Catch Ted Cruz's Princess Bride impression

Can you feature John Kasich doing this? Better yet the Barrack Obama?

Why the secrecy about the Colorado Springs and Minneapolis shootings?

What do we call people with the physical attributes of one gender who identify with the opposite gender? Apparently the Huffington Post thinks they have trapped Ted Cruz in a gotcha moment when he describes Colorado shooter Robert Lewis Dear as trans gendered. Wrong. Ted Cruz does not say anything off camera he will not say on camera. Dear identified himself as an “unaffiliated female”  on his voter registration not Ted Cruz.



Something is beginning to smell. Four days after the shooting the public does not know the name of the victims because the autopsies have not been completed? What does cause of death have to do with a person's name?
Another story that is falling apart is the mysterious shooting of Black Lives Matter demonstrators in Minneapolis by supposed "white supremacists, one of whom turned out to be Asian. It has been reported that five demonstrators were shot but only three hospitalized all with non life threatening injuries. From Yahoo News:
"Prosecutors must decide by noon on Monday whether to charge four men held by Minneapolis police in connection with the Nov. 23 wounding of five people protesting the fatal police shooting of an unarmed black man. A judge on Wednesday gave the Hennepin County Attorney's Office until midday on Monday to make a decision on charges against Allen Lawrence Scarsella, 23; Joseph Martin Backman, 27; Nathan Wayne Gustavsson, 21; and Daniel Thomas Macey, 26."
How is it the prosecutor has yet to charge the alleged offenders? The FBI is supposedly aiding in the case and after a week they have yet to bring charges. Are we hearing the whole story?

Marco Rubio's "dark money" machine

Certainly Marco Rubio is going to hear much about the Conservative Solutions Project in the next debate if not sooner. Rubio has quietly and quickly become the king of "dark money". While all candidates have Pac's and SuperPacs Rubio has taken it one step further. The Conservative Solutions Project which has purchased over $8 million in television air time is a 501 (c) (4) just as are most Tea Party groups. Under the law they can be formed to promote  “social welfare,” but not simply promote a single candidate.  CSP is promoting Rubio but as a 501 (c) (4) is not required to reveal its donors. What CSP is doing is tantamount to the Perrysburg Tea Party spending money on behalf of, God forbid, John Kasich.
Evidently CSP is brazenly ignoring tax law knowing that there will be no consequences until after it files its tax returns and the primary is decided and in the meanwhile it is keeping its donor list private. Who are these people? They could be anyone from Mark Zuckerberg to La Raza.



Read more here, here, here and here.

Waiting for Trump to flame out?

We have heard a number of commentator and politicians on cable television announce that Trump's floor, that is the 25% to 30% he has held in most polls, to also be his ceiling. Supposedly he cannot get above his present numbers and will eventually implode. Sound logic or wishful thinking? Probably the latter. Supposedly an establishment candidate will eventually emerge and vanquish the star of reality television but what candidate is that? It was thought to be Bush and then Christie but now it's Marco Rubio.
If all the other candidates were eliminated Rubio would take Trump. Not according to the Economist / YouGov poll of 2000 Americans. They paired several candidates against Trump and against one another and if Trump is going to lose it will be against someone who has yet to announce.

Donald Trump	57%	Marco Rubio	43%
Donald Trump	60%	Ben Carson	40%
Donald Trump	57%	Ted Cruz	43%

And my favorite.

Ted Cruz

55%

Marco Rubio

45%

One poll does prove inevitability. The candidates do not run in a national primary rather they must concentrate on winning state elections. A poll of the general population is not as predictive as a poll of registered voters much less a poll of likely voters still one must question what polls the talking heads on cable news are using to support their opinions.

Trump up 5 points since Paris attacks

Post the Paris attacks Donald Trump is up five points in the Huffington Post average of polls. He holds a commanding lead over Ben Carson with 35.1% to Carson's 13.9%, a lead of 21.2%. Only 2 other candidates score in double digits. Marco Rubio scores 12.6% and Ted Cruz gets 11.4%. The Huffington Post tracts 223 polls from 33 pollsters. The Real Clear Politics average of polls shows a similar albeit less pronounced bounce for Trump and a simultaneous decline for Carson.

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Ted Cruz moves into second place in Iowa

In a dramatic move Ted Cruz has moved into second place in Iowa just 2 points behind Donald Trump. The latest Quinnipiac poll shows Trump at 25, Cruz at 23, Carson at 18 and Rubio with 13. No one else is in double digits. While that move is encouraging winning the Iowa caucuses has been a dead end for the last two winners, Rick Santorum in 2008 and Mike Huckabee in 2004.

Listen to Bobby Fischer cheer 9/11

Relative to Muslims cheering the 9/11 attack listen the former world chess champion Bobby Fischer's uncontrollable glee at the death of almost 3,000 Americans. Although Fischer lived in Queens as a youngster he played at the Marshall Chess Club in lower Manhattan which is probably less than a mile from ground zero. He was a demented, despicable bastard.

