Folks this action should disturb you greatly. We are told backing up our personal information to “the cloud” is smart, secure and safe; except for Google which admits that it scans your personal data so they can target you with advertisements but then assures us that nobody human really reads your stuff.
Anyway, this news story surfaces today that Apple is giving away private iCloud passwords just to be nice to people that Tim Cook agrees with politically.
Three years after Apple refused to give the federal government access to the devices used by the San Bernadino terrorists who killed and injured dozens in a mass shooting event, the company has given the office of the Special Counsel complete access to Trump advisor Roger Stone’s iCloud account, reports Apple Insider. According to the Washington Post, Apple objected to giving the federal government backdoor access to the shooters iPhones, claiming it would “set a dangerous precedent.”
Fast forward to present, and we see that Apple no longer seems to have the same privacy concerns it once did in 2015. Without any fight, they simply turned over Roger Stone’s iCloud passwords and God knows what else, because Orange Man Bad. The fact that Apple views a political persecution less of a hill to die on than protecting the rights of terrorists who killed and maimed dozens of Americans is quite telling.
You may not like Roger Stone and you may not agree with him. However, he has been charged with non-violent process crimes…
Folks, our Republic is in trouble. On one hand Apple is willing to turn your data over to the government because your political party is different than their CEO but simultaneously they defend the privacy rights of terrorists and murderers that killed American citizens in cold blood. What’s going on?
If you thought Facebook and Google were the only tech companies that didn’t care about your privacy you might want to re-evaluate that idea.
Apple is living off the legacy of Steve Jobs, Steve is dead and whatever goodwill he may have had died with him. The company that he created is emerging from his shadow and it a quite a different and inferior thing.
Final Thought
If Mr. Stone is using iCloud then presumably he is using Apple’s iPhone. Did Apple give Mueller all their tracking data and telephone logs on him as well? FYI — phone manufacturers and app developers can use the GPS of your smartphone to track all your movements and use algorithms to develop information about your daily routine. This data is frequently monetized.
FAANG is Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix, Google
Tim Cook and the boys in Silicon Valley know way more about American citizens than J. Edgar Hoover ever did and on an unimaginable scale. Liberals are OK with Cook et al. but not Hoover? Makes you wonder…
Given: Leftists believe that Evolution is true; therefore, the world is governed by “survival of the fittest.” Corollary: Some humans are superior to others.
Thus, those that think they are fit (Leftist Elites) have the right to decide what is best for everyone else.
Three news stories in the last week indicate the stronghold that Eugenics has in the United States.
Before getting into the stories, it would be worthwhile to define eugenics for those of you with public school or inferior private school educations.
Eugenics is“The science of improving a population by controlled breeding to increase the occurrence of desirable heritable characteristics.”
Given Darwin’s belief is almost universally accepted as true—except for those of us that are Orthodox Christians—it should be no surprise that folks believe that some men are superior to others. The sad part is that people that should know better have fallen for this anti-biblical lie from hell. This has been a purposeful deception.
Topic #1 Black Folks Support Genocide Of Their Own Race
A new Barna Group poll commissioned by the pro-life movie “Unplanned” found that blacks support tax subsidies for abortion giant Planned Parenthood more than any other group. The irony, the survey sponsor said, is that Planned Parenthood founder Margaret Sanger was an advocate of eugenics and promoted birth control among black communities. Overall, 41 percent favored tax subsidies, and 39 percent oppose them. But among blacks, 53 percent favor the subsidies, and only 20 percent oppose them.
The history of Sanger and her advocacy for birth control in black communities is well-documented. HUD Secretary Dr. Ben Carson has charged Sanger “was trying to eliminate black people. … That was the whole purpose of it.” Arina Grossu of the Center for Human Dignity in Washington, said Sanger “shaped the eugenics movement in America and beyond in the 1930s and 1940s.” “Her views and those of her peers in the movement contributed to compulsory sterilization laws in 30 U.S. states that resulted in more than 60,000 sterilizations of vulnerable people, including people she considered ‘feeble-minded,’ ‘idiots’ and ‘morons,’” Grossu found. “She even presented at a Ku Klux Klan rally in 1926 in Silver Lake, N.J. She recounted this event in her autobiography: ‘I accepted an invitation to talk to the women’s branch of the Ku Klux Klan. … I saw through the door dim figures parading with banners and illuminated crosses. … I was escorted to the platform, was introduced, and began to speak. … In the end, through simple illustrations I believed I had accomplished my purpose.’” Sanger once said, “The main objects of the Population Congress would be to apply a stern and rigid policy of sterilization and segregation to that grade of population whose progeny is tainted, or whose inheritance is such that objectionable traits may be transmitted to offspring[;] to give certain dysgenic groups in our population their choice of segregation or sterilization.” Grossu noted that even now, nearly 80 percent of Planned Parenthood’s surgical abortion facilities are located within walking distance of black or Hispanic communities. And she pointed to figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from 2007 to 2010 showing that more than one third of all abortions destroyed unborn black babies. That’s even though black Americans make up only 13 percent of the population.
