Category: White House

Nixon 2.0?

I realize that I have not been posting here much at all. My Dad has been in the hospital. Dad went in on the 18’th of this month with chest pains and difficulty breathing. He spent 14 days on a ventilator and had a tracheotomy. Dad is still in the hospital and is supposed to be moved today to another hospital with a rehab center in it, to ween him off of the breathing machine and the trach tube. It’s going to be a rough road for the man; please pray for him. Oh and by the way, smoking sucks! As does diabetes.

So, I have been busy with that and with my gaming channel on YouTube, which has been really taking off as of late. So, I have been busy elsewhere. Plus too, Politics here as of late, has gotten silly, really silly and my interest has waned a bit. But, this news here made me perk up a bit.

I am referring to the Nixonian firing of FBI director James Comey. Now, Nixon’s people say it is not the same. Sorry, but this smacks of Nixon. An investigation that is getting too close to the President and he fires the person in charge of it. Same deal, different department.

Now, as someone who voted for the President, I will simply say this. If this was a firing to coverup wrongdoing by the President; it will come out in the wash. (So to speak…) I have never been loyal to a political party or person. I simply voted issues and if there has been wrongdoing by this President, by all means, let there be an investigation and not one hampered by partisan politics either.

Now, there are some on the left, maybe all of them? Also some on the right too; who are screaming, “Cover up!” Well, to that I simply say, let the investigators do their jobs and get to the facts.

Video: Eye on the Republic predicts the outcome of the Trump Administration

I was looking at the headlines this morning and I see this….

Via NYT:

WASHINGTON — Phone records and intercepted calls show that members of Donald J. Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign and other Trump associates had repeated contacts with senior Russian intelligence officials in the year before the election, according to four current and former American officials.

American law enforcement and intelligence agencies intercepted the communications around the same time they were discovering evidence that Russia was trying to disrupt the presidential election by hacking into the Democratic National Committee, three of the officials said. The intelligence agencies then sought to learn whether the Trump campaign was colluding with the Russians on the hacking or other efforts to influence the election.

The officials interviewed in recent weeks said that, so far, they had seen no evidence of such cooperation.

But the intercepts alarmed American intelligence and law enforcement agencies, in part because of the amount of contact that was occurring while Mr. Trump was speaking glowingly about the Russian president, Vladimir V. Putin. At one point last summer, Mr. Trump said at a campaign event that he hoped Russian intelligence services had stolen Hillary Clinton’s emails and would make them public.

The officials said the intercepted communications were not limited to Trump campaign officials, and included other associates of Mr. Trump. On the Russian side, the contacts also included members of the government outside of the intelligence services, they said. All of the current and former officials spoke on the condition of anonymity because the continuing investigation is classified.

Here is my prediction as to what will happen to the Trump Administration:

Others:

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Conservative Media figures are grumbling about the GOP Congress

Already? Yeah, I figured this would be coming. 🙄

Here’s Sean Hannity, and he is not happy:

It is not just him. AllahPundit over at HotAir.com observes the following:

It’s not just Hannity among the conservative A-list who’s grumbling about the tortoise pace of legislative action. Some House conservatives, like Jim Jordan, have complained about it recently and Matt Drudge, a Trump superfan, chimed in on Twitter a few days ago demanding to know what the hold-up is on O-Care and tax reform. All of which is excellent populist fodder: You can’t go wrong reassuring a restive grassroots audience that Congress is a bunch of gutless layabouts, especially if you’re a fan of the president and looking to condition the public to give him more power.

