Oath of Impeachment

Timothy Birdnow

On Facebook a group called Call to Activism posted about how the Senators are required to take an oath before hearing the impeachment case, and how McConnell and Lindsay Graham should recuse themselves since they have prejudged the case. I commented:

A commenter on this post bemoaned the "lack of fairness" of the GOP. I posted:

In case you missed it, the Democrats swore they would impeach Donald Trump almost from the day he won the election. What kind of grand jury were the Democrats running?

They never did produce a crime. They tried to get Trump on "quid pro quo" and bribery, but had to give that up because they had zero evidence. So they have gone with the most nebulous charges they could muster.

And do you remember when the Democrats were trying to find a way to flip Electors in the Electoral College? The Democrats refused to accept Trump's election. And from the beginning there were people in the party who were calling for Trump's impeachment. Al Green was demanding Trump be impeached in May of 2017, for example. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/onpolitics/2017/05/17/texas-rep-al-green-calls-president-trumps-impeachment-house-floor/101786744/ and articles were filed against Trump by July of that year. There was no evidence then of wrongdoing - just the Mueller probe, which has since failed to find any evidence against Mr. Trump. https://www.npr.org/2019/12/17/788397365/impeachment-timeline-from-early-calls-to-a-full-house-vote

The accusations against Trump have been endless and ever-changing; Russian collusion, bribery, obstruction of justice, etc. and yet we come down to THIS. It's interesting to note that Adam Schiff, the Torquemada of impeachment, has strong ties to the Ukraine https://www.foxnews.com/politics/adam-schiffs-own-ukraine-connection-comes-under-scrutiny And the Ukrainians were not only involved with Biden's son, and Mr. Biden himself, but also with Hillary Clinton https://www.wsj.com/articles/hillary-clinton-and-ukraine-11569881729 Strange.

Also, the Democrats have tried to impeach every Republican president since Nixon - except Ford, who was the walking dead and not worth going after. So, why should anyone take any of this crap seriously?

The Democrats didn't take Clinton's impeachment seriously, even though he perjured himself in Federal court and tampered with witnesses (and was convicted by one of his own former law students in an Arkansas court). So why should the GOP give one flying frig to any of this?

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New China Trade Deal

Timothy Birdnow

An article at Pajamas Media makes the case that the new deal Trump has negotiated with China will enhance our national security.

From the article:

• The Chinese have already stolen top-secret information on our submarine warfare capabilities. They’ve managed to compromise data on our F-35 fighter jetsas well as numerous other defense systems. This theft not only costs the United States taxpayer dollars, but it also presents a massive problem for our defense infrastructure. Thankfully, it’s a concern that President Trump’s trade deal directly addresses.
• While not detailing an outright ban on China’s illicit theft of intellectual property, the trade deal does take a few preventative measures designed to curb China’s nefarious activities. The deal negotiatesstronger legal protections for a variety of intellectual property types, including copyrights, trademarks, and patents. At least in theory, the agreement binds China to tighter restrictions regarding the respect of intellectual property rights. It would force the Chinese government to cease pressuring foreign companies to supply IP in exchange for market access. Additionally, it would bar China from engaging in certain unscrupulous behaviors to acquire foreign technology.
• From a national security perspective, the deal is a welcome step in the right direction. It would be foolish to assume that China’s communist government would cease its theft of intellectual property altogether. Yet, in the very least, the deal will slow China down, allowing the U.S. government to erect additional protective measures around our most sensitive national security technology

The problem is, as usual, America having the will to enforce this. China will cheat. There is no doubt about that; the Chinese are not innovative in the way that we and they cannot keep up with us without stealing our work. It really is that simple. I don't see any way a trade deal will change that.

But at least we are putting down some standards. We should look at ways to punish China iif they do cheat.

