TDS

Sick of This Schiff

Mark Noonan23 Comments

The Schiff-show is over – and, meh: a smart guy I follow on Twitter took the latest batch of “the walls are closing in on Trump” articles and simply linked them up with the zillion other “the walls are closing in on Trump” articles which have been put out since the day after he became President. I heard not one person outside social media talking about the hearings – and the ratings for them were low; I suspect that most Americans were only vaguely aware they were going on. At the end of the day, the Democrats had no actual witnesses to anything which could be construed as a crime…and that’s why most likely don’t care.

Where from here? Well, from what I can gather reading reports, Trump and McConnell seem to be double-dog daring the Democrats to actually vote articles of impeachment. Truth be told, I suspect both men would rather not have to go through that…but they seem ready. Even Romney came to the White House for a meeting with Trump; so, even their most likely GOP vote in favor of conviction is probably back on the GOP ranch (how? Well, Romney’s polling started to look just terrible and, well, favors were probably asked and granted…politics, you know?).

One side note that has come up is a wonder just how so many traitors managed to be working in high levels of the Trump Administration. Lots of theories have been offered up. My two are:

1. I don’t think Trump suspected just how disloyal people would be. All the hearings really showed is that the permanent bureaucracy thinks of the American government being them with a small suggestion box for the people. It is really bad: and the only cure I can think of is to revive the spoils system…ie, make all Executive positions “at the pleasure of the President”. Let the bureaucrats know that if they don’t toe the line, the President can toss them out.

2. Even those who might be technically loyal to Trump are probably more loyal to their careers. They know that, come what may, Trump will be out by 2025…and then they’ll need to get jobs and promotions in a system which despises Trump. Its a matter of helping Trump today or helping themselves later…and them selves took precedence.

The other big news is the coming IG report and the on-going investigation into the origins of the Trump-Russia hoax. I’m thinking the IG report will be weak sauce…the IG is one of them, after all, and won’t really go after what happened. But even with that in mind, we’re seeing a lot of pre-spin by people targeted in the report. As it turns out, if you are the subject of an IG report, you get to read those parts relating to you before they are released…so you can ask for corrections and clarifications. Lots of stuff about the IG report started leaking in the last 24 hours and it all looks good for Comey, et al…but, remember, the only people who could leak such things are Comey, et al. You don’t worry about pre-spinning something if it makes you look good.

More important is the investigation into Trump-Russia; and the latest word there is that FBI agents are under investigation for altering documents…and gigantic no-no. It only takes one thread to break lose for the whole thing to unravel. And if someone altered a document and there is proof they did so, that person is looking at some serious jail time, even if he or she goes in front of the most Deep State-friendly jury (ie, one in DC). You can’t get around plain facts…and, so, such a person would have massive incentive to tattle on whomever gave the orders for the documents to be altered.

The whole pile of Schiff makes clear to me that we can’t just be about Trump – that we have to go Trump on steroids going forward. Our government has been hijacked by a corrupt Ruling Class and they are determined to keep themselves on the gravy train. It all has to go – agencies dismantled; military officers cashiered; bureaucrats fired; secrets declassified. In short, we need what amounts to a revolution. And let’s hope we can do it via ballots.

Bored With Impeachment Open Thread

Mark Noonan36 Comments

I haven’t paid too much attention to the impeachment charade – because once it gets out that none of the witnesses witnessed anything, the whole point is kinda lost.

Not quite sure what end game the Democrats are hoping for out of this – if they do impeach, it goes to a Senate trial and everything comes out. I suspect that is the least desired outcome here. What I think they are trying to do is please their base and then with great fanfare they’ll hold some sort of censure vote after releasing a scathing report.

What is most infuriating to me in this is the way people supposedly on our side are treating it as if its real: as if there was something actually happening, rather than a mere partisan hit job. They do this by pretending the parade of credentialed morons are selfless public servants. They aren’t. They are corrupt hacks allowing themselves to be used in a political attack. They are un-American; downright treasonous. It is not their job to dispute with the President over policy – it is their job to carry out the policy and, if they don’t like it, quit. But the Never Trump and such people are the really disgusting players in here – their phony moralizing and pretending to be above it all disgusts me. What did they really want? They wanted there to be something – anything – that could be hung ’round Trump’s neck.

