Category: Congress

It was a House Budget Appropriations Subcommittee meeting with Attorney General William Barr. One would think it was the House or Senate Judiciary Committee because Democrats to a person on that subcommittee drilled the Attorney General about the Mueller Report. “Russia, Russia, Russia!” Very little referenced Department of Justice appropriations. Even in her opening remarks, the Chairperson of the full House Appropriations Committee, Nita Lowery (D-NY), attacked the A.G. for not already releasing the full Mueller Report to the World, AND that he chose to send to Congress a 4-page “Summary Letter” — her words, not his — instead of simply releasing the approximate 400-page Mueller Report in its entirety to the American people.

Fortunately for all those members of Congress in the room, Attorney General Barr immediately when asked explained how the report will be released:

1. It WILL include redactions. Those redactions (according to the A.G.) will occur in 4 specific areas. One is to keep confidential details of the significant number of cases that are currently still being litigated by various courts; Two is pursuant to federal law the redactions will include details of grand jury testimony that legally cannot be released; Three is to protect the identities and details of confidential investigators, their witnesses, and their ongoing investigation details of cases; and Four is the complete details of those who were investigated by the Mueller team but were not implicated or indicted.
2. A.G. Barr stated his intentions are to color code each redaction in his report so as to identify which of these 4 categories apply to all redacted material.
3. When asked, the Attorney General stated details of a case decided last week by the Washington D.C. Federal Appeals Court confirming the law that prevents grand jury testimony and identities from being released publicly and that the DOJ will comply with that law.

Under United States law, there are certain details of the report that Barr is prohibited from revealing, including details about individuals connected to the investigation who have not been charged with any crime. Bob Mueller indicted 37 people and probably investigated more than that and many of them were not indicted, and material about them can’t be released. That’s NOT an “opinion” of someone at the DOJ — it’s in the law.

One conservative pundit explained Democrats scurry to get the full Mueller report said the Democratic push for the full release of the Mueller report is not a legal argument at this point, but a political one. “Democrats want to know what is in there that is negative about the President, but not negative enough to meet the level of beyond a reasonable doubt that prosecutors have to meet in order to charge him. They don’t need to know it, they want to know it for political reasons.”

Here’s “The Rest of the Story:” The Law

Pursuant to 28 CFR § 600.8: “At the conclusion of the Special Counsel’s work, he or she shall provide the Attorney General with a confidential report explaining the prosecution or declination decisions reached by the Special Counsel.” The counsel’s report is to be “handled as a confidential document as are internal documents relating to any federal criminal investigation.”

The attorney general also has an obligation to share the special counsel’s findings with Congress, although there is no duty to disclose the full report. Under 28 CFR § 600.9(a)(3), the attorney general must provide to the chairs and ranking minority members of the House and Senate Judiciary Committees, “to the extent consistent with applicable law, a description and explanation of instances (if any) in which the Attorney General concluded that a proposed action by a Special Counsel was so inappropriate or unwarranted under established Departmental practices that it should not be pursued.” According to Barr, “There were no such instances during the Special Counsel’s investigation.”

The regulations are silent on whether the Judiciary Committees can release the reports given to them from the attorney general. With regard to the full special counsel report, the decision is in the hands of the attorney general. Under 28 CFR § 600.9(c), “The Attorney General may determine that public release of these reports would be in the public interest, to the extent that release would comply with applicable legal restrictions.”

Democrats “Change” History

You may be old enough to remember the Bill Clinton/Ken Starr Whitewater Investigation that rocked along for years and resulted in the impeachment of Bill Clinton. (Of course, the Senate declined to confirm his impeachment) Under the law that was used to start and operate Ken Starr’s investigation of Clinton, there was NO stipulation regarding the release of Starr’s report when the investigation was completed. Starr chose to release the full report to the public. Democrats went NUTS! Current House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerold Nadler (D-NY) was a member of Congress at the time and went absolutely mad in public at the release of the full Starr report, and the certainty of the damage that release would do to the Department of Justice and its sources.

Nadler was not by himself. Numerous other Democrats expressed the same feelings. But it’s different in THIS Special Counsel Report. Of course! This president is not a Democrat. Enough said.

“Congress has asked for the entire Mueller report, and underlying evidence, by April 2. That deadline stands,” House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff said last Friday after Barr said he would provide the full Mueller report to Congress by mid-April. “In the meantime, Barr should seek court approval (just like in Watergate) to allow the release of grand jury material.” He added: “Redactions are unacceptable.

Schiff in making the above statement made a 180 degree turn from his previous stance on the public release of similar information.

Schiff (D-CA) is one of several Democrats who blasted then-House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes (D-CA), during the last Congress for releasing a GOP memo on alleged abuses of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). The memo described the unverified Trump “dossier” as critical for obtaining surveillance warrants to spy on a Trump campaign aide. The GOP memo, which was also four pages long, was released in an unredacted and declassified format, with White House approval.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said at the time that President Trump’s decision to release an unredacted version of the memo was a danger to national security. “President Trump has surrendered his constitutional responsibility as Commander-in-Chief by releasing highly classified and distorted intelligence,” Pelosi said in a statement on Feb. 2, 2018. “By not protecting intelligence sources and methods, he just sent his friend Putin a bouquet.”

Following the release of the report, Schiff, who was the ranking member of the committee at the time, joined with Democrats on the committee to declare the GOP memo “risks exposure of sensitive sources and methods for no legitimate purpose.”

The only difference of current Attorney General Barr NOT releasing the full Mueller Report as written is because the report is regarding an investigation of alleged wrongdoing by members of the Trump Campaign in conjunction with Russia during the 2016 election cycle — a claim that was totally debunked by the Special Counsel.

Democrats reasoning? Totally based on allegations — NO PROOF!

One more thought: Democrats Schiff, Swalwell (D-CA) and Nadler have each made subsequent claims — even after the completion of the Mueller investigation in which he found there to be NO wrongdoing by the Trump Campaign — maintain there has been and is absolute evidence of Russian collusion during the election by the Trump Campaign.

It is laughable that these three with their weighty Congressional obligations of leadership and purported claims to embrace full transparency have NEVER offered up to the DOJ or Robert Mueller that evidence they claim to have that implicates the President. In this journalist’s opinion, IF they actually have such evidence that would implicate the President of illegal activities, their NOT providing it in its entirety to DOJ officials or the Mueller investigators would in itself be Obstruction of Justice!

Summary

Let’s just be completely honest. Democrats are proving, again and again, they have NO agenda other than doing anything to get rid of Donald Trump. Remember the definition we gave you two years ago that explains the difference between Liberal Democrat and Conservative Republicans? If you don’t remember, here it is again: Republicans do not like it when someone holds opposite political positions than they do. Democrats not only do not like it when someone holds opposite political positions, but they also HATE THE PEOPLE THAT HOLD THOSE VIEWS!

“You’re being a bit cruel, Dan,” some will say. “Democrats just have different ideas.” While that definitely is true, Dems formerly were only too glad to enter into discussions with those with opposing views, respecting the rights of others to disagree. We don’t see that anymore. Democrats have been bolstered in presenting their “alt-left” ideas to the public in a new and dangerous way: media attack dogs have actually weaponized the delivery of Democrat messaging. It all revolves around this theorem: “Of course anyone can hold a differing opinion. But they’re wrong in holding that opinion. And because they don’t believe the same things Democrats do, they are not only wrong, they are evil as are their ideas!”

How can Democrat leaders expect to garner sufficient votes from the American populace to win the Senate and the White House in 2020? As shown in the 2016 presidential election, there are not enough Democrat voters in the nation to give them the margin necessary to win. Are they so bold as to think the current noise and hatred being spewed by the 18 declared Democrat candidates for president in 2020 will make-up enough votes to push them over the top? Surely not! Yet their actions on a daily basis seem to show that is exactly what they are thinking.

Meanwhile, the American economy is soaring, unemployment in every sector is at historical lows, job creation is through the roof, and paychecks are increasing take-home pay for those in the middle class. All of these were promises made by Donald Trump as a candidate that he has somehow through all the noise and venom emanating from the Left put in place for Americans. And the Attack Dogs in the media simply ignore these facts choosing instead to concentrate on one thing: “Dump Trump!”

I’ll close by saying this: I must be stupid. I cannot — try as I do — understand why ANY American voter would support any of the 18 declared Democrat presidential candidates and the two others expected to jump in when all they do is scream AGAINST President Trump, totally ignoring the significant accomplishments listed above and the many others by this administration.

I don’t want to say Democrats are stupid. In fact, I know they are not. But one thing is abundantly clear: “IF” Democrats are NOT stupid if they expect the support of the limited legitimate policies that they are promising to Americans they will implement if elected, they definitely think American voters are stupid!

And you know what? I think I’ve hit on something: I think Democrats not only hate President Trump and all he stands for, I think they feel exactly the same about his conservative supporters!

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Experts run roughshod throughout every department of the federal government. Anytime there’s a question about any issue — security, foreign policy, the economy, elections, border walls, you name it — there’s an expert somewhere who factually knows the answer to any question about any of these. Today we will look at a few of those, specifically U.S. Intelligence Agencies.

You may have noticed the heads of the leading U.S. Intelligence Agencies just testified before Congress about the current status of the U.S. regarding all intelligence matters domestically and around the World. Before we look at a few of their findings, let’s look at a few findings of previous intelligence officials — “experts” — and compare those to todays.

