CNBC and WaPo just plain lie: Cost of Air Force One alone under Obama was $577 million

2799 hours in the air @ $206,377 per hour.

But here's CNBC lying through its teeth, relying on WaPo lying through its teeth, putting the cost at less than 17% of that:

Trump's time in office could cost taxpayers "hundreds of millions of dollars or more," topping the estimated $97 million of travel-related expenses during the Obama administration, the Post reported. 

Trump can fly to Mar-a-Lago and back every weekend for 9.2 years before he spends what Obama spent flying everywhere.

Michigan man outs sexual past of libertarian teacher in Texas on Facebook, gets her fired but only because she told on herself

Facebook. Why are you people on there again?

From the story, here:

DISD initially cleared her in an internal investigation last March, when officials first learned of her past. But the district didn’t move to terminate her until last fall. Woodward is active in the Libertarian Party, and a Michigan man took issue with one of her posts and “outed” her on Facebook. She was removed from the classroom after alerting the district about the man's action. 

Up for reelection, sexist Missouri Senator Claire McCaskill gets out front early distancing herself from progressives even though she is one

"Men, just shut the hell up"

What a liar.

Here:

“Many of those people are very impatient with me because they don't think I'm pure. For example, they think I should be voting against all of Trump's nominees and of course I'm judging each nominee on its own merit," she said.

Says the woman who gave her opponent Republican Todd Akin money in order to defeat him.

She's pure all right, pure trouble, deception and lies.

McCaskill gets a D- on immigration reduction from NumbersUSA here, and votes with conservatives in Congress only about 13% of the time, making her . . .

very liberal.

She backed same sex marriage. She backed Hillary Clinton. She might as well represent Connecticut.

Wake up, Missouri, ditch this bitch who thinks men should just shut the hell up.

Story in the Daily Beast about rift between Obama's OFA and Democrat Party smells like a ruse to me

As in, move along, ignore the OFA, nothing to see here.

I don't think so.

The story here wants us to take seriously the idea that Democrat regulars have a very low opinion of Organizing for America. But every Democrat is cheering that this organization is putting hostile audiences at Republican townhall meetings to protest Trump, support Obamacare, promote immigration at airports, yada yada yada.

Democrat regulars will have to do better than a "leaked email" and some lies told with a wink and a nod.

Let's give women a week without taking out the trash

Hillary call your office: Jason Chaffetz sends letter to AG Sessions asking for grand jury or charges against Bryan Pagliano

Story here.

Pruitt confirmed to EPA 52-46, Senate to take a week off leaving Trump appointees still unconfirmed

Here.

Now we're talkin': Much of State Dept. 7th floor staff laid off

The Deep State at the State Dept. sent packing.

From the story here:

Much of seventh-floor staff, who work for the Deputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources and the Counselor offices, were told today that their services were no longer needed. ... Ambassador Kristie Kenney, the Counselor of the State Department and one of the last remaining senior officials, was informed that she will be let go. She is a career foreign service officer who had served as an ambassador under Presidents Obama, Bush and Clinton. 

Newsflash for those of you who think Trump's talk of an inherited mess is silly

You obviously had full-time work under Obama. We didn't for almost eight years, and not even part-time work for five. Our best money-saving work years are now all lost.

You obviously enjoyed the stock market recovery and even continued to invest, but we had to sell assets to preserve them and liquidate some just to survive.

Now we're stuck with non-income producing investments thanks to Ben and Janet and a stock market which is too expensive for a sane person to buy.

You obviously refinanced your mortgage at rock bottom rates, but we couldn't without that full-time job. And now that we can, it's hardly worth the expense thanks to Elizabeth Warren and her CFPB.

Meanwhile the gutters leak, the driveway needs paving, and the snowblower needs an overhaul.

You obviously drive on fresh wheels, but our cars are 10 and 20 years old in 2017. We'll probably keep them another ten because our mechanic is an honest Christian.

You obviously feel entitled to vacations and take them regularly, but we haven't had a real one since the 1990s.

You obviously enjoy dining out at restaurants, but we shop for bargains and cook at home almost every night.

You obviously consume healthcare like you do jet fuel, but we only go to a doctor, dentist, ENT or ophthalmologist when we absolutely have to because it's all out of pocket because of ObamaCare.

At Christmas we mostly give each other necessities, like new shirts socks and underwear, just so we have plenty of things to open to make the holiday seem more festive than it is.

We don't have television service because it's a costly waste of time, but for entertainment we enjoy listenting to Donald Trump on the radio dressing you down.

He's the best thing that's happened to us in years.

Of course Trump had the biggest electoral win since Reagan because no one expected the Hillary defections

Just as America turned its back on incumbent Democrat Jimmy Carter in 1980, so did America to Hillary Clinton, heir apparent, in 2016.

Trump was expected right up to the eve of the election to lose by between two to four points, and did end up losing by two points, except that he won enough states to win in the Electoral College 306-232 before faithless electors had their say.

