Sen. Diane Feinstein R.I.P.

 This news just broke this morning, saw the headline pop-up on my phone.

We have a #HouseSpeaker

 

[VIDEO] Kevin McCarthy clinched it after 15 votes. This had to have just happened. I just saw during the 14th vote for Speaker I saw him face down Congressman Matt Gaetz - Gaetz had been a thorn in McCarthy's speaker bid. It got a bit exciting, there was about to be a SmackDown match.

I look forward to finding out what happened, what finally got McCarthy 216 votes. About the same margin as Nancy Pelosi most recently, so I wonder what justifies that.

#HouseSpeaker 11 ballots

 Well there is some news and who knows if it's credible. California Congressman Kevin McCarthy who is the Republican leader and Speaker presumptive who's shown after three days and 11 votes for a House Speaker that he's not a shoo-in. From Politico:

Kevin McCarthy and his conservative opponents have reached a tentative breakthrough after a days-long standoff, giving the California Republican’s speaker bid a needed momentum boost.

Conservatives say they still need to look over the details of the potential package of concessions, but it’s a sign of life for McCarthy, who has struggled to show public strength after three days of 11 speaker ballots that have seen him fail to flip any of his opponents.

Importantly, while it will get McCarthy closer, it is unlikely the agreement will be enough to get him the votes he needs to win the speakership. Twenty Republicans have been routinely opposing McCarthy on the floor, leaving him more than a dozen votes short of where he needs to be to win the House’s top gavel. McCarthy will need to flip most of those votes without alienating centrists and institutionalists, who worry that he is giving away too much.

The possible deal comes after several hours of negotiations with McCarthy’s detractors and less than a day after the GOP leader made an offer that conceded to basically all of their demands — including making it easier to boot a speaker.

Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz nominated former President Trump on the floor. This is something it seems MAGA supporters want and technically the Speaker of the House doesn't necessarily have to be a sitting member of that body. It was a BOOM moment when it happened.  [VIDEO]

Now I'm somewhat aware that there were some issues coming with McCarthy, but who knew that it would take three days to still determine who'll be the next House Speaker. Routinely Hakeem Jeffries the new Democrat leader in the house - minority leader - has been getting more votes than McCarthy to take the gavel. However, a candidate needs 218 a majority of voters to be able to be the House of Representatives presiding officer.

Part of me says McCarthy needs to bow out! Part of me wants to get to the real business of the people! And I recognize this is a consequence of the non-red wave.

Nancy Pelosi steps down

 While she will remain in the US House of Representatives she will stand down as leader of the House Democrat caucus. That means the Democrats will have a new minority leader. After 2010 when Democrats lost control of the House she stood down as Speaker and was minority although she did regain the speakership after 2018.

Probably a good thing for Democrats that means they will need new leadership, however, I'd be worried about the caucus going into a further leftward direction.

GOP win slim US House majority

 

[VIDEO] Former Pres. Trump noted this yesterday in his candidacy announcement, however, it wasn't official. One thing that was easy to predict even if there wasn't this red wave that didn't happen last week was that the Republicans would take the house. Democrats won the US Senate with the call of Adam Laxalt losing to Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto.

Either way the Republicans got 218 seats to say they have control over that chamber and this means a check to President Joe Biden's spending spree. May even mean no more student loan forgiveness....

O'Reilly: Speaker Pelosi is finished

 

[VIDEO] It appears that the GOP will be on their way to gaining control of the US House of Representatives. According the ABC News outfit Five Thirty Eight so far the GOP has 211 seats to 201 for the Democrats. That means voters in many congressional districts will have effectively fired Nancy Pelosi as Speaker of the House.

As for Bill O'Reilly here he says that Speaker Pelosi is finished. Her caucus isn't likely to hold their majority as she predicted. He also claimed she's severely damaged the nation. It would be amazing if she held onto even being minority leader in the House. And she's almost 80 if she isn't already, time for some new blood. However, new blood means a more left-leaning progressive caucus and that might not be good for the Democrat Party.

Once the GOP secures those seats to give them a solid majority

FOX News: Activists erupt at AOC, calling her a coward

 

[VIDEO] Tucker Carlson talked about this on his program last nite. AOC's constituents are upset with her because they believe she's part of the establishment. The activists are yelling at her during a meeting chiding her for her support for the conducting the War in Ukraine where she ought to be against the conflict.

