Gowdy bows out

There's still some folks who idolize Trey Gowdy. But for all the smoke and fire he brought to Capitol Hill, he never really managed to seal the deal when it came to exacting justice.

To be fair, I'm not sure Gowdy held back, if that's what it was, it was on his own accord.

It may have been GOP leaders like Boehner and Ryan who kept him muzzled enough to prevent any real upset of the DC status-quo apple cart.

Regardless, Gowdy's says his days in Congress are numbered. He announced today he won't seek another term. 

What Democrats scorn

Attend church? Have a family?

Democrats apparently see you has part of the problem. Consider you a throw-back to the 1950s.

Church ... family ... police ... military ... the national anthem ... Trump trying to call on all the tropes of 1950s-era nationalism. The goal of this speech appears to be to force the normalization of Trump on the terms of the bygone era his supporters are nostalgic for. #SOTU

— Joy Reid (@JoyAnnReid) January 31, 2018

It took UK media to unearth this

Robert Mueller was captain of John Kerry's college lacrosse team. 

"Former CIA Director George Tenet has described Mueller as a 'high Protestant with a locked jaw, blue blazer, khaki pants, penny loafers, maybe a little Vitalis and Old Spice to boot'. Trump's background is privileged - but not as elite"

Grammy ratings are in

Dishing arrogant progressive politics comes at a price.

Seems Sunday night's show may have pulled the lowest ratings ever for the Grammys. 

Forensic reading

Went back and reread last week's NY Times piece where it alleged Trump "ordered" Mueller be fired.

WASHINGTON — President Trump ordered the firing last June of Robert S. Mueller III, the special counsel overseeing the Russia investigation, according to four people told of the matter, but ultimately backed down after the White House counsel threatened to resign rather than carry out the directive.  

The West Wing confrontation marks the first time Mr. Trump is known to have tried to fire the special counsel. Mr. Mueller learned about the episode in recent months as his investigators interviewed current and former senior White House officials in his inquiry into whether the president obstructed justice. 

I've added italics for emphasis.

First graph tells me no one with direct knowledge of the events spoke with the Times, the Times sources are hearsay. It's therefore possible all four sources get their version of events from the same source.

Second paragraph tells me those NY Times sources are probably leaking from within the Mueller team, not the White House. The Mueller team might have motive to spin the facts against Trump, seeking public leverage against him, especially in light of how disclosures of FBI impropriety have taken a toll on the investigation's image.

Second paragraph is written to advance the notion this is "new information", but at the same time, the lead says the events reported happened seven months ago. Suggests to me those disclosing to the times only recently came by way of their information.

There are those in media who say the Times story has been vindicated because other media has matched the Times' reporting.

Not quite. For example, when Ed Henry at Fox News put out a story based on his own source, that Trump wanted Mueller fired, he included a caveat:

The source could neither confirm nor deny a New York Times report that Trump ordered Mueller's dismissal, but backed down...

Seems to me, there's a pretty big difference between wanting something or discussing something, and issuing a order to have it done.

And it still all amounts to smoke and mirrors. Mueller wasn't fired. And if anything close to what the NY Times describes actually happened, it clearly was pulled and the notion abandoned before getting beyond the most limited White House circles.

Only after the events became known to Mueller's team did the story find its way the NY Times. Coincidence?

CNN. At it again

CNN. A tad bit of alarmist perhaps. Of course, this is the same news channel where it was suggested Barack Obama could restart the economy a few years back by putting us on alert for an alien (from space) invasion.

As noted by Grabien News:

CNN: Gov’t Shutdown Risks an Undetected Asteroid Strike

#ReleaseTheMemo

This sounds like kind of a big deal.

Sara Carter writes:

A review of a classified document outlining what is described as extensive Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act abuse was made available to all House members Thursday and the revelations could lead to the removal of senior officials in the FBI and Department of Justice, several sources with knowledge of the document stated. These sources say the report is “explosive,” stating they would not be surprised if it leads to the end of Robert Mueller’s Special Counsel investigation into President Trump and his associates.

Meanwhile, it appears there's a push to pull the NRA into the Russian collusion investigation.

Did the NRA screw up? Or is the FBI attempting to distract from the intel that Sara Carter writes about? 

Another glimpse onthe ugly side of unchecked, illegal immigration

“I wish I had killed more of the mother-------. I will break out soon and I will kill more, kill whoever gets in front of me ... There’s no need for a f------ trial.” - says illegal immigrant on trial in California for the murders of two deputies. 

Does anyone dare call this guy undocumented? It seems there's plenty to document the damage he's done.

Update from the People's Republic

People's Republic of California, that is.

The Los Angeles Times notes, California's generous social service spending in California "has not only failed to decrease poverty; it actually seems to have made it worse."

According to the Times, citing Census Bureau data, California has the highest poverty rate in the nation.

Swedes being told to prep

The online digital news site Quartz reports:

Sweden first issued an advisory pamphlet on how to cope with the outbreak of war in the 1940s. The pamphlet was delivered to every Swedish household, telling them how to prepare for and act in a national crisis. Of course, in 1991 when the Cold War ended, the leaflet was discontinued. 

But after 30 years where the pamphlet fell into redundancy, the Swedish government has decided to resurrect it...

Seems about right

Trump (maybe) said "sh--hole", and the media freaks out

Critics define Trump as vulgar. But do they remember a slogan that defined Obama White House doctrine only a few years ago?