The magnitude of that was overwhelming because it was unexpected. We even had people predicting Trump would win the popular vote but end up losing to Hillary in the Electoral College.

It turned out exactly the opposite. Every honest person who stayed up until three in the morning watching it all unfold knows how unexpected was Trump's win in the Electoral College. Everyone on our side expected the worst . . . a decisive Hillary victory.

The fact remains: Hillary underperformed Obama 2008 in 39 states because the people disliked her more than they disliked Trump.

And that's quite an accomplishment.

Mass hypnotist persuades 5.1 million former Obama voters not to vote for Hillary

66-year old gay Latina named Cox claims to be frightened by Trump election

Sure you are, sweetheart.

Here.

Open-borders free trade fanatic at Hoover wants Trump to resign

Richard Epstein, here, who didn't vote at all.

62,985,106 Americans who did vote for Trump don't.

Under pressure from Puritan Democrats, Puzder withdraws nomination to Labor Dept.

From the story here:

Over the last few weeks, Senate Democrats repeatedly hammered the CKE Restaurants executive for his business practices, like the risque advertising employed by fast food chains Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s.

The left takes over American institutions, then a lefty says . . .

"American Institutions Are Pushing Back Against Trump", to give the idea legitimacy.

Peter Beinart, here:

"[Flynn] lost his job because of an independent bureaucracy and a vigorous press." 

What a joke. Beinart knows the bureaucracy is in the tank for the left, as is the press.

Repeating otherwise is his function.

Flynn lost his job because he was a Democrat who had the temerity to serve Trump after serving Obama.

ObamaCare Update: Trump policy induces IRS to say leave form 1040 line 61 blank if you want

From the story here:

The IRS was set to require filers to indicate whether they had maintained coverage in 2016 or paid the penalty by filling out line 61 on their form 1040s. Alternatively, they could claim exemption from the mandate by filing a form 8965.

For most filers, filling out line 61 would be mandatory. The IRS would not accept 1040s unless the coverage box was checked, or the shared responsibility payment noted, or the exemption form included. Otherwise they would be labeled "silent returns" and rejected.

Instead, however, filling out that line will be optional.

Earlier this month, the IRS quietly altered its rules to allow the submission of 1040s with nothing on line 61. The IRS says it still maintains the option to follow up with those who elect not to indicate their coverage status, although it's not clear what circumstances might trigger a follow up.

But what would have been a mandatory disclosure will instead be voluntary. Silent returns will no longer be automatically rejected. The change is a direct result of the executive order President Donald Trump issued in January directing the government to provide relief from Obamacare to individuals and insurers, within the boundaries of the law.

Forget "Where's Waldo?" Where's Obama's GDP?

Obama's GDP came to $133.66 trillion through calendar 2016, Obama's spending to $28.72 trillion through fiscal 2016, 21.48% of the total.

Bush's GDP came to $102.87 trillion through calendar 2008, Bush's spending to $19.16 trillion through fiscal 2008, 18.62% of the total.

Together they averaged federal spending of 20% of GDP in response to  9/11 and the Panic of 2008, but it has gotten us nowhere except in deep kimchi.

Contrast their record with the 16 years before the Income Tax was passed, 1898-1913. It's a good comparison because the Panic of 1907 was a real crisis, in response to which the Congress foolishly introduced the Corporate Tax in 1909, and both the Income Tax and the Federal Reserve in 1913.

Federal spending over the whole prior period through 1913 was just 2.5% of GDP, 8 times less than now, yet GDP increased 142% despite a whopping 11% hit to GDP in 1908. GDP didn't recover from the Panic of 1907 until 1911, but it did so without any increased federal spending.

Fast forward to America's GDP hiccup from 2008 to 2009, which amounted to a measly 2.0% hit to GDP. GDP promptly recovered by 2010, yet all these yokels could deliver us was a total GDP increase of just 80% since the year 2000, 44% less robust than that period 100 years ago, before the advent of the bureaucratic state.

Put more sharply, Obama spent nearly $10 trillion more than Bush to solve a comparatively tiny $300 billion shortfall in GDP, but got nothing for it. Where, pray tell, did all the money go? Where is the GDP?

The spending excess has left us with a pile of debt which is now costing us $411 billion a year to service, 70% of the current Defense budget, despite the lowest interest rates in history.

At some point those rates will rise, and when they do, you'd better pray we still have a strong enough military to defend ourselves when the people we can no longer pay come a callin'.

There will be blood.

Obama's GDP, $4.31 trillion, Obama's spending in excess of Bush's last year, $4.86 trillion

I don't know how to show a negative $550 billion Nothing Burger, so the regular Nothing Burger will have to do.

You want cheese with that?

