More Obamagate stuff

How deep this might go is pretty frightening. 

With Attorney General Barr saying he doesn't expect an investigation into Obama or Biden to come out of this, I have to wonder if he's lying about that. Or maybe he was not fully aware at the time of his statement.

Or maybe, he's part of the deep state, anti-Trump cabal and just happens to be a better actor that Peter Strzok, who could not have looked more the part of a sinister insider.

In either case, this does not look good for Joe Biden, and potentially it could give a re-elected president Trump more political capital to go after this swamp in 2021, either with or without Barr.

Brennan still has his security clearance? Why?

Why is this traitor being protected by the deep state?  I think we all know why, there are still a lot of corrupt people in the government and the swamp still needs draining.

"People talk about the deep state, now the deep state's actually protecting their own," says Sen. @RandPaul on ex-CIA Dir. John Brennan keeping his security clearance.

"I was sitting in the White House when President Trump said I want his security clearance taken." pic.twitter.com/YcKRG26L1c

— CNN Newsroom (@CNNnewsroom) June 4, 2019

Midterms Matter: For Minnesota Senate, please support Karin Housley

Karin Housely has a history of service to Minnesota, a common sense approach and a common sense vision for America that includes a thriving economy, accountable government and family values.

Her opponent once worked for Planned Parenthood at a very senior level. And despite claiming that she grew up in Minnesota, her roots are clearly New-Mexico-based. How far left is she?  Her mentor was Walter Mondale.

Karin Housely by contrast is quite different. Her policy positions are sound, common sense. Karin is definitely still the underdog in this race but her win would serve the state very well. 

Please support her efforts; volunteer, donate or at least check out her positions on her website.  And by all means - vote.

Thank you.

Midterms Matter: For Wisconsin Senate, please support Leah Vukmir

Leah Vukmir is a courageous conservative who stands for values shared across Wisconsin.

Leah Vukmir is a nurse, military mom, and conservative with a proven record of reform.

As a state Representative and Senator, Leah stood with conservatives across Wisconsin to enact some of the most sweeping, pro-job reforms ever enacted, including Governor Walker’s signature Act 10 legislation. In the face of death threats, Leah refused to back down and continues to be one of the leading voices to keep pushing Wisconsin in a more conservative direction.

Now, Leah’s running for the U.S. Senate for her family and ours, for the people who feel ignored by Washington elites and fear that no one in Washington has their back.

Her opponent still has a solid lead in this race but it is not a deserved lead. Tammy Baldwin was asleep at the wheel and allowed veterans to suffer under her watch and followed that up by engaging a leftist political lawyer who later got caught up in the Russia dossier scandal. In the former scandal regarding veteran abuse, she was the only Congressional representative from Wisconsin given a warning by the government Inspector General about the abuses. She did nothing.

She was given a chance to speak about her lack of outrage regarding immigrant family separation under president Obama when she was speaking out about it happening under president Trump.  The hypocrisy apparently left her unable to speak effectively.

Conversely Leah Vukmir is a a good person, a strong candidate and she deserves your vote. Please support her efforts; volunteer, donate or at least check out her positions on her website.  And by all means - vote.

Thank you.

Midterms Matter: For Indiana Senate, please support Mike Braun

Drain. The. Swamp.  There are good senators in the senate. Joe Donnelly is not one of them.  He's an ineffective do-nothing-say-nothing Senator.  So what is he being paid by his Indiana constituents to do? Apparently to finally say one thing and do the opposite himself. That's the embodiment of  the swamp in need of draining.

Contrast that with Mike Braun.  He's a businessman and a Constitutional conservative.  He really wants to change Washington into a working effective place.  In addition, he's all for putting America first.

CNN is trying to paint him as a stealth Democrat to suppress Republican voter turnout.  Don't fall for it. The race is close so far and Mike Braun really needs your help.  Please support his efforts; volunteer, donate or at least check out his positions on his website.  And by all means - vote.

Thank you.

Window Wednesday - The Entitlement Class

Former Hillary Clinton fundraiser and now former NY/NJ Port Authority Commissioner tried to bully police over a police stop of a car involving her daughter.