We have, on the plus side, picked up a new GOP hero in Representative Elise Stefanik (R-NY) who absolutely slaughtered the gross and dishonest Adam Schiff (D-Deep State’s A**). We need more like her.

The official word is that Trump is poison in the ‘burbs. Suburban women just hate the guy, so it goes. Never been too sure of that – my Mrs is the archetype suburban mom and while she’s not thrilled with the man, she doesn’t hate him, and she thinks the attacks on him long ago went past absurd. Anyways, the proof they say is in things like the defeat of the Kentucky governor, who lost because he was slaughtered in the ‘burbs. But as I pointed out at the time, all the other GOP State-wide candidates cleaned up in the same areas. So, perhaps it isn’t Trump that is toxic…and now we have a little more evidence that he’s not: Trump is doing pretty well in getting donations from suburban women. As I’ve always said: never look at what people say, look at what they do.

Vice President Pence states we’ll return to the Moon in 2024 – which I really want us to do while Trump is President so that the memorial plaque carries his name on it and we can just laugh and laugh and laugh at the liberal tears over that.

Open Thread

Mark Noonan40 Comments

Been working on the sequel to Mirrors, to be called Secrets. As you’ve all read Mirrors by now (right?) you know that our great heroes, Bryce and Fred, are up to any challenge…but I’ve got Fred in quite the pickle in Secrets and I’m puzzled about how I get him out of it. I’m sure I’ll figure it out. I hope – really, honestly – to have Secrets out early in 2020.

Hillary accused Tulsi Gabbard and Jill Stein (the lady who helped Hillary create the Trump-Russia Narrative, as you might recall) of being Russian agents. And everyone called her insane, right? Nope. I mean, lots of people did – but on the Democrat/Never Trump side its all been silence or, “hey, they are kinda Russian Agent-y”. These people are completely out of control.

As for why Hillary is suddenly worried about our Precious Bodily Fluids, the fact that her illegal server was, well, illegal and a huge security risk might play a role here.

Rasmussen finds that 49% of the American people haven’t been paying attention while 51% believe that the efforts to get Trump are a scam.

Trump’s lawyers go after CNN. Will anything come of it? Unlikely – but it is enormously funny.

Some US Senators – including Marco Rubio – have issued as statement to Activision Blizzard over it’s corporate kowtowing to China. It is an important issue and I’m glad it is being brought up (and under anyone but Trump, it never would have come up). China, of course, threatens dire punishment to any corporation which crosses China. Our job is to punish corporations even more if they kowtow. Enough of this – if you want to be corporate slaves to China, move your operations there.

There’s this group of ladies who dress up like 1940’s pinup girls and they go visit wounded veterans – except the VA says they don’t want them there because, I guess, there’s an a**hole out there who is offended (I can’t imagine any real veteran – even gay or female – being offended by this). We really need to bring a stop to this nonsense.

Open Thread

Mark Noonan68 Comments

The Impeachment Drama continues, but behind closed doors and then selective leaks to the MSM…which means they’ve got nothing but are trying to make it appear they have. I think it is still just with the hope that, somehow, Trump’s support will drop…but, absent that, I don’t see the Democrats actually impeaching Trump…they’ll probably drop the matter some time between Christmas and the first primaries. Though they might drag it out until March or April if the Democrat primary turns out to be too much of a clown show.

As for Trump’s support – he went down to Louisiana the day before their State and local elections and the GOP scored a tremendous victory the next day. Sure, Louisiana is a very red State, but it was really a phenomenal victory all up and down the ballot (you’re not hearing about it in the MSM because, per humorist David Burge, the job of the MSM is to “cover stories. With a pillow. Until they stop moving”). As a party, the Louisiana Democrats are barely clinging to the governorship (with a better than even chance they lose that in the November run-off) and, once that is gone, they’ll have no power at all in the State. Trump is also raising buckets of money and can whistle up a huge crowd on short notice. Polling also seems to indicate that his support hasn’t been dented but, you know: polling.

