Archive for the ‘politics’ Category

Five Impeachment Realities: Appeasement, Indifference, Inevitability, Outrage and Panic

Posted: January 30, 2020 by datechguy in Always look at the bright side of Trump, elections, politics, primaries, Uncategorized

As I get older I’ve become more experienced and thus cynical but what I’ve also become is more amazed that people, particularly people in power don’t see things as they are.

1. This is all Appeasement for the Liberal Activist Class

The entire impeachment exercise from the hearing tin the house to every single “we’re gonna get Trump this time” meme that we’ve had since day one. To satisfy the activist class who were making primal screams on election day.

To that end they have insisted that each book, each event, each investigation is the one that is going to bring Trump down if they just stick with them and keep sending cash.

It’s a big con and impeachment is just about keeping it rolling.

2. Polls Don’t Matter if most People Aren’t Watching

I’ve seen people quoting various pols concerning impeachment and the desire to have witnesses called polling quite high.

The problem is that if nobody except the activists (see #1) is paying attention it does’t matter how high witnesses poll. The people who aren’t paying attention now aren’t going to suddenly think impeachment is important based on if the Senate calls witnesses.

Anyone who thinks their election or re-election is dependent on the senate calling is paying consultants too much.

3. The Democrat/Media story is already written:

It isn’t often that Allahpundit hits the nail on the head these days but he managed to do so inadvertently in this post concerning the calling of Witnesses at the impeachment trial:

They seem to be calculating that they’d rather get torched by nine months of Democratic “COVER UP!” attack ads than put Bolton on the stand, which is cynical but rational. Those “cover up” ads are coming no matter what, after all. They could call Bolton, Mulvaney, Pompeo, even Giuliani, and so long as they vote to acquit Dems will accuse them of being Trump’s co-conspirators. 

The stories are already written and the blame is already assigned and the faux outrage is already and the ads are already prepared with only the video to be spliced in.

No matter what the GOP and/or Trump does it will be the greatest outrage in history since the last thing the gop and Trump did, which was also the greatest outrage in history.

Why play their game? Why give them anything?

4. Liberal Outrage is the GOP’s Friend

As I noted in item three the left/media repeatedly has been crying havoc for three years assuring us that the tax cuts, the wall, net neutrality, the death of Soleimani etc etc was the end of the world that was going to kill millions while resulting in every single group of the left into labor camps.

Instead the country has gotten rich, Black, Hispanic and female unemployment is at historic lows with only the places run by the left like Baltimore, Chicago and San Francisco being danger zones.

The More outrage that the left proclaims while the country is and the people in it are doing well the more likely that people will turn out for, rather than turn on the president, and given the lengths of fraud they are going to unleash this time around, every mistake we can help them make is worthwhile.

5. Desperate People Make Mistakes

It’s very possible that once the President is re-elected that the political class might decide that all they have to do is wait him out and then business as usual will return.

However it’s also possible that the president will be able to fundamentally change the way business is done around here. That means the era of good stealing, the way that Joe Biden lived under all his political life (which is why he still thinks he did nothing wrong) and the gravy train for tens of thousands of consultants, bureaucrats, and their useless children who would never amount to anything otherwise might be over.

This eventually is a course of abject fear among the political/media/leach class and the more fearful they are the more the mask slips and the more their true nature is revealed.

And the more that American voters see them as they are the better the chance of defeating them.

the only question is, are there enough members of the GOP who want that?

President Trump Sets life and Prosperity before the Palestinians

Posted: January 29, 2020 by datechguy in Always look at the bright side of Trump, Israel, middle east
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Here, then, I have today set before you life and prosperity, death and doom… I call heaven and earth today to witness against you: I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. Choose life, then, that you and your descendants may live,

Deuteronomy 30:15,19

Yesterday the President put out his long awaited peace plan for the middle east.

You might expect me to comment on the details but said details are actually not important because if you are looking at this as a peace plan you are completely wrong.

This is not a peace plan, it’s an ultimatum.

The president is smart enough and worldly enough to understand that any deal with the Palestinians that does’t explicitly give them to right to continue to kill Jews until not one is left alive and the state of Israel is gone is a tough sell at best and a non-starter. Mostly because the leadership knows that agreeing to any such deal, particularly one that involves cracking down on terrorism is likely going to cost them their lives. Then again as Don Surber points out the equation is slightly different than it was a few days ago:

Killing ( Soleimani) jeopardized Iran’s terrorism program which he headed. Today, President Trump followed through with a Middle East proposal that creates a Palestinian state, opens Temple Mount to all three Abrahamic religions, and invests $50 billion to create a million jobs for Palestinians

It’s true that if they grabbed the Trump plan and gave up their vendetta the Palestinians would actually grow in wealth, power and influence to the point where they might actually be able to rival Israel economically and perhaps even militarily in a few generations,

If you were dealing with a western culture this would be a no-brainer but this is a face culture. To publicly concede the permanent existence of Israel is a humiliation beyond them. Much easier & safer to grift off the UN, Iran and anyone else’s aid and live without fear of assassination.

