Archive for the ‘Weaponized Government’ Category

Nobody does it better than Salena Zito. This week, the ‘it’ that I’m referring to is exposing who the Loony Left is. As with all of her reporting, Ms. Zito relied on a suitable foil. (My word, not Ms. Zito’s.) This week’s villain is Pennsylvania Democrat Brian Sims.

Sims is the jackass that harassed women in front of a Planned Parenthood clinic in Philadelphia. He’s also a Pennsylvania Democrat representing part of Philadelphia.

This is how big of a jerk Sims is:

That’s behavior far beyond what a jerk does. That’s what I’d expect from a militant activist. Frankly, I’d throw him in a woodchipper if it was legal. Here’s what Ms. Zito wrote:

When Brian Sims first ran for state representative in 2012, he ran as a new pro-business voice. He was going to be a bridge-builder, brimming with commonsense ideas on pocketbook issues. Sims never met that promise.

That’s understatement. It gets worse:

Last week, Sims decided to film his own harassment of a woman outside an abortion clinic here in Philadelphia, calling her an “old white lady” and her beliefs “grotesque” to her face and to the camera. The clear plan was to incite his audience against this peaceful protester, whom he saw as clearly bigoted and evil.

The whole act opened the window for Twitter observers into a dark, dark place in American culture, a gaping divide none of us quite know how to navigate. And while Sims’ harassment was, on the one hand, shocking, it was expected. A politician abusing his power thusly to crush religious conservatives is exactly what so many of us have been bracing for.

This was no outburst in the heat of a debate. He wasn’t reacting to a stressful situation. It also wasn’t a talk show appearance that went sour, nor was it a barroom brawl. He wasn’t caught off guard at his home or his office or a campaign event.

To put it succinctly, Sims ripped his own ‘moderate’ mask off. He pretended to be a moderate while he was actually a bitter radical. This should be a lesson for naïve Republicans.

It’d be nice to think that we can get along with these types of Democrats. That isn’t a luxury we can afford at this time. Republicans should realize that the left has gotten radicalized. (Think Antifa, Black Lives Matter and Occupy Wall Street.) Then think Bernie Sanders and AOC.

This was an emboldened, out-of-touch, arrogant elected official who woke up one day last week and made a conscious decision to go to Planned Parenthood for the express purpose of fighting and badgering.

And he chose a woman, standing by herself. And he didn’t start a dialogue. He didn’t introduce himself. He badgered her. Repeatedly. Relentlessly. Angrily. He badgered an enemy he himself described as an old lady.

If ever there was a time to just utterly defeat Democrats, it’s right now. These radicals aren’t just wrong on the issues, they’re evil. Further, let’s realize that there aren’t that many moderate Democrats. I frequently tell my friends that the definition of the moderate Democrat is a Democrat running for office in a swing district. The moderation disappears an hour after they win election.

UPDATE: Watch the entire video. Sims claims that he’s seen the “insults, the attacks, the slurs and the racism that those protesters aim at mostly young girls.” Why didn’t he videotape that? Why didn’t he post that to Youtube? I’m betting that he didn’t because it doesn’t exist.

For the first time in US history, a committee ordered the Attorney General of the United States to break the law. In voting to hold Attorney General Barr in contempt of Congress, House Democrats cited AG Barr’s unwillingness to hand over to them a totally unredacted copy of the Mueller report.

One of the reasons why AG Barr didn’t turn that type of report over to the Democrats is because grand jury testimony is confidential and can’t be turned over without a court order. Even then, there are only 5 exceptions for releasing grand jury testimony. Congressional oversight isn’t one of those exceptions.

Think about that. Democrats, led by House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler, have ordered the Attorney General to break the law. Talk about theater of the absurd! That’s simply stunning. Jim Jordan nails it with this statement during today’s hearing:

Today on Outnumbered OT, Rep. Tom McClintock, (R-Calif.) and a member of the House Judiciary Committee, stated something stunning. He said that only 6 lines were redacted from the 182-page report on obstruction of justice. Think about that! Just 6 lines out of almost 200 pages were redacted. This isn’t about oversight. It’s about Democrats doing whatever they can to destroy AG Barr’s reputation.

