Merry Christmas from the White House

 Via the CitizenFreePress blog:

(click to embiggen)

Melania Trump

@FLOTUS

US government account

Merry Christmas from President Donald J. Trump and First Lady Melania Trump. @realDonaldTrump & @FLOTUS are seen December 10, in their official 2020 Christmas portrait, on the Grand staircase of the White House in Washington, D.C. (Official White House Photo by Andrea Hanks)

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Presidential debate on CBS tonight at 9pm

 

The final debate before Election Day is scheduled for this evening, October 22 at 9pm.  You can tune into CBS.  You can go to Conservative Treehouse for livestream links to CNN and to RSBN (UPDATED link here.)  (Our household always goes to Right Side Broadcast News just to show support for their efforts.)  Or, if you have had it with these debates, you can let Mr. Vodkapundit, a/k/a Stephen Green watch it for you and follow his live drunkblogging of the event here  (UPDATED link here). 

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Trump to hold largest virtual rally on Friday, Oct 9

 

President Donald Trump will hold the “largest virtual rally” on Rush Limbaugh’s radio program on Friday, October 9. From Rush Limbaugh’s website:

Number one. How incredible was Vice President Pence last night? He was stand-up-and-cheer outstanding. It was just… it was great.

And number two. I’m thrilled to announce that our commander-in-chief, President Donald Trump, will be right here tomorrow hosting the largest virtual rally in radio history. Be sure to tune in. You don’t want to miss this. It will be special. And I am really looking forward to it.

Now, later today, folks, we’re gonna be posting more details on the Rush Limbaugh website and on the Rush Limbaugh Facebook page. So keep a sharp eye out there. And you know what? There’s gonna be a special in-box set up for you to send your questions for President Trump. So be thinking of things you’d like to ask him today, and then get ready for the largest virtual rally in radio history tomorrow.

Oh — and, folks, thank you again for all of your continued prayers. I am so moved by your support. You know that I know and believe that they work. And I cannot tell you how appreciative my family and I are for all of you. Thank you, again, very much. 

Greater Cleveland area listeners can tune in on Friday at noon to WTAM Radio 1100.

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The data is in — stop the panic and end the total isolation

Literally Thousands of Doctors and Scientists 

Have Come Out Against Fauci’s Lockdowns 

Including a Nobel Prize-Winning Biophysicist. 

The Media Just Doesn’t Want You to Know

The headline says it all, but the report by Michael Thau at Red State starts off:

As RedState’s very own Sister Toldjah reported earlier today, the doubts President Trump recently expressed about the wisdom of Dr. Fauci’s advice on COVID-19 have elicited a chorus of smug accusation from the usual suspects that he’s “ignoring the experts.”

Sister Toldjah pointed out that it’s hard to know what their complaint even means given how often Fauci and other media-anointed authorities have done total 180s.

But, even putting aside how their advice seems to change with the political winds, the idea that there’s some scientific consensus in favor of the extreme measures inflicted on us in response to COVID-19 couldn’t be further from the truth.

Though you don’t hear their perspectives on CNN, countless scientists and doctors have tried to warn us not only that COVID-19 isn’t nearly as deadly as we’ve been led to believe; they’re also certain that the real threat to public health we’re facing is from the lockdowns.

Full report is here.

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Is Gov. Mike DeWine a pessimist?

photo credit: businessinsider.com

President Trump has been suggesting that the various restrictions recommended to slow the spread of the coronavirus could be lifted as early as Easter (April 12).  He has referenced the economic health of the US, and the other day I quoted Mike Rowe:

. . .we’re treating a virus that MIGHT have devastating consequences, in a way that will GUARANTEE devastating consequences.

. . .

. . . I also know that Safety First is no way to live indefinitely. We are at base, a Safety Third nation. We can’t remain in the air raid shelter indefinitely – if we do, they’ll be no country left, when we finally emerge.

In response to Trump’s optimism and intention to balance the health of people with the financial health (and security) of the country, the markets started to rebound. 

Cleveland.com reported yesterday:

Gov. Mike DeWine also insisted he wasn’t that far apart from President Donald Trump on their approach to the coronavirus. Trump wants America to get back to business around Easter, about two weeks from now. 

But now The Hill reports that 

Democratic and Republican governors, as well as local officials, are pushing back against President Trump’s signals that he wants to restart the economy by Easter, warning that ending strict social distancing practices could put millions of lives at risk.

Governors have ordered residents to practice those distancing procedures, to varying degrees. Many have ordered residents to stay at home, ordered nonessential businesses closed and banned gatherings of all but a few people.

