The Congress reaches a deal on border wall funding
It has been widely reported all day that the Congress has reached a deal on border wall funding which it hopes will avert another government shutdown. It still has not been voted on as I write this, but we are being told it will include about $1.37 billion to fund some type of border barrier for 55 miles. (The Democrats prefer that term to “wall” because they are playing semantics.)
It has also been reported that Donald Trump is not happy with the deal and is still deciding what he will do if this does indeed make it to his desk for a signature. He has repeatedly said he would not accept anything less than $5 billion so he is going to have to make a political decision on this.
Does he sign the bill and alienate his base and the political pundits like Anne Coulter and Sean Hannity while trying to claim a small victory and blame “radical Democrats” for putting illegal immigrants ahead of Americans and hope his base understands and stays with him? Or does he hold fast to his demand and shut down the government again, which would appease his base while also most likely having a negative impact on his poll numbers?
There is a third scenario: could he possibly sign the deal and take the $1.37 billion and then declare a national emergency to take the rest of the money from the Defense Department? Stay tuned, I do not think it is going to take very long to find out what he chooses.
malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium
Mitch McConnell to bring green new deal up for a vote
By now you have heard about the green new deal that Democrats are rallying around. While this radical plan has been endorsed by most of the Democrats who are running for President, as well as some of the Democratic voters, it has met with quite a bit of ridicule by the right. And for good reason.
Well, Mitch McConnell has decided to call the Democrats’ bluff and will bring this bill up for a vote in the Senate. Here is more:
The Washington Post’s Robert Costa tweeted Tuesday morning: “McConnell is considering taking up the green new deal for a vote in the Senate as a way to rattle Sen Dems, per a McConnell aide here at the [Capitol].”
Mitch McConnell has now confirmed the report:
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) confirmed Tuesday afternoon that he will bring a vote on the Green New Deal, telling to reporters on Capitol Hill: “I’ve noted with great interest the Green New Deal. And we’re going to be voting on that in the Senate. Give everybody an opportunity to go on record and see how they feel about the Green New Deal.” Read Breitbart News’ original report below.
I think this is a fantastic move, let’s get it on record exactly how many Democrats really believe this radical plan is a good idea. It is easy for the Democratic Presidential candidates and leftist voters to claim they support this measure when they know it will not pass, but it is altogether different when you have to actually vote on it.
I believe many of the Democrats are claiming to support this legislation to placate their base and this vote will force them to make a decision to either show their base they are serious or to show the rest of America they are not radicals and that was a vote they were anticipating they would never have to take.
malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium
Democrats to introduce bill criminalizing private gun sales
According to this story the House Democrats are preparing to take a vote later this week on a gun control measure which would ban the private sale of guns. Here is more:
House Democrats plan to move legislation criminalizing private gun sales out of committee and get it to the floor for a vote this week.
H.R. 8 would outlaw the private gun sales Americans have enjoyed since December 15, 1791, the date on which the Second Amendment was ratified. This would criminalize a neighbor who sold a gun to lifelong neighbor without first getting government permission via a background check. It would also criminalize a friend for selling a gun to lifelong friend without government permission.
Here we go again, law abiding gun owners who have done nothing wrong are in the crosshairs (pardon the metaphor) once again because the Democrats have no real solution to offer. If this passes and it fails to stop any gun violence the left will then turn around and say it did not go far enough and then use that as an excuse to begin the next encroachment.
This bill is certain to pass the Democratic House but its fate is far less certain in the Senate. Normally I would feel safe in predicting the bill’s failure in the Senate however the President has already caved once when he banned bump stocks by Executive fiat so I will be waiting to see which side he takes on this legislation, and if it is the wrong side will he be able to get the Republicans to go along with him?
malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium
Sunday, February 10th open thread: ‘Diamonds on the Inside’
“This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.” (Psalm 118:24 KJV)
Here is this week’s open thread. 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.
You can subscribe to America’s Watchtower to receive email updates and you can also follow America’s Watchtower on Facebook and Twitter by clicking the links on the right.