Continuing with this article:


Now here I break with the author. Copyright has gotten completely out of control. As regular readers may remember, the Aviary was sued for posting a photograph of the outside of a building that was in the New York Post. The photographer makes his living doing that - he gets his pictures published then sues any unsuspecting person who posts them. I thought in this instance they fell under fair usage. But there is almost NO fair usage in this country for photographs.. Even songs; Happy Birthday was just put into the public domain by a judge; it was written in 1893, and the heirs to the author kept trying to renew the copyright. They used to sue people, too, for singing it at birthday parties and whatnot. It was ridiculous; they rarely used it in movies (preferring "He's a Jolly Good Fellow" because they didn't have to pay royalties). While nobody denies the right to profit from your own intellectual property, a hundred and twenty years is a bit excessive for a song. But it's hardly unusual; the standard rule is the life of the author PLUS fifty years.

It has reached the point where nobody can create anything without being in danger of copyright infringement. There were a number of cases where older ex-stars sued younger stars for songs that had a riff that sounded like something from their own. It's gotten to where a three or four note interlude is leading to big buck lawsuits.

At this point copyright is stifling creativity and initiative, not the other way around. Nobody creates something in a vacuum.

Of course, inventions and especially high tech are more obvious, and it is fairly easy to see where someone has stolen an idea. That should be protected.

But even there, one wonders. Insulin, for example, is something that is absolutely necessary to some people to acquire. In the early days it was made from animals (insulin in many animals is quite similar to ours, enough so that it worked in people, although some had reactions to it.) Frederick Banting and Charles Best - the two scientists who invented the process to purify insulin - sold their invention for one dollar to to the University of Toronto (who farmed it out to Eli Lilly they were more interested in getting this to market and saving lives than making the billion dollars they would have made. (Banting, who cut his research assistant Best in for credit when he didn't have to, was a saintly man who is unquestionably in Heaven right now.)

At any rate, insulin is now ridiculously expensive, because the drug companies have gotten animal insulin largely banned in the U.S. and because they hold a patent on the process of making synthetic insulin. The government won't approve a generic because they say the patent is on the PROCESS, not the actual substance. So the diabetic is in permanent indebted status, trying desperately to pay for the hormone that his body doesn't produce.

I use a lot of insulin. I buy it at Walmart, where I can get it cheap. Say what you will about Walmart, but I wouldn't be alive now were it not for them. God bless Sam Walton and company!

My point?  Patent law is failing America in fundamental ways. Yes, it's making a lot of money for some people, but at what cost? It was always understood that after a certain point something was in the public domain. No longer; inventions, writings, music, etc. are now eternally patented or copyrighted.

Is it any wonder why they keep making the same movies, year after year, or variants of the same? Why our music has become utterly generic and bland? Why we haven't produced any decent literature in decades? It's because anyone who sticks their necks out will get sued.

I know.

That said, I am glad we are going after the Chinese. They've got no such prissy scruples about who owns what. To China, the State owns everything.

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This is what panic sounds like

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Fake News from a Fake Newser

Timothy Birdnow

Borat was a mockumentary; fake news. This guy fits right in with the whole "resistance" which is nothing but a vast mockumentary.

‘Borat’ Director Larry Charles Warns of Deadly Riots if Trump Remains in Office

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Democrats Caving to Trump

Timothy Birdnow

Despite the fireworks of the impeachment hearings, the Democrats have actually caved in to Donald Trump on some key legislation.

According to Conservative HQ:

At more or less the same time Democrats were announcing their article of impeachment, they also announced their support for the USMCA trade agreement, an updated trade agreement among the U.S., Mexico and Canada.

The trade deal, a signature campaign promise of Donald Trump’s, supersedes the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) which Trump often termed the worst trade deal in history.

The new agreement includes provisions for digital trade and incentives that could shift some automotive manufacturing from Mexico to the U.S. or Canada

[...]

And, no sooner had Democrats agreed to advance the USMCA, after sitting on it for almost a year, they also agreed to a "compromise” on the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).

This year’s NDAA includes a 3.1-percent pay raise for our troops, provides up to 12 weeks of paid parental leave for Federal employees, ensures survivors of deceased service members receive the benefits they deserve, and establishes the United States Space Force, an idea championed by President Trump and often ridiculed by Democrats.

