Month: September 2018

The Senate’s 93-7 approval vote for H.R. 6157: Department of Defense and Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Appropriations Act, 2019 was met with President Donald Trump’s disapproval.

Trump lashed out on Twitter:

I want to know, where is the money for Border Security and the WALL in this ridiculous Spending Bill, and where will it come from after the Midterms? Dems are obstructing Law Enforcement and Border Security. REPUBLICANS MUST FINALLY GET TOUGH!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 20, 2018

The Associated Press reported that the bill is “a wide-ranging, $854 billion bill that funds the military and a host of civilian agencies for the next year and provides a short-term fix to keep the government open through early December. The measure includes $675 billion for the Defense Department and boosts military pay by 2.6 percent, the largest pay raise in nine years.”

It also noted that, “The bill also approves spending for Health and Human Services, Education, Labor and other agencies, including a 5 percent boost for the National Institutes of Health.” The House is expected to also approve it ahead of the September 30 deadline to avoid a government shutdown.

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Notably, funding for the border wall got punted, according to Fox News.

“Republican congressional leaders have said they would prefer to tackle the border wall after the midterms in November. The appropriations for the Department of Homeland Security will be handled after Dec. 7, where the money for the wall would be set.”

Trump had, just days earlier, called out Republicans over border wall funding. He warned them about “being played” by Democrats:

When will Republican leadership learn that they are being played like a fiddle by the Democrats on Border Security and Building the Wall? Without Borders, we don’t have a country. With Open Borders, which the Democrats want, we have nothing but crime! Finish the Wall!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 15, 2018

Despite that, 45 Republicans sided with 47 Democrats and one Independent to pass the legislation. Only six Republicans voted against the measure, joining one Independent, Sen. Bernie Sanders.

Only 6 R’s including @SenSasse, @SenMikeLee, & @RandPaul voted against excessive/wasteful spending:

$15M to natural gas vehicles
$18M R&D for HVAC/refrigeration systems
$20M wind test facilities
$20M truck efficiency program
$4M to steel industry#ampFWhttps://t.co/jT3UhtTaF6

— FreedomWorks (@FreedomWorks) September 18, 2018

Other senators also voted against the bill. They include Republicans Jeff Flake, Pat Toomey, and David Perdue.

.@POTUS is fed up with the Democrats’ historic obstructionism. Frankly, so am I. It’s time to get the government on a process where we can fund our priorities & get this President’s agenda accomplished. pic.twitter.com/3GSR0oXh6h

— David Perdue (@sendavidperdue) September 20, 2018

The Chicago Tribune wrote that following Trump’s threat to never again sign another omnibus bill, Congress has been working to break down spending bills and get them completed much faster. This was reflected in a statement from Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., a senior Appropriations Committee member:

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“Today’s bill reflects the prorities (sic) I think of both sides of the Capitol and both sides of the aisle. It also fulfills, by the way, the president’s demand that he doesn’t want any more of the omnibus spending bills.”

According to The Hill, Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell echoed that sentiment. “These milestones may sound like inside baseball, but what they signify is a Senate that is getting its appropriations process back on track, a Senate that is attending to vital priorities for our country.”

Fox News reported that back in July McConnell made it clear that border wall funding would have to wait until after the mid-terms. So while Congress seems willing to work with Trump on passing funding bills in a more timely, responsible manner, when it comes to the border wall funding, there still seems to be issues.

Trump told Fox News’ Pete Hegseth at a rally in Billings, Montana that he understood the desire to wait to fund the wall until after the midterms. “If it were up to me I’d shut down the government over border security in a second. But I don’t want to do anything that is going to hurt us or potentially hurt us because I have a feeling that Republicans are going to do very well.”

Fox News went on to write that Trump had “commitments” from both McConnell and Speaker of the House Paul Ryan to take care of the border wall funding immediately after the midterm elections.

How well they keep that commitment will be partially dependent upon how the elections turn out. A “blue wave” shifting control within Congress could make such a commitment impossible to keep.

We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.

A bus driver in France is facing disciplinary action from his employer after he took disciplinary action of his own against a 12-year-old boy who crossed in front of his bus and nearly caused a terrible accident.

But Fox News reported that a petition is being circulated in support of the driver — who slapped the boy across the face and chewed him out as a parent would do — that has already gained more than 300,000 signatures.

The incident reportedly occurred on Sept. 13 in Arcueil, a suburb south of Paris, during which the driver was forced to slam on his brakes after the young man ran across the street right in front of him toward a crowd of other students waiting at a bus stop.

