Beto O'Rourke has a very close relationship to a nut job radio host and author.  The man is far more fringe than the much-vilified Alex Jones.  But YouTube keeps him on their platform.  He's okay because he's a left-wing fringe guy.  Rep. Beto O'Rourke, Sen. Ted Cruz's opponent in the Texas senatorial race, has long been an ally of an off-the-charts radical radio host advocating for drug legalization.  He frequently compares the U.S. to Nazi Germany.

Beto's excellent adventure drips with white male privilege.  O'Rourke, 46, we are told, is "Obama, but white," because of his fundraising prowess — he raised nearly $80 million in his loss to Sen. Ted Cruz.  He skateboards!  He listens!  He connects on the internet!  And Jack Kerouac-style, he roams around, jobless (does he not need a job?) to find himself and figure out if he wants to lead the free world.  This is a luxury no woman or even minority in politics could ever have.  But O'Rourke, tall, handsome, white and male, has this latitude, to be and do anything.  His privilege even allows him to turn a loss to the most despised candidate of the cycle into a launching pad for a White House run.

Beto bombs bigly in long interview with the Washington Post.  When a CNN anchor warns that "it's a fine line to walk between being a blank canvas and an empty vessel," a pretty-boy, Kennedyesque empty-suit progressive candidate, already recognizable by his first name alone, is in trouble.  Beto looks like a beta, if we are to judge by the Washington Post's account of his "lengthy" interview with Post writer Jenna Johnson.  The title gives away the verdict:  "Beto O'Rourke's immigration plan:  No wall but no specifics."  The lead paragraphs are no kinder.

Beto's Constitutional Folly.  This is a variation on a theme I've heard countless times on the left — often in response to arguments over originalism and (more recently) in response to anger at the very structure of our government itself.  Why shackle ourselves to the wisdom of the distant past?  How could the Founders have foreseen the challenges of the present?  It's worth taking these questions seriously.  After all, the Constitution isn't the Bible.  It's not the holy and inspired Word of God, and if its terms and structure are hurting our Republic, they can and should be amended.  But I'd submit that, when one examines the United States and considers the failings that render our politics so dysfunctional, we in fact do have 18th-century answers to our 21st-century challenges and that many of our dysfunctions are the result of abandoning the Constitution, not of embracing it.  We've failed because we've refused to be managed by the "principles that were set down 230-plus years ago."

Beto O'Rourke Questions 'Principles' of Constitution: 'Does This Still Work?'.  Former Congressman and potential 2020 Democratic nominee Beto O'Rourke questioned the "principles" of the U.S. Constitution on Wednesday, arguing that its usefulness is the "question of the moment.  In an interview with The Washington Post, O'Rourke was asked if he believes the U.S. is capable of "dramatically [changing] its approach to a whole host of issues" or whether he holds a "dismal suspicion that the country is now incapable of implementing sweeping change."

Beto O'Rourke questions relevance of Constitution, principles 'set down 230-plus years ago'.  Former Rep. Beto O'Rourke recently questioned the modern-day relevance of the U.S. Constitution and whether the country should still be governed by "the same principles that were set down 230-plus years ago." [...] "Can an empire like ours with military presence in over 170 countries around the globe, with trading relationships ... and security agreements in every continent, can it still be managed by the same principles that were set down 230-plus years ago?" Mr. O'Rourke reportedly asked.

Beto O'Rourke mocked after offering few answers in wide-ranging policy interview.  Former Texas Senate candidate Beto O'Rourke faced across-the-board criticism on Tuesday [1/15/2019] after an unflattering interview in The Washington Post portrayed him as equivocal and unsure on a variety of substantive policy issues.  O'Rourke, 46, is widely considered a possible 2020 presidential contender, after falling only a few percentage points shy of dethroning incumbent Texas GOP Sen. Ted Cruz in the 2018 midterm elections.  But his relative lack of experience and expertise has emerged as a central objection to his prospective candidacy.

Oprah, who gave Obama the nod in 2008, to interview Beto O'Rourke ahead of his 2020 decision.  Oprah Winfrey might give former Rep. Beto O'Rourke a familiar boost.  The entrepreneur and media personality is set to interview the potential 2020 candidate one-on-one next month live as part of her "Oprah's SuperSoul Conversations from Times Square."  Winfrey's support once kickstarted the presidential ambitions of another junior Democratic legislator:  Barack Obama.

Beto O'Rourke Mocked for Instagramming Trip to Dentist.  Texas Democrat Beto O'Rourke disgusted and confused commentators on both sides of the aisle by posting video to social media of his trip to the dentist.  The move from O'Rourke, often floated as a potential 2020 Democratic presidential candidate, comes on the heels of other Democratic stars using social media to speak about politics in a relaxed setting.  Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez (D., N.Y.) live-streamed herself making macaroni and cheese in November, while Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass.) filmed herself drinking a beer at home on New Year's Eve to mixed reviews.  But the consensus on Twitter was that O'Rourke went too far in filming an Instagram Live video during his dental cleaning Thursday [1/10/2019], complete with a view of his gaping maw.

Beto O'Rourke and his magic border beans.  Beto O'Rourke — or, as he was born, Robert Francis O'Rourke — tweeted out a video response to President Donald Trump's border wall speech that in essence said this:  There's nothing to see here, folks.  Go home to your families, eat and be merry.  The borders are safe, safe, safe.  And then he clapped his hands, spun three times and threw down some magic beans and voila, the borders were indeed safe.  Just like that.  Seriously, this is the guy the Democrats are mulling over for the White House in 2020?

Eyes roll and heads slam to desks when 'Beto' posts his dental cleaning.  What's next, colonoscopy?!  Democrats have apparently discovered the joys of reality TV with yet another live video feed documenting their oh-so-exciting lives.  Former Texas Rep. Beto O'Rourke took his Instagram followers along for a trip to his dentist for a cleaning on Thursday [1/10/2019], following the awkward trend of Democrats live-streaming their lives.

'Draft Beto' effort builds momentum.  Beto O'Rourke is getting a significant lift in the early nominating states of South Carolina and Nevada, with operatives in both states joining an effort to draft O'Rourke into the presidential campaign.  Boyd Brown, a former South Carolina lawmaker and former Democratic National Committee member, told POLITICO on Monday that he will become national senior adviser to a Draft Beto campaign.

Beto's Latest Attempt at Staying Relevant:  Reviving the Confederacy Conundrum.  Texas Congressman Beto O'Rourke is calling for the removal of a controversial Confederate plaque that hangs in the Texas state capital. [...] Lawmakers in Texas have continually debated whether or not the plaque should stay up.  Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said the state legislature, the State Preservation Board, the Texas Historical Commission or the Capitol curator all have the authority to remove the plaque, Dallas News reported.

Beto O'Rourke seeks help after ICE leaves 200 migrants at El Paso bus station.  U.S. Rep. Beto O'Rourke — a potential candidate in the 2020 presidential election — is calling for donations and help after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement dropped off at least 200 migrants at the El Paso, Texas, bus station.

The Editor says...
Congressman O'Rourke was elected to represent American citizens.  His efforts on behalf of intrusive disease-laden freeloaders are misguided, at best.  In other words, every minute he spends working on the behalf of illegal aliens is another minute he's neglecting his job.  Worse than that, he may be unwittingly un-doing the work of other government officials if he is helping previously-deported aliens re-enter this country.

Inside Bernie-world's war on Beto O'Rourke.  Forces loyal to Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders are waging an increasingly public war against Texas Rep. Beto O'Rourke, the new darling of Democratic activists, as the two men weigh whether to seek the party's presidential nomination in 2020.  The main line of attack against O'Rourke is that he isn't progressive enough — that he's been too close to Republicans in Congress, too close to corporate donors and not willing enough to use his star power to help fellow Democrats — and it is being pushed almost exclusively by Sanders supporters online and in print.

Bernie Sanders Supporters Wage War on Beto O'Rourke.  Neither Sanders nor O'Rourke has officially declared presidential candidacy, but the games are already afoot.  According to a report by NBC, Sanders supporters are already putting the heat O'Rourke, attempting to paint him as a less than committed ideologue.  Sanders, a self-described socialist, was the clear left-winger in the 2016 election, but in the two years since Trump was elected, Democrats have wholly abandoned any guise of centrism in a race to prove who is the truest, most leftist progressive.

Why are Democrats trying to annihilate an O'Rourke campaign before it has even started?  If you blinked, you might have missed it.  Somewhere between Election Day and your 500th gulp of holiday-party red wine, Texas congressman Beto O'Rourke went from being the new darling of the left to its leading bête noire.  Not much of substance actually changed in that time, of course.  O'Rourke inspired many, but still lost his Senate race, and he's now winding down his time in the House.  What has changed is that O'Rourke, having built an $80 million grassroots political movement from scratch, is now seen as one of the top contenders for the Democratic presidential nomination.  The polls bear this out:  A recent Des Moines Register survey of Iowa placed him third among possible Democratic candidates, behind known commodities Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders.

Beto Busted for Fossil Fuel Hypocrisy.  It turns out that Democratic heartthrob Robert Francis O'Rourke, in addition to deceptively insinuating that he is of Hispanic descent, has been less than honest about his commitment to saving the Earth from the menace of fossil fuels.  He signed a "No Fossil Fuel Money Pledge" produced by a coalition of environmental activists promising to refuse "any contributions over $200 from the PACs, executives, or front groups of fossil fuel companies — companies whose primary business is the extraction, processing, distribution, or sale of oil, gas, or coal."  As it happens, however, O'Rourke accepted $492K in such contributions during 2018.

O'Rourke Removed From 'No Fossil Fuel Money' Pledge Following Report of Donations From Oil, Gas Execs.  Rep. Robert Francis "Beto" O'Rourke (D., Texas) has been removed from a list of candidates who pledged to reject fossil fuel donations over $200 after it was revealed he took multiple contributions from oil and gas executives.  Oil Change USA, a nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C., removed O'Rourke's name from a list of those who signed the pledge, according to Sludge.  The pledge dictates a politician and their campaign "adopt a policy to not knowingly accept any contributions over $200 from the PACs, executives, or front groups of fossil fuel companies — companies whose primary business is the extraction, processing, distribution, or sale of oil, gas, or coal."  Sludge reported earlier this month that O'Rourke received $430,000 from individuals in the oil and gas industries.  The report was later updated to note that "the O'Rourke campaign had not returned 29 'large donations' of over $200 from oil and gas executives," according to the most recent campaign finance report.

When it comes to the border, 'Beto' doubles down on dumb.  Just when you think politics cannot get any stupider in this country, in skateboards Robert Francis O'Rourke.  That would be the same Robert Francis O'Rourke of privileged upbringing and expensive boarding school pedigree who today goes by "Beto" because it sounds Hispanic now that he has decided to get into electoral politics.  Whatever happened to all the outrage over "cultural appropriation"?

Team Biden Wonders:  Should We Make Beto His Running Mate?  No, this is an age thing.  Biden is older than time, O'Rourke looks even younger than his 46 years.  The thinking goes that pairing Uncle Joe with a next-gen VP who's in his prime will lend some vitality to the ticket and blunt any perception among younger voters that Biden is "old news."  I dunno, though. [...] Who wants to roll the dice on President Beto if 78-year-old Joe Biden doesn't survive his term?

Activist Democrats question whether Beto O'Rourke is one of them.  The left is where the energy is in today's Democratic Party.  Nearly half of Democratic voters describe themselves as liberal, up 17 percentage points from a decade ago, according to Pew Research Center. [...] The problem with O'Rourke, various Democratic activists say, is that he didn't support bills they consider to be crucial to the progressive platform and he was a member of the centrist, fiscally conservative New Democrat Coalition.

Who is Robert Francis "Beto" O'Rourke?  Robert Francis O'Rourke was born into an Irish Catholic family on September 26, 1972, in El Paso, Texas.  From an early age, he was called "Beto," a common nickname for Mexicans named Roberto.  His father, Pat Francis O'Rourke (d. 2001), served as both a County Commissioner and County Judge in El Paso, a political associate of former Texas Governor Mark White, and the state chairman of Jesse Jackson's 1984 and 1988 presidential campaigns.  In May 1995, Beto O'Rourke was arrested for attempted burglary on the University of Texas-El Paso campus, but the charges were dropped nine months later.  After graduating from Columbia University in 1995 with a BA in English Literature, O'Rourke worked for several Internet Service Providers and then returned to El Paso, where in 1998 he founded the Stanton Street Technology Group (SSTG), a web and software company which he headed for the next 14 years.  His mother, Melissa O'Rourke, who once served as a Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas board member, was a shareholder in SSTG.

Stop comparing Beto O'Rourke's potential 2020 presidential bid to Barack Obama's in 2008.  As outgoing Rep. Beto O'Rourke flirts with a 2020 Democratic presidential bid, his already soaring stock among the media has been surging even higher, and he is even drawing comparisons to former President Barack Obama, who was a relatively inexperienced national politician before he captured the presidency in 2008.  But such comparisons are unwarranted.  O'Rourke, D-Texas, who was the most profiled candidate of the 2018 election cycle, quickly drew media buzz about a 2020 presidential run after losing his Senate race to Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas.  A poll of the race from the liberal MoveOn showed O'Rourke narrowly edging out progressive icon Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., in a field with lots of possible candidates but no clear front-runner.  It's "Betomania," declares ABC News.  CNN, meanwhile, has already declared him the second-ranking Democratic presidential hopeful, behind only Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif.

The Real Beto O'Rourke.  As a child living in El Paso, O'Rourke was given the nickname "Beto," which is a common Hispanic moniker for Roberto, in order to delineate between him and his maternal grandfather, Robert Williams.  When O'Rourke attended Columbia in New York he used "Rob," but his father, then El Paso County Judge Pat O'Rourke, suggested that he once again use "Beto" to increase his chance of winning political office in the heavily Hispanic city of El Paso, which Robert readily agreed to do.  He graduated from Columbia in 1995, and later that month was arrested for burglary at UTEP (the University of Texas El Paso) along with two others.

So much for all that "grass roots" support...
Mysterious Anti-Ted Cruz Super PAC Revealed To Be Funded By National Democratic Group.  A super PAC that spent millions attacking Republican Sen. Ted Cruz during the midterm election was revealed Thursday [12/6/2018] to be funded almost entirely by Washington, D.C., Democrats.  The Texas Forever PAC, which spent $2.3 million on last-minute anti-Cruz attack ads, was funded by the Senate Majority PAC except for $10,000, according to Federal Election Commission (FEC) filings in December.  The Senate Majority PAC has strong ties to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and fundraises to help Democrats win control of the Senate.  Texas Forever was created less than a month before the November election and after the last deadline to report donors prior to Election Day.  Because it launched so close to the election, Texas Forever was able to sidestep revealing where the funds came from until a month after voting concluded, a strategy that has been more frequently utilized with super PACs this election cycle, reported Politico.

If the Dems want to lose in 2020, Beto O'Rourke is the perfect candidate.  Beto O'Rourke, with widespread backing, is considering running for president in 2020.  If Democrats want to lose, he absolutely should.  Nothing has been learned from Hillary Clinton, the two-time heiress apparent who, in 2016, had the support of nearly every mainstream media outlet, who entered the final stretch of her last race with a $449 million war chest (compared with Trump's $163 million), who led in nearly every national poll, and who was roundly depicted as the rational adult tolerating a villainous bozo.  Just as Hillary has taken that humiliating defeat as a sign to mull yet a third run, O'Rourke has taken his loss to Ted Cruz — the most loathed senator in modern American history, once called "Lucifer in the flesh" by then-House Speaker John Boehner — as a sign that he, a 46-year-old three-term congressman with a thin record, is the one to defeat Trump.

When Beto Met Barry.  The Washington Post reports that Beto O'Rourke, who is weighing whether to mount a 2020 presidential bid, met recently with Barack Obama in Washington, D.C. The meeting reportedly took place on November 16.  According to the Post, some former Obama aides have encouraged O'Rourke to run for president.  They see him as capable of the kind of campaign that caught fire in the 2008 presidential election.  Some Republicans are, or pretend to be, dismissive of O'Rourke as a credible challenger to President Trump.  They cite his recent defeat at the hands of Ted Cruz in the Texas Senate race.  But O'Rourke ran a strong race against Cruz, losing by less than 3 points in strongly Republican state.  It's true that O'Rourke was buoyed by an enormous influx of money.  But it's also true that he likely would be similarly buoyed if he runs for president.

Beto O'Rourke seen as a top contender in 2020: poll.  Rep. Beto O'Rourke (D-Texas) is considered one of the top Democratic contenders for the White House in 2020 even among more well-known potential hopefuls, according to a Harvard CAPS/Harris poll released exclusively to The Hill.  Former Vice President Joe Biden is the most popular Democrat in the potential 2020 primary, with 28 percent of Democratic and independent voters saying they'd most likely vote for him, according to the poll released on Monday [12/3/2018].

Calling O'Rourke.  One of the more mystifying outcomes of the recent midterms, particularly as the nation reflects on the full life and multifarious accomplishments of George H.W. Bush, has been the elevation of Robert Francis O'Rourke to the top tier of potential presidential contenders.  In response to a recent Morning Consult poll, registered Democrats ranked the losing Senate candidate among their top three preferences for the party's 2020 nomination.  They favored "Beto" over Elizabeth Warren, Cory Booker, Kamala Harris, Sherrod Brown, et al.  The only two potential candidates who ranked higher than the Texas congressman were septuagenarians Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders.

Beto O'Rourke would have a chance against Trump in 2020.  Unsurprisingly, the curiosity and clamor surrounding O'Rourke have little to do with his limited track record and much to do with his Obama-like qualities.  There are few truly viable candidates who would pose a legitimate threat to the man who beat Hillary Clinton.  If Democrats learned anything before and during former President Barack Obama's eight years in office, it's that election success on a national scale is more about personality than policy.

Just like Obama, Democrats are falling for the idea of Beto 2020.  If you thought Betomania was over when the Democratic congressman lost his Senate bid to incumbent Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, you'd better think again.  Beto has gone nationwide.  With praise coming in from everyone from Beyoncé to former President Barack Obama and the Texas representative hinting at a possible run at the White House in 2020, Beto O'Rourke has become the cause célèbre among Democratic donors and activists around the country — and looks to shake up what already promises to be a crowded field of Democrats challenging President Trump.

Beto O'Rourke changes his mind:  He's not ruling out 2020 anymore.  Beto O'Rourke said Monday that he is no longer ruling out a run for president in 2020, a reversal that thrilled his legion of loyal supporters while clouding an already-crowded Democratic primary field.  "Running for Senate, I was 100 percent focused on our campaign, winning that race and then serving the next six years in the United States Senate," the Texas congressman told reporters after a town hall forum here.  "Now that that is no longer possible, you know, we're thinking through a number of things."

The Snob Party.  [Scroll down]  The people to whom Democrats condescend express similar feelings about Sarah Palin and Donald Trump, who are lionized for standing up to that condescension.  Which brings us back to Señor O'Rourke, the most oleaginous, condescending, and sanctimonious man in American politics at the moment.  He talks a good man-of-the-people game, as most progressives do, but who he is, is who progressives are and who they want to be:  a rich white liberal with political power, from a family of rich white liberals with political power.  He has the prep-school diploma and the Ivy League imprimatur, too.  As one does.

Liberals' infantile Beto fantasy.  I have offended some liberals in the past by referring to Robert Francis "Beto" O'Rourke as a "failson."  I understand now why this might have come across as dismissive of his totally awesome campaign to skateboard his way into a Senate seat.  So in the future I will be more measured in my language.  Beto is not a "failson."  He is, in fact, the successful son-in-law of a billionaire real estate developer whose low-key contempt for barrio grandmas puts him squarely within the mainstream of the Democratic Party.  His seemingly inevitable attempt to secure his party's presidential nomination in 2020 will be only slightly more embarrassing to himself and his delusional followers than his recent loss to the most loathed senator in the United States.

Here's what you might not know about Beto O'Rourke — but should.  Glenn [Beck] briefly introduced Beto's rise through the ranks of legislature, from El Paso City Council member in 2004 to the U.S. Representative for Texas's 16th Congressional District in 2013.  "During Beto's five years in Congress, he's been the primary sponsor of countess bills — assuming you can't count to two, cause it was only two," joked Glenn.

Beto O'Rourke's National Celebrity Was His Undoing.  In the past year, the Texas Senate candidate Beto O'Rourke has been compared endlessly to the great charismatic stars of the Democratic Party.  He was Kennedyesque!  He was the next Obama!  With his boyish grin, rhythmic speech, and unabashedly left-leaning platform, the Democratic former representative was not just the state's best hope for going blue:  According to political strategists across the country, he is among the party's most promising presidential contenders in 2020.

Trevor Loudon Releases Mini-Doc on Senate Candidate Beto O'Rourke.  This week, Trevor Loudon exposes the radical ties of Texas Senate candidate Beto O'Rourke.  While Beto presents himself as a candidate willing to work with all Texans, his hard-left policies reflect his many socialist allies.

Why did nobody mention that Beto O'Rourke's wife is a billionaire heiress?  Young Beto O'Rourke casts himself as the 'anti-Trump'. But his father-in-law, it turns out, is a billionaire property developer with a contentious relationship with non-white residents — not unlike the President.  Beto's more the proto-Jared Kushner.  The New York Times today [10/29/2018] revealed the highly interesting news that friend-of-the-little-guy Beto married well.  Very well.  His wife is not only the daughter of William D. Sanders, aka the Warren Buffet of real estate, Cockburn can reveal she is the only daughter.  Sanders's portfolio is valued at about $20 billion.

Nearly a dozen Beto O'Rourke profiles, and almost none mention his crony capitalist background.  Rep. Beto O'Rourke's, D-Texas, 1998 drunken driving accident isn't the only thing his media profilers have ignored.  The New York Times did a fine job this week detailing the Democratic Senate candidate's shady history of political backscratching, including a real-estate deal he championed when he served on the El Paso City Council that would've benefited his billionaire father-in-law, developer William D. Sanders.

O'Rourke Campaign Exposed in Undercover Video for Assisting Honduran Migrants: 'Nobody Needs to Know'.  A Project Veritas video released Thursday night [11/1/2018] shows Beto O'Rourke campaign staffers discussing how they can illegally use campaign resources to purchase supplies and assist in the transportation of Honduran migrants.  [Video clip]  Dominic Chacon, a Field Manager for the O'Rourke campaign in El Paso, Texas, expressed his concern in getting supplies to the caravan migrants.

Poll: Texas women won't propel Beto O'Rourke to victory.  The speculation about how women will vote has been prominent in Texas, especially now that Rep. Beto O'Rourke's challenge to Sen. Ted Cruz's re-election has shaken assumptions about the security of the Republican Party's monopoly.  Much of this discussion has focused on potential unrest among suburban women and whether the moderate Republicans among them will question their partisan leanings.  Don't count on it.  The most recent University of Texas/Texas Tribune Poll offers little evidence to support expectations of significant partisan shifts among women.  A well-documented partisan gender gap is already a political fact of life:  More women identify as Democrats compared with men.  But beyond that, O'Rourke does not look to benefit from a new tidal wave of female support.

Ted Cruz Calls for Journalists to Ask Beto O'Rourke Two Questions.  Sen. Cruz appeared to be referencing a video, released Thursday [11/1/2018] by James O'Keefe's guerrilla journalism organization, Project Veritas.  In that video, an undercover operative obtained footage appearing to show members of O'Rourke's campaign staff alluding to campaign resources that were being used to assist migrants as they approach the Texas border.

Flashback: Hispanic Caucus Refuses Bobby 'Beto' O'Rourke Membership Because He Lacks Hispanic Heritage.  Back in July 2013 Rep. Bobby "Beto" O'Rourke tried to join the Congressional Hispanic Caucus in the House of Representatives.  But the Hispanic Caucus refused to let him join saying he lacked Hispanic heritage.

Google Employees Second Largest Donors to Beto O'Rourke Campaign.  Big Tech company employees are pouring money into Democratic candidate Rep. Beto O'Rourke's senate campaign in an attempt to unseat Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), with employees from Google parent company Alphabet listed as the second largest donating force.  According to CNBC, employees at Google parent company Alphabet were the second largest contributor to O'Rourke's campaign overall, and came first on the list of Big Tech contributors, with Alphabet employees donating $157,189.  Overall, Alphabet was only beaten in donations to O'Rourke's campaign by employees of the University of Texas, who donated $296,123.

Can Beto O'Rourke Name One Thing He's Done For Hispanic Voters?  What on earth made anyone thing Beto could win?  What could possibly have changed between the ill-fated Wendy Davis gubernatorial run and this one?  Apparently, Donald Trump and the Hispanic vote were going to make all the difference.  At least, that's apparently what national Democrats thought.  So, a ton of money has poured into the race, and Beto currently has nothing to show for it, other than maybe a 2020 or 2024 national platform.

As Jed Clampett would say, "There's somethin' wrong with that boy."
The Real Beto O'Rourke.  I recently attended an indoor Beto O'Rourke rally in Corpus Christi, Texas in the Richardson Auditorium on the Del Mar College campus.  Arriving 45 minutes late (after meeting for 15 minutes with fawning press backstage), he was introduced by Congressman Joe Kennedy.  O'Rourke bizarrely rolled onto the stage on a skateboard (he had done this in an earlier rally in Brownsville) and spoke for 30 minutes.  O'Rourke called for essentially open borders and free health care.  He attacked Trump along with his senatorial election opponent, incumbent Texas Senator Ted Cruz, but there was no mention of his previous statement approving of disrespect for the flag, which Cruz and others had pounced on.  O'Rourke appeared awkward and thin and was constantly flailing his hands and arms.  I noticed something rather unsettling.  I was only sitting ten feet away from O'Rourke.  The temperature outside was a near perfect 78 degrees, and the hall itself, which is kept at 72 degrees, seemed chilly.  The stage lights are 20 feet above the stage.  But just minutes into O'Rourke's speech, sweat began to pour down his face and spread across the front of his shirt.

Unhappy about getting texts from O'Rourke's campaign?  There's a lawsuit for that.  At least one Texan is not happy about receiving text messages about Beto O'Rourke's run for U.S. Senate.  A class action lawsuit filed against the Beto for Texas campaign claims the organization sent text messages to Texans without obtaining their permission, violating the Telephone Consumer Protection Act.  The suit, filed Friday [10/19/2018] in the Northern District of Texas Court, names Collin County resident Sameer Syeed as a plaintiff on behalf of all Texans that the O'Rourke campaign sent texts to Texans without obtaining permission.

The Embarrassing Spectacle of Betomania.  Attention, journalists of America:  Time is running out!  You have under three weeks left to publish your last batch of over-the-top pre-election puff pieces on Texas Democrat/cross-country liberal sensation/wing-and-a-prayer Senate candidate Beto O'Rourke!  It is here that we must face the difficult truth:  Barring a GOP-related disaster of some sort, O'Rourke — he of that ineffable "cool factor" and "special sauce," at least according to easily impressed columnists at the Washington Post — is likely to lose big.  According to the latest polls, Senator Ted Cruz leads him by anywhere between seven and nine points.  Tuesday's [10/16/2018] debate between the two, meanwhile, was so mismatched that O'Rourke's best moment might have involved a random deer-in-the-headlights story in which he described how he "got to meet this blind squirrel who is slowly regaining its sight."

Beto O'Rourke's Mother, Who He Says Is A 'Lifelong Republican,' Donated To Obama, Voted In 15 Of 17 Democratic Primaries.  Rep. Robert "Beto" O'Rourke, a Texas Democrat running against Sen. Texas Cruz in this November's election, has a curious relationship with the truth.  Take what the congressman said in a September debate with Cruz about a drunk driving accident he had in 1998.  "I did not try to leave the scene of the accident, though driving drunk, which I did, is a terrible mistake for which there is no excuse or justification or defense, and I will not try to provide one," O'Rourke said.  O'Rourke, then 26, reportedly hit a truck traveling the same direction, jumped over a median strip — then did, indeed, try to flee, according to a witness who saw the whole thing.

Beto is as Phony as Barack.  In 2008, the national news media swooned over the prospect of an African American President of the United States.  The Democratic Party's presidential nominee was freshman U.S. Senator Barack Obama (D-IL).  He was treated to kid glove treatment by the media.  There were no hard questions and no real examination of his background.  He vaulted into the Oval Office on the shoulders of an adoring press.  He spouted the slogan "Hope and Change" and the media, Hollywood and millions of poorly informed American voters swooned.  After ten long years, the Democratic Party has found a new Barack Obama.  He is not one of the 20+ potential presidential candidates in 2020 race.  Instead, he is Robert "Beto" O'Rourke, a three-term U.S. congressman from El Paso, who happens to be a U.S. Senate candidate in the second most populous state in the nation, Texas.

Thread breaks down money wasted per Beto O'Rourke vote and the Left flips out.  Robert O'Rourke lost last night even though he raised more money than any other person who has ever run for the Senate.  Hollywood dumped millions of dollars into his campaign hoping to beat Cruz ... and Bob still lost.

Beto O'Rourke's Marxist Support Network Exposed.  Texas Democratic Senate candidate Beto O'Rourke doesn't like to be called a socialist.  Why then, does he employ several Marxists on his campaign?  Why does Beto hang around with Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) supporters and other radicals?  DSA, despite its name, is a Marxist/communist organization.

The Media's Love Affair With Beto O'Rourke Is Irresponsible.  Despite my best efforts, I know exactly what Texas Senate candidate Beto O'Rourke's post-punk indie band from the mid-'90s sounds like (not as bad as you'd think!).  At the same time, I don't know much about Senate candidate Josh Hawley, who is 38 years old (meaning, around eight years younger than "rising star" Beto), the attorney general of Missouri, and the Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate.  In fact, Hawley's name recognition outside of his state is probably negligible.

Beto O'Rourke Just Showed Everyone How To Lose An Election In Texas.  There are two ways to guarantee you'll lose a statewide election in Texas:  campaign for abortion or campaign against guns.  Texas Democrats accomplished the first in 2014, when Wendy Davis lost the governor's race to Greg Abbott by 20 points.  Now they're determined to do the second.  Beto O'Rourke, the photogenic Democratic congressman from El Paso hoping to unseat Republican Sen. Ted Cruz in November, declared at a SXSW event Monday that there's no reason an AR-15 should be sold to a civilian.  According to Politico's Michael Calderone, O'Rourke, who's not shy about swearing on the campaign trail, added, "I have no idea how that polls and I [don't care] what the NRA thinks about it."

Beto O'Rourke's Campaign Requests VFW Hall Take Down American Flags Before His Rally There.  Ted Cruz's Challenger, Beto O'Rourke has made a name for himself by saying that he can think of "nothing more American" than kneeling during the National Anthem.  We can now add stripping American flags from a VFW hall to things he thinks are good.  According to the Examiner, O'Rourke's campaign had rented out a Veteran of Foreign Affairs Hall for a campaign rally in Navasota, TX, and requested that the VFW Post 4006 Commander Carl Dry take down the American flags in his building ahead of the event.

Beto O'Rourke says 'nothing more American' than NFL anthem protests.  Texas Rep. Beto O'Rourke has jumped into the NFL national-anthem fray by defending players taking a knee during the ceremony, saying he could think of "nothing more American."  In a response going viral on social media, the Democrat seeking to unseat Sen. Ted Cruz, Texas Republican, compared the NFL kneelers to civil-rights icons like Rosa Parks and the Freedom Riders during a campaign appearance last week in Houston.

Ted Cruz slaps down Beto O'Rourke over his support of national anthem protests!  The TedNado took aim at Beto O'Rourke like he was shooting at liberal fish in a barrel after Robert Francis (his real name) supported the national anthem protesters. [...] I just don't understand why Robert Francis O'Rourke thinks that being for the protest will help him in Texas.  Either way, liberals are pouring money into this race because they hate the TedNado so much.  I can't wait to enjoy their disappointment when he trounces Robert Francis.

The cult of Beto.  There is no way Robert Francis O'Rourke, alias "Beto," a.k.a. the no-doubt gleaming future of the Democratic Party is as delusional about his prospects for success as his followers.  That would be impossible.  The Texas congressman is your average 46-year-old liberal failson politico, the grandson of a secretary of the Navy, the son of a judge, a hanger-on in his party who graduated from playing in an amazingly bad hardcore punk band to a seat on the El Paso City Council.  After that, he challenged Rep. Silvestre Reyes, an eight-term Democratic incumbent and chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, with the help of outside cash and despite endorsements from both Bill Clinton and Barack Obama.  The two issues of crucial importance to reviving the fortunes of the working class on which O'Rourke fought his campaign were support for same-sex marriage and drug legalization, both of which Reyes, a Catholic, opposed.


Julia Salazar

Democratic socialist Julia Salazar dipped into massive trust fund during campaign.  Julia Salazar — the Brooklyn state senator who has been called out for falsely painting herself as a working-class immigrant — was living off a trust fund while mounting her socialist-themed campaign, new campaign finance disclosures reveal.  The fact-challenged freshman lawmaker filed papers saying the trust was worth an eye-popping $10 million — although she now claims the figure was an error and the family trust she dipped into actually holds around $400,000.

Controversial Socialist Julia Salazar wins Brooklyn state Senate primary.  Despite a mountain of political baggage, an upstart Brooklyn Socialist toppled an entrenched incumbent in a closely-watched state Senate race dominated by headlines about truth and integrity.  Julia Salazar, 27, rode the progressive wave, toppling long-term state Sen. Martin Malavé Dilan in a district that includes swaths of Williamsburg, Bushwick, and Cypress Hills.

Forget Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Julia Salazar is the hero that the socialist moment deserves.  Just when you thought the story of Julia Salazar, a DSA Socialist candidate who was already enmeshed in a dozen scandals can't get any crazier, it gets much crazier.  To recap, Salazar lied about being Jewish, she lied about being an immigrant, and she lied about growing up poor.  The media billed her as the "Next Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez".  Cortez and Cynthia Nixon backed her.  Oh boy did they mess up.  The anti-Israel activist with hate groups such as If Not Now, was not Jewish.  She was born in Miami, despite claiming to be an immigrant.  And lived in a mansion, despite claiming to be poor.

The Democratic Socialists of America Have an Anti-Semitism Problem.  [Julia] Salazar's rant had appeared on a racist site whose creator had complained that his publication had been banned from DailyKos because of "my repeated insistence on talking about the large Jewish presence in the American establishment and the importance of Jewish money in the political process" and one of whose editors had declared, "I do not consider myself an anti-Semite, but I can understand why some are."  In reality, Salazar had been baptized as a Catholic, her uncle was a Jesuit priest, and her brother made it clear that no one in the family was Jewish.  The Jewish part of her past was as fake as the rest.  And it was this biography that the Democratic Socialists of America candidate was running on.  The DSA had been hoping to turn Salazar into the next Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, with the support of radical lefties like Cortez, Cynthia Nixon and Zephyr Teachout by playing up her imaginary biography.

Dem Socialist Candidate's Brother and Mother Say She's Lied About Her Upbringing.  The brother and mother of a New York City democratic socialist candidate went on the record to dispute many of the biographical claims she has made throughout the campaign.  A Tablet profile last week first revealed that state Senate candidate Julia Salazar, a progressive darling depicting herself as a Jewish immigrant, was actually born in the United States and ran several Christian organizations in college.  One of the sources negating Salazar's claims was her own brother Alex Salazar, who told Tablet that they were both born in Miami and their father was not Jewish.


Pete Buttigieg

Who is Pete Buttigieg?  Transportation Secretary is a potential Harris running mate.  When Vice President Kamala Harris became the frontrunner for the Democratic presidential nomination following President Joe Biden's dramatic exit from the race on Sunday, the next question was:  Who will she select as her running mate? [...] Buttigieg, often called "Mayor Pete," could be a possible front runner in that race.  The former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, ran for the Democratic nomination for president in 2020 and nearly tied with Sen. Bernie Sanders in the Iowa Caucus before Buttigieg dropped out and endorsed Biden.  Though he works in Washington, D.C., Buttigieg now calls Traverse City, Michigan, home.  He lives there with his husband, Chasten, a Traverse City native, and their two adopted children.

The Editor says...
Mr. Buttigieg has one qualification for political office, and that is his participation in sodomy.  His entire identity revolves around perverse homosexual activity.  He wants everyone to know he has a husband.  He celebrity is a celebration of the abnormal.  A hundred years from now, I would not want to be in his shoes.

Libs and Cons Live in Different Worlds, Buttigieg Edition.  Most of the time, when a lefty says something so obviously ridiculous that you have to cringe, I assume that they are gaslighting.  But there are times when I have to recognize that they live in a totally different universe — one where black is white and up is down.  [Advertisement]  This appears to be the case when it comes to evaluating the performance of Pete Buttigieg.  Liberals really do believe he is something special and that he really should be president someday.  [Tweet]  For the most part Mayor Pete's attraction is his resume and identity category; while it would be more appealing to them if he were not pure whitebread, but they do like the look of a gay, married, adoptive father, and — bonus round — veteran.  He checks lots of boxes that they like.

Summer Surprise:  The Looming Biden Replacement.  [Scroll down]  Pete Buttigieg was once another name sometimes mentioned as a possible replacement for Biden in 2024, hilariously.  After being the mayor of South Bend, Indiana, he ran for president in 2020 on the strength of his being an articulate gay man.  While he saw some early success in 2020, he now holds the distinction of being the only Secretary of the Department of Transportation to have taken several months of paternity leave without his spouse having actually endured birthing a child amid a massive supply-chain interruption, a toxic train derailment in Ohio, and a wayward ship destroying a vital bridge in Baltimore, all while overseeing a $7.5 billion initiative which, after 3 years, has yielded exactly seven electric vehicle charging stations.  Oh, and if you think black voters are defecting to Trump at a quick pace now, try putting Buttigieg at the top of the ticket and see how that shakes out.

The Editor says...
If Buttigieg is the socialist Democrat nominee, just imagine the bumper stickers — for and against.

Buttigieg Built 4 Charging Stations a Year Instead of 50,000.  The Biden administration's $7.5 billion investment in electric vehicle (EV) charging stations is progressing a tad slowly.  Only seven or eight stations have been built since 2021. They promised 50,000 a year, but we got four instead.  The administration's 100% failure rate continues.  Secretary Buttigieg was known as Pothole Peter when he was a mayor for a reason.  He couldn't fix potholes so why did anyone think he could get charging stations built?  The government wants 60% of the vehicles on the road to be EVs by 2030 as they destroy gasoline cars.  They can't transition without adequate infrastructure.  Meanwhile, they are doing all they can to obliterate gasoline and the auto industry.

The Merchan Scale.  [Scroll down]  It's the same with climate change that was recently held responsible for in-air turbulence by Pete Buttigieg, the transportation secretary in charge of things like the barge running into the Francis Scott Key Bridge, the chemical spill in East Palestine, Ohio, Boeing literally having plane's wheels fall off on take off or landing with a shrug of the shoulders and mimicking the words: "climate change."  Because everyone knows that everything that happens in America, today, is climate change, [...]

Watch: Biden Trans Secretary Pete Buttigieg blames airplane 'turbulence' on 'the effects of climate change'.  [Tweet with video clip]  According to a report from the International Civil Aviation Organization, there has been no increase in the accidents or injuries due to turbulence that one would expect if air conditions were worsening.  [Chart]  What the data shows, in fact, is that although air traffic and the number of passengers has increased dramatically, there has been no upward trend in increasing turbulence related accidents over the past 30 years.  While the WEF claim's "clear air turbulence" is already increasing, the link provided by the WEF to support this claim provides no evidence to support it.

Buttigieg Downplays D.C. Crime Rate, Says He Can 'Safely Walk' His Dog.  Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg dismissed the idea that Washington, DC, is experiencing a rise in crime, pointing out that a "lot of energy" was going into painting the narrative.  During an interview with MSNBC host Jen Psaki on Sunday, Buttigieg highlighted how he was able to "safely walk" his dog in the nation's capital without any problems.  Buttigieg, like many other elected officials, is provided with a security detail.

Buttigieg's 'Equity' Team Seeks to End 'Racist' Private Car Ownership: 'All Cars Are Bad'.  Democrat President Joe Biden's "woke" Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg has formed a team of "equity experts" that seeks to end private car ownership.  Buttigieg has been busy allocating tax dollars to appoint a group of "leading experts" to advise him on "transportation equity."  Several members of Buttigieg's Marxist "equity" team argue that cars cause "climate change" and "promote racism" and therefore should be phased out.  The target is not just traditional gas-powered vehicles, however, as the "experts" insist that "all cars are bad," including EVs.  Earlier this month, Buttigieg appointed 24 new members to his Advisory Committee on Transportation Equity.

The Editor says...
If "all cars are bad," how do Washington bureaucrats get to work?

As a cabinet-level official, doesn't he have some other work to do?
Pete Buttigieg 'takes over' the White House social media feed — what could go wrong?  To start with, the plan looks suspiciously close to being part of Biden's presidential campaign re-election strategy, given that Kamala Harris and Gavin Newsom are out touring the country to do the exact same thing.  For Pete, that would violate the Hatch Act, which prohibits political campaigning while on the job.  But let's put that aside.  The front screen shot of the ad is so bad, what with that closeup of Pete with his mouth wide open it looks like a political enemy created it.  Look for that one to turn up in Republican campaign ads urging voters to vote for the other guy.

Buttigieg Attacks Christian In SCOTUS Case: Only Went Into Business To 'Provoke A Case Like This'.  Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg attacked the Christian web designer who the Supreme Court sided with last week in striking down a Colorado law that would have required her to design a website for a same-sex wedding.  In a 6-3 decision in the case of 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis, the Court cited the First Amendment in ruling that Lorie Smith could not be forced by state civil rights law to design websites that run counter to her sincerely-held religious beliefs.

The Editor says...
Mayor Pete's ridiculous assertion is easy enough to disprove.  How many years has 303 Creative LLC been in business?  How many customers have been served?  Does the business make a profit?  Socialist Democrats blurt out rash pronouncements and then hope you won't analyze what they're saying.

Mayor Pete tells The Daily Show he can't fix roads and bridges because Republicans are trying to protect women's sports.  Gay Mayor Pete went on the Daily Show, a former comedy program, to complain about Republicans and explain that he can't fix the roads and bridges (or keep trains from derailing, I guess) because Republicans want to protect women from men in their private spaces.

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg proposes spending $20 million taxpayer dollars on female crash test dummies.  Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg has proposed that the Department of Transportation include $20 million for female crash-test dummies in its 2024 fiscal budget.  That Buttigieg — famous for his love of females though he may be — wants to spend vast sums of taxpayer dollars on feminine crash dummies seems odd in the current cultural climate in which we salute all things non-binary.  Nonetheless, Mayor Pete's proposal has already garnered support from several House Democrats.  For example, Rep. Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut praised Buttigieg's plan during a recent House Appropriations Subcommittee meeting.  DeLauro stated that the use of female crash dummies would be a major step forward in the fight against "gender inequity".  Say what?  Unlike humans, who are either one sex or another, crash dummies can't be gendered[,] as they are not living beings.  But, in today's world, nothing can stand in the way of insanity.

The Editor says...
The clamor for female crash test dummies is clearly promoting violence against women.  Or maybe it's a sexist commentary on the way women drive.  Either way, where are the great feminist leaders now?

Transportation secretary Buttigieg blames transportation problems on climate change.  It's hard not to laugh at the deadly earnest, self-righteous inanities spouted by former South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg, who, primarily because of his sexual orientation, was chosen to lead the Department of transportation.  Despite having never fixed the potholes of his home town.  Name a bugaboo the progressives claim bedevils our society and Pete will tell you that it is at the root of transportation problems.  Let's see.  Racism?  Check.  Next: climate "change."  Yep, it's to blame for our transportation problems (because?) as he just testified yesterday:  "On one hand, our transportation systems are still grappling with the consequences of the pandemic, climate change, and decades of disinvestment."  [Video clip]  Sexism?  That's coming up, with an assist from Rosa DeLauro:  [Video clip]

Progressives [are] Not Interested in the Good of the Country.  The recent train derailment and subsequent release of toxic gases in East Palestine, Ohio was a truly disastrous event.  Innocent people had their health impacted and their lives upended.  But progressives stayed away from this event like the plague.  Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg avoided visiting for as long as he could.  When the enormity of the disaster couldn't be denied any longer, the entire progressive machine — politicians and legacy media alike — did their best to blame the accident on Republicans' dismantling of Obama-era safety regulations.  That was an outright lie, of course, but it succeeded in making an impact on some of the casually attentive public.  Progressives weren't interested in helping the residents of East Palestine.  Progressives were only interested in leveraging the accident to gain political advantage over Republicans.

Pete Buttigieg Tries to School Americans on Political Agendas that 'Might Be a Problem'.  Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg on Saturday tried to instruct Americans regarding political agendas as he faces backlash for his handling of recent train derailments.  "If your political agenda repeatedly puts you in various scenarios that involve overthrowing electoral outcomes, there might be a problem with your political agenda," he wrote in a social media post:  [Tweet]  One of Buttigieg's followers claimed he was "doing an outstanding job," before adding, "I cannot wait until you are President!"  However, another blasted the Transportation secretary's comments, writing, "If a former president can make it to a disaster zone caused by a derailment in Ohio before anyone in your administration, there might be a problem with your transportation secretary."

The Democrats botched the Ohio disaster response — and handed Trump a victory.  "Where's Pete Buttigieg?" someone shouted at a February 15 town hall meeting in East Palestine, Ohio.  "I don't know," Mayor Trent Conaway replied.  Twelve days earlier, a Norfolk Southern train carrying hazardous chemicals had derailed near the town.  Three days later, the company announced it was going to carry out a controlled burn of vinyl chloride that would send dangerous gasses into the air, forcing many of East Palestine's 4,700 residents to evacuate.  They returned after receiving assurances that the air and water were safe, but a strong chemical odor clung to the town, and many continued to complain of headaches, nausea, and burning throats.  And so several hundred residents had crowded into a local school to demand answers.  Conaway said that two weeks had passed before anyone at the White House had contacted him, and the US secretary of transportation still hadn't materialized.  In Washington, Republicans made hay.  "Secretary Buttigieg laughing about Chinese spy balloons, while ignoring the Ohio train derailment, shows you how out of touch Democrats are," Ohio congressman Jim Jordan tweeted.  Senator Marco Rubio called Buttigieg "an incompetent who is focused solely on his fantasies about his political future & needs to be fired".

The Peter (Buttigieg) Principle.  In the 1960s, there was a professor and business analyst named Laurence J. Peter.  He became famous for coming up with something called the Peter Principle. [...] "In a hierarchy, every employee tends to rise to his level of incompetence," Peter wrote.  "In time, every post tends to be occupied by an employee who is incompetent to carry out its duties.  Work is accomplished by those employees who have not yet reached their level of incompetence."  It was bitterly funny and true.  And now, we are seeing the Peter Principle in action, fittingly in a person named Peter, at the Biden administration Department of Transportation.  Secretary Pete Buttigieg has mishandled several crises that have come into his area of responsibility.  One was the supply-chain crisis.  The other was the Southwest Airlines meltdown.  And most recently has been the disastrous train derailment and chemical spill in East Palestine, Ohio.  In response, Buttigieg has received the most intense criticism of his career.  He is not reacting well.

The Pete Buttigieg 'Reclamation Project' is Off to a Rocky Start.  Is Pete Buttigieg salvageable?  More than any other cabinet member in recent memory, Joe Biden's transportation secretary has been outed as someone out of his depth and entirely clueless when it comes to the weighty responsibilities of his office.  "He's not ready for the responsibility he has.  He was a fine mayor, from what I understand, but the position he's got really would be better served by a person who's managed a large enterprise, a state, or something of the scale he's now dealing with," said Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah).

Biden administration watchdog to investigate Pete Buttigieg's 18 taxpayer-funded government jet flights.  A U.S.  government watchdog will audit Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg's use of taxpayer-funded government airplanes for trips, his office said on Monday.  The Transportation Department Office of Inspector General will review 18 flights Buttigieg made on Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) planes over seven trips.  The audit will also include a travel review by the previous Transportation Secretary under former President Donald Trump, Elaine Chao.  The costs of the flights for Buttigieg and staff was $41,905.20 and in six of seven trips, the department confirmed that flying on FAA planes was less expensive than flying commercial.

Ohio Train Disaster Exposes Hollowness, Incompetence of Identity-Obsessed Ruling Class.  The massive train derailment near East Palestine, Ohio, created one of the worst ecological disasters on U.S.  soil in decades.  On top of that, it exposed the looming, pervasive incompetence and callousness of the woke ruling class.  A 50-car train operated by Norfolk Southern derailed Feb. 3 near the small town of East Palestine.  It was no ordinary derailment, since the train was carrying a variety of chemicals, some of which are quite dangerous. [...] One would think all this would elicit some kind of response from President Joe Biden and his fellow Democrats, who are always so concerned by various environmental causes.  But this disaster elicited crickets.  Biden didn't show up in East Palestine, nor did his administration or the media seem to pay much attention.

NTSB Chair Shuts Down Pete Buttigieg's Pathetic Blaming of Donald Trump for Train Derailment.  Pete Buttigieg finally went to East Palestine on Thursday, and as expected, he thoroughly embarrassed himself.  While reporters were asking valid questions about the performance of the Biden administration, the failed transportation secretary used them to launch ridiculous partisan attacks on people who haven't been in power for years.  Here's one such example, but there have been others over the weeks, with Buttigieg repeatedly citing supposed deregulation as a cause of the devastating derailment.  [Tweet]  I don't know about you, but watching this absolute mediocrity of a public official smugly make his way through a press conference, appearing to be holding back laughter at times, was frustrating at best.  Buttigieg managed to blame Donald Trump for supposed deregulation when Donald Trump hasn't been in office for over two years.  Besides, if deregulation was a problem, why did Buttigieg never mention it until now?

NTSB Chair Shuts Down Pete Buttigieg's Pathetic Blaming of Donald Trump for Train Derailment.  Pete Buttigieg finally went to East Palestine on Thursday, and as expected, he thoroughly embarrassed himself.  While reporters were asking valid questions about the performance of the Biden administration, the failed transportation secretary used them to launch ridiculous partisan attacks on people who haven't been in power for years.  Here's one such example, but there have been others over the weeks, with Buttigieg repeatedly citing supposed deregulation as a cause of the devastating derailment.  [Tweet]  I don't know about you, but watching this absolute mediocrity of a public official smugly make his way through a press conference, appearing to be holding back laughter at times, was frustrating at best.  Buttigieg managed to blame Donald Trump for supposed deregulation when Donald Trump hasn't been in office for over two years.  Besides, if deregulation was a problem, why did Buttigieg never mention it until now?

Pete Buttigieg Is Not Ready for Primetime.  Transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg went to East Palestine, Ohio, on Feb. 23 in a major concession to the Make America Great Again movement.  Buttigieg's trip came three weeks after a Norfolk Southern freight train derailed in the town of fewer than 5,000 residents, releasing hazardous materials and forcing a brief evacuation on both sides of the Ohio-Pennsylvania border.  No one died, people are back home, the Environmental Protection Agency says the air and water are safe, and it's unusual for a transportation secretary to visit the site of a trainwreck.  Yet a savvy MAGA pressure campaign, including an onsite inspection by former president Donald Trump earlier in the week, left Buttigieg no choice.  Reluctantly, he traveled to Columbiana County, Ohio, where Trump won in 2020 by 45 points.  He donned a hard hat and goggles.  And he tried to convey sympathy toward the East Palestinians.

Buttigieg Finally Visited East Palestine.  It Didn't Go Well.  Nearly three weeks after a Norfolk Southern train carrying toxic chemicals derailed in East Palestine, Ohio, former failed mayor and current Biden Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg finally visited the town today and took a tour of potentially contaminated areas.  It didn't go well.  [Tweets]  Buttigieg, in typical fashion, attempted to blame shift with a false narrative about deregulation under President Donald Trump.

The White House Finally Decides Who to Blame for the East Palestine Disaster.  After weeks of inaction, the White House has finally decided who to blame for the ecological disaster currently unfolding in East Palestine, OH.  In a shocking, completely unexpected turn of events, it's not US Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg who is at fault.  He's too busy taking "personal time" anyway.  Rather, those dastardly Republicans have struck again.  Apparently, somehow, they are singularly responsible for an axle breaking on a train despite Democrats having total government control for the last two years.

Pete Buttigieg: The archetype of the Biden regime.  If there is one thing all Americans now know about transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg, it is that he is massively, moronically incompetent but thinks he is the smartest, most impressive person on the planet.  As Victor Davis Hanson has noted, he is "the epitome of the empty résumé class."  He had no qualifications for the job beyond the fact that he ticks a couple of identity politics boxes, he's gay and proud of it, and he's a mind-numbed leftist.  He is therefore, the perfect book cover for the Biden Cabinet catalogue.  Like Biden and the rest of his Cabinet, Buttigieg was hired for all the wrong reasons and is thoroughly incompetent for the job he holds.  Chosen for reasons other than expertise or competence, it explains the utter failure of the Biden regime on every issue that matters:  national and border security, health and safety, military readiness, food and energy security, inflation, economic management, and dangerous involvement in a foreign war that may well lead to WWIII.

Buttigieg will visit East Palestine, Ohio when the time is right.  Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg confirmed today that he will pay a visit to East Palestine, Ohio almost three weeks after a Norfolk Southern freight train derailed.  Large amounts of toxic chemicals were spilled or burned off.  Residents were forced to evacuate out of fear for their health.  Since that night on February 3, Buttigieg and President Biden have received intense backlash for not visiting East Palestine, a small town of 4,700.  The criticism increased when Biden chose to travel to Ukraine and show support for Zelensky instead of going to Ohio at any point since the derailment occurred.  Buttigieg has written a letter to the CEO of Norfolk Southern demanding that the railroad company make the residents whole after the disaster.  I'm sure that will do the trick.  Why bother to go to the community and speak with the residents in person, finding out firsthand what their needs are?  He can just write a letter.  Buttigieg is someone who fails up.  He's inept in his job and unwilling to step aside.

America has its secretary of silly walks, Pete Buttigieg.  Often described as "the smartest person in the room," Mayor Pete to his friends, Pothole Pete to his growing list of detractors, the former McKinsey and Company consultant and mayor of South Bend, Indiana mayor has shown a great talent for cunningness in regard to his career advancement.  He wasn't an effective mayor and he's been a disastrous secretary of transportation.  In his 24 months at that job, he has faced three crises.  Buttigieg was AWOL during the supply chain crisis of 2021 — he was on previously unannounced paternity leave — the holiday season flight disruptions of 2022, and now, there has been a recent increase in train derailments, including the one that led to a toxic mushroom cloud in East Palestine, Ohio.

Why Is Pete Buttigieg Allowed To Keep Failing Upward?  The average person can't describe the daily responsibilities of the secretary of transportation or even name the figure who holds that position — until our transportation infrastructure fails, that is.  As far as cushy political appointments go, it's on the thankless end of the spectrum.  At least that was the case before Pete Buttigieg ascended to the role in 2021. Now the secretary of transportation is both a political celebrity and someone immune to meaningful criticism over our country's transportation failures — and there have been many.  Though the left rarely misses an opportunity to announce that "the adults are back in charge," Buttigieg's failures suggest otherwise.  His highlight reel at the Department of Transportation includes a supply-chain crisis punctuated with a personal leave, flight system disruptions that stranded millions of travelers and temporarily grounded all U.S. flights, rail strikes, and a series of horrific train derailments.  On Main Street, people get fired for far less.  Plucked from obscurity as mayor of a struggling Rust Belt city, Buttigieg found himself among the leading Democratic presidential candidates in 2020; he even won the Iowa caucuses.  Biden, who considers the former mayor a future party star, awarded him a cabinet post.  It defies logic.