Caren Z. Turner, a Democratic lobbyist from Tenafly, has resigned as a commissioner from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, after an investigation was opened into what agency officials would only describe as "profoundly disturbing conduct." Turner's resignation allegedly involved her intervention in a recent traffic stop in connection with her daughter. Turner apparently flashed her Port Authority badge in an effort to intercede with police officers on the scene.

The sense of entitlement is exactly what is wrong with government in America. "I'm important, you're not and your rules don't apply or matter to me."  This is the swamp that needs to be drained.

And in this case, it has been.

Don't Lock Her Up

I'm just spit-balling here, but it makes sense: What if the best course of action for president Trump, and for Republicans is to make sure Hillary Clinton, as corrupt and probably felonious as she is, does not get charged for all of the nefarious activity surrounding her campaign for the presidency?  Further, what if the smart thing to do is to not have a special investigator go after her?

The look of supreme confidence.

Hear me out.  

It does not make sense for Donald Trump to prosecute Hillary Clinton for a number of reasons.  Obviously coming across as a sore winner is never good, but it goes deeper.  If the #ReleaseTheMemo memo is as explosive as is expected (I refer you to the permanently haunted visage of Democrat FBI/DOJ-excuser Adam Schiff),  then the correct target should be the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the FBI and not the Clintons or former president Obama for that matter, regardless of the level of their involvement.  Even if it turns out to be really, really bad.

The laser focus of draining the swamp on the DOJ and the FBI.  With the backing of sunlight of the crimes and/or deliberate lack of due diligence with respect to all things dossier and Clinton email scandal there will be plenty to uncover and it could take years.

That allows the on-going narrative of "look what the Democrats were hiding" and "look at all these things we still need to fix" and "look at all the unresolved corruption issues". That's a political plus but it's not even the biggest one.

The real win in keeping Hillary Clinton hanging in the wind is that it pressures those in the FBI and DOJ to be more forthcoming in hopes of getting a prosecutorial deal.  And it still gets better.  There has been an underlying theme among Democrats that the Clintons had a stranglehold on the institutions surrounding the Democratic party as well as deeply rooted connections to the bureaucracy of government.  The Democrats, many of them at least, have been trying to shed that yoke on the party.  So far there has not been any great ice breaking on that effort. 

Why would the president help the Democrats resolve that by giving them cover to distance themselves from the Clintons?  There's no gain in that.  It helps drain the Democrats' swamp but does nothing to chip away at the deep state.  The deep state needs cleaning, but the Republicans need the Democrats to remain mired in an intra-party fight, right through 2020 and certainly at a minimum the remainder of 2018.

It's a cynical view, but control the investigation timing and you control the mood of the country. You control an eagerness on the right to see prosecutions with a Clinton facing charges as the carrot to dangle.  Conversely on the left, you keep them unbalanced in their desire to free themselves from Clinton fealty versus a real fear of not wanting to be on the wrong side of the Clinton machine.  My advice is simple: even if you have the goods on Hillary Clinton, don't lock her up, at least not until after 2021.

An answer for Gateway Pundit

This morning Jim Hoft (of Gateway Pundit) asked, is the Bureau of Economic Analysis also Deep State?

Yes. Of course it is.  Why would one department be any different from so many others?

The IRS (which targeted conservative Tea Party groups for audits), the Congressional Budget Office (or CBO) (which laughably predicted a surplus budgetary impact from Obamacare),  the Bureau of Labor Statistics  (which systemically revised prior months stats after the initial flash good news for president Obama), the EPA and of course the DOJ, FBI among others.

So why not the BEA?  Frankly it would be much more surprising to find a department which hasn't been infected by either progressivist partisanship or self-interest.  It's not just a conspiracy theory when year after year new revelations about various departments continue to arise; it's a problem.

America is a Deep State country and the sooner the tentacles of progressivism are disentangled from government, the sooner it can actually do the things it supposed to do, and only those things.  Washington is dysfunctional not just because of politics in Congress but because politics has deliberately and systematically worked its way into the bureaucracy for decades.  That's what most needs to be fixed, and in such a way as to create barriers (walls if you will) to prevent it from ever happening again.  