Rep. Doug Collins, the Ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, nailed it in this tweet:

Democrats have launched a proxy war smearing the attorney general when their anger actually lies with the president and the special counsel, who found neither conspiracy nor obstruction. Full statement below ? pic.twitter.com/BgCWMqRJW4

— Rep. Doug Collins (@RepDougCollins) May 6, 2019

This tweet from Rep. Collins is pretty revealing, too:

Chairman Nadler: The intent of the subpoena is “to increase our clout in court.”

Does that mean the intent was never actually to get documents? How is this not an abuse of the process? #MuellerReport

— Rep. Doug Collins (@RepDougCollins) May 8, 2019

Today’s ‘hearing’ was mostly about Democrats showboating for the 6:00 news. This wasn’t about seeking justice.

Democrat pundits have repeatedly said that they’re capable of walking and chewing gum at the same time. I have 2 thoughts on that. It’s perhaps possible that they’re capable of walking and chewing gum simultaneously. The question is whether they’re interested in walking and chewing gum simultaneously. Next, I say perhaps because we haven’t seen proof that they can walk and chew gum simultaneously.

Finally, today’s clown show is proof that the Democrats’ priorities are totally screwed up. While Democrats were conducting this clown show, they weren’t addressing illegal immigration, which, the last I looked, is a full-blown crisis. I only know what I can prove. I can’t prove that Democrats give a damn about homeland security. I certainly can’t prove that they’ve investigated and legislated simultaneously.

It’s time to throw these idiots out in large numbers. Hate-America-first Democrats like Jerry Nadler, Ted Lieu and David Cicilline need to stripped of their authorities because they’ve created this clown show.

Let’s be clear about something. A number of Democrat committee chairs are constitutional illiterates. Either that or they’re exceptionally corrupt or both. It’s something I’ve spent a big chunk of time thinking about. Here’s what finished things off for me.

When House Oversight and Reform Committee Chairman Elijah Cummings issued subpoenas for President Trump’s private financial records when he was a private citizen, President Trump’s attorneys filed a lawsuit to prevent the production of those records.

The legal complaint from Trump’s legal team reads “Chairman Cummings has ignored the constitutional limits on Congress’ power to investigate. Article I of the Constitution does not contain an ‘Investigations Clause’ or an ‘Oversight Clause.’ It gives Congress the power to enact certain legislation. Accordingly, investigations are legitimate only insofar as they further some legitimate legislative purpose.”

That’s true as far as it goes but I’d add that they didn’t mention a separation of powers conflict, too. Congress isn’t tasked with investigating private citizens before they were part of the government. That’s the jurisdiction of the executive branch. Specifically, the Department of Justice has the statutory authority to investigate private citizens. The investigations of private citizens is the responsibility of the FBI or the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. The only people vested with the responsibility of convening grand juries are the DOJ attorneys, U.S. attorneys or a special counsel.

This won’t be a terribly difficult case to decide. The legislative branch has the constitutional authority to give advice and consent, pass legislation, provide legislative oversight and to ratify treaties.

House Democrats don’t have the authority to investigate the private activities of private citizens. That’s the job of the executive branch. Period. Mark Levin discussed another possible explanation with former Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli on Sunday night’s Life, Liberty & Levin:

I don’t know if that’s what these Democrats are trying to do but I won’t rule it out. It’s pretty frightening when the People’s House is weaponized to torment private citizens. Though that precedent hasn’t been sent, Speaker Pelosi did say that subpoenas might be a way to negotiate with President Trump:

Apparently, Pelosi and other Democrats don’t think playing fair is required. That’s why they need to voted out of office in 2020. The bigger the landslide in the House and Senate, the better. It’s clear that Democrats don’t see limits on their investigative powers:

I suspect that they’ll be stopped cold by the Supreme Court. I can’t wait to hear about that ruling. What’s chilling is hearing E.J. Dionne say that going after a private citizen’s private financial records “is the right thing to do.”

The DFL commissioners in charge of fixing MNLARS are really dancing on the head of a pin in their attempt to justify more money to fix MNLARS. Wait times have improved but they’re still unacceptable. Commissioners testifying this week said that “the workload for vehicle titles was at an all-time high at the beginning of 2018, taking the department about 90 days to turn around a title application. They say they are now able to get most titles issued in 40 days or less. As for driver’s licenses, they’re still working within a 120-day window.”