And several say they will keep those orders in place even if Trump rolls back the few national restrictions he has put in place.

Among those governors is Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine:

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R) said “people are dying and people don’t feel safe,” therefore the economy would not come back.

“We have to #FlattenTheCurve so that when the wave comes, it’s not as big as it would have been and we are prepared for it. We are going to get our economy back, but we have to get through it, protect as many lives as we can, and then move forward. I’m looking forward to that day, but it’s not here yet,” DeWine tweeted.

Meantime, we’ve been to the grocery store, been patronizing our local bistros by ordering take-out, comparing notes with family and friends, etc.  So far, everyone we’ve talked to is looking forward to getting back to normal.  They're concerned but not scared.  We’re optimistic.

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Panic over a cold?

cartoon credit: depositphotos.com

Mike Konrad at American Thinker asks some good questions:

Is Western civilization going to collapse over a cold?

. . .

Is COVID-19 a bit worse than most coronavirus strains?  Maybe so.  But it looks to still be a variation on a cold.

The real question is, why is the world panicking so?

With the common flu killing 18,000 annually, why are we panicking over these much smaller numbers from the coronavirus?  Worse yet, why is this panic worldwide?

I may be wrong, but this global panic seems to have been engineered.  For a number of reasons:

A) To get rid of Trump

... Democrats 'hoping' to 'destroy Trump and the economy' as coronavirus spreads

B) To get rid of cash

. . . Fungible currency is one of the last arenas of personal autonomy.

. . .

C) To get people used to infringements on civil liberties

. . .

And a frightening precedent will have been set up to enforce totalitarian measures for the slightest of reasons — in this case, a common cold with an attitude.

If this is not a global conspiracy, it sure looks like a dress rehearsal for a global dictatorship. 

The complete article is here.

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Trump rally, Clarence Thomas documentary

image credit: ust-global 

Two media notes. One, President Trump is holding a rally in North Carolina this evening, and it may be fun to see his takes on the shrinking field of Democratic party primary candidates, and his update on the Coronavirus (or Corona Flu, as Don Surber suggests).  As usual, Sundance has the livestream links, including to Right Side Broadcasting.  Click here.

Two, the documentary on Clarence Thomas is scheduled to run at Tower City Cinemas, possibly starting on March 6 (this Friday).  No showtimes have been posted, but the film is now listed as an upcoming attraction.  Will update as appropriate.

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President Trump at CPAC - just one minute

President Trump gave a speech at CPAC this afternoon.  Great speech, but here's the one-minute clip that is going viral.  Too funny.

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What's happening to the Democratic Party

Lifezette has a perceptive analysis by the Political Insider Staff on the crisis in the Democratic party.  Here are the opening paragraphs of “Democrats never thought letting ‘comrade Bernie’ in their camp would destroy their party”:

I really do have faith in the American people to make the right choice in 2020, but let me make this point: If Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) is the nominee for the Democrats, it won’t be super easy for President Donald Trump.

The popularity of these leftists is pretty much all propaganda. They are all running on abortion, giving free stuff to people who are illegally here, and constantly telling white folks that you’re the problem with America. If anyone of these Democrats wins the presidency, it will be because of cheating.

The situation before us: we noticed how the Democratic leadership has put up with the commie crazies because they pulled in some votes with so many elections being very close; it made the difference between victory and loss. What the heads of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) never considered is that these idiots would take over that party. This is a perfect fulfillment of the old proverb about letting the camel stick its nose inside the tent.

Let me make this one point clear: If Bernie wins the presidency, he will attempt to burn down the United States.

. . .

Read the rest here.  Also, I‘m reading more about potential cheating, voter fraud, and efforts to minimize opportunities to tamper with votes, and I hope to post some of the reports over the weekend.

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Dem Primary Debate recap

photo via Politipage

Last night, Tyler O’Neil filled in for Mr. Vodkapundit’s drunk-blogging gig at PJ Media. Today, he posted a good wrap-up. Here’s his final take-away:

Despite these and other attacks, Bernie Sanders held his own. As The Wall Street Journal's Kimberley Strassel noted, Bernie got “the real pass” on authoritarianism. “Authoritarianism is part and parcel of all true socialist movements. You can't support socialism and oppose authoritarians. They are the same,” she explained.

. . .

