Reacting to the Pelosi Assault – Here We Go Again
Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) went after Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra like a pit bull at a hearing of the Senate Health Committee on Thursday. Preview Open
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Important Details to Note in Rand and Kelley Paul Interviews
After watching these two brief interviews with Senator Rand Paul (see clips below), and also with his wife Kelley in the second interview, I can only hope that the FBI and local law enforcement have assigned additional 24/7 security to him and his family. It reminds me of the police squad car and officers that were stationed at Governor Walker’s house in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin 24 hours a day/7 days a week following all the death threats against him and his family after the passage of Act 10 (and the weeks-long violent occupation of the Wisconsin state capitol building). Walker has since moved out of Wauwatosa (it’s turning blue, unfortunately, for various reasons), but I remember being reassured (the house is on a main thoroughfare near my parents’ home) that there was a 24/7 police presence whether or not the family was there or at the governor’s mansion in Madison.
Also, after listening to Kelley Paul describe her experience getting the mail, all of the Paul family’s mail and packages should be put through security screening before it is delivered to their home. I would expect, naturally, that the details of his security arrangements are not revealed or discussed publicly, and as the Newsmax article Stad linked to in his post titled “I’m In Love With Rand Paul’s Wife” noted, the Paul family are prepared to defend themselves regardless.
Don’t Buy RepubliCan’t Posturing
We are supposed to be shocked, shocked! We should be, but at the cynical purveyors of another story spun to deflect from full force electoral pressure on the House and Senate RepubliCan’t Conferences. Shame on Katie Pavlich at Townhall for playing their game in “Wait, That’s How the FBI Labeled the Attempted Assassination of Republicans on a Baseball Field?” The FBI willfully, falsely categorized the 2017 leftist premeditated mass-assassination attempt, targeting Republican senators and congressmen, as “suicide by cop.” J. Edgar’s boys continued their corrupt culture by brazenly ignoring left-wing deadly political violence, part of cooking their books against the forgotten Americans, against whose champions the FBI was already in full seek-and-destroy mode in 2017. So, we should be outraged.
And.
If you read past the headlines and tweets, you find a very inconvenient truth. The Congressional RepubliCAN’Ts had this information almost immediately, as the FBI brazenly briefed its lies in November 2017. Calling the FBI on its fraud, on its failure to honestly characterize and so focus resources on actual threats to Republican members of Congress, would have threatened the Russia hoax and RepubliCAN’T leader collusion with Democrats in seeking to undo or at least stifle the forgotten Americans’ electoral command, expressed in their shocking 2016 victory. So, it did not matter that Congressman Scalise was nearly killed and going through a series of surgeries, with a long and painful rehabilitation ahead of him. What mattered was protecting Speaker Lyin’ Ryan as he colluded with Democrats and Mitch and the Gang over in the Senate to defy the American people and bring them back to heel as mere election pawns in the Crony Capitalism game.
Can we talk about Eric Ciaramella?
Serious question: Where are we allowed to talk about alleged Ukraine whistleblower Eric Ciaramella? It seems like so few are doing so even though he is one of the final missing pieces of the puzzle at the conclusion of the impeachment saga, a loose end that won’t seem to go away.
You can’t talk about him on YouTube, as Senator Rand Paul learned.
Member Post
“Are you aware that House intelligence committee staffer Shawn Misko had a close relationship with Eric Ciaramella while at the National Security Council together? “ This was the question that Sen. Rand Paul attempted to ask during the impeachment hearings. Chief Justice Roberts refused to read the question. There is no requirement under the law […]
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A retake on a Christmas classic, A Capitalist Christmas Carol tells the tale of a socialist curmudgeon named Bernie Sanders. Bernie is a Democratic senator from Vermont, whose whole governing philosophy is to gut the rich and resist the free market. Through the visits of three Spirits, he evolves into a kind, liberty-loving free-marketer. https://anchor.fm/statesponsoredprogramming/episodes/A-Capitalist-Christmas-Carol–Ep–10-e2rmbm […]
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Jim Geraghty of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America actually find amusement in Hillary Clinton’s craven pronouncement that Democrats will return to civility if they take back one or both chambers of Congress. They also shudder as Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, who survived the congressional baseball shooting and a violent attack from his neighbor, predicts the intense confrontations will ultimately lead to a political assassination. And they get a kick out of former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg becoming a Democrat again in anticipation of a 2020 presidential bid.
Jim Geraghty of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America are glad to see Secretary of State nominee Mike Pompeo win the vote in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, thanks to a change of heart by Rand Paul and Democrat Chris Coons bailing out the poor leadership of Chairman Bob Corker. They also recoil at the Toronto attack carried out by a van driver, who sped a mile down city sidewalks, killing 10 and injuring 15. They marvel at how easily the media moved on to different stories since the weapon wasn’t a gun and there’s no immediate link to jihad. And they rail against the British government for trying to stop the parents of Alfie Evans from seeking additional opportunities to save their son’s life, a truly frightening result of government expansion.
Alexandra DeSanctis of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America cheer the family leave plan pushed by Sen. Marco Rubio and Ivanka Trump to allow parents to tap their future Social Security checks to cover the weeks surrounding the birth of a new baby in exchange for waiting extra weeks when they reach retirement. In addition, Alexandra rebuts the liberal insistence that family leave must be a whole new entitlement. They also slam Republicans for effectively surrendering the option to use budget reconciliation for the next two years as part of the horrific budget deal with Democrats. And they fire back at Republican lawmakers who spent Thursday trashing Sen. Rand Paul’s filibuster as a waste of time, when those GOP members are really just mad that Sen. Paul called them out for their blatant hypocrisy on deficit spending and not wanting to take a vote on restoring budget caps.