NTSB Chair Wallops Buttigieg for 'Spreading Misinformation' About Derailment.  After the woefully inadequate Transportation secretary found a way to blame Trump for the catastrophic train derailment, he got pushback from an unexpected quarter: National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) Chair Jennifer Homendy, who branded Buttigieg's politically opportunistic claims "misinformation."  Misinformation!  That's something that only "MAGA Republicans" are supposed to be spreading, not good team players such as our Pete!  Homendy's word choice made her rebuke all the more blistering.  The Biden regime has repeatedly sought to deplatform and silence those who questioned their propaganda line, on the spurious grounds that the dissidents were spreading "misinformation."  Will Biden's handlers now silence Buttigieg?  Don't bet on it, but the onetime front-runner for becoming America's first (openly!) gay president has seen his star dim considerably during his stormy demonstration of his own incompetence as Transportation secretary.

Joe Rogan Rips Buttigieg For Fretting Over Too Many White People Working At Construction Sites.  Podcast host Joe Rogan blasted Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg over his remarks about the race of construction workers in lower income communities.  Buttigieg said too many construction crews have workers who "don't look like" the communities they work in at a Monday panel at the National Association of Counties Conference.  Rogan said the secretary displayed a lack of awareness on the effective work of construction workers during a discussion about the Feb. 3 train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio.  "Do you know that he gave a speech the other day about how there's too many white people working in construction sites, where these construction sites are set up in these communities, where the people in the community could benefit from it, which shows a profound lack of understanding of skilled labor," Rogan said.

The Editor says...
A man who claims to be married to another man "shows a profound lack of understanding" about a lot of things.

Real and Fake Worlds: Why the Trains are Failing.  Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg worked in the fake world of Harvard and consulting.  Consultants do not improve business outcomes.  They exist as a way to give cover to an executive team by saying that the executive team's strategy is the correct one.  This also means you can't fire the executives for failure because the consultants agreed it was the right move.  Where do you suppose "Mayor Pete's" priorities are?  [Video clip]  Roads and train tracks can't get more real.  Polluted water is as real as it gets.  Racial identity politics are part of the fake world.  We only get to fight over nonsense when infrastructure is strong enough to support our bloated selves.  The country has decided that the fake world matters more than the real world.

Buttigieg Flew in Private Jets 18 Times, Costing Approx. $180K.  Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg has flown on the taxpayer's dime on private jets 18 times since taking office in January 2021, according to a report by The New York Post.  The report found Buttigieg flew to Nevada, Florida, Oklahoma, Minnesota, Ohio, New Hampshire, and Montreal on various trips using two Cessna 560XL jets managed by the Federal Aviation Administration, according to flight tracking data obtained by watchdog group Americans for Public Trust.

Records Show Buttigieg Missed Important Meetings While on Parental Leave.  Despite claiming that he continued his work while on parental leave, documents reveal that Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg took advantage of his time off and skipped several important meetings.  According to the Daily Caller, the watchdog group Protect the Public's Trust (PPT) managed to acquire the records in question after a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request.  After he and his partner adopted twins in August of 2021, Buttigieg used parental leave as an excuse to miss a planned phone call with Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), who wanted to discuss a "Buy American" waiver request for the I-74 bridge that connects Iowa and Illinois.  Buttigieg also delegated away responsibilities for other meetings, including a speaking engagement with the Indiana Chamber of Commerce.  "It appears as though, during his paternity leave, he was not always available when called upon and did not have some necessary contingencies in place to ensure the continuity of operations at DOT," said PPT Director Michael Chamberlain.

Things sure are great with Pete Buttigieg as the U.S. Secretary of Transportation!  Peter Paul Buttigieg doesn't really have anything in his resumé that would indicate he knew how to run an entire nation's worth of critical transportation infrastructure.  But he was hand-picked by Joe Biden to by the Secretary of Transportation, so it felt like, I dunno, maybe we should give him the benefit of the doubt.  After two years, though, I think we're all out of benefits and the only thing we have left is doubts.

Do We Need a Department of Transportation?  Following yet another failure of government control of transportation — the FAA system debacle — Pete Buttigieg has been soundly thrashed again for his incompetence.  The FAA failure is only one of many fiascos over the past year laid at the feet of the erstwhile secretary of Transportation.  Recall when he and his "husband" were on paternity leave for nearly two months while the maritime shipping supply chain crisis was going on last fall.  Next, he was AWOL during the railroad strike negotiations and really played no role in brokering a deal.  As a matter of fact, he was on vacation in Portugal at the time.  However, he did have time to point out that a railroad strike would force Americans to boil water.  We could have hardly survived without him.  Next up, the holiday air travel crisis, during which massive cancellations occurred under his watch.  Further, Southwest Airlines basically shut down for a week.  Buttigieg criticized the airline for the failure, but not much else.  He did nothing to prevent the problem, even as he was aware of the possibility of a meltdown.  Even prominent Democrats complained of his handling of the fiasco.  Should we call for the firing of Mayor Pete?  On the contrary, the secretary of Transportation in reality has little sway over transportation system performance.  Government regulators have no real track record at improving anything, let alone system performance.  Regulators typically make things worse.

Pete Buttigieg called out after FAA system failure grounds all flights.  Rep. Andy Biggs:  ["]I'm not surprised.  It's unpleasant that I have to say that.  But I'm not surprised that he doesn't know anything because that's consistent with how he's handled any kind of question or issue that we've had in our transportation sector since he became secretary.  But what's chilling about this today is the fact that this is happening.  We've known about apparently overnight, and he has no idea what happened or how they're going to fix it and how long it's going to last.  That has an enormous impact on our economy and travelers today.["]

Buttigieg Gives the Most Ridiculous Excuse Ever for Using Private Jets.  Embattled Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who has come under fire recently for basically being terrible at his job, has also been criticized for his regular use of private government jets, a practice he tried to defend during an appearance on Fox News.  It did not go well.

Buttigieg and his husband caught chartering military jet to international sports event.  How is this for a scandal?  Fox Digital reports that Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg has chartered a military jet for his trip to an international sports event: [...] Which is indeed a scandal, as well as a hypocrisy-fest, for multiple reasons.  He couldn't take commercial for a project like that if for nothing else to demonstrate that commercial flights are operating smoothly?  Sure, he's going as an official, but he should have waited for a government jet for his undoubtedly huge delegation, not snap his fingers at the military for quick service to him and his husband, or get the roundheels Bidenite White House to sign off on his many trips on private jets.  Fox noted that President Trump's former Health and Human Services Secretary, Tom Price, was forced out of his job for the exact same kind of travel, jumping on military jets, taking the spouse along, as well as taking private planes around the country, for which he billed the government.

Pete Buttigieg brought husband Chasten on military aircraft to attend sporting event in Netherlands.  Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg traveled to Europe on a military aircraft to attend the Fifth Invictus Games with his husband Chasten Buttigieg last spring, according to an internal calendar reviewed by Fox News Digital.  On April 15, Buttigieg traveled from Joint Base Andrews to Rotterdam, Netherlands, via "MilAir Flight" before returning two days later on military aircraft, the calendar obtained by Americans for Public Trust (APT) and shared with Fox News Digital showed.  According to photos from the event and media reports, the transportation secretary traveled to the Netherlands with his husband.

The Baleful Cargo of Woke Diversity Worship.  Ditto Pete Buttigieg, who, in his dismal record as a rather inconsequential small city mayor and failed presidential candidate, had never evidenced aptitude for transportation issues — other than occasionally and ostentatiously riding a bike.  He was never expected to seriously address problems like spiraling auto fuel prices, the bottlenecks at our harbors, the wild-west train robbing at the port of Los Angeles, the Southwest Airlines implosion, or our clogged freeways.  Instead, he was appointed Transportation Secretary because of the diversity of his sexual orientation and his woke rhetoric that almost immediately surfaced in wildly out-of-pocket lectures about "racist" freeways.

Democrats Sour on Pete Buttigieg over Airlines Fiasco.  Left-leaning Democrats have soured on Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg in response to the mass flight cancelations during the holiday season despite his promise to fix the problem back in September of this year.  In a tweet on Thursday, Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA), one of the few Democrats who criticized Twitter's decision to censor the Hunter Biden laptop story, publicly scolded Buttigieg for not sticking to his pledge to hold airlines accountable.

Pete Buttigieg was 'on vacation in Portugal' during critical talks when nation was on brink of crippling rail strike.  Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg was on vacation in Portugal for a week and posted a video that suggested he was still in the U.S., amid tense negotiations to avert a national rail strike earlier this year.  The trip spanned August 29 through the following Monday, Labor Day, a statement by the Department of Transportation to DailyMail.com confirms.  A spokesperson for the department said he was 'traveling on personal time' but remained 'engaged on urgent issues.'  They said the trip had been 'long planned' in advance.

The Editor says...
That's your excuse?  How many overseas excursions are not planned in advance?

Criticizing Pete Buttigieg's private jet usage is apparently off limits.  Many people were probably surprised when Joe Biden appointed "Mayor Pete" Buttigieg as the Secretary of Transportation, given his total lack of experience in such matters.  At this point, I'm not entirely sure that he understood the meaning of his role.  The Transportation Department deals with travel, obviously, so perhaps Buttigieg thought that meant he should spend his time traveling.  He's certainly done quite a bit of that, and as Fox News is reporting this week, many of his trips have been taken using taxpayer-funded private jets managed by the FAA.  Given the history of expensive travel by officials on the taxpayers' dime, this should have produced some outrage in the press, particularly at a time when so many Americans can't even afford an economy-class ticket once they finish paying for their groceries, filling up their gas tanks, and watching the value of their remaining dollars plummet.  And yet, this story is barely making a ripple in the media pond.

Biden's Cabinet:  Let us Count the Ways.  [#1] Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg:  This appointment could be the most egregious of a truly notable group of incompetents.  Mayor Pete was loved by the rank-and-file Democratic primary crowd not because of any worthwhile talent or accomplishment, but because of his choice of his life partner's gender.  He is the ultimate box-checker, the quintessential example of valueless progressive virtue-signaling.  Buttigieg has never had the slightest experience in matters of complex international logistics, yet here he is, occupying a high-profile cabinet post and drawing inordinate negative attention to a normally invisible position by his having messed things up so badly.  Empty store shelves, container ships backed up, airlines canceling flights, inane statements like, "Just buy an electric car," and more mark his totally deficient stewardship over what should be a relatively easy, straightforward post.  No one can even name a past Secretary of Transportation, but everyone knows Mayor Pete because things are so screwed up.  And for no good reason.

What's the REAL Reason Pete Buttigieg Just Moved to Michigan?  Despite the media fawning and attempting to bill Buttigieg as the next big thing, it just isn't taking.  Forget that he looks about 14 years old, rarely speaks in any language other than his native corporate consultant, and was absent on paternity leave during a supply-chain crisis.  As the city's mayor, he has only demonstrated that he couldn't fix the potholes in South Bend, Indiana.  [Paywall]

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg thinks his job is customer service.  Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, the son of a hardcore Marxist academic, was a good student who managed to get himself into Harvard and, from there, win a Rhodes Scholarship.  He is glib and, with his sonorous voice, makes nonsense and banality sound profound.  When it comes to actual skills, though, he comes up short.  He was an utterly average mayor of South Bend but is proving to be, not just an ineffective Transportation Secretary but an anti-effective one.  It's becoming obvious to all that he was an affirmative action appointee.

Buttigieg faces criticism from Democrats over flight cancellations, delays.  Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg is under fire from fellow Democrats for flight delays and cancellations that have paralyzed the nation's airports, wrecked holiday travel plans and caused Americans undue financial stress.  Progressive lawmakers, in particular, say Mr. Buttigieg needs to do more to rein in airline companies that have taken billions in public subsidies since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.  "It's time for the Transportation Department to impose massive fines on poor-performing airlines," said Sen. Bernard Sanders, a self-described socialist from Vermont.

Is the world's air travel industry deliberately being driven to collapse?  In America, Pete Buttigieg is proving to be the most incompetent Secretary of Transportation in American history.  Confronted with thousands of canceled flights, he offers tips about how to value cash refunds compared to refunds in the form of miles.  That's bad.  What's worse is that a writer for a trend site claims to have talked with European insiders and learned that the problem with flights is not limited to America; it's worldwide and deliberate.

Biden and Mayor Pete have found the solution to flight delays and cancellations.  Flight delays are happening all over, but fear not:  Joe Biden and his transportation secretary, former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg, have found a solution:  To destroy the fossil fuel industry as fast as they can.  That will solve the problem of cancelled and delayed flights.  Once that agenda is finished, we will not have cancellations or delays.  We won't have a shortage of pilots or flight attendants.  We will not have to worry about TSA workers or air traffic controllers.  We won't have flights at all.

Team of Fools:  Biden's Cabinet Picks Prove He is Unfit to Lead.  I have written extensively about Biden's shortcomings.  Nothing exceeds his capacity for choosing the wrong people. [...] And now we come to little Pete Buttigieg, our stalwart Secretary of Transportation.  His qualification for the job?  Buttigieg was mayor of a small town in Indiana.  Joe Concha, writing in The Hill, calls this "amateur hour."  We have what Concha refers to as "a massive supply-chain breakdown exploding across the country that will impact every American, particularly the lower and middle classes.  Restaurants, stores, and small businesses that provide products and services to people will all be negatively affected as the cost to the consumer goes up."  What did Buttigieg do about it?  "He took a months-long parental leave," said Liz Peek, "after adopting twins with his husband."  Buttigieg attempted to defend his performance by saying, "We're doing a lot."  He should have stayed out on paternity leave.  The country would be better off.

Pete Buttigieg's tour de force of fatuousness, dishonesty, and backdoor socialism.  Pete Buttigieg took questions on Sunday [6/5/2022] from George Stephanopoulos.  This little man with the carefully tweezed eyebrows, sleazy 5:00 shadow, Alfred E. Neuman mien, and orator's voice hid behind fatuous, hackneyed political babble even as he discretely revealed the hardcore totalitarianism that drives him and, indeed, drives the entire Biden administration.  In many ways, Buttigieg is like a Stepford politician.  There's something eerily unreal about the man as, no matter the question, he responds with administration talking points rather than substantive information.  Stephanopoulos opened by speaking about Jamie Dimon's warning that America is facing an economic "hurricane" (a word Stephanopoulos carefully avoided using), as well as Larry Summers's concerns about a recession, and then asked if Americans need to brace for an economic storm.  Buttigieg answered with blather.

Elitist Mayor Pete Called Out For Bailing On Black Americans, And His Response Couldn't Be More Tone Deaf.  Mayor Pete is a walking meme at this point.  He was not only in over his head as a small-town mayor, where critics like to point out he couldn't manage basic issues like potholes, but he was also sorely indifferent to the plight of black residents.  Under his watch, violent crime spiked to record highs, and his response was to fire a black police chief, a move not unnoticed by the woke, identity politicking left.  As a failed presidential candidate who only got to the national stage because of his publicized — and wholly unimportant — sexual attraction to men, he neverthelss agined enougns team to parlay his empty resume into a sweet cabinet position.  He proceeded to disappear for the next year while Demorat-created supply chain issues rocked his supposed kingdom.  He also called inanimate roads and bridges racist.

Mayor Pete's Partner Leads Pledge To Pride.  On Wednesday, video emerged of Chasten leading a camp of gay teenagers in a faux pledge of allegiance, with the object of their loyalty being the Pride Flag.  [Video clip]  First and foremost, we should note that any patriotic American should consider the real Pledge of Allegiance as sacrosanct, and Chasten's mockery of it is downright offensive.  But we must also consider the overriding concept.  He's leading kids in pledging to a lifestyle.  "I pledge my heart to the rainbow of the Not So Typical Gay Camp.  One camp, full of pride, indivisible..."  Was he just trying to make it fun for kids?  Did he mean well?  Perhaps, but it was idiotic, nonetheless.  There's nothing wrong with trying to instill self-esteem in kids, but there are certainly more constructive ways of doing it, particularly when your spouse is a member of the President's Cabinet.

Pete Buttigieg's Husband Instructs Kids on Pledging Allegiance to Gay-Pride Flag.  A disturbing clip from a documentary about United States Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg has caused outrage on social media.  In the video, Pete Buttigieg's husband, Chasten Buttigieg, is addressing a group of children.  The children were looking toward the front of the room at what appeared to be a gay-pride flag.

Biden's Handlers Want Skyrocketing Gas Prices.  The EPA Just Revealed Why.  The Democrats are well aware of the old adage, "Never let a good crisis go to waste," and are busy applying it as gas prices spiral out of all control.  As PJM's Chris Queen discussed Monday, Transportation Secretary Pete "Mr. Mom" Buttigieg appeared to be fantastically out of touch when he responded to skyrocketing prices at the pump.  "Clean transportation can bring significant cost savings for the American people as well," asserted Buttigieg.  "Last month, we announced a $5 billion investment to build out a nationwide electric vehicle charging network so that people from rural to suburban to urban communities can all benefit from the gas savings of driving an EV."  It was a real "Let Them Eat Cake" moment for Secretary Pete, but there is a method to his madness:  the administration isn't just out of touch, it is actively trying to use this crisis to impose its green agenda.

Pete Buttigieg accepted $250,000 and gifts from mayoral campaign donors who were later awarded $33 million in city contracts.  Transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg's top political donors received millions of dollars in city contracts after giving thousands to his campaigns while he was mayor of South Bend, Indiana.  Buttigieg's political action committees took money from 23 companies who then got jobs from South Bend's Board of Public Works on which he was seated, documents obtained by DailyMail.com reveal.  On two occasions, the former presidential candidate received donations the same day the companies were awarded contracts.  Other city contractors [gave] the mayor cigars, alcohol and golf trips worth hundreds of dollars.

Biden's transport secretary Pete Buttigieg claims Florida Republicans' 'Don't Say Gay' bill will drive up suicide rates.  US Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg claimed on Wednesday [2/9/2022] that Florida Republicans' controversial Parental Rights in Education bill could drive up LGBTQ youth suicide rates if it's implemented.  It's part of an all-out offensive the White House seems to have mounted against the legislation, which President Joe Biden denounced as 'hateful' on Tuesday evening.  Republican lawmakers in the Sunshine State are working to pass a bill that bans discussion of sexual orientation or gender identity in state public schools from kindergarten through fifth grade.  It also encourages parents to sue school districts that promote talking about such issues.

After a Visit by Pete Buttigieg, Oakland California Joins Operation Hide the Ships.  Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg visited the Port of Los Angeles (POLA) and Port of Long Beach (POLB) to announce the Biden administration officially saved Christmas.  Yes, that actually happened.  Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti took it one step further and proclaimed Secretary Buttigieg as the official "man who saved Christmas".

The Democrats' Mayor Pete problem.  It should be far too early to be talking about the next presidential election, but between President Biden's advanced age, his sagging fortunes, and widespread worries about Vice President Kamala Harris's political competence, the parlor games are already beginning.  Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who ran an impressive campaign for president as a political underdog, has emerged in the hearts and minds of some Democratic strategists as the favored successor. [...] Buttigieg's own presidential campaign was an illustration of the limitations of relying on affluent professionals as a voting base.  Even when he surged during the presidential primary, he always struggled to muster support among the nonwhite and blue-collar voters that typically decide the party nomination.

Buttigieg Tries to Make Families Feel Better About Gas Prices By Offering an Unaffordable Alternative.  As the Biden Administration continues to push American families into alternative energy sources by maintaining pain at the pump, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg is attempting to explain away high gas prices.  During an interview with MSNBC over the weekend, Buttigieg reassured Americans they won't have to worry about an increase in gas prices ever again, so long as they buy an electric vehicle.  "Families who own that vehicle will never have to worry about gas prices again," Buttigieg said.  "The people who stand to benefit most from owning an EV are often rural residents who have the most distances to drive, who burn the most gas, and underserved urban residents in areas where there are higher gas prices and lower income." [...] Rural residents who need to drive long distances are the worst candidates for electric vehicles, which only charge for a certain number of miles.  Outside of major cities, electric charging stations don't exist.  According to Cox Automotive, the average electric vehicle costs at least $55,000.

Buttigieg Blasted for Urging Americans to Buy Electric Cars to Save on Fuel Costs.  Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg raised eyebrows across the country this week when he urged Americans struggling to cope with higher fuel prices to simply buy electric vehicles.  [Tweet]  "The people who stand to benefit most from owning an EV [electric vehicle] are often rural residents who have the most distances to drive, who burn the most gas, and underserved urban residents in areas where there are higher gas prices and lower income," Buttigieg said.  "They would gain the most by having that vehicle," he added.  "These are the very residents who have not always been connected to electric vehicles that are viewed as kind of a luxury item."  "Everyone can probably afford electric cars in the world that Pete Buttigieg lives in," tweeted Trump White House communications official Mercedes Schlapp.  "Average Americans struggling with record high gas prices?  Not so much."

Is Pete Buttigieg doing anything other than running for office?  A culprit is emerging from the supply chain crisis in the minds of voters and it's not good news for Democrats. [...] Every party now agrees that the Biden administration is incompetent.  Democrats, who have no understanding of inflation as a strictly monetary phenomenon (read this) are just astute enough to recognize that inflation has some kind of tie with supply chain failures, though, and those supply chain failures are things that people can see in front of them as factories shut down and workers get laid off for lack of spare parts.  More specifically, they recognize that the supply chain mess is damaging their electoral prospects.

This guy has one solution for everything:
Buttigieg says once families own electric cars, they will 'never have to worry about gas prices again'.  Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg said that once families embrace electric cars, they will "never have to worry about gas prices again."  Buttigieg explained to MSNBC's Jonathan Capehart Sunday that the Biden administration's Build Back Better legislation includes incentives for families to switch to electric vehicles.  "Most of the physical infrastructure work was contemplated in the bill that was just signed, but there is more envisioned in the Build Back Better law," Buttigieg explained.  "I'll give you one example:  It contains incentives to make it more affordable to buy an electric vehicle, up to a $12,500 discount in effect for families thinking about getting an EV."

The Buttigieg presidential buzz has hit the White House.  Pete Buttigieg has long been a man in a hurry.  Since 2010, he has run for treasurer of Indiana, mayor of South Bend, chair of the Democratic National Committee, and president of the United States.  At 39, he is one of the most omnipresent and newly-powerful members of President Joe Biden's Cabinet.  But he says he's not thinking about what comes next, even as he's buzzed about as a potential Biden heir.

The Editor says...
Mayor Peetie isn't in much of a hurry to return from "paternity leave," is he?  He has proven himself to be incompetent in his two latest jobs (at least), and is lucky he hasn't been fired for his non-response to the logjam at the California ports.  There is simply no way this doofus will ever be elected President.  He has only one qualification:  he is a homosexual.  That's not enough.

The media has decided it is time to start campaigning for Mayor Pete.  As Biden's and Harris's poll ratings drop like a rock, the media decided the time for a puff piece on Mayor Pete was now. [...] It appears that they have given up on trying to make Kamala a viable candidate in 2024 and anyone with a brain can see that Biden will be lucky if he makes it through four years, let alone runs again.  If Biden and Mayor Pete cared about the supply chain, they might divert some ships to the right-to-work, red state Florida, but politics is clearly more important than the people.  Mayor Pete will probably crash and burn like Harris but there are many more in the Democrat bullpen whom the media can substitute and write puff pieces on.

Idiot Democrat Of The Month:  Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.  The competition was fierce and has been since January but he idiot of the month for the democrats is Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.  In a recent interview he claims that bridges in New York were intentionally created to keep blacks and Puerto Ricans from going to the beach.  The brazen stupidity of this comment has earned him the "Idiot Democrat of The Month" for Citizens Journal.  Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg claims that there is racism ingrained in the U.S. transportation infrastructure.  An unfounded claim but because he used the "R" word and he is in a position of power, all the news medias have jumped on this [eagerly].  The Daily Caller News Foundation reported "Some people were surprised when I pointed to the fact that if a highway was built for the purpose of dividing a white and a Black neighborhood, or if an underpass was constructed such that a bus carrying mostly Black and Puerto Rican kids ... was designed too low for it to pass by, then that obviously reflect the racism that went into those design choices," Buttigieg said Monday [11/8/2021].  But if the Blacks or Puerto Ricans had cars, they seemingly had no problems getting to where they were going.

Transportation Secretary — Forget Gas Prices and Supply Chain Chaos, Bridges and Roads are Racist.  Last week in an event to promote 'environmental justice', Kamala Harris emphasized the priorities of the Biden administration when she held an event to highlight how trees are racist.  This week Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg wanted to promote 'construction and logistic equity' while emphasizing the priorities of the Biden administration, so Buttigieg declared that roads and bridges are racist.  [Video clip]

Joe Biden Mocks The American People — "They Don't Understand Supply Chains" — The People are Rubes to Be Ruled, Not Listened To.  I'm not sure what is more blood boiling:  that Joe Biden thinks it is okay to mock the American electorate, or that he actually believes the [stuff] that comes out of his twisted, stupid brain.  The question was a perfectly well presented inquiry about the Biden administration's incompetence to put policies in place to streamline the supply chain chaos that he has created.  His response is disconnected, absent of anything even remotely accurate, and entirely disconnected from factual substance.  This guy is a complete and utter failure of staggering and stunning incompetence.  [Video clip] [...] COVID didn't do squat to disrupt supply chains, impact prices or create massive shortages and inflation — people did.  Specifically, the people in the background of this administration who intentionally trashed the U.S. economy, because they are ideologically aligned with that destruction.  The current economic team is devoid of any real world experience that would shape their outlooks on how to solve problems.  Example:  Transportation Secretary, Pete Buttigieg.

In Discussing Massive Infrastructure Bill, Pete Buttigieg Shows Off How Little He Knows.  As the United States careens off the economic tracks towards stagflation, the Biden administration and Democrats in Congress continue to posit that their proposed massive spending bill will counterintuitively decrease rates of inflation.  This was the argument recently articulated by Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg during his conversation [10/31/2021] with Chris Wallace on the most recent "Fox News Sunday."  After Buttigieg praised the "historic" plan's focus on providing "action on climate before its too late" and massive increased spending on "finally [getting] preschool for every child in this country" and "making childcare affordable for every family," Wallace pressed Buttigieg on "the issues Americans care about the most," including inflation.  Gas prices have jumped from an average of $2.14 a year ago to $3.41 today.  The price of natural gas, essential to heating U.S. homes, has doubled since June to more than $6.  Coal will subsequently generate nearly a quarter of U.S. electricity this year.  Use of the much dirtier, higher carbon-emitting fuel has already grown by 22 percent in 2021.  This latter issue was not brought up when Buttigieg referenced the "transformational" bill's focus on climate challenges.

Non sequitur of the week:
Sunday Talks, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg Says West Coast Port Backlog Unlikely to Be Resolved Until Every American is Vaccinated.  Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg appeared on the DC narrative shaping program hosted by swamp gatekeeper Chris Wallace.  Within the interview Buttigieg was questioned about why West Coast port backups are worse now than before the White House announced their solution to operate ports 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.  Buttigieg proclaimed the ports are being impacted by the pandemic, and ships stuck in China are the reason why ships are sitting off the coast of California.  Yeah, try to square that circular logic.  LOL.  The scale of incompetence, even in common sense politispeak, is off the charts.  The illogical statements by this guy are legendary; however, he outdid himself today.  Eventually Pete weaves his way through fourteen nonsensical catch phrases to get to a point where he proclaims nothing in the supply chain will start being more efficient until everyone is vaccinated.  And yes, it appears that he is so stuck in pretzel-speak, Buttigieg actually believes that.  [Video clip]

'Any man who takes six months of leave for a newborn is a loser': Silicon Valley tech entrepreneur slams Pete Buttigieg.  A Silicon Valley venture capitalist says that men who take six months of paternity leave are 'losers' and that 'in the old days men had babies and worked harder to provide for their future' which was 'the correct masculine response.'  Joe Lonsdale weighed into the raging debate sparked by Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg's decision to take paternity leave after he and his husband, Chasten, welcomed adopted twins into their family.  Buttigieg was criticized for taking paid time off while the country continues to suffer from the effects of a major logjam at ports that has exacerbated the supply chain crisis.

Shouldn't Pete's husband be changing the diapers?  We live in interesting times.  Enter our Secretary of Transportation.  He's been missing in action during the supply chain crisis on the grounds that he is on paternity leave.  Two months on paternity leave when ships are lining up at the ports because they can't unload?  Where we can find work like that?  Where is the outrage? [...] What amazes me about this whole episode is that no one took note that the Secretary of Transportation was absent during this crisis.  To my knowledge, no one in the media was looking for the Secretary.  Isn't he responsible for this department?

The incredible, disappearing — incompetent — Team Biden.  Last week was another bad one for the continually disappearing Biden administration.  As Americans took to social media to post pictures of bare Dunkin' Donuts shelves, sold-out milk at big-box stores and other signs of an America in trouble, we learned that Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg has been on paternity leave since August.  Buttigieg was always going to be a lightweight transportation chief.  He got the job as a reward for dropping out of the presidential race and throwing his support to Joe Biden — and also because he said he likes trains, having gotten engaged at a train station.  My 5-year-old likes trains, too.  Yet just because he can say "Choo choo!" with enthusiasm doesn't mean he can oversee the country's transportation system.

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg Highlights Important Challenges.  When Barack Obama and James Clyburn were organizing the pathway for Joe Biden in the 2020 election, they reached out in March to the remaining candidates and told each of them they were going to withdraw.  Each candidate was given an offer they could not refuse along with a question of what terms it would take to get them out of the race and support the avatar that was/is Joe Biden.  Having watched the Buttigieg snap-n-pop candidacy, it was obvious his terms involved getting an innocuous job that would provide him and his husband enough graft to facilitate their lifestyle.  Obama and Clyburn offered Alfred E. Newman the job of Secretary of Transportation.  Pete Buttigieg's curriculum vitae included that he held a drivers license, so he gleefully exclaimed his qualifications and accepted the job.  The guy is an absolute doofus; a soy version of Greta Thunberg, who is incapable of speaking about anything that makes any sense.  He is a caricature of the person who thinks they know something, so they speak in weird sentences that amount to total gibberish.

Why is Pete Buttigieg still the Secretary of Transportation?  Pete Buttigieg has been away from his desk at the Department of Transportation for two months and no one noticed until this week.  He's been home on paternity leave since the birth of his twins.  Normally, we might just shrug our shoulders and say who cares?  These are not normal times, though, and there is a transportation crisis going on that has to be handled.  The supply chain is facing severe disruption and cargo ships are backed up trying to get their goods unloaded in American ports, especially in California.  Where's Pete?

Buttigieg: Supply Chain Problems Exist Because Biden Guided U.S. Out of Recession.  Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg said Sunday [10/17/2021] on CNN's "State of the Union" that the supply chain backups at America's ports were a product of President Joe Biden guiding the economy "out of the teeth of a terrifying recession," which caused incomes and demand to rise.

Buttigieg: The Weak Link In The Supply Chain.  The only thing more laughable than Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg's claim that spending two months on paternity leave counts as "work" is that the massive infrastructure bill in Congress would do anything to fix the supply chain crisis.  When asked on CNBC why the administration waited so long to take action, Buttigieg responded that "we've been working this issue from day one".  Well, not exactly.  As Politico reported, Buttigieg was "mostly offline" starting in mid-August, and only went on a media blitz after Politico disclosed the fact that he'd been on an unannounced leave. [...] So Buttigieg's absence during this was inexcusable.  And other than acknowledging that the supply chain crisis existed, it's hard to see what "work" anyone in the Biden administration was actually doing.  It's possible, in fact, that Biden's vague executive order contributed to supply chain problems.

White House:  Pete Buttigieg a 'Role Model' for Taking Two Months Paid Paternity Leave During Crisis.  The White House defended Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg on Friday for taking off two months of paid paternity leave — even as the national supply chain crisis worsened.  White House press secretary Jen Psaki called Buttigieg a role model for taking so much time off after he and Chasten got baby twins.  "[P]roud to work in an Administration that is fighting to make paid leave a reality for everyone, and with people like Sec.  Pete Buttigieg who are role models on the importance of paid leave for new parents," she wrote.

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg [has been] on Paid Leave Since Mid-August amid Supply Crisis.  As cargo ships congested at U.S. ports, creating an unprecedented supply-chain crisis, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg was on paid leave to spend time with his husband, Chasten, and their two newborn babies.  After weeks of people questioning Buttigieg's whereabouts as crisis after crisis mounted, Politico's West Wing Playbook confirmed on Thursday [10/14/2021] that the transportation secretary was "lying low."

Pete Buttigieg Returns to D.C. From Playing House, and Is About as Useful as When He Wasn't Here.  Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg has been on family leave since August, and no one in the Biden administration seemed to care.  According to White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain, the meltdown at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach are problems caused by the previous administration, and they are "tackling" it. [...] I would be curious to hear the responses from the peanut gallery if Buttigieg were a female Secretary of Transportation who was also part of a Republican administration. [...] In the midst of what is a true transportation infrastructure crisis, when the head of the transportation arms of our nation should be giving insight and working on solutions, Howdy Doody Buttigieg is deer in the headlights, talking about everything but the supply-chain issues.

The Editor says...
[#1] Barack H. Obama is using the same playbook he used in his first two terms, and one of his best plays is to blame everything on his predecessor.  Years ago, it was George W. Bush who got the blame for nearly everything — years after Obama took over, and now it's Donald Trump.  [#2] Two months of paid paternity leave is a lot, especially when same-sex marriage is still a controversial idea, as is paternity leave, and nobody in this household gave birth to the children.  The idea behind maternity leave, and later paternity leave, is that Mom needs to recover from childbirth and can't return to her routine right away.  That doesn't apply here, and even if it did, two months is highly excessive.

Republicans demand Pete Buttigieg testify in Congress over supply chain crisis.  Senator Rick Scott is calling on Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo to testify before the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, according to a Thursday [10/14/2021] report.  'There is more that the Department of Transportation can and should be doing to help address ongoing supply chain issues related to the pandemic,' Senator Cynthia Lummis told the Washington Examiner.  'We're well over a year into this, and I'm concerned that the Biden administration seems more focused on pushing Congress to massively expand the federal bureaucracy rather than using their existing authorities to help American businesses and consumers get back to normal,' the Senate Transportation Committee member added.

Marsha Blackburn Blasts Buttigieg on Supply Chain Crisis: 'Get Back to Work or Leave the Department'.  Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) on Thursday criticized U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg for being missing in action as thousands of flights get canceled and United States ports face record-breaking delays. [...] Blackburn's comments come after Politico reported that Buttigieg has been on paid leave since mid-August, electing to spend time with his husband, Chasten, and their two newborn babies rather than doing his job as transportation secretary.

Amateur hour:  Pete Buttigieg's inexperience exposed as supply chain breaks down.  After a quiet first nine months in office, the former mayor has his first crisis on his hands: a massive supply-chain breakdown exploding across the country that will impact every American, particularly the lower and middle classes.  Restaurants, stores and small businesses that provide products and services to people will all be negatively affected as the cost to the consumer goes up.  Per a recent CBS News report:  "A growing number of shipments are stuck at sea because of supply chain issues, leading to growing concern that holiday shipments may not arrive in time.  Container ships are crowding ports from New York to Los Angeles, where 250,000 containers are floating off the coast waiting to be unloaded," the report reads. [...] [A]lmost all [news] outlets are focusing on Buttigieg's foray into fatherhood and not on the one major issue he's in charge of fixing, or at least getting under some semblance of control, as cargo ships continue to pile up off the coast of America's port cities.

Have We Ever Witnessed a More Incompetent and Out of Touch Bunch Than Biden's Appointees?  Chapter 5.  Not to overlook we seem to have another corrupt democrat asshole as Attorney General, but if you ever wondered what would happen when a president appoints people based on their sex, color, or persuasion, look no further than the disaster that is Joe Biden's administration.  We all know he didn't pick Pete Buttigieg because of his experience with transportation issues.  [Tweets]  Guess it's a little different than managing the bus schedule in South Bend.  Besides, he has a really cool bicycle.

Scandals from top to bottom in Joe Biden's cabinet of horrors.  One of the many cabinet members with no experience for the post to which he was appointed.  [Pete] Buttigieg is learning on the job, to the point that he's caused PR headaches from his spitballing.  When he mused that a mileage tax could be a good idea, he had to backpedal quickly that Biden wasn't considering it, after it was pointed out that the tax tends to hit low-income workers hardest.  Now, with supply issues impacting the economy and cargo ships waiting offshore, Buttigieg's answer is a task force.

Buttigieg's Babies.  The national news media gushed with worshipful joy over the fact that Peter Buttigieg has acquired twin babies.  Other babies may have been born to members of this administration, but the national media carried no stories about them. [...] Buttigieg attempts to control the new-parent narrative by releasing an already infamous, staged photo of the two "fathers."  But this black and white photo does the opposite.  It captures the narcissism and self-centeredness of all sexuality-based consciousness — hetero, homo, pano, transo.  Sexuality based consciousness is the opposite of the unique chance of selfless love granted to a mother.  The two men appear absorbed in each other and relate to the supposed babies as props, which is what they may well be in this photo.  This is a very different psychological dynamic from a new mother and child.  These two healthy men stagecraft themselves as hospital patients, pretending to be birth parents and canceling the existence of the birth mother.  They are already claiming total control over the identities of these babies.  The babies are widely reported to be fraternal twins, which is more common in artificial procreation.

Kamala Harris Facing White House Sabotage as Establishment Media Lay Out Pete Buttigieg's Path to Presidency.  Vice President Kamala Harris is facing White House sabotage as the establishment media lay out Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg's path to the presidency.  With Harris's history of "mistreatment of employees and dissent" before entering the White House, the establishment media have begun reporting on the infighting and "sabotage" impacting the office of the vice president. [...] Enter stage right Transportation Secretary Buttigieg, who, as previous mayor of South Bend, was unable to fix the city's potholes; a pizza company in 2019 had to repair them for Mayor Pete.  But while the establishment media largely ignored that story, they published a profile piece June 8 about Buttigieg that plotted his path to the presidency that would involve him replacing incumbent President Joe Biden.

Climate Change Is Now Infrastructure Too.  Pete Buttigieg continues to refer to everything as "infrastructure."  The transportation secretary, who has already redefined the word to include "broadband," "eldercare," "childcare," and whatever else is on President Biden's progressive wish list, is now classifying climate-related policy as "infrastructure."  "The truth is that every infrastructure decision is, already inevitably, a climate decision as well," Buttigieg said during last week's Climate Summit in front of more than 40 world leaders. [...] The president's "big, bold, but achievable commitment" on climate issues will help the country "resume that position of U.S. leadership and then challenge the other nations of the world to be part of the solution as well," he said.  Evidently causing thousands of Keystone XL Pipeline workers to lose their jobs is just the type of bold commitment that Buttigieg admires.

Pete Buttigieg:  Racism is 'physically built into' country's highways.  Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg suggested in a recent interview that racism is built into the country's highway system.  "There is racism physically built into some of our highways, and that's why the jobs plan has specifically committed to reconnect some of the communities that were divided by these dollars," the former South Bend, Indiana, mayor told reporter April Ryan this week in an interview discussing President Joe Biden's proposed $2 trillion infrastructure plan.  Buttigieg explained that several major highways in the United States negatively affect minority communities.

'Environmentalist' Buttigieg unloads bike from SUV before riding the short distance to his destination.  The United States Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg was caught on video Thursday unloading a bike from an SUV just moments before riding the bike a short distance to his destination, to make it look like the 'environmentalist' was saving energy, in an epic virtue signal fail.  A person off camera can even be heard questioning why the Biden administration official would be wearing a suit while bike riding.  Buttigieg has been at the forefront of advocating for President Joe Biden to implement new taxes on transportation, including taxing individual's based on the amount of distance they have driven as well as increasing taxes on gas.

Pete Buttigieg's little bicycle theater is ridiculous.  Little Petey Buttigieg is now playing in the big leagues, having made the tremendous leap from ineffectual mayor of a crime-ridden city to Transportation Secretary of the United States of America.  To make a point about alternative transportation, he rode a bicycle to his first White House cabinet meeting — after first having several burly men drive him near the White House and then escort him and his bike.  This kind of theater is typical for leftists, who often seem incapable of distinguishing fantasy from reality.  Last week, Little Petey (who always reminds me of a cross between Alfred "What, Me Worry?" Newman and Beaver Cleaver) let Americans know that being transportation secretary is more than focusing on roads and cars.  Therefore, he tweeted out, "You should not have to own a car to prosper in this country, no matter what kind of community you're living in."  On Thursday, he decided to use his first White House cabinet meeting to make that point.

Buttigieg: Hey, never mind about my proposed mileage tax.  Does this count as "something of a backtrack," as Jake Tapper noted in his interview with Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg?  You bet it does.  After floating both a mileage tax and a gas tax as possible fundraisers for Joe Biden's upcoming $3 trillion infrastructure boondoggle, Buttigieg hit reverse last night.  After getting earfuls on the regressive nature of such taxes, not to mention oppressive in the former case, Buttigieg backtracked and insisted that no tax increases would hit anyone below the $400K income level.

Pete Buttigieg says plan to tax motorists by the mile is 'not part of the conversation' in $3 trillion infrastructure bill.  Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg walked back an idea he was touting just days ago to tax drivers by the mile as a way to ensure drivers of electric cars pay kick in more for wear and tear on roads.  'No, that's not part of the conversation about this infrastructure bill,' he said Monday [3/29/2021] when asked about the idea on CNN's 'The Lead' by host Jake Tapper, as President Joe Biden prepares to roll out his $3 trillion plan.

Pete Buttigieg backpedals from his tax-the-poor mileage plan as fast as he can.  If Pete Buttigieg thinks he has a political future after his latest gaffe as Joe Biden's transportation secretary, he's in for a surprise. [...] People, see, living on the outskirts of overpriced blue cities because they can't afford its skyrocketing housing costs, make those long, horrible, traffic-plagued commutes on Third World-looking highways by choice.  They do it because they like it, and according to Buttigieg, he's there to put a stop to it.  Punchbowl's gone, polluters.  Truckers carrying heavy medical equipment to distant hospitals save COVID patients?  Take the bus, [...].  Uber drivers transporting someone to the emergency room or keeping a drunk off the road?  Pay up, miscreant.  Farmers driving tractors to provide Pete with his gourmet meals?  You pay the tax, enough about me.  In the world of Rev. Pete, surveilling and taxing these wicked sinners against the god of global warming is all it will take to get them to change their wayward ways.  Greenie carrot.  Greenie stick.

Buttigieg backs Biden on saying goodbye to oil industry: 'We've got a few short years'.  Democratic presidential nominee Joseph R. Biden unleashed a gusher of criticism for his debate comment about making a "transition" from the oil industry, but former Democratic primary rival Pete Buttigieg was solidly in Mr. Biden's corner.  "Remember, there's no do-over on climate," Mr. Buttigieg said Friday on CNN.  "We're literally entering the event horizon.  We've got a matter of just a few short years before some of these things become irreversible."  Mr. Biden sought to clarify his comments after saying at Thursday night's debate that "I would transition from the oil industry, yes," his response to a question from President Trump over whether the Democrat would "close down the oil industry."

The Editor says...
There are those who claim that doomsday is always "only a few years away"; however, it has been a few years away since about 1968.

Pete Buttigieg blames Trump for violent rioting in Democrat-controlled cities, states.  Democrat Pete Buttigieg, former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, on Wednesday held President Trump responsible for the violent unrest that has beset U.S. cities controlled by Democrats.  "The simple reality is that we are seeing more and more chaos and violence under the Trump presidency, and there's no reason to expect that it would get any different or any better if he were reelected," Mr. Buttigieg told Fox News anchor Bret Baier.  National Democrats have largely avoided commenting on the arson, looting, window-breaking and assaults plaguing major U.S. cities, including Chicago, Minneapolis, Seattle and Portland, Oregon, all of which are controlled by Democratic mayors in states led by Democratic governors.

Pete Buttigieg dropping out smells a lot like quid pro quo.  Despite being arguably third or fourth most likely to get the nomination, South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg dropped out ahead of Super Tuesday.  Clearly, somebody got to him with an offer.

Confirmed: Pete Buttigieg Dropping Out of Presidential Race.  Democrat presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg is dropping out of the race according to a report by California-based Politico reporter Carla Marinucci.  The 38-year-old former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, who was mocked by President Trump for reminding him of the Mad Magazine mascot Alfred E. Neuman, eked out a victory in the Iowa caucus but has failed to win a primary race since, however he is in third place in the delegate race with 26 compared to 50 for former Vice President Joe Biden and the 58 for Sen. Bernie Sanders (VT) going in to Super Tuesday this week.

'Mayor' Pete Runs Out of Obama Speeches to Pilfer, Drops Out of Democratic President Race.  Mayor Pete Buttigieg has told his staff that he's pulling out of — suspending — his Democratic presidential campaign.
UHVsbGluZyBvdXQgaXMgd2hhdCBoaXMgZmF0aGVyIHNob3VsZCBoYXZlIGRvbmUu

Pete Buttigieg is suspending his 2020 presidential campaign.  Democrat Pete Buttigieg exited the 2020 presidential primary race on Sunday, ending an unlikely campaign that saw a little-known mayor overpower governors and U.S. senators in the race for the party nomination.  "Today is a moment of truth," Buttigieg said from South Bend, Indiana, where he served as mayor for two terms.  "The truth is the path has narrowed to a close, for our candidacy, if not for our cause."  Buttigieg said he had a responsibility for considering "the effect of remaining in this race any further."

Buttigieg Drops Out.  Pete Buttigieg, aka Alfred E. Newman, has suspended his bid for the Presidency. [...] The move to drop out makes sense within the most likely Club pattern to support Joe Biden.  Buttigieg drops out now ahead of Super-Tuesday allowing less fragmentation of the vote.  It will be interesting to see if he follows a Club plan to endorse Joe Biden because Buttigieg previously wrote high praise for Bernie Sanders.

For Buttigieg, a Search for Black Support That Never Arrived.  In October, Pete Buttigieg said he would do better with South Carolina's black voters once they got to know him better.  When he came back in December, he was still working on introducing himself to the black electorate.  And in late January he admitted he was scared that at his rallies in South Carolina, where 60 percent of the Democratic electorate is black, most attendees were white.  Those fears were borne out on Saturday, when Mr. Buttigieg was trounced in South Carolina's primary and earned just two percent of the vote from African-Americans, according to early exit polling.

More Commie Than Bernie.  Mayor Pete Buttigieg is even more thoroughly a Communist than Bernie Sanders.  That this strikes the reader as nonsense testifies to the media's laziness, and, yes, illiteracy.  More likely than not, Pete's politics follow the script of Antonio Gramsci, the centerpiece of whose teaching is how to exercise Communist hegemony more firmly than Lenin and Stalin.  In fact, young Pete assisted his father, Notre Dame English professor Joseph Buttigieg, president of the International Gramsci Society, in editing the English translation of Gramsci's works — writings about which it is impossible to be neutral.  Far from neutral, the elder Buttigieg was among the world's biggest fans of that most totalitarian of totalitarian theorists.  If his son and assistant is anything but a follower of Gramsci, he has neither said nor shown it.  On the contrary, his politics follow Gramsci's advice about how to take power.

Criticism of Mayor Peetie, apparently from another homosexual:
Pete Buttigieg is a slightly less gay version of Obama.  [Scroll down]  And if you deign to wince at one of their many on-stage prolonged smooches, you're a bigot.  This is the behavior of teenagers.  The Buttigii are extremely childlike and appear to have some form of arrested development.  And Pete's relationship to his sexuality took a demented turn last week when, at a campaign event in Colorado, he discussed sexuality with a nine-year-old.  The pre-pubescent child asked the former mayor advice on coming out as gay.  Pete indulged the child and the mother who put him up to it, telling him 'I'm rooting for you'.  As a friend pointed out, if Pete had done that on a playground wearing a trench coat, he'd be in jail.  Even though there is no such thing as a gay child, the fact that Pete only came out of the closet less than five years ago, probably means this child would have better advice for him, and not the other way around.

Buttigieg joined protest with McDonald's workers — it didn't end well.  Pete Buttigieg barged in on a protest led by McDonald's workers in Charleston, South Carolina Monday.  While some of the protesters appeared to be supporters, others were not at all pleased to see him, especially when he took the microphone and began to speak.

Sorry, Democrats:  Party's Over.  Mayor Pete is going nowhere.  He has only two rather tenuous claims to fame:  he's a homosexual and he doesn't rattle easily in front of a camera.  His record in South Bend is not that stellar.  If one wanted a Democrat mayor, one could at least pick one that's ruined a bigger city.  There are certainly plenty of those to choose from.  Cory Booker and Bill DeBlasio ooze to mind.  White homosexuals are now passé — the antiquated victim group of yesteryear.  Queerness has now become merely the icing on some less optional minority cake, unless you push it to some repulsive transgendering extreme.  Being gay alone has fallen so far down the progressive stack that Mayor Pete is still obliged to apologize to the Democrat base for being no more than another wicked white man.

Incoming Univision CEO Wade Davis Gave $1,000 to Buttigieg Campaign.  The liberal Spanish-media giant Univision has been sold.  Media executive Wade Davis is heading up a private group to buy a majority stake in the company and will be its new CEO.  Davis has given $8,300 to Democrat politicians since 2007 and is a contributor to former South Bend mayor and Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg's campaign.  He's been a contributor to major Democratic candidates for years, raising major concerns about potential conflicts of interest.  Federal Election Commission records revealed that Davis gave $1,000 to Buttigieg's campaign Nov. 3, 2019, while he was Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Viacom, Inc., which would merge with CBS Corporation in Dec. 2019 to form the new parent company (ViacomCBS) of CBS News.

Buttigieg Gets Taunted at Union Event in South Carolina.  The Palmetto State was never going to be a strong suit for Pete Buttigieg, who has been criticized for his record on race as mayor of South Bend, Indiana, making the Democratic primary tougher in a state where the Democratic electorate is 60% African American.  And appealing to union members here has its challenges, as well, since several of his competitors have long-standing relationships with unions.

Buttigieg to Illegal Immigrants:  You Have Just as Much Right to This Country as Any American.  Presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg, speaking at a campaign rally in Utah, told so-called 'dreamers' that America is every bit their country as it is the average citizen's.  The former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, speaking both English and Spanish, sent a message to illegals that this is their country too.

Pete Buttigieg touts African American endorsements that do not exist.  Former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg has an endorsement problem.  More specifically, the 2020 Democratic primary candidate keeps padding the list of black people who supposedly support his candidacy to include anyone who so much as comes within striking distance of his campaign.  On Saturday, a South Carolina newspaper published an opinion article by Buttigieg wherein he claimed his "campaign has proudly partnered with" black-owned businesses in the Palmetto State, including Diane's Kitchen in the town of Chester and Atlantis Restaurant in Moncks Corner.  As it turns out, though, the proprietors of those establishments have no idea what the former mayor is talking about.

Buttigieg's Pastor Brother-In-Law: 'Everything That Pete Is Pushing Is, It's Anti-God'.  Speaking on Fox News, Pastor Rhyan Glezman, the brother-in-law of Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg, ripped Buttigieg, asserting, "everything that Pete is pushing is, it's anti-God."  Glezman also accused Buttigieg of "intellectual dishonesty" for saying there was no "compatibility" between being a Trump supporter and believing in the Bible.  Buttigieg was prompted in a CNN townhall on Tuesday by CNN host Erin Burnett, who asked, "Do you think that it's impossible to be a Christian and support Trump?"  Buttigieg responded, "I'm not going to tell other Christians how to be Christian, but I will say I cannot find any compatibility between the way this president conducts himself and anything that I find in Scripture."

Democrat Pete Buttigieg overstated pledges of support from black leaders, public figures.  When Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg touted support from African American comedian and actor Keegan-Michael Key last week, his campaign was forced just hours later to clarify that the actor had not officially endorsed the former South Bend mayor, telling reporters he only sought to "encourage early voting and voter registration."  Key appeared with Buttigieg on Saturday to drum up voter support at his Henderson, Nevada field office.  The gaffe did not attract much attention.  However, it was not the first time the Buttigieg campaign overstated having a tie with a prominent African American figure, or black business.

Buttigieg Touts Less Government, but only when it's about Abortion and Infanticide.  The View's Meghan McCain recently sought a clearer answer from Mayor Pete Buttigieg about his position on late-term abortion.  She asked him where he drew the line and whether his position included a baby actually being born:  Buttigieg:  We live in a country where it is extremely important that no one person should have to be subject to some other person's interpretation of their own religion."  I wondered whether Mayor Pete thought religious freedom equally applied to say, Jack Phillips' right not to be forced to create a custom cake for a gay wedding.  Sure enough I found a piece in the Washington Free Beacon, entitled, "Mayor Pete Will Make you Bake the Cake."

Why South Bend residents are warning America about Pete Buttigieg.  When residents of this city's impoverished West Side reflect on Pete Buttigieg's two terms as mayor, a few things come to mind:  A spike in violent crime, development that largely ignored the African American community and how their only well-lit street is the one that leads to the University of Notre Dame.  So how, they wonder, can Buttigieg possibly be trusted to run the country?  "If he's the next president, I fear for our country.  He couldn't run our city.  How can he run the United States?" said Michelle Burger, 42, a stay-at-home mom who lives in South Bend's impoverished and predominantly black West Side.

Buttigieg reportedly touted 'partnerships' with black-owned South Carolina businesses they denied having.  A new report alleges that former South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg touted "partnerships" with black-owned businesses in South Carolina that the business owners denied making.  Last week, Buttigieg penned an op-ed in a South Carolina newspaper "The State" promoting his "Frederick Douglass Plan," which he describes is "a comprehensive investment in the empowerment of Black America" that was developed with the help of black activists and business leaders.

Sorry, Pete Buttigieg, but South Bend hasn't prepared you to be president.  We have nothing against South Bend, Indiana.  In fact, two members of our opinion staff were born and raised in that city.  But we all know that it's no proving ground for the presidency.  More generally speaking, service as a small-town mayor is not in itself sufficient training for the Oval Office.

Buttigieg: 'I'm not going to take lectures on family values from the likes of Rush Limbaugh'.  Pete Buttigieg, the openly gay former mayor of South Bend, Ind., a small town of just over 100,000 people, was asked during an appearance Sunday [2/16/2020] on CNN to respond to a remark from Rush Limbaugh about how Americans may view his homosexuality.  Taking the high road, the 38-year-old 2020 Democratic candidate avoided any focus on him kissing his husband on stage at campaign events to say he will not take family values lectures from Limbaugh.

Pete Buttigieg releases plan for 'Housing justice' and combating homelessness.  Former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg released his plan Monday [2/17/2020] for "housing justice in America," promising to correct the wrongs that followed the 2008 financial crisis and curb homelessness across the country.  The 2020 Democratic front-runner, who has been running neck and neck with Sen. Bernard Sanders of Vermont, promised to implement consumer protections for American families who have been locked out of homeownership.  His plan includes constructing 2 million rental units to help house 7 million families and to improve consumer protections for mortgage lending, as well as expand housing assistance for more than 5 million families with children.

The Editor says...
What does "housing justice" mean?  If you are a politician who lives in a world where sodomy is normal and natural, you might think that "housing justice" means everyone is entitled to a house, and someone else will pay for it.  Otherwise, "housing justice" means that if you have enough money, good credit, and a steady job, you can buy a house or rent an apartment, and when you stop paying for that residence, you'll be evicted.

