Trump Is Serious About Carrying Minnesota, the One That Got Away in 2016

NY Times

Supporters of President Trump rallied for him across the street from
 protesters, outside an event he attended in April in Burnsville, Minn.

"A Republican presidential candidate has not won the state of Minnesota since Richard M. Nixon’s victory there in 1972. But President Trump has long viewed it as the one that got away.

"Mr. Trump barely set foot in the state during his 2016 campaign, and his field organization on the ground was nonexistent: The lone Trump campaign staff member working the state was moved to Colorado before Election Day. But Mr. Trump lost Minnesota to his former rival Hillary Clinton by 1.5 percentage points, or less than 45,000 votes.
“We almost won it,” Mr. Trump said during a visit this year to a trucking company in a Minneapolis suburb. The difference between a victory and a loss, he said, would have been coming to the state to give “one more speech.' " . . .

Bye-bye Beto. If all the silly Democrats drop out, the 2020 race may get tough

Because it sums up the creep's unfitness for anything. Bottom line, this was an childish, immature reprobate who had no business running for presidential office. Imagine this guy with a nuclear button or a security clearance. Monica Showalter

Skateboarding hacker poet pervert with drunk driving and burglary raps drops out of presidential race "Which is probably good news for Democrats even as it's less entertaining for us. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, see, has gone on record to say that Democratic presidential candidates need to stop acting like raving lunatics.

"Beto certainly was part of the problem, having gone unusually crazy in his last miserable days of campaigning with toxic proposals. The wannabe Latino candidate from El Paso vowed to tax churches, expropriate guns, jail all sorts of people but amnesty illegals, which didn't wash even with many Democrats. No wonder his polling numbers went to around 1% or maybe zero.
"Which raises questions as to why the heck this guy was out there. Who took him seriously other than the media. Power Line's John Hinderaker has an ace observation about that one:" . . .

Low-Polling Beto Ending His Presidential Campaign  . . . "Coons also told CNN that he did not support O’Rourke’s pledge. He believes the majority of people in Congress don’t like it either.

"O’Rourke received more criticism from both sides when he said he wanted to strip churches of their tax-exempt status if they did not support same-sex marriage.

"He made that declaration at the October debate. Guess what? It did not help his polling numbers. He only polled 2% nationally.

"Like the rest of the left, O’Rourke wanted to throw money at other problems like $5 trillion to fight climate change or $500 billion to address something called “education inequality.' ” . . .  More...

Schiff's circus and his talk show extras

John Brennan Praises CIA Whistleblower: ‘Thank Goodness’ Intel Community Is Fighting the Fight

Impeachment Is Serious Business . . . That Just Ends Up Being Joked About with Colbert  . . . "In ideal circumstances, the Speaker of the House wouldn’t choose to appear on Stephen Colbert right after the vote to start the inquiry, and joke that she’ll schedule the hearings to best fit the timing for the writers of Colbert’s nightly monologue. (You can actually see Pelosi start to get uncomfortable when Colbert asks if she’s confronting Kevin McCarthy with ‘do you feel lucky, punk?”)  Ideally, Nancy Pelosi wouldn’t have asserted, “Nobody comes to Congress to impeach a president.” Er, Rashida Tlaib announced specifically that with profane clarity. Tlaib was selling T-shirts about it." . . .