AOC may have been seen as an outsider ousting years ago a longtime incument, however, this is the price to pay to being a public official. You do something that goes against the image you project and expect people - whom she called rude - to say something about it.

ALSO, this is kind of what she and other so-called progressive politicians want. She wants disruptions like this people yelling and screaming about issues they care about. She just doesn't want that energy directed at her....

AP: Omar ekes out House primary win over centrist in Minnesota

 On this blog I rarely go heavily into political analysis other than what's already in the news. I just found this interesting from primary nite in Minnesota. Congresswoman Ilhan Omar is one of the members of The Squad often a group of female members of the US House of Representatives such as AOC, Ayana Pressley, Rashida Tlaib, and more recently Cori Bush. The Squad is are very progressive Democratic socialists who hold such views as defund police.

So Rep. Omar had won a much closer primary to a more moderate Democrat in his Twin Cities congressional district.

Omar, who represents Minneapolis and is one of the left's leading voices in Congress, has defended calls to redirect public safety funding more into community-based programs. She squared off with former City Councilmember Don Samuels, whose north Minneapolis base suffers from more violent crime than other parts of the city.

Samuels argued that Omar is divisive and helped defeat a ballot question last year that sought to replace the city police department with a new public safety unit. He and others also successfully sued the city to force it to meet minimum police staffing levels called for in Minneapolis' charter.

Samuels said his narrow loss shows that Omar is beatable: “If this was the general election, no doubt that we would have won this race." Omar countered, “Tonight’s victory is a testament to how much our district believes in the collective values we are fighting for.”

What I see in that article is a lot of references to "defund the police" and Rep. Omar is a proponent. She still won however. 

Last week Laura Ingraham visited those parts of Minneapolis that were heavily affected by the rioting after George Floyd's death in 2020. Those viewing her FOX News program found that the high crime has even bled into downtown MPLS. Police staffing levels are lower since the political establishment there aren't putting much effort into meeting minimum staffing levels. They may still believe in this idea as noted in the quote above of "abolish the police".

Of course here's one thing that confuses me:

“She’s had a lot of adversity already and pushback. I don’t think her work is done,” said Kathy Ward, a 62-year-old property caretaker for an apartment building in Minneapolis who voted for Omar. “We’ve got to give her a chance.”

A chance for what exactly? More of the same. She needs more of a chance to abolish police.

I found some numbers for Rep. Omar's race here from FOX 9 in MPLS. The numbers and percentages are real close. 

 

Tucker Carlson clashes with Rep. Salazar over Russia-Ukraine war and borders

 

[VIDEO] I heard about this from someone I know and didn't get a chance to see it when it aired. Republican Rep. Maria Salazar was on Tucker this week and well was told she didn't do very well and was demolished. I only saw the first perhaps minute or so of this segment where Tucker showed her in a video by another news outlet and her responses were embarrassing. 

That's when I knew this interview was going to be uncomfortable...

Shapiro: Why the Democrat Party is self-destructive?

 

[VIDEO] Well most of the "right-wing" pundits are going on and on about how President Bran....Joe Biden's "Build Back Better" agenda has at least stalled through New Year's Day 2022. West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin has effectively stalled the President agenda by saying he will vote no on more social spending.

You have AOC and Bernie Sanders talking smack about this except that well Sen. Manchin unlike Sen. Sanders and Congresswoman AOC live in districts that are far different than the whole state of West Virginia. West Virginia is really a red state although yeah Sen. Manchin is in fact a Democrat and he's even daring his own party to push him into the independent category.

What a politically risky move? He risks his association with a party that has gone hard left and seems to expect no dissention. At the same time if he does vote with the progressive left liberals within the party he may well lose his US Senate seat.

It's funny that from the New York City area or from Vermont that Sanders and AOC believe that Manchin will harm his constituents in West Virginia. How do they know and in what way? I'm guessing Manchin is hearing much different right now.

However, thank goodness for Machine's moderate voice. It's needed right now as it seems there isn't a lot of in between in politics, especially in Washington. I see one side that's dead set on their way and could do more harm than good, perhaps there are more considerate and moderate Democrats in Congress!

Biden/Harris administration collapsing?