Democrats haul out the wheel chair to ambush Ryan again

  I wish I could be even somewhat amused by Obama's frantic desperation to hold on to his power; unfortunately his manipulation and overreaching will have serious consequences to my life and yours, as we watch him roll out over 2,000 new regulations that will cost Americans many, many dollars.
  It's apparent at this point that Obama does not care how these regulations--or any of the other executive orders he's issued--will affect the average American family.
  As the rich Democrats hide behind their gated walls in fabulous communities occasionally venturing out to go to a dinner that costs hundreds of dollars or visit their private physicians, the rest of us Rubes can just go eat worms, I guess, because we're never going to get the truth out of that bunch, even if we waterboarded them.
  Now you might recall that DEMOCRATS stole over $716 billion dollars a year from Medicare to deposit into the--as we expected--floundering Obamacare. (Of course, the Democrat media machine went into overdrive denying that fact but the very creation of the presidential appointed IPAB Board proves it, again as the media machine seeks to poo poo its importance through mockery and derision.)
  Because we all trust Obama to make the right decisions for all Americans, right?
  What's interesting now is that Ohio Democrats are figuratively out with their fake Paul Ryan and phony wheelchair trying to peddle the idea that any budget adjustment at all will damage Medicare.

With control of the House majority securely in his hands, Speaker Paul Ryan can’t wait to enact the infamously dangerous budget cuts he’s been touting for years.
He wants to slash Medicare benefits and end the Medicare guarantee that millions of American seniors depend on!
Americans can’t afford to sit back and let it happen. Add your name to tell Speaker Paul Ryan: Leave our Medicare ALONE!

  When in reality, we know that the Democrats are the ones who've cut Medicare and imposed rules that require booting old people out of hospitals because they're too expensive.
  Why?
  Because die quickly.
  You know. Like presidential advisor Ezekiel Emanuel has always advised. 

However, other things are rarely equal—whether to save one 20-year-old, who might live another 60 years, if saved, or three 70-year-olds, who could only live for another 10 years each—is unclear." In fact, Dr. Emanuel makes a clear choice: "When implemented, the complete lives system produces a priority curve on which individuals aged roughly 15 and 40 years get the most substantial chance, whereas the youngest and oldest people get changes that are attenuated (see Dr. Emanuel's chart nearby). 

  It seems Orwell knew his subject matter well. The Democrat Party of Hillary's lies, Obama's divisiveness and Emanuel's medical ruthlessness has mined Lucifer's insidious gems in Alinsky's "Rules for Radicals."

Democrat: It's time for a change

  The last few years have been really, really depressing when it comes to watching the implosion of the Republican Party and the explosion of the Democrat Party. Did I mention I will never vote for a Democrat again?
  Here's an encouraging development: Carlyle Begay, Navajo Arizona Democrat Senator, has switched to the Republican Party. Now, it's not that the Republicans have all the answers.
  It's that if more good leaders see the Republican Party as the party of opportunity and self empowerment, maybe we can get rid of the dopes who are currently in office.
  Watch and be encouraged.
  For a change.

Free markets do work. We will soon see $1 per gallon gas and $10 smartphones.

To update my previous post Fox News released the results of its poll after I had posted that the ABC / Washington Post poll and both polls showed Trump leading second place Carson by 10 percentage points. In a nutshell both polls show Trump, Carson, Rubio and Cruz as the only candidates in double digits and the Fox poll is a bit kinder to Cruz.
It is Sunday so please indulge me as I venture from politics into areas that may have an even more direct effect on your personal life than next year's election. To keep this blog remotely relevant requires me to reads volumes of news daily and much of that leads beyond the realm of politics. While most readers would not have needed the Psychic Friends Network to predict Charlie Sheen's AIDS, had they thought about it, there is more important if less salacious news to deal with.