Interestingly enough, a number of Democrats were at the White House celebrating with President Trump. These included Democratic House members Josh Harder, Gil Cisneros, and former Republican turned Independent Justin Amash. Why were these three Trump haters at the White House Christmas party?

Why are the Democrats helping to advance Trump's agenda?

It may be they think they need to appear to be willing to work with Trump. They hope to blur the timeline, suggesting they have never been simply "the Resistance" and hope nobody realizes they only started working with him AFTER impeachment was immanent. Or it could be they know that he's going to win, and they need to have some accomplishments to steal take credit for.Or they could be up to something more devious.

It could just be that these jerks here are trying to get aboart the victory bandwagon. They may realize Trump is going to win and they want to position themselves accordingly. I suspect even Nancy Pelosi (the San Francisco Bleat) knows they screwed up with this impeachment. They may want to offer an olive branch. Of course, it bears a poisoned olive, but what they heck!

Any way you slice it I think this is evidence that the end of this is near. NOT that they won't start over but at the moment I think the Democrats know they have lost.

And giving Trump legislative victories after vowing to fight him at every turn will ultimately damage the Democrats in the eyes of their radicals, and will elevate Trump as having the cajones to stand his ground and win.

I may be wrong,and this might be part of a larger strategy to get the orange troll. Thoughts?

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The Plot to Steal Florida - and America

Timothy Birdnow

I think this may well happen. Florida has been balanced on a knife edge politically, thanks to all of the snowbirds coming from New York and other such liberal bastions, and the influx of rootless people from the rest of the country, as well as the large Hispanic population. But in the last few years some big game changers have occurred, such as the influx of Puerto Ricans after Hurricane Maria (Puerto Ricans vote predominantly Democratic) and  the passage of an initiative  re-enfranchising 1.4 million felons in the Sunshine State. Felons are likely to vote for a soft-on-crime and big on government benefits party. This has been tipping the scales in favor of the Democrats.

Now the leftist group that brought you Blue Virginia is using the same tactics as they successfully implemented in the Old Dominion.

From the Epoch Times:

Liberation Road (until April this year known as Freedom Road Socialist Organization or FRSO) flipped Virginiaby signing up at least 300,000 new minority voters over the last several years and working with then-Gov. Terry McAuliffe to restore voting rights for an estimated 200,000 former felons.

This article is very informative; do read it all.

Another point to ponder; the Cubans of south Florida have generally been pretty friendly to the GOP, but they've been here long enough to be seduced by the siren's song of free stuff and intersectionality. I fear they aren't what they used to be.

If Florida or Texas go  it's game over.America is poised on a knife's edge, and the Left is storming the gate.

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Cold-Hearted

This from Warner Todd Houston:

I had a snowman in front of my house, but he went on strike for transgender snowmen's rights and insisted I disinvest from Israel. I should have expected it, though. After all, he did start as a snowflake.

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I Accuse the Leadership of the Democratic Party of Responsibility for Violence Against Jews

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Barack Obama, On Behalf of All Men, Says to Women: 'You're Better Than Us'

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Trump may Skip Debates by the Presidential Commission

Timothy Birdnow

It's high time!

President Trump is suggesting he may dump the Monster Truck Pull sponsored by the Commission on Presidential Debates. The so-called "non-partisan" commission always seems to work against the GOP.

From Fox:

The president’s tweets appear to be in response to a report from the New York Times last week that Trump was talking with aides about skipping out on the debates because of his mistrust of the commission.

"The problem is that the so-called Commission on Presidential Debates is stacked with Trump Haters & Never Trumpers. 3 years ago they were forced to publicly apologize for modulating my microphone in the first debate against Crooked Hillary,” Trump tweeted on Monday.

Trump was referring to a problem with his microphone during his face-off in the September 2016 debate against Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. In the spin room following the showdown and in an interview with Fox News, Trump complained to reporters that his mic was "defective” and questioned whether the malfunction was "on purpose.”