The driver exited his bus, walked straight toward the pre-teen and slapped him hard across the face as the other students screamed and yelled, issuing a few choice words to the boy prior to getting back on his bus.

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The video of the incident was initially posted to Snapchat prior to being posted to other social media sites, and has been viewed on Facebook more than 1.2 million times.

The BBC reported that the driver told the boy to pay more attention to his surroundings to which the boy is reported to have replied, “Shut up, go on, move on,” which is believed to have prompted the slap.

The boy’s mother reportedly filed an official complaint against the driver and the incident caused the Paris transportation authority, known as the RATP, to launch an investigation and disciplinary proceedings against the driver.

The state-owned public transport company said in a statement that they condemned the driver’s actions because they violated the principles and values held by the company, though the company did note that the driver had expressed regret over his behavior, which he blamed on an emotional reaction to a tense situation.

Euronews reported that the petition in support of the driver was started by the driver’s fellow colleagues at RATP, and it asks that the company’s management refrain from firing the driver over the incident.

The petition noted that the driver was forced to “sharply hit the brakes and rough up customers inside” in direct response to the boy’s actions and claimed that the driver had scolded the boy “like any parent would have done,” only to receive insults in return.

The petition also described the driver as being known for kindness, “Olympic calm” and patience, who’d only reacted to the boy’s insults as he did out of overwhelming emotion after the exceptionally close call of the boy running in front of his bus.

A local authority in the region where the incident occurred, Valérie Pécresse, urged the disciplinary council to “be indulgent towards the Arcueil bus driver who was a victim of provocations and insults.”

“He should not have raised his hand on a schoolchild and regretted it, but he has mitigating circumstances,” said the president of the Ile-de-France region in a post to Twitter.

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This driver probably should have refrained from striking the young boy across the face, particularly in front of other students, and nobody is condoning his actions — for which he has apologized and expressed regret.

However, we can certainly empathize with the driver in that moment fraught with tension, after a boy ran in front of his bus and nearly caused a terrible accident. The boy’s decision to then provocatively insult the driver seems to have prompted a well-deserved scolding for his inconsiderate and dangerous behavior.

We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.

By all accounts, Republican Senator Ted Cruz mopped the floor with democratic challenger Beto O’Rourke in a debate on Friday. The hipster doofus drunk-driving democrat however may have actually done himself in. He had the nerve to state that he fully supports the 2nd Amendment. That was a lie, but when you are a democrat, you never say you support gun rights as it turns off the base. O’Rourke might as well have said that he believes babies have a right to live or people should get to keep most of the money they earn.

Friday’s debate was actually pretty one-sided. Cruz scored point after point while O’Rourke was kind of standing there looking stupid. At one point Cruz accused O’Rourke of wanting to write the 2nd Amendment out of the Bill of Rights, which is 100% accurate. O’Rourke responded like this:

Cruz just forced Beto O’Rourke to say multiple times, “I fully support the Second Amendment.”

This is owning the libs. pic.twitter.com/Wmp20NLQWd

— Benny (@bennyjohnson) September 21, 2018

“Of course I support the 2nd Amendment,” said O’Rourke.

You can actually hear O’Rourke supporters in the crowd booing that their guy said he supports the right to keep and bear arms. Ted Cruz called O’Rourke out on this obvious lie and then the democrat doubled down on it.

“I fully support the 2nd Amendment,” O’Rourke said.

Fully support? The 2nd Amendment says: A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed. In order for O’Rourke to fully support that, he has to be against any kind of restriction or infringement on private gun ownership.

The thing is, he wants an assault weapons ban:

At SXSW, Beto O’Rourke says there’s no reason an AR-15 should be sold to civilians. “I have no idea how that polls and I should give a shit what the NRA” thinks about it.

— Michael Calderone (@mlcalderone) March 10, 2018

And here’s some more of O’Rourke’s “full” support for gun control from The Houston Chronicle:

During a pair campaign stops in Houston on Thursday, Democrat Beto O’Rourke jumped right into the middle of the gun regulation debate, saying he fully backs a call for universal background checks and a proposal to ban the sale of assault-style weapons.

“There is no reason that weapons of war should be sold to people in this country,” O’Rourke said.

Plus he is very proud of how shitty the NRA rates him on gun ownership rights:

Beto O’Rourke
Last NRA rating: F
Total NRA contributions: $0https://t.co/PGtWuzzZ2t

— Beto O’Rourke (@BetoORourke) February 25, 2018

There actually aren’t degrees of support for the 2nd Amendment. You either support it or you don’t. Beto O’Rourke wants to arbitrarily ban entire classes of weapons and despises the nation’s oldest civil rights organization that fights for gun rights. He doesn’t support the 2nd Amendment at all, let alone “fully.” He is however fully full of shit.