Intelligence Expert Findings

There’s no better place to start than with the President of the United States. Remember when then-candidate Trump was griping that Russians were influencing the 2016 election in favor of his opponent? Everyone in D.C. laughed at Trump about those allegations, even President Obama — so much so that he went to the press to denigrate Mr. Trump for claiming U.S. elections could possibly be rigged:

We all “know” that the Russians did everything they could to impact the 2016 presidential election against Hillary Clinton and for her opponent: Donald Trump. After all, Vladimir Putin knew Russia would do better with his good buddy in the White House instead of that brazen bastion of truthfulness and justice as president — Hillary Clinton. After all, Trump promised in his campaign to take the U.S. back to its former prominence as having the strongest and most powerful military on Earth, to force Russia to get out of Ukraine, and to stay out of the Middle East. Hillary, on the other hand, had just supervised the sale of massive amounts of U.S. uranium to a Russian company owned by Russia and did so through a Canadian company to “launder” the transaction.

“Russia preferred Trump to Hillary.” Poppycock!”

In July of 2017, TruthNewsNetwork published a story about this very thing. Here’s just a portion of that story:

“There is no serious person out there who would suggest that you could even rig America’s elections…There is no evidence that has happened in the past, or that there are instances that that could happen this time…So I’d advise Mr. Trump to stop whining.”Barack Obama, October 2016

One of two things is apparent: either Barack Obama ignored the “real” news he had received from the Intelligence Community two months before saying the above, or the “real” news was not real at all, but “fake news.” Stating either one of those two to be correct would be pure speculation on my part. But one thing is certain: RussiaGate is alive and kicking. Whether “real” or “fake,” it has already cost taxpayers millions of dollars as multiple investigations by Congress, the FBI, and now Special Counsel Robert Mueller are engaged and all aggressively pursuing any evidence of collusion by anyone affiliated with Donald Trump or even the President himself with the Russians.

I have asked this question before, but its significance bears its repeating: with the most elaborate, most well equipped, most proficient intelligence gathering capabilities on the face of the Earth, is it plausible to believe at this point almost a year into RussiaGate not a single shred of evidence of Russian collusion by the Trump Organization has been leaked to and/or unearthed by the Press? Certainly in this 24/7 news cycle in which we live (that has turned into the 24/7 “Leak” cycle), if there was any evidence of collusion, we would certainly know about it. Further, I hear every day this statement from multiple news sources: “Every Intelligence Agency has confirmed the Russians tried to hack the 2016 Presidential election.” THAT IS NOT TRUE! Even the NY Times corrected that fake story by stating that just 2 of the 16 intelligence agencies had participated in the preparation of a report that was then given to the Department of National Intelligence (DNI) about Russian hacking. Later it was revealed that 13 handpicked intelligence employees prepared that report. No big deal? Normally when such a report is prepared, several HUNDRED intelligence specialists are involved!

Even if their conclusion was legitimate and accurate, where is the evidence? When I ask that question to people in a position of authority, all I am told is that “the evidence of Russian election interference is classified since it’s part of an ongoing investigation.” Really? Are we expected to believe that ANY evidence at all of ANYTHING illegal in the political world of Washington D.C. can possibly remain secret — no matter if classified? Don’t tell the news media that — they’d go out business not having any “fake news” from “anonymous source leaks” to report.

Based on simple logic, I have over this past weekend — in the midst of numerous hours of exhaustive investigation looking for Russian election hacking evidence — made a blockbuster conclusion: there was NO Russian attempts to hack into the 2016 election that had not been attempted in previous American elections over and over again. And the Obama Administration knew about them for years and did nothing about them.

My conclusion about President Obama’s “expert” opinion? Either his experts were incorrect, politically motivated, or HE purposely misstated the truth. You decide.

The U.S. Intelligence: Past

It’s doubtful that few Americans (if any) feel really confident in the reliability and veracity of the intelligence that is given to us from the leadership of U.S. intelligence agencies. Through the last two years, time and time again we hear, see and read reports of leadership in the FBI, CIA, DNI, and NSA give Americans “expert” opinions based on information provided them that is always classified. It seems that when they couch that presentation with the term “classified,” we are intrigued to hear what they say — like it’s a secret that they shouldn’t tell us, but because we’re Americans they’ll push the envelope and go ahead and tell us.

Intelligence agency heads have been falling to the wayside during the Trump Administration.  These experts have been fired or forced to resign just from the FBI:

1. James Comey, director (fired)
2. Andrew McCabe, deputy director (fired)
3. Peter Strzok, counterintelligence expert (fired)
4. Lisa Page, attorney (demoted; resigned)
5. James Rybicki, chief of staff (resigned)
6. James Baker, general counsel (resigned)
7. Mike Kortan, assistant director for public affairs (resigned)
8. Josh Campbell, special assistant to James Comey (resigned)
9. James Turgal, executive assistant director (resigned)
10. Greg Bower, assistant director for the office of congressional affairs (resigned)
11. Michael Steinbach, executive assistant director (resigned)
12. John Giacalone, executive assistant director (resigned)

Then there are these from the Department of Justice (non-FBI):

13. Sally Yates, deputy attorney general (fired)
14. Bruce Ohr, associate deputy attorney general (twice demoted)
15. David Laufman, counterintelligence chief (resigned)
16. Rachel Brand, deputy attorney general (resigned)
17. Trisha Beth Anderson, the office of legal counsel for FBI (demoted or reassigned*)
18. John P. Carlin, assistant attorney general (resigned)
19. Peter Kadzik, assistant attorney general, congressional liaison (resigned)
20. Mary McCord, acting assistant attorney general (resigned)
21. Matthew Axelrod, principal assistant to the deputy attorney general (resigned)
22. Preet Bharara, U.S. attorney, SDNY (fired along with 45 other U.S. Attorneys)
23. Sharon McGowan, civil rights division (resigned)
24. Diana Flynn, litigation director for LGBTQ civil rights (resigned)
25. Vanita Gupta, civil rights division (resigned)
26. Joel McElvain, assistant branch director of the civil division (resigned)

And there are several others since these. I wonder why that is?

It seems that these experts have been caught up in some very nefarious activities. (In the written story on our website you can see the reason for these experts’ departures explained next to their names in the list)

The U.S. Intelligence: Today

Congress invited the current heads of U.S. intelligence agencies to sit and discuss the state of intelligence in today’s Trump Administration. In that meeting, various members of Congress asked those intelligence officials to respond to specific intelligence and foreign policy positions taken publicly by President Trump. (Remember: these folks are the bulwark of American Intelligence) The topics were Afghanistan, Iran, North Korea, and Isis. (Note: pay close attention to their disagreement with the President almost across the board)

On Afghanistan

What Trump tweeted

“Negotiations are proceeding well in Afghanistan after 18 years of fighting. … Fighting continues but the people of Afghanistan want peace in this never ending war. We will soon see if talks will be successful.”

What Coats said

“We assess neither the Afghan government nor the Taliban will be able to gain a strategic advantage in the Afghan war in the coming war year, even if coalition support remains at current levels. However, current efforts to achieve an agreement with the Taliban and decisions on a possible withdrawal of U.S. troops could play a key role in shaping the direction of the country in the coming years.”

On Iran

TEHRAN, Iran — Iran’s Ministry of Defence has published a video purportedly showing the launch of a new cruise missile, saying it has a 1,350-kilometre (840-mile) range. In the 37-second video on the ministry website, the launch was shown from different angles with the projectile finally hitting somewhere in the desert. Iran has missile capability of up to 2,000 kilometers (1,250 miles), far enough to reach archenemy Israel and U.S. military bases in the region.

What Trump tweeted

“The Intelligence people seem to be extremely passive and naive when it comes to the dangers of Iran. They are wrong! When I became President Iran was making trouble all over the Middle East, and beyond. Since ending the terrible Iran Nuclear Deal, they are MUCH different, but … a source of potential danger and conflict. They are testing Rockets (last week) and more, and are coming very close to the edge. Their economy is now crashing, which is the only thing holding them back. Be careful of Iran. Perhaps Intelligence should go back to school!”

What King and Haspel said

King: “But since our departure from the deal they have abided by the terms.

Haspel: “Yes, they are making some preparations that would increase their ability to take a step back if they make that decision. So at the moment technically they are in compliance.

On North Korea

What Trump tweeted

“North Korea relationship is best it has ever been with the U.S. No testing, getting remains, hostages returned. Decent chance of Denuclearization. … Time will tell what will happen with North Korea, but at the end of the previous administration, the relationship was horrendous and very bad things were about to happen. Now a whole different story. I look forward to seeing Kim Jong Un shortly. Progress being made – a big difference!”

What Coats said

“Regarding North Korea, the regime has halted its provocative behavior related to its (weapons of mass destruction) program. North Korea has not conducted any nuclear-capable missile or nuclear tests in more than a year and it has dismantled some of its nuclear infrastructure. As well, Kim Jong Un continues to demonstrate openness to the denuclearization and of the Korean Peninsula.

“Having said that, we currently assess that North Korea will seek to retain its WMD capabilities and is unlikely to completely give up its nuclear weapons and production capabilities because its leaders ultimately view nuclear weapons as critical to regime survival. Our assessment is bolstered by our observations of some activity that is inconsistent with full denuclearization.

“While we assess that sanctions and exports have been effective and largely maintained, North Korea seeks to mitigate the effects of the U.S.-led pressure campaign through diplomatic engagement, counter pressure against the sanction’s regime, and direct sanctions evasion.”

On Isis

What Trump tweeted

“When I became President, ISIS was out of control in Syria & running rampant. Since then tremendous progress made, especially over the last 5 weeks. Caliphate will soon be destroyed, unthinkable two years ago.”

What Coats said

“While ISIS is nearing territorial defeat in Iraq and Syria, the group has returned to its guerrilla warfare roots while continuing to plot attacks and direct its supporters worldwide. ISIS is intent on resurging and still commands thousands of fighters in Iraq and Syria. …

“While we have defeated the caliphate with a couple of little villages left, we should not underestimate the ability of terrorist groups, particularly ISIS and affiliated groups with al-Qaida and other terrorist groups, that they are operating not simply on what takes place on the battlefield that gives them strength or weakness, but they are operating on the basis of a theocracy, a theology, an ideology that we will continue to see for perhaps years ahead in various places of the world. …

“ISIS will continue to be a threat to the United States, and we’re going to have to continue, as Director Haspel said, to keep our eyes on that and our interest in the realization that this terrorist threat is going to continue for some time.”