Following the debate, the commission issued a short statement saying, "Regarding the first debate, there were issues regarding Donald Trump’s audio that affected the sound level in the debate hall.”

And don't forget when Candy Crowley injected herself into the Presidential debate between Mitt Romney and Barack Obama? She broke in to tell Romney he was wrong and claiming she had proof in her briefcase over the Benghazi affair.

Anyone remember during the same election when George Stephanopoulis asked Mitt Romney about a "Republican War on Women" out of the blue? He started asking if Romney believed the federal government could ban contraception during a debate. This was not an issue and Romney was stunned.

Anyone remember Megyn Kelly's abusive behavior towards then candidate Donald Trump?

These are just three obvious examples of some of the bias we have seen since the establishment of this commission.

There is no reason to have mainstream media host these debates. Media people are  not proper hosts, and are always inserting themselves into the story. A proper host would simply announce the candidates and ask the questions, questions that he or she should not write.

I'm happy Trump is thinking of bagging this.

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Fascism from Greta, Parmcutt, and the Gang Green

Timothy Birdnow

Teen Global Warming Princess Greta Thunberg Apologizes for Saying World Leaders Should be Executed

She's not the first of the Gang Green to call for executions of people who disagree. Remember Richard Parmcutt? He was the professor from Karl Franzden University who proposed death penalties for "global warming deniers". Far as I can see he's still working with nary a hiccup in his career after that. I wrote about that here.

 These people are fascists.

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Gun Control Sparked the Shot Heard Round the World

Timothy Birdnow

I just came across this excellent essay by Dave Kopel in which he argues that the American Revolution was a reaction to gun control efforts by Britain.

From the article:

Modern "smokeless" gunpowder is stable under most conditions. The "black powder" of the 18th Century was far more volatile. Accordingly, large quantities of black powder were often stored in a town's "powder house," typically a reinforced brick building. The powder house would hold merchants' reserves, large quantities stored by individuals, as well as powder for use by the local militia. Although colonial laws generally required militiamen (and sometimes all householders, too) to have their own firearm and a minimum quantity of powder, not everyone could afford it. Consequently, the government sometimes supplied "public arms" and powder to individual militiamen. Policies varied on whether militiamen who had been given public arms would keep them at home. Public arms would often be stored in a special armory, which might also be the powder house.

Before dawn on September 1, 1774, 260 of Gage's Redcoats sailed up the Mystic River and seized hundreds of barrels of powder from the Charlestown powder house.

The "Powder Alarm," as it became known, was a serious provocation. By the end of the day, 20,000 militiamen had mobilized and started marching towards Boston. In Connecticut and Western Massachusetts, rumors quickly spread that the Powder Alarm had actually involved fighting in the streets of Boston. More accurate reports reached the militia companies before that militia reached Boston, and so the war did not begin in September. The message, though, was unmistakable: If the British used violence to seize arms or powder, the Americans would treat that violent seizure as an act of war, and would fight. And that is exactly what happened several months later, on April 19, 1775.

This makes a fascinating case, if a bit of an oversimplification. Read the whole thing.

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Political Correctness at Nature

Timothy Birdnow

The Woke Blokes at Nature, the supposedly premier science journal, have taken umbrage with the use of the words "supremacy" in regards to quantum computers because - get this! - it conjures images of white hooded klansmen seeking to lynch poor black sharecroppers!

Here is the letter by a number of scientists protesting the use of the word in an article:

We take issue with the use of ‘supremacy’ when referring to quantum computers that can out-calculate even the fastest supercomputers (F. Arute et al. Nature 574, 505–510; 2019). We consider it irresponsible to override the historical context of this descriptor, which risks sustaining divisions in race, gender and class. We call for the community to use ‘quantum advantage’ instead.

The community claims that quantum supremacy is a technical term with a specified meaning. However, any technical justification for this descriptor could get swamped as it enters the public arena after the intense media coverage of the past few months.