Interest payments on the debt averaged $411 billion under Obama, highest ever despite interest rates manipulated to the lowest ever

Call Senator Lindsey Graham, tell him to investigate his campaign contributions from Soros

ph: (202) 224-5972

Obama's Organizing for Action is behind the anti-Trump riots (used to be Organizing for America and Obama for America)

Paul Sperry, here:

Far from sulking, OFA activists helped organize anti-Trump marches across US cities, some of which turned into riots. After Trump issued a temporary ban on immigration from seven terror-prone Muslim nations, the demonstrators jammed airports, chanting: “No ban, no wall, sanctuary for all!”

Run by old Obama aides and campaign workers, federal tax records show “nonpartisan” OFA marshals 32,525 volunteers nationwide. Registered as a 501(c)(4), it doesn’t have to disclose its donors, but they’ve been generous. OFA has raised more than $40 million in contributions and grants since evolving from Obama’s campaign organization Obama for America in 2013.

Mnuchin confirmed to Treasury 53-47

Puzder to Labor is next.

24 days in and Democrats still won't let Trump form his government.

Hillary would have turned the entire federal judiciary into the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals

Michael Goodwin, here:

The activist judges who based their ruling on their liberal politics instead of the Constitution are the same kind she would appoint to the Supreme Court and all other federal courts if she were in the Oval Office.

Newsmax' Chris Ruddy "over drinks" with the president, really?

You decide which drink is talkin'. WaPo, here:

One of President Trump’s longtime friends made a striking move on Sunday: After talking privately with the president over drinks late Friday, Christopher Ruddy publicly argued that Trump should replace his White House chief of staff [Reince Priebus]. 

Honestly, Trump is his own chief of staff. Priebus is his liason to the Speaker of the House.

Revulsion Election Update: Kansas City Star survey discovers revulsion for Hillary top reason people voted for Trump

Told ya.

Here:

Last week, I asked those who cast their vote for President Donald Trump to explain their choice in their own words. And respondents weren’t shy in the least. I was inundated with thoughtful replies — almost too many to read. It was Wednesday before I could come up for air.

It would be a serious understatement to say readers offered a wide variety of reasoning, but three general schools of thought stood out:

It’s the Clintons, stupid

Ron Gullickson put readers’ No. 1 reason most succinctly: “Let’s be clear. My vote was not a vote for Trump, but it was a vote against (Hillary) Clinton. Shame on both parties.”

Nancy McDowell wrote, “I voted for Donald Trump because I couldn’t stomach the Clintons back in the White House. ..."

Bryan Bauermeister wrote that he voted Trump “because I did not want Hillary Clinton as president of the United States. That’s what it boils down to. …"

Jan Bentley’s reasoning was varied . . . "I did not want to vote for him but the choice was horrid, so I voted against Hillary. Because I want the next Supreme Court justices to be conservatives. Because of Clinton fatigue. The Clintons are far too ethically challenged.”

Mike Henggeler . . . "So why did I want to stop the Clintons so badly? I was born in 1954, raised by staunch Democrat parents and, until a few months ago, was registered as a Democrat (now independent). The Democratic Party of today bears little resemblance to what it used to be. It doesn’t stand for anything except itself and what it thinks it needs to do to win. And right there you have the Clintons, who have shown time and again that they will say anything and steamroll anyone who gets in their way.”

Jean Atwell cited Hillary Clinton’s reaction to her husband’s affairs. “I might have considered Clinton if she hadn’t stayed with a man who publicly humiliated her and her daughter,” she wrote. “She tells women that it is all right to stay with a man if it can possibly get you further in politics.”

Meryl Streep warns of brownshirts while wearing off-white

Ross Douthat might as well write for The New Republic instead of The New York Times

Here, sounding just like Brian Beutler:

[R]ight now [Trump's] presidency is in danger of being very swiftly Carterized — ending up so unpopular, ineffectual and fractious that even with Congress controlled by its own party, it can’t get anything of substance done. ... [T]he more the Trump White House remains mired in its own melodramas, the more plausible it becomes that the Trump-era House and Senate set a record for risk avoidance and legislative inactivity.

Yeah, 23 days in and he's already a failure because there's no . . . wait for it . . . [infrastructure] spending bill and a tax cut bill, the two great incompatibles which Gallup says most people want.

Isn't The New York Times supposed to be wiser than that, admonishing that you can't have your cake and eat it too? Well, its so-called conservatives at least should be so wise.

The fact of the matter is the Gallup poll result, which is the same as the Douthat wish list, reveals the bipartisan nature of Trump's support. The people who support increased spending and the people who want tax cuts populate two different political parties. Perhaps Douthat has heard of them? Getting them to agree on this stuff is going to take a lot more time than 23 days. It took Barack Obama over four years to come up with his tax cut. Unfortunately for Obama it was Bush's tax cut, not delivered by Dingy Harry and San Fran Nan but by John Boehner at the dawn of 2013. What Harry and Nancy did immediately deliver was jacked up "infrastructure" spending within a month of 44's inauguration, adding a $700 billion increase to Bush 2009 fiscal year spending, making the one time stimulus a permanent part of the budget.