Here is Ben Harper performing “Diamonds on the Inside” live from 2003, enjoy:
Second woman accuses Virginia Lieutenant Governor of rape
The state of affairs in Virginia politics is ugly to say the least. The Governor and the Attorney General have both admitted to engaging in racist activities in the past and the Lieutenant Governor, Justin Fairfax, has even bigger problems because now a second woman has come out and accused him of raping her.
Here is more:
A second woman has come forward accusing Democratic Lieutenant Governor of Virginia Justin Fairfax of rape.
Meredith Watson released a letter through her lawyer on Friday calling for Fairfax’s resignation claiming he sexually assaulted her in 2000 when they were both students at Duke University.
‘Mr. Fairfax’s attack was premeditated and aggressive. The two were friends but never dated or had any romantic relationship,’ the letter states.
Watson’s attorney does not provide specific details of the attack but states the assault was ‘similar’ to that of Vanessa Tyson, who on Wednesday, publicly accused Fairfax of raping her in 2004.
To be fair, we have no idea if these accusations are true but in today’s politics it no longer matters and the accusations alone are enough to end a career and destroy a reputation.
We saw this with Herman Cain, Roy Moore, and most recently with Brett Kavanaugh. In the cases of Herman Cain and Roy Moore it ended their political aspirations while Brett Kavanaugh survived but is still facing backlash and probably will for the rest of his life. In all three cases all the accusers went away when there was no longer anything political to gain from these men.
If we are holding everybody to the same standard here then all women deserve to be believed with no questions asked, which means that Justin Fairfax is guilty and must step down. To paraphrase Harry Reid when he accused Mitt Romney of not paying taxes for ten years, the accusation has been made it is up to Justin Fairfax to prove he is not guilty. This of course is 180 degrees backwards but such is life in American politics today.
malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium
Adam Schiff met with Fusion GPS founder last July
It is now being reported that the new head of the House Intelligence Committee, Adam Schiff, met with Fusion GPS founder Glenn Simpson last July. Here is more:
the issue of some photographs taken at the prestigious Aspen security conference last July.
They show Schiff meeting at the event with Fusion GPS Founder Glenn Simpson, one of the key and most controversial figures in the Russia collusion scandal. Both men insisted to me through spokesmen that they met only briefly last July.
At the time of the encounter, Simpson was an important witness in the House Intelligence Committee probe who had given sworn testimony about alleged, but still unproven, collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign.
When confronted with the Aspen conference photos of Schiff, in sport coat and open-neck dress shirt, and Simpson, wearing casual attire, representatives for both men tried to minimize their discussion, insisting nothing substantive about the Russia case was discussed.
In other words move along, nothing to see here. But there is a little problem with this defense and that is that Adam Schiff was vocal and pivotal in getting Devin Nunes to recuse himself for a time from the Russia investigation for undisclosed meetings and so it would seem to me that if Adam Schiff is not a hypocrite he will have to recuse himself from the investigation until it is shown he did nothing wrong. I will not be holding my breath…
malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium
When the scandal first broke out during her first Senatorial run the high cheek-boned Senator from Massachusetts claimed that while she was proud of her Native American heritage she never used it to advance in school or in her career. Of course I am talking about Elizabeth Warren. We know this is a lie and we also know that Harvard promoted her as its “first woman of color” and good ole Lizzy never made an effort to correct this mistake.
But what about using her made up heritage in order to advance her career? We now know that Elizabeth Warren claimed to be a Native American when she applied to the Texas bar, here is more:
The Washington Post obtained the registration card, which was previously undisclosed, during an open records request. As the Post noted, the card was handwritten using blue ink and signed by Warren. The card shows Warren wrote “American Indian” for her “race” and is dated April 1986. A spokesperson for the Massachusetts Democrat did not dispute the card’s authenticity, according to the newspaper.
And here is the Tweet which contains the proof:
It is pretty clear to me that Elizabeth Warren pretended to be a minority to take advantage of a situation, this was not a mistake and the “confusion” she has apologized for was intentional. Because this time we have it in her own handwriting she cannot get away with using “confusion” as an excuse. This was purposeful deception, she knew what she was doing, she knew it was wrong, and now that she has been caught she is finally apologizing.