Army Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman ignored a direct order from the commander-in-chief. A court may decide whether Vindman broke the military code of justice.
. . . "The story also said, "It comes down to whether Trump’s order was lawful, he said. If Trump was trying to prevent Vindman from sharing sensitive information, it could be. If he was trying to prevent testimony, period, it’s not.
" 'The Military Whistle Blower Protection Act prohibits government officials from interfering with a member of the military in communicating with Congress or an inspector general. Adding to the complexity is that the president gets to determine what is and isn’t classified."
"But was he a whistle blower or a spy?
"He did not report any wrongdoing. He did not follow the chain-of-command with his reporting." . . .
Surber quotes a series of tweets made by a Lt.Col who served alongside Vindman:
"A retired LTC speaks out that Vindman mocked Americans during multinational exercises."
. . . "...Russian Soldiers, as well as the young Officers & GS Employees about America, Russia, & Obama. He was apologetic of American culture, laughed about Americans not being educated or worldly, & really talked up Obama & globalism to the point of uncomfortable. He would speak...
...w/the Russian Soldiers & laugh as if at the expense of the US personnel. It was so uncomfortable & unprofessional, one of the GS employees came & told me everything above. I walked over & sat w/in earshot of Vindman, & sure enough, all was confirmed. One comment truly..
...struck me as odd, & it was w/respect to American's falsely thinking they're exceptional, when he said, "He [Obama] is working on that now." And he said it w/a snide 'I know a secret' look on his face. I honestly don't know what it meant, it just sounded like an odd thing to..

..verbally reprimanded him for his actions, & I'll leave it at that, so as not to be unprofessional myself. The bottom-line is LTC Vindman was a partisan Democrat at least as far back as 2012. So much so, junior officers & soldiers felt uncomfortable around him. This is..



LTC (R) Jim Hickman‏ @Jim_Hickman13 Oct 31

...not your professional, field-grade officer, who has the character & integrity to do the right thing. Do not let the uniform fool you...he is a political activist in uniform. I pray our nation will drop this hate, vitriol & division, & unite as our founding fathers intended!

US succeeds in eliminating ISIS chief; Schiff, Pelosi cry “we were not informed”

What’s On Politics.  International community lauds the US for the death of ISIS chief

"Saudi Arabia lauded the US for destroying the ISIS founder, which it accused of “distort[ing] the image of Islam.”

“The Saudi government appreciates the great efforts of the US administration in pursuing the members of this dangerous terrorist organization, which distorted the true image of Islam and Muslims around the world and committed atrocities and crimes that contradict the most basic human values in many countries including the Kingdom,” the official Saudi Press Agency said in a statement.

"Southeast Asian countries Malaysia, the Philippines and Indonesia, home to some of the most organized ISIS-linked fighters, also welcomed the news but expressed worry that the death of al-Baghdadi will ignite rebellion among his followers.

"Back home, the success of the operation also drew cheers." . . .

Schiff, Pelosi: We we’re not informed about the operation

  "But his staunch critics in the House of Representatives didn’t seem fully pleased. And they actually found a way to share the spotlight.

"House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Intelligence Committee chairman Adam Schiff decried how they were not informed  before Pres. Trump gave a go-signal for the al-Baghdadi operation.

“ 'My understanding [Pelosi] wasn’t [told],” Schiff told ABC’s “This Week”. Although he also agreed that the death of the terrorist leader is a “good riddance.”

“ 'The reason for notifying the Gang of Eight is frankly more important when things go wrong … had this [operation] escalated, had something gone wrong, had we gotten into a firefight with Russians, it’s to their advantage to be able to say that ‘we informed Congress we were going in. They were aware of the risks, we at least gave them the chance to provide feedback’ that wasn’t done here. I think that’s a mistake,” Schiff said.

Baton attack during June protests in downtown Portland lands man in prison for nearly 6 years

From the Police Reporter  His arrest record

Oregon Live

             Gage Halupowski

Breaking: Antifa militant Gage Halupowski sentenced to nearly 6 years in prison for striking a man on head from behind w/a baton during riot. He was masked at the time & assaulted an officer while trying to escape. His lawyer says sentence is too severe. https://www.oregonlive.com/portland/2019/

Adam Kelly, Halupowski's victim

. . . "A 24-year-old man who hit another man over the head with a baton in June during dueling downtown Portland demonstrations was sentenced Friday to nearly six years in prison.

"Gage Halupowski pleaded guilty to second-degree assault in connection with the June 29 attack on Adam Kelly outside The Nines Hotel along Southwest Morrison Street. Halupowski was identified as one of several masked, black-clothed demonstrators seen on video hitting and pepper-spraying Kelly after he appeared to come to the aid of another man who’d been attacked during the protests, authorities said.