It is the biggest untold scandal since the Fed secretly lent trillions and trillions of dollars to the world at rock bottom prices on questionable collateral during the financial crisis from 2008-2010.

Because Republicans took the House in 2010, that additional $700 billion got no higher, but what do we have to show for it after increasing outlays $700 billion in 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016?

Where's the infrastructure after eight years and $5.6 trillion in increased spending?

Another trillion dollars will accomplish nothing.

Meanwhile Trump is delivering to his base, which is the first thing he must do, rescinding Obama executive orders, undercutting the ObamaCare mandate as Congress prepares its repeal, actually laying the groundwork to build The Wall (infrastructure!), rounding up criminal aliens (the horror) and trying to reduce terrorism threats which exist because of a chaotic immigration system, except the courts the enemy is trying to stop him.

He's also vilifying the media whom we also hate every chance he gets, and now the judiciary, the tag team which advances liberalism against the will of the people who overwhelmingly support Trump 2600 counties to 500 counties for the enemy.

And most of all, he's not being Hillary.

It's been a great 23 days. 

This is what populism would look like: 3100 counties each with a US Representative in Congress

In Michigan we have geniuses who think the Senate is gerrymandered

Here, in the comments section.

His vote cancels your vote.

The Courts had and have absolutely no business ruling on the president's travel ban, wrote FDR's former attorney general

Noted here:

Writing for the Supreme Court in 1948 (in Chicago & Southern Air Lines v. Waterman), Justice Robert Jackson — FDR’s former attorney general and the chief prosecutor at Nuremburg — explained that decisions involving foreign policy, including alien threats to national security, are “political, not judicial” in nature. Thus, they are

wholly confided by our Constitution to the political departments of the government, Executive and Legislative. They are delicate, complex, and involve large elements of prophecy. They are and should be undertaken only by those directly responsible to the people whose welfare they advance or imperil. They are decisions of a kind for which the Judiciary has neither aptitude, facilities nor responsibility and have long been held to belong in the domain of political power not subject to judicial intrusion or inquiry.

Democrats put their boot on the neck of Republicans, blame them for not getting up

So Brian Beutler, here in "The Republicans Are Off to a Pitiful Start: They control the government, but their Faustian bargain with Trump has been a miserable failure thus far":

"By this time in 2009, Obama . . .."

"By February 17, he had signed . . .."

"Trump has thus far signed one bill . . .."

John Hinderaker takes Gorsuch's reported "demoralization" comment seriously

Here.

So does Pat Buchanan, here, calling Gorsuch "a wimp". You can take the brawler out of the bar . . ..

Trump to issue new immigration order, defend previous one but not before Supremes

Reported one hour ago, here.

A clear majority of Europeans are fed up with Muslim migration: 55% want it stopped

Tom Price confirmed to HHS 52-47

Here.

White working class is lazy says the guy who's bustin' the buttons on his shirt

Bill Kristol, here:

Weekly Standard editor-at-large Bill Kristol said Tuesday afternoon that the white working class should be replaced by immigrants as they have become “decadent, lazy” and “spoiled.”

If China nukes the NE corner of 7th and Mission Streets in San Francisco is President Trump obligated to retaliate?

Penn appoints America's dumbest VP ever to Benjamin Franklin Presidential Practice Professorship

Keep practicing Joe, for all the good it'll do ya.

Story here.

The New York Sun says Gorsuch lost his bearings too easily in a storm, suggests he ought to be yanked

Huzzah.

Hurry.

Here:

It would not be surprising, though, were Mr. Trump to turn around and yank Judge Gorsuch’s nomination and send up to the Senate a candidate who can keep his or her cool.

Conrad Black warns that judges can evolve unpredictably

I predict Gorsuch will be no different simply because of the way he was quick to grovel before Sen. Blumenthal.

Here:

Once in a life sinecure, judges often evolve unpredictably. President Gerald Ford named John Paul Stevens to the Supreme Court as a conservative, and he eventually became one of the most left-wing judges in the Court’s history, making William O. Douglas seem like “Hanging Judge” Jeffreys in comparison.

Richard Nixon had a similar experience with Harry Blackmun, and John F. Kennedy named Byron White to the high court as a liberal and he proved quite conservative. Judge Robart has metamorphosed into another northwestern liberal, seizing most opportunities to utter rabble-rousing left-wing battle cries.

Byron York: Both sides ignorant, 60 born in the seven countries in Trump's EO were convicted of terror crimes

Here:

Last year the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration and the National Interest released information showing that at least 60 people born in the seven countries had been convicted — not just arrested, but convicted — of terror-related offenses in the United States since Sept. 11, 2001. And that number did not include more recent cases like Abdul Artan, a Somali refugee who wounded 11 people during a machete attack on the campus of Ohio State University last November.