This is not going to go away, in part because people realize how deceitful she was being and partly because she still has not taken full responsibility for her actions. I believe this will haunt her throughout her run for the Presidency and I believe it disqualifies her.
malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium
We have seen over the last couple of weeks the Democratic party become more and more radicalized on the topic of abortion to the point where it has become heartbreaking. First we had New York pass legislation which will allow a mother to have an abortion while in labor and then, not to be outdone, Virginia tried to pass similar legislation and we all heard Ralph Northam coldly describe infanticide.
And now Rhode Island and Vermont are debating such laws and you know it is only a matter of time until states like Massachusetts and California follow suit. So in an attempt to head this off, or at least to get Democrats on record as not supporting infanticide, Ben Sasse introduced the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act which would require doctors and hospitals to help babies which survived a late term abortion. It was blocked by Democrats, here is more:
Senate Democrats – led by Washington Sen. Patty Murray – blocked a bill that would require babies born alive during abortion to receive reasonable medical care and transport to a hospital.
Nebraska Republican Sen. Ben Sasse introduced the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act (S. 130) to protect babies who have survived failed abortions. Sasse went to the floor of the Senate Monday to ask his colleagues to pass the bill by unanimous consent, but Democrats objected.
“Senate Democrats had the chance today to prove they are not the party of infanticide, and instead they doubled down on extremism,” said Susan B. Anthony List (SBA List) President Marjorie Dannenfelser after Democrats blocked the bill. “The Democratic Party’s agenda of abortion on demand through birth and even beyond is radically out of step with the standards of decency the overwhelming majority of Americans expect from their leaders.”
I find it hard to imagine, in fact I refuse to believe, that most mainstream Americans are as radical as the Democratic party is quickly becoming. I still honestly believe the Democrats are overreacting and overreaching because they have misunderstood the meaning of their victory last November. I also believe some of the Democrats think they are exacting some kind of sick revenge for the Brett Kavanaugh confirmation. At least I hope that is what it is…
malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium
Democrats prepare legislation to prevent Donald Trump from declaring a national emergency to build border wall
Donald Trump has been threatening to declare a national emergency so that he can reallocate monies in order to build the border wall and it has been widely speculated that he will use the State of the Union speech to make some kind of formal announcement concerning this proposition.
It is now being reported here that Senate Democrats are trying to head him off at the pass by trying to pass legislation which would prevent the President from taking monies to build a wall from the Defense Department. Here is more:
A group of Senate Democrats are aiming to block President Donald Trump from building his proposed border wall by declaring a national emergency—an announcement the president could make as soon as Tuesday during his State of the Union address.
Roughly a dozen Democrats are getting behind a bill, being introduced Monday afternoon, that would prohibit Trump from building the wall using funds drawn from either the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers or the Department of Defense’s military construction accounts.
The bill, which is titled the Restrictions Against Illegitimate Declarations for Emergency Re-Appropriations, or RAIDER, Act, states that “no funds appropriated or otherwise made available prior to the date of the enactment of this Act may be used for the construction of barriers, land acquisition, or any other associated activities on the southern border without specific statutory authorization from Congress.”
Of course even if this does make it to the President’s desk it will be vetoed, and even though there are some Republicans, such as Marco Rubio, who are opposed to using a national emergency declaration to build the wall it seems unlikely there would be enough Republicans willing to override a veto.
Here is Marco Rubio’s concern:
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), said it could establish a precedent that a future Democratic president would use to advance their policy priorities.
This is one instance in which I agree with the Senator from Florida. I think this is a horrible idea and sets a dangerous precedent for advancing a political agenda without the approval of the Congress which will only become more commonplace when we have a Democrat for President in two years.
malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium
Sunday, February 3rd open thread: ‘Cars’
“This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.” (Psalm 118:24 KJV)
Here is this week’s open thread. 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.
You can subscribe to America’s Watchtower to receive email updates and you can also follow America’s Watchtower on Facebook and Twitter by clicking the links on the right.
Here is Nine Inch Nails with Gary Numan performing “Cars” live in 2009:
America's Watchtower 