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To say Judge Brett Kavanaugh has been accused, judged, and convicted in the court of public opinion is an understatement.  Rule of law be damned.  In fact, Judge Kavanaugh’s accuser and her enablers have obliterated any fairness or equity as these apply to the foundational legal belief mandating that everyone in society be considered innocent until proven guilty.  Senate Judiciary Committee members Senators Kamala Harris and Amy Klobuchar, both former prosecutors, have decreed that reasonable doubt does not apply in the case of the accuser’s claim of sexual assault.  Incredible as it may sound, her accusation doesn’t need to be proven, either.  In summation, Dr. Christine Blasey Ford simply made the accusation, therefore it must be true.

A Senate Judiciary Committee hearing is not a court of law; however, respect for the rule of law is crucial to democracy, as it mandates that everyone is entitled to due process.  As tasked, the Judiciary Committee is convened to “advise and consent” regarding the president’s nominees to the Supreme Court.  Suffice it to say there are numerous steps in the committee’s process, before the nominee ever appears before the entire body of the judicial committee for questioning.  At the appointed hour, Judge Brett Kavanaugh dutifully appeared, answering numerous questions for several days.  And that’s when the pleasantries ended – cut to the chase!  Shortly after the close of testimony and several days prior to committee vote, Senator Dianne Feinstein entered into the record a letter she had received from California congresswoman Anna Eshoo, supposedly written by Dr. Ford, accusing nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault 36 years ago.

To date, committee chair Chuck Grassley has yet to see the letter.  As parsed by the media, the written accusation is vague and unsubstantiated (no police report was filed at the time of alleged assault), thus raising reasonable doubt as to the accuser’s truthfulness.

According to Senators Kamala Harris and Amy Klobuchar, there is no reason to doubt what Dr. Ford is claiming.  In their collective opinion, Judge Kavanaugh is guilty, and it’s now up to the Senate Judiciary Committee to determine if he is fit to serve on the Supreme Court, based on the accusation.  Senator Kirsten Gillibrand has also determined that it’s a cut and dried case, also based solely on the fact that Dr. Ford made the accusation and therefore must be believed.  Nothing is left to do other than to roll out the guillotine and execute the guilty party.

Thankfully, Chairman Grassley hasn’t lost his mind and will continue to oversee the next phase in this poorly scripted soap opera.  

In every U.S. court of law, the accused is granted the right to face his accuser.  The accused is also presumed innocent until proven guilty – which requires substantiated evidence and the testimony of eyewitnesses.  The burden falls to the accuser to provide evidence in order to prove the accusations, not the other way around.   It’s called due process.

It’s critical to understand that the long respected rule of law is being rewritten in order to validate Dr. Ford’s accusation, in addition to accommodating any future testimony on her part.  In plain speak, she wants her own set of rules in trade for her testimony. 

 Make no mistake: crafting this debacle began months ago and was set into motion just after Judge Kavanaugh’s formal questioning ended.  Senator Feinstein admitted publicly she’s been aware of Dr. Ford’s letter since July.  Not surprisingly, and days after the accuser’s revelation, Senator Feinstein also stated that she can’t attest that the information contained within the letter is truthful.  In other words; Senator Feinstein is attempting to establish plausible deniability.  Sorry, Senator, but it’s a little late for that – it was you who unleashed the maelstrom.

Unbelievably, the accusation itself has eclipsed any facts relevant to the alleged incident.  Judge Kavanaugh has eagerly agreed to another round of questions before the judicial committee.  Understandably, he wants to clear his name and salvage his reputation.  Whether or not Dr. Ford shows up to offer testimony is yet to be determined.

The overriding goal is to ensure that Judge Kavanaugh is not confirmed to the Supreme Court, and by whatever method it takes.  Apparently, all it takes is an unproven accusation to undermine democracy.

To say Judge Brett Kavanaugh has been accused, judged, and convicted in the court of public opinion is an understatement.  Rule of law be damned.  In fact, Judge Kavanaugh’s accuser and her enablers have obliterated any fairness or equity as these apply to the foundational legal belief mandating that everyone in society be considered innocent until proven guilty.  Senate Judiciary Committee members Senators Kamala Harris and Amy Klobuchar, both former prosecutors, have decreed that reasonable doubt does not apply in the case of the accuser’s claim of sexual assault.  Incredible as it may sound, her accusation doesn’t need to be proven, either.  In summation, Dr. Christine Blasey Ford simply made the accusation, therefore it must be true.