So the talking point wasn't true. And yet at the 9th Circuit oral argument, the judges appeared to believe it was true, and Justice Department lawyer August Flentje didn't know enough to correct them.

The 9th Circuit, loaded with Jimmy Carter appointees, was reversed 107 times 1999-2008 by the Supreme Court, no other circuit came close

Data here.

Stephen Curry thinks he's just oh so precious

About as authentic as 100% polyester.

Story here.

What's next from CNBC, an interview with a food server disgruntled with Trump?

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals is taking so long because they know Trump's right

Coming up with a work around takes time.

Sessions confirmed 52-47

Here.

We were sayin' "Hey!" before this guy made it famous

Hey Neil Gorsuch, 30 states are pretty demoralized that their laws defining marriage were overturned by a few judges in DC

Neil Gorsuch, who just disqualified himself for not knowing the meaning of abhorrent, should have kept his big fat yap shut, here:

“I told him how abhorrent Donald Trump’s invective and insults are towards the judiciary. And he said to me that he found them ‘disheartening’ and ‘demoralizing’ – his words,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D- Conn.) said in an interview.

Gorsuch “stated very emotionally and strongly his belief in his fellow judges’ integrity and the principle of judicial independence,” he added. “And I made clear to him that that belief requires him to be stronger and more explicit, more public in his views.”

Wake up, dummies, using Medicaid means your estate is subject to recovery when you die

Welcome to Day 19 of Hillary Will Never be President

Grand Rapids, Michigan, climate update for January 2017

Average temperature was 29.0 F in January 2017 in Grand Rapids, Michigan, 5.2 degrees above normal but only 15th warmest on record.

Monthly lowest minimum was 2.0 F. The mean is -3.0.

The high was 61.0 F. The mean is 49.

Precipitation was 3.51 inches. The mean is 2.05.

January snowfall was 14.8 inches. The mean is 18.5.

Heating degree days came to 1108. The mean is 1271.

Presidents ranked by average per annum real GDP growth rates

JFK/LBJ: 4.8%

Truman: 4.7%

Clinton: 3.8%

Reagan: 3.4%

Carter: 3.2%

IKE: 2.9%

Nixon/Ford: 2.7%

Bush 41: 2.2%

Bush 43: 2.1%

Obama: 1.5%


And we thought Jimmy Carter was bad.

He would have been a 113% improvement over Obama.

Nancy Pelosi is as goofed up in the head as Maxine Waters, thinks Bush is president, but once she says "Bush" Maxine's eyes grow big!

Story and video here.

Senate women march on Betsy DeVos: Where's the solidarity, woman?

There are 21 women in the US Senate, but only three voted to confirm Betsy DeVos.

To these hypocrites liberalism trumps gender.

Since Ft. Hood 22 domestic attacks by Muslims on behalf of Islam, 102 deaths, 346 injured

Data here.

DeVos confirmed 51-50

Next.

Women's March on Washington excluded pro-lifers but featured convicted murderer/torturer Donna Hylton

What an ugly piece of work is this woman.

Read it if you dare, here.

Maoist struggle session: So-called president shames Supreme Court surrounded by Democrat jackals who give him standing ovation

Flashback to NYT here in January 2010 and video here:

Yeah, and The New York Times is a magnet for enchoriaphobic speech

Heh heh.

Oops, top Republicans took money connected to George Soros in 2016

Breitbart is making these Republicans very angry, here in "Records: Soros Fund Execs Funded Paul Ryan, Marco Rubio, Jeb Bush, John McCain, John Kasich, Lindsey Graham in 2016".

Heh, heh.

Republicans should impeach Judge Robart and the whole 9th Circuit Court of Appeals while they are at it

From the story here:

Beyond excoriation Robart needs to be impeached and removed from the bench for judicial incompetence. ...

By going to Seattle and finding a sympathetic liberal-inclined pet judge they accomplished two things: they got their TRO and they put the case into the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, the largest and most liberal (and most-reversed by the Supreme Court) federal court in the United States, which reacted to a well-formed and legally-sound appeal of the TRO with a one-page ruling rejecting the appeal without any analysis of the case or the law. This was not circumstantial, it was very deliberate tactic on the part of liberal progressive Democrats.

This makes the 9th Circuit Court as much of a co-conspirator in violating the separation of powers doctrine as Robart and the State of Washington are, which is a good reason for the plan to break up the 9th Circuit Court into several smaller courts to move forward. Impeachment of 9th Circuit judges should also begin immediately.

Rep. Maxine Waters strikes again, says Putin invaded Korea

Korea, Crimea, Gonorrhea, they're all the same to this box of rocks.

Story here.

Anyone remember President Obama attacking 5 justices of the Supreme Court at the State of the Union address?

Precedent for Trump attacking Robart.

Coulter, here.

Looks like we need to build two walls: Canada has an illegal entry problem from the US, turning away refugees

Which means bad actors can easily penetrate unmanned border areas and get into the US.