AP explains things a bit:

But this is more complicated than it looks. For one thing, the Senate GOP is jammed up right now by Democratic tactics to slow-walk Trump’s cabinet nominees. That’s resolving itself hour by hour as the time for debate on each nominee expires, but getting Trump’s secretaries in place is a top priority at the moment. For another thing, it’s not just Republicans in Congress who are urging patience among the base in moving their agenda, especially when it comes to ObamaCare. Hannity being Hannity, this monologue is a full-throated defense of Trump as a man of action and condemnation of the dithering Ryan-led Republicans in Congress as cowards who are blowing an opportunity — but it was Trump, not Ryan, who warned Americans last Sunday that the repeal-and-replace process might take until 2018. It’s Trump, not Ryan, who has pointedly held off on undoing Obama’s executive amnesties, much to the dismay of border hawks like Steve King. It’s Trump, not Ryan, who prioritized the travel ban as his first big policy fight rather than tax reform. Of course it’s true that Trump has acted more boldly thus far than Ryan and McConnell have in securing gains for the party, but that’s due to the nature of the two branches. All the president needs to do to make something happen in the executive branch is to grab a pen. Making something happen in the legislative branch takes time. As it was supposed to.

It also requires 60 votes in the Senate (at least for now), and therein lies a major problem. The Senate GOP can avoid a filibuster by using reconciliation to repeal chunks of ObamaCare, like the mandate — but it can’t repeal all of it. Importantly, it probably can’t repeal the regulations that require insurers to provide coverage to people with preexisting conditions, a main driver of costs under the program. It’ll probably take 60 votes for that, which creates a dilemma for Republicans: Do they really want to risk eliminating the mandate, the key revenue mechanism under the law, via reconciliation knowing that they can’t eliminate the main expenditure provision at the same time? That’s a recipe for a death spiral, which would mean lots and lots and lots of dropped coverage and lots and lots and lots of angry voters. Trump seems to understand that, that there aren’t 60 votes for a plan to avert that death spiral — at the moment — which is why he’s looking to 2018. Why is it the fault of congressional Republicans that they don’t have a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate?

….and on Taxes:

The Bush tax cuts were enacted via reconciliation, you’ll recall, and were also subject to a 10-year sunset provision. Because of that, the top income tax bracket reverted to its pre-Bush levels in 2012. If you want this year’s tax reforms to be permanent rather than limited by another 10-year sunset and another big congressional standoff circa 2027, you need Democratic cooperation. That means 60 votes, and most Senate Dems are in no mood to provide those votes right now — but they might be eventually, especially since there’s bipartisan consensus on certain key issues (like lowering corporate taxes). As the midterms bear down on red-state Dems like Joe Manchin, they might be willing to compromise with the Great Negotiator in the White House and produce a package that can be passed cleanly in Congress, enshrining Trump’s tax program as permanent law. But that’ll take time, and Hannity and other populists are unwilling to wait.

Here’s an idea. If Trump wants to speed things along in the legislature so that he isn’t stuck fighting court battles over executive orders, he could try being a bit less antagonistic to legislators on the other side, like mocking Chuck Schumer for tearing up over refugees, and searching for areas on which the parties might compromise, to build trust. (And in fact, he might be doing just that.) It may not work despite his best efforts — the left craves a “resist at all costs!” approach to Trump, which is too bad and about which there isn’t much the White House can do. But he can do what he can do on his end. It can only help Ryan and McConnell to pick up the pace if he’s more conciliatory with critics.

Needless to say, the GOP congress is going to have their hands full for the next 4 years. When they are not defending themselves from attacks from Democrats, they will be having to fend off attacks from the Conservative media. It is going to be a long, hard four years.

Kellyanne Conway once again proves that she is not ready for prime time.

Remember when I said that this woman needed to go? Well, here is another good reason.

The Story: White House says Conway has been ‘counseled’ after touting Ivanka Trump’s products – The Washington Post

President Trump’s official counselor, Kellyanne Conway, was “counseled” after she told TV audiences to “go buy Ivanka’s stuff,” the White House said Thursday.

Legal experts said Conway had broken a key ethics law banning federal employees from using their public office to endorse products. White House press secretary Sean Spicer said Thursday that Conway “has been counseled,” but offered no other comment.

