Chuck Todd: Roy Moore ‘doesn’t believe in the Constitution’ because he believes our rights come from God
Chuck Todd is dismayed at Roy Moore because, he claims, the Alabama Republican Senatorial candidate does not believe in the Constitution as written. What does he base this on? The fact that Roy Moore stated our rights do not come from the government but rather from God. Here is the clip:
Now technically it is true that the Constitution does not mention God because it is a legal document, however the founding fathers were quite clear on where our rights come from as indicated in the Declaration of Independence:
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men”
Clearly the founders believed our rights come from God and the government is instituted to protect these rights–not to grant them because the founders understood if our rights came from the government than the government can take them away. If you are an atheist this changes nothing–substitute God with “natural law” and the result is the same. The bottom line is our rights come from something higher than the men and women who we elect to represent us.
Chuck Todd is the one who does not understand the Constitution–the Constitution is a document of negative rights. The Constitution does not tell us what we can do, it tells the government what it cannot do.
One of my pet peeves is when I hear a person say they are executing or practicing their Constitutional rights. These are not Constitutional rights but rather Constitutionally protected rights. The difference might only be one word but it cannot be more striking, but this is lost on people like Chuck Todd who believe the government is the highest authority.
malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium
NSA leaker Reality Winner blames Fox News?
Back in June a Federal contractor, Reality Winner, was arrested for leaking documents related to the Russia investigation. In this article, in which Politico comes to the conclusion the leaker might have been politically motivated, (I wonder how long it took them to reach this conclusion) we find out that Reality Winner was triggered by Fox News being on the television.
Here is more:
The transcript hints at possible political motivations for the leak. Winner says she objected to her workplace tuning the TV to Fox News. She also had a signed photo of CNN Anchor Anderson Cooper, although she said the signature was fake.
“I wasn’t trying to be a Snowden or anything,” Winner said, referring to NSA leaker Edward Snowden and his massive disclosures of details on U.S. government surveillance. “I guess it’s just been hard at work because … I’ve filed formal complaint about them having Fox News on, you know? Uh, at least, for God’s sake, put Al Jazeera on, or a slideshow with people’s pets. I’ve tried anything to get that changed.”
There you have it; it was real tough at work because Fox News was on in the background. How was she supposed to do her job in such a hostile workplace?
malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium
Donald Trump unveils his tax reform plan
As America’s Watchtower reported would happen on Monday, Donald Trump released his tax reform plan today. On first glance, after sifting through articles on this proposal, there appears to be both good and bad in this proposal.
I apologize for this post not having any real structure, I just threw a few thoughts together because I have not had enough time at this point to go through the details and I am going on the talking points most articles seem to be repeating.
Here is some of what we know at this point:
This post will include my only mention of the NFL deflection (I hope) because I am boycotting the boycott, I refuse to let politics get in the way of my few hours of enjoyment on Sunday afternoons because the media and the President (for different reasons) tell me I am supposed to be outraged. If I am outraged at all I am outraged at so many Americans being so easily distracted by the media deflection.
The mainstream media and the liberals on social media are now trying to claim that Hurricane Maria is Donald Trump’s “Katrina” because he is so engrossed in tweeting about the NFL that he is ignoring Puerto Rico, but nothing could be further from the truth. Here is more:
We are seeing the beginning of a concerted attempt to turn the crisis in Puerto Rico into “Trump’s Katrina.” And, as T. Becket Adams points out, those responsible aren’t even being subtle about it. All of a sudden, we have new talking points: Trump is ignoring Puerto Rico! Trump hates brown people! Trump doesn’t even know that Puerto Ricans are Americans!
This is unfair. Indeed, when pushed, the critique seems more to be that Trump isn’t tweeting about Puerto Rico (and then, when he does tweet, that he shouldn’t be tweeting, or that he should tweet differently, or that the timing of his tweets was wrong, or that he shouldn’t push back on Twitter against the idea that he doesn’t care about the island). But tweeting does not a rescue operation make, and until about five minutes ago, everyone in America seemed to know that.
There are five links in the block quote above to back up these claims which for some reason do not show up in my post, if you wish to see them please visit the link I provided. Anyway: Puerto Rico’s governor, a Democrat, painted a different picture when he was interviewed by PBS:
California to consider banning combustion engine cars?
You read the headline right, I am not making this up. California is considering following China’s “lead” and banning combustion engine cars. (All gas engine vehicles.)
Here is more:
The internal combustion engine’s days may be numbered in California, where officials are mulling whether a ban on sales of polluting autos is needed to achieve long-term targets for cleaner air.
Governor Jerry Brown has expressed an interest in barring the sale of vehicles powered by internal-combustion engines, Mary Nichols, chairman of the California Air Resources Board, said in an interview Friday at Bloomberg headquarters in New York. The earliest such a ban is at least a decade away, she said.
California Governor Jerry Brown is upset the process has not started already:
“I’ve gotten messages from the governor asking, ‘Why haven’t we done something already?’” Nichols said, referring to China’s planned phase-out of fossil-fuel vehicle sales. “The governor has certainly indicated an interest in why China can do this and not California.”
What more needs to be said?
malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium
Donald Trump set to unveil his tax plan on Wednesday
It is being reported that Donald Trump will release his tax plan on Wednesday in a speech. The plan is apparently not finalized but here is what is being reported:
“Republicans are going to announce bold tax reform that grows jobs, grows paychecks and vaults America into the lead,” Rep. Kevin Brady, R-Texas, told CNBC on Monday. The chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee noted that the plan will offer specific numbers that include “the lowest rates on business in modern history.”