 

[VIDEO] Bill O'Reilly discusses this. There is an infrastructure bill that O'Reilly expects to pass which it appears has been held up by The Squad who wants to pass an even more expensive reconciliation. The price tag of both bills are in the trillions and it seems when they talk about infrastructure they're redefining it.

Think Green New Deal, free community colleges, in addition to roads, bridges, etc.

I guess another thing discussed here is has the Democrat Party finally turned against the President? Biden seemed to want to carry the water of the progressive left, and he wanted to be President. Is it they who have turned against President Biden? Does the more common sense Democrats still have enough sway to recognize that their more progressive left wing of the part is causing more damage to the chances of the party in 2022?

Mark Dice: Bonkers Democrat goes off rails on live TV

 

[VIDEO] Mark Dice takes aim at the squad between AOC's wearing her mask for a photo-op and then taking it off a bit later. He also takes aim at Rep. Cori Bush who as she continues to advocate for defunding police, states that she plans to continue to pay for her own personal security. And then President Sleepy Joe can't get his numbers right as far as how many American citizens have been vaccinated.

Liberal Hivemind: Impeachment IS OVER As Democrats Realize THEY HAVE NO CASE!

 

[VIDEO] I wrote about this briefly probably before Trump left office. I think this was foolhardy back then especially given that Trump from January 6th and forward was a lame duck. The Democrats just wanted to impeach a man who was out of office anyway.

The primary motivator of this as it turned out was not to punish a man who allegedly incited an "insurrection" it was to insure that this man will never run for federal office again. Trying to keep him from getting his job back in 2024.

For me without looking at the big picture, it was going to take some time for a trial to go forward. They tried to get then Vice President Mike Pence to invoke the 25th amendment on Trump, and thankfully Pence knew better and wouldn't take the bait. Still it took about a month to send one article of impeachment to the US Senate to finally begin a trial where Senators even debated whether or not this was constitutional. Newsflash they decided that it was.

I stuck with the time aspect, but what's the big picture. Well the big picture is that now that we've set this precedent, is it possible future presidents who are unpopular - whether with the public or with other politicians - will be subject to the same treatment. Especially while in office or after they've left office.

So you may not like the movement that propelled former President Trump into office in 2016, and yes I've heard that argument. People want to use this impeachment to kill that movement also. But to use such an important process for frivolous reasons is definitely problematic.

As Liberal Hivemind discusses recently it's amazing that they're going through a process that is in effect unconstitutional since Trump is no longer president and there's no office to remove him from. It's also amazing that there's a great chance that nothing will come of this process.

From what I've been hearing in the media, Trump didn't incite anything. He called for a peaceful protest on January 6th. Sadly it went further, and blame Trump or anyone else I just think what happened last month is a sign that America hasn't settled down from the stress of the coronavirus shutdowns or even the violence over the past summer.

Blue Collar Logic: Did Nancy Pelosi Make A HUGE Mistake?

 

[VIDEO] One thing that begins to ring true even now. Well Trump is facing impeachment even as a private citizen at this point - well let's debate whether or not that's constitutional or not. Motivating this is breaking the movement that propelled Trump into office and gave him 75 million votes as he unsuccessfully sought re-election. And another motivation is the idea that he could be banished from running for federal office again.

Another funny thing noted by Jason Siler is that well to prove that former President Trump lied and provoked people to breach the U.S. Capitol well as a defense Trump has to prove that the election was stolen. Wouldn't it be funny if Giuliani and crew were able to prove in an impeachment trial to the swamp in Washington that the election WAS stolen?

The Pence issue is a distraction

 I'm sharing this analysis with you from Mark Tapscott at Instapundit, they discuss the procedure of electoral college vote challenges. Something to quote from that posting:

I suggest to folks on both sides of that issue that the more fundamental question is whether Congress has the authority to set aside a state’s Electoral College votes. In my view, there are two key aspects of the question:

First, is there sufficient evidence of fraud in states like Georgia, Pennsylvania, Arizona, and others to justify the decisions of Republican senators Ted Cruz of Texas and Josh Hawley of Missouri to register objections to the acceptance of their Electoral College votes? I haven’t had the opportunity to review all of the evidence for all of the allegations, but, as explained, for example, in this “American Thought Leaders” interview on The Epoch Times with the Data Integrity Group, the evidence of vote manipulation in multiple states is substantial and cries out for a critical investigation.