Conway, speaking to “Fox & Friends” viewers from the White House briefing room, was responding to boycotts of Ivanka Trump merchandise and Nordstrom’s discontinuation of stocking her clothing and shoe lines, which the retailer said was in response to low sales and which the president assailed as unfair.

“I’m going to give it a free commercial here,” Conway said of the president’s daughter’s merchandise brand. “Go buy it today.”

Conway and officials from the Office of Government Ethics did not respond to requests for comment Thursday.

Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), chairman of the House Oversight Committee, said Conway’s endorsement was ”clearly over the line” and “unacceptable.”

Earlier in the day, the committee’s ranking Democrat, Rep. Elijah E. Cummings (Md.), had urged Chaffetz to support a review into what he called “a textbook violation of government ethics laws.”

Trump might be a good leader and is going to be a excellent President. But, he has surrounded himself with a bunch of utter buffoons. This woman needs to be fired and I mean quick.

Update: Here is the buffoon breaking ethics laws:

https://youtu.be/3sb08WTuGtM

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Audio: Obama talks about Iowa, Hillary, Sanders and 2016

The full audio:

The Story via Politico:

Barack Obama, that prematurely gray elder statesman, is laboring mightily to remain neutral during Hillary Clinton’s battle with Bernie Sanders in Iowa, the state that cemented his political legend and secured his path to the presidency.

But in a candid 40-minute interview for POLITICO’s Off Message podcast as the first flakes of the blizzard fell outside the Oval Office, he couldn’t hide his obvious affection for Clinton or his implicit feeling that she, not Sanders, best understands the unpalatable pragmatic demands of a presidency he likens to the world’s most challenging walk-and-chew-gum exercise.

“[The] one thing everybody understands is that this job right here, you don’t have the luxury of just focusing on one thing,” a relaxed and reflective Obama told me in his most expansive discussion of the 2016 race to date.

Iowa isn’t just a state on the map for Obama. It’s the birthplace of his hope-and-change phenomenon, “the most satisfying political period in my career,” he says — “what politics should be” — and a bittersweet reminder of how far from the garden he’s gotten after seven bruising years in the White House.

The caucuses have a fierce-urgency-of-now quality as Obama reckons with the end of his presidency — the kickoff of a process of choosing a Democratic successor he hopes can secure his as-yet unsecured legacy, to keep Donald Trump or Ted Cruz or somebody else from undoing much of what he has done. And he was convinced Clinton was that candidate, prior to the emergence of Sanders, friends and associates have told me over the past 18 months.

“Bernie came in with the luxury of being a complete long shot and just letting loose,” he said. “I think Hillary came in with the both privilege — and burden — of being perceived as the front-runner. … You’re always looking at the bright, shiny object that people haven’t seen before — that’s a disadvantage to her.”

He also spoke of Bernie Sanders:

Obama didn’t utter an unkind word about Sanders, who has been respectfully critical of his administration’s reluctance to prosecute Wall Street executives and his decision to abandon a single-payer health care system as politically impractical. But he was kinder to Clinton. When I asked Obama whether he thought Sanders needed to expand his horizons, if the Vermont senator was too much a one-issue candidate too narrowly focused on income inequality, the presidente didn’t dispute the assertion.

Gesturing toward the Resolute Desk, with its spread-winged eagle seal, first brought into the Oval Office by John F. Kennedy, Obama said of Sanders: “Well, I don’t want to play political consultant, because obviously what he’s doing is working. I will say that the longer you go in the process, the more you’re going to have to pass a series of hurdles that the voters are going to put in front of you.”

Then he added: “As you’ll recall, I was sitting at my desk there just a little over a week ago … writing my State of the Union speech, and somebody walks in and says, ‘A couple of our sailors wandered into Iranian waters’” — and here he stopped to chuckle in disbelief — “that’s maybe a dramatic example, but not an unusual example of the job.”