As if you didn’t already know – CNN really does have a vendetta against Trump, and it comes from the top.

Hunter Biden gave an interview to the very friendly MSM and still managed to step in it, if early reviews are correct (I didn’t watch it, myself). As Don Surber notes:

The ABC interview actually incriminated Hunter Biden as he had to concede that he has mooched off his old man’s position as senator and vice president.

The son said, “In retrospect, look, I think that it was poor judgment on my part. Is that I think that it was poor judgment because I don’t believe now, when I look back on it — I know that there was — did nothing wrong at all,” said Biden. However, was it poor judgment to be in the middle of something that is…a swamp in — in — in many ways? Yeah.”

He also said, “I gave a hook to some very unethical people to act in illegal ways to try to do some harm to my father. That’s where I made the mistake. So I take full responsibility for that. Did I do anything improper? No, not in any way. Not in any way whatsoever.”

He takes no responsibility. He takes cash instead. He got his gigs because his name is Biden, which is all one needs to know about his lack of ethics.

This won’t work as well for Team Biden as I guess they thought it would. And given the Washington Post has a slobbering puff piece out about Warren, I’m guessing Joe’s days on the campaign trail are numbered.

The NBA has decided that sweet, sweet Chinese cash is the price of their soul. I stopped watching the NBA years ago as the players became increasingly garbage people who still dared to lecture Americans on morality…but there is something extra nauseating here. Remember, the NBA went ballistic when an American State tried to make a law about bathroom use…now they’re telling everyone to shut up about Hong Kong, because the ChiComs told them to.

Turns out that Trump’s economic policies are mostly benefiting….the middle class. Be fun to see how that works out in votes next year. I mean, fun for you and me: for Democrats, might be a bit less fun.

Open Thread

Mark Noonan61 Comments

Trump pulls our tiny number of troops out of part of northern Syria and all of a sudden, all of Trump’s opponents are pro-war. Ain’t fallin’ for it, guys.

As I said back when Obama was President, I’ve become quite the peace-nik – mostly because of complete lack of trust. I do trust President Trump’s basic instincts here, but overall I don’t trust our government, our military brass or the Democrats when it comes to war. The lives of our troops are too important for them to be thrown away on unclear, endless missions where we surrender all our military advantages and then haul up our troops on charges of war crimes when they make what some REMF thinks is a mistake. I’ll agree to send our troops to war on the following conditions:

1. It is declared.
2. It is fought with brutal and unlimited use of our military force.
3. This is very important to me – we inform all and sundry that when dealing with captured irregulars and hostile “civilian” populations, we’re going to use Rule .303.

The Trump impeachment circus goes on – from what I can tell, Schiff all but wrote the “whistleblower” complaint and as that is falling apart, the Democrats are cooking up a second “whistleblower” to shore up their collapsing case. Meanwhile, various DOJ investigators seem to be closing in on the whole start of the scandal – you know, back in 2016 when the O Admin authorized spying on Trump – and this is getting more and more people into a panic. None of can say where this goes, but I’m feeling confident that Trump (and McConnell) have a very firm grip on this and they are planning on using impeachment – if the Democrats do go for it – as a hammer in 2020.

Dick’s got woke and went broke – but don’t think that will deter them. The only thing an American corporation fears these days is offending the Chinese government. Dick’s made its anti-gun SJW move because it was, socially, cost-free for them. We have to make it economically expensive for corporations to indulge in this sort of thing – only then will they cool it.

Ellen DeGeneres was in the box at a football game with W and the left went ballistic. Ellen made a statement about how its ok for people to disagree and still be kind to each other. That isn’t sitting at all well with the left:

“Avengers” star Mark Ruffalo certainly agreed, saying kindness was out of the question until Bush was brought to justice.

Got that? Brought to justice…for the crime of being a moderately conservative Republican. And this is what Ellen – conventional American liberal – and W – conventional American conservative – don’t get: the left hates. It is what it does, first and foremost and above all else. For every Ellen there are a dozen liberals who’s fondest hope is to see people like us suffer. We could get along with – and often split the difference – with liberals who don’t hate, but such are not remotely in control of the left. We have to defeat these people – drive them from power and take away their subsidies. And we won’t be able to do that if we’re all pretending – as conventional conservatism has – that the left is run by sane people.