This is spot on. Sanders may insist his would be a smiley-face brand of socialism, but when push comes to shove, how will he react? A Heritage Foundation study found that taxing the rich at 100 percent would still fall trillions short of Medicare for All and the Green New Deal. Sanders has criticized the idea of having 18-23 different deodorant options, but that is exactly the point: a free-market consumer culture allows for a wide range of choices that allow for competition and niche tastes. A one-size-fits-all mentality cuts against the prosperity Americans prize, and socialist governments historically became authoritarian because not everyone went along.

Liberty and prosperity are not the norm in human history — poverty and tyranny are, and the bloody history of the 20th century shows that socialism is a recipe for returning to that norm.

I sincerely hope Americans understand that and have the good sense to reject Bernie Sanders in November if he does indeed go on to win the Democratic nomination. While many think the clear contrast between Trump and Sanders would help the GOP, a socialist major-party nominee still represents a serious threat and a kind of belated victory for the Soviets in the Cold War.

Yet, as of now, conventional wisdom has it that Bernie would be the easiest candidate for Trump to beat.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) put it well. "Every minute that goes by [Bernie Sanders] gets stronger. If you believe Bernie is bad for Democratic hopes and dreams in 2020 this is a pathetic effort to take him down. Biggest winner so far in [the Democratic debate] — President [Donald Trump]!"

Full recap is here.

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Amnesty: here we go again

This is an Action Alert.  Following Mick Mulvaney’s remarks on immigration (see below), NumbersUSA issued the following:

Republican Senators are hoping to take up an amnesty bill passed by the House last December that also expands guest worker programs; White House says it’s “listening” to these proposals.

News reports this week brought attention to a push in Congress to pass an amnesty for illegal aliens working in the agricultural industry, which would in effect create an indentured servitude program, allowing illegal aliens to gain green cards in return for a period of service working an ag-related job.

According to a story in Politico by Anita Kumar on Wednesday, the White House “has been in talks with Senators” hoping to convince the President to back amnesty legislation.

Last December, the House passed the mis-titled Farm Workforce Modernization Act, introduced by Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.).

You will find the NumbersUSA fact sheet for the bill here. And Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, wrote up his take at National Review (“Farming Like It’s 1699.”)

In the Senate, Republicans Lindsay Graham (S.C.) and Thom Tillis (N.C.) are leading efforts in that chamber to pass legislation along the lines of Rep. Lofgren’s bill, with indications the Senators would like to expand guest worker programs for other industries. The senior Senator from South Carolina is well-deserving of his nickname “Grahamnesty,” though, to his credit, he has always been upfront about his aims to provide U.S. employers with a continual flow of low-wage labor from abroad. Tillis has never had Graham’s national visibility, but he, too, has been a reliable advocate for amnesty and expanded guest worker programs.

Rep. Chip Roy (R-Tex.), who has emerged in the House as a strong voice for enforcement, sent a letter to Senator Graham on Tuesday:

I write to urge that any immigration reform measures undertaken in the Senate, for Agriculture workers or otherwise, focus expressly and solely on actual and desperately needed immigration reform. There should be no amnesty considered as we should be squarely focused on re-establishing actual operational control of our border, which we currently do not have. – - Rep. Chip Roy

Kumar points out that amnesty and expanded guest worker programs go against pledges made by President Trump on the 2016 campaign trial, and reiterated after he took office. She also wrote that:

A White House official confirmed the ongoing negotiations on the guest worker proposal and said the effort is an attempt to generate action on a smaller immigration proposal after a larger one stalled and won few adherents.

“We’ve also been listening to stakeholders,” the official said. “We’ve also developed points of view on what the temporary system should look like.”

Journalists have written a lot about how the Trump Administration wants to decrease immigration, and some have even claimed the administration has already achieved this end, often conflating legal admissions with illegal entries. It remains an open question whether the President truly supports that goal.

While he endorsed the RAISE Act in 2017, President Trump more recently said that America “needs workers” and he would like to see “the largest numbers ever” of legal immigrants.

The President isn’t always precise in his language, and he must be given credit for steps taken to secure the border, though he has not pressured Congress to pass mandatory E-Verify. However, just this week Acting White House Chief of State Mick Mulvaney was quoted as saying this:

“We are desperate – desperate – for more people….We are running out of people to fuel the economic growth that we’ve had in our nation over the last four years. We need more immigrants.”

Wages are finally started to rise for workers at the lower end of the pay-scale. It is for this reason, and not because of any labor shortages, that employers are now “desperate” for immigration increases.

Mr. Mulvaney referenced “immigrants,” not “legal immigrants. NumbersUSA recommends that citizens

Take action: Urge President Trump to Abandon Amnesty and Guest Worker Expansion Plans!