At this week’s hearing, the IT commissioner said “To say that it isn’t working is not correct. It does have problems but it is producing revenue for our state.” If that’s the commissioner’s definition of working, it isn’t a definition shared by people using MNLARS.

If the DFL thinks that MNLARS is working, the first question that needs to be asked is whether the people who’ve dealt with MNLARS are satisfied with MNLARS’ proficiency. I’m betting the vast majority of people would say no. In the people’s minds, the only metric that matters is whether MNLARS is quickly creates new drivers licenses with the smart chip and whether MNLARS quickly processes title transfers.

If the DFL can’t proficiently process drivers licenses and title transfers, then they should be fired ASAP. Further, if this problem isn’t fixed before the end of the budget session, then the DFL, including Gov. Walz, Lt. Gov. Flanagan and Speaker Hortman, should resign.

Check this out:

The system needs more money to bring on employees to fill holes in service, Dohman said. Part-time employees were brought on to help, but shortages still exist. It remains a question whether lawmakers will be willing to appropriate more funding to MNLARS, especially after footing the initial $93 million bill in 2017 and an additional $9 million in May.

In the private sector, this project would’ve been finished a year ago and under budget. In government, they’re over their originally-anticipated budget by $100,000,000 and off on the start-up date by 14 months. Why should I think that the DFL is capable of efficiently running government?

Anyone that thinks that government is efficient at delivering important services are either lying to themselves or lying to us. Predictably, neither the DFL nor the Dayton administration still hasn’t gotten MNLARS running.

Now, problems are being addressed, Minnesota IT Services Commissioner Johanna Clyborne told the MNLARS Steering Committee, but progress has been slow-moving.
“We still have a lot of work to do,” Clyborne said.

MNLARS employees have received more than 32,000 applications for Real IDs this year and have mailed out just over a third, said Dawn Olson, Driver and Vehicle Services Director. Olson said she hopes the remainder will be mailed out by the first week in January.

I’m hoping to win the lottery before the new year starts, too. Based on past history, I’m betting there’s an equal chance of me winning that lottery and DVS getting the remainder out on time. And I’m not betting on winning the lottery in the next 3 weeks.

The commissioners admitted that it’s still taking more than 40 days to get drivers licenses out. Why doesn’t the state turn to a real IT company to fix the problem? At this point, the frustration level from the public is high. If the DFL doesn’t fix their MNLARS problem ASAP, there will be a political backlash. This project has already cost taxpayers $100,000,000.

Here’s something else worth considering: The DFL wanted Republicans to appropriate enough money to complete the project. Republicans refused, saying they wanted to have some control over the project. That’s why Gov. Dayton vetoed the bill and the DFL voted to sustain Gov. Dayton’s veto. This MNLARS project is 100% around the DFL’s necks.

Department of Public Safety Commissioner Ramona Dohman said MNLARS employees were stretched thin as they were forced to switch from one role to another to cover phones or emails or license and title applications. “Driver and Vehicle Services is able to triage to bring down turnaround times momentarily, but we just can’t get ahead,” Dohman said.

In other words, DPS and DVS is no closer to fixing the problem today than they were last spring. It’s indisputable that this is a leadership failure. The only thing that’s in question is how to fix this. That’s something Democrats are terrible at.

They’re great at proposing new things. Unfortunately, Democrats run into all kinds of problems in the implementation phase. Think back to MNsure and Healthcare.gov. Those were total failures, too.

It isn’t surprising that people don’t trust government. A quick check of the history of government, whether it’s local, state or federal, shows how inept government is. That’s why it’s essential to elect solutions-oriented people in 2020. That’s who President Trump is. That’s the opposite of what Gov. Dayton or soon-to-be-Speaker Pelosi are. Unfortunately, I suspect that Gov.-Elect Walz will be just as inept.

That’s why I’m not expecting MNLARS to get fixed anytime soon.