The brownouts in California afford us, I think, an opportunity to start rebuilding Republican strength in California. California is horribly misgoverned and this power outage thing just highlights how bad it is there. Trump has commented on it – to the fury of California Democrats – but I’m hoping that someone on Team Trump is really looking at the State to for any election prospects. Certainly it is worth it simply to run up the GOP vote total and thus help Trump win the popular vote (not that it matters, but that it’ll be a fitting and final insult to the Democrats) – but, long term, we can’t rely on Texas forever…and Californians are our fellow Americans (well, most of them, anyway) and we should be working to free them from liberal tyranny and malfeasance.

Open Thread

Mark Noonan98 Comments

In the Romney vs Trump battle, I can only say that it is the last straw for me: I am done, forever, with people like Romney. I can understand why someone might not like Trump but if you’re a Republican, your job is to advance the fortunes of the Republican Party – to propose Republican things. To make Republicans look as good as you can. To battle back against the Democrats. There was so much Romney could have done…and among all the things he could choose from, he decides to go after Trump…which no Republican was asking for him to do (Trump’s approval rating among GOPers is in the 95% range). So, what is Romney up to? In my view, its one of two things or it could be both: his own family is deep into garbage like the Bidens are and Trump refused Romney as SecState. I regret deeply voting for Romney in 2012 and I’m glad he lost.

If you listen to the Left and Never Trump (BIRM), Trump is already finished…its only a matter of a short time before he’s forced out (Romney’s thing was scripted into this, I’m sure). They believe this because, seriously, they only talk to themselves. Lots of things may happen to Trump – but being forced out over a clear hit job by the Democrats isn’t one of them.

Related: McConnell is doing anti-impeachment ads. This tells you what the fate of impeachment will be in Cocaine Mitch’s Senate should Nancy be forced to call a vote (she does not want to).

AOC says Trump’s attacks on Schiff are anti-Semitic. The most common response to this accusation from Trump supporters (myself included): he’s Jewish? Didn’t know that.

Related: anti-Semitic hate crimes are rising fast in Progressive NYC. Why? Because Progressives welcome anti-Semites. It is really that simple.

Open Thread

Mark Noonan117 Comments

The Experts are still talking up how Trump is doomed…but:

The Republican National Committee (RNC) continues to bring in lots of money thanks to the House Democrats’ impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump.

The RNC’s fundraising platform has brought in over $30 million in three months since it launched in June. Officials credit the impeachment inquiry.

That’s a lot of scratch…and while we can’t say for certain what it means, the fact that its happening does say that Trump and the GOP are popular somewhere in the country. Trump is already teeing up general election ads and its more than 13 months from election day…and Democrats won’t get started on a general election campaign for at least five months. You ask anyone who really does politics and if he gets to pick which situation he’s in, he’s going to pick Trump’s.

Meanwhile, our Matt takes note other another aspect of it:

Democrat Senators from red states have expressed concern that the impeachment process started by Nancy Pelosi “may spin out of control and destroy any chance their party might have of winning back the majority next year,” according to a report from The Hill. These Democrats believe that if their party doesn’t act quickly, Trump could “turn the tables on them.”

Would Manchin or, especially, Jones (who is up for re-election next year in a Trump +30 State) really vote to convict?

In case you were wondering how our liberals are dealing with things:

Recently, I went to dinner at the home of Rebecca Kee, a preschool principal in San Francisco who turned to Maddow in her depression and confusion over the 2016 election. I brought a bottle of rosé, and she poured it into glasses decorated with charms that featured Russia-investigation figures on one side and characters from “Star Trek: The Next Generation” on the other. I sipped from the Hope Hicks/Beverly Crusher glass, and we watched Maddow’s show over veggie enchiladas. “I think of her as a news doula: You know the news is going to be painful no matter what, so we might as well have someone who helps us survive it,” Kee told me. Last year, Kee had a Maddow-themed birthday party, at which her friends and her two young sons put on big black glasses and slicked their hair to the side. Also in attendance was a life-size cardboard cutout of Maddow, which is now in storage so as not to startle guests.