In early January 2018, along some of the main thoroughfares in Greater Cleveland, billboards that espoused the “benefits” of abortion began popping up. The signs, placed by Ohio’s largest abortion business, Preterm, carried messages such as “Abortion is sacred,” “Abortion is a family value,” “Abortion is safer than childbirth” and “Abortion is a blessing.” It was all part of the group’s “Abortion is” campaign to reduce abortion stigma. The billboards stood in some of Cleveland’s poorest neighborhoods, their bold and ironic claims plainly contradicting Scriptural teaching about the inherent value of human beings made in God’s image (Genesis 1:27; Psalm 139:13-15). These billboards caught the attention of Franklin Graham. He posted on Facebook, Jan. 4, 2018: “God says, ‘Woe to those who call evil good and good evil.’ That’s exactly what an abortion business in Ohio is doing. … These are all lies. Here’s a billboard for them—‘Abortion is evil, because it’s murder.’ Pray that America will wake up to the tragedy of children being killed through abortion every day in this nation.” Long before the campaign launched, black pro-life groups and civil rights leaders had been exposing the chilling aspect of such morbid propaganda efforts: The abortion industry disproportionately targets African-Americans. In fact, many black pro-life leaders have a bold term for it: black genocide.
Nationally, some 36 percent of abortions are performed on African-American women, CDC figures show, while the female population is only 13 percent black. In New York City, the abortion rate is 3.7 times higher among black mothers than white mothers. Bomberger’s first billboard campaign featured 60 signs in the Atlanta area in 2012 bearing the message “Black Children Are an Endangered Species.” He says he told a New York Times reporter who questioned use of the term genocide, that by United Nations definitions, the practice of abortion in the black community meets four of the U.N.’s five conditions for genocide. Those conditions are: “Killing members of the group; causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; [and] forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.” Of those, only the last isn’t applicable, Bomberger says. “I don’t know how else to describe it,” he says. “How do you describe it when in New York City, more black babies are aborted than are born?”
Topic #2 New York Makes Abortion Legal Until Moment of Birth
What I believe with little empirical doubt is that the New York Legislature has just legalized conscious fetal murder on a potentially very large scale, WITHOUT competent medical supervision. The latter point strongly suggests that they don’t want to hear the truth from highly qualified MD’s. This is no longer a theoretical debate. This is legalized genocide.
The measure, which Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo quickly signed into law Tuesday night, was pushed through by Democrats who now control both legislative houses. The Senate passed it 38-24. In the Assembly, it passed by a 92-47 margin. In the face of calls at the federal level to weaken abortion rights, the bill maintains abortions as legal within 24 weeks of the start of a pregnancy – “or at any time when necessary to protect a woman’s life or health.’’ Late-term abortions had previously been authorized under state law if they meant saving the life of a woman.
Please note the weasel word “health” in this quote: “or at any time when necessary to protect a woman’s life or health.’’
Per US Supreme Court case Doe v Bolton, health of mother was defined as mental health which has been interpreted as convenience. If mother doesn’t want baby then she doesn’t have to give birth to the child because this could cause undue mental and/or physical strain on her. This case was released same day as Roe v Wade in 1973 and was coupled with Roe to allow abortion on demand.
The New York bill expands abortion availability.
Physician assistants will be permitted to also carry out surgical abortions and licensed midwives and nurse practitioners can do nonsurgical procedures using medications if they are “acting within his or her lawful scope of practice,” according to the legislation.
Topic #3 Infanticide Is What We Want Now
Virginia Democrat Kathy Tran’s bill would allow abortion even when mother is about to give birth for mental health reasons.
Todd Gilbert, the Republican House majority leader, questioned Tran about the bill during a hearing Monday. He asked Tran if a woman who has physical signs she is about to give birth could request an abortion if a physician said it could impair her “mental health.” “Where it’s obvious that a woman is about to give birth. She has physical signs that she is about to give birth. Would that still be a point at which she could request an abortion if she was so-certified — she’s dilating,” he asked. “Mr. Chairman, that would be … a decision that the doctor, the physician and the woman would make at that point,” Tran replied. “I understand that,” Gilbert replied. “I’m asking if your bill allows that.” Tran replied: “My bill would allow that, yes.”