In our view, ‘supremacy’ has overtones of violence, neocolonialism and racism through its association with ‘white supremacy’. Inherently violent language has crept into other branches of science as well — in human and robotic spaceflight, for example, terms such as ‘conquest’, ‘colonization’ and ‘settlement’ evoke the terra nullius arguments of settler colonialism and must be contextualized against ongoing issues of neocolonialism.

Instead, quantum computing should be an open arena and an inspiration for a new generation of scientists.

Writing about this at Powerline John Hayward says:

I'm surprised John was unaware of how pc Nature has become, especially over Global Warming and the social sciences. Nature has increasingly moved into the lunatic fringe in recent years, promoting scare scenarios and rejecting good science by top guys. A number of years back, for instance, they flatly rejected a paper by Roy Spencer which contradicted Global Warming hystericism. Just said no. Spencer wound up having to publish in Remote Sensing as a result. Now, Roy Spencer is at the University of Alabama Huntsville and, along with John Christy, runs the satellite data center. He's no one to take lightly.

I guess Hayward was unaware of that.

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Scientists Shocked After Discovering Big Fire Caused Amazon Forest Loss

Timothy Birdnow

Here is a bit of illogic. Seems satellite data suggests that deforestation is way up in the Amazon.

According to the article, the Amazon has lost "104 percent" since the same month last year.

And the 217 square miles is the highest loss since 2015.

Well, goolllly!

The fact is, the Amazon was piling up flammable material at a prodigious rate as a result of protectionism, and this year there was a fairly major fire season. OF COURSE it lost more this year than in the last five or so!

That happens periodically. And it happened now because of overprotection by the previous liberal policies.

Naturally, the article tries to blame Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, whom the Brazilian National Institute for Space Research has been at odds with since his election (and who provided this data.) Think NASA's GISS and James Hansen when you think about the NISR. Hansen, you may remember, published bad data and then accused the Bush Administration of suppressing science. This is more of the same.

And Physorg published this uncritically.

We no longer have Science in the sense we knew it. We have politics masquerading as science, a kind of Cargo Cult affair.

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Latest College Scam - Get Rid of Standardized Tests

Timothy Birdnow

American colleges continue their slide into mediocrity and political correctness.

From the Belleville News Democrat:

At SIU Carbondale, applicants with a high school grade point average of 2.75 or above who have met course requirementswill be admitted to the university regardless of whether they submit their SAT or ACT scores. Students enrolling for summer or fall 2021 with a 2.75 or above will be eligible for consideration for most scholarships without submitting standardized test scores.

Standardized tests tend to favor students who come from high socio-economic families and whose parents have a college education, according to FairTest.

So now colleges are going to be based on GPA and "diversity". What does that even mean?

It means that there is no standard with which to measure how far along a student really is against an absolute background. Take two high school students; one attends, say, a bad public school in the ghetto and another student an excellent private school, such as my alma mater St. Louis University High. SLUH is an A-track school, meaning it only admits the cream of the crop (I was rather sour cream, a bit too lazy for top honors.) So, using the new standards of GPA, a decent student in a terrible school will be more likely to be admitted than an average student in a great school. So there is no value to spending the big bucks and working your tail off at a school like SLUH; you may as well attend a mediocre school and do well.

Without the standardized tests there is no way to determine if the applicant is actually a good applicant or just the best of a bad bunch.

This is all about racial and ethnic diversity. It is to level the playing field for minorities, who generally find themselves in over their heads in colleges. The schools want this, but they are embarrassed by the failure of many of the affirmative action students. By eliminating standardized tests they eliminate the "tyranny" of knowledge. They can then dumb the curriculum down accordingly.

This will lead to a weaker student body. The dopes will inherit the Earth.

Colleges are increasingly filling the roles of high schools, teaching basic skills to kids who have wasted their high school years with liberal educational theory and radical social activism.