Summary

I would love for American intelligence to be motivated by just one thing: THE TRUTH. Unfortunately, it has become clearer and clearer that former and current intelligence agency heads are not necessarily driven by that one thing. In today’s Washington, it is apparent that much of what we see and hear is driven at least in part by political motivation.

Fired FBI Director James Comey illustrates how intelligence experts are polluted by political and personal agenda. Comey totally botched the email server investigation of Candidate Clinton, violated FBI and DOJ protocol in multiple ways, and then committed multiple felony violations of his OWN mishandling of classified information and documents.

John Brennan was caught lying under oath to Congress. James Clapper took the Steele Dossier to CNN (where he had just signed on as a “contributing expert” even though he knew its sourcing was funded in part by the Clinton Campaign and that most of it was unverified), and in doing so violated multiple regulations and DOJ operating procedures.

We could go on and on and on. But let’s just cap this off by making this position statement: Americans not only “Want” the best intelligence apparatus in the world, Americans “Deserve” the best intelligence apparatus in the world. And Americans no longer believe that we have that!

It’s because of a combination of things. But all of those “things” boil down to this: People. Intelligence operatives are people. And people are each different from other people. But in Washington D.C., we have  made it abundantly clear, the driving force of most there are power and all that power can bring to them personally.

No, everyone in intelligence is not dishonest, self-serving, and politically driven. But many are. And because of that, Congress and the White House are going to have to in unity re-create the way American Intelligence operates, and not from the top down. As this president has said over and over again, the workers in Intelligence are rock solid on the most part. The tragedy that strikes again and again always seems to originate at the top of each of these agencies: the “experts.” Many of those have been exposed and have been eliminated. But what remains in their wakes are all those processes that allowed them to weave their webs of deceit. Those must be eliminated.

So, President Trump, many Americans hope you have 6 years to correct these problems. But you may have just two more years to tackle them. I doubt I need to say this, but you just need to roll your sleeves up and get at it.

And one more thing: you have smartly from afar allowed Special Counsel Robert Mueller the distance and freedom to run his traps trying to trap you. That has been a great decision for you. I encourage you to let it play out. It is fairly obvious that he’s on a dead-end street. Let him crash.

Democrats will NEVER accept that he — an “expert” does not and will not find any collusion between your organization and Russia regarding the 2016 election. In their “looking,” his group is trying to create some process crimes with which they can charge those in your organization and possibly even you. Let them look. They’re only thinning your air and spending millions of OUR dollars in their doing so!

It’s worth it to us just to watch them continue to run in circles. That seems to be what today’s “experts” do!

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Have I lost my ever-loving mind? Most people feel that House Speaker Pelosi is the poster child for the term: “Duh!”  She has certainly embarrassed herself and her party on numerous occasions making some of the most absurd statements ever heard in D.C. I could give example after example of her doing so.

Most conservatives — especially the “experts” in media labeled as conservative — have watched as Pelosi and her Senate Democrat partner, Chuck Schumer, have so far turned a deaf ear to the far-left agenda being bandied about by the “New” Left of their party. Each of those declared presidential candidates seem to have bowed at the altar of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to get a list of the “acceptable” policy talking points to use to begin their campaigns. AOC seems to hold all the permission slips for policy positions for the Democrat Party right now. 

What’s going on?

The Leftist Landscape

“Medicare for All!”

This cry is being parroted by everyone on the Democrat extreme left who is so far running for President. But that cry is not new. Hillary Clinton put the idea of “Medicare for all” or “single-payer” healthcare into her husband’s first White House term. It was shot down then, primarily because her plan as described to the nation was hard to understand. But what Americans DID understand was the actual cost to the country and the damage such a plan would do to the economic health of the U.S. and to U.S. taxpayers. Little in Hillary’s plan has changed in today’s version — except for the addition of three zeroes. The price for “Hillary-Care” was in the billions. The price tag for the current “Medicare for All” adds at least three zeroes and four by some estimates and is in the trillions.

If one can get past the cost of such a plan, it is impossible to ignore the inevitable changes such a program would make to the actual healthcare system. Medical professionals in the tens of thousands would head for the door if Medicare-for-all was ever implemented. Why? Follow the money.

Here’s Medicare Costs in Dollars Paid to Healthcare Providers of all types in Fiscal Year 2017:

$709,386,000,000 (That’s $709+ Billion)

$122,331,000,000 ($122+ Billion) Medicare Premiums Paid into Medicare

$587,055,000,000 ($587+ Billion) Net: Cost of Medicare to the Federal Gov’t in Fiscal Year 2017

How does that compare with “Medicare-for-all?” Conservative estimates from several bi-partisan groups set the 10-year cost of the currently proposed “Medicare-for-all” at $70+ Trillion!

Just so you can get a grip on the viability of such a health program, the total U.S. Government revenue for 2019 is anticipated to be $3.422 Trillion. “If” the projected cost of Medicare-for-all hold true, the 10-year estimate would gobble up the entire U.S. Government gross income and still be short! Healthcare providers would be the first to get cutoff. And without good doctors, our amazing healthcare system is finished.

Free College Tuition and Cancellation of Current School Debt

The total 4-year cost for Title IV college tuition for the United States including 4-year college + 2-year college for fiscal year 2012:

$308,896,040,000 or $308+Billion

(Estimates are an annual cost increase of 6-9%)

Current Democrat declared Presidential candidates each call for such a program. You may remember that Bernie Sanders in his 2016 campaign called for free college tuition as did Senator Elizabeth Warren PLUS cancelling all secondary education student school debt. How much would that be?

$1,606,000,000,000 ($1.606 Trillion Dollars)

And who would payback that $1.606 Trillion? American taxpayers.

One state has already taken steps towards free tuition. New York just passed a bill that offers illegal immigrants free secondary education! New York of course assumes that other states and the federal government will follow suit.

In the New York plan, middle-class New York families who struggle by with only about $40,000 annual family income on average are NOT eligible even for tuition assistance of any sort for their children. But people who are in the U.S. illegally but live in New York for as little as just 3 days are eligible for free college tuition.

By the way, New York City’s mayor implemented a program for illegals who live in the Big Apple that gives them free healthcare. It is estimated that this program ecncompasses approximately 300,000 illegal immigrants — free healthcare provided. This while there are 76,000 LEGAL homeless people on the streets of New York with NO healthcare at all.

All of the declared Democrat presidential candidates are promoting taking care of both of these secondary education bills: government bailout of 100% of student loans and free secondary education going forward. Just like “Medicare-for-all,” none have offered a serious plan for paying for it.

The obvious solution they will all propose details of in coming days centers around one thing and one thing only: raising taxes. We’ll talk about that in coming days discussing what taxing options are there, which they are each considering, and paint the TRUE picture that shows how each of their proposed plans would directly impact Americans, the U.S. economy, and the pros and cons of each — “if” there are even any pros!

Nancy’s Leadership Positioning

Let’s be completely honest in this conversation: Nancy Pelosi is NOT stupid. She may be a bit vapid and incoherent from time to time; she may say some silly things that actually mean very little from time to time — like “We must pass the Obamacare plan so we can see what’s in the plan” — but know for certain all her hens are in the henhouse. And she’s not shooting from the hip.

Think about it: she is known as by far the best Democrat Party fund raiser of all time. And she’s not collaring ignorant donors to con them out of those millions in campaign donations. She meets with and communicates successfully with some of the biggest tycoons from America’s biggest companies. And they donate millions to various Democrat Party entities through Nancy. If Pelosi wasn’t all there, as much as these industry titans may like her, the Democrat Party, and as much as they dislike Donald Trump and his followers, few would drop a million or so to a liberal PAC just because Pelosi came calling. Nancy has clout. It may come from the fact that she knows where many skeletons are buried in a bunch of backyards, but she knows how to parlay that along with significant and credible arm-twisting to raise those millions.

So she certainly has something up her sleeve to allow the likes of Senators Kamala Harris and Kirsten Gillibrand to so far out from Democrat primaries start declaring these far-left socialist programs on which their campaigns are based. What could her reasoning be?

Pelosi knows the national electorate pretty well. Oh, she like most Democrats missed in 2016 just how disgusted a large portion of the electorate’s middle were with all the Democrat Party rhetoric and that Dems offered up Hillary Clinton as pretty much their only choice. Enough of those in the middle jumped ship and elected the most radical president in recent memory. She and other Democrat leaders feel they made a mistake. And she will not do that again.

She IS letting Harris and Gillibrand and Warren and whoever else declares in the next short period of time get out in front in the promising of socialist ideas that if ever passed by Congress would break the federal government and bankrupt all who live and work in the U.S. And Pelosi knows this congress (and any other) is  likely to pass few (if any) of these preposterous measures.

But Pelosi knows two things: (1) these are good far-left policy talking points. And Democrats need new and fresh ideas — ANY new and fresh ideas — to take voters’ minds off of Trump’s significant successes in his first two years. How else can one explain why no one on the left even mentions how successful are the Trump economic programs that have resulted in seldom seen (and certainly not seen in recent history) benefits of many kinds for Americans? There is no other explanation. And Democrats certainly want to keep voters from thinking about those good things happening and concentrating on all the evil in the Trump Administration.

(2) She knows the rising stars will only be around for a minute or two! That’s right: Nancy is certain those who raced to the front for the 2020 Democrat nomination will fail and fail miserably long before substantial and more middle-of-the-road Democrats get into the race. Let’s face it: the U.S. economy cannot possibly provide money for the two programs alone that Harris, Gillibrand, and Warren are already touting as things they certainly will implement if elected.