From the story here:

Since late summer, 27 men from Ghana walked to Manitoba from the United States, Yeboah said. Two lost all their fingers to frostbite in December and nearly froze to death.

More than 7,000 refugee applicants entered Canada in 2016 through land ports of entry from the United States, up 63 percent from the previous year, according to Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA).

Over 2,000 more entered "irregularly" during a similar time period, without official authorization, such as across unmonitored fields.

Four hundred and thirty asylum seekers crossed Manitoba's border irregularly in the first nine months of 2016-17, up from 340 the entire previous year, CBSA said. ...

In Quebec, 1,280 refugee claimants irregularly entered between April 2016 and January 2017, triple the previous year's total.

In British Columbia and Yukon, 652 people entered Canada irregularly in 2016, more than double the previous year.

More of these people would enter at border crossings, advocates say, if Canada didn't have a policy of turning many of them away when they do.

Thomas Sowell returns to his column to speak out on behalf of Betsy DeVos

Here.

While DeVos' previous support for Common Core is worrisome, the vehement opposition to her from the unionized education establishment indicates there is tremendous fear that she will succeed and shake up the current failed system.

She should be confirmed just for that reason.

Dr. John Bates, formerly of NOAA, blows whistle on data tampering to erase warming pause

From the story here:

But the whistleblower, Dr John Bates, a top NOAA scientist with an impeccable reputation, has shown The Mail on Sunday irrefutable evidence that the paper was based on misleading, ‘unverified’ data. ... In an exclusive interview, Dr Bates accused the lead author of the paper, Thomas Karl, who was until last year director of the NOAA section that produces climate data – the National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) – of ‘insisting on decisions and scientific choices that maximised warming and minimised documentation… in an effort to discredit the notion of a global warming pause, rushed so that he could time publication to influence national and international deliberations on climate policy’.

Byron York says Justice Department demolishes Robart case against Trump order

Here:

Now the government has answered Robart, and unlike the judge, Justice Department lawyers have produced a point-by-point demolition of Washington State's claims. Indeed, for all except the most partisan, it is likely impossible to read the Washington State lawsuit, plus Robart's brief comments and writing on the matter, plus the Justice Department's response, and not come away with the conclusion that the Trump order is on sound legal and constitutional ground. 

Read the rest at the link.

Ben Sasse is a so-called Senator because he is a lying liberal suck-up

He's also hysterical, but I repeat myself.

James Robart, who is trying to stop Trump, is a so-called judge because of his handling of a sexual assault case

And because he knows the courts have understood immigration to be the province of the president but doesn't care. His is pure political grandstanding in the matter, to make himself popular with people like Ben Sasse.

From the story here:

A judge recently blocked Doe's attempt to subpoena his female accuser's text messages on grounds that re-litigating the matter "would impose emotional and psychological trauma" on her.

Consider the implications of this decision. According to Seattle District Judge James Robart, a student who believes Amherst violated his due process rights, wrongfully expelled him, and ignored subsequent evidence that his accuser, "Sandra Jones," was the actual violator of the college's sexual misconduct policies, does not deserve the opportunity to make his case because someone else's feelings are more important.

Trump is spending a nice relaxing "in your face" weekend golfing in West Palm Beach

He knows the owner.

Story here.

What do ISIS and The DC Swamp have in common?

Reliance on encrypted messaging.

They are both using encrypted messaging to organize, plot and attack their enemies, the chief common one being Donald J. Trump.

From the New York Times story here:

They vetted each new member of the cell as Mr. Yazdani recruited helpers. They taught him how to pledge allegiance to the terrorist group and securely send the statement. ...

Because the recruits are instructed to use encrypted messaging applications, the guiding role played by the terrorist group often remains obscured. As a result, remotely guided plots in Europe, Asia and the United States in recent years, including the attack on a community center in Garland, Tex., were initially labeled the work of “lone wolves,” with no operational ties to the Islamic State, and only later was direct communication with the group discovered. ...

“If you look at the communications between the attackers and the virtual plotters, you will see that there is a direct line of communication to the point where they are egging them on minutes, even seconds, before the individual carries out an attack.” ...

One of the Islamic State’s most influential recruiters and virtual plotters was known by the nom de guerre Abu Issa al-Amriki, and his Twitter profile instructed newcomers to contact him via the encrypted messaging app Telegram. Among those who sought him out, asking for instructions on how to reach Syria, was Mr. Yazdani, who had convinced himself that it was his religious duty to move his family to the caliphate. ...

The Hindi-speaking handler guiding the men in Hyderabad also insisted on using a kaleidoscope of encrypted messaging applications, with Mr. Yazdani instructed to hop between apps so that even if one message history was discovered and cracked, it would reveal only a portion of their handiwork. As soon as Mr. Yazdani indicated he was willing to undertake an attack, the handler instructed him to download ChatSecure, a messaging app to be used when they spoke by phone. When he used his laptop, he was told to contact the handler via Pidgin, another encrypted tool. He was told to create an account with Tutanota, a secure email service. And the handler taught Mr. Yazdani how to use the Tails operating system, which is contained on a USB stick and allows a user to boot up a computer from the external device and use it without leaving a trace on the hard drive.