But that’s the other half of the coin.

If Potus can nail Iran’s #1 terror coordinator you had better believe that Israel can nail Hamas’ boss men if they wish so that suggests that they might be able to protect a Palestinian leader who comes to the table, furthermore if they turn to terror as a response you don’t know if Trump might decide that like the late Iranian General they are expendable.

Trump is a deal maker, if this deal is turned down then it’s likely that Trump will not only cut the Palestinians off without a cent but might tell Israel that as far as he is concerned they are welcome to take the gloves off both with Palestinian leadership and their people.

What happens if Israel decides they’ve had enough of this and simply annexes any remaining west bank territory that they won in the 1967 war that they need, fence it off and leave the Palestinians to govern the rest of the land without them.

After all what is anyone going to do? The State is Israel is now self sufficient in terms of water and energy. They are a nuclear power and no state not in the business of suicide is going to risk a war of destruction against them. As for the UN what are they going to do other than make noise, after all they can’t be more anti-Israel than they already are.

And that’s only part of it, what happens if an energy exporting US decides to put pressure on other states to cut aid to the Palestinian state? What happens if the gulf states afraid of Iran are told that any help from the US means cutting these folks loose and Iran isn’t doing all that well these days to begin with.

All of this is feasible thanks to a United States that is energy independent, economically resurgent and rearmed beyond the ability of their enemies to challenge them.

This is the actual question that the Palestinian leadership faces: What do you fear more?

Of course without Trump there is no choice necessary. I suspect they will stall and wait to see if the propaganda they are seeing on CNN about Trump’s imminent defeat is real, but if (OK when) the President is re-elected the stark choice will be before them again. I also suspect that the longer they wait, the more likely that both Trump’s and Israel’s price will go up. There are big rewards with going with Trump and survive, but if they go against him they are basically a local street gang with little to no clout beyond their neighborhood and without that foreign capital and Israel willing to provide what they do their clout within the territories vanishes.

The Donald has set before them the choice of life and death of the Palestinian People. I suspect A Palestinian nation unshackled to war and graft will grow and prosper beyond their wildest dreams to the point where Palestinians in Israel & elsewhere will rush to be part of the growth and prosperity it will generate. That is the choice of life.

Alas I doubt they will make that choice. This plan goes nowhere but it would be nice if I was wrong.

Closing thought: Ironically the peace deal is also the best shot for the radicals to manage to conquer Israel eventually. Take the deal, let the Palestinians grow rich and powerful and Israel grow complacent for four or five generations and then strike Pearl Harbor style when it’s not expected. The problem with that plan is once the population is rich, prosperous and happy they just might decide it’s not worth losing what they have to satisfy a few radicals dreams of genocide.

A Comrade Bernie crib sheet

Posted: January 28, 2020 by chrisharper in politics
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By Christopher Harper

As Comrade Bernie lurches to the top of the polls in Iowa and New Hampshire, I think it’s essential to keep a primer handy about his stands on the issues so we can pass it along to those who think he would be a good president.

–College should be free.
–All college debt should be canceled.
–Felons should be allowed to vote after they serve their time and even while in prison.
–Fracking should be banned.
–Abortion should be legal.
–Medical care should be free.
–End existing immigration policies for the most part.
–Institute higher taxes.

City Journal has dubbed Comrade Bernie “The Unaffordable Candidate.” Here is an estimate of what the news organization determined his plans would cost:

“All told, Sanders’s current plans would cost as much as $97.5 trillion over the next decade, and total government spending at all levels would surge to as high as 70 percent of gross domestic product. Approximately half of the American workforce would be employed by the government….

“The $97.5 trillion price tag is made up mostly of the costs of Sanders’s three most ambitious proposals. Sanders concedes that his Medicare For All plan would increase federal spending by ‘somewhere between $30 and $40 trillion over a 10-year period.’ He pledges to spend $16.3 trillion on his climate plan. And his proposal to guarantee all Americans a full-time government job paying $15 an hour, with full benefits, is estimated to cost $30.1 trillion. The final $11.1 trillion includes $3 trillion to forgive all student loans and guarantee free public-college tuition—plus $1.8 trillion to expand Social Security, $2.5 trillion on housing, $1.6 trillion on paid family leave, $1 trillion on infrastructure, $800 billion on general K-12 education spending, and an additional $400 billion on higher public school teacher salaries.”