Pelosi know she doesn’t have to say one thing: the bright stars who are shining today by promising everybody a pot at the end of the rainbow will burn bright only so long. Reality will set-in before too long and then the not-so-new and shiny 2020 candidates will get into the race and pick-up where these fly-by-night stars burn out. THEN she will engage in campaigning at high speed.

By the way: Schumer is doing the exact same thing.

Summary

If President Trump or the Republican Party are confident of a 2020 victory just because of the wins by this administration so far, they are sadly mistaken. Democrats are smarter than their 2016 race showed. And they certainly have a strong and large field to pick from. If Hillary stays out of the race, there will be a substantial cross-section of choices for Americans that include some really strong candidates.

Additionally, the Deep State is still out there with all their ammunition taking constant shots at Donald Trump. We don’t know just how large the Deep State base is, but we DO know it is powerful and far-reaching and encompasses more than just the Democrat Party. Many of the establishment Republicans have been exposed as “in the tank” for anybody but Donald Trump.

Don’t forget the Mainstream Media no longer even tries to disguise their undying hatred for Donald Trump. Months ago they took marching orders from whomever sends them out and in unison showed their decision to simply abandon truth in reporting. They really have become the public dissemination of leftist propaganda through their reporting. And they don’t care who knows about it!

I know President Trump feels confident that Robert Mueller has no evidence of any wrongdoing on his part that would in anyway disqualify him to serve as President. But the President had better be careful: remember that innuendo in this “justice” climate is believed by more people in the U.S. than ever just because some news source delivers it. If CNN, MSNBC, Huffington Report, New York Times, Washington Post, NBC, ABC, CBS say it’s so, it is so. 

Have you noticed that Nancy is standing on the sidelines through all of this early political rhetoric from Democrats declaring their candidacy? I have not heard a thing in the news from her about any of this. She’s too smart to pipe up now.

Think about this too: what if Hillary decides to run? Their are key insiders from her 2016 organization who feel strongly that she will run. If so, how would that affect the campaign of others?

It would put Pelosi in a bad spot. Why? She would be forced to make a stand either for Hillary or against her running again. As powerful as Nancy is, I don’t think she wants to take on the Clinton dynasty. There surely are skeletons in THAT closet. But I am certain Pelosi has some skeletons in her backyard. And I guarantee that Bill and Hillary know where some Nancy’s skeletons are buried!

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From 2008 through 2016, the Democrat Party face was that of former President Barack Obama. Though many of his policy positions changed during his 8 years, it was certainly obvious “when” he made those changes and “where” specific changes ended up. In today’s Democrat Party, not only is the determination of who is the face of the party impossible, so is the determination of the Democrat Party platform. Let’s see if maybe we can narrow the options for those determinations.

The DNC

So who is the Democrat Party’s leader? Is it House Speaker Nancy Pelosi? Or is it new Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez? Are Democrats looking to get governing ideas from the left-leaning, aging, yet experienced and powerful California Speaker, or from the young, energetic, Socialist from New York? Here we are two years after Obama gave the White House keys to Donald Trump and we still don’t know who is leading his party. Rank and file Democrats don’t even know!

Consider this: they made it through the 2018 midterm elections and fared very well. But the question that many Americans are asking today is “Can the Democrat Party not just survive the 2020 election, but can they wrestle control of the Senate and the White House away from Republicans? I don’t have a crystal ball, but if history plays a role here, it is doubtful Dems will gain control of both while maintaining their House majority. And that should weigh heavily in their decisions regarding legislation and how the House operates in the next two years. And, quite honestly, they’re not getting off to a good start.

The House

Oh, the House of Representatives is in session? Few know that answer with certainty. All we seem to hear (because all the mainstream media want to “report”) is “Trump’s government shutdown.” They forget that the President has put four different offers for resolution on the table to which Pelosi and Schumer have not only declined but refuse to make counter offers. Maybe that’s the way the House Democrats feel they can win control of the entire government!

Yes, there ARE things happening in the House of Representatives — but nothing substantive. They have offered at least 6 bills passed by the Democrat majority for government funding. But they did so purely symbolically, knowing there was nothing going to happen across the Hall. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell made it clear weeks ago that the Senate would not waste time considering those bills or any that the President would not sign into law — and that was NOT going to happen for any legislation that did not contain funding for the southern border wall. If we rely on what’s happening now in the House, there is NO party leadership at all.

House Speaker Pelosi is back in charge. She wielded her substantive power and apparently cut deals with those Democrats in the House that opposed her return. But she is known as by far the best campaign fundraiser for Democrats in House history. For that, they needed her in their corner.

But is she the best “Face” for the Democrat Party? Who can forget this:

Remember that statement? She was referring to what history will probably show as the most expensive law in U.S. history: The Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare. Remember this: the Speaker of the House — Nancy Pelosi — told EVERYONE she did NOT know what was in the bill nor did any other Democrat in the House or Senate. But we needed it passed so we could “find out what was in the bill.”

You can’t fix stupid. And that statement was and is stupid.

The Senate

Over there sits Chuck Schumer — New York’s “Obstructor in chief.” If you look up the definition of “Obstructor,” you’ll see Chuck’s picture!  He forgets there is YouTube that documents EVERYTHING we say and do. Here’s a collage of Schumer’s very obvious flip-flops on a myriad of policies:

Cabinet appointments, policy questions, judge and other position appointment confirmations: ALL — at least according to Schumer — should be handled in the Senate whatever way DEMOCRATS say they should! His hypocrisy in these videos is actually hilarious. Why? BECAUSE HE RIGHT NOW IS ONE OF THE DEFACTO LEADERS OF THE DEMOCRAT PARTY! It would be funny if it was not for the fact we need someone in HIS position who is really ready-enough to deal with legislation strictly on the grounds of what is best for the country. And in Schumer’s own words: “How can any President not get confirmations for the appointments he makes. Good God, he’s the President!”

Oops…it seems that Chuck only believed that when Obama was in office. He planned on that working the same way during a Hillary Clinton two-term stint at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. But the American people thought otherwise.

So who is running the Democrat Party? Let’s go BACK to the House of Representatives:

AOC: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

The new member of Congress from the New York suburbs has set the political world on fire. She’s young, she’s energetic, AND SHE’S A SOCIALIST! But let’s correct that: she’s really not a Socialist — she’s a “Communist-light.” As she speaks more and more in the public in interviews, rallies, and appears on television and radio talk shows — basically everytime she opens her mouth — she proves just how virtually incoherent she is discussing “facts” about all things American. Putting it mildly, she doesn’t have a clue:

Let’s put this freshman member of Congress and her political views in perspective: she has shared her ideas and ideals throughout her campaign to many who live and work in New York, fellow members of Congress since her election, on all these talk shows on television and radio, and still the Mainstream Media are fawning over her simply because she’s young and attractive, speaks well, and is a minority Congressional member of the House of Representatives! Apparently, those are the only traits necessary to be considered a potential leader of the Democrat Party.

Do Americans really support that concept?

• 60% of Americans polled support AOC’s plan to assess a 70% federal income tax rate on wealthy Americans;
• She stated that the very existence of billionaires is evil and that no one in the United States should be a billionaire;
• While appearing on MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow Show following President Trump’s address to the nation on the crisis at the U.S. Southern border, she attacked Americans opposed to illegal immigration and glossed over the recent murder of a legal immigrant police officer Cpl. Ronil Singh;
• A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey found that, if the 2020 presidential race was between Trump and Ocasio-Cortez, 43% of Likely U.S. Voters would vote for Trump, while 40% would vote for Ocasio-Cortez. A sizable 17% are undecided;
• And then there’s this:

Summary

In AOC’s own words, “Call me a radical.” I remember Americans pretty much saying the same thing about that junior Senator from Chicago when he ran for President. Democrats (and enough “other” Americans) felt the U.S. needed a president that would bring radical new ideas to the nation. Obama’s views were radical when compared to the mainstream. And for eight years, he did his best to fulfill his promise to “lead the nation in fundamental change.” Unfortunately for the U.S., his leadership drove us in economic devastation and eroded almost all of our international credibility while killing our military might.

Are Democrats ready for new “radical” leadership? Are U.S. citizens ready for that including Democrats, Republicans, and Independents? Thankfully, the New York radical is not old enough to make a bid for the White House. But, the leadership of the Democrat Party is in her sights. And mind-dumb Millennial and Generation Z-ers are enough in number to probably see that happen.

70% Tax Rates: hopefully we will NEVER see that — at least not in my lifetime!

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“She’s Back!”

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi made a return trip to the House podium to accept the gavel as the “old,” new Speaker of the House. The 78-year-old California Representative is and has been one of the most powerful members of the House. I don’t think anyone knows for certain exactly where that power comes from, other than she is extremely persuasive, is historically the best political campaign contributions fundraiser, and smoother and more effective at garnering and using Washington political might and power than most others in Congress. Some say “She knows where all the bodies are buried!” And there certainly are MANY bodies that were victims to D.C. political fallout she, is if not responsible for, witnessed most of the burials.

What Power does Speaker Have?

The Speaker of the House is the presiding officer of the United States House of Representatives. Typically the head of the majority party in the House, the speaker outranks the Majority Leader. The salary of the Speaker is also higher than that of the Majority and Minority Leaders. The Speaker rarely presides over regular meetings of the full House, instead delegating that role to another representative. The Speaker does, however, typically preside over special joint sessions of Congress in which the House hosts the Senate.

What are Pelosi’s Already Known Power-Plays?