After hearing reports that Jim Comey wasn’t answering key questions that Republicans have asked him about, Comey didn’t seem the least bit bothered by his evasiveness. Darrell Issa spoke to reporters about Comey’s attitude, telling reporters “that some lawmakers have been frustrated with the testimony so far and that Comey didn’t seem upset about being told by his lawyers that he doesn’t have to answer certain questions.”

People shouldn’t think that Jim Comey is a man of integrity. He isn’t that. Right after the election, Comey insisted that he’d only testify in an open hearing, saying that he worried about Republicans would selectively leak portions of his answers. Comey pretended to be a warrior for transparency. That doesn’t square with his gleeful evasiveness in not answering the committees’ questions.

I hope that the transcript of the hearing is published soon. I suspect that lots of people want to read it to see which questions Mr. Comey didn’t answer. Let’s be clear about something important. The FBI’s political appointees aren’t men of integrity. Throughout his sham investigation, Robert Mueller has used tactics that people of integrity wouldn’t think of using.

“The details of what’s going on in there will remain private until after the deposition,” Issa said. “… [T]here is an amazing amount of things that reasonably the public will need to know that the Department of Justice and FBI attorney are guiding him not to answer.”

It’s time for the DOJ to stop protecting Comey and the other rats that have infiltrated, then ruined, the FBI. There’s nothing worthwhile about a law enforcement agency that has the ability to destroy its political enemies. Further, there’s nothing worthwhile about an agency that’s willing to turn a blind eye towards the FBI leadership. It’s time to dump the FBI’s leadership so the FBI can start restoring the trust it’s lost over the past 8+ years.

ISSA QUOTE OF THE DAY: “You’re not going to accept the answers as the answers that a forthright individual would give.”

I want to thank Congressman Issa for exposing Dir. Comey’s evasive testimony. It’s now difficult to believe that Mr. Comey is interested in transparency. It’s also impossible to think that the FBI isn’t attempting to hide lots of embarrassing pieces of information, information that’d likely show how corrupt that organization is.

UPDATE: What chutzpah:

Comey re-asserts that he wishes Judiciary Cmte interview had been done in open session.

— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) December 7, 2018

Gonzaga University’s ‘leadership’ rejected that school’s College Republicans’ chapter to invite Ben Shapiro to campus. According to Gonzaga University’s vice president of student development, Judi Biggs Garbuio, “Mr. Shapiro’s appearances routinely draw protests that include extremely divisive and hateful speech and behavior, which is offensive to many people, regardless of their age, politics or beliefs.”

Garbuio added that “Gonzaga University is committed to the human dignity of every individual. This is the core of our mission based on the teachings of Christ Jesus, and the foundations of the Society of Jesus. We stand in solidarity with vulnerable members of our community who may be targeted for discrimination, ridicule, or harassment by others.”

This is an old topic. This isn’t the first time so-called intellectuals have cited a ‘hecklers veto’ in preventing Shapiro or other conservatives from appearing on campus. These intellectuals are lightweights who are frightened by the thought of defending their ideas on a substantive basis. Put in more blunt terms, these intellectuals are a bunch of sissies.

What’s funniest to me is that the liberals who started the free speech movement at Berkeley would laugh at them for rejecting the opportunity to debate. Today’s progressives aren’t like yesteryear’s liberals. Can you picture Alan Dershowitz or Christopher Hitchens turning down the opportunity to debate? I can’t.

“Gonzaga’s events policy requires us consider whether an event would pose substantial risk to the safety occurred to any member of our campus community,” Biggs Garbuio said. “In light of what has occurred on other campuses, our security team has raised questions about whether we can adequately secure a campus venue.”

TRANSLATION: We’re too stupid to figure out how to have a clash of ideas while protecting our students. That’s too complex for us.

I agree with Townhall.com’s Katie Pavlich that the Democrats’ smear factory, aka the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Democrats, owe Associate Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh an apology. Unfortunately, that won’t happen. It won’t happen because too many of that Committee’s Democrats have presidential ambitions.

Pavlich is right in quoting the Committee’s report when it said “After an extensive investigation that included the thorough review of all potentially credible evidence submitted and interviews of more than 40 individuals with information relating to the allegations, including classmates and friends of all those involved, Committee investigators found no witness who could provide any verifiable evidence to support any of the allegations brought against Justice Kavanaugh. In other words, following the separate and extensive investigations by both the Committee and the FBI, there was no evidence to substantiate any of the claims of sexual assault made against Justice Kavanaugh.”