These people have lost it. If we don’t win next year, then we deserve every bit of what’s coming to us.

Report indicates that red meat isn’t all that bad for you – which is another “of course”. The campaign against red meat – like previous campaigns against eggs or coffee – were ridiculous efforts by various puritan scolds who got fixated on a thing and then tried to force us all to go along. The key to human diet is moderation – eat the red meat; have the cake; drink the beer…but don’t eat ten pounds of red meat a day; don’t have the whole cake; after two or three beers, ease off. We’re built – by God or Nature, take your pick – to eat pretty much everything there is. My view is that we must have a varied diet to be healthy. To tell anyone to entirely eliminate a food or heavily concentrate on only one thing seems to me rather insane.

Trump Impeachment, Continued

Mark Noonan41 Comments

There are wonders if Pelosi really had 218 votes for impeachment – my guess is that she does; but that would probably entail about a dozen House Democrats walking the plank; ie, almost ensuring their defeat for re-election next year.

This whole thing is a set up, of course. Seems that someone in the Deep State altered the whistleblower rules about a month back to allow hearsay to be reported – used to be you had to have some direct knowledge of the event. If I were Trump, I’d order that no rule changes are valid unless he, personally, signs off on them. That aside, this is a crafted plan…but, to do what? I mean, of course the Democrats would love it if Trump’s support collapses and the GOP committed suicide by voting to remove him. But, so far there has been no drop in Trump’s support (even Nate Silver is saying that Trump is as popular as Obama at this point in his Presidency – and this, keep in mind, with relentlessly negative coverage rather than the daily MSM tongue bath that Obama got). The GOP is raking in money off the impeachment issue (last I checked, $15 million in the 72 hours after Pelosi’s announcement). Mitt is being Mitt, of course, and a few other wets in the GOP are making their high-minded statements, but there doesn’t appear to be any real crack in the ranks…so, what does this accomplish? Not sure.

And that’s before we get to some really cold, hard facts. From what I’ve read, I guess that a very large portion of Democrat voters – perhaps a majority – believe that if the House impeaches, Trump is removed. They are unaware of the whole Senate trial aspect of it. But that is what has to keep Democrat leaders up at night – a trial in the Senate means a trial conducted under whatever rules McConnell decides upon (and the Senate could just vote to dismiss the charges without a trial, guys). Anything that Trump and McConnell would like to be revealed would be – sure, the Chief Justice presides and, in theory (no one really knows), could make rulings from the bench on what is admissible…but the Senate can override the Justice by simple majority vote. In short, an actual trial would be a nightmare for the Democrats and while operating under McConnell’s rules, they’ll have the task of talking 23 Republican Senators into removing Trump – and that’s if all the Democrats stay on board (Manchin would be a likely “no”, absent rock-solid evidence, I think). It’s an insurmountable obstacle – and only real criminal activity and Trump dropping to an average of 30% in the polls would make it possible.

It could be, of course, that they are just toying with this – willing to move if things go their way, but mostly just placating their base while hoping that something turns up to separate Trump from his supporters (that is what all of this has been about since Day One, by the way: the Democrats know that to win in 2020, they have to convince three or four million of Trump’s 2016 voters to abandon him…doesn’t matter how much they run up the score in CA and NY, if they can’t get back PA and MI, they’re toast…and they know it).

As for our side: don’t know about you guys, but I coldly furious about the whole thing. It is, now, only incidentally about Trump: this is a very large portion of people – including many in leadership – who are saying that I’m not allowed to participate in my own governance: that I’m not allowed to vote for someone disapproved of by the Ruling Class. I’ve come across some rather ardently anti-Trump people over the past three days who are now determined to vote Trump just on that principle: that we get to decide and what we decide is what will happen until we decide differently.

