Shut the government down

Don Surber  "Face it, we deplorables would love to see the federal government shut down for a month or so. A battle for funding the wall is as good an excuse as any.
"Imagine a month without Congress. Well into the 19th century, Congress took summers off. Then Willis Haviland Carrier invented modern air conditioning, and the swamp critters could stay all year round.
"No FBI would be fun. No one to entrap you. No one to raid your lawyer in a pre-dawn attack.
"No IRS to harass legitimate conservative charities while giving the Clinton Fake Charity a pass.
"The military would continue to protect the country. And President Trump -- who gets to pick and choose what agencies gets shut down (thanks, Obama) -- would keep the border patrol on.
"I am pretty sure the Social Security checks would continue since it is a self-funded agency. But why worry? President Trump would sooner open up the prisons than piss off all us old people.
"Conservatives are very patriotic people, but they are not very happy with the government.
"Liberals love the government but hate the country.
"Here's an idea: How about we get a government that actually serves the country. That way, liberals can hate both."

Remember Obama's vindictive shutdown of monuments and memorials to "make it hurt"?  (Video added by TD)

2013: Obama Wants to Make the Shutdown Hurt Ordinary Americans

 . . . "During the Obama administration the memorials were “weaponized” for the purposes of political optics:

The Trump Administration is leaving the National Mall and monuments open in a shutdown. Remember when Obama shut them down to get PR out of WWII vets pushed away from the WWII memorial? Good times.

— Erick Erickson (@EWErickson) January 19, 2018

"Among the defining images of that [obama] shutdown were children locked out of parks and veterans protesting at barricades in front of the World War II Memorial" https://t.co/gJtCncYnrW

— Ryan (@alwaysonoffense) January 20, 2018

Never forget how Obama tried to inflict as much pain as possible on the American citizen when the govt shutdown under his watch. He closed every park unnecessarily and erected barriers in open air spaces. Patriots tore them down! Make Dems pay for #SchumerShutdown https://t.co/JMc1dN3ceS

 "Valor: Another wounded warrior carried Barrycades; Searcy: 'Best damn tweet ever!' "

Students Walkout to Protest Firing of Teacher Who Refused to Use Transgendered Student’s Preferred Gender Pronouns

Legal Insurrection  (Video) "French Teacher Peter Vlaming was fired from West Point High School in West Point, Virginia for refusing to use a transgendered student’s preferred pronouns.

"Vlaming attempted to accommodate the student by using her preferred name instead of any pronoun; an accommodation the school board found insufficient. “Mr. Vlaming was recommended for termination due to this insubordination and repeated refusal to comply with directives made to him by multiple WPPS administrators,” said Superintendent Laura Abel.

"Less than 24 hours after Vlaming was fired, students held a walkout to protest the firing of Vlaming.

“ 'I  feel like everyone should have the freedom of speech and the freedom of religion as well,” said Junior Zachary Gonzalez, speaking to local news.

. . . 

"From the Christian Post:

Less than 24 hours after the West Point, Virginia school board unanimously voted to terminate high school French instructor Peter Vlaming, a large group of students walked out of their classes to protest the decision.

“He’s an amazing man,” student Wyatt Pedersen told WWBT News. “I think he really was going with what he believed was right and it’s really unfair that he’s being punished for that, especially in such a dramatic way.”

“I feel like everyone should have the freedom of speech and the freedom of religion as well,” said Junior Zachary Gonzalez.

Forrest Rohde, the West Point High School junior who organized the walkout, emphasized that the protest was not about the transgender student. Rather, he said students took issue with the school board “trying to force the teacher to conform to their ideologies with the threat of removal from the school.”

“The child is going through a lot,” Rohde said. “We shouldn’t be directing this towards her, we should be directing this towards the school board.”

Jerry Brown Says Dems Are Becoming Too Extreme — Ocasio-Cortez Proves Him Right

American Thinker

Investors.com  "Left-Wing Extremists: Things must be pretty bad in the Democratic Party if outgoing California Gov. Jerry Brown thinks the party is out of touch with mainstream America. But then again, look at what the party's new socialist darling, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, is now successfully pushing.
"In a radio interview this week, Brown said that the Democratic Party has gone "further out than I think the majority of people want." Brown was talking mostly about his own state's Democrats, which now completely dominate the state government and might go off the deep end.
"But the observation applies equally to Democrats outside the Golden State. As IBD has been observing for years, the Democratic Party has lost its mooring and has been drifting steadily to the extremist left.