Trump could and should double down on SCOTUS nominee

Donald Trump has been president for less than two weeks and the opposition - the media and the Democrats - have tried every way to gin up opposition to every single thing he has done. For the most part he has been immune to the pushback.  He wants to be president for all Americans, whether they are political opposition or not.  But with the Obama-administration-driven partial, temporary immigration ban he is facing a mock firestorm of opposition.

This is a fire that is easily put out by a factual rebuttal of the histrionics involved.  Yes, this was done far less smoothly than other president Trump executive orders and it is definitely a learning opportunity for the neophyte administration (not a teachable moment - a phrase I detest and thankfully one that will slowly fade with it's principal, former president Obama).  President Trump wants progress and he wants it quickly.  There's a happy medium to be found between speed and forethought.  That balance has yet to be fully realized. 

Nevertheless, there is another learning opportunity at work here that president Trump has already realized - he is going to shift the conversation quickly away from the awkwardness to which the media is now bitterly clinging and towards his next action - his SCOTUS nominee.  The immigration firestorm will fade as the facts about the Obama actions that led to this limited ban become more and more of the conversation.  Shifting the conversation to new ground is an quick win, and president Trump knows it.

What is less clear is whether president is going to double down by selecting Neil Gorsuch over Thomas Hardiman as his first nominee. Gorsuch is better nominee as a rock solid conservative.  Hardiman is likely a good choice but less so.  The advantage towards Hardiman is he is likely to be more easily confirmed than Gorsuch, less likely to face a filibuster.

Indications are that Trump is leaning towards Hardiman.

But here's the thing - if Trump does appoint the less conservative nominee it will look to supporters and foes alike that he's buckled.  That will embolden his political enemies that he was able to crack so easily and disenfranchise his supporters that he isn't going to drain the swamp and instead caved at the first sign of trouble.

You can't drain the swamp without facing stiff resistance.  Fierce resistance is to be expected throughout the Trump presidency regardless of what he does right now.  So why buckle? Instead president Trump should continue to be bold, very bold.  Maybe even bolder than Gorsuch like surprising everyone by pivoting back to William H Pryor. 

Why?  In addition to agitating his political foes to the point of apoplexia, heartening his supporters, he will be sending a signal that he's made of sterner stuff than his predecessor - domestically as well as abroad.  And that's an important point to establish early.  If the president is the dealmaker-in-chief the last thing he needs to do is inform those he will be dealing with that he's sitting at the table in a position of weakness (i.e. that he can be pushed around).  If Mexico or Russia or China see president Trump as negotiator Obama 2.0 this is going to be a slow, painful and unproductive four years for the president.

Furthermore, president Trump would avoid the nepotistic charges that he's listening to his sister on Hardiman.  Fiercely independent and not willing to give the media the ammunition to strike at his nominee on the grounds of their choosing. 

And should a Trump nominee face a filibuster, let's get that done now rather than wait and face a more fierce, organized opposition from Democrats in a few years with a second nominee that might not even come during president Trump's first term.

President Trump was elected to clean up Washington.  Now is the time to go big or go home - literally - because tomorrow will be too late when all the momentum is gone.  It's the reason the left is trying so hard with the fierce urgency of now to stop Trump in his tracks before he even gets started.  Hopefully president Trump sees that and acts accordingly.

Swamp Drainage in progress

Picture of the day.

Pelosi's uncoolness on Weiner

Nancy Pelosi promised as speaker she would run the most ethical House in history.  Drain the swamp? Pelosi, you crazy madcap girl, you just keep fooling everybody with that one.  By everyone, I mean yourself.

Or maybe that's just above your pay grade now.

UPDATE: Apparently not.  Pelosi has reversed herself and is calling for Wiener to step down (no hot dog pun here).

Pelosi and the swamp monster

Don't neglect my other blog, like I have.

A short post on the implications of Pelosi's comments on draining the swamp, Rangel (and Waters) and the implications for November.