"Kelly, a right-wing protestor at the demonstrations, wrote on Facebook at the time that the blows to his head led to him suffering a concussion and needing 25 staples to close the wounds.

"Multnomah County Deputy District Attorney Melissa Marrero said Halupowski hitting Kelly in the back of the head with an expandable baton was “completely unexplainable, completely avoidable and didn’t need to happen.”

"She said Kelly and Halupowski both were lucky that Kelly survived his injuries.

"Defense attorney Edward Kroll said Halupowski made “a really terrible decision” and that Kelly didn’t deserve what happened to him, but the attorney believed the agreed-upon 70-month prison sentence was “one of the harshest sentences I’ve seen for someone with no criminal background and young age.' ”   Keep reading…

Brit Hume Points Out A Big Problem With Vindman

Weasel Zippers

Britt Hume: "This from the article: “he was deeply troubled by what he interpreted as an attempt by the president to subvert U.S. foreign policy...” There is a huge fallacy in this. Anyone know what it is?"

Brit Hume‏Verified account @brithume 6h6 hours ago

Actually, it’s the fact that the president is the constitutional author of foreign policy, so the idea he is “subverting” it is illogical.

'He thinks he still has Mike Pence's job!' Joe Biden boasts in Iowa about tax credits 'the president and I' want . . .

Isn't this called "passive-aggressive"?

UK Daily Mail  "Former Vice President Joe Biden suggested Wednesday in Iowa that he thinks he's still current Vice President Joe Biden, telling an Iowa reporter about environmental tax credits that 'the president and I' jointly want to put in place.
"Rattling off a litany of green initiatives he wants to see rural America embrace, Biden said offering federal tax incentives would help nudge the nation toward a carbon-neutral future.
" 'It would also help people with housing, if you were able to continue to have what we propose, and I propose, what the president and I—' he said, before stopping himself. 
"He continued a second later, saying Americans should 'have, you know, tax credits for insulating homes, tax credits for making all businesses – all buildings, you know – energy contained, et cetera.'

"A Republican operative in Iowa reacted Friday afternoon, saying: 'Poor Joe. He thinks he still has Mike Pence's job! He's definitely not getting Donald Trump's.'  " . . .

Polls Suggest Impeachment Will Help Trump Reelection in Swing States

PJ Media

See also: The Fastest, Most Premature Impeachment in American History

"Democrats took a tremendous gamble by formally voting for an impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump on Thursday. While polls suggest Americans support the inquiry, the general public is divided on whether or not Trump should be impeached and removed from office. Those in key swing states are more likely to oppose impeachment and removal, suggesting that the impeachment battle may help Trump's reelection in 2020.

" 'We’ve known for a long time that everybody in California and New York want Trump to be impeached, they’ve wanted that since the day he came into office," an anonymous Trump campaign official told The Hill. "But in these states where the election is really going to be fought, we’re seeing that voters oppose impeachment, and there’s an intensity to that opposition."

"Indeed, a New York Times/Siena College poll released Wednesday showed that voters in six key swing states oppose impeaching and removing President Trump, 52 percent to 44 percent." . . .

Because Democrats have called for Trump's impeachment since shortly after his inauguration, a jaded view of this latest push is warranted.While Trump may be tainted with scandal if the House votes to impeach him, he will also be able to decry the blatantly partisan nature of the push to remove him from office. The Senate is extremely unlikely to remove him, and the impeachment charade may actually help the president in the swing states he needs to win for reelection.This impeachment battle could backfire on the Democrats, badly.

"When Beto left Texas, he lost his way." He was pretty much effed up, wouldn't you say?