Green New Deal
"Now the far left is the "mainstream" in the Democratic Party. Even if their ideas are radical by every else's measure.
"Just look at how the party is quickly buckling under pressure from socialists like Ocasio-Cortez.
"Before taking office, Ocasio-Cortez has convinced many Democratic colleagues to sign on to her economy-wrecking Green New Deal (GND) agenda. That resolution would establish a goal of having the country shift to 100% renewable energy in a decade. It would decarbonize all industries. And it promises to upgrade "every residential and industrial build for state-of-the-art energy efficiency.' " . . .

"Rockstar" Wilson

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez ramps up the teacher's-pet act   "Out of the blue, socialist congresswoman-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, 29, has started something with outgoing White House chief of staff John Kelly, calling on him to apologize for the "he-said, she-said" scrap he had a while back with Florida Democratic congresswoman Frederica Wilson   over the sensitivity of an official phone call to a slain serviceman's grieving family.  Talk about a baseless argument.

"And talk about a useless fight she has nothing to gain from.  She's not going to get the apology she wants from Kelly, who is unlikely to have been lying, as Wilson claims, and what's more, she wouldn't benefit politically even if she did.  Just taking the side of the clownish posturer Wilson with her many sequined cowboy hats over the ramrod-straight Kelly, who lost a son in Afghanistan, makes Ocasio-Cortez look like a fool." . . .

Fox Mocks Vox:  "Vox mocked for seeking constitutional overhaul so Ocasio-Cortez can run for president" 
"Liberal political website Vox is getting accused of jumping the shark after publishing an appeal to “fix the Constitution ASAP” so that 29-year-old incoming Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez can run for president – claiming “there’s no time like the present to start working to abolish arbitrary qualifications.”
"Wednesday's lengthy piece, “It’s ridiculous that it’s unconstitutional for Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to run for president,” declared that everyone from immigrants to recent college grads should be eligible." . . .

Nancy and Chuck meet in the Deal-Maker's house

http://www.terrellaftermath.com/

Strasbourg 'Gangster-Jihadist' Makes Nancy and Chuck Seem Clueless  "One wonders if Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi have any concept how pathetic and clueless their politically motivated, anti- border wall clichés look in light of the latest terror attack in Strasbourg. Their insistence, in Tuesday's meeting with Trump, that the wall by itself would not be a panacea--whoever said it was?--and that we don't have the Islamist threat the Israelis or even the Europeans do to justify its construction now seems extraordinarily simple-minded.
"In fact it always was. Under the radar and barely remarked upon by our media, that cross-border terror threat has already done something even worse than 9/11.  It has reduced the life expectancy of the American people.
"But more of that in a moment. First, Strasbourg.  It has introduced a new term in the terror lexicon that can be instructive for all of us:

French investigators call them the “ gangster-jihadists” – young men, often from poor immigrant backgrounds, who start with petty crime, drug dealing and robbery and graduate to terrorism.

David Limbaugh: Pelosi and Schumer Show Their Colors

. . . It's undeniable that Pelosi and Schumer initiated the aggressive exchanges, that they personally insulted Trump and were rude and condescending to him, that they openly objected to transparency, and that they misrepresented their own position on border security. 

"Say what you want about Trump, but he very honestly said that he was determined to get a border wall, that he preferred to have this discussion in front of the entire world and that he would be willing for the government to shut down over it. Pelosi and Schumer are just as willing to shut down the government over it but unwilling to be honest about it.

" I applaud President Trump for bringing this issue front and center and exposing the fraudulent and reckless position of the Democratic leadership on border security."

Vogue Editor Had the Audacity to Criticize Melania Trump’s Attire!

Comically Incorrect  Sometimes in this modern age, the incomprehensible surrounds us with a living “fact that is stranger than fiction” model.

"Lynn Yaeger, native New Yorker and a contributing editor at Vogue, is a person who is stranger than fiction. Her clothes, her makeup, her hairstyle all defy the imagination. Indeed, Yaeger’s persona is, I’m sorry to say, the stuff of nightmares.

"If clowns are evil — and many people and many of my own friends assert they are — what would you call a “woman” who purposely dresses like Lynn Y.?. . . 

. . . "This highly esteemed Vogue editor dared to criticize First Lady Melania Trump’s attire…or to be precise, her stilettos." . . .

And why, oh why, can’t this administration get anything, even a pair of shoes, right?

Starbucks’ new bathroom policy not working out as hoped (However, it is working out as expected.)

Legal Insurrection

"It has been 7 months since the famous purveyor of caffeinated confection, Starbucks, declared their bathrooms “open to the public” without the need to purchase their products.