Buttigieg plans to flood small American towns with immigrants.  On the same day we learn that an al-Qaeda operative is living in our midst, some reassuring news comes from the campaign of Democrat Pete Buttigieg.  Appearing at a campaign stop in New Hampshire, Mayor Pete touted his "Community Renewal Visas," which will effectively flood American towns with immigrants.  "I'm proposing ... that when a community that is very much in need of growing its population, recognizes that, and makes a choice to welcome more than its share of new Americans," Buttigieg said, "that we create a fast-track, if they apply for an allotment of visas."

Queer protesters booted from Pete Buttigieg's San Francisco fundraiser.  Two queer activists unhappy with Pete Buttigieg's "middle of the road" politics were kicked out of his San Francisco fundraiser Friday [2/14/2020] after interrupting him on stage with shouted questions, a report said.  The protesters peppered Buttigieg with questions at San Francisco's National LGBTQ Center for the Arts, immediately drawing boos from supporters of the former South Bend, Indiana mayor, according to The Guardian.  "I respect your activism, but this is a gathering for supporters of our campaign and I just got a question about my husband and I'm really excited to answer it," Buttigieg said in response to the activists, the report said.

Mayor Pete:  Red Diaper Baby.  "So mayor Pete is a Red Diaper baby!  This explains a lot ..."  So writes Charlie, a longtime reader of mine and of The American Spectator.  Please note that Charlie didn't call Pete a red, but a red-diaper baby.  There's a difference.  And either way, it's a point that isn't irrelevant and should be dealt with and laid out carefully. [...] As for that red-diaper background, Charlie is referring to the work of Pete Buttigieg's father, Joseph Buttigieg, who was the world's foremost expert (certainly the English-speaking world) on the famous Italian Marxist Antonio Gramsci.  Joseph, who died in January 2019, was no less than the founder of the International Gramsci Society, a fact hardly a secret and acknowledged warmly on the website of the International Gramsci Society.  It's so unmissable that the first thing that displays when you open the website is Joseph's photo with a memorial tribute.  In fact, as someone who regularly checks that website, I can tell you that Joseph's photo has been the lead on the screen for a full year and counting.  He was very important to them.

Media darling Pete Buttigieg was in unit that worked with the CIA in Afghanistan.  After The Grayzone published an article about Pete Buttigieg's roster of endorsements from CIA veterans and coup plotters, and another about his mysterious trip to Somaliland alongside a friend who now works for a US government regime-change agency, Pete Buttigieg's presidential campaign issued a public statement denying that he ever worked for the CIA.  "We hate to break the news to Twitter, but no, Pete was not in the CIA," Buttigieg's national press secretary Chris Meagher derisively told The Daily Beast, which directly referenced both Grayzone reports.  "As for the Somaliland trip, it was not related to his work anywhere."  The Daily Beast article appeared in response not only to factual reporting by The Grayzone, but to a wave of allegations spread online through hashtags like #CIAPete which accused Buttigieg of being a CIA asset.

Lindsey Graham, other Republicans blast Rush Limbaugh over Buttigieg 'kissing his husband' remarks.  Conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh drew bipartisan condemnation Thursday [2/13/2020] for saying the country won't elect Pete Buttigieg president because he's been "kissing his husband" on stage after debates. [...] "They're saying, 'OK, how's this going to look?'" Limbaugh said Wednesday, imagining Democrats' thinking.  "Thirty-seven-year-old gay guy kissing his husband on stage, next to Mr. Man, Donald Trump.'"  Buttigieg, 38, is the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, and has been married to his husband, Chasten, since 2018.

Mayor Buttigieg Runs for President While His City Bleeds.  On March 31, a South Bend grandma brought her grandson to the hospital.  The 11-month-old baby boy had been shot.  His grandmother's car had also taken fire.  It was another early morning in South Bend.  Around the same time, Mayor Buttigieg, was toting up the $7 million in donations from his charm offensive as his bid for the 2020 Democrat nomination got underway.  The national media never bothered reporting the shooting of an 11-month-old boy in the city he was supposed to be running, but instead confined its coverage of South Bend matters to a publicity stunt wedding officiated by Buttigieg.

Video: Pete Buttigieg's Biggest Lie.  He uses moral relativism, not objective truth, to shore up an extremely gruesome policy position.  [Video clip]

Pete Buttigieg Recently Said The Same Things Bloomberg Did About Crime.  On the eve of the New Hampshire primary, Democrat presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg took a hit when audio surfaced of him celebrating his police department's targeting of minority neighborhoods.  The media pounced, quickly forcing the former New York City mayor to apologize for his dated comments.  Yet, for all the outrage, the press ignored the nearly identical sentiments South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg voiced mere days earlier, during the New Hampshire Democrat debate.

Progressive journalists say they were 'harassed' by Buttigieg campaign staff at rally.  A pair of progressive journalists alleged that they were repeatedly harassed by staffers for the Buttigieg campaign at an event in New Hampshire, including an attempt to physically take away their preapproved press credentials.  Status Coup co-founder/reporter Jordan Chariton and video journalist Jamal Jones attended the campaign event on Sunday in Nashua, New Hampshire, where former South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg was set to appear.  Ahead of the event, Chariton and Jones were interviewing attendees in line outside, but Chariton said he noticed they were being followed by Buttigieg field staffer Julia Fiedler, who went on to "eavesdrop" on interviews, which went on for roughly a half an hour.

Pete Buttigieg High School Essay Praised 'Profile In Courage' Bernie Sanders.  South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg took issue with Independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders' "my way or the highway" politics at Friday's debate — but a 20-year-old essay written by Buttigieg had nothing but praise for the self-described socialist.  In the early moments of the ABC-hosted debate in New Hampshire, Buttigieg warned against "my way or the highway politics" and when moderator George Stephanopoulos asked whether he was referring to Sanders, he said that he was.

Mayor Pete Busted Editing "Artificial Crowd Cheering and Applause" Into His Videos.  Mayor Pete isn't called "Mayor Cheat" for nothing.  Turns out that failed mayor is trying to artificially boost himself up with phony cheering and applause lines edited into his soundbite clips.  The discovery was made by the Twitter account "CPD Action," a group that supports Bernie Sanders for President.  CPD posted side-by-side clips of a CNN town hall event featuring Mayor Pete.

Buttigieg Box Watch:  Mayor Pete Has a Height Problem.  [Scroll down]  Like Bloomberg, however, Mayor Pete's true height remains clouded in mystery, raising questions about his own propensity to deploy boxes, lifts, and other stature-boosting items in an effort to deceive the American people.  Bloomberg has often claimed to be 5'10".  That's a blatant lie.  Google lists his height at 5'8", but even that seems like an exaggeration, based on the available evidence.  A fair and balanced assessment suggests the former New York City mayor is actually no taller than 5'6".  Buttigieg's true height is similarly hard to pin down.  A Google search, for example, does not return a reliable result.  Given Buttigieg's extensive network of Silicon Valley donors, one cannot help but wonder if this omission is the result of illicit collusion between the candidate and the search engine giant.

Pete Buttigieg isn't going to win.  Mayor Peter is the openly gay son of the editor and translator of Antonio Gramsci's Prison Notebooks.  Gramsci's important contribution to the literature of totalitarian tyranny was his idea that Communist dictatorship could only come to free countries by means of a 'long march through the institutions', cultural as well as political.  The left has pretty well accomplished this with respect to the universities and the elite cultural institutions of the media and the so-called 'arts community'.  Mayor Pete wants to finish the job through such expedients as packing the Supreme Court with six more seats, abolishing the electoral college (it's 'undemocratic', he says), disarming the populace (a precaution tyrants always take), providing a 'glide path' for the government takeover of healthcare, opening up the borders, and forcing taxpayers to foot the bill for college, even for illegal immigrants, whom he also wants to offer amnesty.  It's a start, Comrade.  The truth is, Buttigieg is about as moderate as Bernie Sanders.

Pete Buttigieg's father was a Marxist professor who lauded the Communist Manifesto.  The father of Democratic presidential hopeful Pete Buttigieg was a Marxist professor who spoke fondly of the Communist Manifesto and dedicated a significant portion of his academic career to the work of Italian Communist Party founder Antonio Gramsci, an associate of Vladimir Lenin.  Joseph Buttigieg, who died in January at the age of 71, immigrated to the U.S. in the 1970s from Malta and in 1980 joined the University of Notre Dame faculty, where he taught modern European literature and literary theory.  He supported an updated version of Marxism that jettisoned some of Marx and Engel's more doctrinaire theories, though he was undoubtedly Marxist.

Pete Buttigieg Defends LATE TERM Abortion.  Pete Buttigieg went on 'The View' to tell Megan McCain that there should be no limits on abortion.  [Video clip]

Creepy Pete.  [Scroll down]  The stagecraft was weird.  If the demographic polling we've all read is correct, then the line of seven or eight African-American supporters behind him during his Iowa victory speech represents, by my math, 180 percent of his African-American support nationwide.  In fact, those in that line seemed to constitute most of the African Americans in the room, which made you wonder how it was they were placed so directly in the sight lines of the television cameras.  I bet that was a very delicate mission for the person tasked with it.  The surreal and eerie quality of the speech was enhanced by the fact that he declared himself the winner in prose that was so fundamentally empty.

The Editor says...
Yes, minorities are often rounded up and placed directly behind a candidate when he or she is making a televised speech, to give the not-so-subtle impression that it's safe for minorities to vote for the candidate.  This practice has been going on for many years.

Buttigieg blames Trayvon death on 'white supremacy'.  Hoping to fan racial flames in his direction before the South Carolina primary, Pete Buttigieg tweeted out his support for Trayvon Martin on the occasion of what would have been Martin's 25th birthday, February 5.  "Trayvon Martin would have been 25 today," Mayor Pete tweeted.  "How many 25th birthdays have been stolen from us by white supremacy, gun violence, prejudice, and fear?"  Buttigieg threw in a Black Lives Matter hashtag just to make sure black voters knew he was down for the struggle.  This tweet would have been unfortunate six months ago.  Today, it is unforgivable.

Pete Buttigieg Is No Friend Of Religious Liberty.  After taking a surprising lead in the faith-focused Iowa caucuses, presidential hopeful Pete Buttigieg is now being discussed as a Democratic Party presidential frontrunner.  But despite being a self-proclaimed Christian, Buttigieg's rhetoric and policies undermine rather than support religious liberty.  Buttigieg has unabashedly embraced House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's (D-CA) Equality Act legislation that would strike a massive blow to our nation's religious institutions.  Specifically, the Equality Act would create a federally protected status for gender identity, defined as the "gender-related identity, appearance, mannerisms or other gender-related characteristics of an individual, regardless of the individual's designated sex at birth."  Any faith-based establishment — including churches, schools, and hospitals — with theological beliefs in conflict with this definition would likely face expensive legal battles, lawsuits, and public scrutiny.

It's not just Iowa:  Entire Democratic race looking like giant dumpster fire.  [Scroll down]  Pete Buttigieg, the former mayor of Whoville, claimed a premature victory but apparently did do very well, despite polling nationally at around 6 percent.  But leaders in the party have a lot of reasons to be nervous about the media momentum Buttigieg is riding following the caucuses:  His support among black Democratic voters remains firm at less than 2 percent, a number that looks good on milk and really bad in a general election for a party that relies heavily on that bloc for victory.

#MayorCheat Trends as Pete Buttigieg's Iowa Machinations Come to Light.  There's just something about Pete Buttigieg that's so inauthentic and underhanded.  Maybe it's the whole "moderate nose on/moderate nose off" routine he's constantly playing, or perhaps it's his bashing of Christians who don't subscribe to his views.  Whatever it is, it's palpable and a lot of people are starting to see it.  That aspect of the South Bend mayor has Bernie Sanders fans none to happy, as Buttigieg made a series of moves yesterday evening during the chaotic and disastrous Iowa caucus last night.  For starters, he declared himself victorious before the first vote came in (as of this writing there are still no totals released).

Buttigieg Voter in Iowa Asks for Do Over After Realizing Mayor Pete Has a Husband.  The caucus attendee from Cresco was shocked after she learned that Buttigieg was married to a man and immediately wanted to take her vote back when she learned the shocking news.  A Buttigieg precinct captain, Nikki Heever told the caucus goer that her vote was likely final before the two had a discussion.  Heever attempted to lecture regarding why Buttigieg's homosexuality shouldn't matter when casting a vote, but the Christian Democratic caucuser was not having any of it.  She refused to budge from her Biblical beliefs regarding marriage only being between a man and a woman.

Iowa Voter Freaks Out on Buttigieg Precinct Capt. After Finding Out Mayor Pete is Gay.  Nikki van den Heever, a caucus precinct captain for former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg, tried to talk down an Iowa woman who was incensed to find out — in real-time during a caucus after she'd signed a card supporting him — that the candidate is openly gay.  "Are you saying that he has the same-sex partner?  Pete?" the woman says in the clip, which was posted to both Twitter and Reddit early Tuesday morning.  "Yes," van den Heever responds.  "Are you kidding?" the woman says, and upon being told Mayor Pete is married, says "Then I don't want anybody like that in the White House.  So can I have my card back?"

The Editor says...
I thought Mayor Peetie's homosexuality was well known; in fact, I thought that was his primary qualification.  And I still think so.  He's the novelty act for this presidential election cycle.  In 2008 it was the novelty of a (half) black man running for POTUS.  In 2016 it was the novelty of a woman running for POTUS.  Identity politics is far more important than even their socialist, godless, baby-killing platform.

The Myth Of Pete Buttigieg, 'Moderate'.  What are Pete Buttigieg's politics?  If you read CBS, The Atlantic, The New York Times, The Guardian, and a host of their friends, the former mayor is decidedly a moderate. [...] But just what is so "traditional centrist" or "moderate" about Mayor Pete?  From health care and abortion to guns and immigration, and from the Supreme Court to the Electoral College, the man is decidedly a radical.  Behind all his carefully selected scripture quotes that so easily confound coastal reporters is a politician whose justifications are difficult to recognize through the eyes of any of the world's major Christian religions.

Buttigieg: I Know 63 Million People Voted for Trump But They're Still Racist.  Former South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg has repeatedly said those who support President Donald Trump are racist.  CNN's Jake Tapper on Sunday [2/2/2020] asked Buttigieg if he regretted making those comments.  "Republicans have been seizing, including in a new Trump ad, a statement you made that 'Anyone who supported this president is, at best, looking the other way on racism.'  You've also said that on my show," Tapper explained.  "That's almost 63 million Americans who you're painting with a pretty broad brush.  Do you regret saying that at all?"  Buttigieg didn't hesitate before he responded.  "No.  I'm very concerned about the racial division that this president has fostered," the 2020 Democratic candidate explained.

The Editor says...
For an example of a president who fostered racial division, look no further than Barack H. Obama.

Pete Buttigieg again addresses concerns from minority campaign staffers.  Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg addressed again on Sunday concerns from minority staffers about key decisions made in the campaign and its overall culture of inclusion, saying his campaign has taken corrective steps to respond to the issues.  "More than 40% of the staff on our campaign are people of color doing a phenomenal job and need to be supported and deserve to be supported.  So, we've taken steps that maybe, in history and in historical campaigns, haven't been done — creating conversations and spaces for workers who are facing the challenges that I think any person of color in the workplace today is dealing with and making sure we're responsive to this," Buttigieg told CNN's Jake Tapper on "State of the Union."

Pete Buttigieg Tells Pro-Life Democrat That She Doesn't Belong in the Democratic Party.  At a recent campaign event, South Bend Mayor and presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg (D-Ind.) told a woman who identified as a pro-life Democrat that her views on abortion are not welcome in the Democratic Party, as the Daily Wire reports.

Pete Buttigieg mocked over 'staged' walking photo.  Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg was mocked on Twitter this weekend after staging a bizarre photo of himself walking.  The former South Bend mayor sent out a picture on Saturday seemingly intended to showcase his intention to head to Iowa.

Buttigieg receives cold reception from minority Iowans.  The Iowa electorate may be overwhelmingly white, but the tough questioning Pete Buttigieg received at a minority voter forum is indicative of the former South Bend, Indiana, mayor's struggles with expanding his narrow voter base.  Buttigieg's issues began during Monday afternoon's question-and-answer session, when two moderators from Vice News grilled him for 15 minutes over his brief governing record.  Of specific interest was his role in overseeing South Bend's police force, which has been the target of activists over perceived racial bias.

As Violent Crime Surged, Buttigieg Admin Lectured Cops on 'Sizeism'.  As Mayor Pete Buttigieg contended with skyrocketing crime rates in South Bend, Ind., the city's police department trained officers to combat "sizeism" and "languageism," according to newly revealed documents.  South Bend's police department instituted a series of diversity and anti-discrimination training sessions in 2017.  The training sessions took place as violent crime surged in the city, reaching the highest level in 20 years in 2018.  The training extended far beyond the immediate issues facing the city and instead lectured cops on policing their own language to be sensitive to "isms."

The Editor says...
I'll be very surprised if Mayor Pete keeps his current job much longer.  Surely the voters in South Bend are deeply embarrassed by now.

Why Is the Gay Presidential Candidate Silent about Iran Hanging Gays?  Mayor Pete, as he likes to be called, who has led the cry that Iran's shooting down of a Ukrainian airliner using a Russian missile is somehow the fault of an American president, Donald J. Trump, is among those who say it was "collateral damage" resulting from Trump trashing the flawed and unworkable Iran nuclear deal and his zapping of terrorist Quds Force commander Gen. Qassem Soleimani. [...] Buttigieg may not have noticed, but there was no tit-for-tat that fateful night.  Iran was shooting ballistic missiles at an American base in Iraq.  President Trump withheld returning fire.  Soleimani was already dead, and if Buttigieg thinks the death of the terrorist responsible for the killing and maiming of thousands of American soldiers and other personnel was unwanted and unnecessary, then add that to the list of reasons he is not quailed to be president.

Pete Buttigieg Blames Donald Trump After Reports Indicate Iran Shot Down Ukraine Plane.  Former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg implicitly blamed President Donald Trump Thursday after reports indicated that Iran shot down a Ukrainian plane shortly after their military strike against the United States.

Pete Buttigieg's Comments on Slavery Show the Failure of Our Educational System.  Video surfaced on Saturday of Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg saying in 2014: "It's an embarrassing thing to admit, the people who wrote the Constitution did not understand that slavery was a bad thing."  In saying this, Buttigieg demonstrated both his abject ignorance of the history of America's founding and the utter failure of the American educational system to teach that history.  No wonder this place is crawling with young socialists and America-haters.  Buttigieg, the Mayor of South Bend, Indiana, is 37 years old; he reportedly attended Catholic schools, not public schools, in his youth.  At this point, however, that is a distinction with barely a difference:  both Catholic and public schools generally teach the spirit of the age, and that spirit dictates that the Founding Fathers, when not ignored altogether, should be presented as white male slave owners without any redeeming qualities.

Ted Cruz educates Pete Buttigieg.  Pete Buttigieg is not nearly as smart as he thinks he is.  Yesterday, Senator Ted Cruz devastatingly humiliated him for shooting his mouth off when he doesn't know what he's talking about.  In case you missed it, Buttigieg recently instructed a group of youngsters, "The people who wrote the Constitution did not understand that slavery was a bad thing."  That sort of criticism and condescension is part of the larger progressive project to disparage and eventually reject the United States Constitution — because it limits the power of government and affirm that our rights come from God.  Here is Buttigieg pretending that he is morally and intellectually superior to the Founders before an audience of youngsters that does not know better [...]

Mayor Pete's 'promise'.  South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg, who is seeking the presidency, wants to facilitate "choice" when it comes to killing an unborn child but not when it comes to educating a born one.  In his America, the government would pay for abortions and the child care of millions — from birth onward. [...] The Hyde Amendment prohibits federal funding of abortion except in cases of rape, incest or when the life of the mother is endangered.  By contrast, Buttigieg opposes using federal funds to give parents vouchers they could use to liberate their children from public schools.  His campaign has published a policy paper — "Keeping the Promise for America's Children" — that states his position on this.  "And because public dollars should fund public schools, Pete will continue to oppose the implementation of any federal school voucher program," it says.

Mayor Pete Wants to Decriminalize 'Meth, Coke, Ecstasy,' Not Just Pot.  In an interview on Friday [12/27/2019], Mayor Pete Buttigieg (D-Church of Social Justice) clarified his drug policy, calling for decriminalization of all drugs including methamphetamine, cocaine, and ecstasy.  "Incarceration should not even be a response to drug possession," Buttigieg told editors at the Des Moines Register.

Buttigieg: No Jail Time for Meth, Cocaine, Ecstasy Possession.  In an interview with the Des Moines Register on Dec. 23, Democratic presidential contender Pete Buttigieg, the may of South Bend, Ind., said that he does not support placing people in jail if they are caught in possession of any illegal drug, including cocaine, ecstasy, or even methamphetamine.  After Buttigieg explained his views on drug possession and prison, an editor asked him, "Is that across the board?  So, if it's meth or coke or ecstasy, any drug if it's possession incarceration isn't —."  "That's right," said Buttigieg, who earned degrees from Harvard University and Oxford University.

The Editor says...
Imagine what a wonderful country this will be with half the population stoned all the time.  And then when hundreds of drug addicts litter the streets, who's going to be the first to demand more spending for drug rehab?  Mayor Pete, of course.

Mayor Pete Buttigieg Lies About Jesus to Politicize Christmas.  On Christmas Day, Mayor Pete Buttigieg (D-Church of Social Justice) continued his campaign strategy of attacking the religious right as insincere Christians.  He took the opportunity to repeat the tired old canard that Jesus Christ was a "refugee" — an argument liberals use to weaponize Christmas against the Trump administration. [...] This message drew many angry responses, with some attacking Buttigieg for refusing to mention Jesus Christ by name.  Many Christians pushed back against Mayor Pete's claims that Jesus was both poor and a non-citizen refugee.

Pete Buttigieg Calls Jesus Christ an Impoverished 'Refugee' in Christmas Message.  On Christmas Day, South Bend, Indiana, Mayor and 2020 Democrat Pete Buttigieg declared Jesus Christ an impoverished "refugee" without ever explicitly mentioning his name. [...] Buttigieg's calling Jesus Christ "a refugee" came days after he released his national immigration plan, in which he vows to import at least 125,000 refugees in his first year in office.  Likewise, Buttigieg said he will push Congress to pass a law that bans the United States from admitting any less than 95,000 refugees a year.

Fake religion from Pete Buttigieg.  Pete Buttigieg has tried to carve out a niche among Democratic presidential hopefuls as the candidate who is comfortable talking about religion.  Unfortunately, he's only comfortable trying to use religion as a means of beating conservatives, especially religious ones, over the head. [...] I'm not an expert on these matters, so tonight on our Power Line VIP program, I checked with John, a devout Christian and student of religion.  John confirmed that Joseph, a carpenter, was a working man and not impoverished.  Joseph was also not a refugee, whatever that might mean in the context of the Roman Empire.  Joseph and his family were traveling back to Joseph's native town because the Roman's were requiring people to do so for purposes of a census.  They weren't fleeing anyone, nor were they homeless.  They were travelers, not refugees.  To me, the interesting question is:  What purpose does Buttigieg think his fake history/religion serves?

Pastor Darrell Scott Shoots Down Pete Buttigieg's Politicized Christmas Greeting.  Pastor Darrell Scott ridiculed Mayor Pete Buttigieg's Christmas greeting as a "load of crap" on Wednesday [12/25/2019] after the South Bend mayor claimed Jesus came to earth as a refugee.  [Tweet]  Buttigieg's greeting was instantly ridiculed on Twitter for trying to load up his Christmas message with heavy handed political messaging and for curiously omitting the use of the name Jesus Christ.

Feted or fetid?
Inside Mayor Pete's $2,800-a-head wine cave fundraiser that prompted debate fury.  The now-famous wine cave in Napa Valley where billionaires hosted a fundraiser for Pete Buttigieg features a chandelier with 1,500 Swarovski crystals, an onyx banquet table to reflect its luminescence, and bottles of cabernet sauvignon that sell for as much as $900.  The event was attended by between 150 and 200 supporters of the South Bend, Indiana, mayor, who is looking to make history as the first openly gay candidate to win the presidential nomination of a major political party.  Guests at the fundraiser paid $2,800 to attend.  For an additional $1,000, they got to take a photo with the candidate.

Pete Ain't It.  A funny debate has been roiling the online left:  Do young liberals hate Pete Buttigieg too little, or too much? [...] Ultimately, I worry Buttigieg will easily lose to Trump because he is ill suited to make the simplest and most powerful argument against the current administration's apparent economic successes.  That argument goes like this:  Though the economic stats look pretty good, the Trump boom is a mirage and a moral disgrace.

The Editor says...
A reasonable voter cannot call Trump or his success "a moral disgrace" and then use that as the basis to vote for a homosexual.

How Crazed Is The Left?  Its New Villain Is Pete Buttigieg.  You just can't make these things up.  The new enemy within for the Democratic Party's radicalized base, worthy of all the venom it can muster, isn't House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for her caution on giving the green light to impeach President Donald Trump.  It isn't Joe Biden for attacking Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders as so far left they're unelectable.  It isn't even Rep. Jeff Van Drew of New Jersey, who's announced he will vote against impeaching Trump and will probably switch parties — spurring six of his staff members to quit.  Instead, the populist left's heavy artillery is now aimed at, of all people, South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg, who, as an unapologetic homosexual with husband in tow on the campaign trail, is, in social terms, the most radical presidential candidate ever.

Barack Obama's 'Body Man' Reggie Love Endorses Pete Buttigieg.  Former President Barack Obama's "body man" Reggie Love endorsed Mayor Pete Buttigieg for president on Thursday [12/5/2019].  "A lot of what is said about Pete echoes what critics said about presidential candidate Barack Obama — too young, too different, maybe another time — but I believe there is never a better time to fight for change than right now," Love said in a statement reported by CNN.

WaPo Gives Buttigieg Three Pinocchios for Black Poverty Rate Claim.  A Washington Post fact check gave Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg three Pinocchios on Thursday [12/5/2019] for cherry-picking data to suggest he "cut the black poverty rate by more than half" in South Bend, Ind., during his tenure as mayor.

Gay activists turn on Pete Buttigieg over Salvation Army ties.  Pete Buttigieg has been outed — as someone who has worked with the Salvation Army.  According to a report Tuesday [12/3/2019] in Out magazine, the South Bend mayor has several times participated in Red Kettle Ring Off for the Christmas season in the Indiana city.  Out linked to reports of the annual charity in local South Bend media from 2015 and 2017, and at least one other photo from 2016 surfaced on Twitter.  In 2018, he held the annual Mayor's Night Out — an open-listening event to let residents quiz city officials — at a Salvation Army community center.

Peter Buttigieg nods in agreement as crackpot reverend claims illegals are recovering stolen land.  This position that the United States illegitimately exercises sovereignty over the western United States is popular on the radical fringe, by deeply unpopular among ordinary Americans.  Mayor Peter is going to have answer for this if he stays in the top tier of Democrat candidates, and it will place him in the uncomfortable position of wither jettisoning the far Left or the mainstream American voting bloc.

Buttigieg 2020 campaign took money from top Kavanaugh lawyers.  Pete Buttigieg's 2020 campaign is returning thousands of dollars in donations from two top Washington lawyers who represented Brett Kavanaugh in his controversial confirmation hearing, saying it will not accept funds from people who helped secure the justice's seat on the supreme court.  Buttigieg's campaign received $7,200 from Alexandra Walsh — $3,150 of which had already been returned because it exceeded limits — and attended a fundraiser in July that was co-hosted by the Washington lawyer.  Buttigieg also received $2,800 from Beth Wilkinson, Walsh's law partner, who also represented Kavanaugh.

Mayor Pete's Rainbow Army.  [Scroll down]  Why anyone would think that Pete Buttigieg is qualified to be president is a mystery.  An even greater mystery would be why a conservative evangelical girl would spend her college break knocking on doors for a cultural radical to be president of the United States.  Actually, it's no mystery.  The answer is right in front of you:  she's in college.  This promising young lady went to an elite university in the northeast.  End of story.  In no time, Hillary-like, she was fundamentally transformed — fully converted from Bible-believing evangelical to LGBTQ-crusading leftist.  It took only two or three semesters.  That's no surprise.  That's the job of these colleges, after all.  That's what they do.  From day one, orientation day, when your son or daughter is asked which gender pronoun he or she prefers, young Americans are overwhelmed with obsessive, unrestrained, unhinged identity ideology.  They are force-fed a nonstop toxic diet of race, gender, and sexual identity.

Pete Buttigieg, Failure.  Pete Buttigieg's polling strength is, as far as I can tell, based on one factor only:  He's a smooth talker. [...] Alas for him, he can't talk much about the wonderful improvements he made as two-term mayor of South Bend, Indiana, because they aren't there.  James Freeman of the Wall Street Journal, notes that South Bend has an extremely high crime rate for a city its size and that a recent program to provide housing for addicts has just ended in complete failure.

"Literally Zero Support": The Giant Problem With Mayor Pete's Momentum.  Pete-mentum is real.  Two polls within four days certified the mayor of South Bend, Indiana, as the new front-runner in Iowa.  Which is good news for the Buttigieg campaign, coming less than three months before the caucuses, even if the pool of undecideds remains large.  "There's a ton of folks who haven't made up their minds," says Charlie Wishman, an Iowa labor union official. [...] Mayor Pete's rise also comes with a more immediate downside.  He's now a fresh target for his rivals in Wednesday's debate.  Kamala Harris, languishing in single digits, has signaled a willingness to challenge Buttigieg, laughing acidly when asked about his campaign's use of a stock photo of a Kenyan woman and child on its website.  Elizabeth Warren has climbed into the top tier of candidates, in part by refraining from direct attacks on her rivals.

Pete Buttigieg vs Jesus.  It makes me wonder if Buttigieg has actually opened the Bible and read it. [...] I realize Buttigieg is an Episcopalian and not a Christian, but we have 2000 years of pretty consistent interpretation on what the parables mean.  We have the writings of men who studied under the Apostle John.  We have people like Augustine.  We have the Holy Spirit working through us.  There really is not a lot of deviation in interpretation.  The problem here is that Buttigieg has decided to cherrypick scripture because it is the only way to get around the parts of marriage and homosexuality.  Unfortunately, he is only latching on to verses that are conveniently weaponized against his opponents and feigning ignorance on the rest.

Democratic debate:  All eyes are on Pete Buttigieg, especially from skeptical black voters.  Presidential hopeful Pete Buttigieg's success in recent polls suggests he has a big target on his back — one that, if not skillfully negotiated, could cost him the Democratic nomination.  Buttigieg's campaign is surging, just in time for Wednesday's Democratic presidential primary debate in Atlanta.  Once an obscure long shot, Buttigieg has wedged his way to the top of a field featuring Democratic candidates Vice President Joe Biden and Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).  Buttigieg is leading in the Iowa polls, with 25% of voters in one survey saying he's their first choice for president.

Why Pete Buttigieg Is The Most Destructive Candidate For Christianity.  In the crowded field of Democratic contenders for the White House in 2020, [Pete] Buttigieg is near the top, polling behind only Joe Biden, Elizabeth Warren, and Bernie Sanders.  According to RealClearPolitics' latest aggregate of polls, in the early primary state of Iowa, Buttigieg trails only Warren, holding 17.5 percent support — and for good reason. [...] Never mind that the mayor completely contradicts the Christian doctrine of total human depravity — a foundational tenet of the gospel — to support his secular sexual ethic, but it is imperative to note that Buttigieg's threat is not primarily due to being immoral versus moral.  Comparing Buttigieg with an angry or scandalous politician — or even with the man occupying the White House — makes the mayor radiate what looks like goodness.  His real problem is that he calls good things evil and evil things good, justifying sin with isolated Bible verses and Machiavellian rhetoric.

Pete Buttigieg proposes free public college for people making less than $100K.  Democratic presidential hopeful Pete Buttigieg on Friday released a set of economic proposals that includes free public college for people living in households that make less than $100,000 per year.  Under Mr. Buttigieg's plan, families of college students that earn up to $100,000 wouldn't pay any public college tuition.  Those making between $100,000 and $150,000 would receive reduced tuition benefits.  That's a contrast to proposals from 2020 candidates such as Sens. Bernard Sanders of Vermont and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, who want to make public colleges and universities tuition-free for everyone.

The Editor says...
The Socialists are eager to provide free college education because it is replete with socialist indoctrination.

James Clyburn: 'No Question' Buttigieg's Gayness Is 'An Issue' For Older Black Voters.  House Majority Whip James Clyburn said there is "no question" that South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg's sexual orientation is "an issue" for older black voters in South Carolina.  During a Sunday morning [11/3/2019] appearance on CNN's "State of the Union," the South Carolina Democratic congressman was asked by guest host Dana Bash about whether Buttigieg's failure to gain traction in the state, despite polling well in other places, has anything to do with the fact that he is gay.  "Well, that's a generational issue," Clyburn responded.  "I know of a lot of people my age who feel that way."

Buttigieg Floats Baseless Conspiracy Theory On Stacey Abrams And 2018 Georgia Gubernatorial Race.  South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg theorized that former Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams lost her Georgia race in 2018 because of "racially motivated patterns of voter suppression." [...] "If one party has decided that in order for them to succeed that fewer people vote I would think that's a sign that maybe your policies need a look," he said.  "But, there's a kind of cynical decision, and it's happening across the country, whether it's the racially motivated patterns of voter suppression are responsible for Stacey Abrams not being governor of Georgia right now [applause] or whether it's the effort to suppress the student vote that we saw in New Hampshire."  Author James Hasson called Buttigieg's claim "provably false."

Buttigieg's Internal Focus Groups Find 'Being Gay Was A Barrier' For Black Southern Voters, Particularly Black Men.  Focus groups South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg's campaign conducted found that black voters in South Carolina see the mayor's sexuality as a "barrier."  A 21-page report the Benenson Strategy Group conducted examined black Democratic South Carolina voters in mid-July and found that "being gay was a barrier for these voters, particularly for the men who seemed deeply uncomfortable even discussing it. ... [T]heir preference is for his sexuality to not be front and center."

The Editor says...
The entire point of Mayor Pete's political career is that he is a homosexual, and if you don't vote for him, you must be a homophobe.  Homosexuals are defined by their sexual activity.  Of course his sexuality is front and center.

Pete Buttigieg:  America's Unelected High School Class President.  Mayor of America's 306th largest city, Buttigieg brings the hauteur of Harvard to the heartland.  He brings his passive-aggressive style to South Bend and French Lick, misrepresenting the goodness of Indiana by attacking the state of mind of his fellow Hoosier, Vice President Mike Pence.  He brings this attitude to the campaign trail, where he looks like a fired contestant from "The Apprentice" and sounds like a book on tape.

Poll: Iowa caucuses are 'up for grabs' as Pete Buttigieg surges into top tier.  It's a new three-way race in Iowa.  Pete Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, Indiana, who was initially seen as a long-shot presidential contender, has surged within striking distance of former vice president Joe Biden and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren in the first-in-the-nation Iowa caucuses, a Suffolk University/USA TODAY Poll finds.  Biden, long viewed as the Democratic frontrunner, is faltering in the wake of a debate performance last week that those surveyed saw as disappointing.

Pete Buttigieg Plays 'Uniter' After Months of Christian Bashing.  Did you get a chance to check out Mean Little Mayor Pete Buttigieg suddenly morphing into Mayor Uniter during Tuesday night's debate — you know, after he spent months trashing anyone who doesn't agree with him as a terrible Christian? [...] Buttigieg's brand-spanking-new idea of bringing people together, of uniting the country after President Trump's defeat, wasn't some offhand comment, either.  It was his theme for the night.

Why Mayor Pete's 2020 Presidential Campaign is Already Finished.  Pete Buttigieg has long had a problem with black voters.  It's a problem that grew visible in his leadership as mayor of South Bend, Indiana over black-police conflict.  In an effort to save his flailing presidential campaign, he has released his "Douglass Plan" to pander to the black electorate.  In this plan, he promises to reform credit scoring (currently consisting of five simple scoring metrics, none of which is the least bit racist), a "reduction in "racist policies" preventing some people from voting," (like requiring a photo ID to vote, I guess?) and a "25% increase in government contracts with minority-owned businesses."

Who Shredded Buttigieg's Campaign Records, And Why?  Late Thursday [9/19/2019], the St. Joseph County, Indiana clerk's office confirmed that South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg's campaign disclosure reports from 2011 were shredded.  Indiana state law allows for the disposal of campaign filings after four years, and personnel with the clerk's office told The Federalist that Buttigieg's records were destroyed because of the "retention schedule."  Yet, earlier last week, The Federalist was able to obtain from the clerk's office the 2008, 2009, and 2010 campaign reports filed by Buttigieg's predecessor, former mayor Steve Luecke.

Buttigieg Doesn't Want His Ties To Horrifying Abortion Doctor Politicized.  [Democrat presidential candidate Pete] Buttigieg "spoke to reporters about the 2,246 medically preserved fetal remains family members found on former Dr. Ulrich Klopfer's property in Illinois after he died on Sept. 3," The Daily Caller reported.  "I find that news out of Illinois extremely disturbing and I think it's important that that be fully investigated," Buttigieg said.  "I also hope that it doesn't get caught up in politics at a time when women need access to health care.  There's no question that what happened is disturbing.  It's unacceptable."

The Editor says...
Ghoulishly preserving the bodies of thousands of dead babies has no connection at all to women's "access to health care."

Marianne Williamson And Pete Buttigieg Are The New Proselytizers Of Politicized Religion.  As an Episcopalian who can quote scripture for his purposes, [Pete] Buttigieg made a point of commenting that God would not be a Republican.  Of course, claiming the moral high ground is standard fare for politicians of all stripes.  But Buttigieg and [Marianne] Williamson are especially unique for their open and persistent evangelizing.  Sadly, they seem to enjoy browbeating Americans into conformity with their personal interpretations of Scripture.  Buttigieg's brand of Christianity basically states that if you don't agree with him on public policy, then you are not a Christian. [...] This means you cannot call yourself a Christian if you do not get on board with raising the minimum wage, embracing the LGBT agenda, opening the borders, and all the rest of Buttigieg's policy prescriptions.

Buttigieg Distorts Logic and Scripture on Abortion.  Perhaps Mayor Pete Buttigieg would have a better shot at appealing to Christian voters if he would not go to such extreme lengths to contort Scripture to rationalize his party's abominable stance on abortion.  The Democratic presidential candidate openly expresses his Christian faith and was the first candidate to hire a national faith outreach director.  He believes political conservatism is less compatible with Christianity than political liberalism.

Pete Buttigieg's twisted Bible teaching on abortion.  It is a curiosity how a self-declaring Christian can still stand strong on the side of abortion rights.  This is what Buttigieg said a few days ago on a "Breakfast Club" radio interview:  "Right now, [conservatives] hold everybody in line with this one piece of doctrine about abortion, which is obviously a tough issue for a lot of people to think through morally.  Then again, there's a lot of parts of the Bible that talk about how life begins with breath.  So even that is something we can interpret differently."  OK.  But not Christians.  Christians don't interpret the Bible to believe life begins at "breath."

Mayor Pete:  If You Eat Hamburgers Or Use Straws, You Are "Part Of The Problem".  [Video clip only]

South Bend Faced Another Violent Weekend on Buttigieg's Watch.  A 16-year-old high school student was fatally shot and others were injured during another violent weekend in South Bend, Ind., continuing an upward trend of violent crime during the tenure of Mayor Pete Buttigieg, who is campaigning for the Democratic nomination for president.  Between Friday evening at 5 p.m. and Sunday night [9/8/2019], approximately 130 gunshots were either reported or detected in South Bend, according to the South Bend Tribune.

Mayor Pete Uses The Bible To Redefine When Life Begins And Now His Family Wants Him To Repent.  South Bend, Indiana Mayor turned 2020 presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg used the Bible to explain why he believes life doesn't begin until a baby takes his or her first breath.  "Right now they hold everyone in line to this kind of piece of doctrine about abortion, which is obviously a tough issue for a lot of people to think through.  Then again, you know, there's a lot of parts of the Bible which talk about how life begins with breath," Buttiegeg explained during an interview with The Breakfast Club.  "And even so, that's something that we can interpret differently."

The Editor says...
Is a pearl diver temporarily dead while holding his breath?  No.  If you're not breathing, that doesn't mean you're dead.  If a full-term baby isn't really alive prior to taking his first breath, why does he have his very own beating heart?

Progressive 'Christian' Pete Buttigieg Doesn't Seem to Understand His Own 'Faith'.  In the spirit of generosity and charity, when I clicked on the YouTube video of Pete Buttigieg's interview on MSNBC, I set aside the fact that the 2020 Democrat presidential hopeful is violating God's law concerning sexual ethics to hear what South Bend, Indiana's mayor believes about Christianity.  Maybe, just maybe, I thought, he'll express an understanding of his faith that aligns with the Bible.  Turns out, my hope was misplaced.  Pete Buttigieg either doesn't understand Christianity or is afraid to talk about it on national TV.  During an appearance on MSNBC's Morning Joe, after Joe Scarborough talked about how President Obama claims to have accepted Jesus Christ as his personal savior, the host turned it into a question and asked Buttigieg if he identified with that.  Buttigieg responded with an answer that has "dodge" written all over it, [...]

Playing God.  You can get a good sense of the intellectual vacuity (and religious sterility, if you're interested in that) of this mode of politics from, e.g., Kirsten Powers's banal and illiterate conversation with Buttigieg, written up for general amusement in USA Today. [...] Powers writes this as though Christianity had been planted in a cultural vacuum and as though "feed my sheep" were synonymous with "vote for the party of the welfare state no matter what other horrifying business may be on their agenda" — and as though these kinds of issues had not been the subject of centuries of Christian inquiry.  The New Testament is silent on the questions of, among other things, child pornography and cannibalism, but Christians are not expected to maintain a morally indifferent attitude toward these.

The Editor says...
Homosexuality is sin.  Releasing carbon dioxide into the air is not.  Carbon dioxide is not a pollutant.

Pete Buttigieg Admits No Combat Ribbon from Deployment to Afghanistan.  Mayor Pete Buttigieg does not appear to have engaged in combat during his six months deployed in Afghanistan, despite months of ignoring multiple media requests about the issue, including from Breitbart News.  The South Bend mayor spoke about his deployment during an interview with military news website Task and Purpose.

Pete Buttigieg:  Climate Change Fight Maybe Worse than World War II.  Mayor Pete Buttigieg on Wednesday called the fight against climate change possibly worse than the global struggle against the Nazis in World War II.  "This is the hardest thing we will have done certainly in my lifetime as a country, this on par with winning World War II," he said.  "Perhaps even more challenging than that."  Buttigieg lamented during the CNN town hall on climate change that it would be impossible to confront the threat if Americans were still disagreeing about climate change.

Pete Buttigieg Was Rising.  Then Came South Bend's Policing Crisis.  On a Tuesday in March, just after Pete Buttigieg began to catch fire with Democrats nationally, he flew home for his final State of the City address.  Mr. Buttigieg, the two-term mayor, drew more than 40 rounds of applause as he described the "comeback decade" in South Bend, pointing to new businesses and apartments downtown and the demolition of hundreds of blighted houses.  He had far less to say about his city's police department:  He devoted nearly as much time to it as he did to South Bend's "smart sewers."

Buttigieg Denounces 'Hypocrisy' of Pence, Other Christian Politicians.  Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg blasted Vice President Mike Pence and other Christian politicians this week for adopting what he charged were un-Christian political stances. [...] "It's not just that we might have a different interpretation of faith, it's that these arguments no longer stack up even on their own merits, right?" the openly gay Buttigieg continued.

In Mayor Pete's South Bend, Indiana, 'Morale Is at an All-Time Low' Among Police Officers.  Fox News contributor Raymond Arroyo went on the road for "The Ingraham Angle" on Tuesday night [8/27/2019] — and shared some horrifying insights about South Bend, Indiana.  Viewers of the new "Raymond on the Road" segment were treated to scenes of boarded-up homes and filthy encampments populated by homeless people.  South Bend right now is "a place where the local population here — 25 percent of them — live beneath the poverty line.  And crime has risen to 20-year highs, with violent assaults exceeding by 173 percent the national average.

Buttigieg: Voting for Trump Is 'Looking the Other Way on Racism'.  Sunday [8/18/2019] on CNN's "State of the Union," 2020 Democratic presidential hopeful South Bend, IN Mayor Pete Buttigieg said Americans who voted for President Donald Trump were "looking the other way on racism."  Tapper asked, "You told me on this show two weeks ago that you believe President Trump is a white nationalist.  Given that, do you think that it's a racist act to cast a vote for President Trump in 2020?"

Pete Buttigieg on El Paso Shooting:  America 'Under Attack' from 'White Nationalist Terrorism'.  Pete Buttigieg, 2020 White House hopeful and South Bend, Indiana, mayor on Saturday [8/3/2019] reacted to the deadly shooting at an El Paso, Texas Walmart, claiming the United States is "under attack" from "homegrown, white nationalist terrorism."  "America is under attack from homegrown, white nationalist terrorism," Buttigieg said in his opening statement before the AFSCME 2020 Public Service Forum in Las Vegas.  "We have to talk and act about two things in this country:  first of all, we are the only country in the world with more guns than people.  It has not made us safer.  We can respect the Second Amendment and not allow it to be a death sentence for thousands of Americans."

The Editor says...
No, America is not under attack by white nationalists.  Mayor Pete is delusional if he thinks that guns don't make America safer.  The American mainland has never been invaded, because everybody in the world knows that most of us are heavily armed.  In addition, there are numerous defensive uses of firearms in this country every week.

Buttigieg Drops Insane Amount Of Money On Private Jet Travel.  The Irony Is, He's A Fan Of Green New Deal.  Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez would no doubt be livid with Democratic presidential hopeful Pete Buttigieg if she saw the insanely massive amount of cash that the South Bend mayor was dropping on private airplane travel, what with him being a big supporter of the Green New Deal and all.  The Green New Deal, AOC's pet project, calls for ending the use of airplane travel in exchange for super fast trains.  Is it any surprise to see AOC is living in some sort of crazy fantasy world?  Seems like that's where she spends the majority of her time.

Buttigieg Handling of South Bend Shooting Could Lead to Police Exodus.  South Bend police officers are warning of a mass exodus amid Mayor Pete Buttigieg's handling of the shooting of Erik Logan, saying that morale is at an all-time low.  "I think you're going to see a mass exodus, our administration is a joke," one officer told Fox News.  Other officers described morale as being at an all-time low and saying the officers do "nothing" now.  "We call ourselves firemen, we sit around in parking lots until we're called and then we go to the call, because if you say or do something wrong, then you get hung," one officer said.

Buttigieg's Scheme To Spend Billions & Billions To End Racial Division.  Democratic presidential candidate and South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg earlier this month floated his boundlessly audacious "Douglass Plan" — that's Frederick Douglass — "comparable in scale to the Marshall Plan that rebuilt Europe after World War II." [...] You also won't find the words "socialist" or "socialism" anywhere on Mayor Pete's campaign website.  "The big lesson for us is literally anything we do, they're going to call socialist," he told ABC last month, referring to himself a "democratic capitalist."  But Pete the democratic capitalist's Douglass Plan is a massive wealth redistribution on top of black reparations for slavery.

Buttigieg Draws Larger Crowd in New Hampshire than Frontrunner Biden.  Both men hosted rallies in Dover, New Hampshire to discuss their presidential ambitions and court supporters ahead of the state's first in the nation primary.  Although Biden supposedly leads the mayor among New Hampshire voters in the polls, Buttigieg was the one who pulled exponentially more attendees to his event in the state.

Buttigieg's pander: a Marshall Plan for black America.  Even at its peak, the Buttigieg campaign faced a huge problem — lack of support from African-Americans.  One poll I saw had him at zero percent among this cohort.  You can't make a credible run at the Democratic nomination for president with zero percent black support.  Things got even worse when an African-American in South Bend, Indiana, of which Buttigieg is mayor, was shot and killed by a white police officer.  As far as I can tell, the officer acted prudently and lawfully.  Reportedly, the deceased was armed and engaging in criminal behavior.  But such details seldom matter either to the black community or to Democratic politicians.

South Bend's Violent Crime Rate Continues to Spike Under Pete Buttigieg.  Violent crime has spiked to 20 year highs since Mean Little Mayor Pete Buttitgieg became South Bend, Indiana's mayor in 2012, reports the Washington Free Beacon. [...] The establishment media's favorite presidential candidate, this so-called "genius," has been nothing less than a five-alarm disaster for his city and its 100,000 residents.  Data from the South Bend police and "figures on 2018 and the first four months of 2019 [that] were released in the public minutes," shows violent crime is unlike anything the city has seen prior to 2000.

MSNBC's Jason Johnson:  Trump 'More Popular with Black Voters than Mayor Pete'.  MSNBC contributor Jason Johnson said this week that presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg (D) has a huge problem because even President Donald Trump is more popular than Buttigieg with the party's most important voters — black Democrats.  Johnson, The Root's politics editor and one of the most prominent pundits on racial politics and issues, made his remarks after two national polls (CNN, Quinnipiac) this week found that the South Bend, Indiana, Mayor has 0% support from black Democrats.

Buttigieg Says Democrats Must Swing Further Left To Beat Trump In 2020.  The large Democratic field showed off an array of far-left positions in the first Democratic primary debates in Miami last week.  A majority of the candidates expressed support for decriminalizing border crossings, providing taxpayer-funded healthcare to illegal immigrants, unlimited access to abortion and drastic economic changes for the sake of preventing climate change.

Pete Buttigieg Warns Black Americans of Another Civil War.  Mayor Pete Buttigieg on Tuesday [7/2/2019] warned Black Americans of a new civil war if the federal government failed to end racist institutions and pay reparations for slavery.  "If we do not tackle the problem of racial inequality in my lifetime, I am convinced that it will upend the American project in my lifetime," he warned.  "It brought our country to its knees once and if we do not act, it could again."

The Editor says...
Was that a warning of an impending civil war, or an incitement of civil war?

Pete Buttigieg is a bad mayor, so how could he be a good president?  At first glance, South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg seems like the perfect presidential candidate:  articulate, intelligent, and charismatic.  Too bad he's also awful at his job.  Buttigieg is polling at 7% according to RealClearPolitics polling average, fourth place in the Democratic primary race.  Yet it's a shame that so many Democrats are falling for his ruse.  Not all residents of South Bend are as fond of their mayor as the liberal media is.  Hosting a town hall in his community over the weekend, Mayor Pete tried to calm his constituents down in the aftermath of a local shooting of an African American man by a police officer.  They weren't buying it.

The Editor says...
Mr. Buttigieg has only one qualification in the Democratic Party primary:  he's a homosexual.  That's the novelty.  He's married to a man.  He is defined by his perverse sexual activity.  That is not a reason to vote for him in the general election.  Being a homosexual might have been enough of a novelty to win the mayor's race, but now even the people of South Bend apparently have buyer's remorse.  Next!

The Myth and Fraud That There Ever Was an Arab Country or People Called 'Palestine'.  New to the fray, South Bend Mayor Buttigieg — an expert on world affairs though still unable to maintain civil equanimity in his own city where African Americans are furious over a recent police shooting — has announced that, if Israel ever extends sovereignty into any part of Judea or Samaria, he will cut off aid to Israel accordingly if he is elected President.

Pete Buttigieg Endorses Federal ID for Illegal Immigrants.  Mayor Pete Buttigieg endorsed a federal identification card for illegal immigrants on Friday, allowing them to access government services.  "I do believe that it is the responsibility for the federal government to make sure anyone who lives here regardless of their immigration status has the means to demonstrate that they are who they say they are," he said at the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials presidential forum on Friday morning [6/21/2019].

Mayor Pete's Anti-Violence Commission Fails To Reduce Shootings.  Composed of a group of community leaders and overseen by Police Chief Ron Teachman, the South Bend Group Violence Intervention sought to use both community and law enforcement methods to reduce gang violence and provide offenders — especially young people — a "moral" alternative to a life of crime.  Buttigieg also said the city would double the number of mentors reaching out to at-risk youth through the SBGVI in the next three years. [...] It was a rocky road in the beginning, but the SBGVI has continued its push to end violence in South Bend.  While crime overall is down this year, injuries or death from shootings has held steady:  78 people, the same number as 2012.

'I don't see why not': Pete Buttigieg on having kids with husband in White House.  The Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg wants to start a family with his husband, Chasten, and says that could happen if he makes it to the White House.  "I don't see why not," the mayor of South Bend, Indiana, said in a Father's Day television interview that also marked his first wedding anniversary.

Buttigieg: It's 'Almost Certain' America Has Had a Gay President.  South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg said it's "almost certain" he would not be the first gay man to serve as president of the United States if elected in 2020.  Buttigieg made the comment on Sunday [6/16/2019]during an interview with Axios on HBO when asked how he would respond to someone saying he was "too young, too liberal, [or] too gay to be commander-in-chief."

The Editor says...
It's very unlikely that any past U.S. President was a homosexual, simply because the homosexual candidate's opponent (unless he was John McCain) would almost certainly use that information against the candidate (unless he was black).

Pete Buttigieg's high college debt draws attention to the issue.  Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg knows firsthand the burden of six-figure student loan debt.  He and his husband, Chasten, are far from alone, though, and their personal college indebtedness is helping to keep the issue on the national stage.

The Democrats don't want to fix the Supreme Court, they want to break America.  Mayor Peter Buttigieg took a break from running the worst city in Indiana to call for raising the number of Supreme Court justices to fifteen.  The plan comes from the same Rhodes Scholar who claimed that we should move to a popular vote system "if we're going to call ourselves a democracy."  Buttigieg has a degree in history from Harvard, but knows less than a third grader did in 1925.  Court packing schemes have been endorsed by Senator Elizabeth Warren, Senator Kamala Harris, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, Robert Francis O'Rourke, Mayor Buttigieg and a bunch of other candidates you never heard of.  Other 2020 candidates, including Senator Bernie Sanders and Senator Cory Booker, have proposed rigging the Supreme Court in another way by introducing term limits for the justices.  These proposals are invariably described with euphemistic verbs like "reform" or "fix".  But the only reason that they suddenly decided SCOTUS needs reforming is because they're no longer in control of it.

Pete Buttigieg Tells Kid Donald Trump Is 'Really Mean'.  Mayor Pete Buttigieg met with children in Palo Alto, California, on Sunday, telling them during a family brunch event for his campaign that President Trump is "really mean."  One of the children asked Buttigieg how he was going to defeat President Donald Trump in 2020.  "We can't play his game.  You know how he's really mean?  He likes to call people names."  he said.  "If we do it his way, I think we're going to lose, so we have to change the whole game."

Inside Pete Buttigieg's plan to overhaul the Supreme Court.  As Democrats agonize over a spate of state laws restricting abortion rights and even a potential reversal of Roe v. Wade, one 2020 presidential candidate is putting an ambitious, long-shot plan to reform the Supreme Court front-and-center of his campaign.  Pete Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, Indiana, has talked about his plan to overhaul the high court since his first days as a candidate.  In short, it calls for expanding the number of justices from nine to 15, with five affiliated with Democrats, five affiliated with Republicans, and five apolitical justices chosen by the first 10.

Mayor Pete's Super Tuesday Advantage:  Gay Money.  There aren't a lot of Ivy League professors willing and able to "max out" (donate $2,800) to Elizabeth Warren, or democratic socialists willing to max out for Bernie Sanders, or blue-collar workers willing to max out for Joe Biden — or urban blacks willing to max out for Cory Booker or Kamala Harris.  But in an identity-politics-driven Democrat party, there is one group that has already shown a willingness to be very generous to a candidate who shares their background:  gays and lesbians.  Though many gay activist organizations have disputed as "myth" the idea that gays have more disposable income, the numbers are clear:  gays earn more and save more than other Americans.