Seven Promises made by Pelosi for Congressional action “IF” she was returned to the House Speaker position:

1. More Investigations of Trump

2. Campaign Finance Reform

3. More LGBT Protections

4. Legal Status for ‘Dreamers,’ No Border Wall

5. Push for New Gun Laws

6. Changes to Obamacare

7. More Infrastructure Spending

Just keep these seven in the back of your mind while her agenda for the House is being rolled out. But while we’re watching and waiting, let’s revisit some things about the “stellar” past of the current Speaker:

Pelosi “Stuff”

Martha Stewart went to jail. Pelosi continues to walk the streets of Washington after making money on insider information—Congress gives itself a pass on the laws that apply to the rest of us. Newsmax noted:

• “Pelosi, D-Calif., and her husband have participated in at least eight IPOs while having access to information directly relating to the companies involved. One of those came in 2008, from Visa, just as a troublesome piece of legislation that would have hurt credit card companies, began making its way through the House. “
• Pelosi’s brother-in-law got a sweetheart deal from the US Dept. of Energy when taxpayers coughed up more than $700 million to a firm where her brother-in-law is a partner.
• Obamacare: Pelosi told Americans, “We have to pass the bill so you can see what’s in it.” Ilya Shapiro with Cato recently said more than 2,000 waivers have been given to organizations and companies across the country. Early on in the waiver process, however, of a sampler of 204 new Obamacare waivers, 38 were for restaurants, nightclubs, and hotels in Pelosi’s Northern California district. Many of the remaining waivers went to labor unions and other Dem-affiliated groups.
• Pelosi, hands down, is an open borders proponent. She wanted to include everyone, even foreign nationals who had no intention of seeking citizenship,  in ObamaCare—she didn’t come right out and say it, but if you want to cover anyone who’s in the country, we should take you at your word. Democrats in Congress did nothing about border security; they simply didn’t address the issue. Furthermore, if you’re an American who wants our borders secured, Pelosi says you’re ‘un-American.’
• (TruthNewsNet.org published this 11/18/2018) “A report from the Washington Free Beacon revealed that Pelosi is alleged to have enriched herself and her husband, Paul, through her efforts to “steer taxpayer funds” to a San Francisco-area light rail project. Pelosi’s support for the project caused local real estate prices to escalate such that a large parcel of land owned by “high-dollar Democratic donor” Marc Benioff’s company received a huge profit upon selling it to the Golden State Warriors of the NBA. Pelosi’s husband is also a significant investor in the company. Pelosi pushed for taxpayer subsidies for the rail project for over ten years, and that project did much to boost the real estate market in the area, according to commercial real estate experts. The report says that “liberal billionaire hedge fund manager” Tom Steyer — best-known for funding millions of dollars for national television ads promoting the impeachment of President Trump — may also have been further enriched through Pelosi’s efforts to provide federal subsidies to the project.

Pelosi’s ethical lapses on oversight

• Rep. Charlie Rangel’s (D-N.Y.) tax shenanigans are public knowledge. Despite that, Pelosi left him in charge of the committee that writes tax regulations. An average American would go to jail—Rangel kept his committee chair despite not reporting half his net worth among other lapses. Rangel wasn’t the only shady politician Pelosi tolerated—there’s a long list. Among the names, former Rep. Tim Mahoney (D-Fla.), the late Rep. John Murtha (D-Penn.), now imprisoned Rep. William Jefferson (D-La.)—there’s a very long list.
• Nancy Pelosi is facing accusations of cronyism after a solar energy project, which her brother-in-law has a stake in, landed a $737 million loan guarantee from the Department of Energy, despite the growing Solyndra scandal. The massive loan agreement is raising new concerns about the use of taxpayers’ money as vast sums are invested in technology similar to that of the doomed energy project. The investment has intensified the debate over the effectiveness of solar energy as a major power source. The SolarReserve project is backed by an energy investment fund where the Minority Leader’s brother-in-law Ronald Pelosi is second in command. PCG Clean Energy & Technology Fund (East) LLC is listed as one of the investors in the project that has been given the staggering loan, which even dwarfs that given to failed company Solyndra. Other investors include one of the major investors in Solyndra, which is run by one of the directors of Solyndra.

Although the following is not about corruption or legislative evil conducted by her, this is important to note:

• As evidenced recently in a number of press conferences, Pelosi clearly seems to be losing it. She has often forgotten her train of thought, stumbled for words or names, slurred her comments, experienced pregnant pauses, etc. Something is not quite right. Last year, a Washington, D.C., pharmacist made a very disturbing revelation. He reported providing Alzheimer’s drugs for some members of Congress. In making this revelation, he stated the obvious concern we all should have, “They’re making the highest laws of the land and they might not even remember what happened yesterday.” While we do not know if Pelosi is among this pharmacist’s customers, at a time our nation is in such turmoil, we simply cannot afford to keep members of Congress in office who are suffering from mental health issues.
• Then there’s “Pelosi-Speak: Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., had a different position on borders. In 2008 she said, “Because we do need to address the issue of immigration and the challenge we have of undocumented people in our country. We certainly do not want any more coming in.”

Summary

Many things concerning Speaker Pelosi’s past actions supported by American taxpayers concern me. We could spend hours discussing each. But let’s summarize it in this statement: Nancy Pelosi (as have many other members of Congress) found ways to — most-times within the law, maybe sometimes “skirting” the law — enrich herself, family members, Democrat donors, and others with opportunities discovered or created through her power that came from Congress. (Is that statement over-the-top to you?)

The “Power” problem was NOT invented by Pelosi. It has existed in Washington for many decades. Actually, it probably began in the early years of Washington D.C. when legislators discovered the power they had simply from representing voting constituents from their states and districts. Think about this: THEY write and pass laws; THEY determine what taxes to levy against Americans and American corporations; THEY determine what to pay themselves; THEY determine all their own personal benefits; THEY determine how much in “allowances” they are to receive just for being Congress members; THEY determine on which days they work and which days they do not. Members of Congress by giving themselves the ultimate power created the abilities to exert power over people from Washington.

Lord Acton, the 19th-century British historian, famously made this statement: “Absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

Are there examples to which we can point that illustrate this premise? Absolutely! Choose any one of the examples given above (and also in the TruthNewsNet.org story published here 11/18/2018) to see the results of the power that emanates from Congress. You see: everything — yes EVERYTHING — that does or does not happen in Washington is the product of one and only one thing: POWER. “What’s best for the country,” “What voters want,” “What I committed to do or not to do during my campaign,” mean NOTHING! All that matters is what the power-brokers in Congress and elsewhere have placed on the political agenda for members of Congress to do.

Is Pelosi caught-up in this thirst for ultimate power? I have never heard her admit to that. But when suspicious things happen or suspicious things are said, people should at least stand at attention and watch closely so as to garner truths or lies being given. There are too many times and too many examples of Pelosi’s aberrations of her promises given and statements made to detail here. But there are many.

In my opinion, there are only a few things that Pelosi has committed would occur if she was named Speaker I’m certain will happen. And 6 of the 7 she gave that are listed above will she push for. The one “missing” will be Campaign Reform. Why not Campaign Reform? Oh, the House will pass a bill called Campaign Reform. But it will NOT be about meaningful or real reform. Think about it: why would they want reform when Hillary raised twice as much money as did Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election? What they will call “Campaign Reform” will be nothing more than an attempt to change existing law regarding voting (not campaigning) so as to give currently non-registered voters the ability to vote in federal elections. Additionally, any campaign measure they bring up will be an effort to handicap Republicans in elections.

What will happen in Congress? Hopefully in the Senate now with a larger Republican majority, nothing fundamentally structured to further hurt the nation or change the Constitution will be allowed to succeed. But I will guarantee this: the House will do everything possible to find a way to get rid of President Trump. And to do that, they must find some way to rid themselves of Vice President Pence, too. He would replace Trump. And Pence is even more conservative than is the President. What they may do to achieve their ultimate goal of regaining total control of the U.S. government is frightening. I am NOT a conspiracy theorist, but the fact that the Left hates Trump for interrupting their united efforts to take the U.S. toward a totalitarianism system of government than they hate him personally. And I think everyone knows how much they personally disdain Mr. Trump.

I’ve said this to you before and say it here: “Buckle in. We’re in for a heckuva’ ride!”

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In just a few days, control of the U.S. House of Representatives will be officially handed to Democrats as the new Congress begins its two-year lifespan. I am certain that Americans who live in those 40 Congressional districts from which enough new members were elected to the House to wrest House control away from the GOP are excited to FINALLY see the logjam of almost zero legislation from the House end and NEW and exciting governance begin, right? WRONG! Here’s what House Democrats who are about to take control are preparing to do: INVESTIGATE! CNN put it best:

While Democrats publicly talk up their interest in focusing on legislative priorities like health care and voting rights — not to mention ending the ongoing partial government shutdown — they are quietly preparing for what will likely be the largest congressional investigation of a sitting president in recent memory. Party leaders and committee chairs have spent months ironing out potential targets, from President Donald Trump’s taxes and business dealings to the conduct of current and former Cabinet members.

2019: A Very Special Year

If you think that with a new House of Representatives we will finally see legislation passed in Congress to initiate a slew of new and meaningful bills to address the very necessary but forgotten deficiencies in Americans’ lives, you are sadly mistaken. First, a divided Congress is doomed to fail to get anything meaningful passed. Think about it: with a House and Senate with relatively small GOP control over the past two years, very little legislation could get passed. It seems that GOP Congressional leaders could never get enough of their members on the same page to get anything done. Just imagine how much more fragmented Congress will be in 2019.

What do Americans really want Congress to get done?