Going ever further, Virginia Governor, Ralph Northam, while defending Tran’s bill, advocated killing the baby even after birth.
“So in this particular example if a mother is in labor, I can tell you exactly what would happen,” he said. “The infant would be delivered. The infant would be kept comfortable. The infant would be resuscitated if that’s what the mother and the family desired, and then a discussion would ensue between the physicians and the mother.”
Those familiar with so called bioethicist, Peter Singer, would not be surprised at such comments. For decades, Singer has advocated subjecting newborn children to a battery of tests to decide if a child should be declared “human’ otherwise they can be killed up to age two years without any repercussions.
Conclusion
Eugenics is an integral part of the ideology of the Democrat Party. Sadly, many that are the targets of extermination are happy to support those that want to exterminate them. Democrats act on the basis of your skin color not the content of your character. This is the reason they use identity politics. They want to limit and control people. Their promise of security in exchange for yielding liberty is false.
In case you needed a reminder that Jesus isn’t welcome in the Democrat Party besides the fact they want to eliminate God from the oath how is abortion compatible with His words:
“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’” Matthew 25:40
A Belarusian model, who said she had proof that President Trump’s campaign colluded with the Kremlin during the 2016 presidential election, has now backtracked and says she made up the claims. Anastasia Vashukevich, who spent months in a Thai jail last year for organizing sex training seminars, grabbed headlines after saying she has evidence that Russia worked with Trump’s campaign. She asked the U.S. government to secure her freedom from the Thai lockup and grant her political asylum in exchange for recordings in which she said Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska is heard talking about interfering in the U.S. presidential elections. She reportedly worked as an escort, with Deripaska being one of her clients.
Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska
But the model now claims her story was just an effort to attract media attention and save her life while she was detained in Thailand. “I think it saved my life, how can I regret it? If journalists had not come at that time and that story had not come to the newspapers, maybe I would die [be dead by] now,” she told CNN.
This sounds like she heard about Hillary’s fake “Steel Dossier” and just piled-on to save her skin. Is it any surprise that CNN gets mentioned in this story?
Does anybody wonder why this babe was in Thailand? And what is the meaning of “organizing sex training seminars?” Last I heard, Thailand was a prosperous place for human trafficking and prostitution without any help from her. What does this babe with an Instagram account think she has to contribute to “the oldest profession?” How crazy did she have to get to be arrested in Thailand?
Frankly, I think she has the right temperament to be a member of the House of Representatives from the great state of New York. She would have a bright future in the Democrat Party, when the going gets tough blame Trump and Russia. Yeah, she would fit right in.
I was asked to make my predictions for the upcoming State of the Union address by President Trump, and here is what you can expect to hear:
The speech will heavily feature the border wall
The bully pulpit will be used heavily
The shutdown will be a central issue
If you think Trump caved on the wall, you are sadly mistaken and likely still believe Russians intervened in the 2016 election. Trump wants to give the State of the Union because, just like Reagan, he knows what to do when the little red light on the camera is red. He is going to light into the Democrats so bad on this issue, Pelosi’s Botox filled head may explode.
Nancy Pelosi–Guardian of Gridlock
Yep I just said it, he is going to twist the few remaining neurons in her brain into a pretzel and then bake it on live television until done. This will be a spectacle for the entire country to see. He is going to invite every family who had a member killed by an illegal immigrant come to the speech, sit in the gallery and clap in unison every time he mentions the need for a border wall.
MS-13 the poster children for unfettered and open borders
Even better those invited will see first-hand the “lawmakers” who claim to be working for their best interests. Get ready, he is going to quote sitting Democrats who supported the wall in days past, and compare and contrast their statements today. Fasten on your chin straps folks, this game promises to be rougher than the Tom Brady show.
Regarding the bully pulpit, you guys haven’t seen nothing yet. Trump is going to obliterate those even in his own Party. I’ll call this gang the “America Caucus.” This caucus tends to form when a critical mass of vertebrate challenged Republicans are elected. The members of this group tend to be the squishiest we have to offer. Think Graham, Collins, Murkowski, and to replace the departing Flake (no pun intended) Mitt Romney is set to join.
The spirit of John McCain still haunts the hallowed Senate Chambers
Trump is going to go hard after them, he wants his border wall and he wants healthcare done, and he isn’t going to take the embarrassment of his last attempt sitting down. No holds will be barred, and this has the potential to look more like the OK Corral than a traditional State of the Union.
The shutdown will be addressed, but I guarantee the threat of another one is on the table. Trump is going to remind the nation that he made a good faith offer to the Democrats and that his offer was rebuked. He will then remind the country that he isn’t a politician, he is a negotiator and when the Democrats won’t work with him, he will call them out. Sound familiar? The GOP tried this type of obstruction under Obama, it failed. The Democrats will fail here as well. This concept of being against everything Trump is fine on paper, but the voters want more.