"Data suggests that the virtue signaling isn’t working out as well as hoped by the corporate leaders. A New York Post team investigated several Manhattan bathrooms and found that there wasn’t an open stall.

…A half-dozen toilets were locked or barricaded for no clear reason. Others were closed for prolonged “cleaning,” which an insider said was needed after extreme soiling caused by drug-using, incontinent vagrants.

“Letting everybody in has resulted in nobody getting in,” an employee at one branch fumed.

“Rest Room closed,” declared signs at 399 Seventh Ave. (entrance on West 32nd Street) and at a branch at Pearl Street and Maiden Lane. At 252 W. 31st St., the road to relief was blocked by garbage cans. Furniture and boxes formed a barrier at 61 W. 56th St.

A rope and traffic cones barred the way at 38 Park Row. When a desperate visitor asked if the loo would reopen any time soon, a barista directed him to a Dunkin’ Donuts nearby.

"Why would the bathrooms need “prolonged cleaning”? Perhaps the experience of the Seattle shops provides an explanation:

You Are Here San Francisco Creates First Transgender District

From 2017: Intellectual Takeout

"San Francisco created a special cultural district for transgender persons, marking the first legal transgender district created anywhere in the world.

"San Francisco’s Tenderloin district is now home to “Compton’s Transgender Cultural District,” The Daily Beast reported Tuesday.

The Tenderloin is a triangular neighborhood located a few blocks from San Francisco’s City Hall. It is also San Francisco’s most notorious drug district, according to authorities, Vice reported in 2014.

It is one of the most dangerous districts in the city, authorities say.

Mahogany

Hyde Street’s 300 block is regarded as the city’s grossest block. Human waste lying in the streets is a norm, reported The New York Times in October. The block is part of San Francisco’s Tenderloin neighborhood.

The district was created in order to create a safe space for transgender persons and to aid those who identify as transgender being pushed out of their own neighborhoods, according to Compton’s district manager, Honey Mahogany, the Beast reported. 

The district will also teach San Franciscans about the history of transgender evolution, Mahogany said, according to the Beast.

“The Tenderloin has always held a really special place in my heart as a trans person with the way the community is accepting of gender variant and trans people of color,” Mahogany said, the Beast reported.

Is There Anything Environmentalists Won't Blame On Climate Change?

They also know that the climate is always changing. (Take a trip to the Grand Canyon if you don't believe it.)  And the public knows that not everything bad that is happening today can possibly be the result of a less-than-1-degree Celsius increase in average global temperatures over the past 100 years.

Investors  "Climate Change: CNN this week published a huge story saying the source of the migrant caravan wasn't so much corrupt Central American governments, violence or lousy economic policies. It was climate change. This is just the latest attempt by environmentalists to blame any and all bad news — even acne — on climate change.

"The CNN story, complete with pictures, videos and charts, claims that climate change is responsible for the drought in parts of Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador and Nicaragua that forced thousands to flee for the U.S.

"Well, not "responsible," exactly. The author admits part way through that "Studies have not definitively tied this particular drought to climate change." 
. . . 
"In other words, the entire premise of story is pretty much bunk. The best the CNN reporter could come up with is that "computer models show droughts like the one happening now are becoming more common as the world warms."

"Why would you need computer models to tell you what is supposedly happening right now? Probably because in the U.S., at least, there's been no increase in droughts since the 1890s.

"Unfortunately, playing fast and loose with the facts and jumping to wild conclusions is now the standard operating procedure when it comes to global warming." . . . Full article here: 
 https://www.investors.com/politics/editorials/environmentalists-climate-change-blame/

First Lady Melania Trump Visits U.S. Military and Families…

The Last Refuge  "Earlier today First Lady Melania Trump visited Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling, Joint Base Langley-Eustis and the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush. Continuing to blaze her own trail, our First Lady actually flew on a v-22 Osprey."

Melania Trump

✔@FLOTUS

An incredible flight today on a V-22 to visit the service members aboard the USS George HW Bush. Thank you to ALL who serve!

Clinton Whistleblowers: Thursday’s Public Hearing to Reveal “Explosive” Information

Sara Carter  "A trove of documents on the Clinton Foundation alleging possible pay for play and tax evasion have been turned over to the FBI and IRS by several investigative whistleblowers, who will be testifying in an open hearing before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Thursday, according to the committee and lawmakers.

"Roughly 6,000 documents that are expected to reveal the nearly two-year investigation by the whistleblowers with a private firm called MDA Analytics LLC, which allegedly turned over the documents more than a year and a half ago to the IRS, according to John Solomon, who first published the report last week in The Hill. 