When Donald Trump drains the swamp, ugly things are likely to appear

Boston mayor claims he doesn't know Boston bombers' immigration history

The Boston mayor pleads ignorance of the inconvenient facts.

But the Atlantic reported at the time of the bombing here:

At some point within their first year of being here, the family would have had to apply for asylum. (If they'd already outstayed their six-month visa, they could have applied defensively if the government was trying to deport them.) Asylum-seekers, like those seeking refugee status, must demonstrate that they have a "well-founded fear" of persecution in their home countries. This is a necessarily subjective determination for the government to make, one that has been subject to various legal decisions over the years. (For those curious: Asylum seekers apply for refugee status from within the U.S.; refugees seek it from their home countries.) ... After a year of holding status as asylum seekers, the family would be eligible to apply for green cards. Again, a security check, which by now would include reviews of the entire immigration application history to ensure that there was no apparent fraud. In 2007, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev — the younger brother, suspect 2 — received this status. Despite early reports, his brother Tamerlan apparently never did. At some point, he returned to Russia to renew his passport, according to his father.

The French sculptor of The Statue of Liberty found most Americans insufficiently supportive of the pedestal for The Statue of Liberty, let alone of the statue itself

Bartholdi [from 1871] crossed the United States twice by rail, and met many Americans who he thought would be sympathetic to the project. But he remained concerned that popular opinion on both sides of the Atlantic was insufficiently supportive of the proposal, and he and Laboulaye decided to wait before mounting a public campaign. ...

The committees in the United States faced great difficulties in obtaining funds for the construction of the pedestal. The Panic of 1873 had led to an economic depression that persisted through much of the decade. The Liberty statue project was not the only such undertaking that had difficulty raising money: construction of the obelisk later known as the Washington Monument sometimes stalled for years; it would ultimately take over three-and-a-half decades to complete. There was criticism both of Bartholdi's statue and of the fact that the gift required Americans to foot the bill for the pedestal. In the years following the Civil War, most Americans preferred realistic artworks depicting heroes and events from the nation's history, rather than allegorical works like the Liberty statue. There was also a feeling that Americans should design American public works—the selection of Italian-born Constantino Brumidi to decorate the Capitol had provoked intense criticism, even though he was a naturalized U.S. citizen. Harper's Weekly declared its wish that "M. Bartholdi and our French cousins had 'gone the whole figure' while they were about it, and given us statue and pedestal at once." The New York Times stated that "no true patriot can countenance any such expenditures for bronze females in the present state of our finances." Faced with these criticisms, the American committees took little action for several years. ...

Grover Cleveland, the governor of New York, vetoed a bill to provide $50,000 for the statue project in 1884. An attempt the next year to have Congress provide $100,000, sufficient to complete the project, also failed. The New York committee, with only $3,000 in the bank, suspended work on the pedestal. With the project in jeopardy, groups from other American cities, including Boston and Philadelphia, offered to pay the full cost of erecting the statue in return for relocating it.

Joseph Pulitzer, publisher of the New York World, a New York newspaper, announced a drive to raise $100,000—the equivalent of $2.3 million today. Pulitzer pledged to print the name of every contributor, no matter how small the amount given. The drive captured the imagination of New Yorkers, especially when Pulitzer began publishing the notes he received from contributors. "A young girl alone in the world" donated "60 cents, the result of self denial." ... Even with the success of the fund drive, the pedestal was not completed until April 1886. 

Read the whole thing here.

Gay Pakistani Indian subject of the Queen gets his green card, tells the story of what's wrong with our immigration policy

In a word, it's too thin.

Ask yourself if this guy would be willing to make the ultimate sacrifice for Donald Trump, Bob Dole, or your mother, and then tell me that your answer means the future is safe.

Here in The Wall Street Journal, the perfect place for the libertarian citizen of the world to tell his story:

What America offered [Nabokov], as it now offers me, was the opportunity to slough off the demands of the past. As a college student at Amherst, I had been unnerved by this aspect of the U.S. I thought my sense of self depended too much on the knots of intractable history that were integral to identity in the old world. I was afraid that identity in America would feel too thin, too much a thing of ink and paper.

What I had not counted on was what a relief that could be. Fifteen years later, it was what I had come back for. It was an immense freedom. No cultural attachment, no matter how great, can compete with it. The relief of being free of the past, and safe in the future . . ..

Unimaginably high radiation reading at Fukushima Daiichi Reactor 2: 530 sieverts

Just 8 sieverts will kill you dead.

Story here.

John McCain calls for lethal aid to Ukraine

Major Kong rides again

Story here.