Another point - colleges don't want smart people, but rather the mediocre, because they are no longer about critical thinking and logic and all about leftist theory and activism. You can't do that with smart people. So you take the half-educated, the 2.75 GPA types, and indoctrinate them.

So this is about race and indoctrination and little else. And they want people to pay dearly for the privilege!

I ask you, what value is there to a college education when everyone can obtain one? We used to call that a high school diploma.

So you have to go beyond, to a masters, to a doctorate, to postdoc work. It keeps the professors and administrators working at the expense of the students.

Higher education has become nothing but a scam. It's time we reject these colleges and universities as criminal schemes, sort of like Bernie Madoff style pyramids. We need more tradesman anyway, people who build things and actually do stuff.

Now, I'm not against education, far from it!  But I don't think we ARE getting education from our colleges and universities these days. And they will never reform as long as they are making money, and they are making mountains of money at taxpayer and student expense.

And governments help them. I have a friend who has been a registered nurse for a quarter of a century. He had to go back to college to get a bachelors in Nursing; he had a bachelors in business and an associates degree in Nursing, and the state changed the requirements. There was zero reason for his having to go back to school; it was a sop to Big Academia. He had no choice; it was either that or find another line of work.

So, now that people are not so eager to send their children to colleges to rack up tens of thousands of dollars of debt, the schools are trying to find a way to dumb down admittance. They know the government will fund fund these lower level students and it will end in THEIR pockets.

The university system is broken. It is unfixable, too. We need to find a new way to do things.

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Chinese Spies

Timothy Birdnow

Two Chinese diplomats were expelled from the United States for spying.

According to the New York Times:

The episode in September, which neither Washington nor Beijing made public, has intensified concerns in the Trump administration that China is expanding its spying efforts in the United States as the two nations are increasingly locked in a geopolitical and economic rivalry. American intelligence officials say China poses a greater espionage threat than any other country.

In recent months, Chinese officials with diplomatic passports have become bolder about showing up unannounced at research or government facilities, American officials said, with the infiltration of the military base only the most remarkable instance.

The expulsions, apparently the first since the United States forced out two Chinese Embassy employees with diplomatic cover in 1987, show the American government is now taking a harder line against suspected espionage by China, officials said.

Question; is this a new phenomenon, or is the Trump Administration simply cracking down on what has become a common practice? To hear the New York Times and other liberal outfits this just started with the Trump Administration.

China is not our friend, and not just a competitor. In fact they have some pretty nasty plans for our future. We need to understand that, and understand them. I have always believed China is a paper tiger. It is our lust for wealth that has made them strong; so many multi-national corporations dream of big Chinese markets. But in the end those markets are obtained at a terrible price. We must remember that.

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A Partisan Abuse of Power

Timothy Birdnow

I rarely watch the Sunday news shows. They just get my blood pressure up and I rarely get any information I don't already have, so why bother? I can always read about any memorable quotes after the  fact.

But today I decided to watch Fox News Sunday, and am glad that I did. First up was James "the Perjurer" Comey. Comey was the man who, after investigating Hillary Clinton and finding multiple violations of her security clearance, wound up saying there was "no intent" to break the law and so would not refer her for prosecution. He decided to stick with a winning strategy this morning, and kept insisting the Inspector General's report found no bad intent, despite "mistakes" to the tune of 17  "significant errors or omissions" by three different FBI teams. Really?

Comey glossed this over by repeatedly saying "the IG said there was no bias in opening the report".

But that's not what Horowitz said; he said he could find no evidence, which is a world of difference, especially for an investigator without subpoena power. Basically Horowitz had to take people at their word. So, without documentation at the very beginning of this he could not state unequivocally that there was bias. Comey knows this.

I am mindful of the Mueller Report; Robert Mueller stated darkly that he couldn't unequivocally clear Trump of collusion. Of course not; you cannot prove a negative. But Mueller included that to make his Democratic friends happy. Horowitz - a Democrat - wasn't going to put his own neck on the chopping block by putting out this report and making conclusions. He presented the evidence and left the weasel words in there. After all, he doesn't want them Borking him.