The Democrat’s –like the GOP congress before them—have offered no alternative. The shutdown being the best example. The Democrats kept telling Trump to re-open the government without addressing the wall. They missed a key chance to win an issue. What if: Schumer and Pelosi ok $5 billion for the wall, but in exchange asked for $20 billion for infrastructure? Trump likely goes for it, he touted his union support during the 2016 elections. Following such a deal, they both could have gone on the TV circuit and basically said they schooled “the Donald” and got a better deal. Yes a small border wall, but you averted a government shutdown crisis, and got lots of good union jobs coming to towns near you! Democrat leaders might even have thrown the issue at Republicans who voted for the budget saying Trump and the GOP are causing record spending due to their reckless wall demand. Don’t kid yourself, $5 billion isn’t building much of a wall. In contrast they showed the American Public they have no ideas and don’t care to negotiate.
Final word: Trump is going to mutilate your Party by using of the State of the Union and the bully pulpit made available to him. He has found his footing and is going full bore after you now. No one will be spared from his wrath. You will see quite a few Reagan like traits from Trump. I am even willing to bet some Democrats or all walk out in unison as a protest.
Pelosi leads Democrat walkout
Also does Trump even like being President? I ask for this reason; he seems to enjoy campaigning and giving speeches more than his work, and I think that is due to him being a former CEO. He wants to do it his way, not concede a bunch and hope he can claim victory in the end.
Tune in for the SOTU speech, I doubt you will be disappointed.
Since former Starbucks Corp founder Howard Schultz gave a 60 Minutes interview that he was exploring running for president as a centrist independent, the left has been buzzing. Quite a few of my liberal friends agree as they feel this gives their nominee a better chance to defeat tyrannical dictator Donald Trump in 2020. They could not be further from the truth, and I’m going to explain why.
Howard Schultz is not very centrist, he definitely lines up with the left more than the right, especially if you look at the policies put into place by Starbucks during his reign as chair and CEO. But I am not going to discuss his politics, I’m going to take his run at face value and assume he will have moderate tendencies.
First and foremost let’s discuss where Schultz will play best on the ballot: Washington, Oregon, California, New York, New Jersey, likely a handful of New England Area states, maybe the upper Midwest, and possibly Florida. On one hand, yes, Schultz would not have a big effect in quite a few stronghold states for the Democrats: CA, IL, MD, and VT and OR.
However, look a little closer at some other states and if you are a Democrat there is major cause for concern: MI, MN, PA, and WI were barely won by Trump (MI, PA, WI) or barely a Hillary state (MN) if you assume Schultz gets 5% of the vote, Trump wins all 4 easily. VA, NV, ME and NH went to Hillary as well, under my formula, Trump would win them all. A couple other states like CO, Trump would barely lose. I think the Left Coast could get real interesting, a poor or wounded Democrat candidate could see Schultz score bigger percentages, leading to a closer call for Clinton winning. How does this help the Democrat cause at all? Now they have to attack Trump on one flank, while attacking Schultz on the other. It does not help their cause that Schultz is a billionaire like Trump and can self-fund his campaign with loads of cash.
Here is the issue, Schultz guarantees Trump wins re-election. The Left would go bonkers, and it would be all due to Howard Schultz. Please run Howard, do it for your country. People forget what H. Ross Perot did for Republican Presidential prospects; Democrats, now it’s your turn. Heck get Mark “#MeToo” Cuban to run on a separate ticket too, the time is now.
H. Ross Perot–Reform Party candidate. Known as a man that’s all ears.
By the way, here is how Schultz became the head of Starbucks….i guess the right to file suit for anything like ADA violations will continue to run rampant under a Schultz White House if elected, and I thought Trump was the bully with all the nasty lawyers?
“When he was running the coffee house Il Giorna, the owner of Starbucks (which then had only six locations in the Seattle area) approached Schultz to buy the six stores for $3.8 million. Schultz, while trying to raise the money, told his Il Giorna investors about the opportunity. One of those investors, who remains nameless to this day, contacted Starbucks and tried to buy out the coffeehouse without any involvement from Schultz. Schultz met with prominent attorney Bill Gates Sr. (yes, the father of you know who), and told him what had happened. Gates Sr. famously stormed into the office of the attempted buyer and told him that he would make his life hell by providing free legal representation to anyone injured on that man’s premises for the rest of his life, and the unnamed Il Giorna investor backed off.”
Bottom line……the only Schultz less qualified to run for President is Charles Schultz.
