Amnesty vote this week

Neil Munro at Breitbart has the update on the delayed vote on amnesty:

House Speaker Paul Ryan cancelled the planned Friday vote on his amnesty bill, and will add some business-first and populist concessions to help win votes prior to a debate and vote next week [week of June 25]

. . .

Democrats are expected to unite against the guest-worker program and E-Verify, in part, because they want the 11 million resident illegals to become citizens and vote Democratic.

If the modified bill is passed by the House, the bipartisan cheap-labor caucus in the Senate is expected to strip out Ryan’s modest reductions in immigration numbers because companies want to maximize the inflow of foreign consumers, workers and renters.

Any amendment adding the E-Verify system also will be opposed by Senate Democrats and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce because it would penalize roughly 8 million working illegal-migrants.

We’re looking at yet more wrangling amongst Uniparty members of Congress, both –R and –D, and their loyalties to – not their constituents - but their donor masters.

Cleveland Tea Party’s Ralph King posted this on his FB page:

Patriots - it is time to rise up and be loud!

We need to keep President Trump from making any deals on DACA and the Wall! We need to let him know we elected him to stand strong and we will stand with him on NO Deal for DREAMERs!

Besides the left we also have enemies within that would love President Trump to cave and give out backdoor amnesty for DREAMERs in exchange for Wall funding. We know the left is going to fight against it - but we must not forget forces in the Swamp that want the same thing!

The Open Border, illegal immigrant, low-wage loving GOP donor class, the US Chamber & Koch Brothers (American's for Prosperity) all who control Paul Ryan and the Establishment GOP would love and want amnesty for the DACA DREAMERs. They always have.

Exchanging Amnesty for DACA DREAMERs is a trap and sucker bet. Soon as the DREAMERs are allowed to vote they will vote Democrat across the board and there goes any continued funding for building the wall.

We cannot allow President Trump to be swayed by the Establishment Swampers!

We cannot allow President Trump to be fooled, swayed and/or duped like Ronald Reagan was with the Immigration Reform & Control ACt of 1986 (Simpson - Mazzoli Act)! In short - Reagan compromised on immigration and got screwed. We must learn from history!

We need to let President Trump know NO DACA Deal! Do NOT Trade the Wall funding for DACA Nightmares!

You can call or email the White House:

PHONE NUMBERS

Comments: 202-456-1111

Switchboard: 202-456-1414

White House contact page with email option here. 

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The GOPe Uniparty wants to balance the federal budget

image credit: giphy.com

Chris Pandolfo at Conservative Review reports:

Fresh off of passing a 2,232-page monstrosity of an omnibus bill that spent $1.3 trillion, House Republicans now say they want to take up a balanced budget amendment (BBA) when they return from recess.

. . .

So what’s really going on here is that after fundamentally betraying conservatives in the omnibus bill, Republican leadership figures they have to pretend like they’re fighting for conservative principles so that GOP voters show up in November and they can keep their majorities. They’ll vote on the balanced budget amendment, it will fail, and they’ll turn to you and say, “See, we need more Republicans up here in the swamp; otherwise, we’ll never get the things you want done. There are just too many Democrats.”

  

It’s all Kabuki theater. The rest of the report is here.

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Omnibus spending bill: it’s not over till it’s over

cartoon by Alexander Hoffman at dailyreckoning.com

Quite a few conservative bloggers and columnists have been throwing up their hands in despair over President Trump’s signing of the god-awful Omnibus spending bill last week. Headlines such as “Art of the Fail” or “Trump Fought the Swamp and the Swamp Won” were everywhere. But perhaps we are watching another Trump negotiation. Since the Omnibus bill is not a budget, the Executive branch has some flexibility on how (and if) funds are allocated. For example, Ann Coulter suggested he fund the wall using Defense Dept. money.

My own outrage is directed at the GOPe members of the Uniparty, who ran on - and raised millions on - promises they had no intention of ever keeping. They did not expect to win. Some might conclude that they wanted to lose. And we now see them, out in the open, blocking Trump’s agenda at every turn, including this latest maneuver.