A Senate Judiciary Committee hearing is not a court of law; however, respect for the rule of law is crucial to democracy, as it mandates that everyone is entitled to due process.  As tasked, the Judiciary Committee is convened to “advise and consent” regarding the president’s nominees to the Supreme Court.  Suffice it to say there are numerous steps in the committee’s process, before the nominee ever appears before the entire body of the judicial committee for questioning.  At the appointed hour, Judge Brett Kavanaugh dutifully appeared, answering numerous questions for several days.  And that’s when the pleasantries ended – cut to the chase!  Shortly after the close of testimony and several days prior to committee vote, Senator Dianne Feinstein entered into the record a letter she had received from California congresswoman Anna Eshoo, supposedly written by Dr. Ford, accusing nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault 36 years ago.

To date, committee chair Chuck Grassley has yet to see the letter.  As parsed by the media, the written accusation is vague and unsubstantiated (no police report was filed at the time of alleged assault), thus raising reasonable doubt as to the accuser’s truthfulness.

According to Senators Kamala Harris and Amy Klobuchar, there is no reason to doubt what Dr. Ford is claiming.  In their collective opinion, Judge Kavanaugh is guilty, and it’s now up to the Senate Judiciary Committee to determine if he is fit to serve on the Supreme Court, based on the accusation.  Senator Kirsten Gillibrand has also determined that it’s a cut and dried case, also based solely on the fact that Dr. Ford made the accusation and therefore must be believed.  Nothing is left to do other than to roll out the guillotine and execute the guilty party.

Thankfully, Chairman Grassley hasn’t lost his mind and will continue to oversee the next phase in this poorly scripted soap opera.  

In every U.S. court of law, the accused is granted the right to face his accuser.  The accused is also presumed innocent until proven guilty – which requires substantiated evidence and the testimony of eyewitnesses.  The burden falls to the accuser to provide evidence in order to prove the accusations, not the other way around.   It’s called due process.

It’s critical to understand that the long respected rule of law is being rewritten in order to validate Dr. Ford’s accusation, in addition to accommodating any future testimony on her part.  In plain speak, she wants her own set of rules in trade for her testimony. 

 Make no mistake: crafting this debacle began months ago and was set into motion just after Judge Kavanaugh’s formal questioning ended.  Senator Feinstein admitted publicly she’s been aware of Dr. Ford’s letter since July.  Not surprisingly, and days after the accuser’s revelation, Senator Feinstein also stated that she can’t attest that the information contained within the letter is truthful.  In other words; Senator Feinstein is attempting to establish plausible deniability.  Sorry, Senator, but it’s a little late for that – it was you who unleashed the maelstrom.

Unbelievably, the accusation itself has eclipsed any facts relevant to the alleged incident.  Judge Kavanaugh has eagerly agreed to another round of questions before the judicial committee.  Understandably, he wants to clear his name and salvage his reputation.  Whether or not Dr. Ford shows up to offer testimony is yet to be determined.

The overriding goal is to ensure that Judge Kavanaugh is not confirmed to the Supreme Court, and by whatever method it takes.  Apparently, all it takes is an unproven accusation to undermine democracy.

A defining characteristic of the Deep State is this: when its members need to attack someone or some organization, they must expose themselves.  It has happened before, it is happening now, and it will happen again.

James O’Keefe, through his Project Veritas, is compiling video evidence of government employees using government databases, government offices, government communications, and the associated taxpayer funds to push a socialist-communist agenda and to thwart the will of the people by opposing the directives of their boss, the elected president of the United States.  These are people, government employees, who are literally taking your money and using it to defeat you.  

Recently, Mr. O’Keefe exposed a State Department employee bragging about working for democratic socialists and serving as an officer for a subversive organization while on duty at the State Department.  Did I say this has happened before?

In 1949, State Department employees asked Senator Joe McCarthy to obtain congressional oversight because there were, at the time, a shocking number of communist party members and activists on the payroll at the State Department.  As it turns out, other Executive Branch agencies were not immune to communist infiltration.

The Deep State went into overdrive.  Both houses of congress belonged to the GOP, so in order to wield any government power, the left had only the Executive Branch agencies to use, and McCarthy became a serious threat to that plan.  They went after Tail-Gunner Joe, hammer and tong, and they haven’t stopped.  In 1952, the White House went over to the GOP, but Eisenhower proved to be no help to Senator McCarthy.  Ike sat back and allowed McCarthy’s reputation to be destroyed, and communists continued to ride herd over his own federal agencies.  The Deep State went back underground, but it would surface again, leaving destroyed reputations in its wake.