Buttigieg campaign, brimming with cash, staffs up.  South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg's campaign has come a long way from its humble roots.  Over the past few weeks, Buttigieg has brought on a host of new staffers to bolster his rapidly growing operation.  The campaign recently snagged Hillary for America alum George Hornedo as national delegate director.

Buttigieg Doesn't Respect A Single Living Republican.  Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg on Monday couldn't name any living Republican public figures he respects during a MSNBC town hall.  Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, participated in a MSNBC town hall, where he was asked by host Chris Matthews to name some living Republican public figures he respects.  "Name some of your public figures — Republicans — who you respect.  Living Republicans," said Matthews, prompting the audience to laugh.  Buttigieg smirked and acted like he was stumped.

Buttigieg brother-in-law accuses 2020 candidate of lying about his family for political gain.  Pete Buttigieg's brother-in-law is accusing the gay Democratic presidential hopeful of hijacking his family's history for political advantage by crafting a bogus backstory of poverty, homelessness, and homophobia.  Rhyan Glezman, 34, a pastor in small-town Michigan, said he was inundated by death threats and hate mail when stories surfaced this month claiming he was a bigot who had fallen out with his younger brother Chasten when Chasten came out of the closet.

The Death of the Democratic Party.  In a recent speech in Las Vegas, Pete Buttigieg, the Democratic presidential candidate from South Bend, Indiana, spoke about the dangers posed by "so-called identity politics." [...] Must everything revolve around the trans community?  Seriously?  Trans people make up about of 0.6% of the American population, yet they make up almost 100% of the conversation.  One assumes that a large number of Americans are fed up with constantly being told to "embrace" transgender and gender nonconforming people, to "empathize" with their collective struggle.  This does not mean that the exasperated are transphobic.  The vast majority wish no harm on people who are uncomfortable with their identities.  They just happen to have more personal, more pressing issues that need addressing, like trying to pay their bills, keep their jobs, or send their children to a decent college.

The Democrat Puff Piece Challenge.  [Scroll down]  When it comes to newcomer Pete Buttigieg, the trivia is already encyclopedic.  Favorite food/book/music is way too shallow — how about his favorite socks, whisky, wristwatch, multi-tool, and beef jerky?  New York Magazine went all out for their guy with a The Things They Carried-style vanity piece.  The picture his possessions paint is a man who is practical (learned it in the military), tasteful (somehow relates to his military service), and wise.  Oh, and he served his country.  We know he speaks eight languages, loves his husband, and will never contend without the black vote.  Hmm...  Mayor Pete's Hot Sauce, anyone?  How is it that we come to learn so much about Democrat candidates running for president, and so little about Republicans?

Pete Buttigieg: 'Unknowable' When Human Life Begins.  Mayor Pete Buttigieg claimed Thursday [5/23/2019] that it was unknowable when human life begins, making the issue of abortion too complicated to regulate.  "For those who have a strong view about some of these almost unknowable questions around life, the best answer I can give, is that because we will never be able to settle those questions, in a consensus fashion," he said in response to a question about abortion limits.  Buttigieg commented on the issue of abortion during a conversation with Washington Post reporter Robert Costa.

The Editor says...
Mayor Peetie may not know when life begins, but that doesn't mean it's unknowable.  It just means he doesn't know the truth.

Pete Buttigieg Equates Radical Shia and Wahabi Islam With Christianity.  Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg equated radical Shia Islam and the Islamic ideology behind the 9/11 terrorist attacks with Christianity's capacity for extremism Friday.  Buttigieg made the comparison during a Friday radio interview with Hugh Hewitt, arguing that radical Islam, like Christian-motivated extremism,"can have a thousand different flavors."  His comments came in response to the question of whether he believed that radical Iranian Shia Islam was more dangerous than Wahhabi Islam — a variant of Islam that originated in Saudi Arabia and serves as the impetus for much of radical Islamic terrorism.

Buttigieg Calls for Slavery Reparations, Green New Deal, Abolishing Electoral College.  If anyone deserves reparations, it's South Bend voters.  All 8,500 or so who voted for Mayor Buttigieg.  There was a time when Buttigieg appeared to have outmanuevered the rest of the clown car by taking a somewhat more moderate approach.  But then his numbers began to fade and he's adopting the same radical leftist positions as the rest of the radical clown car.

The Editor says...
Oh, by the way, South Bend Indiana, where "Mayor Pete" is in charge, is home to ZIP Code 46601, the poorest part of the whole state.

Pete Buttigieg Now Taking Cues from Campus Leftists, Wants to Erase Thomas Jefferson.  For the last few years campus progressives, most notably at Hofstra University, have been trying to erase Thomas Jefferson from the public square.  Now 2020 Democratic hopeful Pete Buttigieg has joined the effort.  Anyone who's familiar with the concept of Year Zero knows what this is really about.  Still, it's surprising to hear it coming from a presidential candidate.

Pete Buttigieg polling at 0% among black voters in South Carolina.  South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg is polling at 0% among black voters in the key early primary state of South Carolina.  After coming out of nowhere to emerge as a contender for the 2020 Democratic nomination, Buttigieg has hit a bit of a wall, and one big reason is his failure to appeal to black voters, who make up a substantial portion of the Democratic electorate.  This was highlighted in a poll released Sunday by the Post and Courier, which, like many other polls, showed former Vice President Joe Biden well ahead, with 46%, to 15% for Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., the nearest competitor.

We've already had one America-hating president.  We don't need another one.
Pete Buttigieg in South Carolina:  America 'Was Never as Great as Advertised'.  Democratic presidential hopeful Pete Buttigieg took a jab at President Trump on Monday while delivering a speech in South Carolina, saying America's past "was never as great as advertised."  "So many of the solutions, I believe, are gonna come from our communities.  Communities like the one where I grew up, which is an industrial mid-western city," the former South Bend, Indiana mayor stated.  "That is exactly the kind of place that our current president targeted with a message saying that we could find greatness by just stopping the clock and turning it back."

Mayor Pete says God would NEVER be a Republican like Trump as he reveals he and his husband want children.  Pete Buttigieg said in an interview broadcast Tuesday that he and his husband Chasten want to be fathers one day — but 'maybe' he'll have to finish his historic run for president first.  And he told a 'Today' show audience that he plans to keep emphasizing his religious faith in the face of hecklers who berate him for being a gay Christian.  The 37-year-old Democrat takes the almighty seriously, and claimed that while God isn't likely a partisan, he would never be a Republican in the mold of Donald Trump.

Buttigieg, Husband Attend Jimmy Carter's Sunday School Class.  Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg and his husband, Chasten, joined the large crowd at former President Jimmy Carter's Sunday school class in rural South Georgia.

Franklin Graham Schools Mayor Pete on Homosexuality.  Graham responded on Facebook to Buttigieg's claim that God doesn't favor one political party or another.  "Presidential candidate and South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg is right — God doesn't have a political party.  But God does have commandments, laws, and standards He gives us to live by.  God is God.  He doesn't change.  His Word is the same yesterday, today, and forever," Graham wrote.  "Mayor Buttigieg says he is a gay Christian and he wants to unite people behind him.  I'm sure there will be many people who will want to follow.  But as a Christian I believe what the Bible says.  God's Word defines homosexuality as sin, something to be repentant of, not something to be flaunted, praised, or politicized.  The Bible defines marriage as between a man and a woman — not two men, not two women.

Vanilla with a Touch of Gay.  Democratic elites, it seems, have found a candidate who embodies their kind of diversity, which, to quote Darel Paul, involves "creativity, cosmopolitanism, authenticity, toleration, and the reward of merit."  Buttigieg is a white professor's kid, happily partnered to a man, a speaker of seven languages, a Rhodes scholar, and a faithful attendee of a premier Wasp-ocratic institution:  the Episcopalian Church.  The Buttigieg recipe, as it goes, satisfies both upper middle-class suburbanites and the "woke" identity base of Democratic coalition minorities.  Being an open homosexual let's all minorities know that Pete is with them.  Vanilla liberals know that he is just like them too — educated, safe, and upper-middle class.

The Editor says...
The Bible makes it abundantly clear — to those outside the Episcopal Church who actually read it for themselves — that homosexuals, thieves, extortioners, and drunkards will not inherit the kingdom of God.  There's only one other place to go for all eternity, and it's very bad.

The Attacks on Christians and America's First Freedom.  Is it merely coincidental that the most rapidly rising candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination, Pete Buttigieg launched his campaign with an unfounded and unprovoked attack on America's vice president because he is a Christian?  In fact, as Buttigieg's governor in Indiana, Pence had been particularly generous to Buttigieg when he publicly revealed his sexual orientation.  But Buttigieg would not be dissuaded by Pence's gesture of tolerance.  Buttigieg's hatred was inspired by Pence's Christian beliefs not any anti-gay behavior on his part.  In other words, it was an assault on Americans' most basic freedom — religious liberty. Buttigieg's attack took place without so much as a demurral from any national Democratic figure, and in fact led directly to Buttigieg's ascension to third place in the Democratic primary race.  That alone speaks volumes about the anti-Christian prejudices manifested by the left in this country.

The media's endless fawning over Pete Buttigieg won't end well.  So long, Beto O'Rourke.  It was fun while it lasted.  The mainstream media has a new presidential crush now, one just as cloyingly nicknamed, vague on policy and whose biggest success is also failing upward:  Mayor Pete.  This 37-year-old mayor of South Bend, Indiana, we are giddily informed, is checking all the right boxes:  He served in the Navy and deployed to Afghanistan as an intelligence officer; he speaks seven languages; his father is an immigrant; he's a Harvard grad and a Rhodes scholar; he plays piano; he has two rescue dogs; and — the piece de resistance — he's a Christian gay man!  And just like that, celebrity elites swing Pete-ward too:  According to The Hollywood Reporter, mega-producer Ryan Murphy and other prominent gay A-listers are planning a fundraiser to be held June 19.

Pete Buttigieg faces backlash for saying people in prison should not be allowed to vote.  Democratic frontrunners are facing scrutiny for their stance on voting rights for incarcerated felons, after Bernie Sanders said he supports voting rights 'even for terrible people'. [...] "This is a democracy and we have got to expand that democracy," the Vermont senator said, "and I believe every single person does have the right to vote."  Vermont is one of two states, the other being Maine, where incarcerated felons have always retained their right to vote.

The Editor says...
This isn't a direct democracy, it does not need expansion, and not everyone should vote.

Pete Buttigieg: 'God doesn't have a political party'.  Pete Buttigieg opened up about his faith Monday night [4/22/2019], expressing confidence that he will be able to unite many different groups of people because "God does not have a political party."  During a CNN town hall in New Hampshire Monday, the South Bend, Indiana, mayor was asked how he planned to unite conservatives, moderates and liberal Christians.  "It can be challenging to be a person of faith who's also part of the LGBTQ community and yet, to me, the core of faith is regard for one another," Buttigieg said.

Pete Buttigieg Sets L.A. Fundraiser Hosted by Gay Hollywood A-List.  The prospect of the first openly gay commander-in-chief is creating an unprecedented coalition of some of Hollywood's most powerful gay producers, writers, agents and executives who are ready to open their home — and their checkbooks — to support the candidacy of 37-year-old Pete Buttigieg.  The Hollywood Reporter has learned that plans are underway for what will most certainly be Buttigieg's most high-profile industry fundraiser to date.

As Liberalism Sinks, Socialism Rises.  South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg catapulted himself from the obscurity of a crowded field of unknown Democrat presidential candidates into third place, right behind Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders, not with some captivating idea on how to fix a big national problem but by cleverly playing the holier-than-thou card: picking a fight with the evangelical Vice President Mike Pence.

Pete Buttigieg is neck-and-neck with Joe Biden in New Hampshire poll.  South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg and former Vice President Joe Biden are essentially tied in a new 2020 New Hampshire poll.  A survey released by the University of New Hampshire on Monday has Buttigieg in third place behind Biden, earning 15 percent of the vote to Biden's 18 percent.  That's a smaller gap than the poll's margin of error.  In first place is Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who earned 30 percent of the vote.  Buttigieg has jumped up 13 percentage points since February, at which point he had launched a 2020 exploratory committee fairly recently.

Prompted by a question from an obvious astroturf audience plant:
Pete Buttigieg:  Gun Control 'Compatible with the Second Amendment'.  Democrat presidential hopeful Pete Buttigieg used a question and answer session during an Iowa speech to claim numerous gun controls he supports are "completely compatible with the Second Amendment." [...] He also used the Obama-era moniker of "weapons of war" to describe certain commonly owned semiautomatic rifles and said, "There are some weapons that don't belong in our neighborhoods in peacetime in America."

The Editor says...
Well, Pete, that's the funny thing about "peacetime in America."  It's hard to tell exactly when peacetime will end, and when it does, it won't be easy to go retrieve your guns from outside "our neighborhoods."  There has never been an armed invasion of this country largely because there are guns in almost every house!  It's called preparedness.

Mayor Pete and the Crackup of Christianity.  "Mayor Pete" is proudly gay and living happily with his husband.  He says God made him the way he is, and he is living the life God intended for him. [...] [W]hat Buttigieg is saying is that either God changes his moral law to conform to the changing behavior of mankind or that, for 2,000 years, Christian preaching and practice toward homosexuals has been bigoted, injurious and morally indefensible.  If Pete is right, since the time of Christ, Christians have ostracized and persecuted gays simply for being and behaving as God intended.  And if that is true, what is the defense of Christianity?

Pete Buttigieg Is Wrong about Homosexuality.  Mayor Pete Buttigieg, the media, and academia are all fouled up about what perversion is!  Since the mayor is an admitted homosexual, with a "husband," no less, he obviously feels he must justify his choice of walking in the dark world of perversion.  And make no mistake:  homosexuality is perversion.  If not, then all religions and denominations down through the ages have been wrong.  A serious person will not try to overturn civilization's morals, manners, and mores of thousands of years without much thoughtful consideration.  Evidently, Pete cannot be trusted to make decisions since he chose a degrading, dangerous, even deadly lifestyle.

Pete Buttigieg:  Just another climate alarmist extraordinaire.  Mayor Pete — as Pete Buttigieg, the Democratic presidential hopeful from the city of South Bend, Indiana, has been affectionately dubbed by his fawning following in the media — called out climate change as the "greatest security issue of our time" during his recent announcement speech.  And if we don't fix it, we'll all die.  He's yet the latest from the left to use climate change for political advantage by claiming the same.

Buttigieg-run South Bend features poverty and workers trekking down the road for good jobs.  At just 37, Pete Buttigieg doesn't have much of a record to run on.  He's never held a federal office or won a statewide election, nor is it likely that he could in a conservative state like Indiana.  Outside of his inspirational rhetoric, there's one thing Buttigieg is proud of:  his record as mayor of South Bend.  Yet for a presidential candidate who touted how he "cut the unemployment in half" and helped revitalize a Midwestern city, not all residents are feeling the results of the city's supposed revitalization.

Mayor Pete Will Make You Bake the Cake.  Democratic presidential contender Pete Buttigieg's public calls for pluralism do not apply to religious small business owners.  South Bend Mayor Buttigieg has made his Episcopalian faith and tolerance a centerpiece of his campaign, but the policies he champions would force religious small business owners to participate in ceremonies they find objectionable under penalty of law.  Buttigieg, who is married to a man, will keynote the Human Rights Campaign's annual dinner.  The nation's largest LGBT lobbying group credited his support for the Equality Act for the invitation.  "Buttigieg is an outspoken advocate of the Equality Act — critically important, bipartisan legislation that would finally provide clear protections against discrimination for LGBTQ people across the country," HRC said in a Tuesday [4/16/2019] release.

Secret tapes linger over Buttigieg's meteoric rise.  Pete Buttigieg's meteoric rise as a presidential candidate is putting a spotlight on his years as mayor of South Bend, Ind., including his demotion of an African-American police chief.  An Indiana judge will rule soon on whether to release five cassette tapes of secretly recorded conversations between South Bend police officers that led to the 2012 demotion of Police Chief Darryl Boykins, the city's first ever black police chief.

Mayor Pete and the Crackup of Christianity.  "Mayor Pete" is proudly gay and living happily with his husband.  He says God made him the way he is, and he is living the life God intended for him.  Raising the same-sex marriage issue himself, the mayor defiantly taunted Mike Pence: [...] Yet, Mayor Pete's assertion — that God made him gay, and God intended that he live his life this way, and that this life is moral and good — is another milestone on the road to a new America.  For what Buttigieg is saying is that either God changes his moral law to conform to the changing behavior of mankind or that, for 2,000 years, Christian preaching and practice toward homosexuals has been bigoted, injurious and morally indefensible.

The Left's New Teflon Candidate.  Pete Buttigieg is gay.  The Democrats can't help themselves at this point when it comes to leveraging novelty, glass ceiling benchmarks in politics.  First women, first black, first whatever.  It's like drug addiction.  Once you go down that road, you need more.  It never stops.  Pretty soon it's like Tourette's Syndrome.  The Democrats can only run now with First Candidates.  Perhaps we should now call them the Party of Firsters.  The ironic beauty here is that these are all superficial reasons to vote for anyone and have zero to do with any actual policies or any real fiber.  Democrats don't care.  It's all they have left.

The Vigilante From South Bend.  Pete Buttigieg is the latest star to emerge from Democrats' 2020 pack, which is no surprise since he exhibits all the tropes we have come to associate with this party in the era of its Trump derangement.  On the evidence just of his attacks on Vice President Mike Pence, Buttigieg is a shameless liar, a calculating character assassin and an anti-religious/anti-free speech bigot, motivated by a virulent hatred of his political opponents, especially those who have been good to him like Pence.  Buttigieg's chosen target is one of the most decent human beings in politics, who was supportive of Buttegieg both before he revealed he was gay and after.  Indeed, when Buttigieg made his public announcement, Pence, then governor of Indiana went out of his way to praise his achievements as mayor — a bit of political hyperbole since Buttigieg's city, South Bend, is a violence-ridden mess.  Yet, even after Buttigieg's outrageous attacks, Pence has not had an unkind word to say about him.

Pete Buttigieg Officially Launches White House Campaign.  Pete Buttigieg, the little-known Indiana mayor who has risen to prominence in the early stages of the 2020 Democratic presidential race, made his official campaign entrance Sunday by claiming the mantle of youthful generation ready to reshape the country.

Bias alert:
Most Americans don't want the country to be reshaped.  They want the country to return to normal, and then they want the federal government to leave them alone.  Normal is the state we were in at some point in the past, depending on your perspective, probably either 1950, 1960, or 1980.  But certainly long before Barack H. Obama's caustic and corrosive influence on the economy and the culture.  Before hanging chads, transvestites in women's restrooms, open borders, activist judges, crazy people roaming the streets, legalized pot, strip searches at the airport, 1.6-gallon toilets, gun-free zones, red light cameras, etc.

Progressive 'Christian' Hypocrites.  Mayor Pete Buttigieg, one of the many Democrats running for President, keeps trying to play a Christian on television, and it's been going badly for him. [...] As much as Buttigieg makes a valid critique on the President's behavior and some evangelicals excusing that behavior, Buttigieg wants to reject the inconvenient parts of faith he does not like.  He is a gay man who got married; he does not think homosexuality is a sin despite express statements in scripture.  And he thinks abortion is a moral issue.  He would, he says, avoid governing using his morality.  Buttigieg is trying to have it both ways and, in reality, is showing he is no better a Christian than Trump.

Truly Awful People.  [Scroll down]  Then there's "Mayor Pete," Democratic 2020 hopeful and South Bend, Indiana, mayor Pete Buttigieg.  The least interesting and least important part of who he is as a candidate is that he's gay, but it's the only thing that differentiates him from the rest of the Democratic field. [...] But Buttigieg is using his sexual orientation to paint himself as a victim of the VP's "bigotry," because Pence is a devout Christian.  The only problem is Mike Pence has never said a negative word about the man.  But facts don't matter when you're desperate for attention.  Buttigieg, while claiming to be a Christian himself, spent the week criticizing the faith of the vice president.

Why is Buttigieg a Democrat then?  Mike Pence was governor of Indiana in 2015 when Democrat Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend came out of the closet as gay amid a controversy over Indiana's Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which allows Christian businesses to act on their beliefs even if the subject is homosexuality.  Buttigieg attacked Pence.  The governor turned the other cheek when asked about the attack.  Pence said, "I hold Mayor Buttigieg in the highest personal regard.  We have a great working relationship.  I see him as a dedicated public servant, and a patriot."  Four years later, though, the gay mayor still attacks Pence and his religion.  Buttigieg's holier-than-thou act is silly.

It Turns Out Erick Erickson Was Right About Buttigieg and Bestiality.  Buttigieg is foolishly suggesting that "since Jesus didn't say anything about 21st century dilation and extraction baby killing, we should be more silent about it too."  That's flatly absurd and he deserves to be intellectually embarrassed and spiritually ashamed to utter such a justification.  And it seems apparent to any thinking person that is precisely why Erickson exposed him as he did.  Erickson's premise was simple: replace the issue of abortion with another morally questionable practice.  "Since Jesus didn't say anything about men having sex with animals, He must have been cool with it."  It's a ridiculous proposition and completely untenable logic.  But it's exactly the illogic that Buttigieg had voiced to justify his cowardly capitulation to the abortion cult.

Buttigieg to Pence:  If you have a problem with who I am, your quarrel is with my creator.  Pete Buttigieg got a hero's welcome as he took the stage Sunday [4/7/2019] at a fundraising brunch for a group that supports LGBTQ candidates.  The improbable presidential campaign of the previously little-known, openly-gay mayor of South Bend, Indiana, has been generating significant buzz, positive headlines, and large crowds in important primary states like New Hampshire.

Can't Any Democrat Here Play This Game?  [Scroll down]  Some of us, apparently, are much more interested in the 37-year-old mayor of South Bend, Ind.  Pete Buttigieg is winning the coveted media primary, as journalists gush over his youth, his Harvard credentials, his husband, and his language abilities.  He answers questions in Norwegian.  Elect this man!  The other day an acquaintance of mine, a reporter for a major newspaper, got caught up in a reverie about the mayor's dogs.  They are, I'm told, SO cute.  The geniuses narrating our lives can't figure out where Buttigieg came from.  Do they read bylines other than their own?  The press has been chirping about this boy wonder since a 2016 Frank Bruni column.  Now Buttigieg has risen in the polls.  He had a solid first quarter for someone without a national profile.  The media reputation machine — it builds them up and tears them down — is humming along nicely.

Mayor Buttigieg Runs for President While His City Bleeds.  In the last few days, even as the media was gushing over Buttigieg's presidential ambitions, two Indiana University South Bend players were injured in a shooting on Notre Dame Avenue, a blind date ended in a shooting, and yet another shooting added to the bloody toll in the real South Bend.  Those are quite a few shootings for a city of barely 100,000 people.  But South Bend is a violent place.  While Chicago is notorious for its murder rate, in 2015, Buttigieg's South Bend actually topped Chicago's 16.4 homicides per 100,000 people with a homicide rate of 16.79 per 100,000 people.

Buttigieg Pushes Wealth Tax: 'People in This Country Are Not Paying Their Fair Share'.  Monday [4/1/2019] on MSNBC's "The Last Word," 2020 Democratic presidential hopeful Mayor Pete Buttigieg supported the idea of a wealth tax, arguing that "some people" were not paying their "fair share."

Buttigieg questions Trump's belief in God.  White House hopeful Pete Buttigieg raised doubts about President Trump's belief in God during an interview published Wednesday [4/3/2019].  The South Bend, Indiana, mayor discussed Mr. Trump's faith during a recent conversation with USA Today.  "I'm reluctant to comment on another person's faith, but I would say it is hard to look at this president's actions and believe that they're the actions of somebody who believes in God," Mr. Buttigieg told the newspaper.  "I just don't understand how you can be as worshipful of your own self as he is and be prepared to humble yourself before God.

Democrat Pete Buttigieg May Be Too White And Not Gay Enough But He Still Likes Killing Babies.  In case you missed it, the mayor of South Bend, IN, is running for president.  What would make any mayor of a third-tier Mid-West city think he can be president?  Well, in the age of identity politics, Buttigieg is a veteran (reserve Naval Intelligence) and he's gay.  This is supposed to mean that veterans and gays or gay veterans will reflexively vote for him.  That is supposed to be a good thing.  However, some have raised questions.

Pete Buttigieg's father was a Marxist professor who lauded the Communist Manifesto.  The father of Democratic presidential hopeful Pete Buttigieg was a Marxist professor who spoke fondly of the Communist Manifesto and dedicated a significant portion of his academic career to the work of Italian Communist Party founder Antonio Gramsci, an associate of Vladimir Lenin.  Joseph Buttigieg, who died in January at the age of 71, immigrated to the U.S. in the 1970s from Malta and in 1980 joined the University of Notre Dame faculty, where he taught modern European literature and literary theory.  He supported an updated version of Marxism that jettisoned some of Marx and Engel's more doctrinaire theories, though he was undoubtedly Marxist.

Buttigieg surges to third place in new Iowa poll.  South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg (D) surged into third place in a poll of the Iowa caucus released Sunday [3/24/2019].  Eleven percent of likely Democratic Iowa caucusgoers surveyed by Emerson Polling said they would pick Buttigieg to be their 2020 presidential nominee.  Overall, Buttigieg placed third behind Former Vice President Joe Biden, at 25 percent, and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), at 24 percent.

Brzezinski: Republicans Are Telling Me They Will Support Buttigieg.  During Thursday's [3/21/2019] MSNBC broadcast of "Morning Joe," co-host Mika Brzezinski discussed 2020 Democrat presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg's chances.  Brzezinski said after having Buttigieg on the show, a handful of Republicans told her he had their support.

Twenty Things You Probably Didn't Know About Pete Buttigieg.  [#12]  In the mayoral race, Buttigieg faced a state representative, a county councilman, and two lesser-known competitors; the local party deemed him too young and discouraged his interest in the race.  Buttigieg saw his name as an advantage:  "An unpronounceable, ethnically ambiguous name is practically an asset in northern Indiana politics.  Depending upon their own background, people could assume it was Hungarian, Polish, Serbian, Czech, or Belgian — all of which carried their own tribal loyalties in the area."  Buttigieg won a majority in the five-way race.

Scarborough compares Buttigieg to Obama.  MSNBC host Joe Scarborough on Wednesday [3/20/2019] compared likely 2020 Democratic candidate Pete Buttigieg to former President Barack Obama.  Scarborough tweeted that he and his co-host and wife, Mika Brzezinski, have been "overwhelmed" by the response from viewers to Buttigieg's appearance on "Morning Joe."

2020 Democrat Pete Buttigieg: 'My Face Is the Message'.  "What's the message of your campaign?" MSNBC's Mika Brzezinski asked Pete Buttigieg, the 37-year-old Mayor of South Bend, Indiana on Wednesday morning [3/20/2019].  Buttigieg, like many other Democrats running for president, wants to change the Supreme Court and abolish the Electoral College, among other liberal policy positions.  But Buttigieg's answer had nothing to do with policy, it had to do with his physiognomy.

Pete Buttigieg, longshot 2020 Dem, calls for packing SCOTUS, scrapping Electoral College.  Democratic presidential contender Pete Buttigieg on Friday highlighted his push to add justices to the Supreme Court and scrap the Electoral College in presidential elections, as he campaigned in the state that holds the first primary in the race for the White House.  The South Bend, Indiana mayor, who launched a presidential exploratory committee in January, said the 2020 election should not be about President Trump, [...]

The Mayors of the Worst Cities in America are Running for President.  Newark is the most dangerous city in New Jersey, Tallahassee is the most dangerous city in Florida, and South Bend is the most dangerous city in Indiana.  But instead of fixing their failed cities, the current mayor of South Bend, and the former mayors of Newark and Tallahassee want to run for president.  Mayor Peter Buttigieg has announced that he's forming an exploratory committee for a 2020 run.  Media reports have focused on the possibility that he might become America's first gay millennial president, instead of on the fact that he's headed a city since 2011 which has double the national and statewide violent crime rates.  And a city where Hispanic poverty rates are 10% higher than the national average, African-American households have double the poverty rate, and Asian-American incomes are halved.  South Bend was recently rated one of the "worst cities" to live in.  The unemployment rates are higher than average, the property values are lower, and even the water quality is below average.  Gushing media reports about the gay millennial mayor, a Harvard grad and a Rhodes scholar, overlook South Bend's poverty rate of 24.7% and that 45% of households are living near the poverty level.

First Openly Gay 'Married' Man Announces 2020 Democratic Presidential Exploratory Cmte.  Pete Buttigieg, the 37-year-old mayor of South Bend, Ind., who is openly gay and "married" to another man, announced on Jan. 23 that he has launched a presidential exploratory committee to determine whether he will run for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination.  Buttigieg, pronounced "boot-a-judge," is an Afghan war veteran (Naval intelligence officer), a magna cum laude graduate of Harvard and a Rhodes Scholar.  He was first elected mayor of South Bend in 2011 and was reelected in 2015.

Gay is the New Black:  The Buttigieg Candidacy.  We need to talk about Pete Buttigieg and why his candidacy for president in the age of identity politics is negatively disruptive — though this certainly doesn't mean he shouldn't run.  He's the mayor of South Bend, Indiana, and the first openly gay candidate to run for president.  It's not a comfortable discussion.  I'll be called a homophobe for having it.  But it's necessary, so let's dive right in.  The politics of the Democratic Party is driven by an ideology that pits one group against another.  Blacks against whites.  Gays against straights.  Women against men.  Political agendas and views are often put in that frame.  We saw the consequences of this during Barack Obama's reign as the first black president.  If you criticized him, you were called a racist.  Almost all statements and judgments regarding his policies and performance were filtered through the lens of identity politics.

First Openly Gay 'Married' Man Announces 2020 Democratic Presidential Exploratory Cmte.  Pete Buttigieg, the 37-year-old mayor of South Bend, Ind., who is openly gay and "married" to another man, announced on Jan. 23 that he has launched a presidential exploratory committee to determine whether he will run for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination.  Buttigieg, pronounced "boot-a-judge," is an Afghan war veteran (Naval intelligence officer), a magna cum laude graduate of Harvard and a Rhodes Scholar.  He was first elected mayor of South Bend in 2011 and was reelected in 2015.


Michael Avenatti

Michael Avenatti sentenced to 14 years in prison for cheating clients out of millions.  Michael Avenatti was sentenced to 14 years in prison on Monday for cheating four former clients out of millions of dollars and trying to obstruct the IRS from collecting payroll taxes from a coffee shop that he owned.  It caps off a stunning fall from grace for the former attorney, who is already serving five years in prison for stealing book proceeds from porn actress Stormy Daniels and trying to extort Nike out of $25 million.  The 14-year sentence handed down on Monday will run consecutively to the five years that he is already serving in previous cases, U.S. District Judge James V. Selna ruled.

Disgraced Lawyer Michael Avenatti Loses In Court, Again.  In the world of politics and the justice system, we seldom find ourselves with absolutes.  Even the best politicians and lawyers have their flaws, and even the most disgraceful officials occasionally reveal some redeeming quality. [...] Then we have characters such as Michael Avenatti: a man so despicable it's impossible to identify a single positive attribute and someone who likely doesn't know a single person who likes or trusts him.  After establishing himself as wholly unethical by pushing unsubstantiated accusations against then SCOTUS nominee Brett Kavanaugh, followed by equally outrageous allegations on behalf of a porn star against President Donald Trump, Avenatti has had a series of legal setbacks.  He has been indicted for, convicted of, or pleaded guilty to charges of tax evasion, fraud, extortion, identity theft, and embezzlement.  And that's not to mention domestic violence accusations against him.  Avenatti is currently in prison, and depending on multiple factors, he could remain there for several more years.  Now, Mr. Avenatti has been dealt another major legal blow.

The Liberal Media's 'Rising Stars' Always Seem to Crash and Burn.  [Michael] Avenatti, dubbed "Creepy Porn Lawyer" by Tucker Carlson, was a media darling.  On The View, Ana Navarro compared him to the Holy Spirit.  His presidential aspirations were inflated and pushed along by CNN and MSNBC.  Brian Stelter gushed that he was taking Avenatti "seriously as a contender" for president in 2020 "because of [his] presence" on TV.  MSNBC said Avenatti was "in a justice league... to save our democracy."  He was billed as "Donald Trump's worst nightmare" by Bill Maher.  And then he was convicted in multiple trials for defrauding clients — including Stormy Daniels — and trying to extort Nike.  Now the man so beloved by the mainstream media as a hero for truth and justices is... headed to prison because he's not actually Democrats' savior or particularly concerned with justice and upholding the law — he's just another failed flash in the pan that capitalized on the mainstream media's desperate ineptitude.

Michael Avenatti to plead guilty in remaining criminal cases.  Michael Avenatti, the former lawyer for porn star Stormy Daniels, has reportedly decided to plead guilty in the remaining criminal cases against him.  Avenatti is charged with 36 counts of fraud, embezzlement, perjury, failure to pay taxes, and other financial-related crimes.  In a filing before a federal judge in Southern California on Sunday [6/12/2022], Avenatti said he wanted to change his plea guilty, setting in motion the end of his criminal litigation.

Creepy Porn Lawyer Michael Avenatti Sentenced to Four Years in Prison.  Michael Avenatti, a man of exceptionally low moral character and failed integrity, who was also the mainstream media's one-time all-star favorite liar, was convicted of fraud and theft from his former Client Stormy Daniels.  Today he was sentenced.  Avenatti is currently serving a 30-month prison sentence for corporate extortion of Nike and was just sentenced to an additional four years in prison for wire fraud and identity theft in the Stormy Daniel Case.

Michael Avenatti Gets 4 Years for Scamming Stormy Daniels.  Disgraced fraudster Michael Avenatti was sentenced to 4 years in prison on Thursday [6/2/2022] for scamming his former client adult film star Stormy Daniels out of $300,000; he was convicted of aggravated identity fraud and wire fraud.  According to Fox News, "of the four years, 30 months will be served concurrently with the 2 1/2-year sentence he was previously given in a separate case for trying to extort Nike out of $25 million."  Avenatti was given a chance to speak at the sentencing, rambling on for 12 minutes about the "series of mistakes" he has made to end up in his current situation.

"Creepy Porn Lawyer" Found Guilt of Stealing Hundreds of Thousands of Dollars.  Tucker Carlson famously labeled Michael Avenatti, the lawyer of Stormy Daniels, as the "creepy porn lawyer."  He was the one that helped her slander President Trump in the media, acted horribly the whole time, and generally made a fool of himself.  Plus, he became known as the "creepy porn lawyer," so that probably wasn't ideal for him.  Well, now he's not even that.  Why?  Because a court just found him guilty of stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from the book proceeds of Stormy Daniels, his former client.  The two crimes he was charged with in connection with the money he stole were wire fraud and aggravated identity theft.  The wire fraud charge carries a maximum sentence of 20 years and the aggravated identity theft charge carries a minimum two year sentence.

Avenatti and the Media Swindlers.  If you want to feed on fake news, be bombarded by endless praise-filled coverage of scoundrels whose fame is undeserved, and listen to just plain idiocy, keep watching television news.  With the latest conviction of former media star Michael Avenatti, I've made my case.  Not only does the story of his rise and fall illustrate my point, but the failure of the media that gave him so much praise and coverage is not the end of it.  Their lack of curiosity about his funding, even to this day, further condemns them as mere propagandists for the Left.  At present, he's facing a number of charges for extortion and fraud.  He's charged with shaking down Nike, stealing $1.6 million from a California client, and defrauding a bank in Mississippi by using fake tax returns to secure a loan.  And he still owes the IRS almost a million dollars in unpaid taxes, penalties, and interest.  This week he was convicted of stealing $300,000 in book proceeds from his client Stormy Daniels, the woman who claimed she had had an affair with Donald Trump and received hush money from his lawyer.

Michael Avenatti convicted of stealing $300K from Stormy Daniels.  Attorney-turned-criminal Michael Avenatti was convicted Friday of swiping nearly $300,000 in book-advance money from his then-client Stormy Daniels.  The now-twice-convicted felon — and one-time rising star — now faces a maximum of 22 years in prison for his conviction on wire fraud and aggravated identity theft charges.  The jury started deliberating Wednesday.  He's scheduled to be sentenced on May 24.  After the verdict, Avenatti made a brief statement to reporters outside of the courthouse in lower Manhattan as rain poured down.  "I'm very disappointed in the jury's verdict.  I am looking forward to a full adjudication of all of the issues on appeal," he said.

Was Hillary Clinton Paying Michael Avenatti?  Did Hillary Clinton or the Democratic National Committee ever pay Michael Avenatti?  The question isn't exactly new.  It was at least hinted at as early as May 10, 2018.  That day, Mark Penn, a former advisor to President Bill Clinton, published an op-ed in The Hill newspaper.  At the time, the news was filled with the rantings of Avenatti, who gained his fame and notoriety representing former porn star Stormy Daniels.  Daniels was claiming she was paid to cover up an affair with Donald Trump before he was elected president.  Penn's column raised several good questions.  They have become even more relevant now that Avenatti, on trial for allegedly stealing money from Daniels, is back in the news.

Disgraced attorney Michael Avenatti heads to trial, accused of swindling Stormy Daniels.  Michael Avenatti, the disgraced celebrity lawyer and fierce Donald Trump critic, is scheduled to go on trial Monday in Manhattan for allegedly swindling ex-porn star Stormy Daniels out of hundreds of thousands of dollars.  Avenatti is accused of fleecing Daniels — his former client — of about $300,000 in money she stood to collect for a 2018 advance on a book about her alleged affair with Trump.  He faces one count of wire fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft, according to a federal indictment.  In August of 2018, the loudmouth lawyer forged Daniels' signature on a letter that instructed her literary agent to forward advance money into a bank account he controlled, federal prosecutors allege.

The Week In Review.  Disgraced attorney, former Donald Trump nemesis, and leftwing media darling Michael Avenatti was sentenced to 30 months in prison by a federal judge on Thursday from his conviction of attempting to extort millions of dollars from the shoe company Nike.  I know it's wrong to delight in someone else's misfortune.  We shouldn't take pleasure when something bad happens to someone else, no matter how despicable that person may be.  But Michael Avenatti is extra-despicable, and the fact that he reacted by crying like a toddler in the courtroom makes it virtually impossible not so smile at this news.  After all those years of Catholic school, there are more than a few nuns in heaven tut-tutting me right now for taking satisfaction from this story, but I just can't help it.  For those who share my joy, there is more on the way.  "And the hits just keep on coming."  Avenatti still faces charges from two more indictments, one in New York where he was alleged to have defrauded porn actress and former client Stormy Daniels, and another in California for defrauding other, less infamous clients.  Michael Avenatti is likely to be spending many years behind bars, and when he is released will never be allowed to practice law again.  Justice in action.  As you might expect, coverage of the news by the mainstream media was sparse.

Democrats Creepy Porn Lawyer, Media Favorite and Former Presidential Candidate, Michael Avenatti, Sentenced To 30 Months Prison.  Creepy Porn Lawyer Michael Avenatti was a hero leftist media and a held in high regard as a political savior of the Democrat party.  Avenatti was even promoted as a presidential candidate by the far-left who adored him.  Unfortunately for Democrats, CPL was also a scumbag, freak, an egotistical weirdo, and severely sketchy.  Today Avenatti was sentenced to 2.5 years in federal prison for extortion and fraud.  In other words, he just crossed the hurdle of qualification needed to become the next Mayor of DC, Philadelphia or Baltimore.

The Man They Helped Build:  CBS, NBC Ignore Avenatti's Prison Sentence.  The justice system worked on Thursday [7/8/2021] as "creepy porn lawyer" Michael Avenatti was sentenced to two and a half years in prison for trying to extort over $20 million from Nike.  And reports from the courtroom say he cried like a little baby.  He's the man the liberal media built to be their sleazy fighter against then-President Trump, but the CBS Evening News and NBC Nightly News wanted nothing to do with this latest chapter for their chosen champion.  Of the broadcast networks, only ABC's World News Tonight gave the story any airtime at all, though it was fleeting.  In his rushed news brief, ABC anchor David Muir gave Avenatti's sentencing only 17 seconds between two commercial breaks.

Michael Avenatti is sentenced to 2.5 years in prison for extortion.  Disgraced lawyer Michael Avenatti had a tearful day in court on Monday as he was sentenced to 30 months in prison for attempting to extort footwear giant Nike to the tune of possibly as much as $25 million. [...] Avenatti had previously been in the public light as a lawyer for representing porn star Stormy Daniels in her failed lawsuit against former president Donald Trump.  Ironically, Daniels herself is now also claiming that Avenatti defrauded her, and has also had charges brought against him to wit, according to CNBC.

U.S. urges 'very substantial' prison term for Michael Avenatti over Nike extortion.  The once high-flying California lawyer Michael Avenatti deserves a "very substantial" prison sentence for trying to extort millions of dollars from Nike Inc, U.S. prosecutors told a judge.  The Wednesday night [6/16/2021] recommendation came one week after Avenatti's lawyers said their client should spend no more than six months behind bars plus one year of home confinement.

The 'Insurrection Hallucination' and How We Got There.  Remember Michael Avenatti?  When he was making wild charges against President Trump he was a media darling.  From March 7 through May 10, 2018 news bookers pumped more gas in him than the Hindenburg.  Every rolodex of every media booker must have worn thin the page with Avenatti's contact information.  He's now facing substantial jail time on a variety of felony charges.  But until he was criminally charged viewers were led to believe even his most implausible accounts against the President were to be credited.

Largest Civil Verdict Won by Michael Avenatti Tossed out by Court of Appeals — Avenatti's Tin Cup Now Out.  Today [7/23/2020], the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issued an opinion reversing a jury verdict and ordering dismissal of a case that was the biggest of Michael Avenatti's career in his prior profession as an attorney in Southern California.  The case was a class-action lawsuit brought by Avenatti on behalf of Plaintiff Bahamas Surgery Center and against defendant multinational health care company Kimberly-Clark Corp. (KCC).  The allegations of the case were that KCC had sold hundreds of millions of dollars worth of surgical gowns through co-defendant distributor Halyard Co, which were labeled as being compliant with a certain industry-recognized standard for being a liquid bio-hazard barrier, when those gowns did not, in fact, meet the industry-standard as represented.

One-time Trump foil, 2020 hopeful Michael Avenatti now stars in three-ring legal circus.  As Michael Avenatti saw it, he would be battling President Trump for the White House this summer.  Instead he's battling to stay out of jail yet again, having won a coronavirus release as long as he stays locked in an apartment in Venice, California, while he awaits sentencing on one extortion conviction and trials in two other fraud cases.  Based on court proceedings Wednesday [6/17/2020], he may not be free for long.

Why the media wants you to forget about Michael Avenatti.  Attorney and former media darling Michael Avenatti was convicted on two charges of extortion against Nike last Friday [2/14/2020].  His fate caused a deathly silence among some of the anti-Trump, cable news anchors who not so long ago were venerating him as a president-in-waiting. [...] CNN handed Michael Avenatti a whopping 107 live interviews in 2018, while MSNBC gave him 81.  Avenatti totaled 214 appearances across every network.  At one point, MSNBC and CNN carried dueling 'live' interviews with Avenatti.  But Avenatti's cable news appearances alone aren't why the media wants you to forget him — it's because he was a part of their special anti-Trump club.

CNN panel manages to blame Trump for media infatuation with Avenatti.  Now that creepy porn lawyer Michael Avenatti has been convicted of trying to extort Nike, those who gave him a national platform in the hopes he could somehow bring down President Donald Trump are engaged in a little revisionist history.  It was because networks like CNN and MSNBC are so obsessed with destroying the president that Avenatti became such a darling for the left in the first place, but leave it to CNN to now try to spin that reality and come out of this mess blaming Trump.

Humiliating Video Montage of Slobbering Media Love Affair with Michael Avenatti.  Why was Avenatti so popular?  Avenatti was representing porn star Stormy Daniels as she famously pursued legal action against Donald Trump over an affair and subsequent hush-money and cover-up scandals.  But in truth, his clients were really #TheResistance at large, and there are no bigger fans of that movement to be found on cable and network news.  And the montage, of course, proves that.  [Video clip]

Michael Avenatti convicted of trying to extort Nike.  Michael Avenatti, the lawyer who once represented adult film star Stormy Daniels in a lawsuit against President Trump, was found guilty Friday of trying to extort sportswear giant Nike.  A Manhattan federal jury convicted Avenatti on three counts: extortion, wire fraud and transmission of interstate communications with intent to extort.  He faces up to 42 years in prison.

The media elevated Michael Avenatti to stardom; his felony conviction reflects on them.  Anyone could have told you in 2017 that convicted felon Michael Avenatti was bad news.  But the media just cannot help themselves. [...] On Friday [2/14/2020], Avenatti was found guilty of trying to extort Nike.  This is obviously not great for the celebrity lawyer, who faces additional charges of tax, wire, and bank fraud in California and fraud and aggravated identity theft charges in New York.  You know who else stands to lose a great deal from Friday's ruling?  Every idiot journalist, news anchor, and commentator who ignored the red flags surrounding Avenatti to elevate him to the point where there was semi-serious chatter about him launching a 2020 presidential bid.

Michael Avenatti gives up control of firm after being accused of hiding millions: report.  Michael Avenatti agreed Wednesday [2/13/2019] to give up financial control of his law firm to settle a dispute with a former partner who claimed the celebrity lawyer hid millions in order to fund his lavish lifestyle and avoid having to pay a $10 million judgment.  Jason Frank, a former partner at Eagan Avenatti, accused Avenatti in a court filing of spending extravagantly:  $13,000 in rent for his Los Angeles apartment; a $3,640 payment on his Ferrari; $150,000 for his coffee company; $53,600 on his ex-wife; and $232,875 for his auto racing team, The Los Angeles Times reported.

Michael Avenatti Lived the High Life While Owing Millions to IRS.  On the Fourth of July, Michael Avenatti suited up for a CNN interview and floated his name as a contender against President Trump in 2020.  Asked why he'd be qualified, Avenatti told anchor Jim Sciutto, "Because I have three things that this president lacks, Jim — brains, heart and courage.  And I think I have those in spades compared to this president."  Scuitto then told Avenatti he'd face scrutiny over his finances, including his former law firm's then-unpaid $2.4 million bill to the IRS.

Michael Avenatti is the new Beto O'Rourke.  Democratic Senate candidate Rep. Beto O'Rourke is going to lose his bid this November to unseat Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, taking with him the recent avalanche of glowing media profiles that have cluttered the pages of so many newspapers and magazines.  But luckily for those who are thirsting hard for puff-pieces profiling supposed anti-President Trump saviors, another character is stepping up to fill the void that will undoubtedly be left behind when O'Rourke loses to Cruz.  Enter celebrity porn lawyer Michael Avenatti, the latest target of the press' urge to write overly long, overly friendly profiles on supposed political stars.  "Michael Avenatti's Past Won't Stop Him From Running in 2020," reads the headline to a Time magazine profile slated for its November issue.


Andrew Gillum

Andrew Gillum Using Private Nonprofit to 'Flip Florida Blue' by Registering 1 Million Voters.  In an effort to register 1 million new voters in Florida ahead of the 2020 presidential election, failed Florida gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum has shifted tactics from using a political committee required to report every expenditure to a private nonprofit that can disclose much less financial data, including the sources of donations.  Gillum's use of the nonprofit, calling itself Forward Florida Action, is notable given the Florida politician's warning last February about the influence of "dark money" in his own race for governor, referring to entities that obscure their donors.  Gillum is deploying his nonprofit for the voter registration drive instead of utilizing his political committee, Forward Florida.

Andrew Gillum shifts campaign cash to a new nonprofit, blocking it from public view.  Andrew Gillum has insisted that fundraising for his new voter registration project wasn't affected by news that federal authorities are looking into his campaign for governor.  In fact, he said, he raised $250,000 in the days after the story first appeared in the Tampa Bay Times.  Whether that's true is no longer public knowledge.  A new nonprofit created by Gillum is taking over his effort to register and re-engage 1 million Democratic voters by the 2020 election.  Donations to his cause will now go to the nonprofit, Forward Florida Action, instead of his political committee, Forward Florida.

Andrew Gillum [is] Heavily Bankrolled by 'Black Political Power' Group Complaining Too Many 'White Men' Hold Office.  One of the primary donors central to funding Andrew Gillum's recent meteoric rise is The Collective, a little-known but increasingly influential political organization seeking to build a "black political power" movement while complaining that there are too many "white men" holding public office.  The organization runs a "Black Campaign School" where The Collective's co-founder says they train people on how to build a political movement in America's "heightened, almost racist environment."  He charged that this environment has spiraled into "white supremacy" under the tenure of President Trump.

Who Is Andrew Gillum?  The two leading individual donors to Gillum's 2018 campaign have been George Soros and another left-wing billionaire, Tom Steyer.  Scarcely two weeks ago, Soros, who already had contributed $1 million to Gillum's Forward Florida political committee, announced that he was giving $250,000 more.  And Steyer, who had previously funneled $500,000 to Forward Florida, pledged another $300,000.  "I'm obviously deeply appreciative of Mr. Soros, as well as Mr. Steyer, both men who I've known them for some time," said Gillum.  The most recent Soros/Steyer donations coincided with a $3.5 million get-out-the-vote effort by a coalition of pro-Gillum leftist organizations.  In addition to his political activities, Gillum also serves as a Board of Directors member with the New World Foundation, a far-left entity that was once chaired by none other than Hillary Clinton.

Corruption probe looms over Democrat's historic campaign for Florida governor.  Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum's surprise victory in the race to become the Democratic nominee for governor of Florida was fueled in part by a compelling personal biography:  The son of a school bus driver and construction worker, he was the first of his parents' seven children to graduate from high school and go to college.  At age 23, he became the youngest city commissioner the Florida capital had ever seen.  "Between my mother and father, they are the best examples of hard work that I know to this day," Gillum said Tuesday night, after support from progressives vaulted him over older and better funded primary opponents.  A less savory narrative threatens to collide with that heartening origin tale.

Florida Democratic Gov. Candidate Does Gymnastics Trying To Avoid Admitting He Plans To Raise Taxes.  Florida gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum shot onto the national stage when he achieved an upset victory in the Democratic primary last Tuesday.  On CNN's "State of the Union" Sunday, he talked policy with guest host Dana Bash — and appeared to have a difficult time admitting that his healthcare plan would involve a tax hike for at least some Florida residents.

I'll bet he is.
Andrew Gillum 'deeply appreciative' of billionaires Soros, Steyer in race for Florida governor.  Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum on Sunday thanked billionaires George Soros and Tom Steyer for helping him score his upset win in last week's Florida Democratic gubernatorial primary.  "I'll tell you, I'm obviously deeply appreciative of Mr. Soros, as well as Mr. Steyer, both men whom I've known for some time," Mr. Gillum said on NBC's "Meet the Press."  The Democratic megadonors and their associated groups directed millions to the campaign of Mr. Gillum, who edged out former Rep. Gwen Graham in the crowded Democratic primary.  He faces Republican Rep. Ron DeSantis in the November election.

FL Dem gov nominee Gillum:  Abolish ICE, create government-run healthcare.  Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum won the Democratic nomination in the state's gubernatorial race Tuesday [8/28/2018], putting him one step closer to achieving his dreams of abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement and installing a government-run healthcare program.  Gillum appeared on CNN Wednesday morning to talk about his upset victory over former Democratic congresswoman and party favorite Gwen Graham, and his plans for the general election in November, when he squares off against Trump-backed Republican Rep. Ron DeSantis.

Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum shocks Democratic rivals, wins nomination for governor.  Democrat Andrew Gillum rode a surge of liberal support from young people and African Americans to a stunning primary victory Tuesday [8/28/2018] and the historic opportunity to be the first black governor in Florida's history.  With 94 percent of the votes counted, Gillum had an unofficial 3 percentage point lead over his closest rival, former U.S. Rep. Gwen Graham.  Gillum overwhelmed Graham in Miami-Dade and Broward, the state's two largest Democratic counties, by more than a 2-to-1 margin, in the highest turnout for a midterm primary election in Florida history.

Flashback to 2006: Biden said about Delaware, "My state was a slave state".  Ron DeSantis, the Republican nominee for governor in Florida, is being attacked by the left and their allies in the media about a comment he made about his liberal Democrat opponent, Tallahassee mayor Andrew Gilliam, whose political stances include abolishing ICE and "Medicare for all," which is a euphemism for socialized medicine.  Today DeSantis said that Florida voters shouldn't "monkey this up."  Because Gillum is an African American libs are claiming that his remark is racist.

Andrew Gillum's Comments On Law Enforcement Are 'Disgusting' And A 'Disgrace,' Says Florida County Sheriff.  Brevard County Sheriff Wayne Ivey called out Florida's Democratic nominee for governor, Andrew Gillum, on "Fox & Friends Saturday" for his "disgusting" comments about law enforcement.  "Andrew Gillum has no idea what it takes to serve as a law enforcement officer," Ivey said.  "As such his comments about law enforcement officers and those that wear our badge, they're a disgrace.  They're disgusting."  Gillum appeared on the "Pod Save America" podcast Wednesday" and said "At the time that a law enforcement official has to go to a weapon, to a gun, to a baton, to a taser, they have already had to go too far."

Democrat Andrew Gillum Billed FBI Undercover Agent $4,386 For Fundraiser, Never Disclosed In Finance Reports.  The Andrew Gillum campaign continues to implode, now with reports that he failed to disclose $4,386 of an "in kind contribution" made by an undercover FBI agent who had been investigating the campaign.  Campaign finance laws require all candidates to report all campaign contributions and expenditures to be listed with the state disclosure portal.  While there's usually a 30 day window to file these reports, the FBI agent's contribution is from 2016.

Andrew Gillum:  When police reach for a weapon, they've already had to go too far.  I don't like him, particularly his habit of using race to deflect from legitimate questions about his ethical behavior, but this smells to me more like a banal point that came out awkwardly than some batty suggestion that any use of a weapon by a cop is illegitimate.  Not even progressives believe that.  I think?  Ideological orthodoxy changes quickly in politics nowadays, and they're pretty far gone on some subjects.  One night a few months ago I went to sleep and when I woke up "abolish ICE" was their talking point du jour.

Gillum: Police Are Going 'Too Far' if They Pull Out Gun, Baton, Taser in Line of Duty.  Andrew Gillum, the Democratic nominee in Florida's gubernatorial race, said Wednesday [10/31/2018] that police are going "too far" if they have to pull out a gun, baton, or taser when approaching a potential suspect.

Andrew Gillum and the Mystery of 311 East Jennings Street.  The building was bought with funding from the Northwest Florida Black Business Investment Corporation, a tax-exempt group that provides investment funding.  Two of the investment corporation directors, Harold Knowles and Keith Bowers, are part of a group that in July received $281,000 in community development money for exclusive rights to a development project in the city.  All told, it's a morass of addresses, interconnections, swaps and deals raising questions about Gillum's alliances — questions that will not be answered before Tuesday's vote.

Andrew Gillum Campaign Uses Derogatory and Racial Slurs To Describe Florida Voters.  This is a little bit more than alarming.  Florida gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum's staff is recorded on video making stunning racial and derogatory epithets toward Florida residents/voters.  This is terrible; Florida deserves better.

DeSantis calls for Gillum to be impeached as Tallahassee mayor.  Florida Republican gubernatorial candidate Ron DeSantis says perhaps his Democratic opponent should be impeached as Tallahassee mayor over ethics questions.