Did Trump fail? I’m not so sure. He gets to do the State of the Union speech and once again make his case. He also has the emergency option that he can play. However, I don’t think any of this was his first choice.
Everyone thinks Trump can’t keep anything to himself and he just reacts and throws tantrums on Twitter, but I think that is not the case. I think there is more in play than appears at first glance.
First, he is not being public with the fact that his real problem is the Republicans in the Senate. I think the usual suspects (Lindsey Graham, Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, etc.) were ready to unilaterally surrender to the Democrats. This forced Trump to do a midcourse correction. He can’t throw them under the bus because he needs them to get judicial appointments confirmed.
Second, I think the ball is in Pelosi’s court and if she doesn’t make a counteroffer in the next few weeks, many Democrats will be peeled away to join Republicans and make a deal.
I expect Trump’s SOTU speech will be a Reagan-like address to ask people to call Congress and pressure their representatives to fix the border/immigration issue. I also think we will hear about his extensive list of accomplishments during his first two years. I also expect to hear about rebuilding infrastructure and other campaign promises; expect many proposals that should appeal to people in both parties.
Trump meant what he said when campaigning and the fact that he meant to say it and really believes it mystifies the crap out of the political class because they can’t imagine anybody that is honest with voters ever being elected. Politicians operate by telling voters at home what is they want to hear and then behaving as they will in Washington without ever being accountable for their actions.
Trump wants to unite us, but Washington is ruled by division and that is usually the purpose of the media coverage because controversy—ever if it is contrived— increases viewership and generates more advertising revenue.
Trump is still testing and prodding the new Congress to see what it takes to break the gridlock that everyone assumes will exist for the new two years. He didn’t run for office to preside over a “do nothing” Congress. He has experience working with Democrats in New York City and will eventually be able to work with some in the Congress to further his agenda.
Trump is playing the long game not just taking it one day at a time. What if Trump is playing chess with the Democrats and they are expecting him to play Republican checkers? They may greatly underestimate Trump to their detriment. I really hope so, it would be nice to see us turn this country away from the socialist iceberg.
Folks the Democrats have been talking about this since November of 2016 and the Atlantic publishes this headline today, January 18, 2019! How many new House members campaigned on this issue? Like most of them!
During the election, Nancy Pelosi had no mandate or issue to unite her Party except their visceral hatred of Donald Trump and their promise to get rid of him. Nancy has an impossible job of keeping her folks in line; especially given that many Democrats promised during the campaign to get rid of her. Yeah she’s Speaker now but who on her side of the aisle will be her Brutus and plunge the political knife in her back with a smile on their face?
The article says that Democrats might not wait for the Mueller Report to Impeach Trump. No surprise. They started saying two weeks ago that Mueller doesn’t have a “smoking gun” and the report will end with a whimper and not a bang. In fact his report may never be made public. If Mueller had the goods on Trump we would have had the Mother of all October Surprises but all we got was crickets.
The comments mark a noticeable shift in what had been the standard party line on the possibility of impeachment—that Democrats should wait to act until after Mueller issues his final report. But Attorney General nominee Bill Barr’s refusal to commit to providing Mueller’s findings to Congress and to the public, combined with BuzzFeed’s implication that the president committed a felony while in office, has given Democrats a new sense of urgency—and they won’t necessarily wait to hold Trump accountable…
“Hell hath no fury like a women scorned” but Michael Cohen seems to be coming really close. Every time he opens his mouth he undercuts his own credibility in an effort to say stuff trying to implicate Trump. The bottom line is Trump trusted him and Cohen was not deserving of that trust. Trump believes in delegation to subordinates and Cohen enriched himself off of Trump like a parasite.
Cohen solved things but he made no effort to stay within the lines. The truth is that someone as slimy as Cohen probably fits in well in New York City but that doesn’t play well in the rest of the country. During the campaign, Cohen experienced something new, scrutiny. He couldn’t operate in the dark as Trump’s lawyer. A high profile national campaign was shining the light on his deeds and once exposed, it was clear he had taken advantage of Trump to enrich himself.
Case in point, this article yesterday in the Firewalled Street Journal. (Subscription required to view this article)
In early 2015, a man who runs a small technology company showed up at Trump Tower to collect $50,000 for having helped Michael Cohen, then Donald Trump’s personal lawyer, try to rig online polls in his boss’s favor before the presidential campaign. In his Trump Organization office, Mr., Cohen surprised the man, John Gauger, by giving him both a blue Walmart bag containing between $12,000 and $13,000 in Cash and, randomly, a boxing glove that Mr. Cohen said had been worn by a Brazilian mixed-martial arts fighter, Mr. Gauger said.