The Swamp organizes using Signal app, already committing sedition in the act

At a minimum Trump should seek a law outlawing the practice at once.

Story here.

Trump Proposes "NAFAFTA": Sorta rhymes with a laundry soap

Story here.

Rush Limbaugh says there was zero immigration into the US after 1920, but of course that wasn't true

Relative to other periods it was practically zero, in other words quite neglible.

Between 1930 and 1950, legal immigration never exceeded 250,000 a year, and plunged to 23,000+ in 1933 and 1943.

The worst presidential administration for legal immigration in the post-war is George Herbert Walker Bush's. In fiscal 1991 he let in over 1.8 million

You can examine the interactive chart, here.

Gee, Chris Plante is as smart as Barack Obama

Just like Barack, he just said "forebearers" when he meant "forebears".

And I'll bet Chris didn't even go to Harvard Law.

Which just goes to show that a poor education doesn't have to cost an arm and a leg.

Senators Susan Collins of Maine and Liza Meercowskie of Alaska get bitchy, won't vote for Betsy DeVos for EDSEC

Trump's entitled to his appointments, no matter what anyone says, unless of course one of them is Charles Manson.

Get on with it already girls. You are wasting our time and our money, just like Democrats.

Trump suggests cutting off Federal funds to U.C. Berkeley as fascist left riots against free speech

Gotta love it, here.

The 1250 "refugees" in Australia aren't refugees, they're illegal immigrants Obama agreed to take

Ann Corcoran has been all over this from the beginning last November, here.

She calls it another dirty deal Obama made late in his tenure, part of the continuing revolution don't you know.

Salena Zito counsels the fascist left to cool it or Democrats will lose even bigger in 2018

Ja.

Here.

Mary Matalin, who bailed on the Republicans last year, is stunned by how much Trump is accomplishing

Here:

It is just stunning what he is getting done, and his people are getting done. And because they are doing it with such authority... they are, it is a complete breakthrough to a new kind of politics we haven't seen since our founding.

What Charlie said

Turley likes Gorsuch

I think that says more about Turley than it does about Gorsuch.

Story here.

Trump's nominee for the Supremes is good as far as it goes

But honestly, if Trump were really dreaming big he would have made three appointments to the highest court, not just one.

Seriously. The Supremes could get so much more nonsense settled with the extra help.

Trump could dramatically reduce the size of government by firing all 900 State Dept. employees opposed to his refugee pause

Story here.

Republicans develop a spine, advance nominees Mnuchin and Price without Democrats who are boycotting the process

From the story here:

By unanimous consent, the Republicans gathered in the hearing room agreed to change the committee’s standing rules, which normally require at least one member of each party to be in attendance for committee work to proceed.

“It’s just another way of roughing up the president’s nominees,” said committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah). “They have been treated fairly. We have not been treated fairly.”

Republicans made the unusual move after Democrats refused to attend a vote on the nominees for two days running, arguing the pair had made misleading statements to lawmakers that needed to be rectified.

The Biden Rule: No nominee for a Supreme Court vacancy in a presidential election year is in keeping with the past practice of a majority

Senator Joe Biden in 1992, here:

But in a speech on the Senate floor in June 1992, Mr. Biden, then the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, said there should be a different standard for a Supreme Court vacancy “that would occur in the full throes of an election year.” The president should follow the example of “a majority of his predecessors” and delay naming a replacement, Mr. Biden said. If he goes forward before then, the Senate should wait to consider the nomination.

“Some will criticize such a decision and say that it was nothing more than an attempt to save a seat on the court in hopes that a Democrat will be permitted to fill it, but that would not be our intention,” Mr. Biden said at the time. “It would be our pragmatic conclusion that once the political season is underway, and it is, action on a Supreme Court nomination must be put off until after the election campaign is over.

“That is what is fair to the nominee and essential to the process. Otherwise, it seems to me,” he added, “we will be in deep trouble as an institution.”

Biased Neil Swidey article in Boston Globe never tells you how the Democrats' Immigration Act of 1965 flooded the country with non-Europeans

He just slides right over that part of the history, here, and never mentions Operation Wetback under Eisenhower, either:

In 1850, 9.7 percent of the US population was foreign-born, according to the Pew Research Center. By 1890, it had jumped to 14.8 percent, spurring Hall into action. In 1920, though, that figure began its steady drop, and by 1970 it had plummeted to 4.7 percent.

By 2015, fueled largely by surging immigration from Latin America, it had rebounded to 13.7 percent, nearly the same level that Hall had found so intolerable at the start of his crusade.

But you can figure it out from this graph, which clearly shows the flood in (non-European) immigration after 1965:

Sen. Tim Kaine, you know, the almost Vice President, calls for rioting in the streets

Here:

Democrats have to "fight in the streets".

Ann Coulter hates Hardiman for Supremes, so if he's the nominee and Dems stop his confirmation . . .

. . . mission accomplished.

Next!