Comey was asked why he was unaware of what was going on and he replied "the director doesn't follow every low level investigation".  When Chris Wallace pressed him, pointing out that this was a major presidential candidate and then president elect, Comey referred to this as "4 levels below".  ??? You are talking about accusations of foreign influence over the President Elect and that is Four levels below the Director?

Naturally, Wallace never asked Comey about his repeated dishonesty, and indeed perjury. Nothing was mentioned of his profiteering off his firing. Nothing was mentioned about partisan antics during and after said firing. Wallace did press him, but hardly as much as he deserved.

The second guest was former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi who pretty much ran a filibuster and used nothing but talking points. She came across quite poorly in my view. She didn't answer many of Wallace's questions (which were in fact biased but a good spokesman should be able to handle that.)  One thing stood out about her interview; Wallace attacked Trump for criticizing Fox for hosting the liar Comey and Adam Schiff and he climbed on his high horse, talking about the "free and fair press". Bondi should have pointed out that both men are proven liars and that if Fox wanted to traffic in lies and fake news  it should join the rest of the mainstream media. She failed to hit back, and I fear she is going to do a lousy job defending the President.

Last up was the Boy Wonder Adam Schiff.

The little cockroach argued that they eschewed separate charges of bribery and extortion because those were a part of "abuse of power". No they are not, and a good journalist would have called him on that. If Schiff had evidence of bribery and extortion he would have filed those as separate charges. Abuse of power is a nebulous thing, a kind of elastic charge, a catch-all. It's something you would use when you don't have the facts on your side. Wallace should have been on Schiff like white on rice here. Of course, Wallace has made it clear he is on the side of the mainstream media, so it should not surprise.

A big part of Schiff's case was that Trump ignored subpoenas and disregarded Congress.

Does he REALLY want to go there?

It's not even true; Trump supplied 20,000 pages of documents to Congress. But he refused his personal taxes, which they want. But that is neither here nor there.

Where was Schiff's  concern when Barack Obama ignored subpoenas and disregarded Congress?

He seems to forget that Eric Holder, Obama's Attorney General, was cited with Contempt of Congress for ignoring Congressional subpoenas over Benghazi - a place where Americans died. And a lot of Mexicans dies in Fast and Furious. There were other instances  where Obama just ignored Congress, including e-mail gate. here, here, and here to refresh your memory.

Mr. Schiff was not at all disturbed by these violations then.

Here is Mr. Schiff's statement at the time of Mr. Holder's Contempt charge:

 
That was June 20, 2012.
Schiff also made this speech on the House floor:

"I like most Americans would like to know about the facts of Fast and Furious, about the problem of guns crossing our border, the horrendous violence south of our border, but what we do today will shed no light on that. What we do today will not improve the situation in terms of gun violence that's claimed the lives of tens of thousands of -- tens of thousands of Mexican citizens and claimed the lives of Americans. What we are doing today is simply a partisan abuse of the contempt power.

"Thirteen percent of the American people think highly of Congress, and to date those thirteen percent are wondering why. What we do will cause no injury to the department, but it will cause great injury to this house. The justice department, after providing 8,000 documents and extensive testimony, is now being required to turn over privileged materials.

"And like all Administration before it, it has reluctantly used the executive privilege to respectfully refuse to provide materials it cannot provide. And so now here we are bringing a contempt motion against the Attorney General which our committee chairman acknowledges was not aware of Fast and Furious. They don't expect any documents to show you about Fast and Furious and yet we are going to hold this Cabinet in contempt?

"That is an outrageous abuse of the contempt power. What will happen when this Congress actually needs to use the contempt power for legitimate purpose? Will anyone still recognize it? U urge the Speaker to withdraw this motion as indeed Speaker Gingrich withdrew the motion in his stay and let the parties work this out. We both know, Democrats and Republicans, how this will end. It will end months from now. Let's end this partisan exercise now.”

My how Mr. Schiff's attitude about the matter has changed!