As I see it, The GOPe has tried hard to stop Trump from the day he announced his candidacy right up to today. The Omnibus bill was just another opportunity to obstruct and undermine. They don’t want to be in the majority. They want to keep their noses in the trough and raise money by making more empty promises that they can whine about if they are in the minority. And the gloating Democrat leadership would love nothing more than to see Trump’s base lose heart. 

For some more optimistic/realistic takes, try Don Surber, Kurt Schlichter, or Sundance at Conservative Treehouse.

Related: at American Thinker, Joseph Smith asks if it will be “Time for Republicans to stay home in 2018?”

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Varvel's D.C. Swamp

Back by popular demand
Gary Varvel's Cartoon of the Day 

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Michael P. Ramirez ~ cartoon of the day

 Well, that partly explains the failure to repeal Obamacare.

Cartoon via Townhall

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Word of the day: “electable”

From Fox News Insider, when Mitch McConnell 

claimed 'We're Going to Crush Tea Party Everywhere' in Primaries"

Alexander Bolton at The Hill reports ("Picking 2018 candidates pits McConnell vs. GOP groups"):

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and conservative groups are headed toward a showdown over GOP primaries in 2018.

McConnell has voiced confidence that Republicans will nominate “electable” candidates as they seek to grow their narrow majority during an election cycle in which Democrats will be defending 23 seats to just eight for the GOP.

. . .

A few battles are already shaping up in 2018.

In Ohio, it is unclear whether the GOP establishment will back Mandel, who lost to Brown in 2012.

The Club for Growth is backing Mandel. In 2010, it helped defeat former Sen. Bob Bennett (Utah), one of McConnell’s best friends, in a GOP primary.

Rep. Pat Tiberi (R-Ohio), a senior member of the Ways and Means Committee, has amassed $6.3 million in campaign funds and might be seen as a stronger candidate by Washington Republicans.

“We’re supporting Josh Mandel in Ohio. I think the establishment would probably prefer Pat Tiberi, but any competent Republican consultant would strongly advise Tiberi not to run,” said Andrew Roth, vice president for government affairs at the Club for Growth. “The establishment should like Mandel.

That word “electable.” The GOPe wanted Jeb! as the 2016 candidate, because he was “electable.” That’s how they described Mitt Romney. Sounds like the GOPe is going to go to the mat to keep the UniParty intact (read: their noses in the trough).

Read the rest here.

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Rep. Paul Ryan endorses Donald Trump

art credit: pennlive.com

After weeks of stalling, Speaker Paul Ryan finally endorses Donald Trump for President. Sundance explains:

Donald Trump has repeatedly said he did not want -nor need- Ryan to endorse him.

. . .

Ryan has to move now to try to remain relevant to the future platform. Ryan is trying to save his Wall Street Legislative priority list.

Read the rest (it’s short) here.

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Do the math, Senator Cruz

 photo credit: youtube

Desperation. From The Daily Caller:

Sen. Ted Cruz’s abrupt suggestion he might reenter the Republican presidential race went up in smoke Tuesday night as he suffered a crushing defeat against Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump in Nebraska’s GOP primary.

Cruz suggested if he were to win in Nebraska and saw a “path to victory” at the convention, he would consider restarting his presidential campaign, despite dropping out last week after being beaten badly in Indiana.

“We launched this campaign intending to win. The reason we suspended our campaign was that with the Indiana loss, I felt there was no path to victory,” Cruz told radio host Glenn Beck. “If that changes, we will certainly respond accordingly.” (RELATED: Cruz Says He Won’t Run Third Party)

Such notions were almost immediately crushed in spectacular fashion Tuesday night, as early results showed Trump racking up almost 60 percent of the vote in Nebraska, about 40 percentage points ahead of Cruz at 19.5 percent. Ohio Gov. John Kasich was in third with about 14 percent of the vote.

Although no polling was conducted in the state, it was seen as a potential Cruz victory prior to him dropping out. But if Nebraska ever was a Cruz state, it stopped being one the moment he dropped out as GOP voters instead flocked to the party’s presumptive nominee.

Cruz also suffered a massive defeat in West Virginia’s primary, though that defeat was more predictable.

Nebraska’s 36 delegates are awarded on a winner-take-all basis, meaning Trump will take another big step towards the 1,273 delegates he needs to lock up the Republican nomination on the first ballot.