Trump Impeachment

Mark Noonan106 Comments

It is less than it seems so far – for there to be a real impeachment inquiry, the House would have to vote to do so, and so far Pelosi isn’t making that move…and it can’t be for lack of votes: such a thing would garner 218 (at least) votes in the House because too many Democrats would face a primary challenge if they didn’t go along with it. So, why isn’t she moving forward? My view is that the far left base of the Democrats – mostly upper class, urban whites – are the only people on fire for impeachment and Pelosi is trying to thread the needle: make it seem like she’s doing it, but not actually doing it.

The trouble is, these things have a way of just growing on their own. People in the Democrat ranks are already staking out extreme positions and in an election year, the need to one-up on it will make it more likely that nearly everyone stakes out such a position. Democrats are caught in a vise – their attempt to separate Trump from his base – that is all Trump/Russia was ever about – has failed but their own stalwarts have taken it as Gospel. And if you really believe that Trump is a Russian agent placed in office by Putin – and that is what they believe – then there can be no reason not to impeach. To try to hold back from the last step might prove impossible.

No one can tell how this will play out: we know Trump is innocent and so any airing of the facts will help Trump. But the political dynamic is unprecedented: we’ve never had a President actively seeking re-election while an impeachment plays out. Get ready for a wild ride.

Open Thread

Mark Noonan95 Comments

Polls are meh, but there is a poll which says that Trump’s approval among Hispanics is at 37% and African-Americans at 26%. If so, the Democrats are doomed. But, once again, it is a poll. On the other hand, I’ve seen various news stories indicating that Team Trump is rolling out a very sophisticated voter outreach program…not just designed to do the usual stuff, but do things like bring people into voting who haven’t voted before or not very often. If they can really pull off something like that, then the 2020 results might be the shocker of all shocks…and other than a few bits and pieces fed to MSMers (some of which will be deliberate misdirection), most people won’t see it until it happens.

Beto decided to hand the GOP a gift in the form of admitting that liberals like him are after gun confiscation. Beto knows he won’t be the nominee – and he also knows that he has no real future in Texas politics. So, he’s just setting fire to things because it will generate attention and money and allow him to live well. But the bottom line is that a Democrat President for candidate has called for confiscation…and you can rely on it that none of the others will really dissent from that view. They can’t: they’ve told their mostly-mindless base that guns are bad and for a Progressive, all bad things must be utterly destroyed. Just that one assertion might get Trump two or three million more votes in 2020.

Democrats want to impeach Trump – because they’ve been told that Orange Man Bad and, once again, all bad things must be destroyed. However, the Democrat leaders know that doing such a thing absent a half dozen GOP Senators willing to vote with them is political suicide…and that wouldn’t happen unless Trump’s approval among GOP voters drops below, say, 75% (latest poll shows him at about 94% approval among GOP voters). So, they are trying to have it both ways – telling their base that they are super serial gonna get that guy Trump, but behind the scenes not actually doing anything. Well, Trump’s DOJ is calling them out on it – essentially telling them to sh** or get off the pot; which boxes the Democrats in nicely. They’ll eventually either have to drop it or drive forward…either way it would be a political disaster for them.

Abortion “doctor” kept body parts of his victims…you know, like serial killers do. This is not at all surprising – no decent doctor would perform an elective abortion. Only the dregs of the medical field would go into that as a primary means of making money…and the dregs tend to be low caliber people. Like this house of horrors abortionist.

China has some food problems:

…lifting the tariffs, China has just admitted it cannot produce enough protein for national consumption, both as a staple or as a preferred meat. Imagine a US shortage of wheat and chicken, with no real access to corn or beef, and a couple dozen urban areas of 20 millions or more with just a third arable land as now. That’s China.

So, what’s the problem with China’s agricultural industry? Basically, they simply do not have enough land to grow the volume of soy they need; and, their pork production is highly diffused and is ravaged by a massive and seemingly uncontrollable swine flu epidemic. In fact, it is estimated that up to 60% of China’s pigs are infected with the flu.

To compound a bad situation to worse, Chinese officials are both incapable of enforcing a quarantine and too corrupt to stop the spread of the flu.

China is a giant on spindly legs. We have far more leverage over them than we suspect – and we’ve never used it, until just recently. We’ll see how Trump does.