Andrew Gillum Fought U.S. 'Genocide,' 'Colonialism' Through 2017 as Youth Director of Extremist Org.  Florida gubernatorial candidate and Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum served as the director of a radical youth training organization whose mission was to challenge U.S. "predatory capitalism," abolish the prison system, fight a "spiritual resistance" battle against "Christian hegemony," redefine the meaning of "borders" while aiding "undocumented" aliens, and enact the "collective liberation" of "communities of color" amid what it described as the scourge of "white supremacy."  Gillum's group accused the U.S. of being a "colonialist" power perpetrating "structural violence" and "continued genocide."  It claimed conservatives in the U.S. judicial system were "justifying white supremacist policing practices."


Julián Castro

Democrats are going to nominate a white person, and there's nothing wrong with that.  No one will miss Julian Castro, the latest candidate to drop out.  But his exit from the race, like that of Kamala Harris, is already occasioning a new round of baseless assertions that the deck is stacked against nonwhite candidates in the presidential primaries.  In November, Castro was already complaining that Iowa and New Hampshire are just too white to play their first-in-the-nation role in choosing the nominee.  He even released an ad in Iowa to that effect later on, arguing that the Hawkeye State, long host to the first-in-the-nation caucuses, has a population too white to be fair to candidates of color.

Julian Castro drops out of 2020 presidential race.  Julian Castro, the former Obama housing secretary and San Antonio mayor, has dropped out of the race for the Democratic presidential nomination.  The only Latino in the field, Castro established himself as one of the more progressive members in the primary race but had been struggling to raise money and fight his way back onto the debate stage.

Ukraine 'Bombshell' Will Explode in Democratic Faces.  Julián Castro, another unemployed Obama administration official pursuing the Democratic presidential nomination, tweeted the following:  "Donald Trump is a criminal.  He must be impeached immediately."  Saturday [9/21/2019], Castro began a speech with another demand that the House take immediate action to remove the president:  "Let me begin with a message for our House Democratic friends — it is time for you to do your job and impeach Donald Trump."  This was a big applause line for his audience, but it contained no constitutional justification for such action by the House.

Julian Castro's debate act cost him a third of his voters.  According to Nate Silver's outfit, Five Thirty Eight, Castro was the big loser of the third Democratic debate, based on his sneakily age-ist and downright dishonest attack on Joe Biden. [...] He lost nearly a third of his support, if you look at Five Thirty Eight's fourth chart, with Castro at the bottom, the only one highlighted with red line, based on how badly he lost support compared to the others.  He went from an already miserable 19.7% favorable rating to an even more pathetic 13% favorable rating in just one night.  None of the others saw that kind of tumble.  Castro really turned off a lot of voters.

Julián Castro's new animal rights plan takes on a favorite Donald Trump Jr. hobby.  Democratic presidential candidate Julián Castro on Monday released a comprehensive animal welfare plan that includes a series of ambitious policy proposals, including making animal abuse a federal crime and cracking down on trophy hunting.

Dems Enrich Drug Cartels And Hurt Latinos.  The Democratic National Committee (DNC) made a calculated decision to elevate the low-tier campaign of former Obama administration Housing Secretary Julian Castro at the fiasco that opened the first of the party's presidential primary debates on June 26.  Castro received far more attention than expected in Miami, no doubt in a DNC move to appeal to Latino voters.  But in putting this staunch leftist on a pedestal, if only for one night, Dems shone a nationally televised spotlight on their insane propensity to cheerlead for open borders despite the ongoing dire national emergency on our southern porch.

Julian Castro praises Nike, compares Betsy Ross flag to Confederate flag.  Democratic presidential hopeful Julián Castro on Wednesday praised Nike's controversial decision to pull shoes featuring the Betsy Ross flag, saying the early flag design that represents the Thirteen Colonies evokes pain among some Americans, much like Confederate symbols.

Julián Castro: 'Oppression' is why I do not speak Spanish.  Julián Castro, the former head of Housing and Urban Development, explained he does not speak Spanish fluently because his parents felt internalized oppression to make sure he could speak English.  "People, I think, internalized this oppression about it, and basically wanted their kids to first be able to speak English," Castro said Sunday [6/30/2019] in an interview aired on MSNBC.  "And I think that in my family, like a lot of other families, that the residue of that, the impact of that is that there are many folks whose Spanish is not that great."

After taking a gutsy stand for open borders, Julián Castro loses his nerve.  Just when I was giving credit to Democratic presidential candidate Julián Castro for having the guts to admit he's in favor of erasing America's borders, he got cold feet.  As of today [6/27/2019], he has reverted back to his party's pretext that "no one has called for open borders."  At the first primary debate of the campaign on Wednesday, Castro pressed every one of his rivals to pledge that as president, they would nullify the law that makes it illegal to cross in to the U.S. without authorization.  But less than 24 hours later, he lost his nerve.  In an interview Thursday on CNN, he walked it back and did what Democrats always do when asked about our borders, which is to spew a bunch of nonsense and claim that we already have plenty of border security.

Julian Castro Pounds the Table, Demanding Abortion for Men, Too.  [Scroll down]  In this case, I guess Julián Castro's support for transgender abortion contains some semblance of warped logic.  Not that this highly implausible and as yet scientifically impossible scenario is worth mentioning in a presidential debate when you are already limited by time and must choose your words wisely.  And not that there are other more practical, more pressing issues to be dealt with.  But that's what you get from a political party that wants to fund the kinds of procedures that could put babies inside men's bodies, while simultaneously fighting for laws that would allow these same babies to get ripped out again.

Democrats Lurch Left on Abortion, Immigration, and Health Care in First Debate.  [Scroll down]  Julian Castro, a former San Antonio mayor and Obama housing-and-urban-development secretary, contributed to the abortion debate by saying he supports taxpayer-funded abortions for transgender women:  "I don't believe only in reproductive freedom, I believe in reproductive justice.  And what that means is just because a woman, or let's also not forget someone in the trans community — a trans female — is poor, doesn't mean they shouldn't exercise that right to choose."  It was not immediately clear whether Castro simply misspoke and made an unwoke gaffe by supporting abortion for a "trans female" — that is, a biological man who identifies as a woman — or had reached some transcendent level of wokeness by supporting tax-funded abortions in biologically impossible circumstances.

Twitter Erupts After Dem Presidential Candidate Promotes Abortion Rights for Transgender Women.  When it comes to so-called "abortion rights", Democratic presidential candidate Julián Castro believes no one should be excluded from the right to choose — including men who identify as women.

Democratic Proposal:  Hey, Let's Eliminate Criminal Penalties for Illegal Immigration — and End Most Detentions.  Democrats used to tell us that of course they were against illegal immigration; the relevant policy question, they said, was how to humanely and fairly treat the millions of otherwise law-abiding illegal immigrants who have been living inside the United States for years.  They at least made a show out of getting tough on border security, in exchange for other 'reforms' — and they recoiled with indignation when Republicans accused them of supporting "open borders."  Which brings us to today's rollout of an immigration plan from Democratic presidential candidate Julian Castro, a former Obama cabinet secretary who's widely considered to be a Vice Presidential short-lister, and whose brother is likely to challenge John Cornyn in next year's Texas Senate race.

Castro says he supports financial reparations for African-Americans — separating himself from other Dems.  The issue of reparations for African-Americans has come front and center among the nascent Democratic presidential field, with candidates supporting ideas on everything from free college tuitions to handing out checks for the family members of former slaves.  Julián Castro, the former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development under President Barack Obama, said on Sunday that he was not ruling out direct payments to African-Americans for the legacy of slavery — in a move that separates him from his fellow Democratic challengers.

Dem Presidential Candidate Julián Castro Favors 'Reparations' For Slavery, Though He's Unsure How To Go About It.  On Sunday, democratic presidential candidate Julián Castro appeared on CNN's "State of the Union" with Jake Tapper.  During the segment, Tapper spoke with Castro about the issue of reparations for descendants of slavery:  "This is also dividing Democrats on the trail.  You've said that there needs to be some kind of reparations to descendants of slaves to compensate for years of slavery and discrimination against African Americans in this country."

Why is the Hispanic Caucus ignoring Julián Castro?  Julián Castro is the lone Latino candidate in the crowded 2020 Democratic primary field.  He's uniquely positioned to capture the support of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, which has more members than ever and more clout.  Yet so far, he's come up dry.  Just one of the 38-member group has publicly endorsed Castro's bid since his campaign announcement last month — his twin brother, Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas), who chairs the CHC and also serves as chairman of Julián's campaign.

Former Obama Cabinet Member Julián Castro Announces 2020 Presidential Bid.  Former United States Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julián Castro formally announced his presidential campaign on Saturday at an event in Texas.  [Video clip]

Julian Castro:  I'm running for president.  Julian Castro, the former Obama administration housing secretary and ex-mayor of San Antonio, Texas, is officially running for president.  Castro, 44, the grandson of a Mexican immigrant and son of an outspoken Chicana activist, made his announcement on Saturday [1/12/2019] at San Antonio's Plaza Guadalupe, a historic outdoor amphitheater close to his childhood haunts.


Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

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


Cynthia Nixon

Game over.
Cuomo cruises past Nixon in NY gubernatorial primary.  New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo easily beat back a primary challenge from activist and actress Cynthia Nixon on Thursday [9/13/2018], thwarting her attempt to become the latest insurgent liberal to knock off an establishment Democrat.

Cynthia Nixon self-identifies as 'queer,' not lesbian.  Actress Cynthia Nixon has been routinely described as trying to become the state's first lesbian governor.  But Nixon actually doesn't self-identify as a lesbian.  She considers herself queer, campaign spokeswoman Lauren Hitt said.

Cynthia Nixon might have one trick left up her sleeve.  In three weeks more, Cynthia Nixon will be put out of her misery. [...] Or maybe she's about to get a shot in the arm that will reshape the race.  I believe there is a good chance the New York Times will endorse Nixon.  If so, she would get instant credibility among city and state liberals, many of whom still regard the Gray Lady as a secular Bible.  That could give Nixon a chance to seize the momentum before the Sept. 13 vote.

Cynthia Nixon sounds confused by her own 'universal rent control' plan.  Cynthia Nixon may be an accomplished actress, but she apparently has a big problem handling material that's not included in her script.  In Brooklyn on Thursday [8/16/2018], the gubernatorial candidate and her running-mate, City Councilman Jumaane Williams, tried to tout "universal rent control," a pet proposal of their party's rising socialist wing.  But when reporters asked just what that policy means and how it would be enacted, the pair found themselves in over their heads trying to explain.

Cynthia Nixon Thinks You're Totally Underestimating Her 40 Points In The Hole Campaign.  There are precisely 45 days left until the exciting conclusion to the New York State Democratic Party primary race for governor.  Going by the adoring coverage being offered in local media around the state, you'd think that Governor Andrew Cuomo was in the fight of his political life, attempting to stave off the populist challenge of newly minted Democratic Socialist and former Sex and the City star Cynthia Nixon.  Of course, as we've covered here on multiple occasions, the polls don't really portray any sort of tight race at all.  But who are you going to believe... a bunch of bean counters at Real Clear Politics or your own lying eyes?  Nixon was out on the stump again this weekend warning everyone that they are underestimating her and this campaign could catch fire in the public imagination any day now.

Cynthia Nixon announces she's a 'democratic socialist'.  Cynthia Nixon on Tuesday proudly proclaimed herself a democratic socialist.  The actress-turned-candidate for governor explicitly embraced the democratic socialist label for the first time in a statement provided to Politico.  "Yes.  Some more establishment, corporate Democrats get very scared by this term but if democratic socialism means that you believe health care, housing, education and the things we need to thrive should be a basic right not a privilege then count me in," Nixon said in the statement.

Liberals: Radical, Crazy, and Getting Worse.  Liberal candidate for New York Governor Cynthia Nixon (former star of "Sex and the City") just went a step further into crazy land.  She said, "I can think of no better description than to call ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) a terrorist organization."  Well at least it's all now out into the open.  Liberals support illegal alien criminals and think ICE agents who protect our border, protect us from terrorism, and save women and children from kidnappers, rapists and murderers are "terrorists."  Good luck in the midterms with radical, insane views like this.

7 Examples from the Last Two Weeks That Show How Dangerous and Insane Liberals Have Become.  [#7]  New York Mayoral Candidate Cynthia Nixon Calls for Us to Get Rid of ICE.  A woman running for mayor of New York City called for ICE to be disbanded.  In other words, Nixon believes our borders should be wide open to drug dealers, illegal aliens, terrorists, pedophiles, murderers and anybody else who wanders across our border.  The idea that our borders should be completely unguarded is now a SERIOUS IDEA on the Left.  It may not be THE position of the Democratic Party YET, but it's worth noting Nixon is not alone.

Cynthia Nixon ignites outrage for saying marijuana could be 'form of reparations' in black neighborhoods.  Cynthia Nixon took heat Monday from black leaders over her comments that creating a legalized pot industry in New York could serve as a form of reparations in black communities.  Nixon on Saturday told Forbes magazine "now that cannabis is exploding as an industry, we have to make sure that those communities that have been harmed and devastated by marijuana arrests get the first shot at this industry."


Jay Inslee

Washington Governor Jay Inslee drops out of 2020 presidential race.  Washington Governor Jay Inslee, who made fighting climate change the central theme of his presidential campaign, announced Wednesday night that he is ending his bid for the 2020 Democratic nomination.  Inslee announced his decision on MSNBC's "The Rachel Maddow Show," admitting it's become clear that he won't win.

The Editor says...
If only the rest of the Democratic candidates (other than the top three or four) were able to see that the obviously won't win, there would be a lot less noise in the news media.

Jay Inslee drops out of the 2020 presidential race.  Washington Gov. Jay Inslee is dropping out of the 2020 Democratic presidential race, he announced Wednesday night [8/21/2019] on MSNBC's "The Rachel Maddow Show."  Inslee plans to send an email to supporters on Thursday announcing that he will run for a third term as governor, two sources close to Inslee told NBC News on condition of anonymity.  "It's become clear that I'm not going to be carrying the ball.  I'm not going to be the president, so I'm withdrawing tonight from the race," he told Maddow, vowing he'd help keep the other 2020 candidates focused on issue of climate change, the centerpiece of his campaign.

The Editor says...
Global warming was the centerpiece of his campaign.  Apparently everybody else has figured out that there is no climate emergency.  The rest of the Democrats should take a hint.

Inslee says he'll ask soccer player Megan Rapinoe to be secretary of State.  Washington Gov. Jay Inslee (D) said Saturday that if he is elected president, he will ask soccer player Megan Rapinoe to be his secretary of state.  He said at the progressive Netroots Nation conference that one of his first acts as president would be to get a secretary of State who embraces world unity and "love rather than hate" as he rebuked President Trump's foreign policy.  "My first act will be to ask Megan Rapinoe to be my secretary of State," he said.  "I haven't asked her yet, so this could be a surprise to her."

Jay Inslee:  Trump's Opinion on Global Warming Is 'Treason'.  In a Wednesday [6/5/2019] interview at the Council on Foreign Relations, Washington governor and longshot 2020 Democrat candidate Jay Inslee told NBC News correspondent Cynthia McFadden that President Trump's stance on global warming is "treason."

The Democrats refuse to talk about Global Warming, even though they say it will be too late to fix it in another 12 years.
Jay Inslee threatened with expulsion from DNC debates over climate change.  Washington governor Jay Inslee claims the Democratic National Committee has threatened to ban him from future primary debates if he participates in a discussion on climate change he has urged the organisation to host.  Mr Inslee, in a series of tweets, said that the DNC had contacted his campaign to tell them that it would not host a debate focused on climate change.  And, he wrote that his campaign had been informed he "will not be invited to future debates" if "we participated in anyone else's climate debate".

Sheriff Says Democratic Presidential Candidate Should Be Arrested for Signing Sanctuary Bill.  A local sheriff wants Democratic Washington Gov. Jay Inslee to be held in contempt of Congress, or even arrested, for signing a sanctuary bill into law.  "There is no way that this law is going to be followed because I have a responsibility to make sure that criminals are taken off the streets of my county, regardless of immigration status.  I will be helping my federal partners do that," Spokane County Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich said Friday [5/31/2019] on Fox News.

2020 Democrat:  We have to de-carbonize our economy for Climate Change!.  Democrats running for president have never been as radical as they are now with the Green New Deal and Medicare-for-all.  The latest radical comments come from Washington State's governor who is running for president.  He claims we have to de-carbonize our economy in the next several decades, which he says amounts to a MASSIVE re-industrialization of America.

Inslee: Humanity Down to 'One Chance at Survival' Because of Climate Change.  Democratic presidential candidate Jay Inslee said humanity is down to one last "chance at survival" because of climate change.  Campaigning in New Hampshire, the single-issue Democrat called for a "full-scale, full-throated" response to combating the weather.  "We have exactly one chance left to defeat climate change — and that's during the next administration," Inslee said during a living room stop in Bedford, N.H., over the weekend, the Guardian reported.

Jay Inslee announces climate-focused 2020 presidential run.  Does he stand a chance?  The Democratic governor will campaign in Iowa and Nevada next week.  He has signaled that he does not intend to give up his current job, leaving open the option of seeking re-election to a third term if the White House bid flops.

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee announces 2020 presidential bid.  Washington Gov. Jay Inslee announced his Democratic presidential bid on Friday [3/1/2019], making him the first governor to enter an already-crowded field of senators and other hopefuls battling to challenge President Trump in 2020.  Inslee, 68, a former congressman representing the Seattle district, officially announced his decision in a video and at an event in Seattle.  "It is time for our nation to set a new priority," he told supporters at a solar panel business Friday afternoon [3/1/2019].  "This is truly our moment.  It is our moment to solve America's most daunting challenge and make it the first, foremost and paramount duty of the United States... to defeat climate change."

The Editor says...
Vote for Inslee, because only he can stop the weather from changing!

Promising To Tackle Climate Change, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee Joins 2020 Race.  Washington Gov. Jay Inslee is joining the growing Democratic primary field, making climate change a top issue as he vies to challenge President Trump next year.  "We're the first generation to feel the sting of climate change.  And we're the last who can do something about it," Inslee says in his announcement video.  "We went to the moon and created technologies that have changed the world.  Our country's next mission must be to rise up to the most urgent challenge of our time — defeating climate change."


John Hickenlooper

Hickenlooper ends White House bid, hints at possible Senate run in Colorado.  Coping with a struggling campaign and facing the reality that he wouldn't make the stage at next month's third round of Democratic presidential debates, former two-term Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper ended his long-shot bid for the White House on Thursday [8/15/2019].  "Today, I'm ending my campaign for president.  But I will never stop believing that America can only move forward when we work together," Hickenlooper said in a video released on social media and through email.

Hickenlooper refuses to condemn protesters who hoisted Mexican flag at ICE facility.  2020 long-shot John Hickenlooper refused to condemn the protesters who removed an American flag and replaced it with a Mexican one during a protest outside an Immigration Customs Enforcement facility in Colorado.  Protesters assembled at the Aurora facility Friday [7/12/2019] to protest the widespread ICE raids that were scheduled to begin Sunday.  Raising the Mexican flag after taking down the American flag, they also hoisted a Blue Lives Matter flag they had vandalized.  The flag, which is meant to honor law enforcement, was spray-painted with the phrase "Abolish I.C.E."

Hickenlooper campaign 'bleeding' as calls for dropping out intensify.  Former Gov. John Hickenlooper's staff shakeup has not gone over well.  Multiple reports suggest Hickenlooper senior aides have been in turmoil in recent weeks, with Politico reporting Hickenlooper's aides have called for him to drop out.  Monday night [7/1/2019], FOX31 confirmed Hickenlooper's campaign manager Brad Komar, his finance director Dan Sorenson and his spokeswoman Lauren Hitt are all out.

Hickenlooper: Give Illegal Immigrants 10-year Visas 'Immediately'.  Former Colorado governor and Democratic presidential candidate John Hickenlooper said Friday [6/21/2019] the 11 million illegal immigrants currently living in the United States should be given 10-year visas "immediately."  Hickenlooper was speaking at Telemundo's presidential candidate forum in Miami when he made the comment about illegal immigrants in the United States, adding the visa would allow a path to American citizenship.

Excerpt from Daily Caller Podcast.  [Scroll down]  Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper is not exactly setting the Democratic field on fired in his quest to win his party's nomination.  In an attempt to appeal to moderates, Hickenlooper proclaimed socialism to be the path to defeat for Democrats at the California state convention and quickly discovered how that view is not really welcome anymore.  Long, sustained boos greeted the governor for stating something that the party would have cheered just a few years ago.

How do Democrats beat Trump?  Hickenlooper says Biden's backward-looking message isn't the way.  Former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper on Monday questioned whether a backwards-looking message of returning America to a time before President Trump was in the White House is a winning message for Democrats trying to succeed in 2020.  The comments by Hickenlooper, who is running for the White House, come as Democratic presidential frontrunner Joe Biden has focused his candidacy on a promise to "restore the soul of the nation" and "rebuild the backbone of the nation" in the wake of Trump's presidency.

Hickenlooper Ducked Responsibility Regarding Police Beating, Says Victim's Father.  The father of a victim in a police brutality case from Denver 10 years ago is again calling out John Hickenlooper, alleging that while mayor, Hickenlooper dodged requests for meetings from the family and provided no leadership on the matter, but briefly used it toward his own political ends during his first run for governor in 2010.

Why are 2020 Democrats so weird?  I wish I could say that the worst thing about John Hickenlooper's CNN town hall on Wednesday night [3/20/2019] was the part where he talked about watching Deep Throat with his mom. [...] Possibly even more cringe-inducing, though, was Hickenlooper's response to a question about whether he would consider selecting a woman as his running mate.  "Of course," he told Dana Bash.  Fair enough.  What else is there to say?  But for some reason he felt compelled to go on.  "I'll ask you another question.  How come we're not asking, more often, the women, 'Would you be willing to put a man on the ticket?'"  Did you hear that, Governor?  That was the sound of a hundred thousand American woman groaning simultaneously.

John Hickenlooper:  Call Me Anything, Just Don't Call Me A Capitalist.  Former Colorado Governor and current 2020 Democratic presidential nomination candidate John Hickenlooper wants you to know he's NOT a capitalist.  Democrats have now pointed their guns at capitalists.  They regard capitalism as shameful and consider the pursuit of profit as somehow crass.  We saw AOC characterize capitalism as 'irredeemable' in her remarks at the SXSW festival.  You can call a Democrat almost anything else, just don't call them a capitalist.

John Hickenlooper, former Colorado governor, jumps into 2020 race.  Touting that he's proven he can bring people together "to produce the progressive change Washington has failed to deliver," former two-term Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper on Monday morning launched his bid for the Democratic presidential nomination.  "I'm running for president because we need dreamers in Washington but we also need to get things done," Hickenlooper said in a video announcing his White House campaign[.]


Andrew Yang

Report: Former Republicans, Democrats Team Up with Andrew Yang to Launch New 'Forward' Third Party.  Dozens of former Republican and Democrat officials have teamed up with Andrew Yang to join a third party, the Forward Party, which will launch on Thursday, according to a Reuters report.  The Forward Party announcement comes nearly one year after Yang announced his departure from the Democrat Party to develop a third party.  Yang rose to prominence with his failed 2020 presidential run as a Democrat, where he promoted Universal Basic Income.  The Forward Party will be co-chaired by Yang and former Republican New Jersey Governor Christine Todd Whitman.

Andrew Yang:  All Sizzle, Little Steak.  Andrew Yang, the erstwhile presidential and NYC mayoral candidate, made big news this week.  First, he announced Monday that he was leaving the Democratic Party.  Second, he stated that he was starting his own: the Forward Party.  He even has what sounds like his slogan, telling Tucker Carlson Today on Thursday [10/7/2021] that his party's philosophy can be epitomized thus: "not left or right, but forward."  This terminology is interesting, especially since Yang is billed as a "moderate" and a breath of fresh air.  Note that Forward! was the name of the Italian Socialist Party's newspaper — of which fascist leader Benito Mussolini was once chief editor.  It also quite prominently became one of Barack Obama's slogans.  None of this is to imply Yang is a fascist or doctrinaire socialist or that he's not as sincere as his dewy-eyed supporters fancy (or that he is).  It is to say that most of his ideas are about as new as fascism or socialism and that, as commentator Andrea Widburg put it Thursday, there's "nothing moderate about Andrew Yang."

There's nothing moderate about Andrew Yang.  Andrew Yang, a complete unknown who threw himself into the presidential race in 2019, where he quickly flamed out, and who then lost in the Democrat primary for New York mayor, is back again.  Since the Democrat party is not fulfilling his political ambitions, he abandoned it and announced, instead, that he's starting his own party:  The Forward Party.

Andrew Yang [is] no longer a Democrat, will launch third party.  Andrew Yang, who unsuccessfully sought the presidency and the New York City mayoralty as a Democrat, will launch a third party next month — an announcement tied to the publication of his new book, a source close to Yang confirmed to The [New York] Post.  The move by Yang, best known for his advocacy of a monthly universal basic income of $1,000 for every American adult, was first reported by Politico Thursday [9/9/2021].

Andrew Yang Lays Into 'Defund The Police' After Times Square Shooting.  Saturday's [5/8/2021] Times Square shooting shows that the city can't afford to "defund the police," mayoral hopeful Andrew Yang said during a Sunday morning appearance at the Crossroads of the World.  "The truth is that New York City cannot afford to defund the police," Yang said near the site of Saturday's wild shooting, which injured three innocent bystanders including a 4-year-old girl in the hot spot to shop for toys.  "When I talk to New Yorkers I get a very different message every single day," he said.  "New Yorkers are concerned about rising rates of violent crime, petty crime, street homelessness.  This is what we are seeing, and we need our city's leaders to step up right now."

NYC Mayoral Hopeful Andrew Yang Blames NYPD For Spike In Crime.  A politician vying to become New York City's next mayor said the city's defunded and understaffed police force is responsible for skyrocketing crime rates and needs to be held responsible for not solving more cases.  Andrew Yang, a staunch Democrat and Universal Basic Income (UBI) supporter, said he decided to run for mayor after his failed presidential campaign last year, according to Newsweek.  Recent polls indicate the entrepreneur-turned-politician may already be a frontrunner.

Another bad idea from Democrat Andrew Yang.  Andrew Yang is what passes for 'innovative' among Democrats, and he's brimming with bad ideas.  The loopy tech entrepreneur is all in for industrial processes and one-size fits all technology, not applied to tech, but applied to people.  He favors a guaranteed income for all Americans whether they work or not, not exactly a Capt. John Smith, convinced such a concept could be administered by an all-reaching government, both efficiently and without corruption.  Now he has another doozy among his proposals:  Bar codes.  Kid you not.  Bar codes to prove you've been vaccinated. [...] Which is an unusually repugnant idea, redolent of stamping USDA Choice onto such grades of meat.

Rumors of Bloomberg considering a far-far-left former candidate for VP.  Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg wants Andrew Yang's endorsement and is reportedly discussing the prospects of Yang becoming his running mate.  Yang dropped out of the Democratic race for president earlier this month and became a political commentator for CNN.  He is a businessman with little knowledge of politics. [...] He's a loon and should stay with CNN.  It's a good match.

Andrew Yang drops out of 2020 presidential race.  Andrew Yang is dropping out of the 2020 Democratic race for the White House on the same day primary voters in New Hampshire are casting their ballots.  The 45-year-old entrepreneur and first time presidential candidate had hoped his signature idea of giving every American adult a universal basic income of $1,000 a month would help lift him to the White House.  However, while campaigning in the second state to vote in the presidential contest, Yang decided it was time to officially call it quits.

Andrew Yang Drops Out of 2020 Presidential Race.  Tech entrepreneur Andrew Yang is dropping out of the 2020 race.  Per PBS, Yang's campaign manager Zach Graumann confirmed the news and said, "By the numbers, the decision was pretty clear.  It doesn't feel honest to keep taking money and enthusiasm from our supporters, but also from the Democratic Party.  It's obviously a difficult decision, but we believe the right one."  The announcement dropped as New Hampshire results started coming in tonight [2/11/2020].

Andrew Yang staffers are furious over sudden layoffs and a campaign near collapse.  Andrew Yang built his long-shot candidacy into a grassroots movement by advocating for a humane capitalism that leaves no worker behind, but some of his employees now say that behind the scenes that's exactly what his campaign just did.  Last week his campaign began layoffs after his disastrous showing at the Iowa caucuses, moves that the campaign characterized to Insider at the time as planned.  Still, Yang's staff said they were blindsided by the sudden staff cuts.

Here's what happens when you enter Yang[']s unprecedented debate give-away sweepstakes.  It's not just that Democrat presidential candidate Andrew Yang likes to tell jokes — it's that his entire candidacy may itself very well be nothing but a joke.  While this may sound harsh, it's how a large number of people appeared to react after the 2020 contender transformed his presidential campaign into a veritable sweepstakes competition. [...] The fact that the 2020 contender would pull such an astonishing stunt was nevertheless not well received but rather widely mocked and criticized by liberals and conservatives alike for a variety of reasons.  For one, Yang's move may have been illegal in more ways than just one.

Study: Andrew Yang, Tulsi Gabbard Receive Disproportionately Small Media Coverage.  A new Axios study shows that Andrew Yang and Tulsi Gabbard are receiving minimal media coverage for their relatively successful presidential campaigns.  According to the study, Yang is currently polling at 2.5 percent as the sixth-highest-polling Democratic presidential nominee, and Gabbard is polling at 1.4 percent as the ninth highest.  During the Democratic debates, Yang was tweeted about 295,200,000 times.  He was the fourth most tweeted about candidate.  He even surpassed Joe Biden and Pete Buttigieg, who are polling higher than he.

Of course Andrew Yang is beating Beto; he's a vastly superior candidate.  CNN editor-at-large Chris Cillizza might be the last person in America to see it.  He's shocked that the failed senatorial candidate with nothing but a dopey grin and a DWI has tanked in the polls.  Yes, really.  Andrew Yang has triple the support of Beto O'Rourke in this poll.

The perennial appeal of kook candidates.  One of the most interesting things about kooks is the fact that they tend to attract the same voters regardless of the election cycle in which they appear.  Nothing demonstrates the truth of the so-called horseshoe theory of politics than the willingness of the same people to support far-right Don Quixotes like Ron Paul, hippie UFO theorists like [Dennis] Kucinich, and populists of the center like [Ross] Perot.  Everyone knows at least someone who liked ole Ross, then at least considered voting for Ralph Nader in 2000, got very much into Ron Paul for eight or so years, and is now considering supporting either [Andrew] Yang or, only half-jokingly, [Marianne] Williamson.

Democrats, Beware of Andrew Yang's Insane Vision for America.  After a surprising surge to make his way to the debate stage, Andrew Yang didn't make much of an impression there in just three minutes of speaking time as leading Democrats with a lot in common tried to make the most of their distinctions.  But Yang was only there at all because he raised money and registered in the polls by packing the policies of elite technocrats in a coating of Clintonesque pain-feeling paternalism.  He's already made the list for the next Democratic debate, and his rise is an early warning about how, no matter how bad our politics may see right now, they could be far worse if parties and voters don't police themselves and defend their values.

Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang wants to give everybody $1k per month, he tells Detroit crowd.  One of his cornerstone policies — and he's released more than 70 — is what he calls the universal basic income.  It would give every American $1,000 per month, paying for it in part with a "value-added tax" on goods and services businesses produce.

The Editor says...
Are the recipients of the $1,000 monthly checks exempt from the VAT?  If not, what's the point?  Money would be taken out of one pocket and (after subtraction of a nominal handling fee) put into the other pocket.

The Free-Stuff Primary:  What Democrats' Promises Will Cost.  While some candidates shy away from specifics on environmental reform and subsequent economic redistribution, Andrew Yang is more than happy to discuss his plans to give away money.  The Silicon Valley progressive wants the federal government to cut a $1,000 check each month to every citizen over 18.  Yang calls it a Freedom Dividend, his brand name for what economists describe as Universal Basic Income.  On its face, the annual cost would be around $3 trillion, though Yang insists the spending would be offset by stimulated growth.

Andrew Yang and the Normies.  Given that there are approximately 11 million candidates for the Democratic nomination, you could be forgiven for not having heard of Yang.  He is currently polling at one percent; 59 percent of those polled have never heard of him.  He has never held high office, his only claim to political fame being brief recognition by the Obama White House.  But Yang's quixotic run has attracted attention, and a few supporters, for its far-out message.  He believes that 21st-century automation is going to lead to mass technological unemployment, which will bring social disaster.  That is, unless, we implement Yang's proposed "freedom dividend":  a $1,000-per-month payout to every American ages 18 to 64, which will provide a "universal basic income" to all.

Telling the Truth About Andrew Yang is Hate Speech on Facebook.  It is hard to say why Facebook said my recent video about Andrew Yang was "hate speech."  It could have been the fact that Yang, a dark-horse contender for the Democrat presidential nomination, gave a speech at Harvard where he predicted that within ten years, roving gangs of Caucasian youths would be roaming the streets of America, attacking Asian people because white people were jealous of their professional success.

Why are 2020 Democrats so weird?  Why are Democrats so weird?  Only a few days after his long-shot candidacy had begun to attract some interest from the mainstream press, Andrew Yang came out strongly against circumcision, surely one of the most pressing political and social issues of our time.  He even doubled down on this by agreeing on Thursday [3/21/2019] to debate right-wing Wunderkind Ben Shapiro on the subject.

The 5 Big Problems with Andrew Yang's $1000-a-Month Universal Basic Income Proposal.  [#1] We can't afford it.  The federal government took in $3.4 trillion in taxes last year and ran a $985 billion deficit on top of that, which is in addition to the nearly $22 trillion debt.  Now consider that Andrew Yang's proposal would probably cost more than $2.8 trillion.  Yes, a value-added tax (VAT) along with cutting social programs would pay for some of that, but all?  Highly unlikely.  In fact, by some estimates, Yang's proposal is coming up $1.2 trillion PER YEAR short of paying for the whole thing.  It's sort of like someone who can't pay for a mansion on his current income who decides that the solution to that problem is adding a second mansion.

Democratic Presidential Candidate Andrew Yang's 8 Most Bizarre Policy Proposals.  The backbone of Yang's platform is a Universal Basic Income, or what he calls the "Freedom Dividend."  Yang says he wants the government to give $1,000 every month to every American over the age of 18.  He outlines the policy in his book, "The War on Normal People," arguing UBI is the most "direct and concrete way" for the government to improve American lives.  UBI is hardly a new policy idea, but Yang believes giving people money is especially needed now to combat the growing number of jobs lost to robots and automation.

SF meets Andrew Yang, a presidential candidate who's attracting support from Millennials.  The unlikely presidential run of Andrew Yang, who is proposing a $1,000-a-month "freedom dividend" to every adult in America, rolled Friday into San Francisco, where some 3,000 supporters listened to the New York tech entrepreneur warn about how artificial intelligence and robotics are taking jobs.  The 44-year-old son of Taiwanese immigrants who met each other at UC Berkeley has already surpassed expectations — virtually nonexistent when he got into the race — by inspiring enough donations to qualify for the Democratic primary debate in June.


Eric Swalwell

Presidency Inc..  Eric Swalwell, we hardly knew ye.  And we might add that what we did know did not leave us pining for more.  Swalwell, a fourth-term congressman from California, became the first candidate to drop out of the Democratic primary last month, citing his poll numbers, which were hovering around zero percent.

Eric Swalwell Becomes First Democrat to Drop Out of Presidential Race.  Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA), whose White House candidacy has polled at an embarrassing 0% in multiple national public surveys, became the first Democrat presidential hopeful to pull the plug on his 2020 campaign [7/8/2019].

Eric Swalwell Encourages Hispanics to Take Fight Against Trump to the 'Streets'.  Hispanic voters should take their fight against President Trump to the "streets," Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) suggested in a tweet Saturday [6/22/2019]. The Democrat presidential candidate spouted a series of falsehoods in a tweet posted Saturday, accusing Trump of breaking up Hispanic families and caging children just for kicks.  He also accused Trump of seeking to "erase" the Hispanic population's existence by way of a basic census citizenship question.

Eric Swalwell Can Take His Gun Policy and Head Home.  Since before he announced his run for the presidential nomination, Swalwell has been grabbing for guns.  He was met with resistance and got his feelings hurt.  In typical fashion, he made comments that the government has "legit" nukes.  I am sure he did not mean that the government should blow up the Southeast and Midwest with nuclear bombs to eliminate the majority of gun owners.  However, why would he say this?  My prediction is that Swalwell has serious plans to take away guns and impose more in-depth control over citizens.  He knows the Second Amendment stands between a progressive agenda and a bigger government imposed on the people.

Delving Into Rep. Eric Swalwell's Gun Control Proposal.  Rep. Eric "Nuke 'em All" Swalwell has campaigned primarily on one issue, and that's gun control.  Despite the supposedly broad support for restrictions on firearms within the Democratic base, Swallwell is polling only slightly better than my cat.  He's being beaten on the issue.  That means Swalwell had to up his game, which he did when he rolled out his gun control plan.  Let's take a look at this point by point. [...]

Eric Swalwell's Pathetic Presidential Campaign Just Got Even More Pathetic.  You'd be forgiven for not knowing who the heck Eric Swalwell is.  He's fancied himself a #resistance leader over the last few years, showing up on various cable networks trying to promote his brand.  Swalwell's biggest contribution to the public debate has been to threaten to use nuclear weapons against gun owners.  So there's that.  Despite the fact that he has no support base, he decided it'd be a good idea to join the 2020 Democrat primary race.  It's gone about as well as you'd expect.  He's currently polling at 0% and is gyrating about trying to gain attention.

Eric Swalwell's shocking financial disclosure.  After having been exposed as a liar about the "evidence" he claimed to have seen that President Trump is a traitor in league with Russia, [Rep. Eric] Swalwell declared himself a candidate for president.  Clearly, he has no chance, but at least one could justify it as a fundraising ploy appealing to the nutso faction of the Democrats, a significant constituency among the Donkeys.  But there is no good reason for a man who has earned as much as Swalwell for his financial status.  Brent Scher of the Free Beacon checked out Swalwell's mandatory financial disclosure forms and discovered that the man has been utterly irresponsible financially, despite earning a hefty income and getting a big raise when he entered Congress.

Swalwell: You'll Sell Me Your Gun, or You'll Go to Jail.  Representative Eric Swalwell, a hard-leftist from California, has about as much chance of winning the Democratic nomination for president as Bill Weld has of winning the GOP nomination.  Be that it as it may, Swalwell's proposal to jail Americans who refuse to surrender legally purchased and owned firearms to a federal gun Gestapo not only demonstrates how the Left has moved the Overton Window in the gun-control debate, but also how Democrats have given in to the totalitarian impulse.  Outright gun confiscation is something only the craziest Democrat would have suggested 30 years ago, and the suggestion certainly would not have come from one who wished to be considered a serious contender for the presidency.

Eric Swalwell Doesn't Like It When You Criticize His Impossible Gun Control Scheme.  This week, Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA), the latest Democrat to jump into their already-jammed clown car of presidential candidates, launched his campaign with a proposal to "ban and buy back every single assault weapon in this nation," bragging he was the "only candidate" who was "bold" enough to suggest it.

Rep. Eric Swalwell, Who Threatened to Nuke Gun Owners, Is Running for President, on Gun Control.  On Monday [4/8/2019], Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) announced he's running for president — on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert.  Swalwell is a former prosecutor born in Iowa and best known for his obsession with the Trump-Russia collusion narrative and his threat to use nuclear weapons against Americans who refuse to turn over their "assault weapons."  Swalwell seems to be focusing his campaign on the issue of gun confiscation.  In his campaign launch video, the 38-year-old Swalwell speaks with a gun shop owner, and then he utters this statement:  "Most Americans believe that to be free of gun violence, we should take the most dangerous weapons out of the hands of the most dangerous people."  Yet Swalwell himself has endorsed using the most dangerous weapons — nuclear weapons.

The Editor says...
There is no such thing as gun violence.  Guns themselves are not violent, any more than a rope, a knife, a candlestick or a lead pipe is violent.

Eric Swalwell's New Campaign Slogan Ruthlessly Mocked On Twitter.  Less than an hour after tweeting his presidential bid announcement Monday evening [4/8/2019], Democratic California Rep. Eric Swalwell used another tweet to share with America what appeared to be his new campaign slogan.  "Are you ready America?" Swalwell tweeted.  "Let's go big, be bold, and do good!"

The Man Who Said the Government Can Nuke Gun Owners is Running for President.  Congressman Eric Swalwell, a Democrat from California, will reportedly announce next week he is entering the 2020 race for the presidency. [...] Swalwell plans to run on a platform of gun control, which based on his previous comments, means confiscation.

Swalwell running for White House on gun control: report.  Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) will reportedly announce next week that he is running for president in 2020 and will center his campaign around gun control.  The Atlantic reported Thursday [4/4/2019] that Swalwell will announce his plans during an appearance on CBS's "The Late Show With Stephen Colbert," where he will be joined by Cameron Kasky, a survivor of the 2018 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla.  Swalwell, who is hosting a town hall on gun control next week in Florida, did not confirm his plans to The Atlantic, but said he thinks gun control should be a top issue in 2020.


Stacey Abrams

Stacey Abrams Calls Electoral College a 'Classist, Racist System'.  Failed politician Stacey Abrams wants to do away with the electoral college.  Her reasoning?  The electoral college is a "classist, racist system whose time has passed and we need to get rid of it," so it's the same argument the left makes to get rid of everything they don't like.  Naturally, Abrams attacked the centuries old constitutional system with the cast of ABC's "The View" on Monday morning.  Abrams claims the founding founders created the electoral system as a racist system designed somehow to prevent blacks from voting.  To make her point, Abrams repeated the historically illiterate lie about the three-fifths compromise being the iniquitous idea of racist Southerners.  Of course, it was Southerners who wanted slaves to be fully counted for purposes of representation in Congress and Northerners who opposed it.

Georgia Democrat Stacey Abrams says she is considering White House run.  Georgia Democrat Stacey Abrams, a rising party star who narrowly fell short of becoming the first female African American governor last year, said on Thursday [5/9/2019] she is still considering running for president.

Stacey Abrams Under Investigation By State Ethics Commission.  The Georgia state ethics commission will subpoena bank records from Stacey Abrams' 2018 gubernatorial campaign and several other groups that raised money to help her candidacy.  David Emadi, a former Douglas County prosecutor who became director of the state ethics commission Monday, announced on Thursday [4/11/2019] that he will soon subpoena Abrams' gubernatorial campaign, various political action committees and special interest groups that supported her failed campaign, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

New Georgia ethics chief says he will subpoena Abrams campaign records.  The new director of the state ethics commission plans to subpoena bank records from the campaign of 2018 Democratic gubernatorial nominee Stacey Abrams and groups that raised money to help her in last year's nationally watched race.  Former Douglas County prosecutor David Emadi, who started his new job Monday [4/8/2019], also said his office will soon decide whether to prosecute the campaigns of Atlanta mayoral candidates.

Preparing for 2020 in Our So-called 'Democracy'.  With the ongoing invasion by Central American caravans, the problem of illegals being on voter rolls can only get worse.  But Stacey Abrams thinks that illegals should be allowed to vote.  Maybe it's appropriate that we have banana republic election systems since we're being invaded by banana republics

As Democrats struggle to find 'who can sell this slop' to voters, here comes Stacey Abrams.  Rather amazingly, Democrats are promoting the addition of yet another candidate to their crowded subway car of potential presidential candidates — this time, failed gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams. [...] It's weird stuff, given that Abrams holds views identical to those of the rest of the Democrats — socialism of an extreme sort.  She's not being put there on the strength of her ideas.  Based on her Georgia campaign website and other sources, Abrams favors gun control, Medicaid expansion, post-birth abortion, environmental "justice," the green agenda, open borders, letting criminals out of jail, redefining marriage, raising the minimum wage, tax hikes, etc. — the whole cookie-cutter agenda of the radical left that has taken over the Democratic Party.  In this regard, Abrams offers nothing new — just the same stale stuff the rest of them are selling as Venezuela fries away in the background from those very ideas put into action.

Georgia Democrat Stacey Abrams Claims She Won Her Election.  She Lost By Nearly 55,000 Votes.  Failed Georgia Democrat gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams falsely claimed on Wednesday that she won the race for governor last year against Republican Brian Kemp.  "We had this little election back in 2018," Abrams said while speaking at the National Action Network.  "And despite the final tally and the inauguration and the situation we find ourselves in, I do have very affirmative statement to make:  We won."  Kemp beat Abrams by 54,723 votes.


Bill de Blasio

Far-Left New York Mayor Bill De Blasio Endorses Socialist Bernie Sanders.  The far-left, borderline socialist Mayor of New York City, Bill de Blasio, has endorsed the openly socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) for the 2020 Democratic Party presidential nomination.  According to CNN, the New York mayor will be campaigning with Sanders in Nevada prior to the state's caucuses next week, joining the socialist at a rally in Carson City on Sunday.

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio drops 2020 presidential bid.  New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio ended his campaign for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination on Friday after struggling to gain traction in a sprawling field of candidates.

Another Member Of Democratic Practice Squad Pulls Out Of Primary Fight.  A truly stunning development, as in:  most readers might be stunned to know Bill de Blasio was still running for president at all.

Bill de Blasio:  A candidate not even his wife would vote for?  New York's absentee mayor turned presidential candidate isn't a popular guy over in the city he supposedly runs. [...] Socialism, incompetence, an angry police force on an undeclared strike with a rising crime rate, the turning of public schools into garbage dumps by getting rid of gifted and talented programs, and businesses and talent fleeing the city due to a hostile business environment all amount to de Blasio's sorry entire record.  How does he look at himself in the morning?

Bill de Blasio insists he's no Don Quixote as he presses on with 0% White House bid.  Despite an endless stream of bad news, de Blasio refuses to pull the plug on a laughingstock campaign that rarely cracks 0% in polls and is dogged by unfavorability numbers that are actually rising as he introduces himself to the nation.  Stronger candidates such as Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) have already accepted reality and dropped out.  But Hizzoner was back in South Carolina on Saturday schmoozing with black voters at a soul food restaurant and a church service in hopes of gaining traction in the third-in-the-nation primary state.  The mayor is set to appear alongside other Democrats at a town hall event Sunday at the University of South Carolina.

De Blasio logged a 7-hour work month at City Hall.  Mayor Bill de Blasio spent a mere seven hours — less than one full workday — at City Hall during the month he launched his bid for the White House, records reviewed by The [New York] Post show.  Hizzoner showed up at his office on just six occasions in May, taking part in two meetings, four events and five phone calls, one of which was his weekly appearance on WNYC radio, according to entries on his official calendar.  The 11 appointments amounted to a meager one-fifth of the 50 meetings, calls and other events at City Hall on de Blasio's calendar for May 2018.  He had a total 152 city events scheduled for the month.

De Blasio campaign event in Iowa draws roughly 15 attendees.  Mayor Bill de Blasio pitched his presidential dreams to a crowd of about 15 likely Democratic voters at an event Sunday morning in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.  With more than enough empty space to accommodate his 6-foot-5 frame, the quixotic candidate took the floor at Parlor City Pub to a smattering of applause from the sleepy brunch set.  "Everything should be about our families, our lives, what everyday people are going through, what working people are going through," de Blasio told the crowd, which numbered around 15 — not counting the press corps, campaign staff and Iowa State Sen. Rob Hogg, the event organizer.

Bill De Blasio Assists Illegals: 'We Will Do Everything We Can to Protect You'.  In a series of tweets published Saturday [7/13/2019], Democrat presidential hopeful and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio insisted that those residing illegally in the Big Apple stand their ground against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

De Blasio's whitewashing on anti-Semitism.  Here's what's been happening in New York City over the past year:  Jews who are visibly Jewish have been getting assaulted in record numbers.  We've seen numerous videos of these assaults, in which a bearded man in a yarmulke is smashed in the head or knocked down or otherwise physically set upon by one or two African-American men. [...] Don't worry, says our mayor — the real danger Jews face is from the right wing.

The same could be asked of a dozen other candidates.
How long will de Blasio drag out his presidential farce?  Just a week after entering the presidential race, Mayor Bill de Blasio is already neck-and-neck with such household names as ... Seth Moulton and Wayne Messam.  How long before he puts an end to this farce?  The mayor is struggling to crack the top 20 (out of 23) so he can qualify for the first Democratic debate next month and admits, "I'm not setting the expectation that I'll be in it."  Among other tests, he needs to hit 1% in three serious polls (as judged by the Democratic National Committee), plus meet fundraising targets, such as getting 200 donors from at least 20 different states.

Amount of People Who Showed to See De Blasio Is Absolutely Staggering (& Hilarious).  The New York City mayor attracted just over two dozen people to his "largest" event in Iowa.

When are we going to stop getting lectures on morality from Pete Buttigieg?  If you're sick and tired of hearing Democrats repeat the lie that "Christianity is just as bad as Islam," join the club.  I can't think of a single act of terrorism since 9/11 involving Christian fundamentalists.  Meanwhile, there have literally been thousands of them committed by Islamic extremists.  Millions of people — millions — have been killed over the past two decades alone because of radical Islamic fundamentalism.

Delusional de Blasio actually thinks he should be president.  It's been astonishing to watch Bill de Blasio still prancing on the national stage, to hear his delusional musings on a 2020 presidential run and of his announced trip this Friday to the key primary state of New Hampshire, all while he remains unwilling to acknowledge this truth:  For most of us, New York City under his mayoralty has become aggressively unlivable.  It's the same defiance we're treated to on his weekly WNYC "Ask the Mayor" segments, exchanges that even the smart, affable host Brian Lehrer can't always salvage.  Callers who dare to challenge de Blasio are almost always told the same thing:  They are surely well-meaning, just woefully misinformed.  De Blasio is painfully verbose and always right.  Even if you are living the very dreaded experience you are calling about — you're wrong.

Why Bill de Blasio is running for president.  Bill de Blasio is the only candidate running for president whose entry into the race is perhaps a tad surprising.  With the others, even those with miniscule odds of actually securing the Democratic nomination, there is some modicum of sense:  get your name out there, promote your pet issues, accrue some political capital to burnish a future bid for another elected office, and if worst comes to worst you'll still have 'former presidential candidate' in your title — which is sure to bring forth generous speaking fees and book deals.  MSNBC might even give you a TV show.  But with de Blasio, at least at first blush, the logic gets much hazier.  His liabilities are so manifestly obvious that even his own staff reportedly begged him not to run.  A combination of bewilderment, irritation, and laughter seems to be the primary reaction to the fact that he's actually going through with it.

De Blasio Is the Ferris Bueller of Democratic Presidential Candidates.  One of the more charming things about de Blasio is his amiable lack of self-awareness.  He seems to have no idea that he doesn't impress anybody.  The obliviousness is somewhat understandable.  He did get elected — twice.  But his victories have more to do with the dysfunction of New York City politics than with any strength on his part.  In 2013 he won the Democratic primary — which assured victory in the fall — in the lowest election turnout in decades.  After 3 percent of New Yorkers voted for him, he saw a landslide.

Another Socialist Enters 2020 Democratic Race.  New York City mayor Bill de Blasio entered the 2020 presidential race on Thursday [5/16/2019], further growing a bloated field of Democratic candidates. [...] "Brothers and sisters, there's plenty of money in the world.  There's plenty of money in this city.  It's just in the wrong hands," de Blasio said in January.  The New York Post notes that de Blasio owns two homes and receives a salary of over a quarter of a million dollars every year.  The mayor's presidential campaign launch video touted his pursuit of an increased minimum wage, guaranteed paid sick leave, and free pre-K in New York City.

Mayor Ocasio-Cortez?  News that Mayor de Blasio is running for president ignited a lively conversation at a dinner in Manhattan where we found ourselves last evening.  The excitement was not so much in respect of Hizzoner's prospects on the hustings but over who might succeed him to run what's left of America's greatest city.  The almost unanimous bet turned out to be Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.  We say "almost unanimous" because we stood pat.  It seems to us that Ms. Ocasio-Cortez is having too much fun upstaging her fellow Democrats on the Hill.  Why give that up for the chance to feud with Governor Andrew Cuomo and try to run the wreck of the subway system?  Any mayor of New York, after all, would have a hard time upending the national news cycle with but a tweet.

"If You Like High Taxes and Crime, He's Your Man!" — Trump Rips New York City Mayor de Blasio.  New York City commie Mayor Bill de Blasio announced his run for president on Thursday [5/16/2019].


Marianne Williamson

Marianne Williamson's dead campaign [is] still spending cash, but stiffing vendors.  Marianne Williamson is facing a powerful new dark psychic force — campaign debt.  The New Age author's presidential campaign committee still owes $238,180 to various election vendors, some of whom now say she is trying to renege on the payments.  Williamson suspended her campaign in January 2020.  "She's not paying us," Jennifer Marshall, co-founder of Next Digital Connection, told The Post.  "We are a very small business, and we will be totally and utterly bankrupted if she doesn't pay her bill."

Wellness Queen Marianne Williamson Officially Drops Out Of 2020 Race.  The cosmic goddess that is Marianne Williamson, the former "Oprah" staple who pledged to defeat President Donald Trump on the battlefield of love, has now officially dropped her bid for the 2020 Democratic Party presidential nomination after several no-shows at the debates.  In an announcement on her website Friday [1/10/2020], Williams said that she hoped her candidacy would lead the country in a new direction — a dream that she will have to rest aside due to lack of support.

Marianne Williamson drops out of presidential race.  Marianne Williamson, who ran a nontraditional campaign focused on the power of love and positivity, has officially ended her White House bid.  "I stayed in the race to take advantage of every possible opportunity to share our message.  With caucuses and primaries now about to begin, however, we will not be able to garner enough votes in the election to elevate our conversation any more than it is now," she wrote in an announcement on her website.  "The primaries might be tightly contested among the top contenders, and I don't want to get in the way of a progressive candidate winning any of them.  As of today, therefore, I'm suspending my campaign."

Williamson Fires Entire Staff, Vows to Remain in Race Anyway.  The 2020 Democratic primary is certainly full of characters, from business heads practically bribing their way support, to old-guard statesmen just trying to get through their lines without flubbing.  While this may not be what the nation truly needs, it has been undeniably entertaining.

Marianne Williamson falls for fake news story claiming Trump pardoned Charles Manson.  Kooky fringe Democratic presidential candidate Marianne Williamson apparently got duped by a fake news article Monday [12/9/2019] when she claimed that President Trump had pardoned dead cult leader Charles Manson.  "There is something deeply sinister about Trump pardoning Charles Manson, even posthumously.  Dog whistles of the very worst possible kind," the also-ran tweeted at 12:53 a.m.  Except that didn't actually happen — and netizens were quick to point out Williamson's blunder.

Keywords: fairy dust, moonbeams, snowflakes.
Marianne Williamson On Nuclear Energy:  Don't Use 'Hard Data,' Think 'With Your Hearts'.  Democrat presidential candidate Marianne Williamson came out against using nuclear energy, which experts say should be used to combat climate change, on Thursday during a climate change town hall on MSNBC, urging students to not use "hard data" when thinking about nuclear energy.  Williamson made the remarks while answering a question from a college student who wanted to know why she thought that nuclear energy was problematic.

Marianne Williamson vents that 'conservatives are nicer' to her than those on the Left.  Presidential candidate and spiritual guru Marianne Williamson was caught on tape saying conservatives and Fox News are nicer to her than some on the Left.  Appearing on Sinclair's America This Week, Williamson was played a clip where she had previously appeared on the same show and was caught in a hot-mic moment.