The delegate chart after yesterday's primaries:

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Trump, Sanders, and American discontent

art credit: www.writerscafe.org

From Pat Dooley’s FB page:

Trump, Sanders and American discontent

Trump is now the presumptive GOP candidate. He started as a joke candidate. The pundits trashed him from left and right. But, somehow, he resonated with ordinary Americans and gained traction in the polls. National Review, the leading conservative magazine, devoted a complete issue to attacking Trump. He survived that broadside. His GOP competitors spent 10's of millions of dollars on attack ads against him. He spent virtually nothing. He said stupid things, insulted virtually everyone, and still he kept winning. This is actually a unique event in modern American history. No outsider has ever done what Trump has just done.

How did he do it? He chose a great campaign slogan and he hammered illegal immigration, bad trade agreements, job losses, and political correctness. He used his media savvy to garner free airtime his opponents could only dream of and he found ways to dominate virtually every media news cycle. He spent virtually nothing on advertising and his whole campaign was run on a shoestring. Jeb Bush blew through $130 million and got nowhere.

Bernie Sanders is giving Hillary a run for her money, and he is appealing to people on the left who are disillusioned with "politics as usual." He doesn't have a chance because the system is rigged against outsiders. Hillary picks up pledged delegates that were committed before a vote was cast.

Sanders and Trump reflect a general malaise that American people feel. The Federal government is working against us, not for us, and it is costing far too much.

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Jeb! reneges

photo credit: observer.com

Back in December, and shortly before Jeb! dropped out of the race, Guy Benson at Townhall reported on the GOP candidates' loyalty oath to support whoever became the eventual nominee for President. The headline then was “Jeb: I'm Considering Breaking My GOP Loyalty Pledge if Trump's the Nominee":

By declining to raise their hands when prompted by Fox New anchor Bret Baier, every other candidate on stage that night made a promise to voters: No matter who is nominated, they'd throw their backing behind his or her campaign, and would rule out an independent run.  

Ironically, that question was crafted specifically for Trump, but now it applies at least as much to moderates like Bush and Kasich as it does to the capricious frontrunner.  If you're seeking the Republican nomination, and if you've vowed to endorse and support the Republican nominee, you shouldn't go back on your word -- neither out of genuine frustration and disgust, nor as a campaign tactic. 

Not only would this be a breach of trust, it would reek of spite. Trump's been smacking Jeb around as a low energy loser for weeks; if the former governor were to follow through on this quasi-threat, Trump could tweak his taunt and cast Bush as a low energy sore loser.  

Jeb and friends have spent tens of millions of dollars so far, yet the campaign has failed to gain traction with voters (to put it kindly).  Reneging on the pledge now would be akin to pouting in the corner -- yet another indignity.  

Sure, guys like Bush and Kasich could use Trump's odious conduct and controversial proposals as a fig leaf to justify their potential reversals, but that would require them to feign shock that Donald Trump is comporting himself like...Donald Trump has always comported himself.  

Plus, it would infuriate a large segment of the Republican base, who would accuse the establishment of demanding party unity in support of "safe" nominees, then refusing to abide by the same standard when they don't get their way. 

Today, The Hill reports that Jeb! has reneged on his pledge.

“In November, I will not vote for Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton, but I will support principled conservatives at the state and federal levels, just as I have done my entire life,” Bush wrote in a Facebook post.

Jeb! does not seem to have a clue about “conservative” principles, nor why Trump would appeal to conservatives who are sick and tired of “conservative” GOPe legislators who promise conservative values on the campaign trail and embrace the liberal agenda once in office.

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Republican Convention in Cleveland: Bikers and Truckers plan to roll in

photo credit: infostormer

From Reuters (and quoting Cleveland Tea Party’s Ralph King):

  

From bikers to truckers, pro-Trump groups plan forceful presence in Cleveland

BY NICK CAREY

When Chris Cox rolls into Cleveland in mid-July with other motorcycle-riding supporters of Donald Trump, he plans to celebrate the billionaire's coronation as the Republican presidential nominee. He also counts on joining protests if a battle over the nomination ensues.