White House comment line: 202-456-1111

Switchboard: 202-456-1414

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Mini-Mike Bloomberg’s billboard

Apparently, this is Democrat candidate Mini-Mike Bloomberg’s idea of a persuasive campaign billboard (Team Bloomberg image via Conservative Treehouse):

More billboards, many of them memes-for-fun, at the link here.

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Presidents' Day weekend video (Air Force One at Daytona 500)

Video via YouTube / Fox News (less than 2 minutes)

Via Breitbart:

President Donald Trump thrilled NASCAR fans on Sunday, arriving to the Daytona 500 race in dramatic fashion with an Air Force One flyby ahead of the race.

. . .

Air Force One, carrying President @realDonaldTrump, has arrived in Daytona, where he will serve as Grand Marshal for today’s race.

. . .

Race fans cheered and shouted four more years as the president and first lady arrived at 2:50 p.m.

Even if you are not a race car fan, the video of Air Force One flying over the stands at 800 feet before landing is pretty cool.  (More videos at Breitbart here.)

Happy Presidents’ Day weekend!

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State of the Union preview

photo credit: Issues and Insights

The Editorial Board at Issues and Insights previews tonight’s State of the Union address:

State of the Union addresses are tedious, pointless, and quite often irksome. But this year’s promises to be none of that. President Donald Trump is going to do what no U.S. president has ever had to do before: He will denounce socialism in America.

. . .

Will Trump use strong words rather than watered-down political language to remind America of socialism’s gulags, inherent violence, and forced conformity; of planned economies’ abuse of liberty, smothering bureaucratic traps, and the oppression of the many through the power of a few?

It’s not his style to go soft. So it’s likely the country is going to hear what it needs to.

Full editorial is here.

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Dilbert watches the impeachment hearings . . .

…so you don’t have to. Scott Adams’s (Dilbert creator) tweet via Lifezette:

“If you can’t watch the Democrats’ impeachment argument, I summarize them here: Blah, blah, muh documents, watch this hoax video, blah, blah, muh documents.”

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President Trump is a threat?

It’s the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday weekend, so I was looking for some essays and think-pieces that might be of interest to Tea Party readers.  One that I found is J. B. Shurk’s somewhat wider perspective of President Trump, as published at American Thinker (and if you dislike President Trump, you still may find his perspectives interesting). The title: “What Do Democrats Fear in Donald Trump? Greatness.”  Here’s a sample:

Consider how many powerful ideas Donald Trump has cast into the national consciousness.  He has exposed both major parties as socialist globalist cults more concerned with government health care and foreign nation-building than a policy for American freedom.  He has exposed how free trade can never be free when based on slave labor.  He has exposed how the silent destruction of towns across the Midwest came not from China's comparative advantage, but from American companies' use of slavery by proxy.  He has redirected investment away from Wall Street and toward Main Street for the first time in over thirty years and has unleashed three decades' worth of pent up entrepreneurial energy in the very towns long deemed dead.  He has questioned how the federal government can have any legitimacy if it fails at enforcing its very own immigration laws.  

Not one Nobel laureate imagined this American renaissance of GDP and stock market surge, record-low unemployment, wage growth, and low inflation in one bubbling cauldron.  It took a change agent.  Not one foreign policy mandarin suggested unleashing the entrepreneurial spirit of the American oil man in order to destroy our enemies' power over us permanently.  It took a change agent.  Not one State Department official questioned why the United States was still subsidizing Europe's generous socialist welfare system seventy years after WWII.  It took a change agent.  Nobody wondered why we were enriching China at our own expense and preparing for a world where a communist dictator would lead.  It took Donald Trump.

Without worry or apology, Donald Trump stands before the world with a giant mirror, and the world does not like what it sees.  

. . .

What his fiercest adversaries [such as James Carville] are only now realizing is that Trump has shifted the trajectory of history permanently. 

Read the full article here.

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Today's feel-good (short) video

photo via Breitbart

Via DC Whispers:

AWESOME.

This President and First Lady are loved and appreciated by millions despite the 24/7 lunacy that is the far-left media and Democrat Party.

What a moment – one that you can clearly see meant a great deal to the both of them.

Click here for the blog and the video (30 seconds).

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The menorah and “lights” in 2019

image credit: www:turbosquid.com

Tea Party readers who are not Jewish may not know the symbolism of the menorah. Rabbi Michael Barclay published a thoughtful article about “The Most Powerful Moments of Light in 2019” – one of many retrospectives on the year 2019, and he starts off:

On Hannukah, we are commanded to light a Hannukah menorah (a 9-branched candelabra [sometimes with 7-branches) and place it in our windows as a symbol of our willingness to combat evil…with each candle enlightening the dark in the world. In 2019, there has been a lot of darkness, but there have also been “candles” in the dark that have brought more light into all of our worlds. In honor of Hannukah (and the light of Christmas as well) it is good to remember some of these candles that have brought more light into this past year.