Second, Congress has an absolute right to set aside the Electoral College votes, according to President Abraham Lincoln, who told Congress on February 9, 1865, that “the two Houses of Congress, convened under the twelfth article of the Constitution, have complete power to exclude from counting all electoral votes deemed by them to be illegal, and it is not competent for the Executive to defeat or obstruct that power by a veto …”

The process seen in Wednesday’s Joint Session, interrupted as it was by the riot around and within the Capitol, was conducted as prescribed in the Constitution. Each properly framed and submitted objection to the acceptance of a state’s certified Electoral College votes gets two hours of debate in the Senate and the House, at the end of which members of both chambers vote on whether to accept or reject the objection.

Unfortunately, the other objects on the table weren't discussed thanks to the riots that took place on Capitol Hill. So this is indeed the ballgame, however, don't let anyone convince you that those challenges are a threat to democracy. We should care if anyone is essentially disenfranchised by any voter fraud, we should want honest elections. 

The "swamp" finally got what they wanted

 

[VIDEO] Tim Pool discusses the events of yesterday the certification of electoral votes in favor of Joe Biden. President Trump finally pledges an orderly transition. And it seems Trump is getting ready to leave office on January 20th.

I once predicted back in 2016 that whoever won the election that year would likely have only one term. That prediction as much as I hope that wouldn't come to pass has come true. I can't ignore the possibility that there were some voters who took a chance on Trump in '16 didn't like his conduct and personality and voted for someone else - whether Biden or whomever.

The sad toll four people died, one woman was shot in the neck by a police officer inside the Capitol. Three others had a medical emergency of some sort and died as a result. Truly a crazy day yesterday and it helped evaporate any energy the electoral vote objections had. I saw it when newly defeated Kelly Loefler from Georgia pledged to drop her objections, and she wasn't the only one. I should've anticipated this, however, once the nonsense happened in Washington it changed the mood for sure. 

I want to note that there is a stark difference between how many viewed the riots over the summer in a number of cities vs what happened on Capitol Hill. The people who stormed the Capitol were insurrectionists, this was a coup d'etat, or even god forbid seditionists. Then again for the unrest over the past summer I think those same rules apply. Seditionist would apply to the assault in Portland on a federal courthouse and it would apply to the CHAZ/CHOP area of Seattle. There was no real outcry on the progressive liberal side of the aisle.

I would dare say the progressive liberal Democrats would feign support for why this destruction took place over the summer and yet be very upset over this. I hate the blindness Democrats have regarding Antifa/BLM the swamp Democrats who hold gov't positions won't get much harbor from these rabid leftist anarchists. We've seen it some rabid anarchist attempted to attack Andrea Mitchell and Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton. They booed Ted Wheeler when he attempted to speak to the "seditionists" in Portland attempting to show solidarity with them (and why would he want to show solidarity with them). Let's be clear anytime there is violence for any reason whether political or even race riots it has to be condemned and it can't be excused!

So aside from the electoral vote count on Wednesday, perhaps I have some hope that the incoming Democrat administration will be a lot stronger on this issue. I feel as if I will be very disappointed, but let's hope they realize they're not safe from this. They can be as hard on the people they can oppose all they want, but the ones they cover for aren't their allies.

Meanwhile it seems Trump has finally accepted his loss in November. I don't have to like that fact, but that's where we are today. Now we need to look forward to 2022 and 2024, hopefully we will be out of this crazy pandemic by those years.

Georgia runoff & January 6th, 2021

 As I share this, the Georgia runoffs for their two US Senate seats appear to be too close to call. I'm willing to predict that one of those two seats will remain Republican. The pressure cooker of this is that well Georgia is one of those disputed states from last year's presidential election and course a recorded call of Trump attempting to convince GA's Secretary of State to look into voter fraud.

And tomorrow will be January 6th when the US Congress will meet to certify the electoral vote. And there are a sizeable number of Senators and Representatives who will object to the certification over allegations of voter fraud.

Well I want to share with you Illinois Republican congressional response. How many of them might choose to join the group of Congressmen & women who might join in the object. They only mention LaHood, Kinzinger, and Bost. Also noted at CapFax Rodney Davis who represents amongst other parts of his district the University of Illinois has not taken a position as of yet.