As much as I hate to say it; President Obama is correct about that one. The office of the President of the United States is a very difficult job and it requires someone who can handle the job. While Bernie Sanders might be a respectable person and all; if I were voting in a Democratic Primary, there is no way that I would vote for Bernie Sanders, I would most likely vote for Hillary Clinton. Because she has already been there and she seems, for a Democrat, a bit more reasonable, than Bernie Sanders.

Needless to say, being an ideologue is great; if you are an activist or even maybe a Senator. However, when you are the commander and chief, that is a whole other ballgame and there is a certain amount of pragmatism is required in that office, if you actually want to succeed at the job.  You have to remember, when you are President; you are President of the people of the United States of America, not just the President of the people who voted for you. You have to take into account everyone, not just those who voted for you. This is why I am not too keen on Ted Cruz; he is an extreme ideologue on the right, where Bernie Sander is an extreme ideologue on the left.

This is where I think Donald Trump might just be the more pragmatic candidate, who might just be able to get things done in DC and put aside some of this partisan rancor that has become so terrible under Bush and Obama. Now, if we could just work on his humility and get him to stop retweeting stuff like this here.

Other Bloggers: Vox, The Daily Beast, USA Today, Yahoo Politics, John Hawkins’ Right Wing News, Mother Jones, Talking Points Memo, Hot Air, The Daily Caller, Washington Post, ABC News, Shakesville, Slantpoint and The Week – Via Memeorandum

Mini-Movie: The frame job against Bashar al-Assad

This comes via Conservative-Headlines.com, and I know some people might not like it that I linked to these guys. Well, you know what? Tough! This video is a eye-opener; and I really do not even like Alex Jones for some very good reasons.

https://youtu.be/pqj4WzgnxDc

Just like Al-Qaeda, ISIS was created by the United States. Our biggest threat as Americans, is not terrorism; it is our own Government.

More dark money tied to Jeb Bush’s run for 2016

Now, why am I not shocked nor surprised at this?

Jeb Bush has given his tacit endorsement to a new group that can collect unlimited amounts of money in secret, part of a bold effort by his advisers to create a robust external political operation before he declares his expected White House bid.

The nonprofit group, Right to Rise Policy Solutions, was quietly established in Arkansas in February by a friend and former Bush staffer. The group shares the name of two political committees for which Bush has been aggressively raising money — blurring the line that is supposed to separate a campaign from independent groups.

While ideological nonprofits have become major players in national politics in recent years, this marks the first time one has been so embedded in the network of a prospective candidate.

via How a Bush-allied nonprofit could inject more secret money into ’16 race – The Washington Post.

The Republican establishment is going to stop at nothing at maintaining business as usual in the Republican Party. Jeb Bush is their guy; and they are going to do anything they can to get him into the White House. I have my doubts as to whether Jeb Bush will make it out of the primaries or not.

The reason why I say this is because the Conservative grassroots are much more informed; by means of social media and quite frankly, they are very much fired up, because of the Obama Presidency. They are absolutely demanding a drastic stark change from the disaster of the Democrat’s past 8 years. Jeb Bush simply does not offer that; the fact is that Jeb Bush stands for the Republican Party moderate establishment; and as a relic of the past.

It is widely known that Jeb Bush is soft on immigration and supports common core; two very big hot button topic within the conservative grassroots. Not to mention that fact that the conservative grassroots is demanding a full repeal of the Affordable Healthcare Act. Something that only Ted Cruz has given a full-throated promise to carry out, should he be elected. I am not a supporter of Cruz at all; I am simply making observations.

Another thing that is of great concern to this writer, is the fact that Jeb Bush is a bona fide neoconservative. It would not be an incorrect observation that say that Jeb Bush would be carry out the wishes of AIPAC and the rest of the Jewish lobby and yes, that would include bombing Iran. Furthermore, Jeb Bush would be a stooge for the Council on Foreign Relations and the United Nations. Thus, making him a pigeon of the New World Order.