It isn’t difficult to predict that House Democrats will open another investigation into the FBI’s investigation of these charges. Jerry Nadler and Elijah Cummings can’t wait to start that investigation. Further, it isn’t difficult to predict that their investigations will produce tons more allegations but no corroborated testimony that verifies the women’s accusations.

It’s difficult to picture the House getting much done during the next 2 years. It isn’t difficult to picture them opening dozens of investigations into the Trump administration. I wouldn’t be surprised, though, if Pelosi insists on passing a corporate tax increase. Here’s why:

Don’t be surprised if House Democrats cause a recession in the next 16-20 months. When Pelosi was speaker the last time, she helped create a financial crisis. We didn’t get out of it until unified Republican government and President Trump’s leadership produced the current surge in economic growth.

Keith Ellison isn’t hiding the fact that he won’t uphold laws he doesn’t like. That’s what he’s saying in this video:

Ellison said “If the state legislature passes laws that don’t make sense, but are constitutional, then I’m going to have to cross that bridge when I get to it.” That statement is what I’d expect from a narcissist who thinks he’s the ultimate decider of which laws get enforced and which once won’t. Ellison isn’t arguing for the principle of prosecutorial discretion. He didn’t mention a lack of resources.

Specifically, Ellison talked about laws “that don’t make sense” but that are constitutional. Who gives him the authority to determine which laws makes sense? I’m certain that Minnesota’s Constitution doesn’t. What are Ellison’s criteria for judging which laws make sense?

Apparently, being Minnesota’s chief law enforcement officer doesn’t interest Ellison, either:

Apparently, Ellison thinks that the Minnesota Attorney General’s office should be used to thwart President Trump’s agenda or advance the Democrats’ agenda. What else did he mean when he said “Some of my opponents have been trying to argue that I’m going to sort of leave the federal Congress to come back to Minnesota to try to use the state Attorney General’s Office as some sort of political platform. And the truth is I do plan on doing some national litigation.”

If Democrats want to sue President Trump, then let them raise the money and open their own law firm. Minnesota’s taxpayers shouldn’t pay the price for Keith Ellison’s or the Democrats’ activism.

The choice couldn’t be clearer. A vote for Keith Ellison is a vote for advancing the Democrats’ agenda of obstructing President Trump by any means necessary. A vote for Doug Wardlow is a vote to restore law and order in Minnesota.

The big blue wave that never really existed is getting exposed, as I suspected it would, as a regional wave. Though I never had polling proof of this theory, I thought that much of the wave potential and enthusiasm gap was limited to bi-coastal regions. Lately, though, there’s some proof that that’s the case. Ed Morrissey highlights this ‘phenomenon’ in this post:

This mirrors a poll last week from the Washington Post and ABC News. Their poll put Democrats up 11 points on the generic ballot, but Republicans at +1 in the 66 battleground districts, also a big swing from their earlier polling. That suggests that Democratic enthusiasm intensified in districts where they were already safe, and that Republican enthusiasm has changed the election where the House majority will be determined.

This doesn’t mean that Republicans won’t lose seats in the House. I’m thinking, though, that it means their losses in the House will be significantly smaller than predicted.

In sum:

1) D’s +9 in national generic ballot
2) In House battlegrounds generic ballot tied
3) Trump approval rating highest of presidency
4) GOP largest lead on economy in poll history

Those do not sound like the components of a “blue wave.” https://t.co/CZMK6qSeOY

— Tom Bevan (@TomBevanRCP) October 21, 2018

This close to an election, it’s smarter to pay attention to where the alphabets (DCCC, NRCC, etc.) are putting money into or pulling money out of than to pay attention to polls. The fact that the DCCC pulled its money out of MN-8 indicates that Democrats have given up on that race.

Last spring, Democrats tried convincing people that there truly was a blue wave coming by announcing that they were expanding their map from 40+ seats to 60+ seats. I wasn’t convinced of the wave because of that. Democrats expanding the map didn’t prove that voters bought into the blue wave. As it turns out, more voters each week are picking accomplishments over attacks.