John Gauger RedFinch IT
Mr. Gauger said he never got the rest of what he claimed he was owed. But Mr. Cohen in early 2017 still asked for—and received—a $50,000 reimbursement from Mr. Trump and his company for the work by RedFinch, according to a government document and a personal matter. The reimbursement—made on the sole basis of a handwritten note from Mr. Cohen and paid largely out of Mr. Trump’s personal account—demonstrates the level of trust the lawyer once held within the Trump Organization, whose officials arranged the repayment.
…Mr. Cohen said in a tweet that he attempted to have the polls rigged with Mr. Trump’s knowledge.
Rudy Giuliani, a lawyer for Mr. Trump, said of Mr. Cohen’s tweet: “My response will be a cleaned-up version of ‘Bullshit.’”
“Why anyone would believe Michael Cohen at this point is an amazement to me,” Mr. Giuliani said in an interview. “This is not true. The president did not know about this if it happened.” He added: “The real takeaway from your story is, didn’t he steal $37,000?”
In January 2014, Mr. Cohen asked Mr. Gauger to help Mr. Trump score well in a CNBC online poll to identify the country’s top business leaders by writing a computer script to repeatedly vote for him. Mr. Gauger was unable to get Trump into the top 100 candidates. In February 2015, Mr. Trump prepared to enter the presidential race, Mr. Cohen asked him to do the same thing for a Drudge Report poll of potential Republican candidates, Mr. Gauger said. Mr. Trump ranked fifth, with 24,000 votes, or 5% of the total.
To quote the beloved Aaron Park, this was an “epic failure.” Frankly, The Justice Brothers would have done a much better job than Cohen/Gauger plus Trump would have received an endorsed on their blog. This also would have prevented the horrible optic of Aaron and George on the front row of Jeb Bush’s 2015 appearance in Reno.
George and Aaron Park with Jeb Bush on 05-13-2015
As you can see, Cohen is a self-admitted thief and ethically challenged. Why Democrats would start putting all their faith in him shows how desperate that they are. I believe that they will likely impeach Trump just for being alive, the truth notwithstanding. If they unleash this circus, it will be the death of them in 2020.
So when I see a headline about Trump Impeachment, I think so what? Republicans had Clinton dead-to-rights and he skated just like he always has. How will this be any different?
Democrats are blowing a golden opportunity by not working with Trump right now. Within reason, they could ask for whatever they want in exchange for letting Trump have the wall and probably get it. If I was them, I would ask for something Trump promised on the campaign—like maybe infrastructure improvement, which would create many union blue-collar jobs—claim it as their issue, and declare victory. The low information voters would swallow the lie as they always do, and Washington could go back to business as usual. But no, it seems more important to takeout Trump than to get anything fixed.
A decade or so ago, it was fashionable to ask, “What would Jesus do?” Many people would walk around with little bracelets with the initials WWJD on their wrist. Today I would like to point out that the Bible talks about walls too. In fact Jesus himself addressed the issue directly:
“Very truly I tell you Pharisees, anyone who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber. The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger’s voice.” Jesus used this figure of speech, but the Pharisees did not understand what he was telling them. Therefore Jesus said again, “Very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who have come before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep have not listened to them. I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. John 10:1-11 (emphasis added)
This ladies and gents is Trump’s argument for the wall, enter thru the gate and be welcome, hop the fence and you are lawbreakers come to kill American citizens, steal from American taxpayers, and destroy the American way of life.
Please note that the Pharisees (for our purposes substitute Liberals or Democrats) don’t understand what they were being told.
Case in point, I mentioned the stunt the other day when people hopped the wall at Nancy Pelosi’s house and claimed to seek refuge as they were from Guatemala. I said that I thought it was funny and a clever way to illustrate the hypocrisy that a wall is OK from rich Democrats like her but giving the same protection to the American people is immoral?
My coworker, thought it was wrong for anyone to hop the fence around her house but he saw no connection to the border wall dispute. I explained it to him and he still didn’t understand. Ironically, he said they should enter by the gate if they want in. No wonder Jesus said things like, “for those that have ears let them hear.”
Jesus “I am the gate”
The Bible also has much to say about respecting boundaries and property lines and specifically calls it a sin to tamper with such. Also the Bible is very committed to the principle that the foreigner is expected to follow the religious and civil laws of Israel when they are within its borders including honoring the labor and Sabbath laws. In fact this like treatment of citizen and sojourner is part of the Western (Christian) basis for equal protection under the law, not that anyone in a government school would ever acknowledge this fact.
So if Trump is on Jesus’ side, where does that leave Pelosi, Schumer, et al? Why with the liars, murders, and thieves. If you have any doubt just look at their views on abortion. No wonder the Democrats are screaming like demons; they work with them.