Marianne Williamson Would Like to Clarify.  Marianne Williamson, the self-help author associated with the New Age movement, has never held political office.  But the race for the Presidency, she thinks, is less a battle of politics than a battle of souls.  In her appearance in the July Democratic debates, she said that President Donald Trump is bringing up a "dark psychic force."

Old Hickory v.  New Quackery.  Marianne Williamson is easily the most entertaining candidate the Democrats have belched up this go-round, so let us gather to celebrate her campaign before it likely [fizzles] out on Wednesday [8/28/2019] and she gets disqualified from the third debate because she couldn't even scratch together a measly 2% support in each of four prominent polls.  But Miss Marianne's little flame flickered as brightly as it could for one brief and hilarious moment on the national stage, and despite the fact that even enough Democrats are sane enough never to vote for her, it cannot be denied that no one ever went further in politics by saying less than Marianne Williamson says.

Nutball Dem Candidate Marianne Williamson Takes Aim At ... Andrew Jackson?  Marianne Williamson isn't bothering herself with targeting the other 22 candidates running for the Democratic presidential nomination.  No, she's got her eye on one guy — Andrew Jackson.  Forget the fact that the seventh president of the United States has been dead 174 years.  Williamson thinks Jackson is a key issue in the 2020 race.

Marianne Williamson details plan to pay up to $500 billion in reparations for slavery.  Democratic presidential hopeful Marianne Williamson on Wednesday [8/7/2019] laid out more details in her plan to pay out financial reparations for slavery in the U.S., saying a council made up of black leaders should oversee a payout of between $200 billion and $500 billion.  "When it comes to paying reparations for slavery, on an emotional, psychological and spiritual level, we cannot afford not to," said Ms. Williamson, an author and self-help expert. [...] Ms. Williamson called for setting up a council made up of between 30 and 50 members who are descents of slaves who have a scholarly, cultural or political connection to the issue of reparations.

The Editor says...
In other words, Ms. Williamson, in an effort to buy votes with someone else's money, is setting up a slush fund that will distribute taxpayers' funds, based on the recommendations of a committee in which even Ms. Williamson would not qualify to participate.  And the need for this half-trillion-dollar handout is based entirely on her psycho-babble assessment about how this issue "will continue to haunt our psyche" if it isn't addressed.  It is all nonsense, to put it politely.  If you can prove that you were a slave prior to the Emancipation Proclamation of January 1, 1863, then you, not your heirs and descendants, should be compensated.  Otherwise, get over it and move on.  Or, you could return to Africa and live with the descendants of the people who sold your ancestors into slavery.  Be sure to tell us how that works out.

Presidency Inc..  Marianne Williamson might have a weirdly aphoristic Twitter account, but her background is in self-help spirituality, not governance.

Marianne Williamson's path.  Williamson is the closest to sane and the closest to Donald Trump that the party ever will be again.  She passed the test by touching all the major points of the revolutionary, anti-imperialist party.  Her advantage is she is new and not old news like Warren or Sanders.  Her best selling point to Democrats is irrelevancy.  If President Trump's re-election appears to be in the bag, she can be sacrificed on the altar of the ballot box at little cost.  She would normalize reparations, which would be the biggest ripoff of black people since slavery ended.  That would set Harris up for victory in 2024 with the idea that she could have defeated President Trump.  As president, Harris will raise taxes, give away the store on trade policy, load up the regulations, and give all our enemies nuclear weaponry.

'Witches' for Marianne Williamson Launch 'Occult Task Force'.  A group of supporters of 2020 White House hopeful and Marianne Williamson has put together an "occult task force" in support of the spiritual guru; however, her campaign is none too pleased about the move.  In an interview with the Washington Post, the anonymous individual heading up the "task force" told the Jeff-Bezos owned newspaper that 13 witches, chaos magicians, and energy workers performed "gestures" in an effort to get Williamson more speaking time during Tuesday's Democrat presidential primary debate in Detriot, Michigan.

Marianne Williamson Wants To Win the Presidency With the Power of Love and Miracles.  At 67, Williamson is one of America's most famous spokespeople for a therapeutic, self-actualizing sort of spirituality, the kind that's light on doctrinal dogma and heavy on techniques for living a better life.  Stores are more likely to file her books in the self-help or New Age sections than in politics or current affairs, and she has logged many more appearances on Oprah Winfrey's SuperSoul Sunday than on C-Span.  Yet here she is, running for the Democratic presidential nomination.

The perennial appeal of kook candidates.  One of the most interesting things about kooks is the fact that they tend to attract the same voters regardless of the election cycle in which they appear.  Nothing demonstrates the truth of the so-called horseshoe theory of politics than the willingness of the same people to support far-right Don Quixotes like Ron Paul, hippie UFO theorists like [Dennis] Kucinich, and populists of the center like [Ross] Perot.  Everyone knows at least someone who liked ole Ross, then at least considered voting for Ralph Nader in 2000, got very much into Ron Paul for eight or so years, and is now considering supporting either [Andrew] Yang or, only half-jokingly, [Marianne] Williamson.

Marianne Williamson Calls Trump's July 4th Event 'Heartbreaking,' Will Host 'True Celebration' Livestream.  Self-help author Marianne Williamson, one of more than 20 Democrats running in the 2020 presidential election, called President Trump's July 4th tribute to the military "heartbreaking" and "repugnant" in a tweet on Wednesday [7/3/2019].  "Watching army tanks being hauled thru DC for Trump's July 4 celebration is heartbreaking & repugnant," she tweeted.

Republicans are donating to Marianne Williamson's campaign.  Republicans are urging people to donate to Marianne Williamson's presidential campaign because they believe she made a mockery of this week's Democratic debate and hope she will make a mockery of future Democratic debates.

Donate a buck, keep Marianne Williamson on the Democrats' debate stage.  There's no telling what New Age goofball Marianne Williamson will say next... if she meets the cut for the next Democrat presidential debate in Detroit at the end of July.  Whatever words escape her lips, they are unlikely to persuade the swing voters that Democrats need to win the presidency to support the Donkeys taking over the reins of government.  But Marianne needs to qualify for the debate. [...] That's why I just donated the princely sum of $1 to her campaign.  You can, too.

The Editor says...
I was about to donate a dollar, as suggested by the article above, because I would love to see the Democrats embarrassed by the lunatics in their leadership, not to mention the rank and file.  But I just couldn't do it, because it turns out that Ms. Williamson is such a fruitcake that if she were to accidentally get elected, it would be like removing the rudder from the Ship of State.  I would sooner vote for Jimmy Carter or Al Gore than Ms. Williamson, if I were to vote for the Abortion Party, which I would never do.

Twenty Things You Probably Didn't Know about Marianne Williamson.  [#11] Her proposal for addressing the oil spill from the Deepwater Horizon platform disaster was unorthodox:  "Visualize the oil spill plugged.  Close your eyes for five minutes and see angels coming over it, filling it with sane and sacred thoughts."  [#12] On March 11, 2011, a massive earthquake and tsunami damaged the Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan.  Two days later, Williamson tweeted, "Let's see angels surrounding the nuclear reactors, pouring cold water over them, keeping radiation from escaping into the atmosphere."

Marianne Williamson Is Full of it.  [Scroll down]  Offering religion without rules, salvation without sacrifice, the former cabaret singer has remade herself into the perfect priestess for a culture steeped in pop.  "Love conquers all" is no cliché to Williamson and her readers.  Focus on feelings, she reiterates in book after book, and the rest will follow — from a good man to a great salary to a God-fearing nation.  Forget the fuss and muss associated with actual effort.

Summertime 2019: The Top 30 Hottest Political Women.  [#2] Marianne Williamson:  In a sane world, she would be a self-help guru, a fancy term for wealthy dilettantes.  The Democrat Party is such a mess that she actually made the presidential debate stage.  Nobody seems to know or care what she stands for.

For Such a Time as This.  Marianne Williamson was in the pulpit at Bethel A.M.E. Church Sunday morning [3/24/2019], [...] However, the woman in the pulpit, who has been called Oprah Winfrey's "spiritual guru," had not come to the South Carolina lowlands as an author promoting her books, but rather as a candidate for the Democratic Party's 2020 presidential nomination.

Also posted under The one-sided separation of church and state.

Marianne Williamson echoes Andrew Yang, says her mic was 'not on' during NBC debate.  Marianne Williamson has echoed her fellow 2020 candidate Andrew Yang, complaining that her mic was not on during Thursday night's Democratic primary debate.  Williamson was interacting with fans on Twitter late Friday night and was asked about the "rumors" that mics weren't working for certain candidates.  She confirmed that she was one of them.

Democratic 'spiritual' candidate stands out for quirky remarks at debate.  Marianne Williamson, a self-help guru and friend of Oprah Winfrey, set herself apart from her Democratic rivals during the second half of the debate on Thursday night, with her remarks going viral on social media.  Williamson, a fringe contender for the White House, drew quizzical looks for her policy proposals, particularly her plans for her first act as president.


Michael Bloomberg

'Joe Biden has no ground game in Florida': Will Mike Bloomberg's money change that?  Progressive activists backing Joe Biden in Florida say they've made millions of phone calls, sent hundreds of thousands of text messages and even written thousands of letters to persuade voters to support the Democratic presidential nominee.  But one thing they're largely not doing — and growing increasingly worried about — is talking to voters face to face.  Now, with the number of coronavirus cases down from their July peak in Florida and Election Day less than six weeks away, the state's largest left-leaning grassroots organizations and political field operations are making a last-minute push to get back in front of voters in a crucial battleground state where President Donald Trump's campaign has been on the ground since June.

Florida AG Looking Into Bloomberg Felon Fine Payoff.  Florida's attorney general Ashley Moody is requesting that the FBI and state law enforcement investigate billionaire Michael Bloomberg for paying the outstanding fines and fees of convicted felons in Florida so they could regain their right to vote ahead of the November election, The Hill reports. "Today, I sent a letter to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the Federal Bureau of Investigation into potential violations of election laws," The Republican attorney Moody said in a statement provided to Fox News.  "I have instructed the statewide prosecutor to work with law enforcement and any statewide grand jury that the governor may call," she said.

Did Bloomberg Commit A Crime In Paying Off The Debts Of Black and Hispanic Former Felons To Allow Them To Vote?  Billionaire Mike Bloomberg has pledged to pour $100 million dollars in Florida alone to elect Joe Biden as part of his earlier pledge to pump hundreds of millions into the election.  The role of billionaires like Bloomberg and Sheldon Adelson in pouring hundreds of millions into the election for each side remains controversial, though many past critics of such windfall campaign financing are now demanding more support.  Bloomberg however is now under fire for pledging to pay off the debts of Black and Hispanic former felons to allow them to vote.  The Washington Post reported that the funding of only Black and Hispanic former felons was due in part to the fact that they are more likely to vote for Biden.

Florida attorney general calls for investigation into Michael Bloomberg.  Florida's attorney general asked state and federal law enforcement on Wednesday to investigate possible election law violations after billionaire and former Democratic presidential candidate Mike Bloomberg helped raise more than $16 million for Florida felons to pay their debts so they can vote in the presidential election.  Attorney General Ashley Moody sent letters to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the FBI saying that further investigation is warranted.  Governor Ron DeSantis and House Rep. Matt Gaetz had asked Moody to review allegations that Bloomberg and the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition had violated the law by offering incentives for voting.

Rep. Matt Gaetz Calls for Election Bribery Probe Against Mike Bloomberg for Paying Florida Felons' Fines for Biden Votes.  As reported earlier former New York City Mayor and billionaire Mike Bloomberg raised $16 million to pay off the fines for 32,000 black and Hispanic Florida voters so they can vote for Joe Biden in the 2020 election.  Basketball icon Lebron James is also looking to pay convicted felons' fines so they can vote for Joe Biden.  Legal analyst J. Christian Adams argued that Michael Bloomberg is breaking federal and likely Florida state law by buying votes from felons.

Michael Bloomberg, felon?  The Democrats' Daddy Warbucks is back and once again using his money to try to buy an election.  Michael Bloomberg is among a group of rich people hanging around Florida and offering free fine payoffs to released felons in a more-than-implied exchange for their votes for Democrats.  Bloomberg isn't playing non-partisan in this, a frequent dodge of leftists, he's shoveling $100 million of his own cash to make sure Florida votes for Democrats, and this is part of his game.  That would be the same Michael Bloomberg who was last seen blowing a billion on his own presidential campaign and then stiffing his campaign workers, by promising to employ through the election, and then dumping them and leaving them out on their ears when he left the race.  Money for cons, see, but not the help.  It's otherwise known as bribery, the exchange of votes for something of value, and it's explicitly forbidden under Florida law.

Democrats fume over having to clean up Bloomberg's mess.  Mike Bloomberg's decision to dump hundreds of former campaign staffers from his payroll — after promising them paychecks through the election — has left a trail of ill will within the Democratic Party that's now roiling a key part of its general election operation.

Bloomberg sued by aides for stiffing them on yearlong pay promise.  Former campaign workers for Mike Bloomberg are suing the billionaire former presidential candidate for fraud, alleging in a nationwide class action lawsuit that as many as 2,000 employees were promised to be paid through the general election before he laid them off.  Plaintiffs in the class action include two organizers who halted the interview process for other jobs to join the Bloomberg campaign, and another former organizer who postponed law school to work on Bloomberg's 2020 effort.

Dumped amid coronavirus, former Bloomberg campaign aides sue for pay and benefits.  Former organizers for Michael Bloomberg's unsuccessful presidential bid sued the billionaire's campaign on Monday [3/23/2020], saying he laid them off amid the global coronavirus pandemic after promising pay and benefits through the November election.

Bloomberg's Campaign Transfers $18 Million to DNC.  Yesterday [3/19/2020] I blogged that Wuhan coronavirus has hampered former Vice President Joe Biden's fundraising and the Democratic National Committee (DNC).  It's hard for both to compete against President Donald Trump and the Republican National Committee since both are swimming are cash.  The DNC received a decent boost from billionaire former candidate Michael Bloomberg.  Bloomberg can transfer $18 million to the DNC since it will come from his campaign.  As a citizen, Bloomberg could only donate hundreds of thousands of dollars.  Quite a difference!

Bloomberg Spent $935 Million to Lose, Trump Spent $66 Million to Win.  According to the New York Post Michael Bloomberg spent $935,360,675 in his failed attempt to win/buy the democrat presidential nomination. [...] For comparison, Donald Trump spent $66 million on his 2016 campaign and won the presidency.

10 Ways the Left Has Politicized the Coronavirus Pandemic.  [#8] Rampant lying about Trump's response:  A pandemic is no time for politics.  We didn't see Republicans politicize the H1N1 outbreak, but sadly, Democrats have different priorities than the greater good.  Democrats are in the middle of a coordinated effort to blame the pandemic on Trump, even though it was congressional Democrats who were distracted by their own efforts to impeach him while the Trump administration was actually doing something about the outbreak. [...] Mike Bloomberg bought three minutes of airtime to address the public and blame Trump for the outbreak.  Both Bloomberg and Joe Biden claimed that the Trump administration cut all budget increases to the CDC and NIH made by the Obama administration, an allegation the Associated Press determined to be false.  What good can come from falsely accusing Trump of hampering our country's coronavirus readiness?  None, unless you're trying to oust Trump.

Bloomberg aides [have been] cut loose despite year-long employment promise.  Mike Bloomberg's shuttered presidential campaign is dismissing staffers across the country and inviting them to reapply for jobs on his new independent committee — despite extending guarantees of being paid through the November election when they were hired.  The consolation prize:  They get to keep their Bloomberg-issued iPhones and MacBooks.

Fool & His Money, Part II: Bernie bros snicker about infiltrating Bloomberg's campaign and ripping him off.  A dinner triangle was rung, word got out that the livin' was easy, and the worst of the worst came running to Bloomberg, who had no idea what hit him.  Sound like a guy who can take on dictators as president?  These were the most dishonest people out there.  Instead of quit the campaign when they decided it was over, they decided to steal from it instead, viewing Bloomie's money as free stuff and knowing an easy mark when they see one.  They decided to politically cuckold Bloomberg by campaigning for Bernie on the side, effectively having Bloomberg subsidize Bernie's campaign.  He ought to sue the bastards, but he's made zero noises in this direction.  Bloomberg, after all, was paying massive salaries to his campaign machinery — so much, in fact, that word got out, and other Democrats complained that he was hiring away all the best of the staff talent.  Yet the most rapacious and greedy of them all were the leftists who hated Bloomberg most — the notorious Bernie bros.

Who Influences Elections Most, Billionaires, Bolsheviks — or Black Voters?  Michael Bloomberg, The Ego That Ate New York, spent the past weeks burning an amount of cash most members of the top 1% could only fantasize about possessing as he set out to buy the U.S. presidency — and ended up purchasing for himself nothing beyond American Samoa.  The American Indians who got $24 for the island the former mayor spent 12 years running as if it were his personal fiefdom must be having a good laugh in their Happy Hunting Ground.

Hemingway: If Bloomberg Couldn't Buy 2020, How Could Russia Buy 2016?  Senior Editor Mollie Hemingway joined Fox News' "Special Report" to discuss New York billionaire Mike Bloomberg's historic level of campaign spending, and what it reveals about the power of media and establishment consensus.  Hemingway pointed out how Bloomberg's failed campaign, despite unlimited resources, pokes holes in the popular narrative that Russia helped Donald Trump "steal" the 2016 election.  "We had years where people were saying a couple hundred thousand dollars in barely literate Facebook ads from Russians caused Donald Trump to win.  Here you had a guy spend nearly $1 billion and he went nowhere.  It's a humiliating defeat for Michael Bloomberg," she said.

Democratic Fools And Their Money.  After being trounced on Super Tuesday, Michael Bloomberg announced that he was "suspending" his campaign.  He joins fellow billionaire Tom Steyer in the quitters' camp.  It makes you wonder how these two succeeded in business when they are so utterly incompetent at selling themselves or their ideas.  It also underscores how shrewd billionaire Donald Trump was in 2016.  Bloomberg built his entire strategy on winning big on Super Tuesday.  His pitch to voters — in a series of endlessly repeated ads — was his competency.  He was a self-made billionaire, he got things done, he was a proven leader, he was best suited to beat Trump.  Yet all Bloomberg had to show for his hundreds of millions was a win in American Samoa.

Bloomberg's money train wreck shows you can't buy elections.  Democrats and even some Republicans have long pushed the idea that money buys elections, especially since the Supreme Court's Citizens United v. FEC decision.  The boogeyman of campaign spending has been invoked to justify proposals to limit freedom of speech and restrict the public's ability to participate in its nation's political process.  But, as the failure of Michael Bloomberg demonstrates, as if it had to be demonstrated yet again, money doesn't buy elections.

Why Bloomberg's White House bid failed so completely.  Money helps in politics — it helps a lot — but only if a candidate has a compelling message for voters.  Consider that Bloomberg was a pretty good mayor, all in all.  He took firm, competent control of the city's post-9/11 recovery; he was a solid steward of the Giuliani safe-streets agenda; he made progress in public education, given the troglodyte opposition he faced; and he did as much as any mayor can to bolster and support the municipal economy.  All of that might have been cobbled into a positive, coherent platform and — greased with the Bloomberg billions — presented in a way that attracted Democrats looking for an alternative to a clutch of frighteningly ideological primary candidates.  This probably still wouldn't have worked, given the timing and circumstances, but Bloomberg began by apologizing for past successes — for helping to keep New York City safe — and then he embraced the ideology.  Soon, all that set him apart from the others was the money, and in the end, that wasn't nearly enough.

Mike Bloomberg Quits 2020 race after disastrous Super Tuesday and blowing $1 billion on just 44 delegates.  Mike Bloomberg dramatically quit the presidential race Wednesday morning after a disastrous Super Tuesday and immediately backed Joe Biden.  The billionaire gained just 44 delegates by 10.11 am, the time he announced his departure, but ran up a bill of $1 billion.  He immediately and whole-heartedly backed Biden, the night's big winner, hinting that his vast fortune is now at the former vice-president's disposal.

Mike Bloomberg Drops Out, Endorses Biden.  Former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg on Wednesday dropped out of the Democrat presidential primary and endorsed former Vice President Joe Biden.  Bloomberg, who spent over $600 million of his own money on his failed bid, conceded that he no longer envisioned a path to his party's nomination following a poor showing on Super Tuesday.

Mike Bloomberg suspends presidential campaign after Super Tuesday show.  Former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg suspended his presidential campaign Wednesday after spending record amounts from his own fortune on an ad-blitz strategy that failed to yield any wins on Super Tuesday beyond a single victory in the American Samoa caucuses.  He immediately announced he would be endorsing Joe Biden, following in the footsteps of other moderate-leaning Democratic presidential candidates who have consolidated support behind the former vice president in his primary brawl against Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.

Mike Bloomberg to 'Reassess' Campaign After Super Tuesday Flop.  Former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg (D) will "reassess" whether his campaign for the presidency should continue following a poor showing in Super Tuesday primaries.  NBC News reporter Josh Lederman said the Bloomberg campaign will take "another look tomorrow, once the data comes in" at whether the billionaire still has a path to the nomination.

Mike Bloomberg wins American Samoa — after spending $500 million on ads.  Former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg came away the big winner Tuesday night — in the American Samoa caucuses.  Bloomberg was awarded five of the six delegates from American Samoa, with Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, D-Hawaii, claiming just one.  It amounted to his first victory from the Super Tuesday contests, after dropping $500 million on ads.  Former Vice President Joe Biden and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders were faring much better in the early voting, raising questions about the future of Bloomberg's campaign.

A Fantastic Night ... If You Don't Like Bloomberg, Warren, or Sanders.  For the past few months, Americans have been living in a fascinating political-science experiment:  how far could a campaign carry an uninspiring candidate with essentially unlimited spending and TV ads?  Tonight, we got the answer:  not very far at all!  Bloomberg spent a half-billion dollars to win American Samoa and a handful of delegates here and there across 15 states.  It is the most expensive failure in American political history.  The 2020 Bloomberg campaign makes the past efforts of H. Ross Perot, Steve Forbes, Michael Huffington, and Jon Corzine look tightfisted. [...] He's a Rolls-Royce advertising campaign with a Yugo candidate.

Media Tear Into Mike Bloomberg, Pressure Him To Drop Out.  Anchors and reporters across numerous networks made one thing clear as Super Tuesday got underway — almost none of them want former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg to remain in the Democratic presidential race.  Bloomberg, who has spent about half a billion dollars on his 2020 presidential campaign, only won American Samoa Tuesday evening.  While he claimed to have garnered success in the race Tuesday evening during a speech to supporters, others did not seem to agree.

Democrats Are Learning The Wrong Lesson From 2016 GOP Primary.  Megabillionaire Mike Bloomberg, who had entered the fray to save the party from Sanders and Biden, revealed himself to be a teensie tiny statue with clay feet after a humiliating debate performance.  And the field remained very crowded, with most of the half-dozen or so non-Sanders candidates dividing up the very-liberal-but-not-socialist portion of the pie.  If the establishment really wanted to defeat Sanders, they had to figure out something big and figure it out quickly.  It wasn't that he would go to the convention with the most delegates, necessarily.  But if he marched in there with a strong plurality, it would be difficult to wrest the nomination from him.  The establishment did their best.

Mike Bloomberg:  "I Was Never Prouder" than When I Argued Muslims Have Every Right to Build a Mosque "Near the World Trade Center".  Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg spoke today [3/2/2020] at the annual AIPAC Conference in Washington DC.  During his comments Mayor Bloomberg bragged about his greatest achievement while mayor:  "I was never prouder than when I stood in the shadow of the Statue of Liberty and argued that Muslims had every right to build a Mosque anywhere in our city, including near the World Trade Center."  So that's his greatest achievement?

'Exactly how coronavirus gets spread': Michael Bloomberg's finger-licking pizza clip goes viral.  Michael Bloomberg's closing argument to Democrats before Super Tuesday highlighted his managerial record, pitching his crisis management experience amid fears about the coronavirus, but a last-minute food faux pas is proving to be a distraction.

Wow!  What courage!
Bloomberg vows to eat at a Chinese restaurant to push back against coronavirus fears.  During a Fox News Town Hall in Manassas, Va., on Monday evening [3/2/2020], former New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg said he plans to eat at a Chinese restaurant very soon to show solidarity against overblown domestic fears of a coronavirus pandemic.

Bloomberg Tries to Defend Using Armed Guards While Pushing Gun Control.  An attendee at the March 2, 2020, Fox News town hall asked Mike Bloomberg why he pushes gun control for the common man but surrounds himself with armed security.  The attendee said, "You have an armed security detail that is likely equipped with the same firearms and magazines you seek to ban the common citizen from owning.  Does your life matter more than mine or my family's?"  Bloomberg responded by admitting to having an armed detail, and suggesting he needs armed protection because he gets more threats than the common man.

The Editor says...
How does Mr. Bloomberg know how many threats the "common man" encounters?

Bloomberg Spent Average of $37.4M a Week on TV, Radio & Digital Media.  In liberal billionaire presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg's attempt to buy the White House, recent data show that he's averaging tens of millions of dollars spent plastering the airwaves and the internet with ads.  Advertising Analytics' latest report revealed that the liberal billionaire 2020 candidate has been spending an average of $37.4 million on TV, radio and digital media per week since he announced his candidacy in November 2019.  There was one qualifier:  "[H]e [Bloomberg] was only off air the week of Christmas."  [Emphasis added.]  The report noted that Bloomberg "has nearly doubled the cumulative total" spending of the Democratic field, "even including fellow billionaire Tom Steyer."  To date, Bloomberg has spent a jaw-dropping $539 million on ads, "$201M more than President Obama's 2012 campaign for president[,] which spent $338M."

Scott Pelley Corrects Shameless Bloomberg's Lie.  Michael Bloomberg blatantly lied on '60 Minutes' and said the President called coronavirus a hoax.  CBS is trying to sound a bit more legit these days and that is possibly why Scott Pelley called him on it.  Pelley explained that the President was calling the Democrats' politicization of it a hoax.  The shameless liar Bloomberg just kept talking without apology as if Pelley never said a word.

Bloomberg Implies Voters In 2016 Were Wrong To Rebel Against 'Intelligentsia'.  Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg explained in an interview with "60 Minutes" why he believes America will choose him over President Donald Trump this fall by characterizing those who swept Trump into office as mounting a "revolution" against the educated elite.  "A few years ago there was a revolution against the intelligentsia," Bloomberg told CBS' Scott Pelley.  "People said, 'you know, those people, particularly on the coasts, are trying to tell us what to do.'  They wanted a change.  That explains Donald Trump.  Now, people seem to have changed.  This cycle, people want stability."

Campaigning in an all-black church:
Black church snubs Bloomberg as congregants stand, turn their backs.  Former New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg was snubbed Sunday by numerous congregants at a historically black church in Selma, Alabama.  According to a report in the New York Daily News, several members of Brown Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church stood up and turned their back on Mr. Bloomberg as he was was speaking.  Images of the protests posted to social media showed at least eight congregants in several clusters standing with their backs facing Mr. Bloomberg.

Bloomberg tumbles heading into Super Tuesday.  The Mike Bloomberg bubble has burst.  After a steady, weekslong climb in national polls, fueled by extravagant spending on ads, staff and events, Bloomberg's presidential campaign has plateaued.  The abrupt reversal of fortune, triggered by his disastrous debate performance in Las Vegas, has tarnished the former New York mayor's sheen and injected uncertainty about whether he will rack up enough delegates on Super Tuesday to keep his campaign alive.

Bloomberg takes credit for leading NYC through 9/11 — when Giuliani was mayor.  Presidential hopeful Mike Bloomberg takes credit for leading New York "through" the 9/11 attacks in a campaign ad.  But there's one problem:  He didn't become mayor until four months later.  Touting his leadership chops, the billionaire released a 30-second video including the claim.  "I led a complex, diverse city through 9/11 and I have common-sense plans to move America away from the chaos to progress," Bloomberg, 78, is seen saying at a campaign rally.  But Rudy Giuliani was mayor during the attacks, and he didn't hand Bloomberg the keys to Gracie Mansion until Jan. 1, 2002.

Mike Bloomberg:  Having a Gun in Your Home Puts You at Risk.  Democrat presidential hopeful Mike Bloomberg suggested average Americans are placed at higher risk of death or injury by having a gun in their home, during a CNN town hall on Wednesday [2/26/2020].  Bloomberg said, "You don't want to have guns.  If you have a gun in your house you're something like 22 times as likely to get killed with a gun."  He added, "There's domestic violence, there's children playing, there's accidents."  Bloomberg did not provide any substantiation of his claim that owning a gun makes someone "22 times as likely to get killed with a gun."

Also posted under Lies about guns.

Twenty Things You Probably Didn't Know about Michael Bloomberg.  [Scroll down]  In 2008, [Wayne] Barrett wrote that Bloomberg had been simultaneously the best and worst mayor he had ever covered.  "The Bloomberg who came into office as the anti-politician, promising to transform city government, has been transformed himself.  Some of us liked him precisely because his wealth insulated him from the kind of horse-trading that diminished his predecessors.  But seven years later, Bloomberg has not only proved himself to be a master politician, as hungry for power as anyone we've ever seen, but he's also ended up putting nearly everyone who deals with the city deep into his political debt."

Democratic debate:  CBS, Bloomberg draw jeers for ad buy, 'stacked' audience.  Mike Bloomberg had a different plan for his second debate:  Buy it.  A 60-second ad for the billionaire media mogul's campaign played during the first and second commercial breaks of the CBS Democratic presidential debate Tuesday night [2/25/2020] — drawing the ire of pundits on Twitter.  Viewers lashed into CBS for allowing Bloomberg to buy advertising slots during the first two debate commercial breaks, calling it "incompetence at best, corruption at worst."  "What kind of rule allows the candidates to advertise *during* the debate?  Or did Bloomberg just buy CBS?" asked New Yorker writer Tad Friend.

Has any candidate ever imploded like Michael Bloomberg?  Mr. Bloomberg spent more than $463 million in the first two months of his campaign, according to a report filed to the Federal Election Commission.  In January alone, Mr. Bloomberg dumped $220 million of his own money into his campaign — an average of more than $7 million per day.  Those expenditures included $126 million on TV ads and $45 million in online advertising. [...] Mr. Bloomberg has an estimated net worth of $64 billion.  That means his expenditures so far amount to just 0.7% of his fortune.

Mike Bloomberg, mini-tyrant.  Mike Bloomberg's not a big fan of everybody having guns.  Gee, Mike, neither is anybody else.  Felons, the insane, the blind, and little kids ought never have guns.  And nobody I know of has ever advocated that they should.  That's not whom Mike has in mind.  He means people such as myself, a retired teacher, or my erstwhile neighbor, who owns a cartage service, or the owner of the quick stop store on the corner.  Mike thinks we're dangerous and ought not to have guns for defense against the predators in our midst.  That's as opposed to important peeps like Mike.  He perhaps doesn't carry or even own a gun, but then he can pay others to keep him safe with their guns.  Why he trusts them but doesn't trust me remains a mystery.

'Gray Matter'-Deficient Americans.  [Scroll down]  For all his later denials and efforts to contextualize those remarks, Bloomberg seems to see both ancient and modern agriculture, and farmers, as either unskilled or not very smart, as if the genetically inferior gravitate to muscular labor far from the "skill sets" of those like Mike Bloomberg.  He certainly has no idea about either the sophistication of ancient agriculture or the high-tech savvy of contemporary farmers — much less just how difficult it is, and always was, to produce food, much less that history is so often the story of mass famine rather than bounty and plenty.

Michael Bloomberg: 'I'm Not a Big Fan of Everybody Having Guns.  Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, a 2020 Democratic Party presidential hopeful, said Sunday [2/23/2020] on MSNBC's "PoliticsNation" that he was not a fan of everyone having a gun.  Bloomberg said, "The whole issue of getting guns off the streets, I've fought the NRA tooth and nail, and I continue to do that, and we have this organization of 6 million people, Every Town it's called or Mom's Demand Action around the country to get good laws, background checks, so you don't sell guns to minors, people with psychiatric problems or people with criminal records.  They shouldn't be able to buy a gun.  I'm not a big fan of everybody having guns.  But The Second Amendment gives you the right.  I can't do anything about that."

A Bloomberg-Clinton Conspiracy To Shaft Bernie?  Is there a conspiracy between former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Hillary Clinton to stop Bernie Sanders?  I'm beginning to smell a rat!  Here's how it would work:  After Bloomberg's disastrous debate performance on Wednesday, he has no realistic chance at winning the nomination by amassing primary victories.  Nor does Joe Biden after his shellackings in Iowa and New Hampshire.  But they do have a good shot of denying Sanders a first ballot majority if they both stay in the race and Bloomberg's checks continue to flow.  And, if Warren, Buttigieg, and Klobuchar stay in the race, winning smaller vote shares, so much the better.

The Coming Bloomberg-Sanders Train Wreck.  While Michael Bloomberg's Nevada debate performance was justly and widely panned, he attacked Bernie Sanders effectively, demonstrating he's probably the only candidate who can derail the Vermont senator's nomination.  By the same token, Sanders can wreck Bloomberg's hopes by mobilizing his own base against the billionaire at the convention or even running as an independent candidate.  Each man has the ability to take the other one down, and that dynamic is the key to who eventually wins the nomination.  The sudden ascent of Bloomberg to the top ranks of Democrat contenders is generating plenty of speculation about machinations within the party to derail Sanders, quash the Democrat far left, or sacrifice the presidency in return for down-ticket success.  Such conspiratorial speculation is natural, but it requires assumptions about backroom plotting for which there is little or no evidence.  Better to go with what we can see with our own eyes, which suggests that, whether by design or accident, Bloomberg has the capacity to severely damage Sanders and vice versa.

Can Bloomberg ever recover from his disastrous debate debut?  Michael Bloomberg is at the crux of a battle of clichés.  America may be the land of second chances, but you never get a second chance to make a first impression.  The level of saturation of Bloomberg's television advertising actually is working against him now.  Few are potential voters who have not been bombarded with the theme that "Mike can get it done," featuring a candidate who appears strong yet accessible, powerful but caring.  However in Las Vegas, Bloomberg pulled back his own curtain, having bribed the DNC to change its rules and allow him onstage, and Americans saw an uncertain-yet-imperious, cold, little man being bullied and out-talked by Elizabeth Warren, mumbling excuses for non-disclosure agreements that lasted just a few days until the mighty oligarch capitulated to the fake Native American.  The stark contrast between what the ads promised and what the reality delivered will take roughly forever to fade from memory.

Ex-Bill Clinton adviser:  Bloomberg and Hillary cooking up 'scheme' for her to become Democratic nominee.  A former adviser to President Bill Clinton speculated that Michael Bloomberg and Hillary Clinton are plotting a way for her to become the 2020 Democratic nominee even though she's not in the race.  "Here's the deal that I think is going down.  I think Hillary and Bloomberg have gotten together and cooked up a scheme," Dick Morris told John Catsimatidis on The Cats Roundtable radio show on Sunday [2/23/2020].  He said Bloomberg would stay in the race, even if he has no chance of winning, in an effort to get at least enough support to keep Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders from running away with the nomination.

Not good enough,' Warren says of Bloomberg's non-disclosure agreement pledge.  Democratic U.S. presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg said on Friday that his company has identified three women bound by non-disclosure agreements regarding his past conduct and that they would be released from their accords if they choose.

TV Networks, Led By CNN And MSNBC, Have Aired Misleading Bloomberg Ad More Than 70 Times.  TV networks, led by CNN and MSNBC, have aired a Michael Bloomberg ad more than 70 times in recent days in which the 2020 Democratic presidential hopeful falsely said he led New York City through 9/11.  "I led a complex, diverse city through 9/11, and I have common sense plans to move America away from chaos to progress," Bloomberg said in a 30-second campaign ad called "It Won't Work."  The problem with the claim is that Bloomberg did not take over as mayor of the Big Apple until Jan. 1, 2002, several months after terrorists flew airplanes into the World Trade Center towers in Manhattan.  Rudolph Giuliani served as mayor when the attacks occurred.

Bloomberg's China Apologetics Should Disqualify Him from the Presidency.  Michael Bloomberg has a China problem, and his Democratic opponents, the media, and President Trump should harp on it relentlessly:  Bloomberg's accommodating stance toward China contradicts the emerging foreign-policy consensus on China, as well as the plain evidence before our eyes.  For decades, the conventional wisdom in Washington was that China's economic liberalization would lead to political liberalization.  It was always odd that this theory caught on.  The same theory had been au courant in Central and Eastern Europe in the 1980s, and in the end political revolution proceeded economic liberalization there.  Nevertheless, Western policymakers clung to the notion that rising fortunes would create a Chinese middle class with the clout to successfully demand basic freedoms.

Report: Bloomberg accusers too scared to speak out on alleged harassment due to legal backlash.  A number of women accusing Democrat presidential candidate Mike Bloomberg of sexism and sexual harassment have said they want to speak out, but are afraid of possible repercussions.  According to recent reports, non-disclosure agreements (NDA) restrict the women from saying anything bad about their former employer.  The NDA's are tied to about 17 lawsuits which have claimed Bloomberg made crude and sexist comments about women as well as fueled that culture within his company.

Bloomberg's other campaign in Texas.  On Super Tuesday, Michael Bloomberg will probably come in third in the Texas primary.  He will lose to Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden.  Bloomberg is doing something else in Texas:  spending money on gun control. [...] Texas is not the super-red state of yesterday, but I don't see any evidence that Democrats in Texas want to give up their guns.

Bloomberg: The Democrat Man behind the Curtain.  Why is former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg running for president?  It's not to win.  Bloomberg is in this to affect down-ballot races.  Vermont senator and stretch limousine liberal Bread Line Bernard Sanders would likely be disastrous for the Democrats down-ballot, and they know that.  With Bloomberg, the Democrats are hoping for a 2014-type scenario, where they win the House and Senate, while the other party has the presidency — the way the GOP won both the House and Senate in 2014.  Bloomberg is enough of a hodgepodge candidate to flip some seats blue; he's ideal for many Democrat voters, as he stands for nothing and stands for everything — the most dangerous type of politician.  Bloomberg won't win the general election versus President Trump, but he's not in it to win it — he's in it to drive Democrat voters to the purple U.S. House district elections (there are dozens of purple House seats up for grabs, including in Texas) and U.S. Senate races in several states Trump won in 2016.

Michael Bloomberg, Arrogant Elitist.  There is a YouTube video featuring Michael Bloomberg speaking at the University of Oxford on the verge of Trump's inauguration in December 2016.  The video reveals much about Bloomberg's beliefs and thinking:  He is dismissive of the working class, seeing them as ignorant and insufficiently intelligent to be able to find useful work in this advanced technological age.  He sees himself as a member of an intellectual elite.  And the voters will quickly grasp his real opinion of them.  They are unlikely to vote for someone who sees them as serfs in need of guidance and patronage from nobility such as himself.  In three years, Donald Trump has blown apart Bloomberg's theory that the working class is composed of useless oafs.  Under Trump's policies, the workers that Bloomberg wrote off have found jobs and it wasn't necessary for the government to hire them with make-work programs.

Bet on Mike Bloomberg to spend even more to recover from debate disaster.  It's been said that once a man makes bishop in the church or general in the army he never again eats a bad meal — nor will he ever be contradicted to his face.  This probably goes for billionaires, too — because if there was one crystal-clear takeaway from Wednesday's debate, it's that nobody's been giving Mike Bloomberg any guff for a very long time.  He got a face-full in Vegas; he was startled by it, he was irritated by it, he didn't handle it well — and now the questions are:  Can he recover a credible debate form?  Did he ever have one?  Either way, America is still likely to find out whether the Democratic Party is for sale — and perhaps the presidency, too.

Bloomberg Has Poured Nearly $500 Million Into Campaign [and now] Stands At 12% In Latest Poll.  Michael Bloomberg has a lot of money; by most estimates his net worth tops $60 billion.  But he's burning through cash fast as the upstart candidate running for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination.  The former New York City mayor has spent more than $463 million in the first two months of his campaign, according to a report filed to the Federal Election Commission.  In January alone, Bloomberg dumped $220 million of his own money into his campaign — an average of more than $7 million per day.  Those expenditures including $126 million on TV ads and $45 million in online advertising.

Bloomberg openly plans to win the Dems' nomination by a brokered convention in Milwaukee.  The pieces are falling in place for a complete debacle for the Democrats, up to and including a convention walkout and riots if Michael Bloomberg's plans to gain the nomination succeed.  Under that scenario, an embittered radical wing of the party convinced that they have been betrayed in favor of a greedy plutocrat would not provide the necessary votes to defeat President Trump's ambitions for a second term.  More likely, they would back a third-party radical candidate, or stay home.  But not before rioting in protest on a scale that would make the riots at the 1968 Chicago Democratic Convention that torpedoed the campaign of Hubert Humphrey look like a garden party.

Bloomberg [is] quietly plotting [a] brokered convention strategy.  Mike Bloomberg is privately lobbying Democratic Party officials and donors allied with his moderate opponents to flip their allegiance to him — and block Bernie Sanders — in the event of a brokered national convention.  The effort, largely executed by Bloomberg's senior state-level advisers in recent weeks, attempts to prime Bloomberg for a second-ballot contest at the Democratic National Convention in July by poaching supporters of Joe Biden and other moderate Democrats, according to two Democratic strategists familiar with the talks and unaffiliated with Bloomberg.

Michael Bloomberg spent over $200M on campaign in January.  Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is spending money at breakneck speed as he seeks the Democratic presidential nomination.  The billionaire spent $220 million in January, the same dollar amount he spent from November, when Bloomberg announced his campaign, through December, according to a Federal Election Commission filing.

Debate shrank Mini Mike.  Every wanted to see Mini Mike faceplant in last night's debate.  He did not disappoint.  He went splat.  He was boring and looked like Bela Lugosi.  Mini Mike hoped to capitalize on this one big line:  "What a wonderful country we have.  The best known socialist in the country happens to be a millionaire with three houses.  What did I miss?" This ticked off Breadline Bernie.  Some reporters scored it for Mini Mike, but Bernie getting red-faced angry at a billionaire should please the socialist majority in the party, should it not?  And that is the audience for this campaign.  The press and conservatives overlook that.  What amuses reporters or conservatives does not matter.  How this plays to Democrat primary voters is all that counts.

List: 32 Bloomberg Bans as Mayor of NYC.  On New Year's Eve 2013, Gizmodo published a list if compiled of 32 Bloomberg bans, some of which were overturned or merely promoted by Mayor Bloomberg.  The majority of bans fell into one of three categories: smoking, transportation and food/beverage — but, music, grass clippings and heating oils were also targeted, the list reveals.

Bloomberg Bombs in Vegas Debut.  Bloomberg, who decided to skip the early voting primary and caucus states in favor of delegate-rich Super Tuesday, wasn't ready for prime time.  He seemed detached, unprepared, and out of touch with working-class voters.  The media and financial mogul was surging before Wednesday night, but limped away from the stage having accomplished the opposite of what he set out to do.  The much-ballyhooed billionaire, touted as the savior who could rescue the Democratic Party from itself — or rather, from its insurgent socialist wing — and take the fight to Donald Trump with an endless supply of cash, took a beating from the other candidates and the debate moderators.  And the end of the night it must have seemed apparent to him that he'd brought a wallet to a knife fight.

The Democrat Left is cruel and sadistic.  Now joining our immature and cruel left is mini-Mike Bloomberg, perhaps the most tone-deaf Democrat candidate yet.  He's an elitist snob if there ever were one.  The thirty-year history of his utterances, his intolerance of nearly all of us for one reason or another, is appalling.  He too is not only unkind, but ruthless, and he thinks so little of the American people that he believes he can literally purchase the presidency.  The Democrats are indeed a cold-blooded bunch of wannabe tyrants; Bloomberg is just less circumspect about his sadism. [...] All Republicans, all conservatives, had better vote this November like their lives and freedom depend on it because they do.  Bloomberg got away with limiting the size of sodas and NY City's salt intake.  Imagine what lengths he would go to in order to control our lives if president.

Michael Bloomberg's campaign implodes onstage in Nevada Democratic debate.  Mike Bloomberg's millions in campaign spending flew right out the window Wednesday night [2/19/2020].  The billionaire's self-bankrolled presidential bid was torn to shreds in the opening minutes of Wednesday's Democratic debate as his opponents skewered him for his checkered past on sexual harassment and his record on stop-and-frisk.  Each candidate on the Las Vegas stage attacked Bloomberg right out the gate, and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren made the former Big Apple mayor visibly squirm and roll his eyes in frustration.  "I'd like to talk about who we're running against, a billionaire who calls women 'fat broads' and 'horse-faced lesbians,'" she said from the Paris Theater.

CNN Calls It: 'Bloomberg Was Awful,' 'Titanic, Meet Iceberg,' Fist to His Face.  The first three words of CNN's analysis after Wednesday's Nevada Democratic presidential debate, provided by chief political analyst Gloria Borger, summed up the panel's consensus:  "Bloomberg was awful."  Whether it was comparisons to the Titanic or getting punched in the face, the criticism only got worse as the liberal panel began to mock former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg for being grossly unprepared to field the obvious questions about his record.

The Billionaire And The 'Moderates' Are Socialists Too.  Socialism vs. centrism is a charade.  The only choice among all these candidates is between Bernie and Bernie Lite. [...] Bloomberg, with his strong authoritarian tendencies, seeking to dictate what size soda New Yorkers are allowed to drink and imposing aggressive police tactics — two policies that were both knocked down by the courts — may actually be the most frightening Democrat of all.  Because if he could do the harm he's done with tens of billions of dollars of his own money, imagine if he were allowed to spend trillions of dollars of other people's money.

Mike Bloomberg:  The Incredible Shrinking Candidate.  [Scroll down]  The whole debate offers an astonishing indictment of the current Democrat party that a guy like Mr. Bloomberg can rocket to the top of the heap without a single day of actual campaigning and in spite of his political record.  Just a few elections back, he endorsed former President George W. Bush, a Republican, for re-election. [Indeed], Mr. Bloomberg himself was a Republican more recently than that.  And in 2012, Mr. Bloomberg only begrudgingly endorsed former President Barack Obama — a Democrat — for re-election just days before the election.  Today, of course, Mr. Bloomberg is running tens of millions of dollars worth of ads claiming that he was a crucial right-hand man of Mr. Obama's during his presidency.

Bloomberg campaign paying workers $2,500 per month to promote Bloomberg through texts, social media.  Former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg is ramping up his spending in California, paying staffers to promote him through social media posts and text messages to friends and family.  Bloomberg's campaign is hiring more than 500 "deputy digital organizers" in California for this purpose.  The Wall Street Journal first reported that these "deputy digital organizers" will work between 20 and 30 hours a week, making $2,500 a month.

The Bloom Is Off.  The attacks on Michael Bloomberg came early and often at Wednesday's debate in Las Vegas, but none of them, of course, touched on his infamous "kill it" comment to a pregnant subordinate.  No, the party of abortion at all stages wasn't going to touch that one.  Instead, Elizabeth Warren focused on Bloomberg's thoughts about "horse-faced lesbians" and "fat broads." Bloomberg has paid advisers millions of dollars to prepare him for just such moments, but he still acted like he was answering the challenges for the first time.  He came off as cold and flat-footed — the unlikeable technocrat trying woodenly to make himself palatable to a left-wing audience with half-hearted answers.

How The Ruling Class Might Elect Bloomberg and Realign American Politics.  The Democratic Party's establishment might well succeed in making Michael Bloomberg president of the United States — not on Election Night 2020, however.  But it could happen if a third party were to win some electoral votes and, with no candidate receiving a majority of them, the House of Representatives was called upon to choose between the top-two electoral vote-getters.  Today's civil war within the Democratic Party makes it possible that two candidates will come from it:  Bernie Sanders for the Woke Left, and Bloomberg for the establishment.  In that case, enough establishment Republicans in the House might join their establishment Democratic colleagues to defeat Trump.  This would realign U.S. politics: a consolidated, single, left-trending establishment party would rule, opposed by the extreme Left as well as by the Right.

Bloomberg Recommended Confronting Native American Tribes with Cowboy Hat, Shotgun.  Democratic presidential hopeful Mike Bloomberg suggested the governor of New York don a cowboy hat and stare down Native American tribes with a shotgun over a disagreement on cigarette taxes.  Bloomberg, who had then just been elected to a third term as mayor of New York City, made the insensitive comments during his weekly segment on WOR 710-AM with John Gambling in August 2010.  At the time, then-New York governor David Patterson was proposing to tax cigarettes sold on Native American reservations in hopes of raising revenue to fill the state's budget deficit.

Bloomberg in debate:  Billions of dollars, zero vision.  Michael Bloomberg had a lot of bad moments in his first debate as a Democratic candidate for president.  He had little to say when Elizabeth Warren slammed him for having called some women, at various times in the past, "fat broads" and "horse-faced lesbians."  He seemed conflicted about stop-and-frisk.  He was weak when confronted with his practice of making some women who worked for him sign non-disclosure agreements.  But even with all that, Bloomberg saved the worst for last.

Imagine That — Mini Mike Bloomberg Qualifies for Nevada DNC Debate With Lift From NBC Poll.  On the eve of the Nevada Democrat presidential primary debate, the financier of the 2020 DNC Club magically happens to qualify thanks to an NBC poll.  You couldn't write a more transparently obvious DNC Club road-map, and get people to believe it. [...] To be fair, this needs to happen.  Bloomberg needs to finally stand in front of his peers and take the heat.  However, the transparency of the road-map being deployed by the Club is stunning in its brazen deployment.  Bernie Sanders supporters have to see how transparent this manipulative scheme from the professional DNC class really has become.

Panicked Democrat Establishment Turns To Bloomberg.  This wasn't how the 2020 race was supposed to be.  The establishment had a plan to take back control of Washington, D.C. Donald Trump had seized control and they needed to get it back.  After surveying the options, the plan was to give Joe Biden, President Obama's vice president, the nomination.  The media did their part, suppressing negative messaging about the 77-year-old who has never won a presidential primary or caucus.  They pushed an impeachment designed to suppress President Trump's numbers heading into the election year.  Instead, it helped Trump and hurt Democrats.

Bloomberg Is Now 'Highest Spending Presidential Candidate of All Time'.  Liberal billionaire 2020 presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg is willing to spend $2 billion to defeat President Donald Trump, and he continues to put his money where his mouth is.  Advertising Analytics, which provides information on advertising spending, said in a tweet that "@MikeBloomberg is the highest spending presidential candidate of all time."  Bloomberg has apparently spent a jaw-dropping "$338.7M on traditional media, surpassing @BarackObama's 2012 record of $338.3M," Advertising Analytics said Feb. 18.  The billionaire has poured an unheard of $401 million into his personal campaign within just the first three months of his bid.  All of it came from his own wallet.  He spent over $180 million in the first month alone.

Mike Bloomberg's supremely materialistic, anti-human ideology.  Bloomberg's odd apology for China's authoritarian communist regime is not some weird blind spot.  His embrace of stop-and-frisk policing was not just some New York City thing.  And his nanny-statism on sodas, cigarettes, and trans fats is not merely an over-enthusiasm for clean living.  Nor is Bloomberg an inconsistent thinker or some nonideological independent.  He has a very clear view of the world that underlies his economic policies, his social policies, his personal life, and his behavior.  Bloomberg's ideology is neither left nor right.  Instead, his worldview is supremely materialistic, and ultimately inhuman.  In Bloomberg's eyes, any talk of the dignity of the human person is mawkish sentimentality.  Mike Bloomberg doesn't see people as ends in themselves, but instead as means to ends.

Michael Bloomberg Proposed Ban on Baby Formula as NYC Mayor.  As New York City mayor, Michael Bloomberg demanded that mothers breastfeed their babies and insisted hospitals keep baby formula under lock and key.  In 2012, the current Democrat presidential candidate created the "Latch On" initiative, which exerted control over a mother's decision on how to feed her baby.

No, Michael Bloomberg will not 'Get It Done'.  One of Wall Street's biggest complaints is congressional binge spending.  Bloomberg and his Democrats would only make matters worse and tank the market.  They'd first make sure they were out of the market and then pick up the pieces for a song.  Bloomberg is an internationalist in the Soros mold, as are Sanders/Ocasio-Cortez socialists.  That's a combination this country can't afford.  The Federal Reserve wouldn't be able to print money fast enough to cover the astronomical costs.  Hyperinflation is death.  Donald Trump's total wealth is a small fraction of Bloomberg's.  I bring this up because asset divestiture will certainly be a requirement should Bloomberg get the nod in Milwaukee this summer.  They don't make mattresses that big, however.

Bloomberg Accused of Helping Communist China Suppress Embarrassing News Stories.  Writing at the Intercept on Tuesday, Leta Hong Fincher described herself as "one of the many women Mike Bloomberg's company tried to silence through nondisclosure agreements," even though she never actually worked for Bloomberg's companies.  Her husband did, however, and according to Fincher, Bloomberg brought enormous pressure to bear against the couple to suppress news reports that were embarrassing to Communist China.

Bloomberg Once Called Excessive Spending on Campaign Ads 'Obscene'.  Billionaire Michael Bloomberg has already poured hundreds of millions of dollars into his last-minute presidential bid, but the 2020 Democratic hopeful once described multimillion-dollar ad campaigns as "obscene" spending that would "annoy people."  Bloomberg dismissed 2001 reports that he would spend upward of $30 million on his initial run for mayor in New York City.  "At some point, you start to look obscene," Bloomberg told New York magazine.  "There's a limited amount of ad time you can buy.  It becomes dysfunctional; you annoy people with ads."  Bloomberg went on to spend $73 million on his mayoral campaign, outspending his Democratic challenger Mark Green five-to-one.

'Isn't that called a payoff?': Trump accuses Bloomberg of 'illegal campaign' contributions.  President Trump accused former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg of trying to buy the presidency and claimed the billionaire was guilty of illegal campaign spending.  "What Mini Mike is doing is nothing less than a large scale illegal campaign contribution," Trump tweeted Tuesday.  "He is 'spreading' money all over the place, only to have recipients of his cash payments, many former opponents, happily joining or supporting his campaign.  Isn't that called a payoff?"

Bloomberg prepared to sell media empire for billions on 2020 win.  Billionaire businessman and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg — who is among the 2020 contenders — is prepared to divest his company if he wins the White House in November.  "If elected President, Mike will sell the company," a spokeswoman confirmed to FOX Business on Tuesday.  The plans were first reported by The Wall Street Journal.  In January 2019, before Bloomberg officially entered the race the following November, FOX Business reported that employees at the organization had been raising conflict-of-interest questions in regards to what Bloomberg will do with the media empire if he did run.

The Rise of Democratic Idiocracy.  [Scroll down]  Conveniently disavowing the conservative governing principles he embraced to great advantage while serving as mayor of New York, Bloomberg has tried to fall right in line with current Democratic talking points.  But an unexpected audio clip of him enthusiastically defending effective 'stop-and frisk' practice some years ago has given lie to his credibility as a minority-loving candidate in the Democratic mold.  His advertising theme is emblematic of the difficulties the Democrats face:  "Mike will get it done."  Get what done?  Reduce unemployment, especially in the minority community?  Increase wages?  Reduce minority poverty and their need for food stamps?  Make us energy independent, immune from worldwide oil shocks?  To "Get it done," Mike will have to create a new Bizarro world, a world where everything is different.  In the real world — the one where we all live — President Trump has already gotten it done.

Mike Bloomberg said 'many black and Latino males' don't 'know how to behave in the workplace'.  Michael Bloomberg is again under fire for his problematic comments on race, with a resurfaced video showing the 2020 Presidential hopeful claiming that many young black and Latino men 'don't know how to behave in the workforce'.  The billionaire, 78, made the assertion during a 2011 interview with PBS, which is now going viral amidst outrage over Bloomberg's other controversial remarks.