Via The Atlantic, April 2016:

The president did not understand how “Don’t do stupid shit” could be considered a controversial slogan. Ben Rhodes recalls that “the questions we were asking in the White House were ‘Who exactly is in the stupid-shit caucus? Who is pro–stupid shit?’ ”

The Atlantic also reported Obama called Libya a "shit show."


Apologies in advance if the link leads to a paywall, but at least we can see the Tweet:

#EXCLUSIVE: Andrew Young: Haiti is a s---hole. And America is partly to blame https://t.co/LK7ty9NJCC pic.twitter.com/P9dtKA6m3M

— AJC (@ajc) January 12, 2018

And then there's this, from the Washington Times:

Sen. Lindsey Graham, one of those in the meeting Thursday where President Trump reportedly called some developing nations “sh—hole” countries, used similar language himself during the last big immigration debate, calling Mexico and other Latin American nations “hellholes.”

It again appears media is very selective about how it targets its outrage. 

Scribblings

Via Twitter:

pic.twitter.com/NYvppTcTXJ

— Libertarian Nation (@LibertarianWing) January 7, 2018

Why Democrats want wide-open, unchecked immigration

Sure, eventually, Democrats assume immigrants will become citizens and vote Democrat.

But there's an even more immediate hole Democrats are desperate to keep filled.

Political clout would rapidly shift to the more conservative suburban and rural areas if Democrats didn't have waves of immigrants to pack into Democrat run cities being deserted by Americans who are fed up with crumbling infrastructure, general decay and high urban taxes.

What's up, Doc?

Was reported recently members of Congress and a senator were briefed by a Yale psychiatry professor on what she sees as evidence of President Trump's mental unraveling.

But were the meetings anything like Dr. Bandy Lee initially claimed?

Or were her "briefings" more like a few passing words as she perhaps stalked members of Congress in the halls of the Capitol, hoping to get a few words in here or there?

One of the initial tellings of Dr. Lee's "briefings" was in the New York Daily News, which appears to have sourced its account solely on Doc Lee's claims. If the NY Daily News attempted to seek verification from any lawmaker, I don't see it noted in the story.

Perhaps it's possible Yale's Dr. Lee is the one having issues with mental unraveling.

Run, Oprah, Run

If Trump was half the disaster the Democrats say he is, Left leaning actors and media wouldn't be talking about running a billionaire former TV show host against him in 2020.

In talking of an Oprah Winfrey candidacy in 2020,  it seems Democrats want to recruit a "Trump of their own" to run against him. 

This speaks volumes for Trump, while dissing the entire Democrat roster of more traditional would-be candidates like Warren, Sanders, McAuliffe, even Michelle O.

The changing role of University

Gone are the times universities were seen as places of higher learning.

Now? They're supposed to be giant day care centers where every place is a safe space.

Well, it does look kinda like a cat toy...

From Twitter:

Is this how the world will end?@StockCats pic.twitter.com/LN3ziBS2FY

— Jacqueline Harris (@jhn6jun) January 7, 2018

How cold has it been?

Cold enough to turn hot tubs into ice makers.

Stands the test of time

This clip gets more creepy as the years pass, especially in light of NSA "unmaskings" later in the Obama years, politically funded dossiers triggering FISA warrants, and the like...


Clip was first was first noted on this blog back when it was first said in early 2013.

A tale of two cable companies

The difference between locally owned and a corporate conglomerate:

It can take an hour or more to get a Comcast cable or Internet rep on the phone to deal with a an outage, billing question or service rep, and most time, Comcast protocols mean it may take several calls, each with a lengthy wait, to resolve your problem.

With ETC, the local cable and Internet company in parts of North Georgia, call wait time is typically three or four rings, and I've never had an issue that took more than one call to resolve.

Thought occurs to me...

Democrats call for protests, resistance, even blood in the streets of the USA. 

Yet Democrats seem to cringe at the idea of even noticing protests in Iran. 

What's up with that? 

They keep pushing...

Democrats continue to push messages of anti-Trump resistance, perhaps even prodding promotion of civil war.

At @MoonPalaceBooks and I just found the book that strike fear in the heart of @realDonaldTrump pic.twitter.com/r81nYoeqpL

— Rep. Keith Ellison (@keithellison) January 3, 2018

Will Loretta Lynch soon see the blood in the streets she advocated for last year?

Predictions for 2018

Among new year's predictions, this one seems quite possible, if not likely:

On the domestic political front, the Mueller investigation will keep taking on water as it becomes clear that the real issue is not Russian meddling in the presidential election, but FBI meddling in the election. Trump may even appoint a new special prosecutor to dig into the FBI, Uranium One and the DOJ shenanigans. This will begin to spill into the midterms, as the Republicans figure out that this is a chance for them to blunt Democrat gains. 

 From another source, here's a set up for a potential 2018 scenario:

Manipulation of the markets by the Fed and its water-carrying Too Big To Fail partners have deprived the markets of their chief function: price discovery, the ability to discern what things are really worth. Markets are therefore functionally useless and their uselessness is a giant hazard. No society that depends on money can work for long if nobody knows the true value of things, including the value of money itself. 

And one more, for the sake of covering all the bases:

So what will happen in 2018? Well, it will either be terrible, or great, or kind of both. You can take that to the bank.

Stay informed, stay on guard my friends.

2018 has potential to be like no other year in our lifetime.

Or it may be mostly another year of can-kicking, as we put off the re-set until yet some other year farther forward.