1. Immigration. This is probably the most contentious, most ideological, and most necessary issue to tackle and get resolved. Yet Congress after Congress has failed miserably to take any meaningful action since before Reagan. Sure, Reagan cut a deal and gave citizenship status to a host of illegals. But there was a “pro quo” to that deal: southern border security to stop the flow of illegals into the U.S. was to be enacted in exchange for the “quid” of that deal: citizenship for millions. Democrats laughed and did nothing. Clinton did nothing during his eight years in spite of numerous promises. Bush 43 the same as was the case under Obama. Trump hit hard the proverbial immigration continuously in his first two years, even with a United Congress. (ha!)
2. Healthcare. Nobody doubts over the past couple of decades a problem with the U.S. healthcare system existed. Unfortunately, politicians tagged the problem as being with the entire healthcare system. It was and is not with the entire system — the problem rests in healthcare finance alone. The “new” Left-wingers in the Democratic House ran during the election promising and are still crying about “Medicare for All,” or even Universal Healthcare. Nobody has tackled the REAL healthcare issue of finance. American healthcare itself is the best on Planet Earth! Beginning with Obamacare, sadly we have seen healthcare professionals by the thousands run to different job sectors or retire prematurely. Why? Government messing with Healthcare and ruining its amazingly positive results. This new House is full of those who are hell-bent on totally destroying the entire system when all that should be addressed is healthcare finance. The two buzz terms regarding healthcare finance that has everyone up in arms for years are “pre-existing condition coverage” and “premium costs.” Those can and should be addressed and fixed without blowing up the entire healthcare system! Oh…”Medicare for all” cannot be done in the U.S. — PERIOD. The costs are impossible to sustain in any way.
3. Government Spending/Nat’l Debt. Do we even need to mention this? Congress after Congress, Administration after Administration: Americans want the same thing and no one in Congress or the White House seemingly pays attention — or CARES. Running any home, business, local, state, or federal government, continuously spending more than that entity makes can end in only one way: Disaster. Americans know that sooner or later, the American debt holders will come calling for repayment of what the country owes. There are only two options if this happens: pay the bill or default. We cannot pay the bill. So what would default look like if the U.S. has no other option? Answer: there’s never been a country like the U.S. default on government debt. We don’t know what the results would be, other than that they wouldn’t be good. But with certainty, we are headed toward that Armageddon.
4. Fix Congress. There’s nothing wrong with Congress itself — right? That’s incorrect if you ask the average American. Americans want Congress to change in the new House. Here’s what they want to be changed: 1) Members of Congress are paid a base salary of $174,000, and that’s way too much, according to public-opinion polls.  A majority of Americans believe members of Congress – a majority of whom are already millionaires – should earn less than $100,000 a year, somewhere between $50,000 and $100,000. 2) The House of Representatives has averaged 138 “legislative days” a year since 2001, according to records kept by the Library of Congress. That’s about one day of work every three days, or fewer than three days a week. Americans know there’s more to work in the House than just what happens on the floor. But it seems to most that when serious issues that need serious results are on the “table” for Congressional action, House members simply do “other things.” 3) It’s not very responsive. How would you feel if you took the time to write a detailed letter to your member of Congress explaining your concerns about the particular issue, and your representative responded with a form letter that began, “Thank you for contacting me regarding ________. I appreciate your views on this important issue and welcome the opportunity to respond.” This kind of thing happens all the time, though. 4) They waffle too much. It’s called political expediency, and elected officials have mastered the art of taking positions that will maximize their chances of getting re-elected. Most politicians will cringe at being labeled a waffler, but the truth of the matter is all elected officials and candidates would agree their positions shift constantly. 5) Bi-partisanship. Let’s be honest: Americans really don’t want it. What Americans want is for members of Congress to forget about party politics and do anything necessary to work with other members to get done what voters elected them to get done. Nothing else they can do really matters.

Summary

Robert Mueller and his team have already spent a reported $25 million investigating collusion during the 2016 election cycle between Russians and members of the Trump Campaign. $25 million! So far, not one person has been found guilty. Sure, partisan hacks scream that multiple indictments have been issued, several arrests have been made, and some are going to jail. None of them were charged or convicted of doing anything having to do with President (or “Candidate”) Trump or any members of his campaign. Don’t you find it odd that such a whopping amount of taxpayer dollars would so flippantly be thrown away in this manner? What price is a justifiable price for the wrongdoing that Mueller and his team have unearthed?

Don’t you think that enough is enough? (If you don’t, you’re probably an elected official, Democrat Party hack, or someone that simply hates Donald Trump)

We are about to enter a never-seen-before time in the United States in which a political party is going to take over the “purse” of the American people and direct additional millions of dollars to investigate Donald Trump! Why? Simple: They want him gone.

Their vitriolic hate for this President is far beyond normal distaste and even disgust from one party’s members for another party’s members. It is so intense and so vicious, it makes me wonder what is REALLY going on? Why do they REALLY hold so much hatred for this President?

The answer to that question lingers. But one possibility continues to creep into my consciousness more and more regularly: what are they trying to hide from Americans? What do they not want the populace to know that they feel that on the watch of this leader and his aggressiveness toward Democrats might be exposed? What could it or those be?

While you are wondering too, you might ask these questions:

• The Clinton Campaign obviously colluded with Russia and Russians during 2016. Why has the Mueller probe left THAT collusion alone?
• Knowing that Hillary herself violated federal laws regarding the handling of classified information, documents, and communications, why has Mueller not even visited those felonious actions?
• Did you know Hillary through her unsecure email server communicated with Barack Obama himself, (him using a secret Gmail address) and in doing committed multiple felonies? To our knowledge, so far none of that has been examined by Mueller.
• Why have Congressional GOP committees been totally unsuccessful at taking the horrendous information unearthed in their investigations into election wrongdoing to federal authorities for prosecution of offenders? Why have their multiple criminal referrals against many who have been found in criminal wrongdoing simply been ignored and for which no criminal action initiated?

In the meantime, the southern border is leaking like a sieve and illegal migrants are pouring into the U.S. While border officials watch in dismay, federal judges apparently in cahoots with Leftists continue to tie the hands of President Trump as he tries to fulfill Americans’ wish for border security and meaningful immigration law enforcement.

Does anyone but me feel aghast that American citizens must scream at Washington D.C. to enforce federal laws, to beg for our government to stop illegals from murdering, raping, and terrorizing legal Americans? When will this nonsense stop?

I can tell you when: not until Americans stop simply saying “Enough is enough” and take actions to either stop it themselves or put people in office who will stop it by forcing everyone to abide by legally passed laws. And the practice of using liberal federal judges to rule against duly passed laws allowing open-borders philosophies propagated by the Left must be stopped for that to happen.

I don’t know for certain when it will happen. But what I DO know for certain is that the 116th Congressional House of Representatives is not planning for ANY OF THE THINGS WE HAVE DISCUSSED IN THIS STORY TO HAPPEN!

Oops….I’m wrong. They ARE planning on spending more of our money conducting dozens of “new” investigations into Donald Trump. For what?

“I heard that he took two sugar packages and stuck them in his pocket when he and Melania stopped for lunch at Bubba’s Cafe in southern Alabama in October of 2017. The cad! He needs to be forced out of the White House for that! Which is he guilty of by stealing that sugar: High Crimes or Misdemeanors?”

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Americans are waiting with many questions about what and how Congress will act regarding legislation — what Congress is designed to do. That comes as control of the House of Representatives crosses the aisle to the Democrat Party in January 2019. Though the GOP picked up several Senate seats that increased their Senate majority, all “fiscal” matters — matters driven by government funding — must come from the House.

Yes, it is true that for the first two years of the Trump presidency Republicans controlled both houses. But because of rules put in place — rules passed by each house of Congress that are NOT Constitutional mandate –, restrictions regarding even taking up measures for floor debate and what can and cannot be done in the House and Senate lie entirely at the feet of members of Congress. Why?

Congressional Identity Politics

Americans look on as Congress continually defeats completion of legislation for extremely important matters. examples: each year the Constitution requires Congress to prepare, pass, and the President to sign into law a fiscal budget. And each fiscal year the budget that controls government spending expires the same time. Yet each year, Congress waits until the last minute, delaying even a vote on a budget bill, passing temporary spending resolutions, due exclusively to partisan wrangling that seldom has anything substantive to do with the overall budget. Most often those delays are direct results of the current “legislative hotspot item of the week.” The repair of illegal immigration, funding healthcare, and building a southern border wall are the latest hot spots that have delayed a new budget. Of course, stop-gap resolutions for temporary spending have to be put in place to prevent a government shutdown. But even the threat of a shutdown is turned into a political football everytime one is rumored: either Democrats or Republicans hold out wanting this legislation or that legislation included or excluded, and it’s always “the other Party’s fault.”

In the past, members of Congress were really concerned about how Americans felt about Congress and the job they do. Their approval ratings among the public were important. But in past years Americans watch as Congress demonstrates, again and again, their lack of concern for the will of Americans in legislation. Their approval ratings as a result of their lack of concern for the will of Americans hover around just 10%. And they don’t care.

With that in mind, and with Democrats reclaiming control of the financial mothership in Congress — the House of Representatives — don’t you think Congress would want to get back to work and diligently move legislation for Americans and government operations forward? One would think that. And one would be wrong.

What legislative matters do you think Congress should be concentrating on? Let’s name a few: Further tax relief for the middle class; meaningful comprehensive immigration reform; sealing both U.S. borders to stop the rampant influx of illegals from the north and south; revision of healthcare financing and regulation to make it affordable for all Americans without tampering with healthcare’s effectiveness; taking control of runaway U.S. government federal deficit spending. There certainly are others. But I feel almost all Americans would be tickled if Congress would make at least honest efforts on these during the next two years. But it won’t happen. Even with a fresh start with a new House of Representatives, NOTHING substantive will be accomplished in the next Congress — nothing but passing a budget after several spending resolutions are passed at the last minute. The cycle of Congressional lunacy just rolls over — again, and again, and again, and again.

Did you notice as I did the lack of party platform promotion in the 2018 midterm campaigns by either Party? There were none. All the campaigning were against those running on the other side. Voters heard very little from either Democrats or Republicans about any ideas to fix any of the broken government process mentioned in the last paragraph. In fact, the election conversation was driven primarily by just one thing: Donald Trump. And seldom did you hear at campaign rallies or in television, radio, or print ads “new” ideas from either Party’s candidates. They each simply drew a line in the sand: either for or against President Trump.

Hardly anyone spoke about the amazing accomplishments in the nation on his watch in just his first two short years. (I won’t list them here, but we all know about most) Regardless of the claims made by his predecessor for initiating all of those successes, most Americans are smart enough to look at their payroll deposits and see deposits for corporate bonuses, pay increases, and more net pay because of the reduced federal income tax deductions. They see their 401K values have risen rather than leaking away as under the last President. Americans also saw their neighbors who had previously struggled to find work get not just jobs, but jobs in sectors that not only had completely stopped hiring were moving operations to foreign countries. Americans know Obama promised exactly opposite, telling Americans that manufacturing would never come back to the U.S.

It happened because Donald Trump changed the way people at the top in Washington think. Let’s call it “Trump Change.”

But, wait: not EVERYONE in Washington changed — or wanted “Trump Change.” Enter members of the Deep State — inhabitants of the Swamp. They didn’t want “Trump Change.” They still don’t.

With new House control by Democrats, one would think Democrat Party leadership would be excited about looking ahead at new ways to build on existing successes and find new ways to initiate new ones. But that’s not happening. Want to know what Democrat Party upcoming House leadership and committee leaders are planning?

• Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) on Sunday said that President Trump might “face the real prospect of jail time” after prosecutors indicated last week that he directed illegal payments during his 2016 presidential campaign. “There’s a very real prospect that on the day Donald Trump leaves office, the Justice Department may indict him. That he may be the first president in quite some time to face the real prospect of jail time,” he said on CBS’s “Face the Nation.”

Schiff’s premise has NO basis in fact, rather relies totally on information contained in Robert Mueller’s memo released Friday, December 9th. Specifically, Schiff’s comments were based on allegations contained in that memo stating Cohen lied to Mueller and his investigators. According to the memo, Cohen admitted that he had lied to Congress about when he stopped pursuing a deal to build a Trump Tower in Moscow — which was June 2016 instead of January 2016, and about other statements he had made. It said he also offered new information to the special counsel’s office. The memo said Cohen admitted he lied to Congress to “minimize links between the Moscow Project” and Trump, and to “give a false impression” that the Moscow Project had ended before the Iowa caucus and the first presidential primaries, in hopes of limiting the ongoing Russia investigations being conducted by Congress and the special counsel’s office.

Cohen also said he had lied to Congress about a 2015 radio interview, in which he suggested that Trump meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in New York City during his visit for the United Nations General Assembly. Cohen had told Congress that his comments were not discussed within the campaign, but later said that he had “conferred” with Trump about contacting the Russian government to gauge interest in such a meeting.

Congressman Schiff disclosed that Democrats are in talks with counsel for former Trump attorney Michael Cohen to “bring him back” for further testimony, less than two weeks after Cohen pleaded guilty to lying to Congress in 2017.  Schiff suggested Cohen will return voluntarily. If Schiff becomes the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee when Democrats retake the House in January, as expected, he would have the power to subpoena Cohen to testify and provide documents — but Cohen would retain the option of pleading his Fifth Amendment right to avoid self-incrimination.

• Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), the incoming chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, revealed Friday, December 7th that he will end the Republican-led probe into decisions made by the FBI and Department of Justice during the 2016 presidential election. “Yes, [I will end it] because it is a waste of time to start with,” Nadler told reporters after momentarily stepping outside the closed-door hearing of fired FBI Director James Comey. He branded the probe a political stunt designed to divert attention from special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into potential collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia during the election. “The entire purpose of this investigation is to be a diversion of the real investigation, which is Mueller. There is no evidence of bias at the FBI and this other nonsense they are talking about,” the Democrat claimed.
• Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), promised the following legislation to be taken up if she retakes the gavel as Speaker of the House: a package for campaign finance reform as Dems’ first bill of the 116th Congress; Democrats will pursue reducing drug prices, something the Trump Administration is doing successfully already. Then, they will make an effort to work with Republicans on a bill on background checks for gun purchases, as well as address protecting “Dreamers.” That refers to young undocumented immigrants who came to the U.S. as children. “I don’t see any of us voting for wall funding,” referring to President Donald Trump’s plan for a wall along the U.S. border with Mexico. In addition, Pelosi said she would like Democrats to make sure there is integrity in the U.S. voting system.
• And then there’s Maxine Waters (D-CA). Throughout the campaign and since she speaks about nothing but impeachment. I am not for sure, but I believer her ardent supporters from her California district would rather she work with all those in D.C. to reduce illegal immigration that has resulted in lost jobs for those voters and others, further reduce taxes and help find ways to fix healthcare finance, stemming the flood of ever-increasing federal spending that is driving our national debt far beyond any hope of repayment, and the constant logjam in Congress due exclusively to partisanship from both sides of the aisle. Yet, Ms. Waters still chants in rallies and meetings, “Impeach 45, Impeach 45!”

Summary

There’s very little any non-elected American can do to right this ship. At best we can continue to communicate with our elected federal officials and encourage them to take care of the enforcement of existing laws, pass new laws to fix bad laws, to cut runaway spending, close our borders to illegals, and take care of American citizens before spending billions on illegals who invade our country.

Regarding the likes of Schiff and Nadler and Pelosi and others who hail from the Democrat Party far left, they still hold the belief that their political false narrative has captured the minds of most Americans. I laugh every time I hear Nadler or Schiff or Pelosi or Waters in interviews spouting their talking points. Remember this: Schiff is the one that on numerous occasions has stated he “factually” knows and has evidence that proves that President Trump colluded with Russia to help get him elected in 2016. Nadler knows that everything he said that I quoted above about the current House investigation into Department of Justice and FBI wrongdoing and even illegal actions during the 2016 election is not only legitimate, but it is also necessary to simply hold government officials accountable for partisanship that has led to unbelievable illegal activities that put Watergate to shame!

Schiff, Pelosi, Nadler, and even Waters are oblivious to this one fact that cannot be forgotten or ignored: all Americans are not drinking from the trough of Political Elitism from which Democrat Party leadership live by. Americans understand things in D.C. are not right. And most Americans — even proven in polling results — want the process in D.C. fixed and those responsible for wrongdoing to be held accountable.

In all of this, don’t be dismayed: the Sheriff that took charge in 2016 is far from working alone in his so-far successful quest to clean out the Swamp. Schiff and Company want to intimidate the Sheriff into believing he has no hope and that they’re “gonna’ get him!” He doesn’t care. He came to D.C. a very successful entrepreneur. He’ll leave D.C. the same.

And Americans will still be in control of the United States of America!

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Yes, the “new” Speaker of the House of Representatives for the upcoming Congress has yet to be chosen. But odds are that former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) will receive the gavel from current and outgoing Republican Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI). Even though Pelosi hails from the “old school” Democrats and a new breed of even more liberal Democrats are populating the majority party in Congress, Pelosi is the odds-on favorite to be Speaker. How so? She has amassed the reputation of being the best fundraiser by far for her party, has shown through her years in office her total commitment to the Democrat Party, and probably too because she knows where all the Democrat Party skeletons are hidden! (She probably hid a few herself)

As we prepare for the changing of the guard, I thought it beneficial for us to take a look forward to a Pelosi Congress by looking back to the way the House under her leadership — and specifically as House Speaker — operated in years past. Yes, “She’s Baaaack!”

Nancy: Who Is She?

Nancy Patricia D’Alesandro Pelosi, born March 26, 1940, is an American politician serving as the Minority Leader of the United States House of Representatives since 2011, representing California’s 12th congressional district. She previously served as the 52nd Speaker of the House from 2007 to 2011, the only woman to do so. Her ascent to House Speaker also made her the highest-ranking female politician in the history of the United States. She is the odds-on favorite to replace outgoing speaker Paul Ryan.

A member of the Democratic Party, Pelosi represents California’s 12th congressional district which consists of four-fifths of the city and county of San Francisco. She served as the House Minority Whip from 2002 to 2003, and was House Minority Leader from 2003 to 2007, holding the post during the 108th and 109th Congresses under George W. Bush.  After the Democrats took control of the House in 2007 and increased their majority in 2009, Pelosi was elected Speaker of the House. After the Democrats lost House control in the 2010 elections, Pelosi was elected as the Democratic Leader by House Democrats and therefore the Minority Leader in the Republican-controlled House from.

During and after her tenure as Speaker, Pelosi was perceived as a contentious political figure, with Republican candidates frequently trying to tie their Democratic opponents to Pelosi and with moderate Democrats seeking to show their moderate bona fides by expressing opposition to Pelosi. Pelosi is expected to run for Speaker of the House of Representatives on the opening of the 116th U.S. Congress on January 3, 2019. If reelected Speaker, Pelosi would become the seventh individual to return to the Speakership on non-consecutive terms of office and the first since Sam Rayburn in 1955.

Scandals

Speaker Pelosi was mired in a host of scandals during her years in the House. It is fair to say, however, that Pelosi and other Democrats are not on an island which contains ALL Congressional and other D.C. scandals. But Pelosi’s illustrate really well the apparent “in-your-face” attitude from many lawmakers on the left.

We detail just a segment of some of her scandals here. However, probably the most visible, obvious, and talked-about scandal involving Pelosi was a legislative one. Who can ever forget this:

While the Obamacare incident was really bad, it is just one of many under the watch of Pelosi.

SunEdison

Nancy Pelosi’s husband bought up to a quarter million dollars of stock in SunEdison (a now financially troubled green energy company that has just recently emerged from bankruptcy) just weeks before it announced a major 2014 acquisition that sent its stock price soaring. SunEd’s 2014 purchase of wind energy company First Wind “further bolstered the reputation of the company,” wrote one market-watcher at the time. “Perhaps unsurprisingly, SunEdison’s stock soared 29% on news of this acquisition alone.”

Pelosi’s husband, Paul Pelosi, had invested just in time. He bought between $100,000 and $250,000 in SunEdison stock on Oct. 24, 2014, according to congressional financial disclosures. The company announced its First Wind acquisition on Nov. 17, just 3 weeks after Paul Pelosi’s stock purchase. Coincidence?

Pelosi has previously been accused of trading stock based on information gleaned through her official duties. A law passed in the wake of the SunEd controversy prohibits members of Congress from using nonpublic information for personal gain. Language in that measure was informally dubbed the ‘Pelosi Provision.’

“RailGate”

A report from the Washington Free Beacon revealed that Pelosi is alleged to have enriched herself and her husband, Paul, through her efforts to “steer taxpayer funds” to a San Francisco-area light rail project. Pelosi’s support for the project caused local real estate prices to escalate such that a large parcel of land owned by “high-dollar Democratic donor” Marc Benioff’s company received a huge profit upon selling it to the Golden State Warriors of the NBA. Pelosi’s husband is also a significant investor in the company.

Pelosi pushed for taxpayer subsidies for the rail project for over ten years, and that project did much to boost the real estate market in the area, according to commercial real estate experts. The report says that “liberal billionaire hedge fund manager” Tom Steyer — best-known for funding millions of dollars for national television ads promoting the impeachment of President Trump — may also have been further enriched through Pelosi’s efforts to provide federal subsidies to the project. Let’s see: Tom Steyer, who is a billionaire Democrat activist who hates Donald Trump, Nancy Pelosi, former House Speaker who wants her job back, and a financial windfall for both through the use of taxpayer subsidies. Sound familiar?

“AirGate”

Overall, according to documents uncovered in January 2011, Pelosi used US Air Force corporate aircraft for a total of 43 private trips, covering 90,155 miles, from January 1 through October 1, 2010. Previous documents show the former Speaker’s military travel cost the USAF $2,100,744.59 over one two-year period — $101,429.14 of which was for in-flight expenses, including food and alcohol. Purchases for one Pelosi-led congressional delegation traveling from Washington, D.C., through Tel Aviv, Israel to Baghdad, Iraq May 15-20, 2008 included: Johnny Walker Red scotch, Grey Goose vodka, E&J brandy, Bailey’s Irish Crème, Maker’s Mark whiskey, Courvoisier cognac, Bacardi Light rum, Jim Beam whiskey, Beefeater gin, Dewars scotch, Bombay Sapphire gin, Jack Daniels whiskey, Corona beer and several bottles of wine.
Previously uncovered internal Department of Defense (DOD) documents email correspondence detailed attempts by DOD staff to accommodate Pelosi’s numerous requests for military escorts and military aircraft as well as the speaker’s last minute cancellations and changes. For example, in response to a series of requests for military aircraft, one DOD official wrote, “Any chance of politely querying [Pelosi’s team] if they really intend to do all of these or are they just picking every weekend?…[T]here’s no need to block every weekend ‘just in case’…” The email also notes that Pelosi’s office had, “a history of canceling many of their past requests.”

In investigations into Pelosi’s rampant use of military planes at taxpayer expense, documents further detail former Speaker Pelosi’s abuse of military aircraft when House Speaker. She provided sweetheart travel deals for her adult children. But it did not stop there. Members of the House are able to obtain permission from the Office of the Speaker for the use of military luxury and military-supported travel for congressional delegation trips. These trips, known as CODELs, exploded in number and cost under House Speaker Pelosi.

As a footnote here: 1) Pelosi complained to the Air Force that the jet first offered for her trips back-and-forth from D.C. to San Francisco was not sufficient for her needs. How so? It had to refuel during each trip. She demanded a replacement jet that could fly non-stop from Washington to the Bay Area. When her demands were made public, there was a huge outcry, especially in light of her abuse of taxpayer funds for her private jet flights.

So what have former and current House Speakers have and do about their air travel? Former Speaker John Boehner flew commercially. Current House Speaker Paul Ryan flies commercial between his home and D.C., skipping private jet usage. Incidentally, Air Force private jet flight for House Speakers IS allowed, but neither Boehner nor Ryan uses it.

There is nothing wrong with finding good investment opportunities or investing successfully in startup companies or even in real estate trading. That’s not what Pelosi and her husband did to get wealthy. The Pelosi family made most of their wealth through Insider trading. She is privy to information she wouldn’t otherwise have if not for her position in Congress, and she uses this so that her husband can create active trades which have made millions of dollars.

In the meantime, Pelosi leads the throng of Democrats who clamor for Trump to release his tax records. So, why doesn’t Pelosi give over her financial and tax records? Why doesn’t every Democrat who has a problem with Trump’s taxes bring out their own documents in a show of solidarity? After all, they’re more than content to spread Trump’s business every which way. People seem to forget that during the 2012 Presidential campaign, Pelosi and other members of Congress refused to release their tax returns and that was brought to light.

Facing questions about why she and other top Congressional officials won’t release their tax returns, Pelosi downplayed her previous demands for presumptive GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney to release his, calling the issue a distraction. Pelosi had strongly urged Romney to provide further disclosure of his tax returns. But while maintaining Romney should release more documents because of “custom” and “tradition,” Pelosi when facing media demands for HER tax returns said the issue “was trivial compared with economic issues.” She responded, “We spent too much time on that. We should be talking about middle-income tax cuts,” Pelosi said after answering two questions about the issue.

The Minority Leader faced questions about the issue after a McClatchy News report showed only 17 of 535 Members released their tax returns when asked.

Summary

Bringing back memories of these Pelosi scandals and the unethical if not illegal abuse of her position in Congress for personal enrichment for herself, her husband, and friends and campaign contributors simply leave a bad taste in the mouths of American citizens. Is it any wonder that the approval ratings for members of Congress hover close to single digits. And yet they still are re-elected again and again and go on taking advantage of political might and power at every opportunity. Why does its allowance continue?

It’s simple: Washington D.C. is so far removed from the sight and minds of most Americans, unless a scandal that negatively impacts Americans personally occurs, politicians are most often given a free pass. Shame on us! How can any of this be rectified if WE don’t do it? It is foolish to expect that someone who is allowed to cheat the system again and again with no accountability would stop cheating! Congressional actions by many that have been exposed prove that point. What is horrifying is to think that even with the multiple scandals we discover, how many remain unknown to us? Honestly, we’d probably all gasp if we knew.

We must stop burying our heads in the sand. Americans must begin to hold our elected officials accountable for all the improprieties they are guilty of and for all the financial waste of taxpayer dollars that are included. How?

1. Term Limits. House members at the establishment of our government were elected from towns and villages for two-year terms. They would then return home to be replaced by local citizens for a two-year term in D.C. Without term limits, we watch daily as politicians become “career politicians” who make a lifetime of milking the system for every dime and bit of power they can get — AT TAXPAYER EXPENSE! We must stop the gravy train and get our officials back to just serving the people;
2. Outlaw lobbying. Very few who serve in Congress leave Congress poor, or even in the same financial class as the day of taking their oath of office. Almost every member of Congress becomes a millionaire. How? In addition to personal enrichment when serving, most end their political careers as D.C. Lobbyists who open doors to the clients of D.C. firms who seek special access to lawmakers and those firm pay big bucks to receive that access. It is common for former members of Congress — who at most make $174,000 a year when in office — to make $1 million + per year as lobbyists;
3. Tie the total compensation of every member of Congress to the total compensation for those in similar positions in the private sector. Base salaries in Congress may compare disproportionately to the advantage of those in the private sector. But when the expense accounts and health and retirement benefits are included, members of Congress have a much shorter path to financial security than their private sector counterparts — often guaranteed government income for life. Members of Congress should have NO different path to retirement and health security than Americans that are not in government;
4. Members of Congress who violate any federal statutes or violate any tenets of their fiduciary responsibility to Americans in general, and their voting constituents in particular, should be publicly chastised, fined severely, and expelled from Congress for any multiple infractions. What specifically would comprise these infractions? The House and the Senate each have disciplinary and ethics committees already with written rules and written violation penalties defined. The details of any such infractions and any and all penalties assessed must be immediately made public while being investigated and after findings and whatever penalties are carried out. This process is critical. Without transparency to the public, the process would continue to be “prisoners guarding the prisoners.”

Will any of this happen? CAN any of this happen? The answer to both is “Probably Not.” Why? Congress has the power to write or not-write legislation, personally follow Congressional guidelines, and hold or refuse to hold themselves and fellow members accountable. It’s too easy for them to just push the ball down the road not making any waves. “Quid pro quo” is pretty much the everyday occurrence. Term Limits would stop that ball from rolling, but Congress would have to pass Term Limit laws. Do you think that will happen? It’s doubtful. After all: Congress gets to decide how much they make personally, how much they can each receive in personal benefits, and the budgets for their offices, including staff payroll. AND THEY JUST TELL US HOW MUCH WE NEED TO SEND TO THEM TO PAY FOR THESE!

Don’t forget: they’re not like you and me. When our checking accounts get emptied, we must wait until the next paycheck. If you’re a member of Congress and the “candy store” — the Treasury — gets empty, they just raise the debt limit and borrow some more money! You and I get to pay the bills AND PAY THE INTEREST ON THE MONEY THEY BORROW.

Sounds like a pretty good deal……for them!

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