Bloomberg's 'mercenaries': Billionaire Dem funding network of climate lawyers inside state AG offices.  A program funded by 2020 presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg is paying the salaries of lawyers who are farmed out to liberal state attorney general offices to pursue climate-based litigation — a compact critics say amounts to Bloomberg buying state law enforcement employees to advance his preferred political agenda.  The arrangement, which currently pays the salaries of Special Assistant Attorneys General (SAAGs) in 10 Democratic AG offices, is drawing new scrutiny now that Bloomberg is running for president.  The New York University School of Law's State Energy & Environmental Impact Center, which was started in 2017 with $5.6 million from Bloomberg's nonprofit, hires mid-career lawyers as "research fellows" before providing them to state AGs where they assist in pursuing "progressive" policy goals through the courts.

Victor Davis Hanson destroys Bloomberg for his ignorant remarks denigrating the skills and intelligence of farmers.  Victor Davis Hanson is the perfect person to refute the arrogance of former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who denigrated the "grey matter" needed by farmers in now-infamous remarks to a group of elitists at Aspen.  Hanson is not only a brilliant historian of ancient Greece and a political commentator with few if any peers, he is also a fifth-generation farmer.  He understands the skills and brainpower needed to be an academic or other elite member of the analytical class, and he understands the skill sets and brainpower needed to be a successful farmer today.  And in his mind, there is no contest.  This is absolutely must-see TV.  [Video clip]

Bloomberg's spending binge cannot hide that he's a nasty bit of work.  Former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg is currently trying to buy the Democrat nomination.  His spending doesn't just buy recognition; it keeps him from having to appear in person, revealing how nasty he is.

Bloomberg's China Conflict of Interest.  The inevitable cratering of Joe Biden's campaign, accelerated by the impeachment fiasco orchestrated by Nancy Pelosi and the inexorable rise of Bernie Sanders, has caused the Ruling Class to turn their lonely eyes to a hoped-for savior, Michael Bloomberg.  But along with Bloomberg comes his de facto business partner and long-time close ally:  China, a nation determined to destabilize American security, prosperity and freedom while growing more tyrannical and secretive internally and more dangerous than ever externally as it faces a potential economic and societal cataclysm.

Michael Bloomberg comes under fire for dig at farming suggesting it's easy.  Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg appeared dismissive of America's farmers, claiming he could teach 'anybody' to be a farmer.  The Boston area native made the comments at the University of Oxford while discussing how an ancient agrarian society transformed into an information-driven economy — of the kind that helped him become the billionaire head of a media technology empire.  'The agrarian society lasted 3,000 years and we could teach processes.  I could teach anybody, even people in this room, no offense intended, to be a farmer,' Bloomberg said during his 2016 remarks.

Video of Bloomberg belittling farming, factory work as jobs requiring less 'gray matter'.  It's beginning to look as though the Trump campaign won't have to work that hard to defeat Michael Bloomberg, should he become the Democratic nominee.  Bloomberg has already done the work for them.  Each day a new video or story springs up that casts the former New York City mayor in a negative light.

Bloomberg campaign downplays report he is considering Hillary Clinton as running mate.  Billionaire Mike Bloomberg's presidential campaign on Saturday downplayed a report that he is considering 2016 Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton as his pick for vice president.  The Drudge Report, citing a source close to Bloomberg's campaign, reported that Clinton was under consideration after internal polling found that a Bloomberg-Clinton ticket would be a "formidable force."

Go Ahead Bloomberg, Name Hillary As Your Running Mate.  We Dare You!  [Scroll down]  Drudge went so far as to claim sources placed so close to the former NYC mayor he stated Bloomberg was admitting he was willing to move his residence to Florida or Colorado to escape the electoral college dilemma of the president and veep being from the same state.  The New York Post reporting breathlessly on the same story literally broke the internet with the amount of celebrity retweet/reactions it garnered.  Actor James Woods parroting a well-timed (if not grossly overused) meme of "Death Wish..."  (A not so subtle reminder that people die mysteriously around the Clintons — especially when standing between them and the ascension to power).

More about The Clinton Body Count.

Despite What You've Heard, Bloomberg Is No Centrist.  On issue after issue, Bloomberg is as radical, or slightly less so, than socialist Bernie Sanders.  In fact, on taxes, health care, the environment, gun control, there is little light between the two.  Here's a rundown.  Taxing the "rich":  Bloomberg wants to raise the top rate back to 39.6%, impose a 5% surtax on incomes above $5 million, and tax capital gains as ordinary income for those making more than $1 million.  He'd also sharply raise taxes on inherited wealth, and hike corporate taxes.  All of which is nearly identical to what Sanders proposes.  Environmental extremism:  Bloomberg is as radical as Sanders when it comes to fighting "climate change."  He promises to cut carbon dioxide emissions in half in a decade, and — ditto Sanders — completely decarbonize the nation by 2050.  It's a goal that, if attempted, would destroy the economy.  Minimum wage hikes:  Bloomberg, like Sanders, wants to impose a job-killing $15 federal minimum [w]age.

The Editor says...
Carbon dioxide is not carbon.  Nobody will ever "completely decarbonize the nation."

Presidential Hopeful Michael Bloomberg Turns 78 as Top Democrat Candidates Near 80.  Former New York City Mayor and presidential hopeful Michael Bloomberg (D) celebrated his 78th birthday on Friday, emphasizing the increasing reality that the top tier of Democrat candidates is inching toward 80 years of age.  Bloomberg, born February 14, 1942, turned 78 on Friday.  Now that recent national polls — as reflected in the RealClearPolitics average — show the billionaire in the top tier of Democrat candidates, one can officially say that three septuagenarians are the front-runners in the Democrat primary race.

Another Verbal Oops:  Michael Bloomberg Has Said That Teachers Unions Are Extremists Like The NRA.  Bloomberg back in 2013, while he was still Mayor of New York City, defended his controversial policy of stop and frisk but also called teachers unions and civil libertarian groups "extremists" just like the NRA.

Bloomberg/Clinton Would Be The Most Anti-Gun Ticket In History.  Are you ready for Bloomberg/Clinton 2020?  I'm not sure the nation's firearms industry could handle the surge in demand such a pairing would cause, but according to Matt Drudge, the anti-gun billionaire is considering the possibility after internal polling by the Bloomberg campaign showed the pair would be "a formidable force."  Bloomberg's been getting a lot of attention in the wake of Joe Biden's face plant in Iowa and New Hampshire, and has closed the gap in polling over the last few weeks, aided by his massive spending.

Bloomberg Explains How Healthcare will Bankrupt Us Unless We Deny Care to the Elderly.  A new video posted on Sunday shows former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg explaining how healthcare will "bankrupt us," unless we deny care to the elderly.  [Video clip]

The Editor says...
One could easily surmise that Mr. Bloomberg will insist on the finest medical care for himself, should the need arise, even though he's nearly 80 already.

Mike Bloomberg belittles farming, factory jobs as having less 'gray matter' in video.  Former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg once said that farming and factory jobs don't require much gray matter, as opposed to information-era jobs.  In a 2016 talk at Oxford University in England, a clip of which went viral over the weekend, the 2020 Democratic presidential contender belittled both agricultural and industrial jobs as simple and simplistic.  "I could teach anybody, even the people in this room" to be a farmer, he said, calling agriculture "a process."

Michael Bloomberg's employees created a book purportedly full of his offensive quotes.  Michael Bloomberg's presidential campaign has struggled to fully address the nominee's well-documented history with women and people of color.  One key aspect of that struggle is Bloomberg's own company, Bloomberg LP.  Indeed, some of the candidate's purportedly most outrageous remarks were originally memorialized by his own employees in an actual booklet that has been passed around, samizdat-style, for decades by his former staffers, journalists, and political operatives.  The booklet — "The Portable Bloomberg:  The Wit and Wisdom of Michael Bloomberg" — was crafted by Bloomberg LP employees looking to roast their boss by compiling his allegedly most crude, sexist, and seemingly off-color quips over the years.  It was presented to him as a gift for his 48th birthday, on Valentine's Day 1990.

The Revolution Will Be Subsidized By Bloomberg.  The apparent disagreements among the "centrist" and "radical" Democratic presidential candidates are not significant or substantial.  In the end, they will unite and depend on Mike Bloomberg's billions of dollars to take down President Trump.  Mr. "Stop-and-Frisk" has already pledged $2 billion or more to do so.  This makes Trump beatable.  If you don't think money matters, look at Bloomberg's rise in the polls based on millions of dollars of commercials alone.  Bloomberg is not a socialist but a technocrat prepared to usher in a socialist state.  He wants to bring "Stop-and-Frisk" to all of us, on a nationwide basis.  This means getting shoved up against a wall and losing our economic, political, and personal freedoms.

Mike Bloomberg 'wants Hillary Clinton as his running mate', sources close to his campaign tell Drudge.  Mike Bloomberg is considering making Hillary Clinton his running mate, a source close to his campaign has told Drudge Report.  Polling found the Bloomberg-Clinton combination would be a formidable force to take on Trump in the race for the White House, the source said.  Former New York City Mayor and Democratic candidate Bloomberg is said to be considering even changing his official residence from New York to Colorado or Florida, where he also has homes, because the electoral college makes it difficult for US president and vice-president to reside in the same state.

Another Reason Why Bloomberg Will Never Be President.  Michael Bloomberg's campaign has leaked to the Drudge Report that Bloomberg is considering asking Hillary Clinton to be his running mate.  This story doesn't have much significance, on its face; the fact that a candidate is "considering" something isn't exactly news.  But it does reflect a few things:  [#1] I take it that Bloomberg is trying to beef up his bona fides as a "real" Democrat. [...] [#2] The Democrats still don't seem to understand what a terrible candidate Clinton was in 2016.  She was unlikable, she had nothing new to offer on the issues, and she was not physically up to the rigors of a campaign.  And now she is four years older.

The Editor says...
It would take a brave man to run for President and invite Hillary Clinton to be Vice-President, considering all the bad things that seem to happen to those who get in Hillary's way.

Michael Bloomberg's nonmarriage is not a great example.  Michael Bloomberg can live his life however he wants.  (I wish he would extend that same liberty to the rest of us.)  But we in the media ought not celebrate his 20-year relationship with his lady-friend whom he won't marry.

Bloomberg Adviser Gets Short With NYT Reporter About Candidate's Height.  A Michael Bloomberg adviser was cut down to size by a New York Times reporter Thursday after trying to claim the Democratic presidential candidate was not self-conscious about his height.  Times White House correspondent Maggie Haberman disputed one reporter's claim that the Bloomberg campaign was secretly happy about President Donald Trump calling the former New York City mayor a "5'4" mass of dead energy."  "The height thing is one of the few things that actually bothers the candidate," Haberman said in a tweet.

Why Is Bloomberg's Long History of Egregious Sexism Getting a Pass?  In December 2015, employees at Everytown for Gun Safety, the gun control organization funded by Mike Bloomberg, arrived at work to find a holiday gift on their desks from their employer: the former mayor's 1997 autobiography, Bloomberg by Bloomberg.  Flipping through the book, staffers found themselves uncomfortably reading their billionaire founder's boasts about keeping "a girlfriend in every city" and other womanizing exploits as a Wall Street up-and-comer.  "A few people started immediately going through it and sending the cringe-iest parts around on email chains," one former Everytown employee told me.  "Hardly the most controversial things he's said, but it's still a bad look."  Indeed, Bloomberg's casual boasts about his sex life in his own autobiography are now some of the least problematic parts of the his candidacy for president.

NYT's Thomas Friedman Begs Dems to Nominate 'Moderate Progressive' Bloomberg.  You know politics have gotten weird when a liberal New York Times columnist begs Democrat voters to abandon Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) in favor of nominating Michael Bloomberg to lead the Democratic ticket.  Times columnist Thomas L. Friedman wrote a wacky February 11, op-ed headlined "Paging Michael Bloomberg."  In the piece, Friedman suggested Bloomberg, owner of Bloomberg News, was more capable of appealing "to independents, moderate Republicans and suburban women" than self-proclaimed democratic socialist Sanders.  Friedman was determined to get Democrats not to nominate Sanders:  "Please, Democrats, don't tell me you need Sanders's big, ill-thought-through, revolutionary grand schemes to get inspired and mobilized for this election."

Leaked Audio of Bloomberg Stop and Frisk Support Goes Viral.  Five years ago, while speaking at the Aspen Institute, Michael Bloomberg defended his stance on "stop and frisk" which his mayoral administration strongly supported.  The audio was unearthed by Progressive podcast host Benjamin Dixon, and it quickly went viral.  While some may support the policy of "stop and frisk," many on the left see it as a highly racist policy, and others even go as far as to call it racial terrorism.

The Democrats:  A Corrupt, Insane Posse Masquerading as a Political Party.  Some viewing the weak field of Democratic contenders are placing their bets on another old White Male Hope — the latecomer, billionaire Michael Bloomberg.  He spent $20 million in Iowa to garner 20 votes.  If he seriously campaigns from now to the election, and maintains that spending pattern, I think he'd still lose but it would be a bigger boon for the economy, especially Democrat coders, consultants, pilots of private planes, and ad agencies, than any other stimulus package I can imagine.

If You Think It's Bad for Mainstream Democrats Now, Just Wait.  [Scroll down]  To be sure, if Bloomberg is the last Democrat standing against Sanders, he may well attract substantial support from Democratic elected officials and put up a strong fight.  Still, he would face enormous opposition from the left.  This is, after all, a billionaire who endorsed George W. Bush in 2004.  And while the left has previously whipped itself into an angry frenzy against, successively, O'Rourke, Biden, Harris, and Buttigieg, the rage against Bloomberg would reach a new level.  At that point, the victory scenario would involve a long, bloody struggle all the way to the convention, with the Sanders movement claiming at every step of the way that the party is rigging the race against them, culminating in a convention where his enraged supporters will again try to shout down the proceedings.

Mike Bloomberg:  Those Uneducated Midwest Rubes Are Just Too Stupid for Trans Bathrooms.  Back in 2016, former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg made elitist and demeaning comments about Midwestern rubes who are too uneducated to support transgender bathroom access.  The remarks, which resurfaced on Friday, illustrate the patronizing attitude many pro-transgender activists have toward those who dare to disagree with the view that gender identity overrides biological sex.  Ironically, transgender activists were triggered by how the former mayor insulted the Midwesterners who disagree with them.  Speaking to an audience at Oxford University and addressing the Brexit vote, Bloomberg said, "We, the intelligentsia, the people who could make it into this room, we believe a lot of things in terms of equality and protecting individual rights that make no sense to the vast bulk of people."

Anti-billionaire Bernie has billionaire Bloomberg to worry about.  Bernie Sanders has been agitating against billionaires for years.  From the Senate floor to the presidential campaign trail, Sanders targets the billionaire class and the outsized influence of moneyed interests.  Now, the anti-billionaire candidate may face an extraordinary showdown with a real billionaire.

Bloomberg's naked bid to buy the White House is an assault on democracy.  Former New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg has elbowed himself into the Democratic nomination race solely on the basis of his fortune.  His campaign is high-handed as only a billionaire many times over could even contemplate.  He entered late, is skipping the early contests and hasn't participated in any of the debates to date (although that will change soon, thanks to the Democratic National Committee retrofitting its rules for Bloomberg).  Without more than $50 billion to his name, Bloomberg would almost certainly be running a campaign like another late entrant, former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, who hasn't been heard from.  Bloomberg's political strategy has always been built on the belief that nothing succeeds like excess.  If he wants it, he can buy it; money is no object.

Michael Bloomberg: "it's the job of law enforcement to have guns and to decide when to shoot," not the "average citizen".  After the West Freeway Church of Christ shooting near Fort Worth, where concealed handgun permit holders stopped a mass public shooting, Michael Bloomberg warned that the average citizen shouldn't be carrying guns.

Bloomberg spent $10 million on a Super Bowl ad that was a complete fabrication.  Far-left Democratic presidential candidate Mike Bloomberg is an anti-gun radical.  So, naturally, he ran a $10 million anti-gun Super Bowl commercial Sunday.  The only problem is he gave misleading information about the subject of the ad and he cited incorrect data on gun-related deaths for children that included adults and suicides.  Furthermore, he didn't bother to mention the problems are suicides and gangs, not guns.

Bloomberg's Super Bowl anti-gun ad blows up on him — white billionaire disarming minorities not a good look.  Democratic presidential candidate Mike Bloomberg's $10 million gun control advertisement may not have the impact he was hoping for.  Bloomberg's 60-second commercial touting gun control aired during the 2020 Super Bowl and quickly sparked negative reactions from defenders of the Second Amendment, members of the National Rifle Association and even top Democrat strategists.  The ad focused on the shooting death of a young football player, George Kemp, in 2013. [...] Across the bottom of the screen, the caption read: "2,900 children die from gun violence every year."  Kemp was not a child, but was 20 years old at the time of his death in an incident reportedly gang-related.

Michael Bloomberg's Campaign Spent Over $180,000,000 in First Month of Presidential Bid.  Liberal billionaire Democratic presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg is whipping out ridiculous amounts of cash to beat President Donald Trump in November.  Recent Federal Election Commission records revealed that the campaign for the billionaire owner of Bloomberg News had spent over a whopping $180 million just in the first month of his candidacy, CNBC reported Jan. 31.  "Bloomberg spent more during that month than any of his individual Democratic rivals have raised in total during the cycle," CNBC said.  Bloomberg had also personally contributed over $200 million to his own campaign.

Elizabeth Warren:  DNC 'Shouldn't Change Rules to Let a Billionaire On'.  Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) expressed frustration on Friday that the Democratic National Committee (DNC) removed the donor requirements for upcoming debates — a move that opens the door for Michael Bloomberg (D) to participate.  The DNC is adjusting the requirements to qualify for upcoming debates, raising the polling threshold but ditching the donor requirements altogether.  The move effectively opens the door for Bloomberg, who has been rising in the polls but has been unable to participate in Democrat debates due to the donor requirements and his decision to self-fund his campaign.

Bernie Supporter Michael Moore is Furious at DNC For Supporting Billionaire Mike Bloomberg.  Billionaire Michael Bloomberg spent tens-of-millions in 2017 and 2018 to help elect House democrat candidates.  Additionally, Bloomberg funds various political activist organizations for issue specifics like gun restrictions.  The DNC and Bloomberg are like peas and carrots.  Remember, the DNC are RNC are private clubs.  They can do anything they want, support anyone they want, and disavow anyone they want.  Nothing matters more to the Club boardroom than dollars; and specifically how they can translate those dollars into power.

The Democrat Primary Nomination is Bernie's to Lose — DNC Club Positions Bloomberg.  Democrat presidential candidate Bernie Sanders now leads most polls in the key states where the democrat primary battle will begin.  With the grassroots Bernie-AOC wing carrying all the enthusiasm and momentum time is running out for the DNC club.  Factually I would argue that Bernie has always led in the polls, but party operatives in alignment with the apparatus of media have manipulated the media poll outcomes in an effort to steer the chosen narrative from the DNC boardroom.  It's just how they roll.  CTH uses alternate matrices to gauge support, including monitoring social media and looking for the club's traditional Astroturf fingerprints.  That said, the dynamic within the factional Democrat party is now quite remarkable.  Despite the transparent hit-jobs by DNC operatives against him, Bernie is in position to win every early state and he has a clear and visible path to the nomination.  But the club has made some conspicuous counter moves.

Michael Bloomberg Isn't Really Running For President, And That Should Worry You.  There is very good reason to believe Michael Bloomberg isn't actually running for president.  Of course, there is plenty of evidence to the contrary.  For one, he declared he is.  He's also hired more than 1,000 staff and is still expanding, offering salaries far above campaign averages.  This week, he became the first of the declared candidates to have campaigned in all 14 states of March 3's Super Tuesday primary battle, and he's spent a quarter billion on political advertising so far.  All would point toward Bloomberg indeed running for president.  But here's the snag:  He wanted to do all of this anyway.  Everything, that is, but the declaration bit.

Why is serial sexist Mike Bloomberg getting away with using NDAs to silence women?  The same woke Left that canceled a scientist for an edgy t-shirt and jumped to smear teenage Trump supporters from Covington Catholic as racists has yet to cancel 2020 Democratic candidate Michael Bloomberg, who actually deserves it.  Apparently, there are different standards for left-wing billionaires who pour their money into anti-Second Amendment advocacy and other liberal causes.

Michael Bloomberg Does Not Rule Out Spending a Whopping $1,000,000,000 to Beat Trump.  The New York Times reported Jan. 11 that Bloomberg "did not rule out spending a billion dollars of his own money on the 2020 presidential race, even if he does not win the Democratic nomination".  The Times noted that Bloomberg would mobilize his "well-financed political operation" to help rivals Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), "despite their sharp policy differences."  Is this attempt to buy the election a showcase of political expediency or just downright obsession?  Bloomberg has already spent a massive $200 million on advertising for his campaign, The Times noted.  He is also spending $10 million on an anti-Trump ad spot for the Super Bowl Feb. 2.

Bloomberg not so popular as presidential candidate.  Over the weekend, I saw a ton of "Bloomberg for president" TV ads.  They were good and probably very expensive.  On the ground in Texas, Mr. Bloomberg got off to an unimpressive start.

Bloomberg is rich, aloof and imperious — is this really what Dems want for president?  The curious campaign of Michael Bloomberg raises a question:  Can a billionaire buy the Democratic nomination?  In his late bid for the nomination that skips the first four contests, which historically launch the nominee, Bloomberg has placed a big bet that big bucks can overcome all.  Bloomberg has a history of short-circuiting the traditional political process and winning.  The hallmarks of his victorious mayoral races in New York City were an overwhelming financial advantage, a blizzard of ads that saturated the airwaves, piecing together a disparate coalition, and little personal contact with voters.

Michael Bloomberg Is Spending All His Money to 'Get Rid of Donald Trump'.  Every cent he has is going toward ousting President Trump, billionaire Michael Bloomberg (D) said Saturday [1/12/2020] in Texas.  "Number one priority is to get rid of Donald Trump.  I'm spending all my money to get rid of Trump.  Do you want me to spend more or less?  End of story," the 2020 presidential hopeful told Reuters during an interview on his campaign bus.

Small showing for Bloomberg rally with Judge Judy despite campaign's big spending.  Former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg claims he is ready to spend more than $1 billion in an effort to oust President Trump, but money may not be bringing supporters to his campaign.  Just 45 people showed up to Bloomberg's latest rally with TV star Judge Judy Sheindlin in Texas on Saturday, according to the New York Post.  "Unlike everyone else in this race, I think what's important is beating Donald Trump," Bloomberg told the sparse crowd of fewer than 50 people in San Antonio.

Michael Bloomberg Spending $10,000,000 for 60-Sec.  Super Bowl Ad.  Liberal billionaire presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg has been putting his money where his mouth is by spending millions on campaign ads attacking President Donald Trump.  Now, he's taking his left-wing campaign message to the Super Bowl.  NBC News reported Jan. 7 that both Bloomberg and Trump "each plan to spend $10 million for advertisements during the telecast of next month's Super Bowl."

How Bloomberg just tanked any possible support from teachers unions.  New York billionaire Michael Bloomberg is playing catchup in terms of getting all of his policy proposals fleshed out and published for public inspection.  But his team has been hard at work trying to get all of their bases covered and this week they're preparing to release his education plan.  A lot of it is fairly standard material by Democratic Party standards, with plenty of free stuff and more taxpayer funding going into the public school system.  But there's one portion of the summary that will definitely set Bloomberg apart from the rest of the field, and probably not in a good way.  Similar to how he ran things as Mayor of New York City, Mike will be throwing his support to charter schools.

Bloomberg sees California as model for U.S..  The Democratic presidential candidate and former New York City mayor likes a lot of what he sees in the Golden State and thinks its efforts on climate change, gun control and criminal justice reform sets a benchmark for other states to emulate.  "I think that California can serve as a great example for the rest of this country," Bloomberg told supporters at the opening of his Angeles headquarters.

The Editor says...
Oh, yes!  California should serve as an example . . . of everything a state shouldn't do!

Mike Bloomberg has spent nearly $15 million to be in your Google search results.  The 77-year-old former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg is running for president, on a centrist-friendly platform that's mainly premised on beating incumbent Donald Trump.  What makes Bloomberg's campaign stand out, however, isn't his positions: it's how much he's spending to get his message out.  Google "impeachment," for example, and you'll probably get an ad at the top of the page that promotes Bloomberg's campaign.  Same goes for "climate change" and "gun safety."  It's all over the place, but it does guarantee the eyeballs of people who are searching for answers related to ongoing political conversations brought up in the race.  And those ads aren't cheap.

Bloomberg: We can't just let 'average' Americans have guns.  Democrats have long wanted to take away guns from Americans, and two candidates for president are making no bones about their plans.  Billionaire Michael Bloomberg, who has a mini-army of bodyguards around him whenever he moves, says guns aren't for "average" people.

Bloomberg [is] Just Another Also-Ran with [a] Fat Wallet and Bad Ideas.  Here we go again:  another billionaire iconoclast kickstarts a presidential campaign, saturating major markets with advertising.  Known for funding campaigns for higher energy costs and costly climate crusades, contestant #293291 (approximately) for the Democratic nomination is former New York mayor and anti-harm reduction crusader Michael Bloomberg.  And like the vast majority of mega-rich candidates of elections past, he will almost certainly lose by a landslide.  But, if Bloomberg manages to beat the odds and win the Democratic primary, it will not be because of the hundreds of millions of dollars he's spending on advertisements.  Billionaires win elections just as the other candidates do, by convincing voters that the government will work for Americans instead of driving up their cost of living.

Bloomberg's sexist remarks fostered company culture that degraded women, lawsuits allege.  Mike Bloomberg has on repeated occasions faced and fought allegations that he directed crude and sexist comments to women in his office, including a claim in the 1990s that he told an employee who had just announced she was pregnant to "kill it."  "He told me to 'kill it' in a serious monotone voice," the woman alleged in a lawsuit.  "I asked 'What?  What did you just say?'  He looked at me and repeated in a deliberate manner 'kill it.'"  Bloomberg has repeatedly denied that specific allegation — which arose in a discrimination lawsuit that was settled out of court.  But over the years a number of women have alleged in legal filings that Bloomberg's use of lewd comments around co-workers fostered a frat-like culture at the company he founded and still owns.

Bloomberg calls for closing all coal-fired power plants to combat climate change.  Democratic presidential candidate Mike Bloomberg is calling for a 50 percent reduction in carbon emissions over the next 10 years to battle climate change.  To achieve that goal, the former New York City mayor and multi-billionaire business and media mogul on Friday [12/13/2019] unveiled a plan that would shutter all 251 remaining coal plants across the country by 2030 and replace them all with clean energy.  He would also phase out gas-fired power plants.

The Editor says...
Follow-up question:  Mr. Bloomberg wants to "replace them all with clean energy" — from what source?  Is Mr. Bloomberg promoting nuclear energy?

Bloomberg: When I'm President I'll Pack the Supreme Court With Anti-Gun Justices.  Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has made a name for himself as a leader in the gun control movement.  After all, he funds Everytown for Gun Safety and Moms Demand Action.  Naturally, Bloomberg has decided to use his anti-Second Amendment stance to make himself a top tier in the 2020 Democratic field.  In an opinion piece in the Chicago Tribune, Bloomberg rehashed his stance on the Supreme Court case known as New York Rifle and Pistol Association v. New York City.  At the time, NYC prohibited gun owners from transporting firearms outside of city limits, even if the resident was taking them to a gun range.  Once the New York Rifle and Pistol Association, along with the National Rifle Association (NRA) and Second Amendment Foundation (SAF )challenged the city's ordinance in a court of law, NYC decided to rescind the law.  The city tried to get the lawsuit thrown out, saying the point is now moot because the ordinance no longer exists.  Gun rights advocates, however, are worried the city will reimplement the law if the Supreme Court decides to throw out the case.

The Endlessly Insufferable Mike Bloomberg.  Everyone will have their least favorite figure in the Democratic presidential primary.  Mine might be Michael Bloomberg, for sheer self-regard, narcissism, condescension, and arrogance.

Bloomberg is confused as to which president works for the people and which party wants a powerful government.  Michael Bloomberg used to be against impeachment, but now he says he is for it because Trump is working for himself instead of for the public.  It appears that Bloomberg is confused because it is Trump who is working as fast as he can to transfer the power, purse, and freedom to the public.  He is the opposite of a dictator.  Every Democrat running, on the other hand, is seeking to transfer as much power and money to the government as fast as they can and make as many people as they can dependent on government.

The Elephant in the Spin Room.  The fact that two sober-minded businessmen/politicians, Deval Patrick and Michael Bloomberg, believe that the 2020 Democratic candidate field is so weak that they could, at this late date, pick up momentum for Super Tuesday, and then pick up the pieces at a brokered convention, tells you how bleak the Left's presidential prospects have become.

Keywords: extramarital, fornication, shacking up.
Michael Bloomberg says his live-in girlfriend would be 'de facto first lady' if he wins election.  Democratic presidential hopeful Michael Bloomberg is thinking ahead.  Should he win the election, his longtime live-in girlfriend would accompany him to the White House and become "de facto first lady."  Mr. Bloomberg revealed his thoughts during a wide-ranging interview Friday [12/6/2019] with "CBS Good Morning" co-host Gayle King.

Michael Bloomberg's got this amazing talent for insulting voters.  With millions to shell out for ads, Michael Bloomberg sure has an amazing way of motivating voters to not want to vote for him. [...] Not exactly the guy you want running things, given his micromanager obsessions — no Big Gulps, no trans-fats, count every calorie and his serious absence of priorities.

Michael Bloomberg's media company announces it will no longer investigate him, or any other Democratic candidates.  With Michael Bloomberg now running for president, the news service that bears his name has said it will not 'investigate' him or any of his Democratic rivals but will continue investigative coverage of President Donald Trump's administration.  Bloomberg Editor-in-Chief John Micklethwait announced the new guidelines for presidential campaign coverage in a note to the $22.5 billion news organization's 2,700 journalists and analysts on Sunday [11/24/2019], shortly after the former New York City mayor announced his candidacy.

Michael Bloomberg Loves China, Will Ban Guns and Big Gulps.  [Scroll down]  Anyway, I'm not joking about wanting to see Bloomberg run.  Who doesn't love a good show, and watching Trump take on a fellow Manhattan billionaire who loves him some China, and hates guns and Big Gulps...  Well, that would be glorious.  In fact, Bloomberg loves China so much he claims the communist country is really a democracy, and he defends its environmental record, which, by any reasonable standard, is abysmal, especially compared to the United States.  Bloomberg has spent years attacking American industry, spreading the gospel of Climate Change, demanding Americans sacrifice their standard of living to Gaia, and here he is defending a brutal dictator and a country that pours more carbon into the air than any other country in history.

Michael Bloomberg:  O'Rourke's Confiscation Talk Just Strengthens Opposition.  Gun control proponent Michael Bloomberg [...] gave an interview to the Firing Line with Margaret Hoover, where he intimated O'Rourke's approach is a, "rallying cry for people that say they are overstepping their bounds."  Town Hall quoted Bloomberg describing O'Rourke's confiscatory plan as "so impractical."  Bloomberg made clear his opposition to civilian ownership of many commonly-owned semiautomatic rifles, but added that O'Rourke's approach, "is not the way to win this issue."

'He's Apologized For Being Born': Bloomberg Takes On Beto's Unusual Campaign Approach.  Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg poked fun at Democrats running for office Thursday night [3/21/2019] while explaining his reason for not jumping into a crowded presidential race.  One of the prerequisites for running in 2020 is the need to go on an apology tour, Bloomberg said during a Bermuda Executive Forum in New York.  The billionaire businessman gave former Vice President Joe Biden and former Texas Democratic Rep. Beto O'Rourke as examples of politicians willing to prostrate themselves.


Tom Steyer

Former Campaign Staffers Sue Tom Steyer.  Billionaire, Democratic megadonor, and failed presidential candidate Tom Steyer (D-Calif.) is facing a lawsuit from former staffers of his campaign, alleging that Steyer violated certain labor laws in the treatment of his employees, as reported by the Washington Free Beacon.  The suit was filed in a California court in late July by two former staffers who claim that the campaign's treatment of some employees violated the Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA), a law passed in California in 2004 that allows employees to sue employers on behalf of the state for a variety of workplace-related reasons.

Fool and his money:  Good riddance, Tom Steyer.  A couple of years and $250 million later, Tom Steyer's presidential run has left him exactly where he started in the presidential race, at zero.  The poor wretched monomaniac of greenie virtue now goes the way of Jay Inslee, the qualified, but leftist, governor of Washington state who, like Steyer, was also global warming bore and washed out because of it.  You'd think maybe Steyer would have noticed how unimportant this 'sky is falling' greenie cause was with voters by that point, but nope, Steyer continued to sell that snake oil to voters, thinking a barrage of television ads would make them catch on.  He never had a clue.

Billionaire Tom Steyer quits Democratic primary race.  Tom Steyer, the California activist billionaire who has largely been a nonfactor in the Democratic primary campaign, dropped out of the race on Saturday night [2/29/2020].  Steyer's departure came after a disappointing finish in the South Carolina Democratic primary.  With 70 percent of the vote in, Steyer had just 11.5 percent of the vote — despite spending millions of dollars on campaigning there.

Billionaire activist Tom Steyer is ending his presidential bid after poor finish in South Carolina.  Billionaire activist Tom Steyer, who poured millions of dollars into his Democratic presidential campaign, ended his bid tonight after a disappointing finish in the South Carolina primary.  After spending nearly $24 million on television advertising in the state, Steyer finished behind Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders, landing him in third place on Saturday night.  The final stretch of Steyer's presidential campaign was focused on South Carolina, where he sought to appeal to black voters by decrying inequalities in American life that he said were caused by racism.

Billionaire Steyer shakes up primary with slavery reparations plan.  For centuries, South Carolina's Charleston was the largest port of entry for the transatlantic slave trade.  Now, a billionaire activist named Tom Steyer is shaking up the state's Democratic primary by advocating slavery reparations for African Americans.  A California financier turned philanthropist and environmental campaigner, Steyer has poured tens of millions of dollars into the state ahead of Saturday's vote — with a single-minded focus on the black voters who make up 60 percent of its Democratic electorate.

The Editor says...
This was an act of political desperation, apparently, because he dropped out of the race the next day.

Tom Steyer Reportedly Spent $23.6M on South Carolina Campaign Ads.  Despite Michael Bloomberg's unprecedented spending, his billionaire rival Tom Steyer has "nearly tripled the rest of the field combined in TV and digital ad spending in South Carolina through mid-February," according to The Dallas Morning News Feb. 28.  Steyer has reportedly spent a whopping $23.6 million on campaign advertising just in South Carolina alone, according to NPR Politics deputy editor Ben Swasey's summary of Advertising Analytics data Feb. 27.  Swasey's tweet indicates that Steyer's spending currently trounced the number two spender in the state, Mayor Pete Buttigieg (who spent $2.8 million), nearly ten times over.  And yet, RealClearPolitics polling averages currently show Steyer in distant third place in the state.

Okay, that's $22.  Do I hear $25?
Tom Steyer Vows $22 Minimum Wage if Elected.  Democrat presidential hopeful and billionaire Tom Steyer has vowed to raise the federal minimum wage to $22 per hour should he defeat other Democrat hopefuls and President Donald Trump in November.  According to a report from Fox News, Steyer made the announcement during a campaign block party on Sunday while campaigning in South Carolina.  Both Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) have also released plans to raise the minimum wage to $15 per hour.

Surging Steyer makes the debate stage, as new polls show sudden strength.  Tom Steyer appears to be moving up.  The billionaire environmental advocate turned Democratic presidential candidate is soaring in two new Fox News polls in the early primary and caucus states of South Carolina and Nevada.  And those two surveys put Steyer over the top — and onto the stage at next week's Democratic presidential nomination debate in Iowa.  Steyer stands at 15 percent in South Carolina — second only to former Vice President Joe Biden — who's the overwhelming favorite in the state where black voters make up a majority of Democratic presidential primary electorate.


Kanye West

That campaign lasted about nine days.
Kanye West drops presidential bid: report.  Kanye West has dropped his 2020 presidential bid, according to a new report.  The 43-year-old rapper's campaign has reportedly been suspended less than two weeks after he shocked the nation with a tweet that confirmed his decision to run for president of the United States in November.  According to a new report from Intelligencer, a "get-out-the-vote specialist" named Steve Kramer claims West is already "out" after the Yeezy founder hired both "paid and volunteer" staff to help him secure signatures in Florida and South Carolina to get him on the ballot.

Kanye Meltdown at "Campaign Rally" to Get on South Carolina Ballot, Promote New Album Named for Mother.  Kanye appeared in South Carolina at a "campaign rally" for his fake presidential campaign.  He's trying to get signatures to get on that state's ballot, but really he's just making a scene in advance of his "Donda" album.  The sad part is that he was at one point sobbing, carrying on that his father wanted to abort him when his mother mother was pregnant, "But she saved me."  His father is alive, his mother is not, and I'm sure he's thrilled to hear all this aired to strangers.  He also claimed that "Harriet Tubman never actually freed the slaves, she just had them work for other white people," and said his brain was too big for his head.


Others / various combinations / everybody / somebody else

Editor's note:
This article includes a list of candidates who have dropped out of the race already:
  Wayne Messam
  Beto O'Rourke
  Tim Ryan
  Bill de Blasio
  Kirsten Gillibrand
  Seth Moulton
  Jay Inslee
  John Hickenlooper
  Mike Gravel
  Eric Swalwell
  Richard Ojeda

Trump or DeSantis?  The Democrat roster is, by all accounts, dramatically uninspiring.  Biden, who speaks in tongues, is plainly beyond redeeming; the question is whether he will manage to survive the year, let alone stumble, lollop, and whiffle to the end of his first term.  Kamala Harris belongs in vaudeville or farce, given her talent for provoking laughter.  Both will have to be retired in favor of an electable candidate.  But who?  Pete Buttigieg is a perpetual embarrassment, in effect a political pothole.  Elizabeth Warren is a professional liar and fraud, as everybody knows.  Hillary is an overdone political brisket.  Gavin Newsom has destroyed his state, an enviable record for a leftie, but California, despite the hype, is not America.  Bernie Sanders is a geriatric commie with three tony residences, a typical dacha commissar whose appeal is mainly to the badly educated young.  Michelle Obama would be a celebrity candidate; the thing is, most Americans are not celebrities, and Camelot has lost its luster.

The Editor says...
Yes, but most Americans are not Deep State oligarchs, either; yet that's who will select the Democrat nominee, just as they did in 2020.  There was no popular demand for Joe Biden, yet there he sits in the White House, signing executive orders.

The virus is all they've got and they're clinging to it.  [Scroll down]  The Democrat party most likely did not plan for Joe Biden to be their candidate. [...] It was perhaps an accident.  They did not want Bernie Sanders, Pocahontas polled badly as did Kamala Harris.  Pete Buttigieg was a non-starter as was Andrew Yang.  Amy Klobuchar was, well, Klobuchar.  Michael Bloomberg and Tom Steyer are extravagantly rich but pathetic.  Tulsi Gabbard was perhaps the most decent and well informed among them but they could not, would not consider her.  She was a vet, smart and unafraid.  So they ended up with Biden by default.

Enemies to the Left.  The resurgence of Joe Biden and the inevitable defeat of Bernie Sanders led the pundits to declare that the Democratic Party is rejecting socialism — a development all decent men would celebrate if it were true.  Yet, in a supreme irony, the Land of the Free dangerously underestimates or underappreciates the ideological nature of the contemporary Democratic Party.  Neither education nor life experience has prepared Americans for grasping the Party's epochal ideological shift toward the ideology that signifies the total inversion of the Nation's historical traditions and values.  Every time the Democratic presidential contenders took the stage, whether it was a radical Bernie Sanders or any of the so-called moderates such as Michael Bloomberg, Elizabeth Warren, Pete Buttigieg, Amy Klobuchar, or Joe Biden, a frightening sense of déjà vu set in as those downsized American replicas of Leon Trotsky, Nikolai Bukharin, Clara Zetkin, and Rosa Luxemburg clearly professed their socialist-egalitarian vision and prophetic absolutism.  None of them has talked of freedom or offered a single program for wealth creation, which epitomizes capitalism; all of their proposals have been aimed at economic equality, suppression of freedom and destruction of wealth, which embodies socialism.

Democrats Hope For a Pandemic.  [Scroll down]  Other candidates had no reason or excuse to run and gained no, zero, support:  For example, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, who enunciated the jurisprudential maxim that any woman claiming to have been sexually abused or harassed, even decades before and with no corroboration, should be automatically believed — conviction by denunciation; Robespierre and Stalin ride again.  She said Bill Clinton, to whom she owed her political career, should have resigned as president when accused by various women of harassment.  Bill de Blasio, mayor of New York, welcomed by Mr. Trump to the campaign as the "worst mayor in America and in New York's [400-year] history, the king of potholes, graft, nepotism, and incompetence," made a cameo pass-through and gained absolutely no support.  Tom Steyer, a leftist billionaire (hedge fund), who assumedly thought that if Mr. Trump could do it, he could, spent $175 million of his own money but struck out in the primaries. [...] Mayor Bloomberg was obviously a good deal more serious.

2020 Primaries & Caucuses.  Candidates with no delegates include:  Michael Bennet, Nathan Bloxham, Cory Booker, Mosie Boyd, Steve Bullock, Steve Burke, Julian Castro, Roque De La Fuente III, John Delaney, Jason Dunlap, Michael Ellinger, Ben Gleiberman, Mark Greenstein, Kamala Harris, Henry Hewes, Tom Koos, Lorenz Kraus, Rita Krichevsky, Raymond Moroz, [...] Deval Patrick, Joe Sestak, Sam Sloan, Tom Steyer, David Thistle, Thomas Torgesen, [...] Robby Wells, Marianne Williamson, Andrew Yang.

The Editor says...
I read the news every day of the year, and I've never heard of David Thistle, Thomas Torgesen, Henry Hewes, Tom Koos, Lorenz Kraus, Rita Krichevsky, Raymond Moroz, or Nathan Bloxham.  Why do mostly-unknown candidates enter the race?  All they add is background noise.

The Necessary (Temporary) Democratic Party Suicide.  The debate in Charleston on Tuesday [2/25/2020] was like a scene from Lord of the Flies as a disorderly, screechy group of misbehaving superannuated juveniles spoke and shouted over each other, waving their arms in the air and exchanging epithets. [...] Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), finally targeted as the frontrunner, was querulous and belligerent, shouting back at the audience and more demonstrative and short-tempered than ever.  He is almost majestic, barricading himself into his praise of Fidel Castro and not budging an inch on the authoritarian extravagance of his compulsory medical care plan that would sweep away the satisfactory arrangements that 180 million Americans have already made with their physicians of choice.  It is the majesty of a persevering and cranky old man, but it is also acoustically irritating nonsense and anyone who imagines that the American electorate is going to put this raving, neo-Marxist, charmless, cantankerous old dervish into the White House is in the same fantasyland as the candidates.

The Democrat debate looked like a mixed martial arts cage fight.  Anyone and everyone watching had to ask themselves "How on earth are these seven people the presidential candidates of the Democrat party?"  Not one of them has a chance [...] of beating Trump.  Each of them is campaigning on destroying all the great things Trump has set in motion and put in place.  They all pretend that Trump's polices have not made life better for nearly all Americans.  But they have.

Nevada Democratic debate was the greatest debate in human history.  Forget Lincoln and Douglas.  Forget Nixon and Kennedy.  Hell, forget the Athenians and the Melians back during the Peloponnesian War.  Last night's Democratic primary slagfest in Nevada was the greatest debate in all of human history.  Oh, was it glorious — the sheer raging hostility spraying across the stage as every campaign besides the Bernie Sanders and Michael Bloomberg bids face the desperate possibility each might fade into the woodwork against the Bernie surge and the Bloomberg billions.

Bloomberg under siege at chaotic debate debut, as Warren attacks field in bid to revive campaign.  Elizabeth Warren shamed Mike Bloomberg for allegedly calling women "fat broads."  Amy Klobuchar asked Pete Buttigieg if he was calling her "dumb." Bloomberg shut down Bernie Sanders by quipping that "the best-known socialist in the country happens to be a millionaire with three houses."  The Democrats' showdown Wednesday night in Las Vegas repeatedly put Bloomberg in his primary rivals' crosshairs as the surging billionaire made his debate-stage debut.  But the conflagration quickly expanded into an all-out melee and easily the most aggressive debate of the nomination season to date, as each of the candidates took sharp and often personal shots at one another.

The Democrats' personalities were exposed in Nevada and it wasn't pretty.  There's something almost tragic about the fact that the essence of the Democrat Party — the oldest continuously existing political party in the world — has been reduced to these six uninspiring, unqualified people.

Trump World Responds To Democrats' Disastrous Debate Night.  President Donald Trump, the Trump campaign, and the Republican National Committee (RNC) all responded to Democrats' chaotic debate on Wednesday night [2/19/2020] by declaring that Trump won the debate.  Kayleigh McEnany, Trump 2020 national press secretary, responded to the debate in a statement, saying, "The Democrat Party is in the midst of a full-scale meltdown.  Americans are watching the party of JFK be torn apart by anti-job socialists and anti-worker globalists who want to control every aspect of Americans' lives.  This train wreck is nothing compared to what they would do to our country.  None of these candidates will be able to go toe to toe with President Trump in November."

Crazy Bernie Knows Something That MiniMike Doesn't.  Democratic voters fall into one of two categories:  freeloaders and virtue signalers.  Freeloaders have no money, so they want free stuff.  Virtue signalers have too much money, so they can afford to virtue signal by electing someone who will dole out free stuff even if that means that there is a slight reduction in their stock portfolios.  In other words, they are willing to give back some of the money president Trump has made them in order to throw him out of office and get lifetime bragging rights in their social circles for doing so.  It appears that Mayor Pete has locked down the virtue signaller vote.  After all, he is the virtue signaler's dream come true and he is a bit more careful than others with the free stuff part of it.  The competition for the freeloader vote is more fierce.  Both contenders for this electorate are septuagenarian Jews whose parents or grandparents were refugees from Eastern Europe:  Bernie Sanders and Mike Bloomberg.  Regardless of their similar origins, their pitches to Democratic voters are quite different, though the end result is the same.

Hold on to your hats.  The Democratic race could get very messy.  Now that as many as six serious Democratic candidates remain in the race, pundits increasingly believe the party is headed for a brokered convention.  Hold on to your hats if that happens, because it's even more complicated than it sounds.  Presidential nominating conventions used to be "brokered" because the delegates were largely appointed by — and loyal to — political bosses.  Delegates voted on multiple ballots as rivals vied for the bosses' favor, making the quadrennial events the political equivalent of reality television.  You could never be sure which governor or senator would be voted off the island and which would become the ultimate survivor.  That all went out the window after the Democratic convention of 1968 nominated a person who had not entered a single primary, Vice President Hubert Humphrey.

Conventional Wisdom About the Democrats' Primary Is Wrong.  There are three widely proclaimed verities now bandied about in the aftermath of the Democratic presidential primary in New Hampshire on Tuesday [2/11/2020].  They are that Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) is a clear front-runner with a chance for a break-through to a commanding lead in the quest for the nomination.  The second is that former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg is a serious candidate with a chance for the Democratic nomination, and the third is that former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg has been providentially assisted by the disintegration of the candidacy of former Vice President Joe Biden and the bunching together of Sanders, Buttigieg, and Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), and will seize the leadership of the race when he gets to the ballot in 15 states simultaneously on Super Tuesday, March 3.  I think all three of these deductions are mistaken.

Deval Patrick, last black candidate in 2020 race, drops out.  Former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, the last remaining African American candidate in a Democratic presidential field once defined by its diversity, ended his 2020 campaign Wednesday [2/12/2020] after his late bid failed to catch fire or resonate with voters.

The Editor says...
I didn't even know he was running.

The Democratic establishment is out of time.  Unlike Gaul, the Democratic primary electorate is divided into only two parts.  Bernie Sanders's victory in Tuesday's New Hampshire primary reminded observers of what we have known for a long time, namely that the smaller of these two parts remains united in favor of his candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination.  The larger moderate one remains split, not quite evenly, between Pete Buttigieg, Amy Klobuchar, Elizabeth Warren, and Joe Biden.  We know which side the Democratic National Committee, the party's leadership in Congress, wealthy mega-donors, and luminaries like the Obamas and the Clintons are on.  We also know that they are willing to do pretty much anything to prevent Sanders from winning the nomination in 2020.  The question is whether they will be able to.

WaPo, trying to tank Sanders:  Let's face it.  None of these Democrats are "centrists".  The Washington Post editorial board is fed up with all of you people talking about the Democratic primary as some sort of internecine civil war between the far left and centrists.  This week they point out that it's simply not accurate to describe either Pete Buttigieg or Joe Biden as "centrists."  In fact, the entire field is chock full of socialists.  Okay, they didn't actually say "socialists" but that's the general feeling they're trying to get across.  Everyone's policies are way to the left, though some are a bit more left than others.

The 2020 Democrats All Have the Same Problem.  So far, none of the candidates has built a coalition that reaches broadly across the party.  Instead, each is confined to a distinct niche of support that is too narrow to establish a commanding advantage in the race.  That could guarantee a lengthy war of attrition for the nomination — and possibly even a brokered convention — as the leading contenders divide the Democratic voter base along lines of race, class, generation, and ideology.

Things I have learned from genuine, honest journalists and other Democrats.  [Scroll down]  Here are a couple of hints as to who you shouldn't support for President.  Don't support someone who takes massive kickbacks for their personal foundation.  Don't support someone who is in charge of Ukraine whose son gets a ghost job at a corrupt company, making millions and who threatens to cutoff a billion dollars if they don't fire a prosecutor.  Don't support someone who makes up a fake racial composition to enrich herself, and don't support a socialist who appointed his wife to receive commissions on advertising his campaign buys.

The Seven Dwarfs on the debate stage.  The grueling debate Friday night on ABC was actually sad for the seven debaters, with the exception of Andrew Yang, for they all are panderers of the first order.  They all say only what they think their potential supporters want to hear.  There are few core beliefs among them.  They all seem either ignorant or in serious denial of the countless successes of the Trump administration because they all simply deny them.  They are each depending, as usual, on the conviction that all Americans are very stupid and unable to discern between the truth and their lies meant to terrorize unwitting citizens about health care, global warming, and President Trump.  There was not an honest broker on that stage except Yang, and he has no chance of being the nominee because is a relatively normal human being.

Democrats 2020 race is starting to look like a suicide pact.  For more than a year, Democratic candidates, up to 26 of them at one point, have been crisscrossing Iowa's 99 counties, seeking votes in Iowa's precinct caucuses.  They were duly held on Monday night.  But the Iowa Democratic Party did not release any results until Tuesday, and they were only partial results.  What does that say about the party's competence and judgment? [...] The Buttigieg camp claimed victory; the Sanders campaign released partial results showing him ahead; and the Biden campaign noted that there were plenty of contests to come.  Such results must look dreadful to national Democratic Party professionals.  They doubt that a 78-year-old socialist who had a heart attack last October would be a strong nominee.  They doubt that a 38-year-old former small-city mayor with zero appeal to black voters can stop him.

Trashing America as racist won't help Democrats beat Trump.  Tom Steyer, the billionaire who's trying to buy a win Bloomberg-style in the South Carolina Democratic primary, issued a stark warning at the beginning of the Democratic debate Friday night in New Hampshire:  Trump has the economic numbers that can help him get reelected, and Democrats are going to need to have a strong message to overwhelm it.  About an hour into the debate, they found their message:  America, Bernie Sanders said, is "a racist society from top to bottom."  One by one, the candidates echoed the message that "systemic racism" characterizes America.  "We can't legislate away racism," said Andrew Yang, because racism runs so deep in the American soul.  Joe Biden, verbatim (poor Joe): "The fact is that we in fact there is systemic racism."  Elizabeth Warren even declared that "we need race-conscious laws in education, in employment, in entrepreneurship to make this country a country for everyone."

The Iowa Caucuses Taught Us Once Again That No One Knows Anything.  Based on incomplete counts, Pete Buttigieg and Bernie Sanders appear to have "won," by an arcane metric called "state delegate equivalents" and raw vote totals respectively.  Right now they're slated to get eleven delegates each, and Elizabeth Warren five.  The complete and final numbers will come out, eventually, but the damage is already done.  The Iowa caucuses are supposed to winnow down the field:  in the past, candidates have often dropped out of the race that night.  If anything, the field is more confused now than it was last week.

Are Democrats' new debate rules another establishment 'fix'?  The Democratic National Committee bowed to reality on Friday, dropping the fundraising requirements that had kept Mike Bloomberg out of the presidential debates.  But the new rules don't kick in until after the Feb. 7 debate in New Hampshire — and overall seem designed to shrink the debate field, possibly to the advantage of establishment favorite Joe Biden.  Until now, making the debates required some minimal success both in the polls and in raising lots of donations from several states — 225,000 donors, with at least 1,000 from 20 different states, for the Feb. 7 debate.

Democrats [are] Becoming More Desperate, and More Dangerous.  No leadership has emerged among their presidential field.  In fact, quite the opposite is true.  Each passing day demonstrates more clearly that there is not a leader among them.  Biden is dropping like a rock.  While some of the polls show Sanders to be rising, that is an illusion reflecting only the far, far left ideologues.  Sanders is a grouchy old man with all the charm of Karl Marx.  Imagine any electoral base pulling together for him.  Warren, like Sanders, is completely lacking in any human likability factor and is nearly as far left.  She has a tractor trailer load of credibility problems.  Collectively, the candidates have abandoned their voter base, and it is possibly too late to recraft a message and a candidate to address the chasm.  The Democrats are in a desperate position.  It is nine months until the election.  They have no presidential candidate and none in sight.  They are not even close to a platform that appeals to the nation.

John Delaney Drops Out a Few Days Shy of Iowa.  Did He Endorse Anyone?  Former Maryland Rep. John Delaney dropped out of the 2020 presidential race on Friday [1/31/2020].  It's a bittersweet ending considering he was just a few days shy of the first real contest, the Iowa Caucus.  The Democratic contender explained that he will "not have sufficient support to get to the 15 percent viability threshold" needed on Monday night.  Delaney declined to endorse another candidate, but did say he wants a moderate.

The Editor says...
I have never heard of John Delaney and didn't know he was running.

Whatever Happened to the Democratic Primary?  The Iowa caucus will be held in a matter of days.  New Hampshire votes a week after that.  Twelve Democrats are still in the race.  Nobody cares.  Maybe that's harsh.  No doubt the candidates' mothers are paying attention.  Yet in two decades of serious observation of politics I have not seen a presidential primary that exerts less of a hold on the nation's attention than this one.

The Tenuous Future of the Democratic Party.  We've now witnessed seven Democratic debates ahead of the Iowa Caucus this February.  At this point, it's clear that Biden, Sanders, and Warren have a legitimate shot at becoming the nominee, whereas the rest will likely go home after the first few primaries.  These frontrunners are now the subject of a growing dilemma that's undermining party unity and raising questions about its future vision.  Four years ago, the Republican Party had to grapple with the rise of Trump, who undermined Republican orthodoxy whenever it suited him. [...] Currently, Democrats are facing a similar dilemma.  The leading candidates have very different visions for the Party and for the country.