"The whistleblowers are former federal criminal investigators, who allege that the Clinton Foundation was “engaged in illegal activities and may be liable for millions of dollars in delinquent taxes and penalties,” according to Solomon.

"The Department of Justice and the FBI’s Little Rock, Ark. field office, which is believed to be investigating the foundation, have allegedly obtained the documentation from the whistleblowers as well, according to lawmakers who’ve spoken with the whistleblowers.

"Clinton Foundation officials could not be immediately reached for comment.

"However, a former whistleblower, who has spoken with agents from the Little Rock FBI field office last year and worked for years as an undercover informant collecting information on Russia’s nuclear energy industry for the bureau, noted his enormous frustration with the DOJ and FBI. He describes as a two-tiered justice system that failed to actively investigate the information he provided years ago on the Clinton Foundation and Russia’s dangerous meddling with the U.S. nuclear industry and energy industry during the Obama administration." . . .

Fear the left Incoming NY State AG admits her plan to find a crime by Trump or 'anyone in his orbit'

WITCH HUNT: NY Attorney General Says She'll Investigate Everyone Around Trump

New York Attorney Gen.-elect Letitia James is buttressing President Trump’s claims that there is a “witch hunt” pursuing him; she told NBC News that she intends to investigate not only the president, but also his family and "anyone" in his circle who may have violated the law.  . . .

Thomas Lifson  "Another Democrat has revealed her totalitarian impulse under the malign influence of Trump Derangement Syndrome.  Letitia James, who will take office as attorney general of the State of New York, has just admitted to the friendly folks at NBC News that she is channeling Lavrenty Beria, Stalin's notorious secret police head, who famously said, "Show me the man, and I'll find you the crime."

"I think within the first 100 days this bill will be passed," she said, adding, "It is a priority because I have concerns with respect to the possibility that this administration might pardon some individuals who might face some criminal charges, but I do not want them to be immune from state charges."

"With Rep. Ted Lieu admitting his frustration with the First Amendment, yesterday saw two prominent Dems revealing the inner tyrants.

It seems to me a safe bet that once the Democrats take control of the House of Representatives, they will spiral even faster into a frenzy to "get" Trump and will present a spectacle to the American public that will be a sobering lesson.  But in the month ahead, I would not rule out more auto-unmasking of tyrant-wannabes."

Dem Rep. Ted Lieu says that he'd 'love to be able to regulate the content of speech'

Now, the second clause of his second sentence is curious.  That Congressman Lieu thinks that in the long run, free speech is a good idea suggest that right now, he doesn't think it's a good thing.  Does this mean that during the Trump presidency, free speech would be suspended if he had his druthers?  Would the "long run" be when Democrats have imported enough impoverished foreigners to guarantee perpetual rule?  Or maybe just when Trump is out of office?
Last March, I noted that TDS is driving what I called "the great unmasking of the left."

The Trump border reality show edition

Bookworm Room
"Trump turned the debate over funding a Southern border wall into a brilliant reality show, with Pelosi and Schumer as his hapless foils . . . and much more.

Cartoon added by TD

. . . "Even at the reliably Left-leaning Daily Beast, Matt Lewis explained that Trump walked away the undisputed victor: . . ."

. . . "But do you want to know how I know with certainty that Trump was the victorious alpha in that room? This is how: The Left focused obsessively on the fact that Trump interrupted Pelosi. The horror!Trump interrupted Nancy Pelosi 15 times in the Oval Office. Watch her coolly shut it down. (Leftist sexism overflowed!)

How Nancy Pelosi Masterfully Dismantled Trump : Do not mansplain to the former — and likely future — Speaker of the House.

Commentary: Pelosi-Trump exchange put the rudeness of ‘talking over’ on full display

Congresswoman, Interrupted : President Trump’s interruptions of House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi are part of a long tradition of men talking over female colleagues.

"If the only thing you can say after a televised debate about a matter of enormous importance to Americans is “he was mean to the most powerful woman in America,” you’ve conceded that you’ve lost the substantive argument." . . .

That Oval Office sit-down? Pelosi and Schumer got skunked.  "There are thousands of families in the U.S. who have lost children and family members to illegal aliens in a variety of horrific ways.  In that sure-to-go-down-in-history Oval Office confab, Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer effectively let us know that they don't care about us or our losses.  They need Democrat voters; that is their abiding goal."
. . . 
"That Oval Office sit-down with the Beavis and Butt-Head of the House and Senate will go down in history as the best of political theater and a demonstration of presidential genius."

Earl of Taint