I don’t underestimate Comrade Bernie because his followers—many of whom are my students—are as nutty as he is, which means they are committed to the cause. 

It’s somewhat ironic that Comrade Bernie is the Democrat leading the polls, particularly after Hillary Clinton launched a broadside attack against him, and Obama is apparently ready to do the same. 

Illinois red-light camera probe provides convincing evidence why they should be banned

Posted: January 26, 2020 by John Ruberry in crime, News/opinion, politics
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Chicago’s Northwest Side

By John Ruberry

There is a lot of red-light camera news in Illinois. As part of an overall corruption investigation in the state, federal authorities are into looking into the activities of Chicago firm, SafeSpeed, LLC, which installs red-light cameras in some Chicago suburbs.

Last week the mayor of west suburban Oakbrook Terrace, Tony Ragucci, resigned. He is part of that SafeSpeed probe. Federal agents have also have raided the municipal offices of the villages of McCook, Summit, and Lyons in conjunction with this investigation. A state senator who is part of the red-light camera probe, Martin Sandoval (D-Chicago) has since resigned.

Last year federal authorities seized $60,000 from Ragucci’s home, according to the Chicago Sun-Times, and $51,000 from a safe from Cook County Commissioner Jeffrey Tobolski’s residence. Tobolski is also the mayor of McCook.

SafeSpeed’s CEO denies any wrongdoing and no charges have been filed regarding the firm.

In 2017, the Forest Park Review called SafeSpeed a “clouted company.”

Something stinks in Illinois. Actually, something new stinks in the state.

Red-light cameras are a cruel cash cow. At best their record in preventing accidents, the prima facie for them, is mixed as evidence shows out of fear of a $100 ticket–the charge in Illinois–motorists often abruptly slam on the brakes but then end up getting rear-ended.

As the nation’s most corrupt city, it shouldn’t be surprising that Chicago has more red-light cameras than any other municipality. Nor should it be surprising that it has endured a bribery scandal involving red-light cameras. John Bills, a former precinct captain in Michael Madigan’s political organization, is currently serving a 10-year prison sentence for accepting $2 million in bribes and gifts from a different red-light camera company, Redflex.

Madigan has been speaker of the Illinois House for thirty-five of the last thirty-seven years and he’s been the chairman of the Illinois Democratic Party since 1998.

Three paragraphs ago I called red light cameras a cruel cash cow. How much cash? From 2008 through 2018, drivers forked over $1 billion to municipalities. Not a major reason, but I suspect the proliferation of red-light cameras, most of which are concentrated in the Chicago area, as among the causes of Illinois’ six-years-and-counting population decline.

Here’s a personal take on red-light cameras. Thursday night Mrs. Marathon Pundit, who is a limousine driver, called me. “You have to pick me up at O’Hare Airport.” I replied, “Why?” She answered, “There is a boot on my limo.” Yes, one of those wheel boots. When I picked her up at O’Hare she supplied more details. “The city says there are four unpaid red-light tickets, two of them are from 2018, but the office says they were never told about them.”

Okay, you may answer that one of her co-workers could be covering up inaction at the office. But in order for her employer to receive a city vehicle sticker for the limo she drives, all red-light camera tickets must be paid off. But the limo she drives has the latest Chicago vehicle sticker.

Those four tickets cost her employer $988, which included late charges and sending someone out to the car to remove the boot. Not knowing what was coming next, Mrs. Marathon Pundit parked her limo in a short-term lot, so her fee–which we have to pay–was a staggering $77. As it took all day Friday to sort out this debacle, my wife missed a day of work. She’s not on salary.

I’m certain hundreds of thousands of Illinoisans have similar stories.

There is some good news regarding red-light cameras. Last year Texas became the eighth state to abolish them. And in a rare bipartisan push, there is a movement in Illinois to ban them. And Illinois drivers now have a new friend, Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza. The Chicago Democrat says she’ll no longer assist municipalities in collecting red-light camera tickets. “As a matter of public policy, this system is clearly broken,” Mendoza said in a statement, “I am exercising the moral authority to prevent state resources from being used to assist a shady process that victimizes taxpayers.”

Good for her. 

Red-light cameras should be banned. 

John Ruberry regularly blogs at Marathon Pundit.

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