The framework, expected to be released on Wednesday, will likely feature dramatically lower rates for most — if not all — households and businesses, according to several people familiar with the plans. However, as of Sunday night, the so-called Big Six had not yet finalized how much detail to provide on other key elements of tax reform, such as whether to allow full and immediate expensing and perhaps most critically, how to pay for the tax cuts.
Here are some of the details:
- A Republican familiar with the White House plans confirmed negotiators are pursuing a corporate rate of 20 percent, despite President Donald Trump’s suggestion Sunday afternoon that he would still prefer to see a 15 percent rate.
- The framework would also set a slightly higher rate of 25 percent for “pass through” businesses, the person said.
- The administration is also pushing for a top individual rate of 35 percent — the same number it proposed in a one-page outline of principles in April, according to the source. But there is not yet agreement among the negotiators over what the effective rate for the wealthiest households should be.
And here is more from this article:
- Top individual tax rate cut from 39.6 to 35. The current seven income tax brackets collapsed to three, as part of simplification. (Axios hasn’t obtained the other two rates.)
- Axios can confirm that the Big Six agreed to cut the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 20 percent. That key detail leaked last night to the Washington Post. (Trump has said he wants the corporate rate to be 15 percent.)
- The Big Six framework is also expected to include guardrails to prevent wealthy people from artificially lowering their income taxes by rearranging their affairs to get taxed at the small business rate.
- We can confirm, too, WashPo’s reporting that Republicans plan to double the standard deduction — a boost for the middle class and a key component of simplification.
Major Hat Tip to The Right Scoop for this.
Stay tuned, Wednesday could be interesting…
malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium
Politico: Jared Kushner used a private email account to conduct White House business
Donald Trump’s “Kushner problem” is not going away, in fact it might be growing. Now it is being reported that the President’s son-in-law used a private email account to correspond with other White House officials. Here is more:
Presidential son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner has corresponded with other administration officials about White House matters through a private email account set up during the transition last December, part of a larger pattern of Trump administration aides using personal email accounts for government business.
Kushner uses his private account alongside his official White House email account, sometimes trading emails with senior White House officials, outside advisers and others about media coverage, event planning and other subjects, according to four people familiar with the correspondence. POLITICO has seen and verified about two dozen emails.
Aides who have exchanged emails with Kushner on his private account since President Donald Trump took office in January include former chief of staff Reince Priebus, former chief strategist Steve Bannon, National Economic Council director Gary Cohn, and spokesman Josh Raffel, according to emails described to or shown to POLITICO. In some cases, those White House officials have emailed Kushner’s account first, said people familiar with the messages. At times, Bannon and Priebus have also used private email accounts to correspond with Kushner and others.
Jared Kushner’s lawyer has confirmed this–to a point:
“Mr. Kushner uses his White House email address to conduct White House business,” Abbe Lowell, a lawyer for Kushner, said in a statement Sunday. “Fewer than 100 emails from January through August were either sent to or returned by Mr. Kushner to colleagues in the White House from his personal email account. These usually forwarded news articles or political commentary and most often occurred when someone initiated the exchange by sending an email to his personal rather than his White House address.”
Politico goes on to report there is no indication any sensitive or classified information was shared on his personal computer, and his lawyer claims that the emails in question where all initiated by others and usually were forwarded news articles and political commentary to which he responded.
Despite the headline by Politico, this does not appear to approach the level of Hillary Clinton’s email scandal and abuse however the optics are horrendous. How could the Trump team allow something like this to happen, especially after the tone of the 2016 campaign when Hillary Clinton’s email scandal was front and center?
Everything that Donald Trump says and does is under heavy scrutiny by the left, justified or not, and this just adds fuel to the fire and it could have been easily avoided. The White House has a messaging problem and this is another example. Jared Kushner has to go.
malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium
Sunday, September 24th open thread: ‘Tommy the Cat’
Here is the open thread for Sunday, September 24th. Please feel free to post links to interesting articles and to discuss whatever issues arise during the course of the day. Nothing is off-topic here.
Last week we discussed 9 stories, did you miss any of them? If so there is an easy way to make sure it does not happen again. I understand that all of you are busy and cannot always find the time to check the blog for updates so why not subscribe to America’s Watchtower and receive email updates whenever I write a new post? That is the easiest way to follow the blog to ensure you never miss another post.
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Here is Primus performing “Tommy the Cat” live from 1992:
frui diem
Donald Trump approved 100,000 DACA applicants over the last three months
There was quite a bit of “misreporting” in the mainstream media as well as by the Democrats, and misrepresentation by liberals on social media when Donald Trump announced he would end the DACA program in six months if the Congress did not act.
The aforementioned entities made it sound as if deportations would start immediately and families would be ripped apart heartlessly by our white supremacist leader. But that is simply not true, in fact it is a lie. Because DACA was unilaterally implemented by the former President it can be repealed unilaterally by the current President but despite the protestations of the Democrats he did not do that, he gave them the chance to make it permanent. And he wants to make it permanent so it will no longer be subjected to the whims of any President.
Court rules police must get a warrant before using ‘StingRay’ spying devices
I have written a few posts on StingRay devices in the past, with the last one coming in 2016 when a judge threw out evidence in a case which was gathered with a StingRay without a warrant. It was also reported in 2015 that the IRS and other government agencies were using these devices to spy on cellphones.
In case you are not familiar with what a “StingRay” is, it is basically a device which can create a fake cellphone tower and whenever any cellphone ventures into the StingRay’s cover zone it is tricked into connecting to it, at that point metadata and other personal information can be retrieved by whomever is behind setting up the StingRay even if that person is not the subject of an investigation. This is all being done without warrants in many cases.
To me this is blatantly unconstitutional and today a fourth court has ruled that the police must obtain a warrant before they can use this device, here is more:
America's Watchtower 