"I'm anticipating we'll be doing a victory dance," said Cox, 47, a chainsaw artist and founder of Bikers for Trump, thousands of whom he estimates will hit the Ohio city for the July 18-21 Republican National Convention.

"But if the Republican Party tries to pull off any backroom deals and ignores the will of the people, our role will change."

Bikers For Trump is part of a diverse array of groups coordinating to hold thousands-strong protests and marches if the real-estate mogul is denied outright victory at the Republican Party’s nominating convention in Cleveland.

The risks of confrontation and violence surrounding Trump events were highlighted again on Thursday, when around 20 people were arrested following clashes between anti-Trump protesters and police outside a rally for the candidate in California. It was the worst outbreak of violence since Trump was forced to cancel a rally in Chicago in mid-March.

Anti-Trump protests are expected in Cleveland. In late March, the left-leaning National Lawyers Guild held a conference in the city to coordinate legal support to protesters in the event of mass arrests during demonstrations.

Leaders and members of the pro-Trump groups told Reuters their main goal is to mount a show of support for their candidate, who after a series of primary victories this week looks increasingly likely to clinch the nomination outright ahead of Texas Senator Ted Cruz and Ohio Governor John Kasich.

But if he falls short of the required 1,237 delegates, raising the risk he could lose out in a contested convention, they said they plan to do all they can to exert pressure on party leaders to prevent someone else getting the nomination.

Several Trump supporters suggested that tensions could escalate if the party was seen as trying to deny Trump the nomination despite his commanding lead in delegates won in primary contests.

"The plan either way is send a message to the Republican establishment to respect our votes," said Ralph King, a member of the Cleveland Tea Party. "If the party tries to parachute in a white knight to steal the nomination, it's not going to end well."

. . .

The Cleveland Division of Police also has a security plan in place as it does for all major events of this kind, a spokeswoman said in an email, without providing further details.

. . .

Pro-Trump groups planning a presence in Cleveland include some Tea Party-affiliated organizations, a new group called Stop The Steal led by Trump ally Roger Stone, Citizens for Trump, and the Truckers for Trump group.

King, a veteran of Tea Party rallies, is coordinating with other groups and local police to obtain permits for marches and protests during the convention, and to hold a major rally in downtown Cleveland that will then march on the convention site.

"STOP THE STEAL"

Read more here.

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Party planner

art credit: www.freerepublic.com

GOPe to “We The People” Part 2: 

Drop Dead

(Part 1 is here). 

TheWashington Examiner (probably the most user-UNfriendly website) reports that RNC Chairman Reince Priebus told pro-Cruz Charlie Sykes on WTMJ 620 Radio Tuesday that “the party” is choosing the nominee:

Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus cautioned supporters of Donald Trump who vocally disapprove of the GOP's delegate allocation and selection process.

"By the way, this is a nomination for the Republican Party," Priebus told 620 WTMJ in Wisconsin. "If you don't like the party, then sit down. The party is choosing a nominee."

Priebus said he does not think Trump will run as a third-party candidate, and added that he expects all remaining Republican candidates to support the party's nominee.

As far as the Republican Party elite are concerned, your vote does not count.

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Establishment candidates galore

cartoon credit: thecomicnews.com

Sundance reported:

Kasich won Ohio; therefore he has to stay in. 

Why?

Because if Kasich dropped out according to Ohio election law all of his 66 delegates become bound to the second place finisher, Donald Trump.

John Kasich cannot exit the race without helping Donald Trump.  Senator Ted Cruz knows this.  Senator Ted Cruz does not want Governor John Kasich to leave the race because of it. Yet Ted Cruz goes on TV demanding a Kasich exit.

When you accept these fundamental truths, you clearly see, yet again, the GOPe scheme involves Ted Cruz.

It sounds outrageous, but it would seem to be confirmed by a Politico story by Eli Stokols:

GOP elites line up behind Ted Cruz

Establishment is increasingly prepared to lose with Cruz

than hand the party to Trump

Republican elders, desperate to stop Donald Trump, are increasingly convinced they would rather forfeit the White House than hand their party to the divisive Manhattan billionaire.

That’s why the party’s establishment is suddenly rallying behind Ted Cruz, a man they’ve long despised and who has little chance, in the view of many GOP veterans, of defeating Hillary Clinton on Election Day.