The Bottom Line: The GOP establishment must be joking. They want to actually try to run a basic clone of George W. Bush? Good luck with that one guys. Because Americans; both Democrat and Republican, Liberal and Conservative — and everything else in between — are a bit more informed, smarter and do communicate better these days, than they did in 2000. America has not forgotten about the foolish actions of President George W. Bush in 2003; and the utter disaster that it has created in the middle east.  The GOP could do better, by running something a bit smarter than another Bush; sadly, I believe that the GOP is hell-bent on repeating the same mistakes of 2008 and 2012; and that, my friends —- is an American tragedy.

Others: Reuters and Prairie Weather

I have a bad feeling about Iraq, that we are going back there, again…..

This is sad and I have a bad feeling as to what is coming…:

The Story:

Iraq’s government is investigating reports that the ancient archaeological site of Khorsabad in northern Iraq is the latest to be attacked by the Islamic State militant group.

Adel Shirshab, the country’s tourism and antiquities minister, told The Associated Press there are concerns the militants will remove artifacts and damage the site, located 15 kilometers (9 miles) northeast of Mosul. Saeed Mamuzini, a Kurdish official from Mosul, told the AP that the militants had already begun demolishing the Khorsabad site on Sunday, citing multiple witnesses.

On Friday, the group razed 3,000-year old Nimrod and on Saturday, they bulldozed 2,000-year old Hatra — both UNESCO world heritage sites. The move was described by UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon as a “war crime.”

via Associated Press.

I hate to say it; but, I have sinking feeling that the United States is going to have to end up going back into Iraq again. This time to destroy ISIS in Iraq and maybe even Libya too; and possibly the entire Arab peninsula. I hope like heck that I am wrong about it; but I have a bad feeling. We, of course, will not be doing it alone. But, we and the coalition allies will be going into the middle east again.

Of course, this will be used as a recruitment tool for the likes of ISIS and Al-Qaeda. Not to mention all of the rest of the things that go with war. It is a sad thing; but, at this point, I do believe that it is inevitable. I just hope that this Presidential administration  manages things this time better than the last one did. The last one was a disaster. I have my doubts about that too. Because the track record is just not that good. Normally, I would just pray for peace; but in this case, with this ISIS group — that is just not possible. If anything at all, I pray that the Nations that ISIS are in and are conducting terrorist actions, would rise up and attack these terrorists, so that the United States would not have to do it. However, if I know things like I do; they will not do it and will rely on the United States to bring its military in to deal with the problem.

There are people who will want to blame Bush for this mess. I think that would be foolish, at this point. Because President Bush had a plan in place, that would have insured Iraq’s safety for many years to come. However, President Obama came in and changed the plan and pulled out the troops before the plan could even be implemented. Because he was under pressure from the anti-war faction of his party.

Now, because of that idiotic move; we now have ISIS and it is a bigger problem than Al-Qaeda ever was and are much crazier. So, it is back to the war game. Hopefully, the Republic will survive.

(Cross-posted to Beforeitsnews.com)

More fence jumpers at the White House

Honestly, who is running that clown show up there?

The story:

(Reuters) – Uniformed Secret Service police have arrested two people who breached security at the White House and triggered brief lockdowns at the presidential residence, the Secret Service said on Monday.

One person was arrested about 11:30 p.m. EST on Sunday (0430 GMT Monday) after climbing over a bicycle rack set up outside the White House’s main fence and charged with unlawful entry, Secret Service spokesman Brian Leary said.

At about 6:45 a.m. EST (1145 GMT) on Monday another person was stopped after trying to enter through a White House gate as a construction worker was going out. The man became combative and was arrested, Leary said.

The White House was briefly locked down after both incidents as part of Secret Service protocol.

via Two arrested in White House security incidents: Secret Service | Reuters.

Makes one wonder, doesn’t it?