The menorah has eight specific candles and a “shamash," an all-important “helper" candle that lights each of the other lights. Below, in no particular order, are some of the powerful moments of light of 2019

•      There can be no doubt that the shamash of 2019 has been President Trump. Without the shamash helper, none of the candles could be lit. It is the spark from which each candle comes. His actions have sparked lights around the world to combat the evil and darkness of “the swamp" that has been enveloping the nation over the last number of years. Despite the many efforts to snuff out this candle, his persistence and willingness to fight the darkness has demonstrated what dedication really means.

Eight other candles of light in the darkness of 2019, in no particular order, include [and please click here to read his explanations as to why these “lights” have been chosen]

• Prager University's fight for freedom of speech. 
• The executive order regarding Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.
• The election of Boris Johnson.
• Congressmen Nunes, Collins, Jordan, Stefanik, and the rest of the Republican members of the House Committees on Intelligence and Justice.
• Joe Biden.
• Kanye West.
• Father Robert Morey. 
• The American people.

. . .

May each of us celebrate Hannukah, Christmas, and all holidays of light in a way that allows the glow of our souls to enlighten the world…creating true peace and joy.

Read the full article here. 

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President Trump signed bad spending bills

image credit: business insider.com

Just before Christmas, The Swamp Creatures passed more gazillion dollar spending bills and then left town. And unfortunately, President Trump signed them. Roll Call has the details here.

Here are related tweets via Tucker Carlson and his guest Ned Ryun:

Tucker Carlson & @NedRyun Slamming America Last Spending Bill Passed by the Swamp Before Christmas

Ned Ryun: "We elected @realdonaldtrump to veto these things, not to sign them. It's immoral to continue using the American taxpayer as an ATM for the ruling class."

Agree.  It is the first major black mark, IMHO, on President Trump’s report card.  In addition, some amnesty provisions were included in some of these spending bills. See here and here. 

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Ned Ryun on “Conservatism Inc.”

Ned Ryun is a columnist and guest on TV news – and I’ve become a fan. I am posting an extract of his recent column at American Greatness, as it’s another skeptical look at “conservative” organizations that probably come looking for contributions from you by mail or email:

It’s about time we had a conversation about the racket in D.C., though it’s probably not the one that springs first to mind. I’m talking about Conservatism Inc.—that ecosystem of mostly worthless and ineffective think tanks and conservative organizations that are part and parcel of the swamp. They came riding into town, some decades ago, all gung-ho about breaking up the administrative state and restoring constitutional government and now, lo and behold, discovered that the swamp could start to feel like a warm, soothing hot tub.

By any metric with which you could measure effectiveness (simply existing doesn’t count) can anyone really tell you why Conservatism, Inc. even exists? A back of the napkin estimate shows that every year, hundreds and hundreds of millions fund these entities, but to what end?

Certainly not to be effective. Over the last 30-40 years, in the supposed heyday of the conservative movement, the size of government has exploded; our national debt has risen from roughly $1 trillion to nearly $23 trillion.

These conservative organizations likewise have grown from relatively grassroots-type groups with budgets of a few million dollars to massive entities, like the Heritage Foundation, with annual budgets approaching $100 million a year. They build swanky office buildings with marble lined bathrooms, employ French chefs, give themselves expense budgets, including even personal drivers, and generally live very comfortable lives, and then sell BS lines to their donors about how they’re changing the world, saving America, and blah blah blah.

. . .

Why do we allow people like the Kochs and the Singers of the world to be identified with conservatism or the GOP? Their bastardized version of capitalism and the free market could very well be the undoing of the party and the movement.

How have we come to this point? Greed is one explanation, with people willing to pimp themselves out and give a veneer of “conservative respectability” to causes and ideas that have almost nothing to do with conservatism.

There are many reasons for how we got here, but the great irony of it all is this: the best hope we’ve had in a generation to give ourselves a chance, Donald J. Trump, didn’t come out of the ecosystem of Conservatism, Inc. So beyond the worthless, corrupt behavior of it, will someone please explain to me why it still exists? Because if it merely exists to pimp out the ideas of Big Tech and pharma and vulture capitalists, the entire thing should be burned to the ground.

The column is here. (Our household contributes to Judicial Watch.)

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