Read the rest here.

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GOP elites to Republican voters: Drop Dead

cartoon credit: niftyatheist.com

CNBC reports (h/t Gateway Pundit):

Political parties, not voters, choose their presidential nominees, a Republican convention rules member told CNBC, a day after GOP front-runner Donald Trump rolled up more big primary victories.

“The media has created the perception that the voters choose the nomination. That’s the conflict here,” Curly Haugland, an unbound GOP delegate from North Dakota [and a Republican convention rules member], told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” on Wednesday. He even questioned why primaries and caucuses are held.

Haugland is one of 112 Republican delegates who are not required to cast their support for any one candidate because their states and territories don’t hold primaries or caucuses.

Even with Trump’s huge projected delegate haul in four state primaries Tuesday, the odds are increasing the billionaire businessman may not ultimately get the 1,237 delegates needed to claim the GOP nomination before the convention.

This could lead to a brokered convention, in which unbound delegates, like Haugland, could play a significant swing role on the first ballot to choose a nominee.

Most delegates bound by their state’s primary or caucus results are only committed on the first ballot. If subsequent ballots are needed, virtually all of the delegates can vote any way they want, said Gary Emineth, another unbound delegate from North Dakota.

“It could introduce Paul Ryan, Mitt Romney, or it could be the other candidates that have already been in the race and are now out of the race [such as] Mike Huckabee [or] Rick Santorum. All those people could eventually become candidates on the floor,” Emineth said.

And at Politico we see that (h/t HotGas)

Former Speaker John Boehner said Paul Ryan should be the Republican nominee for president if the party fails to choose a candidate on the first ballot.

"If we don't have a nominee who can win on the first ballot, I'm for none of the above," Boehner said at the Futures Industry Association conference here. "They all had a chance to win. None of them won. So I'm for none of the above. I'm for Paul Ryan to be our nominee."

Wading into the GOP nominating battle for the first time since leaving office last fall, Boehner said that "anybody can be nominated" at the convention in Cleveland this summer.

The GOP establishment / elite (GOPe) couldn’t breathe life into the Jeb! campaign. Then they tried to push Marco Rubio as the Jeb! surrogate and that maneuver failed. Gov. Kasich’s job in the race was to deprive any momentum candidate of the 66 Ohio winner-take-all delegates. Kasich succeeded, but otherwise it is now a two-candidate race. Neither Cruz nor Trump is acceptable to the GOPe. So we are seeing the GOPe preparing to force a brokered convention. And it's now out in the open.

# # #

What's wrong with the GOP?

Art credit: Riehlpolitics.com

Some patriots may want to skip the links to Conservative Treehouse, because the principal blogger, Sundance, has come out in favor of Trump. Having disclosed that, here is the concluding section of a post from yesterday (here), summarizing why some of us are so angry at the GOP. You probably won't agree with every single point, but you will probably agree with most of the issues:  

• Did the GOP secure the border with control of the White House and Congress? NO.

• Did the GOP balance the budget with control of the White House and Congress? NO

• Did the GOP even pass a FY 2016 budget with control of the House and Senate? NO.

• Who gave us a $2.5 Trillion Omnibus Spending Bill in December 2015? The GOP

• Who eliminated, not just raise but eliminated, the debt ceiling? The GOP

• Who gave us the TSA? The GOP

• Who gave us the Patriot Act? The GOP

• Who expanded Medicare to include prescription drug coverage? The GOP

• Who created the precursor of “Common Core” in “Race To the Top”? The GOP

• Who played the race card in Mississippi to re-elect Thad Cochran? The GOP

• Who paid Democrats to vote in the Mississippi primary? The GOP

• Who refused to support Ken Cuccinnelli in Virginia? The GOP

• Who supported Charlie Crist? The GOP

• Who supported Arlen Spector? The GOP

• Who supported Bob Bennett? The GOP

• Who worked against Jim DeMint? The GOP

• Who worked against Rand Paul? The GOP

• Who worked against Ted Cruz? The GOP

• Who worked against Mike Lee? The GOP

• Who worked against Ronald Reagan? The GOP

• Who is working against Donald Trump? The GOP

• Who said “I think we are going to crush [the Tea Party] everywhere.”? The GOP (McConnell)

[See yesterday's CTPP blog if you are not yet registered to vote.]