I think I speak for the entire rest of the country in extending a hearty thank you to the CRA. Their piss poor performance on election night has only bolstered the ranks of other state’s Republican Party rolls. Sadly, the CRA “leadership” —I guess that is still a thing—likely feels they are doing a mighty fine job. The Republican Party was decimated at every level and the CRA was more than happy to be the ship’s captain. Not a single statewide candidate got over the 40% threshold; keep in mind one of the most liberal politicians ever was on the top of the ballot. Down ballot we did even worse as a party. However, I don’t want to focus on the CAGOP for this blog—we all know they lack any competence—I want to focus on the group that calls itself the “conscious” of the Republican Party.
I used to be a CRA board member, so I am keenly aware of the ins and outs of the CRA. I can tell you as much as they may blame “vote harvesting” or “same day registration” or pick any other excuse, the fault lies with them. Since I know many of them read this blog, I will offer up undebatable concrete examples of their incompetence.
First their opposition to all things Jeff Denham. I will stipulate that Denham is not perfect, but the CRA wanted no part of him and never endorsed him. As a result, he finally lost his seat. Sadly, it’s a seat we will likely never get back. Many in the CRA saw this as a chance to be rid of a congressman whose first vote as a member would be for a Republican speaker! Appears that wasn’t good enough for the CRA!
Look at some of the Orange County based seats…. Several years ago, these seats were all easy victories for the good guys; that was until the CRA started meddling. As a result of their interference, additional seats were lost, again most of these seats were lost for good. Rohrabacher’s seat we can likely win back, but not the others. Hopefully the CRA stays far away from that race since it could be winnable without their meddling. As far as the legislative races, we lost a seat we should have had no issue keeping and lost a few more again due to CRA meddling. All in all, it was a disaster on election night, however I think the CRA spent the night celebrating! I’ll get in to that below.
The biggest issue with the CRA has been their evolution (or should I call it intelligent design?) The CRA used to be the premier volunteer organization in the entire state. We sent forth an army of volunteers and we tipped many races in our favor! We held our elected officials accountable and vowed to hold the other side in contempt! Then something changed, we became a club. We were no different from the CAGOP which we used to view as the moderate machine! We even branded ourselves as a sane version of the Tea Party after they were corrupted and taken over by Republican political consultants—can you say Sal Russo?
What is a top political operator, who owns a multimillion-dollar lobbying firm and has had a hand in many of California’s crucial election campaigns since Ronald Reagan was governor, doing at the head of an anti-establishment grassroots phenomenon like the Tea Party movement? Sal Russo is the brains behind one of the largest and most politically effective groups, the Tea Party Express. The movement exists to end what its followers call “business as usual” – the cosy club of politicians and vested interests in Washington. Yet Russo himself could be said to come from precisely that same cosy club.
Now CRA is just the old guard club. It is the political equivalent to the VFW; just a bunch of old, used-up soldiers sitting around tell war stories of the glory days of their youth. From that time to now, everything is different; I mean everything. I’m glad I left when I did.
Nowadays, CRA meetings consist of the club President speaking for hours at a time about mindless drivel like: lower government, less spending, tax cuts, and how over forty years ago Ronald Reagan called us the conscious of the Party. Heck, most voting age people in California weren’t even born when “The Gipper” uttered those words. Undeterred, CRA folks—like a cult using its mantra to focus power— say that conscious thing at every meeting. These days, they are never able to get a decent speaker and they have run off most of their membership. Heck you could put everyone attending my old CRA chapter’s month meeting in a corner booth at Denny’s and still have room for visitors.
You see, when you join the CRA you must be either completely nuts or very weak kneed; I’ll discuss the latter in a minute. On the topic of being completely nuts I mean that you are a one issue person who could care less about any other issue. I witnessed firsthand this group ignore a tax hike measure in Sacramento county and instead put all their effort behind an unwinnable school board race…by the way the tax failed by about one hundred votes, no thanks to the “conscious” of the Party which sat it out.
Now I will discuss the values and beliefs of this group. I call it “beliefs you can change in” because on paper, they have a plethora of issues; however, they never take a stand on them in some cycles and in others they act as if they picked that very issue to die on. For a group that claims to be based on principles, they are an inconsistent lot. Abortion tends to be a mainstay issue with these guys, even though there is little chance that Roe v Wade gets overturned outright—even if it did, nothing in California would change because Democrats covered that base decades ago… just in case. Taxes seem to be an issue that comes and goes, depending on what races they want to get involved with.