Chatting before the much-anticipated Senate vote to end the government shutdown, Jim Geraghty of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America are glad to see Democrats feeling the heat on refusing to fund the government and taking some steps to get things fully up and running, but they also warn listeners what Democrats and some Republicans really want in an immigration bill to go along with reopening the government. They also don’t believe the FBI’s explanation that it somehow lost five critical months worth of text messages from Peter Strzok, the agent fired form the Mueller special counsel team and bragged about an “insurance policy” against a Trump victory. And they also call BS on the explanation from Sen. Rand Paul’s neighbor for attacking Paul, namely that the senator was assaulted from behind and had five ribs broken because he was stacking brush close to their shared property line.
Festivus – A Family Tradition
I didn’t know until today that Festivus, celebrated Saturday, Dec. 23, wasn’t just made up for the TV show “Seinfeld,” but was an honest-to-goodness family tradition of one of the show’s writers, a tradition the other writers had to talk him into using in a television script.
According to O’Keefe family legend, the first Festivus occurred in 1966 to commemorate when Daniel Lawrence O’Keefe, the father of the Seinfeld writer (also named Daniel), took Deborah, the woman who would soon be his wife and mother of his children, out on their first date. Rather than busting out a Festivus pole (which was invented for the Seinfeld script), the O’Keefe family’s yearly celebration involved nailing a bagged clock to the wall – a ritual whose purpose, O’Keefe Sr. darkly told his children, was “not for you to know!” – and wearing silly decorated hats, including a Viking hat with Play-Doh horns.
Jim Geraghty of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America are in the Christmas spirit as they push aside the Thanksgiving leftovers to go shopping for timely, helpful gifts for various political figures. They generously announce what beautifully wrapped presents they have for President Trump, Chief of Staff John Kelly, various members of Congress and others.
Jim Geraghty of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America are glad to see many liberals suddenly coming to the realization that Bill Clinton’s behavior towards women was inexcusable and his accusers were treated badly when they came forward during his presidency, but they also note that this epiphany comes when Democrats want the moral high ground in the Roy Moore saga and when the Clintons are of no use to them anymore. They also welcome the idea of a special counsel to investigate Hillary Clinton, the Clinton Foundation, and Uranium One. And they note Rand Paul has hired a personal injury lawyer as the legal process unfolds against the neighbor who assaulted him, even as Sen. Paul asserts the two of them haven’t spoken in years.
It’s all crazy martinis today. Jim Geraghty of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America are furious as the Air Force discovers it never forwarded the court martial information on the Texas church shooter that would have prevented him from legally purchasing guns and Jim also details how the federal government often seems disinterested in prosecuting gun crimes. They also discuss the bizarre assault on Sen. Rand Paul by his neighbor in Kentucky and how the media just don’t care when GOP lawmakers are targeted for violence. And they unload on 2016 independent presidential candidate Evan McMullin, who has spent the past year focused on criticizing President Trump at every turn while advancing nothing of value to conservatism – his latest move being to urge people not to vote for the GOP candidate for governor in Virginia.
Jim Geraghty of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America agree with President Trump’s disapproval for national anthem protests but also believe it is wrong for the president to suggest anyone be fired for their constitutionally-protected beliefs. They also unload on those who took a knee during the anthem, which turned into a referendum on Trump – a fight Trump is sure to win. Thy hammer three NFL teams for refusing to take the field for the anthem, blast the Pittsburgh Steelers for condemning their own player who is an Afghanistan war vet for defying the decision and honoring the anthem, and shake their head as Bob Costas frets that the anthem is only used to honor military instead of teachers and social workers. Finally, they slam John McCain for once again breaking his promise on health care reform and planning to vote against the latest Senate bill. They also question Rand Paul’s decision to oppose it.
Jim Geraghty of National Review and Rich McFadden of Radio America discuss the Capitol Police response to the shooting early Wednesday morning in Alexandria, VA where House Majority Whip Steve Scalise and others were injured during their practice for the 2017 Congressional Baseball Game. They also speculate about the possible motive of the 66-year old shooter from Illinois based on reports of his incendiary political views found on his social media account. And they react to the polarized responses on social media that are erupting across the political spectrum following the attack.
Get It Together, Senators
Good news: Republican members of the US Senate are excited to repeal and replace ObamaCare. Bad news: Even at this late date, they can’t decide on how to do so.
Via the WSJ, one plan comes from Senators Susan Collins (R-ME) and Bill Cassidy (R-LA), who describe it as an “an off-ramp” for the GOP and, likely, amenable enough to Democrats to overcome a filibuster:
The bill would take major decisions out of the hands of Congress and let states choose whether to keep the current law’s core insurance structure, with the promise that if a state opts out it will get the federal funding it would have received to enact its own ideas instead. […] The senators’ proposal, called The Patient Freedom Act of 2017, would effectively allow states to opt out of many of the provisions that form Title I of the Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare, including the requirement that everyone must obtain health coverage or pay a penalty and an edict that insurers cannot charge older people significantly more than younger people.
I have heard it as conventional wisdom through this election season that “The Senate hates Ted Cruz”. Both stated as such or as an argument in the form of “Of course they would confirm Cruz to SCOTUS to get rid of him”. Why? I assume for the Dems it’s a matter of partisanship, since he […]
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Okay, So Sell Me On Your Guy
Now that Rand Paul is out if the race, I’m left with a big gaping hole. Not only in my heart, but in my ballot. Despite my disagreements with the man, I had intended to vote for him. But now that he’s thrown in the towel, I’ve got no Plan B, and the New York primary is in two months.
Ricochet member V the K asked what everyone’s big three issues were. Mine were:
