Author: Poetrooper

For eighteen months, Democrats and the liberal media have been hoping beyond hope that the Mueller investigation will result in Donald Trump being found guilty of colluding with Russia or obstruction of justice. They would prefer the latter, for while collusion could be conjured into grounds for impeachment by an increasingly unlikely Democrat-controlled Congress, it is no crime. So obstruction of justice, an actual prosecutable crime, is what they have really been salivating for. In Thursday’s congressional hearings featuring the FBI figure central to all of these hopes, Peter Strzok, the Dems showed the world just how willing they are to engage in some major obstruction of their own to prevent House Republicans from investigating the investigator. While their behavior may not rise to criminality, it certainly robbed the American people of a full opportunity to hear Strzok’s responses to penetrating and pointed Republican questioning.

Time after time, when Republican members of the House Judiciary Committee tried to pin down the unctuous, slippery Strzok, some Democrat member or other would break into the questioning to raise a superfluous objection that broke the line of questioning and refocused attention away from the legitimate target – a corrupt FBI investigation, or rather multiple corrupt FBI investigations – relieving the frequently beleaguered subject of the committee’s immediate focus. Or, when it came their turn to speak, the Dems would dredge up unrelated criticisms of the Trump administration, such as poor little immigrant babies being abused by evil ICE. One of the most despicable things they did was to rope in all the other members of the FBI by painting Strzok as just one of the regular guys, thus tainting the whole force. I’ve lost count of how many former FBI agents, even executives, who have come forward to deny this, pointing out that Strzok’s and his cronies’ behaviors were clearly atypical of the service.

The most heated outbreak of such Democrat witness protection came when Texas Republican Louis Gohmert raised the issue of how Strzok could expect the committee to believe his, Strzok’s, every pious assertion of virtue when the guy had been cheating on his wife with another member of the FBI investigatory team throughout the time he was investigating Trump and Hillary. I thought it was a legitimate question, although I might have asked it even more pointedly – such as, “Mr. Strzok, you ask this committee to accept your virtue without demurral, so I’m wondering: are you still cheating on your wife?”

The Democrats couldn’t have stunk things up more if they’d wheeled in a cart of week-old red herring and dumped it in the open area between the committee members and the witness. What made this obfuscating all the more infuriating was the fact that Strzok’s culpability is so well and thoroughly documented, much of it in the public domain, yet in spite of that, he and the Democrats could so blithely, even haughtily, ignore that 900-pound gorilla while mouthing continuous denials of known facts and wrapping this smarmy, smirking swamp creature in pious protestations of public service and patriotism.

Crossposted at American Thinker

Reading the comments following blog Thomas Lifson’s Saturday article on the latest Dem/media sleaze attack upon a Republican political figure, Congressman Jim Jordan, I found one that immediately resonated with me as perhaps significantly consequential to the coming election and even farther into the future. Commenter Skeptic wrote:

My rule is that if it comes from the legacy media, it is false. My new policy is to not care what is said about Trump or his supporters or even whether it is true or not. The enemy of my enemy is my friend and nothing else matters. In this case nothing deserves a second look. It is all lies.

That 21st Century declaration of independence from malicious media mind control gripped me because it so letter-perfectly described my own response to this latest campaign by the media and the Democrat dirty operations, and I suspect that of millions of other Americans. We are fed up with this endless parade of sleazy character assassins and their claims of past sexual sins against Donald Trump or other Republicans that the liberal media always take between their teeth and romp with, ever so gleefully.

What the so-called legacy media now has left to chew on is their shabby legacy of distrust and disbelief, having squandered that most precious coin of the realm, public trust. When even long time Democrats finally are turning away from the party in disgust, appalled by such seedy tactics and shameful media slander, perhaps it is time for those who control the output of these media organizations to heed a bit of ancient wisdom. Both media moguls and Democrat leaders should ponder the biblical admonition that “The wages of sin are death,” for surely their treachery is destroying their followings as the #WalkAway movement is demonstrating, a phenomenon that is as much about distrust of the media as it is about the loony leftism of the party. While they’re pondering, those same leaders might also give some consideration to Aesop’s fable about the boy who cried wolf until no one believed him.

If Skeptic’s creed is as widely representative of the American populace as I suspect, then it shows that the socialist fanaticism adopted by the Democrats and their media mouthpieces has finally succeeded in destroying their own credibility outside their urban liberal enclaves and in the process the continued viability of both.

Over at American Thinker, Matt Fitzgibbons has written a bit of American history which contains a quote that ol’ Poe had not heard before and thinks quite appropriate for this forum of commonly cynical, cantankerous and curmudgeonly commenters.

“At George Washington’s inauguration in April of 1789, New York was our new Republic’s capital.  Less than a year later, a deal was struck by Jefferson, Madison, and Hamilton to move the capital to the mouth of the Potomac.  The North would benefit by having Congress assume the States’ debts, and the South would have a capital closer to home.

The only problem was, this new capital would be built on a parasite-infested swamp.  It still is.  Five years earlier in a letter, George Washington had applauded the region for farming as it ‘contains an inexhaustible supply of manure.’ It still does.”

While Democrat leadership seems hell-bent on unleashing the frothing-mouthed dogs of social war, it appears there is another movement afoot within liberal ranks to unleash some poodles of sanity. A video appearing on YouTube by a young, gay New York City hairdresser explaining why he has decided to “Walk Away” from the liberal left and the Democrat party has caught fire on social media, prompting a movement of like-minded leftists who have decided the party has gone too far left for them. In spite of efforts by the mighty gods of the social ether to suppress this trending disaffection, it could take on the momentum of a full-fledged mass desertion, fulfilling the hope of bewildered conservatives that, “They can’t all be that crazy, can they?”

The star of this cinematic declaration of independence, Brandon Straka, makes a heartfelt and compelling case for his rejection of present-day Democrat fascism masquerading as liberalism, albeit his message contains nothing new for conservatives and Republicans who have been making the very same points for years now in their criticisms of the growing lunacy of the liberal left. But do go watch the video, which has now been viewed by more than five million people on Facebook and YouTube, because it is so refreshing to hear our conservative complaints being voiced by someone in the heart of the liberal camp and such a Democrat stronghold as New York City. If the Democrats’ iron grip on Gotham is slipping, they’re in big trouble.

If the #Walk Away movement could spark to life in Manhattan’s gay community, imagine how it could catch fire among the disaffected, ordinary, working class Democrats out there in flyover country who managed to cling to their guns and religion even while voting for Obama twice and then Hillary. If sophisticated members of the New York gay community, with their greater tolerance of bizarre behaviors, are fed up with the Democrats, the flyover folks could turn this so-far small straying from the herd into a political stampede that runs right over the blue wave this November.

We should not, however, smugly conclude that these Democrat defectors will automatically vote Republican. Many may vote Libertarian or simply not vote of all. We should openly welcome them and calmly reassure them we are not the racist, homophobe, Nazi Neanderthals the Democrats have been depicting for the past decade. Many of us have long maintained that the Democrats could not possibly continue to hold together such a disparate coalition of minorities, all with their own, frequently clashing, agendas. It is now coming to pass and as each finds its own leaders and spokesmen we should welcome them to our conservative forums and help them meld their beliefs into our broader conservative views. Notice I do not say we should change our conservative agenda to accommodate them rather we must show them how they can fit into our view of what is needed to continue building a great nation that sets an example for the world.

Here is another #Walk Away video that comes at the issue from a very distinctive perspective.

NOTE: When I wrote my piece a few weeks ago announcing my return to TAH, I made an egregious error in reporting the nature of my illness. I stated that I had a 14×14.3 centimeter tumor in my throat. That was a gross error as the correct size was 4×4.3 centimeters. Nothing to sneeze at but still not the monster I described. Hell, they’d have had to behead me. I assure all of you there was no intent to mislead or over-dramatize. As I said at the time, the chemo and radiation have left the old brain (77 years as of this past Saturday) often confused and fuzzy. Please don’t cut me slack purely out of sympathy. As most of you know, I will fight stubbornly when I believe I’m right but can also admit I’m wrong as well.

Poetrooper

The liberal media were recently barking in concert that entering the United States illegally is not a criminal offense, but merely a civil violation punishable only with a fine. As usual with that pack of jackals, they were passing off a half-truth as the whole – more fake news.

Here’s what the law says:

8 U.S. Code § 1325 – Improper entry by alien

(a) Improper time or place; avoidance of examination or inspection; misrepresentation and concealment of facts

Any alien who (1) enters or attempts to enter the United States at any time or place other than as designated by immigration officers, or (2) eludes examination or inspection by immigration officers, or (3) attempts to enter or obtains entry to the United States by a willfully false or misleading representation or the willful concealment of a material fact, shall, for the first commission of any such offense, be fined under title 18 or imprisoned not more than 6 months, or both, and, for a subsequent commission of any such offense, be fined under title 18, or imprisoned not more than 2 years, or both.

(b) Improper time or place; civil penalties

Any alien who (1) is apprehended while entering (or attempting to enter) the United States at a time or place other than as designated by immigration officers shall be subject to a civil penalty of at least $50 and not more than $250 for each such entry (or attempted entry); or

(2) twice the amount specified in paragraph (1) in the case of an alien who has been previously subject to a civil penalty under this subsection. Civil penalties under this subsection are in addition to, and not in lieu of, any criminal or other civil penalties that may be imposed.

As you can readily see, the liberal media’s selective reading of the law ignores the criminal penalties available. Paragraph (a) does indeed provide for imprisonment as well as fines.

Now that we’ve disposed of that fake news, may I recommend the following be enacted by federal authorities? Federal detention facilities should be erected in our western deserts – perhaps one in West Texas near the ghost town of Shafter; another in the Bootheel of New Mexico near the anti-terror training center in Playas; a third on the northern edge of the federal bombing range south of Gila Bend, Ariz.; and one perhaps adjacent to the California State Prison west of El Centro. All are close to the border in harsh, inhospitable terrain.

Operations should be modeled on the Maricopa County Jail tent concept created by former sheriff Joe Arpaio: no air-conditioning, perhaps circulating fans only, with other amenities nonexistent. The menu should also follow Sheriff Joe’s: bologna sandwiches and Kool-Aid. English classes should be required, and their sole TV-radio should be closed-circuit bilingual educational programs.

And who would the detainees be? Why, those males and females apprehended as violators of Paragraph (a) above after being adjudicated by a federal magistrate (whose ranks need to be expanded) as being in violation of that law. We are, by and large, not a vengeful people, so we could cut first-time violators some slack, giving them 90 days rather than six months. On completion of their sentences, detainees could be transported to the border, given bus tickets to their homes of record, and warned that if they are apprehended again, ever, they will draw a full two-year sentence under the same conditions, no exceptions. The bus ticket home is the carrot after at least 90 days of the stick.

Traffickers and coyotes are currently eligible for much longer sentences under federal law, not included here for the sake of brevity. However, they should be sentenced to the same harsh facilities with no bus ticket carrot at the end of sentence – just dumped across the border with the stern warning that any future violation will be double their just served sentence. Five years or so of bologna and Kool Aid might dissuade some from future smuggling activities.

One reason I specify tent city impermanence to the centers is that such a program should be self-limiting. After thousands of these detainees spent three to six months enduring such harsh conditions and returned to their home towns and villages describing where they’d been and why, there should be far more soul-searching before others, having heard such tales of punitive Yankee retribution, would set out seeking the big payoff in El Norte. And those skeptics who doubted our will and tested it again might find their second, longer stay more convincing, discouraging further attempts by them and others.

What about women with children? This is a tough one, as we’ve all seen in the past few weeks. However, we still need to demonstrate the will to enforce our borders. They should first have the law explained to them about misrepresenting facts concerning claims of political persecution and warned that they can turn back now or be detained with their children until their claims are verified by American embassy and consular employees in their native countries. Staffs of those entities should be beefed up to allow for teams to be recruited and formed for this purpose. Congress should change the law to make this possible. All detained illegal Mexican females with children should be returned to Mexico immediately with stern warnings of harsh incarceration should they return. Mexican males and females without children should be handled as previously described to set the example for the rest.

Tough? Harsh? Hard? You bet, but look where all these years of trying to be reasonable have gotten us. With such a program in place, even if their corrupt governments want to dump their poor on the overburdened American welfare system, the poor won’t want to risk it. What are those governments going to do: march them to the yanqui border at gunpoint?

Look at North Korea: years of polite negotiations gained us nothing but contempt; yet after little more than a year of hard-nose reality, the Norks came begging. We can do the same with illegal immigration.

Crossposted at American Thinker

Nothing coming out of Washington annoys me more than conservative Republicans in the Trump administration, in Congress, and in conservative media punditry falling all over themselves to show their own sense of fair play by attributing an unrealistic sense of that same fairness to people who are anything but. Go back to 2016 and try to count how many times you heard all those conservative folks reassure us that we had nothing to worry about with James Comey leading the investigation into Hillary Clinton, that he was a stand-up guy, a straight shooter, a man with impeccable credentials, whose ethics were beyond reproach, a cop’s cop who could be counted on to conduct a thorough and impartial inquiry, devoid of Washington politics. Well, so much for that stand-up guy and his sense of fair play, hmm?

And what about this deputy attorney general, Rod Rosenstein? Yes, he may have been appointed by Trump, but who’s to say the president didn’t get fed the same load of straight shooter bilge that we got from the usual sources about how we could count on this guy, who seems to sit at the center of all these messes, to handle all these controversial investigations in a fair and impartial manner? So far, all he has appeared to do is stonewall and obfuscate, fighting Republican congressional investigators tooth and nail, even threatening the congressional staffers sent to the DOJ to get information, that he would sic the full investigative powers of the federal government on them and their families, scaring some to tears. Truly a nice guy, hmm?

Then there is Michael Horowitz, who, we were told endlessly by those conservatives who claimed to know, bears credentials even more sanctified than the now politically excommunicated FBI chief. Horowitz, we were assured month after month, could be relied on to conduct a fair and balanced investigation of that same FBI chief and his henchmen, who supposedly conducted their own fair and unbiased inquiry into another pillar of left-wing virtue, Hillary Clinton. Yeah, well, here we are with a 500-page summation of that seemingly never-ending investigation that concludes, despite the plentiful evidence to the contrary found within, that Comey and his criminal crew conducted their own fair and unbiased investigation of Madam Clinton and her corrupt and criminal cronies. The guy may be fair, but he’s bending over backwards so far to do it that he’s talking to Congress from between his legs.

Now, in spite of all the evidence pointing to the contrary, we still have conservative Republican politicians and pundits telling us we can trust Robert Mueller to conduct his political witch hunt into this so-called Russian collusion farce. We are reassured by those in the know that hey, the guy’s a former Marine, ya know, as if that installs a lifelong halo over his saintly head. Wasn’t former Pennsylvania congressman John Murtha a Marine? Yes, he was, and he was as crooked and corrupt as they come. He was despised in the military community. Service in the Corps does not in itself bestow sanctity on anyone, including Mueller. If this guy is so politically impartial, then why did he staff up with nothing but Clinton suck-ups, who, we can be confident, are about as unbiased as the FBI clowns who have now been exposed as actual criminals?

So how about laying off all the blithe reassurances to the huddled masses, all you conservative insiders supposedly in the know? As we’ve come to learn, our intuitive skills are obviously more finely honed than yours, perhaps because they are based in a common man’s common sense that seems to evaporate from your own hallowed beings in the exalted atmosphere of the power towers of the political and journalistic elite.

Crossposted at American Thinker

The Philadelphia Eagles should stick to the NFL. Last week they tried to game an opponent who regularly plays in a really big league and got their showboating butts handed to them, much to the amusement of millions of Americans who are fed up with their sports venues being used to promote social justice claptrap. Following a tradition begun by Ronald Reagan, Donald Trump invited the Super Bowl victors to the White House for a celebratory visit to honor their victory. Rather than graciously accept and show up at the appointed time, the Eagles’ organization tried to play cute by agreeing to the date named by the White House then abruptly canceling at the very last moment after all the preparations had been made and their own fans had traveled to Washington to view their team being honored. The Eagles then arrogantly named their own date which just so happened to be when the president would be in Singapore for his talks with the North Korean dictator Kim as they assuredly knew.

It wasn’t like the president’s trip was a state secret; it had been broadcast all over the media, even by the leftist networks that so love the social justice protests in our sporting events. So there is no way the Eagles organization didn’t know what they were doing: they were trying to psych their opponent. Well it may have worked on the Patriots but it didn’t work on the Number One Patriot who promptly informed them they had just forfeited the game as no shows, much to the delight of those tens of millions of us who want the Left to get the hell out of our professional sports and take all their angry, defiant, social justice drivel with them. The Patriot-in-Chief then used the forfeited time to stage a patriotic event honoring the very themes of duty, honor, country that the swaggering Philadelphia Peacocks were dishonoring with their raised, clinched fists. Game summary: The too-confident Philly offense fumbled on their trick play and Donald’s defense ran it back for the winning touchdown.

If the Democrats, who are supportive of liberal politics being force-fed to Americans through sports venues, think that irritating tens of millions of NFL fans in the months leading up to the elections is the way to make their so-called Blue Wave happen, then, by all means, let them continue to think just that. It demonstrates such clear political vision they should dub their ingenious plan “The Left Coast Offense.” As for those grounded turkeys cooling their heels in Philly as they critique this first loss of the 2018 season, if they really want to get down with the cause, why don’t they hire Colin Kaepernick and make him first-string QB? So what if they have two super-talented quarterbacks who took them to a Super Bowl victory? Wouldn’t sacrificing the coming season by playing the whining has-been hack who kicked off this political mess in the NFL be just their season ticket?

Crossposted at American Thinker