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GOP campaign financing: Part 1

GOP campaign financing: Part 1 ~ Chris Christie

photo credit: blogs.wsj.com

ConservativeTreehouse concludes that the January GOP debate will narrow the field to six: Trump, Cruz, Rubio, Carson, Bush, and Christie.  As that number is considerably more manageable, we can start to look more closely at the candidates' campaign funding sources. Starting with Christie, from the factivist blog, a September 2014 New York Times article

featured a story about Chris Christie’s continued refusal to include New Jersey in a regional anti-climate change partnership that New Jersey itself helped found in 2005. The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) is a multi-state entity that seeks to reduce emissions in partner states to mitigate the damage of climate change. New Jersey’s legislature has voted twice for the state to rejoin RGGI, and Christie has vetoed that legislation both times – despite evidence that leaving the partnership has cost New Jersey more than $100 million.

Why?

Because the Big Money donors like the Koch Brothers that bankrolled his efforts – and he hopes will bankroll his presidential campaign – wanted him to.

Since then, OpenSecrets  identifies the America Leads PAC as Christie’s biggest source of funds, over $11 million to date. What is the America Leads PAC?

Open Secrets has a list of all the major PACS here. Most of the names sound generic or innocuous, so one has to dig a bit more. Fortunately, several major bloggers have been doing just that, and here’s what we know from a Politico blog about America Leads PAC: 

Donors to the America Leads PAC, which raised $11 million,  were disclosed for the first time Friday. Among them were several billionaires and several companies with million of dollars in state contracts would have been barred from giving to Christie’s gubernatorial campaigns. 

Winecup-Gamble Inc., a Nevada ranch owned by former Reebok CEO Paul Fireman, gave the group $1 million. Fireman, who lives outside Boston, plans a massive, $4.6 billion casino in Jersey City if state voters approve a constitutional amendment to allow gambling outside of Atlantic City. 

Christie said in May that he favors letting voters decide whether to allow gambling outside of Atlantic City, after he had previously opposed allowing it. Fireman, who with his family has begun making donations to many New Jersey candidates, made the donation to America Leads on June 25.

Las Vegas casino mogul Stephen Wynn, who is not currently involved in the New Jersey gambling industry, gave $25,000.

Hedge fund manager Steve Cohen and his wife Alexandra were the super PAC's biggest backers, giving a combined $2 million.

Another major donor was Quicken Loans chairman Daniel Gilbert, who gave $750,000.

Home Depot founder Ken Langone, who has been one of Christie’s biggest backers, gave $250,000, and Anheuser-Busch heir August Busch gave $100,000.

Hewlett-Packard CEO Meg Whitman chipped in $100,000. So did Christie’s brother Todd.

Wrestling mogul Linda McMahon, who ran twice for the U.S. Senate in Connecticut, donated $250,000.

George Harms Construction, which in 2014 had more than $100 million in contracts with several state agencies, gave $25,000. Ferreira Construction, which made more than $34 million from the New Jersey Turnpike Authority in 2014, gave $100,000.

Public Service Enterprise Group, which as a regulated utility also would have been barred from giving to Christie’s gubernatorial campaign, gave $250,000.

The link to the FEC source, hyperlinked above, is here. 

Christie has almost no chance of becoming the presidential candidate. According to Conservative Treehouse, his role in the primary campaign is the same as the many of the remaining candidates in the GOPe field (such as Fiorina, Huckabee, Kasich, Rubio) each of whose role is to split GOP primary votes in particular states to lead to a Jeb! nomination.

To be continued…

Where’s the 2016 budget?

One trillion dollars in $100 bills on a football field with a 747 in the back.

Credit: Demonocracy

The U.S. government has not passed a budget since Pres. George W left office. Yet today, the GOP holds majorities in both the House and Senate. From Conservative Treehouse:

The fiscal year starts next week. Where’s the 2016 budget?

Boehner and McConnell control both houses. Where’s the budget?

It’s worse than you think. Read the whole thing here.

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