LaHood still mulling objection to election results, Bost silent, Kinzinger calls it a “scam” https://t.co/SPcgNyRxWQ

— Rich Miller (@capitolfax) January 5, 2021

I also want to note that there is a protest being planned in Washington, DC just in time for this certification. I think if anything really weird happens with this election this might light a fuse under the more destructive elements of our society. Whether or not they were involved in the process all they need is an excuse to get fired up. Here's hoping things remain peaceful though I'm not sure the objections will really do anything to change the process.

Indeed we may well be in uncharted territory whatever happens tomorrow.

2020 election update and happy new year

 

[VIDEO] I couldn't leave 2020 without sharing this update with you. In the near year the US Congress will count all the electoral votes cast in December. There are some in Congress - there will be objections from the US House & Senate to the 2020 election. I say good on that, this wasn't an honest election by any means....

Either way, what's being perpetrated it seems as if this is nothing more than a hail mary. Dueling electors having Mike Pence "overturn the November presidential election" or even the possibility of a contigent election seems like a final push that may not work.

Either way I wont predict the future. For now Trump is staying quiet about the results and so is Biden. Roman Balmakov as you see above one possible outcome is that the objections are heard and debated and this could go to the S.C.O.T.U.S.

Regardless I don't think Pence as Vice President and President of the U.S. Senate can just give the election to Trump. That would be very controversial at a time when America experienced great unrest and under increased pressure due to coronavirus lockdowns. I feel as if any shenanigans give restless and destruction individuals an excuse to go crazy.

As always I hope for the best, happy new year! 

Starfleet or naval ranks for US Space Force personnel

Well I'm for this as long as the US Space Force can have their own space missions. I don't think having Captains or Commanders will matter much if the Space Force can't go to space.

And I hope Congressman Dan Crenshaw - who is in fact a former Navy Seal - can get his amendment into the 2021 National Defense Authorization act. And it's amazing that the original Captain James T. Kirk was the one who proposed using naval ranks for the newest US Armed Service.

Just to give you a briefing and yet another change of pace, here are the ranks for Starfleet from the Star Trek universe. And also consider the Space Force's insignia almost resembles the insignia for the futuristic Starfleet from Star Trek.

Via Boing Boing

h/t Instapundit

Rubin Report: Nearly attacked on camera. Why are mayors allowing chaos?

[VIDEO] The video you see at the 2 min 14 sec mark during this segment featuring Dave Rubin and Dana Perino was something I saw Tuesday nite. Two people were about to be assaulted by someone who came out of the shadows with their bullhorn. A big burly guy who I hope was a bodyguard of some sort blocked this person from doing any real damage, however, as I see from this clip got dangerously close to one of them.

What I didn't know is that CNN NBC's Andrea Mitchell and DC's US House delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton were the victims of this attempted assault. I think it had to have been Andrea Mitchell who asked "Where are the police when you need them?"

Heh! Let me engage in some political or social commentary here.

In the wake of the callous arrest and death of George Floyd one of the more shocking things I have ever seen was the attempt by rioters, vandals and protests who came to attack CNN. They broke some windows and vandalized CNN's logo. For some reason those folks in Atlanta as they protested for Black Lives Matter just did not like CNN or went after them.

You know my response to this: "Why would they attack CNN - the most trusted name in news?"

In the wake of what has happened in the wake of that last weekend in May, what if I told you that I have been watching a lot more news lately. What if I told you that I had been watching a lot more ideological YouTubers or better yet more news analysis YouTubers lately.

What if I believed these are orchestrated attacks? What if I said these rioters, looters, or vandals were attacking CNN or that person on the street attacked Mitchell and Delegate Holmes Norton because they represented the establishment. It matters not that they may themselves represent liberal, left or progressive ideas. They all represents institutions that they want to remake in their own image.

For a moment I didn't get it myself, but now I do. It further causes me to realize that perhaps the disturbances we've been seeing lately it'll take time before they calm down. I also hope for both CNN - or actually media since Mitchell is actually employed by NBC News - and Del. Holmes Norton that they view this as a wakeup call. Downplay these so-called activists if you want to, they won't care in the long run that you're sympathetic to them.