I cannot be impressed with his close race against Sen. Cruz; look at the dollar value of in-kind contributions for O'Rourke from the likes of CNN and the sheer pro-O'Rourke / anti-Cruz propaganda bombarding Texas living rooms nightly. TD

Beto O’Rourke Ate Dirt with Fabled ‘Regenerative Powers’ After Losing to Ted Cruz

Texas Monthly  . . . "But some of the few moments his campaign won attention after that came when he cursed. Arguably the best moment of his campaign came when he turned on the media, who had asked if Donald Trump could reconcile with El Paso after what he’d said about Hispanics in the past. Beto responded with a passionate “no” that included one F-Bomb and one S-word. It was a response that won national acclaim. But then he just kept doing it, like he was cursing for effect, in a manner that become a joke in itself. “This is f—– up,” he said, about gun violence. “This is f*cked up,” said the shirt he sold afterward." . . .

. . . "As the campaign tried to pick up traction, O’Rourke started taking much stronger positions than he’d taken in Texas. Where once he pledged no one’s AR-15 would be taken away, now he said “hell yes” they would. Then he offered a kind of confused declaration that he would take away the tax-exempt status of any church that refused to perform same-sex marriages. Both are things you don’t want to say if you ever plan to run in Texas again. Texas Democrats finally came to accept that he wouldn’t be challenging John Cornyn in 2020." . . .

Beto supporters ask 'what do we do now?'

Parody site, The Babylon Bee has grown fat off Beto stories; to wit:

• Constitution Breathes Sigh Of Relief As Beto Drops Out Of Race. . .  "There are still several candidates to go before we're totally in the clear," said Page 2. "But Beto being gone is a huge relief. The guy threatened basically every page, every word, every signature, and even said the white paper we were written on was racist." . . .
• Beto Drops Out Of Race To Spend More Time Taking Guns From His Family
• Nation Surprised To Learn Beto O'Rourke Was Running For President
• Beto Unveils Plan To Replace All Cars With Skateboards By 2030
• Beto Criticized For Jumping Up Onto Elderly Woman To Deliver Campaign Speech

That last leads us to what you must agree is our very favorite Beto meme:
Shop Owners Begin Installing Spikes To Prevent Beto O'Rourke From Perching On Tables, Countertops

"Owners of coffee shops, cafes, and other eateries across America have begun placing Beto O’Rourke-deterring spike strips on tables and countertops to discourage the Democratic presidential candidate from leaping onto surfaces to deliver inspiring grassroots campaign speeches. 
“ 'We were getting a lot of complaints from customers,” said Hannah McClary, owner of the Cheesecake Nook in Brookings, New Hampshire. She claimed that Beto had left footprints in customer’s desserts on more than one occasion. McClary and other shop owners shared a concern that O’Rourke’s habit of roosting on eatery surfaces could lead to even more unsanitary situations like nest-building and molting. 
"In response to the growing concern of Beto and other pests alighting on establishment surfaces, bird control spike manufacturer Bird-X released a larger model of their popular stainless-steel pigeon deterrent spikes that have a contemporary stylish look that fits in well with modern cafe decor. “Our Beto Control Spikes® are a 100% effective, maintenance-free, and permanent solution to pest candidate infestation." . . . 

California - The Exodus From The Golden State

About the state where we lived for over fifty years and where our sons grew up. California's demise created by people like those running for president in 2020. The Tunnel Dweller

California's Gavin Newsom, now running scared

. . . He's refusing to put the blame for the blackouts on himself, where it belongs, and now trying to crack the whip even harder on the already abused PG&E. Why he's worried is strange stuff, given his stranglehold on power in his one-party state, what with ballot-harvesting, the ease with which illegals can now vote in the state, and gerrymandering. Yet he's clearly running scared, so he's going Stalin. Let me handle it, he says. This won't end well.

More diagnoses on this fallen state:
"California is the one of the most beautiful states in the union, however, its high taxes, excessive regulations on business, high cost of living, and out of control housing market has forced much of the middle class to move to other states. We show the stats of why people are leaving in droves out of CA and show where they are going through in this documentary of The Golden State.