Democrat Radicalism Creating a Dangerous Void.  All of these candidates are a product of the same Democrat base, which is how we landed at this point where the so-called Democrat moderates of today would have been considered dangerous radicals just a few short years ago.  If you put together a radical menu, they are all ordering just about everything on it.  Destruction of the energy industry?  Order up a super-sized portion of that.  Abortion über alles?  I'll take a side of that and throw in some infanticide, please.  Government health care?  Naturally.  The green new $90-trillion nightmare?  Hey, just print more money and start killing cows.  Destruction of national borders and open invitation for all the world's unskilled workers to flock to America to receive taxpayer largesse?  It's the compassionate thing to do.  Gun confiscation?  Treating Iranian protestors like inconvenient lepers?  Reparations?  Keep those refills coming.

In Iowa, Democrats tell farmers no new jobs until Greta Thunberg is happy.  Just 19 days before the Iowa caucuses, we finally reached the inevitable:  Andrew Yang getting the boot, as the white savior party shed the last of its racial minority aspirants, having decided that none was qualified to take the helm this cycle.  Better luck in 2024, blacks.  The Democrat frontrunners remain, in order, a doddering septuagenarian who can't reliably remember what state he's in, a hectoring schoolmarm, a 78-year-old communist who has never accomplished anything in 30 years in Congress, and a weird, hairy child from South Bend whose eyebrow waxing gets more meticulous with each passing debate.

Nothing says 'vote for our party' quite like Democrats pinning the blame for an all-white candidate slate on racist voters.  Democratic Party National Committee chairman Tom Perez says he's not to blame for the Democratic Party's now all-white lineup of candidates for president.  The blame goes to those dirty rotten racist voters — who incidentally are Democrats.

Barbara Lee:  All-white Democratic presidential debate a sign of systemic bias.  A Democratic presidential campaign field that was once touted as the most diverse in history has been whittled down to six candidates on its debate stage, all of them white.  For Oakland Democratic Rep. Barbara Lee, that's a problem.  Lee says the Democratic National Committee's rules for determining who can participate in its presidential debates is "systematically discriminatory" against people of color.

Handicapping The Democrat Losers.  The Democrat field is starting to narrow as some of the biggest losers drop out in humiliating failure.  The flatulent, pro-nuke Eric Swalwell is gone.  Whichever Castro bro was in just quit.  And that hapless furry Beto is off selling autographs on the weirdo convention circuit dressed as a cartoon fox named "Yiffy."  The ones still in the race are even more pathetic.

The Abortion Fight Will Heat Up in 2020.  The clash between the pro-life worldview and the pro-abortion one is going to be a factor in the 2020 election.  The battlefield is taking shape.  First, there's a sharp contrast between President Trump and his Democrat challengers.  President Trump is pro-life and has not been shy about saying so.  In his 2019 State of the Union address, he railed against the New York law, asserting, "Lawmakers in New York cheered with delight upon the passage of legislation that would allow a baby to be ripped from the mother's womb moments from birth."  He called on Congress to "to prohibit the late-term abortion of children who can feel pain in the mother's womb."  Trump has been called "the most prolife president in American history."  Not a single Democrat running for president is pro-life.

The Left Goes Over the Edge.  The Democrats in this campaign year seem as if they are hell-bent on illustrating, in a 21st-century setting, Orwell's description of the left as comprised of "every fruit-juice drinker, nudist, sandal-wearer, sex-maniac, Quaker, 'Nature Cure' quack, pacifist, and feminist..."  A fake Indian, a gay small-city mayor, a mayor of a larger, failed city with imaginary friends, a corrupt state AG...  Not to mention old Joe, whose son Hunter turns out to be a Bond villain.  These were among the best that the Democratic Party could come up with.  All we need to add to that is an undeniable fact that it was the two crazy aunts — Hindu cultist Tulsi Gabbard and pop Christian mystic Marianne Williamson — who came across as the most attractive, well-spoken, and sanest of the lot.

The Campaign Money Industrial Complex.  The current Democratic presidential primary with its fifteen surviving candidates is a political spectacle of the first order.  Oddities abound, for example, several former governors and members of Congress, many with illustrious records, have dropped out yet others, notably Andrew Yang, Marianne Williamson and Tom Steyer, still hang on despite having zero political experience.  Equally odd, two of the leading contenders in the pack, Senators Warren and Sanders, openly espouse views which only a few years ago would have been far beyond the ideological mainstream, for example, open borders, drastic tax increases and a hodgepodge of socialist-flavored hyperexpensive entitlements.

Why The Democratic Primary Seems Invisible.  [Scroll down]  Honestly, how can this possibly be?  This is, after all, a contest to decide which Democratic hero will square off against a president that most party members view as a combination of Hitler, Darth Vader, and Benedict Arnold. [...] There [are] a few plausible reasons why this primary just can't seem to get much traction.  One often cited reason is that Democrats have essentially overshadowed their own primary with impeachment.  After all, networks like CNN and MSNBC that should be laser focused on the primary instead spend approximately 58 out of every 60 minutes predicting Trump's imminent doom, as they have been for three years.

Don't Look Away.  The Democrats have fielded the most insane field of candidates ever assembled on a stage.  A couple dozen [...] clowns, each trying to be more socialist than the next and saying the most bizarre things, from promising free everything, including free health care for illegals, at the expense of those of us who pay taxes, to "Dark psychic force", to accusing everyone plus imaginary people of being Russian agents, and PEOPLE LOOK AWAY.  They treat these people as though they have more credibility than giant papier-mache puppets and a guy on stilts. [...] That's looking away.  That's disabling the alarm.

America Must Confront The Enemy From Within.  Emboldened by the fact that no one stops them, Democrats have lurched all the way into communism and spout the most insane ideas that they expect everyone to just accept and implement.  Everything from the Green New Deal to Medicare for All to Obamacare to the sacrificing of millions of the unborn to some inherent dark beast.  Every one of their potential candidates for the 2020 presidential ticket is [...] crazy in their policy views.  I take some comfort in knowing none of them can come close to beating Trump but I fear a last-minute entry by someone like Michelle Obama who would ratchet up the stakes here nightmarishly.

Several Democratic candidates call on the DNC to make the debates more diverse.  Nine Democratic presidential candidates have called on the Democratic National Committee to relax its debate standards next year, allowing some lower-polling rivals onto the stage.  "While we know this was an unintended consequence of the DNC's actions, many of the candidates excluded due to these thresholds are the ones who have helped make this year's primary field historically diverse," the candidates wrote.  "Frankly, that unintended result does not live up to the values of our Democratic Party and it does not serve the best interest of Democratic voters."

Democrats Want to Manage, Not Represent, the People.  The fading impeachment push has its mirror image in the glossy, astroturfed and utterly substanceless Democratic primary, with its idiotic "debates" and even more unimpressive candidates.  Both are spectacles staged, run, and intended for America's elites, and both have become distinctly unwatchable by any but the boutique audience they've cultivated.  That they are so boring betokens their origins in the rarified orbit of a detached elite more interested in perpetuating its own power than in responding to the concerns of the electorate. [...] How could a party with so many impressive experts in its ranks fail to cough up even one candidate impressive enough to defeat an incumbent widely considered by that party to be a racist and broadly reviled imbecile?

Obama: 'I Don't Care' Whether You'll Like the Nominee, Just Vote Democrat.  On Thursday [11/28/2019], former President Barack Obama was the main guest at a fundraiser in Silicon Valley.  When asked a question about the many candidates running, he told those present that he couldn't care less whether they'd like the eventual nominee.  They just have to vote for him/her/it.  "Everybody needs to chill out about the candidates, but gin up about the prospect of rallying behind whoever emerges from this process," Obama told the millionaire techies, according to far-left news channel CNN.  "There will be differences" between them, he added, "but I want us to make sure that we keep in mind that, relative to the ultimate goal, which is to defeat a president and a party that has ... taken a sharp turn away from a lot of the core traditions and values and institutional commitments that built this country," those differences are "relatively minor."

Why Michelle Obama may jump into the race.  To have any chance nationally, the Democrats do not just need minority support, their candidate must overwhelmingly capture the black and Hispanic vote.  None of the leading Democrat candidates is up to that task -- not the homosexual from South Bend, not the Fake Indian from Massachusetts, and not Crazy Bernie.

New Poll Shows Voters Aren't Buying Into the Progressive Sales-Pitch for Socialism.  While soak-the-rich progressives lead the Democratic presidential field, a new poll released Tuesday [11/26/2019] shows voters remain skeptical of their socialist policies.  Just 12 percent of likely voters reported preferring a socialist economic system, according to a new Heartland Institute/Rasmussen poll.  Sixty-nine percent said they preferred "a free-market economic system."  When it came to the 2020 contenders, only 26 percent of likely voters said they would vote for a presidential candidate that identified as a socialist.  Fifty-percent said they would not.

BHO propaganda
Washington Post Prints Blatantly False Article: 'Barack Obama, Conservative'.  The front of Sunday's Outlook section in The Washington Post is a complete spit take.  There in bold type is the blatantly false headline "Barack Obama, conservative."  David Swerdlick is an employee of the Post's Outlook section, so this isn't some freakish freelancer.  At first glance, this article seems like an obvious ploy to explain away just how radical the current crop of Democratic presidential candidates are by comparison.


Also posted under News Media Bias in Obama's Favor.

The Democrats:  Identity Politics above All.  The Democrats are totally and absolutely a party focused solely on identity politics and a party not at all concerned with the greater, general good of the country.  Their electoral strategy is based on identifying specific groups of voters to whom they can assign victimhood status and then promise a taxpayer-funded government program to alleviate their suffering and correct the wrongs perpetrated against them.  Implicit in the Democrats' argument is the common theme that these so-called transgressions are the result of biased, intentional wrongdoing by white conservative Republicans, whose prejudices, shortsightedness, and mean-spirited nature are aimed at those groups, with the intention of maintaining (or regaining, in some instances) political control of the country by a white heterosexual male cohort of European decent.

Deval Patrick Cancels Atlanta Event After Only Two People Show Up.  Democratic presidential candidate Deval Patrick was forced to cancel a campaign event Wednesday night after only two people showed up.  Patrick, who entered the primary field too late to qualify for the MSNBC debate in Atlanta, was scheduled to speak across town at a campaign event at Morehouse College, a historically black university.  He cancelled the event after only two students showed up, according to CNN reporter Annie Grayer.  "Governor @DevalPatrick was supposed to have an event at Morehouse College tonight," Grayer reported.  "An organizer with the college who planned the event told CNN that Patrick cancelled the event when he arrived and learned that he would not have an audience.

Debate number N+1:
The Democrat Debate Drones.  Your fearless debate correspondent here, to tell you that once again, you missed nothing.  And by nothing, I mean an empty, cavernous, negative space of dark matter where all intelligence, vitality, and humanity gets sucked into an endless void.  You are smarter for missing this misery.  Who are these Democrats trying to appeal to?  Who is the constituency for their insanity?  I really want to know.  These are not serious people.  It might be that they're not people at all, just 10 robots put on a stage and talking word salad as placeholders.  None of them act like they can beat Trump.  Do they even want to?

Poll: Trump surges against nearly all Democrats in Wisconsin.  Here's one the Beltway punditocracy didn't see coming:  Trump is soaring against nearly all Democrats in head-to-head matchups in Wisconsin.  According to a Marquette University Law School Poll, which is a generally reliable barometer of voter sentiment in the Midwest, Trump is beating the daylights out of Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Pete Buttigieg and Amy Klobuchar.  Only Cory Booker has a measly one-point advantage over Trump and that's within the margin of error.  The rest of the Democratic cavalcade of candidates have polling numbers so low it's unlikely their even worth asking about.

Former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick Announces White House Run.  Former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick is making a late run for the Democratic presidential nomination, he announced Thursday in a video on his official website.  Patrick, a close friend and ally of former President Barack Obama, ruled out a presidential bid earlier this year but has since been talking with Democratic operatives and donors about launching a campaign.  His step into a crowded ring makes Patrick the 18th candidate in the 2020 Democratic race.  It comes as some Democrats express uncertainty about the party's current crop of contenders.

Ex-Mass. officials say Patrick fired them for their efforts to get his brother-in-law on sex offender registry.  Former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick's entry into the 2020 Democratic presidential race is drawing renewed scrutiny toward his efforts to oust officials who had tried to put his brother-in-law, a convicted rapist, on the state's sex offender registry.  Patrick's brother-in-law Bernard Sigh was first convicted of spousal rape in 1993 and was again convicted of raping Patrick's sister earlier this year, The Washington Post reported.  Patrick in 2014 said that he had forced out two Sex Offender Registry Board officials over their attempts to overturn a hearing officer's decision to keep Sigh off the registry, arguing that the officials' actions were not appropriate, according to the Post.

Democrats Are Failing the Reality Test.  The Democrats running for president in 2020 don't talk about normal issues — jobs and national security.  They have nothing to say about opportunities for minorities.  Instead, it is all fake investigations of fake scandals.  Democrats are running fake impeachment proceedings on a fake accusation of quid pro quo from a fake whistleblower, who is one more deep state operative leaking hearsay that libels the president.  Who are they kidding?

They all raised their hands, but PolitiFact gives 'mostly false' rating to claim that 2020 Democrats want to 'give free health care to illegals'.  On June 27, the second night of the first 2020 Democratic primary debate, NBC News's Savannah Guthrie said the following:  ["]A lot of you have been talking tonight about these government health care plans that you have proposed in one form or another.  This is a show of hands question, and hold them up for a moment so people can see.  Raise your hand if your government plan would provide coverage for undocumented immigrants["]  [emphasis added].  Every single person on that June 27 debate stage, including new age guru Marianne Williamson; South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg; former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper; tech entrepreneur Andrew Yang; former Vice President Joe Biden; Sens. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, Kamala Harris of California, Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, and Michael Bennet of Colorado; and Rep. Eric Swalwell of California, raised their hands, for which they were awarded thunderous applause.

Democrats Worry as Filing Deadlines Cement Weak 2020 Field.  The 2020 Democrat presidential field is about to get locked by filing deadlines and that is making a lot of Democrats nervous.  If you want to run for president, it is a 50 state process that requires filing papers and whatever else is required to get on the ballot.  Alabama's filing deadline passed last week.  New Hampshire and Arkansas expire this week.  The heavy hitters of Illinois, California, and Texas are just weeks away.  Ohio and North Carolina arrive before Christmas.

Top Iowa aide to Tom Steyer's campaign resigns after AP report.  A top Iowa aide to businessman Tom Steyer has resigned a day after The Associated Press revealed he had privately offered campaign contributions to local politicians in exchange for endorsing Steyer's White House bid.

Hillary Clinton, Establishment Democrats Signal Deepening Panic over Democrat Field.  The elite class and Hillary Clinton, specifically, are unsatisfied with the current Democrat primary field and have signaled their dissatisfaction in a variety of ways in recent weeks, from refusing to endorse former Vice President Joe Biden (D) to dismissing the ultra-far-left candidates' radical agendas. [...] The first presidential primary is less than three months away, yet select Democrats are still mulling a last-minute run.

Reports: Eric Holder Considers Jumping into 2020 Presidential Primary.  Former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder is again considering running for the Democrat nomination for president in 2020 after previously ruling out a run, a move that comes as former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg has filed presidential primary paperwork in Alabama signaling he may be a late entrant to the race.

Julián Castro Team Bashes 'The Four White Frontrunners'.  The campaign for Democrat presidential hopeful and former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julián Castro took aim at "the four white frontrunners" in the race for president.  The comments, which were made by campaign spokesperson Sawyer Hackett, were shared in an official Castro campaign email sent to reporters on Tuesday [11/5/2019].

Democrats don't have a candidate who would beat Trump in Texas today, poll finds.  None of the top Democrats seeking the presidential nomination would beat President Donald Trump in Texas in an election held today — and neither would either of the Texas candidates in that race, according to the latest University of Texas/Texas Tribune Poll.

New Poll Shows Democratic Candidates Have Been Living in a Fantasy World.  In 2018, Democratic candidates waded into hostile territory and flipped 40 House districts, many of them moderate or conservative in their makeup.  In almost every instance, their formula centered on narrowing their target profile by avoiding controversial positions, and focusing obsessively on Republican weaknesses, primarily Donald Trump's abuses of power and attempts to eliminate health insurance for millions of Americans.  The Democratic presidential field has largely abandoned that model.  Working from the premise that the country largely agrees with them on everything, or that agreeing with the majority of voters on issues is not necessary to win, the campaign has proceeded in blissful unawareness of the extremely high chance that Trump will win again.

Suppose they gave an impeachment and nobody cared?  Official Washington is obsessed with impeaching President Donald John Trump and has been for three years.  But in covering the presidential race in Iowa, Edward-Isaac Dovere of The Atlantic found even hardcore Democrats in America could not care less.  He wrote, "The impeachment fight is all-consuming.  It's the biggest story in politics.  No one is talking about anything else — except pretty much everywhere outside of Washington."  The politicians act accordingly.  He wrote, "Yet of the 13 candidates there, just one mentioned impeachment:  Tom Steyer, the billionaire activist whose political group and TV ads over the past two years have helped mainstream the idea of removing the president.  Steyer argues that his long record of being outspoken in favor of impeachment is a key part of why people should support his candidacy, yet his mention of impeachment Friday night got a warm but not overwhelming response. [...]"

It's Unthinkable One of the Dems Could Be President.  President Trump has earned both the highest praise and severest criticism for his decisions on defense and foreign policy matters.  Whether he was revoking Obama's terrible nuclear weapons deal with Iran or telling the world that he trusted Russian President Putin as much as he trusts our intelligence community, Trump has followed no ideology or explained how or why he reached any decision.  His beliefs and his actions are transactional. [...] Despite Trump's unsteadiness, we have to remember that under any of the Democrats who want to replace him, all of these decisions — and everything else related to the defense of our nation and our foreign policy — would become vastly, almost unimaginably, worse.

Democratic Candidate Divisions On Display At Fiery Iowa Dinner.  The ideological divisions between the leading Democratic candidates for president were on clear display at the rowdy Iowa Liberty and Justice Celebration on Friday evening [11/1/2019].  Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren took aim at her more moderate rivals during her remarks, slamming them for "vague ideas that are designed not to offend anyone."

The RS Politics 2020 Democratic Primary Leaderboard.  [#12] Michael Bennet:  The 54-year-old senator is campaigning for a return to integrity in government and a revival of American economic mobility.  Bennet positions himself as "pragmatic idealist" and has been calling for Democrats to temper ideas like packing the Supreme Court. [...] [#14] Steve Bullock: [...] Even in a crowded field, Bullock's experience stands out.  He won statewide office in a state Trump carried by 20 points — and then got a GOP-majority legislature to agree to expand Medicaid. [...] [#15] John Delaney:  The former Maryland Congressman, 56, has been running for president since July 2017, preaching a relentlessly bipartisan message of national unity. [...] [#16] Joe Sestak:  The former three-star Navy admiral and two-term congressman threw his hat into the 2020 ring in mid-June, and has been spotted stumping before sparse crowds in Iowa. [...] [#17] Wayne Messam:  The mayor of fast-growing Miramar, Florida, Messam has a low national profile.

'There's no model for this': Impeachment timeline crashes into Democratic primary.  On its current path, the impeachment case against President Donald Trump is on a collision course with perhaps the most pivotal period in the Democratic primary, threatening to unravel the campaign plans of some of the top 2020 contenders.  The House is unlikely to vote on impeachment until the end of the year, meaning the Senate trial against Trump figures to begin in January — just weeks before the Feb. 3 Iowa caucuses.  It's an event that could require the six Democratic presidential prospects to remain in Washington every workday for at least a month.

Democrats push candidates to fully commit to 2020 nominee.  The push from Chairman Tom Perez is part of a wide-ranging strategy designed to prevent the mistakes that cost Democrats the 2016 presidential election.  It comes as the Republican National Committee continues to dwarf the Democratic Party in fundraising, while Democrats face the prospect of a bruising, expensive nominating fight that could last well into election year.

Bonfire of the Democratic Party's Once-Rising Stars.  [Scroll down]  In a way, getting good press is just not that difficult for a young-ish Democratic lawmaker with decent public speaking skills.  Just invite a big newspaper or magazine reporter to hang around for a few days, let them marvel as you charm little old ladies and speak some eighth-grade Spanish to a local Latino organization, offer some trite observations that "technology changes everything" and "government can do so much more if we only have the will," and then roll up your sleeves and pose for your looking-off-in-the-distance photo shoot.  Presto!  Instant presidential "buzz."

Bonfire of the Democratic Party's Once-Rising Stars.  This primary is turning into a giant bonfire of once-promising political talents who could make national reporters swoon.  As far back as 2017, Vogue and other national glossies gushed over the presidential potential of Kirsten Gillibrand.  Beto O'Rourke was the favorite subject of glowing profiles in national publications throughout 2018.  Julian Castro spent much of the past decade being touted as "the Latino Obama."  Cory Booker was the subject of documentaries and a social media star ... and like the rest, he's an afterthought.

Democrats Have the Most Racially Diverse Field Ever.  The Top Tier Is All White.  When the Democratic primary contest began last winter, it featured the most racially diverse field in history, with two black senators, a Latino former cabinet secretary, an Asian-American businessman and the first American Samoan elected to Congress.  But 10 months later, the Democratic field has a top tier of four white candidates, three of them men.  Candidates of color are languishing in the low single digits in polls, well behind the four leaders — former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., Senators Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Bernie Sanders of Vermont, and Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Ind.  The divide could become even more pronounced in the coming months:  Because of new, more rigorous thresholds for the Democratic debate in December, it is possible that only one nonwhite candidate, Senator Kamala Harris of California, will qualify.

'You lost': Democratic Left hits back at Hillary Clinton and donors fretting about quality of 2020 field.  The nervousness among Democratic establishment figures about the quality of the 2020 primary field has prompted mockery from liberal activists who say that the wealthy are worried about losing their power.  There have been a slew of reports that Democrats like Hillary Clinton, John Kerry, and Michael Bloomberg are thinking of jumping into the race at the last minute because they believe the current crop of top candidates — Elizabeth Warren, Joe Biden, and Bernie Sanders — won't be able to defeat President Trump.

Thinking of a Late Entry Into the 2020 Primary?  Think Again.  Last week, the New York Times surveyed an "anxious Democratic Establishment" and found people casting about for new presidential candidates, and some prospective candidates giving a late entry into the race at least of modicum of thought. [...] These musings may not be, and probably are not, very serious.  But if anyone on the sidelines is truly planning a last-minute attempt to shake up the primary, they should recognize that the track record of late entrants is atrocious.

Ohio congressman Tim Ryan drops out of 2020 presidential race.  Rep. Tim Ryan of Ohio has ended his bid for the Democratic presidential nomination, he announced Thursday [10/24/2019] in a video.  "I'm announcing today I'm withdrawing from the presidential campaign.  I'll be returning home to my family and friends and community in Ohio," Ryan said, adding that he would seek reelection for his House seat in the state's 13th District.

The Editor says...
Congressman Ryan would have had his own subsection on this page, but I didn't know he was running!

Dem donors reportedly asking about late entrants to defeat Trump.  If you're not convinced that the Democrat Party desperately wants to ensure that President Donald Trump doesn't secure a second term in the White House, you have not been paying attention to their sham impeachment efforts.  They are so desperate, according to New York Times Frank Bruni, that donors in the party are beginning to panic over their current options to take on the president.

Democratic leaders anxious over lack of viable 2020 candidates: report.  Democratic Party leaders have reportedly been struck by anxiety as the 2020 election approaches — and some fear they have no viable candidate to back.  Leaders and activists in the party are wary that all their top contenders have major weaknesses and are urging other possible candidates to get in the race, The Washington Post and The New York Times reported Tuesday [10/22/2019].  "You can imagine much stronger candidates," Democratic National Committee member Elaine Kamarck told The Washington Post.

Donors decide to winnow the Democratic presidential field.  Turns out, the scramble for political money has become far more decisive in the Democratic primary races than any of their policy papers or tedious TV debates.  And in that money contest, former Vice President Joe Biden has also become the former front-runner for 2020.  He's now lagging far behind the new frontrunners:  Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren and — wait for it — Pete Buttigieg, the fresh-faced Indiana mayor.  It's still three months until the Iowa caucuses kick off Democrats' crucial decision-making among actual voters.  But fresh third-quarter campaign finance reports indicate donors are already picking winners in the still-crowded field.  And they're also picking losers, some of whom may not even make it to the first voting.

Kellyanne Conway:  Biden Is Only The Frontrunner Because The Rest Of The Democrats Are "Unabashed Socialists".  Counselor to President Trump, Kellyanne Conway, weighs in on Hunter Biden's overseas business dealings, the Democrats impeachment push and Trump's potential trade deal with China.  "I'm one of the people around the president who just — who says, you know, prop him up, meaning let's keep Biden in there for a while," Conway joked about Biden.  "The reason he's the front-runner is because the rest of the field are unabashed socialists," she said. "

2020 Democrats Won't Attack Biden Over Ukraine Scandal.  I recently noted the bizarre observation that 2020 Democrats aren't launching any substantive attacks on the frontrunners for the nomination.  Biden, Warren, and Sanders have, generally speaking, gotten off pretty easy with their single-digit-polling rivals.  If you think they're waiting for the next debate to unload, you'd be wrong. [...] According to Beto O'Rourke, "There is no reason [to look] into Joe Biden or his son Hunter Biden.  They have been cleared of any wrongdoing whatsoever." [...] Beto is not the only one pulling punches.

Sarah Palin and the Collapse of the Democrats.  [Scroll down]  Out of this divided party we see candidates for the Democratic presidential nomination struggling to distinguish their candidacies because they all lack gravitas, magnetic personalities, and records of leadership.  This despite the fact that the candidates the Democrats have fielded are the creme de la creme in their party.  We conservatives are all a bit paranoid, so we see a lot of speculation that the Democrats will field a star player at just the right moment.  Michelle, Hillary, or some unknowable superstar are supposed to be on the sidelines.  This is unlikely.  Losing is easy enough without turning to another false hope, and an intra-party war would result from anyone trying to seize the nomination.  No one need think about a new messiah figure suddenly appearing.  The Democrats don't have one.  For the nomination, the candidates must appeal to one or the other of these bifurcated wings of a now divided party.

Fracking Ban Proposed By 2020 Dems Would Kill Millions of Jobs.  A proposed fracking ban put forward by leading Democratic presidential candidates would have a devastating impact on U.S. jobs, energy independence, and even national security, according to several studies.  Reports from the American Petroleum Institute, Independent Petroleum Association of America, and U.S. Chamber of Commerce painted a stark picture of the economic fallout from ending fracking, a process which has transformed the United States into the top oil and natural gas producer in the world.

Why Liberals and Progressives Lie to Blacks.  The obvious is that they are fishing for votes.  Warren has a putative weakness with African American voters.  Tom Steyer is unknown to them (as he is to a lot of people). Harris is sinking fast and needs to shore up her rep and Julián Castro's campaign has barely been registering enough to keep him on the debate stage. [...] But beneath this are more disturbing beliefs, one of which is on the edge of disgusting and actually racist: that African Americans prefer to be lied to than told the truth.  The corollary to this is that they are easily lied to if you stir them up.  The level of disrespect in this is off the charts.  Also at play here, as it is everywhere in Democratic precincts, is Fear of Trump.  African Americans are doing better under Trump than they ever have been in this country with unemployment at record lows and salaries up.

Georgetown College Republicans Host Rebuttal To Climate Forum Featuring 2020 Candidates.  The upcoming presidential election will be the first election many college-aged voters will be able to participate in and it makes sense that a climate change discussion would be hosted on campus since several polls identified it as a top issue for the young voting demographic.  College Reaction, a polling and research company, released a survey in September that found almost 31 percent of respondents put climate change as their number one issue, followed by the economy and health care.  On Thursday night [9/19/2019], Georgetown students will have the choice to attend the climate forum or the rebuttal.

Brett Kavanaugh Breaks the Democrats.  Rarely does a story implode as spectacularly as the New York Times' latest effort to resurrect the claim that Justice Brett Kavanaugh was a teenage sexual predator. [...] [Senator Kamala] Harris and a number of her fellow Democratic presidential aspirants, including Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, Beto O'Rourke, Cory Booker, and Julian Castro, have called for the impeachment of Justice Kavanaugh based on the Times reporting.  Their assessment of Kavanaugh's culpability in an alleged assault has not changed even as the original reporting has undergone substantial revisions.

Plenty of Candidates, But No Stars.  Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, 78, is a lovable scold to his die-hard supporters, and he's genuine.  So why aren't Democrats more enthusiastic about him?  Elizabeth Warren, 70, is a great campaigner who gained strength during the long slog that she began as the Democrat with a dubious claim to being Native American.  And still, the party apparatus has not coalesced behind her.  And below that top-tier of Nestors are a pack of middle-aged opportunists who stand out for their willingness to say anything to generate buzz.

Is It Really A Three-Candidate Race?  A much-discussed poll last month showing an effective three-way tie between Joe Biden, Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders at the top of the Democratic primary field has since proven to be something of an outlier.  But the narrative that the Democratic primary has collapsed down into a three-way race between Biden, Warren and Sanders is still going strong.  Now that we're past the Labor Day holiday — traditionally a time when the pressure increases on lesser-running candidates to either improve their performance or to drop out — is the "three-way race" the right way characterize the primary?

If You're Polling In The Low Single Digits, You're Probably Toast.  [Scroll down]  As my colleague Geoffrey Skelley discovered in his series on the predictive accuracy of early primary polls, only one candidate has come back from averaging less than 5 percent in national polls in the second half of the year before the primary to win the nomination.  That was Jimmy Carter, who did so in 1976. Given the number of candidates who failed to make it, that would make their chances of winning the nomination very low — somewhere on the order of 1 or 2 percent.  Now, you might look at someone like a Booker or a Klobuchar and assume that they're better qualified than the candidates who were polling in the low single digits in past nomination races.  But that's not necessarily true.

Impeachment Activist Tom Steyer Qualifies for October Democrat Debate.  Billionaire left-wing Democrat mega-donor Tom Steyer has qualified for the Democratic Party presidential primary debate in October, expanding the field to eleven candidates and requiring the debate to be held over two nights.  Steyer was the top individual Democratic Party donor in 2014 and 2016, falling back to third place in 2018.  He began his political career funding a nationwide campaign for action against climate change, and successfully urged the Senate — then run by Democrats — to hold an all-night talk session on climate change in 2014.

Obsession: Broadcast coverage of Trump 11 times greater than Democratic hopefuls.  Trump-bashing has become a tradition in broadcast news, with anchors, correspondents and pundits supplying near non-stop negative coverage of President Trump and his administration.  The coverage has been, on average, 90% negative according to a series of studies by the Media Research Center.  These days, the Democratic presidential hopefuls are paying a price for this obsession.  Networks' "fixation on Trump" is leaving comparatively little airtime for his would-be presidential challengers, the conservative press watch dog says in a new analysis released Monday [9/9/2019].

Inside A Small City Mayor's Campaign For President.  Wayne Messam is best known, if you've heard of him at all, as the other mayor running for president — in his case, not quite as successfully as South Bend, Indiana's mayor, Pete Buttigieg.  The mayor of Miramar, Florida, has not found much of an audience or appeared in any debates.  He has raised a mere $93,812 and a small campaign staff.  And now, according to internal campaign documents and interviews with eight former Messam campaign staffers and contractors, his campaign appears to be in near-total disarray.

Top 10 Things the 2020 Democrats Will Ban If Elected .  Here, in no particular order, are the top 10 things that the 2020 Democrats want you — not them — to give up.
  [#1]   Elizabeth Warren wants the government to control which light bulbs you use, which straws you use, and limit your cheeseburger consumption.
  [#2]   Joe Biden said the Green New Deal doesn't go too far and that he wants to ban coal power plants and fossil fuels.
  [#3]   Kamala Harris wants to ban plastic straws, fracking, off-shore drilling, and red meat.
  [#4]   Julian Castro wants to ban fracking while Andrew Yang wants to ban commercial air travel.
  [#5]   Pete Buttigieg believes that if you eat hamburgers or use straws, you are "part of the problem."
  [#6]   Cory Booker and Beto O'Rourke want to ban offshore drilling.
  [#7]   Bernie Sanders even endorsed eugenics-style population control, including unlimited abortions.
But climate change is so imminent and so catastrophic, the Obama family just bought a $15 million beachfront property on Martha's Vineyard.

The Two Ticking Time Bombs of the Coming Election.  [Scroll down]  [W]hen the public finally looks seriously at the Democratic candidates, the race will tilt like a teeter-totter when a 300-pound man sits at the opposite end to a child.  Every candidate in serious contention for the Democratic nomination, except Joe Biden, has championed tax, immigration, health care, and environmental policies that the great majority of Americans will not seriously entertain — and that is without getting into reparations for descendants of slaves and natives, and legalized infanticide.  And the one prominent Democratic contender who can claim comparative sanity and civility — Biden — lacks the acuity for the office he now seeks and always has.

Could a Warren/Sanders Team-up Topple Biden?  Maybe.  But it is hard to imagine Sanders endorsing Warren until and unless Warren defeats him consistently and by a significant margin in several early states.

Why Harris, Booker, and Klobuchar will never be President.  The calculated Russia hoax devised to bring down a presidential candidate, president-elect and then president, is the most serious and egregious political scandal in US history.  Second may be the Kavanaugh hearings.  So determined to not let Brett Kavanaugh be seated on the Supreme Court, the demented Left decided to invent an equally monstrous lie to prevent the confirmation of Trump's choice for the Justice to replace Anthony Kennedy.  I think that every Democrat on that committee had to know that the accusations against Kavanaugh were false, that Blasey-Ford was a plant, a willing dupe in the Democrat scheme to destroy a good man for their political purposes.  The entire fiasco was so unspeakable that in a just world, all the perpetrators would be in prison for fraud, Diane Feinstein among them.  Three of those perpetrators are currently candidates for President, Harris, Booker and Klobuchar.

$12 Million Couldn't Buy Tom Steyer a Spot in the Democratic Debate.  Tom Steyer has blanketed the airwaves for years, fronting ads for his political groups NextGen Climate and Need to Impeach.  When he launched his presidential campaign in July, pundits were skeptical that the investor-turned-progressive-activist could attract enough support to break through in a field of more than 20 Democratic candidates.  His most immediate task:  Qualify for the upcoming debates by registering support from at least 2 percent of respondents in four separate polls and by accumulating 130,000 individual donors.  So the California billionaire — who has appeared in Super Bowl ads — began shelling out millions of dollars to drum up attention and financial support.  It hasn't quite worked out — at least not yet.

Here's Why 2020 Dems Are Dropping Like Flies.  On Friday [8/23/2019], Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Mass.) — Seth who? — will become the fourth candidate to drop out of the race for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination.  In fact, three candidates dropped out in the past two weeks: former Gov. John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.), current Gov. Jay Inslee (D-Wash.), and now Moulton.  Americans can expect to see more Democrats throw in the towel as August 28 approaches.  While a whopping 21 candidates received the privilege of debating on stage in June and July, the threshold to qualify for the September and October debates is much higher, and only 10 have qualified so far.

Why Michelle Obama Won't Run in 2020.  The Democrats are clearly losing confidence that their declared presidential candidates can beat President Trump in 2020.  They tout polls showing that any of their top four candidates would win the general election were it held now, but only the most naïve take such hypothetical matchups seriously.  Moreover, they can see that their leading candidate is so fuddled that he frequently forgets his talking points and even where he is on a given day, while his competitors are so far left of the mainstream that Trump would trounce them.  This is why so many on the left have turned their desperate eyes to Michelle Obama.

Michelle Obama for president.  The only one who can beat Trump?  There is, however, one problem Michelle Obama fans are going to have to deal with, and it's a big one.  She ain't interested.  "There's zero chance," she told the National, an Amtrak magazine.  And in an interview with Conan O'Brien, she said being in the White House and under the spotlight for eight years was enough, and "I'm not interested in politics."

The Editor says...
Michelle Obama would love to wield the power she once saw in the hands of her incompetent husband.  It's not that she isn't interested in politics.  She doesn't want to be soundly defeated and publicly humiliated by Donald Trump.  Even the loyal protection of the press and the novelty of a black female in the White House would not be enough to get Michelle Obama elected.

Elizabeth Warren, the worst of the bunch.  They each advocate for open borders to all who show up, no matter from what home country, no matter how likely they may be to be criminals.  Not one of them cares about the thousands of American citizens who are killed by illegal aliens.  No, they care about only the "poor children at the border" whose parents have either sold or rented them to drug cartels or coyotes for a price.  But bleeding-heart Warren now wants to repeal the 1994 crime bill, pushed by Joe Biden at the time, and that actually worked.  For wholly mysterious reasons, Warren, like the rest of the Left, values criminals, legal or illegal residents, over American citizens.

Payback: Democrats rig Tulsi Gabbard right out of their next debate.  Iconoclastic Rep. Tulsi Gabbard did the unforgiveable in the eyes of the hidebound Democratic Party establishment:  She knocked down one their favorites, Kamala Harris.

No One is 4th in Democrat poll.  CNN polled 402 Democrats and asked them who among 33 candidates or potential candidates they want Democrats to nominate for president.  No One finished fourth, and Someone Else was eighth.  Joe Biden led the pack with 29%, down from 39% from April.  The more he campaigns, the less support he has.  Bernie Sanders remained in second at 15%, same as April.  Elizabeth Warren remained in third at 14%, up from 9% in April.  No One shot up to fourth place at 7%, up from 3% in April.  No One passed Pete Buttigieg, Beto O'Rourke, and Kamala Harris, who were at 7%, 6%, and 5% respectively in April.  Someone Else went from zero in April to 2%, creating a four-way tie with Cory Booker, Julian Castro, and Tulsi Gabbard.

The climate change crisis racket.  Do Democrats really believe in the climate crisis they have dubbed an "emergency," or is it really just a way to make a quick buck?  Beto O'Rourke has suggested spending $5 trillion over the next ten years investing in climate change initiatives primarily for "vulnerable communities."  Not to be outdone, Kamala Harris was one of the co-sponsors for the "Green New Deal," which proposes $700 billion a year in spending on a utopian garden future.  Bernie Sanders, also a loud supporter of the GND, proposes going even farther and banning any new developments that would require fossil fuels.  Cory Booker uses climate change to drum up fear, claiming with an re-introduced bill that the environment is racist (yeah, seriously), and although he hasn't laid out any specific plans, he has insinuated possibly legislating veganism.

The Editor says...
How is it possible to solve a global problem — assuming there is a problem — by spending money only in "vulnerable communities?"  What does that mean, anyway?  Which "community" in the United States is so sensitive that an imperceptible change in temperature would require five trillion dollars in remedial expenditures?

There is No 'Climate Emergency!'  Speaking at the 13th International Conference on Climate Change held on July 25th in Washington, D.C., Dr. Roy W. Spencer of the University of Alabama in Huntsville said, "There is no climate crisis.  There is no climate emergency.  Even if all of the warming we've seen in any observational data set is due to increasing CO2 (carbon dioxide), which I don't believe it is, it's probably too small for any person to feel in their lifetime."  Yet, on July 9, Reuters News Agency reported "Democratic lawmakers, including six presidential candidates, on Tuesday unveiled a Congressional resolution declaring a climate change emergency to spur 'sweeping reforms' to stem a dangerous rise in global temperatures.

Also posted under reasonable doubt about global warming.

Steyer: A 'State Of Emergency' Over Climate Change On Day One.  Democratic billionaire Tom Steyer of California has big plans for his first day as president.  "I will declare a state of emergency on day one," he said, referring to the need to take on the effects of climate change.  "We are faced with something that will affect the health and safety of every single American, and every single American in the future."

The Editor says...
There is no climate emergency.  If you turn off your television, you won't see anybody who thinks there is a climate crisis.  The weather this year is just like last year's weather.

Not One Democratic Presidential Candidate Responds to Question Asking Them if They Condemn Antifa.  Despite the well-documented violence of the radical left Antifa group — the Department of Homeland Security classifies it as "domestic terrorist violence" — not one of the 23 Democrats running for president would condemn Antifa when repeatedly asked by CNSNews.com over the course of 12 business days.  The Trump administration did respond, within a day, condemning Antifa.

2020 Democrats get desperate after El Paso shooting.  The national media are never going to like anything about President Trump, so it doesn't matter that they're panning his pitch-perfect remarks Monday at the White House on the two mass shootings that took place over the weekend.  While they're busy searching their hearts for yet more reasons to hate Trump, they're missing the 2020 Democratic presidential candidates make complete asses of themselves as they try to out-grieve and out-outrage one another.

Democrats have 24 candidates in the race, but they're all zeros.  If anything can be gleaned from watching the Democrats debate, it's this:  President Donald Trump doesn't have much to worry about when it comes to his reelection.  Democrats, after all these months, even with all these candidates, still have nobody for president.  There's no break-away; there's no front-runner.  There's no clear leader — certainly, no clear winner.  Bluntly, you know you've got a candidate problem when, in a field of 24, the perceived best chance of beating Trump is — Michelle Obama.  The one who's not running.

Little Stalins.  Comparing the debates to a reality game show is popular.  Few if any of the candidates display any retail political savvy or charm.  That they are a circular firing squad, a pack of hyenas devouring each other, and/or coffee klatch of resentful scare-mongers are all apt observations in one way or another.  Let me propose yet another:  that they are mostly a bunch of little wannabe Stalins.  That applies especially to the two avowed socialists of the group, Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren.  But while not all of the candidates evidently share Sanders's affection for the old USSR — he spent his honeymoon there, after all — they do share a kind of authoritarian stridency that reminds of the great mustachioed one.  Here Warren is the worst.  Warren makes you search for a word stronger than humorless.  Is it the 1/1000 Cherokee in her?  Are all American Indians so resolutely grim?  Even Stalin managed a genuine smile and a laugh now and then, after a good purge or government induced famine.

Democrat-Socialist dinosaurs hype climate change debate.  Last week, Democrat and Democratic-Socialist dinosaurs, all candidates for president, debated over who had the best climate change plan.  But climate change headlines aside, these plans are really designed to rifle our bank accounts and hamper the progress of American industry.  This despite the globe's premier capitalist income-redistribution machine already having created 223,000 jobs in July alone.

Expect More Attacks on Obama's Legacy from 2020 Democrats.  Former Obama officials are reportedly concerned that criticizing the Obama record is "bad politics" and that "Obama's legacy could become collateral damage" as a result.  For years, Obama and his record have been in untouchable territory.  If you disagreed with Obama and his policies during his presidency, you were dubbed a racist.  Democrats fell in line without any pushback, and as a result, the party is clearly unprepared for the Obama record to undergo such examination from within their own party.  It was politically expedient to brand Republicans as racist for opposing Obama, but not so much when the fire is coming from their own side from people vying for their party's presidential nomination.

People in Detroit Struggle to Name Democrat Presidential Candidates.  Man-and-woman on the street interviews in Detroit done on the eve of this week's two-night Democratic Party presidential debates show that even the front running candidates are not very well known among voters.  The interviews were conducted by Spectrum News reporter Lindsay Oliver and posted by Spectrum to Twitter.  The debates, hosted by CNN, are airing Tuesday [7/30/2019] and Wednesday night with ten candidates each night.

Everything You Don't Know About Mass Incarceration.  Certain must-pass ideological litmus tests have arisen for the 25 declared candidates (so far) seeking the Democratic Party presidential nomination.  Perhaps chief among them is subscription to the belief that the American criminal-justice system is racist and overly punitive.

In Face Of Massive Border Crisis, Democrats Tell Americans Citizenship Means Nothing.  On Friday night [7/12/2019], a mob of protestors tore down an American flag outside a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Aurora, Colo., and replaced it with a Mexican flag.  Local police stood by and did nothing.  The next day, a gunman reportedly associated with Antifa attacked an ICE detention center in Tacoma, Wash., throwing Molotov cocktails and attempting to set fire to a propane tank.  He was reportedly killed by police in a gunfight.  The attack in Tacoma coincided with left-wing protests at ICE facilities all over the country, prompted by nationwide ICE raids targeting Central American families whom immigration judges have ordered to be deported after reviewing their claims.  If you're a Democrat seeking your party's nomination for 2020, what's your response to these events?  So far, nothing.

Of Progressive Carnivores and Cannibals.  [R]evolutionary carnivores are rarely sated.  Once they run out of easy hostile targets — and they have with the collapse of the Mueller hoax and all the other impeachment melodramas — they get hungry and as cannibals start to eye their own.  We have already seen that autophagy in the initial primary debates in which all the major Democratic presidential candidates — Cory Booker, Pete Buttigieg, Kamala Harris, Robert O'Rourke, Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren — shouted out the most outlandish agendas possible in a desperate effort to ensure that no rival could possibly pose more to their left.

Tired, Irrelevant Democratic Candidates Point To Trump Reelection.  The Democrats' major problems are that almost all the president's policies are working.  The collapse of the Russian collusion fraud has created an eerie silence as the country awaits possible indictments of the Democrats responsible for that outrage; and the Democrats themselves are completely unfeasible. [...] This is all the Democrats have left:  snobbery, the moronic pretensions of a party whose leaders politicized the intelligence and national police agencies to try to undo an election, and many of whose contenders abuse public credulity by comparing resisting the will-o'-the-wisp of climate change with the invasion of Normandy (Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey), and announcing the scientific unanimity of certainty about imminent planet-threatening global warming (Beto O'Rourke [of] Texas).

Billionaire Tom Steyer to join crowded 2020 presidential race.  Billionaire environmentalist Tom Steyer is planning to launch his campaign for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, a report said Sunday [7/7/2019].  The 62-year-old Steyer — who toyed with the idea of running in the past — held a private conference call last week to tell people close to him that he was planning to run, according to Politico.

Clown Car:  Who's Up for a 26th Dem Candidate in 2020?  This is particularly confusing since [#1] Jay Inslee seems to have already gotten into this thing as the global warming candidate under the impression that Steyer would be funding him.  The 2020 race will now have two single-issue global warming candidates arguing that only they can be trusted to stop the planet from blowing up.  Steyer's other big issue was impeaching Trump.  I don't think even in this field, it's possible to run for president based on a promise to impeach the previous president.  But I may be overestimating the idiocy and insanity of the current electorate.  [#2] Steyer, unlike most of the field, doesn't need to run for president to make money or build his national profile.  So this is just a Bloombergian vanity candidacy.

Should Candidates Forfeit Their Salary For Time Spent Campaigning?  The title question may sound a bit facetious, but it's the one being posed by Ken Frydman at the New York Daily News this weekend.  There are more than two dozen elected officials — current officeholders — running for President at the moment.  They spend a vast amount of time in New Hampshire, Iowa, South Carolina and at state Democratic conventions and galas across the nation.  So much so in fact that they rarely find time to make it back to their home states, districts, and cities, or even to their full-time jobs in Washington.  In a glaring example of this phenomenon, when the vote was held to approve billions of dollars of humanitarian relief for the southern border, not one of the seven Senate Democrats running for the nomination showed up to vote on behalf of their constituents.

Democratic shakeout:  Biden losing altitude, Harris surging, field dividing, bottom stuck at bottom.  There have now been five national polls since the first Democratic presidential primary debate.  Together, the surveys, conducted by ABC News/Washington Post, Quinnipiac, CNN, The Hill/Harris, and Politico/Morning Consult, show the debate has shaken up the race.  The field has separated into three clearly definable tiers, all atop a large group at the bottom made up of candidates with virtually no support.

Willie Brown says no 2020 Democrat can beat Trump after debates.  Former California Assembly Speaker Willie Brown said that no Democratic candidate in the 2020 race is capable of beating President Trump right now.  Brown's political analysis appeared in his San Francisco Chronicle column on Saturday [6/29/2019] in a piece titled "Bad news for Democrats — none of these candidates can beat Trump."  Brown admitted that not even his ex-girlfriend Sen. Kamala Harris of California could beat Trump in a race today.

The Editor says...
This sounds like a well-planned set-up:  None of the current candidates are good enough to beat Trump in 2020.  At some point, the news media will begin to say so, in unison, as if all the talking mannequins are reading from the same teleprompter.  Someone will have to ride to the rescue, most likely a black female with favorable name recognition, like Michelle Obama or Oprah Winfrey.  The pre-selected candidate will put up a shhhtruggle for a day or two and then agree to serve as the nominee.  The news media will go crazy over her, just like they did for Barack H. Obama.

Border Crisis Hypocrites on Parade.  Conventional wisdom holds that political parties evolve, but do so slowly, over passing generations.  But today's Democrats have broken land-speed records as they have careened leftward on the question of immigration.  Today's Democratic Party is nearly unrecognizable when compared with where it was a decade ago, or even five years ago.  And the transformation has been extreme.

When Democrat candidates offer everything free for all.  Each Democratic presidential candidate seems determined to top the others with proposals for more free stuff.  From health care to college tuition to guaranteed income, they offer freebies that resonate with the mini-mob of the day.  President Trump says it's a race to see who can give away the most stuff, and raise taxes the most. [...] Democratic candidates are so many that one needs a spreadsheet to keep up with who is offering what to whom.  But they are all quick to say that it — whatever it is — should be free.

22% of Democrats care about 2020.  The Associated Press reported on its own poll of 2020, "Only 22% of Democrats registered to vote say they know a lot about the candidates' positions, while 62% say they know a little.  And only 35% say they're paying close attention to the campaign, with almost two-thirds saying they're paying some or no attention."  What is to know?  Their positions are all the same.  They are all for reparations, men in girls bathrooms, soaking the rich, repealing middle class tax breaks, stripping the military, open borders, Medicare For All, and erasing student loan debt.  When one of the candidates tries to break out of the pack by proposing something insane, they all soon follow.

Here come the Democratic nobles on parade.  The legion of Democrats who think they can take the measure of Donald Trump will go at it beginning Wednesday night [6/26/2019], each trying to figure out a way to stand out in a crowd of mediocrities. [...] The candidates are practicing to come up with the meanest, harshest and most colorful way to say how much more they hate the Donald than anyone else in the whole world, and certainly more than any of the others on the platform in Miami.

Summertime 2019: The Top 30 Hottest Political Women.  [#4] Tulsi Gabbard:  This Hawaiian beauty is more than just a congresswoman and 2020 presidential candidate.  She resigned from the Democrat National Committee when they tried to rig the 2016 primary in favor of Hillary Clinton and away from her preferred candidate Bernie Sanders.  She took a principled stand, a rarity in American politics.  Now she is running against Sanders as a saner version of him.

Election 2020: Democrats announce their 20 semi-finalists.  [Scroll down]  Why do I call this a beauty contest?  Because 20 is still too many to conduct a credible debate.  Supposedly, the groups will be split up into two sets over two nights.  But even ten on the stage for a debate is way too much.  Assuming it's a two-hour debate, that means each candidate will get about 8 to 10 minutes of speaking time, counting for commercial breaks, bumpers, announcer blather and moderator questions.  And assuming none of them goes over their alloted time limits.

A Grotesque Political Party.  The lineup of Democrat presidential candidates currently stands at 25 and growing.  Conrad Black has aptly described them as "unelectable non-entities."  The long and growing list is more like a tower of babel than a collection of credible leaders.  Evidence of that is that leading the race currently is former senator and vice president Joe Biden.  Beyond the confines of the Democrat Party the reaction to Biden's candidacy is typically, "Is this a joke?"  Joe Biden?  The guy is a goof.  He is known primarily for his gaffes, flip-flops, plagiarism, and unwelcome advances toward women.  The very fact he is leading the race is a sad indictment on all the other candidates.  The unreality of all the candidates' policy positions, e.g. the Green New Deal, sanctuary cities, open borders, unlimited taxpayer-funded abortions, should be obvious to all sentient beings.  Democrats label all Trump supporters as racists, just as Hillary Clinton labeled them all "deplorables."

22 Democratic debate qualifiers and 20 spots.  So who gets the little table?  After saturating Twitter something fierce in a quest for $1 donations over the weekend, Democratic presidential candidate Kirsten Gillibrand has finally secured herself a spot on the Democratic Party's debate stage in June, bringing up the rear. [...] There are only 20 spots on the debate stage.  Gillibrand's stagger over the finish line makes 22 among the qualifiers.  And maybe the last two Democratic hopefuls can pull a one-off and secure themselves spots, too, making the total 24, which leaves Democratic Party boss Tom Perez's effort to cull the herd two weeks ago useless.

The strange-birds of 'The 2020 Gang'.  We have entered a political era when people with no substantive credentials and few life successes believe they are qualified to be the leader of the free world and to govern your life.  This era started last decade when a little-known man became president, whose primary real-life achievement had been to run a rag-tag street pack in Chicago.  Almost none of the current presidential candidates has ever created a job or a real business, or run a complex organization, except for a couple of the governors, and even they had the title of Governor but not much to brag about in the accomplishments department.

2020 Democrats call to end ban on gay men donating blood.  A growing number of Democratic presidential candidates in the 2020 election are calling for an end to a long-held standard for blood donations, which critics say enforces latent homophobia and leaves America's blood supply vulnerable to unscientific limits.  That policy, which bans gay and bisexual men who have had sex with other men within the past year from donating blood, has been criticised as unnecessary in terms of modern scientific testing for blood-borne sexually transmitted diseases like HIV — modern tests can find the virus in the bloodstream within two weeks.

Bernie & Joe:  Two Old White Males Take the Lead.  In 2018, a record turnout of women, minorities and young added 40 House seats to Democratic ranks and made Nancy Pelosi speaker.  This, we were told, is the new diversity coalition — women, people of color, millennials — that will take down The Donald in 2020.  So, how has the Democratic field sorted itself out half a year later?  According to the Real Clear Politics average of polls, two old white guys, Joe Biden, 76, and Bernie Sanders, 77, are setting the pace and have together corralled more than half of all Democrats.

AOC Calls For 2020 Dem to Be Bounced for All: 'Please Sashay Away'.  Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) is calling for the elimination of a 2020 presidential candidate over his opposition to Medicare for all.  In a Sunday [6/2/2019] tweet, the representative from New York expressed her desire to have John Delaney bounced from the race. [...] At the California Democratic convention in San Francisco on Sunday, Delaney — a former congressman from Maryland — was booed after coming out against Medicare for all.  "Medicare for all may sound good, but it's actually not good policy, nor is it good politics," Delaney said, to the disapproving crowd.

Democrats Make Surprise Move To Squeeze And Narrow Campaign Field, Concerning Campaign Officials.  The Democratic Party's directive to establish a 130,000 donor quota to qualify presidential candidates for participation in the third primary debate is raising concerns among campaign officials.  Two-thirds of the 2020 Democratic field might not qualify to participate in the September debate due to the measure, The New York Times reported Thursday, citing officials from multiple campaigns.  The threshold doubles the amount of donors needed to participate in the two preceding debates scheduled for June and July, which is set at 65,000 donors.

Democratic 2020 hopefuls AWOL on national security.  Democratic insiders have concluded that President Trump is unusually vulnerable on national security for a Republican, an assessment based on extensive research, but warn the party's leading 2020 contenders are squandering this unique political opening.  The crowded field of would-be White House nominees has been virtually radio silent on the range of threats facing the United States, from terrorism to illegal immigration to cyberattacks, preferring to to discuss domestic issues such as healthcare popular with the progressive base.  Liberal foreign policy experts fear this failure to both acknowledge these key national security concerns, and offer contrasting solutions, could cede crucial political ground to Trump once the general election begins next year.

Tom Perez braces for criticism from Democrats for cutting the size of the clown car at the debates.  With 24 candidates running for president against President Trump, Democratic Party chairman Tom Perez has moved to cut the size of the clown car so voters can at least see the candidates on a single screen at the upcoming first debate, come June.  Fringe candidates can go to the children's table.

The Editor says...