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Illegal immigrants to be able to get driver’s licenses in NY after legal challenge fails

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Impeachment Hypocrisy

Timothy Birdnow

On five separate occasions Barack Obama put conditions on aid to Ukraine and the Democrats never uttered a peep.

https://pjmedia.com/trending/five-times-obama-put-conditions-on-foreign-aid-and-democrats-didnt-care/?fbclid=IwAR12lxjJG2bulXyCdMBYGPj1hUI4t1z71g98-c09cZOB3bxVnew7Wcneb7I

Also, the Dems demanded Ukraine investigate Trump.

The hypocrisy is astounding!

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Republicans help Democrats Pass Amnesty Bill

Timothy Birdnow

The Democratic House of Representatives just passed an amnesty for illegal aliens as part of a "farm bill".  A number of Republicans supported it.

From Fox:

The Farm Workforce Modernization Act passed 260-165, with support from both Democrats and Republicans. The bill provides a process for undocumented farmworkers to seek a temporary five-and-a-half-year "Certified Agricultural Worker” status if they have worked for approximately six months in the industry in the last two years.

That status can either be renewed indefinitely, or workers (along with their spouses and children) can begin a path to permanent legal status in the form of a green card. That path, according to the legislation, includes background checks and $1,000 fine.

To secure the green card, those who have worked in agriculture for 10 years or more must work for four more years, while those who've spent less than a decade in the sector would have to work eight more years. Once workers receive a green card, they are then free to pursue work in fields outside of agriculture.

34 REPUBLICANS JUMPED SHIP!!! You have got to be freaking kidding me!

No wonder these imbeciles lost the House in the last election. They are dilligently working  to screw the pooch in 2020 too. The fact is, the American People are mad as hell about illegal invasion  immigration and that is one of the main reasons Donald Trump won in 2016. Now, here we are, approaching an election and a majority of Republicans in the House vote for a backdoor amnesty! They cannot possibly be that stupid!

But they are. According to this McClatchy article:


Why even bother to run against the Democrats in the next election?

The article continues:

"This is the only game in town that has a chance to get to the Senate that deals with an issue that is critical to farmers,” the Florida Republican said.

The legislation was crafted over a 10-month period of secret bipartisan negotiations by veterans of past immigration overhaul efforts, including Diaz-Balart and California Democratic Rep. Zoe Lofgren.

So, under cover of impeachment the Democrats and Amnesty Republicans have ramrodded this thing through, hoping the public doesn't find out about it. And hoping Trump can be coerced to sign it. No doubt they wanted it before him as a kind of deal; sign it and we'll go easy on you with impeachment. They are trying to make him an offer he can't refuse.

This is a disgrace, a shameful act by the Republicans. All 34 of these GOP traitors should be severely punished. Every last one of them should be primaried.

If nothing else, these idiots gave a few vulnerable Democrats some cover. Morons.

The list of shame includes:

Mark Amodei NV2
James Baird IN4
Mike Bost Il12
Susan Brooks IN5
Tom Cole OK4
Paul Cook CA8
Rodney Davis IL13
Mario Diaz-Balart FL25
Brian Fitzpatrick PA1
Russ Fulcher ID1
Jamie Hererra Buetler WA3
Will Hurd TX23
Dave Joyce OH14
John Katko NY24
Peter T. King NY2
Adam Kinzinger IL16
Doug Lamalfa CA1
David McKinley WV1
Paul Mitchell MI10
Dam Newhouse WA4

This one really hurts
Devin Nunes CA22

Tom Reed NY23
Cathy McMorris Rodgers  (I knew she was a liberal) WA5
John Shimkus IL15
Mike Simpson ID2
Christopher H. Smith NJ4
Lloyd Smucker (should be schmucker) PA11
Elise Stefanik NY21
Steve Stivers OH15
Glenn Thompson PA15
Scott Tipton CO3
Fred Upton (up yours!) MI6
Greg Walden OR2
Don Young AK1

A pox upon them!

With friends like these...

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