Over the years, the names come and go, but the Deep State rolls on.  Now it’s Mueller, Comey, Strzok, Brennan.  Doubt about the political sympathies of these reprobates is vanishing like a ghost at the top of the staircase.  It remains to be seen if the members of this crew pay the price for their crimes.  No one is more able to throw the switch on them than Donald J. Trump.

So the issues and the players and even the rules may be slightly different, especially now in the internet age, but make no mistake about it: there are communists in the State Department, just as Joe McCarthy said there were.  There are communists in every other government agency.  When you think about it, where else would a subversive operate?  Where else could he do the most damage?

I call these people communists out of a concern for clarity, not for purposes of bombast or hyperbole.  It is one thing for an American to employ legal methods of activism toward bending his government’s policies toward his own sense of moral quality.  Attempting to overturn the will of the people and abolish the republican form of government mandated by the Constitution is a different kettle of fish.  These leftist criminals and their fellow travelers in the news media are a danger to Western civilization.

They may lose this time, but unless they are torn out, root and branch, they will go back to working undercover, paid by you and me, beating us over the head with bags of our own money.  And when they see an exigent circumstance, one that calls for the drastic measure of exposing themselves, they will be seen again.  Like whales that occasionally surface to blow, they can’t help themselves.

Willie Shields is a radio host, a paralegal, and the author of Exit 13A – A Control Tower Diary.  A “once and always” U.S. Marine and a former air traffic controller, Mr. Shields resides in Wilmington, Delaware.  He responds to email: WSHIELDS1775@VERIZON.NET , Twitter @WILLIEONRADIO.

A defining characteristic of the Deep State is this: when its members need to attack someone or some organization, they must expose themselves.  It has happened before, it is happening now, and it will happen again.

James O’Keefe, through his Project Veritas, is compiling video evidence of government employees using government databases, government offices, government communications, and the associated taxpayer funds to push a socialist-communist agenda and to thwart the will of the people by opposing the directives of their boss, the elected president of the United States.  These are people, government employees, who are literally taking your money and using it to defeat you.  

Recently, Mr. O’Keefe exposed a State Department employee bragging about working for democratic socialists and serving as an officer for a subversive organization while on duty at the State Department.  Did I say this has happened before?

In 1949, State Department employees asked Senator Joe McCarthy to obtain congressional oversight because there were, at the time, a shocking number of communist party members and activists on the payroll at the State Department.  As it turns out, other Executive Branch agencies were not immune to communist infiltration.

The Deep State went into overdrive.  Both houses of congress belonged to the GOP, so in order to wield any government power, the left had only the Executive Branch agencies to use, and McCarthy became a serious threat to that plan.  They went after Tail-Gunner Joe, hammer and tong, and they haven’t stopped.  In 1952, the White House went over to the GOP, but Eisenhower proved to be no help to Senator McCarthy.  Ike sat back and allowed McCarthy’s reputation to be destroyed, and communists continued to ride herd over his own federal agencies.  The Deep State went back underground, but it would surface again, leaving destroyed reputations in its wake.

Over the years, the names come and go, but the Deep State rolls on.  Now it’s Mueller, Comey, Strzok, Brennan.  Doubt about the political sympathies of these reprobates is vanishing like a ghost at the top of the staircase.  It remains to be seen if the members of this crew pay the price for their crimes.  No one is more able to throw the switch on them than Donald J. Trump.

So the issues and the players and even the rules may be slightly different, especially now in the internet age, but make no mistake about it: there are communists in the State Department, just as Joe McCarthy said there were.  There are communists in every other government agency.  When you think about it, where else would a subversive operate?  Where else could he do the most damage?

I call these people communists out of a concern for clarity, not for purposes of bombast or hyperbole.  It is one thing for an American to employ legal methods of activism toward bending his government’s policies toward his own sense of moral quality.  Attempting to overturn the will of the people and abolish the republican form of government mandated by the Constitution is a different kettle of fish.  These leftist criminals and their fellow travelers in the news media are a danger to Western civilization.

They may lose this time, but unless they are torn out, root and branch, they will go back to working undercover, paid by you and me, beating us over the head with bags of our own money.  And when they see an exigent circumstance, one that calls for the drastic measure of exposing themselves, they will be seen again.  Like whales that occasionally surface to blow, they can’t help themselves.

Willie Shields is a radio host, a paralegal, and the author of Exit 13A – A Control Tower Diary.  A “once and always” U.S. Marine and a former air traffic controller, Mr. Shields resides in Wilmington, Delaware.  He responds to email: WSHIELDS1775@VERIZON.NET , Twitter @WILLIEONRADIO.