The CRA has a litmus test for both candidates and members that is enforced on a “when we feel like it” basis; however, if you support Donald Trump…you’re out. Support Jeff Denham…. you’re a moderate, support Ling Ling Chang…..you’re a gun grabber, the list goes on and on. They love to keep their members in check, however when it comes to holding candidates and elected officials accountable? Don’t count on the CRA.
The board members are the worst, they’ve been rotating deck chairs on the Titanic for a while now. It seems like a tradition to permanently expel officers by forcing them to walk the plank every few years and tell everyone that with a smaller crew, things will get better. CRA then celebrates their victory of principle, the opportunity for improvement, and the promise of better days ahead…but, it never arrives.
How about this for ways to treat your membership: conning delegates into traveling 2+ hours by car to an endorsement convention that features only 1 person running for said office! Talk about a waste of time and resources. Or conning a member to call the question about a candidate’s past or a rule change, only to have the floor pulled from under them by the same person who prompted them to call said question. Bylaws may keep the same wording from meeting-to-meeting but be interpreted differently by the same guys depending on what outcome leadership requires in a particular situation.
Johnny “Captain” Morgan, CRA savior?
Hopefully Johnnie “Captain” Morgan can turn this around, and by that, I mean fire the entire incompetent board immediately. I still would like to know how “The Wookie” and “Drunken Jedi” remaining on the board due to their myriad of issues.
Lastly, where is any sense of activism within your club? You have members in your group that claim to be “insiders” or “in the know” regarding local events. 9 times out of 10 you have no idea about the goings on. Two concrete examples, Governor Gavin Newsom in his inaugural address mentioned 2 tax increases he was going to propose with help from the super majority legislature, elected in no small part due to CRA incompetence. Has the CRA put out anything regarding these tax hikes? Do they even know about them? I would say “No” on both counts! The tax hikes for those of you wondering are a new tax on phones to fund a 911 system overhaul, and a tax on drinking water to help underprivileged communities. Only commentary out of the CRA is hopefully Ted Cruz is running in 2020. These are things the CRA should be out on front of…instead apathy, or maybe boycott Dick’s Sporting Goods since they want to ID people who buy guns?
We all know that the Trump tax-cut made changes to the Standard Deduction and Payroll Tax Withholding Tables but wait ‘til you sit down and try doing your taxes this year. When you do, forget everything that you thought you knew about filling out the tax forms. The forms that you knew and loved don’t exist!
Form 1040 EZ
Deleted
Form 1040A
Deleted
Form 1040
Nuked
Instead, now there is one form to rule them all and one form to find them, there is only the 1040…and a bucket load of worksheets to bind them.
For Tax Year 2018, you will no longer use Form 1040A or Form 1040EZ, but instead will use the redesigned Form 1040. Many people will only need to file Form 1040 and no schedules.
While its not the mythical postcard form that we were promised decades ago, the form has taxpayer information on the first page and all the math on the second. For the most part, the actual calculations are on the six new worksheets. Page 2 of the 1040 is just filling in totals or leaving nonapplicable boxes blank. The tax tables don’t even go above earnings of $100K. If you and the spouse, make over $100K then you take the earning amount and multiple it by a decimal number and that’s your tax! Easy Peasy.
While my wife and I will probably use the Standard Deduction
and thus not need to itemize for a Federal filing, the question is what in the
heck will California do? We know they don’t like Trump or how the tax cut was
crafted but will I miss deductions on the California return if I do the quick
and dirty math on the federal form and send it in? Usually states try to mirror
what the national government does but, in this instance, I have no confidence that
this is the case.
Presently I have no clue; partially because TurboTax doesn’t work yet. I bought the software on December 31st and got hard stops in the program when I put in my estimates for 2018 taxes. Schedule A –the form where you itemize everything–was broken. Intuit is promising to have the software up and going in mid-January (about now) but I suspect they will be pushing out updates for many more weeks.
W-2s are required to be mailed by the end of January. The government shutdown may affect your ability to get a refund but somehow, I think if you send Uncle Sam a check, he will be happy to cash it anyway.
Based on what I can discern thus far, it appears that our days of getting a big refund are at an end. By lowering the withholding amount from each paycheck and giving me more monthly take home pay, it looks like I may actually stand a chance of writing a check to the government for the first time. If you usually bank on a big refund, I’m warning you that it may not happen. Both my wife and I claim married with zero dependents, this is the largest amount withheld on the tax tables. If we’re sweating about not getting a refund, some on you are probably in big
trouble. Don’t wait until the last minute, especially this year.
If you think you’re going to come up short, file you tax
return anyway. The biggest penalties from the IRS are for not filing. I know
you can arrange payment but do this before April 15th and I think it
will go better for you.