"We still recommend to come to California to visit, it is still a great place to spend a vacation or a weekend. Its great weather and scenery is hard to beat."...

Victor Davis Hanson: The Future of California You Don't Want to Know
"There's a reason a California official told residents to lock their doors and load their guns. Democrats control two-thirds of the legislature in California and CalWatchdog's Brian Calle asks Victor Davis Hanson about the future of the state."

Ilhan Omar’s Shameful Armenian-Genocide Statement

Marlo Safi  "On Tuesday, a historic vote took place in the House on a simple resolution to recognize the Armenian Genocide of 1915, when Ottoman Turkey massacred 1.5 million Armenians and other Christian minorities in the Empire, including Assyrians and Greeks. For the descendants of victims of the Armenian genocide, congresswoman Ilhan Omar’s attempt to justify her “present” vote when H.R. 296 was on the House floor was not only inappropriate, but featured the common denial tactics used by deniers of the Armenian genocide. Omar was the only Democrat to not vote in favor of the resolution, which was bipartisan and included only 11 nay votes (all Republicans).

"Omar’s office sent a statement to CNN explaining her vote:"

. . . "Omar’s decision, as well as the decision of eleven Republicans to oppose the bill, fails to live up to the role of a witness of justice. There is no justice without recognition, and opposing measures that aim to affirm the U.S.’ stance as a protector of the persecuted is dishonorable. Victims of genocide die two deaths. Once at the hands of their persecutor, and again when the genocide is denied." . . .

Those Who Voted No or Present on the Armenian Genocide Resolution

"The U.S. House of Representatives passed H. Res. 296, a resolution affirming the United States’ record on the Armenian genocide by the Ottoman Empire, by a 405 to 11 vote.
"Between 1915 and 1923, the Ottoman Empire, now modern day Turkey, killed up to 1.5 million ethic Armenians who resided within the Ottoman Empire. Turkey to this day still denies the use of the word genocide as an accurate description of the crimes committed in the early 20th century.
"The resolution notes that Raphael Lemkin, who coined the word “genocide,” pointed to the Ottoman Empire’s action against Armenians as an example of genocide.
"The resolution affirmed past action taken by the United States and the resolution provided guidance for future U.S. policy as it concerns this historical event: . . ."

California Burnin'

California Is Becoming Unlivable  The Atlantic

. . . "California’s housing crisis and its fire crisis often collide in what’s known as the wildland-urban interface, or WUI, where trailer parks and exurban culs-de-sac and cabins have sprung up amid the state’s scrublands and pine forests and grassy ridges." . . .

. . . "Even if the state reins in future development, millions of Californians already live in the WUI, at risk of having their homes destroyed and their lives endangered by fire—and at risk of being unable to insure their homes, or of seeing their housing values fall and their economic security imperiled.
"California’s housing crisis has exacerbated its wildfire crisis, and its wildfire crisis has exacerbated its housing crisis. That vicious cycle is nowhere near ending." 

. . . Environmentalists in California don’t want anyone to cut trees. They already shut down most of the lumber mills in California. That means the bankrupt state of California doesn’t have money from timber leases to build fire breaks, repair remote access roads, and thin brush. Underbrush accumulates and leads to the intense wildfires that are ravaging California..again and again, year after year. The Democrat politicians who rule California need someone to blame as citizens wonder if their house will burn down. California Governor Newsom blames.. climate change. The media nods their approval rather than ask why California is burning and the rest of the world isn’t." . . .

Whither Kamala Harris? A Failed-State Senator’s Failing Campaign; Her ambitious rise and ignominious fall mirror California’s trajectory.  
. . . "California’s dysfunction is tolerated only because the system has been rigged to insulate the richest stakeholders from the worst costs of it. With one hand, California creates disorder through misgovernance, and then with the other it creates more gated communities, protected in an authoritarian manner. Kamala Harris’s campaign began to implode almost the moment her pretenses and self-image were directly challenged. And the moment that Silicon Valley stops being a gusher of money for Sacramento, the California model will crater as well."