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Energy prices have been an interest to me for some years because of the roll of energy in the economy and because the prices of gasoline, heating oil, natural gas and electricity eat up a large chunk of the average American's income. I would argue that the $140 per barrel of oil was the primary driver of the 2008 crash. Idiotic lending rules and a Federal Reserve that assured the nation that everything was fine right up until the crash of course contributed but there was a precedent. The 1973 OPEC oil embargo brought about a severe recession and helped curtail the political career of one James Earl Carter, brother of pop celebrity Billy Carter, and who in the midst of the Iranian hostage crisis was attacked by a giant swamp rabbit. Hostages, embargoes and giant rabbits have always been the bane of American presidents.
Moving from energy prices in general to gasoline prices I predict we will see $1 per gallon gas soon. Maybe not everyone will see it but some will. Early today Gas Buddy reported that gas was selling for $1.38 in nearby Henderson, Kentucky. ( If you don't have this app on your phone or computer you should follow the above link. Gas prices often vary as much as 20 cents within in a few miles.) A quick look around the nation show gas selling for $1.96 per gallon in Minneapolis, $1.59 in Perrysburg, $1.89 in Fargo North Dakota, in close proximity to the Bakken Shale, and $1.58 in Midland, Texas, the trading hub of the Permian Basin. There a number of reasons for the wide disparity in prices such as state taxes and proximity to refineries and pipelines but I predict that soon parts of the country will see $1 gas.
Dollar per gallon gas! What next? How about a $10 smartphone. Soon Walmart will market just that. It uses a low-end Qualcomm Snapdragon chip and there’s no front-facing camera, so selfies are going to be a challenge. Also it runs an older Android OS, has a small 3.8 inch display and with the TracFone service will not give 4G service. It is however, superior to the original iPhone and offers WiFi networking. This begs the question, how long will consumers pay up 60 times this price for an iPhone or Samsung Galaxy? Unlike expensive gasoline, the aforementioned premium phones do have some snob appeal but free markets can diminish that pretty quickly. The macroeconomic effect? The next president will be able to boast that the balance of trade with China and North Korea has been significantly reduced. Now if we can just figure how to get cigarettes back to a quarter per pack.

Trump up by 10 in ABC / Washington Post poll

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Despite several missteps and sundry slander campaigns on the part of the media Donald Trump has extended his lead over Ben Carson and the rest of the GOP field in the ABC / Washington poll released today. Notice that only 3 candidates, Trump, Carson and Rubio are in double digits. Increasingly Trump seems to be viewed by Republican voters as the only candidate who would make a difference. For example 42 percent of Republicans say they trust Trump to handle terrorism and 47 percent rate him as best for the economy In terms of personal attributes, 47 percent see Trump as the candidate best able to bring about needed change in Washington.
In the Real Clear Politics average of polls Trump has 26.2 percent followed by Carson with 21.6 percent. Rubio gets 11.8 percent, Cruz, 10 percent and the inevitable Jeb Bush who raised $147 million gets 5.8 percent. I guess some things are not for sale.

Another reason why people think Obama is a Muslim

Nasty things those Freudian slips!
Notice relationship between the words "Muslim community " and "we".

"And so, I think on the one hand, non-Muslims cannot stereotype, but I also think the Muslim community has to think about how we make sure that children...



I am surprised C-Span had the brass to point this out and even more surprised that the post, Did President Obama Just Admit He Was Muslim? is still up there.

OMG I agree with Chris Matthews

Remember when your mother told you it's always in the last place you look? Certainly most of us looking for coherent thinking would never tune in MSNBC but as Mom said it in the last place you look. In the past week most of us consumed news like binge eaters on pregnane steroids, watching television with one eye and the Twitter feeds with the other. That compulsion drove me to MSNBC, that, along with Fox News' idiotic fair and balanced debates which one might think were produced by the WWE. I wouldn't go so far to call Fox News hell but purgatory? Maybe?
When domestic politics are discussed on MSNBC the tone ranges from subdued to crestfallen. Yes, they continue to defend Obama against all criticism both foreign and domestic but it's more like apologia for a parent or spouse who drinks too much. Obama has been a great disappointment and the prospect of 8 years under Hillary may in their minds be better than 8 under Kasich or Pataki but a great deal less the the bubbly hope and change that was so intoxicating in 2008. Listening to Chris Matthews, it is evident that the thrill up his leg has abated. He has reverted to his old heroes, JFK and Tip O' Neal.
Occasionally an objet d'art is found in the flotsam and jetsam of MSNBC reportage and opinion and Matthews makes a point that Republican critics of Obama's Syrian refugee program should. What sort of moral slackers are these people? To Matthews they are tantamount to deserters. They don't care enough about their own country to fight for it. Why should Americans die for Syria when Syrians will not? ISIS is taking the country from people who would rather flee to the West and what do we think of people who will not fight for their country?



The following evening Matthew was back on the same subject. He remarked that the Vietnamese refugees were welcomed into the US because they had fought along side of Americans but the Syrian refugees have yet to fight along side of anyone. It's a compelling point and when one sees the tempest tossed Syrians damning Europeans for their bad cooking and slow WiFi one wonders why the hell any country would want them. Maybe they deserve our scorn more than our pity.

I remember when we had a president

It is no understatement to say that Barrack Obama is a danger to the republic. The Russians know that while Putin may be an autocrat he at least has their best interests at heart. We are not so lucky. Twice before the petulant, pouting prima donna from Chicago has put the well being of foreigners above the safety of Americans. Owing to his personal decision to pull American troops out of Iraq he has allowed the ascendancy of ISIS. Then the supple spined semi-retired president publicly underestimated its danger up until the very day it killed or wounded almost 500 French citizens. Now the country is asked to suck it up and invite 10,000 potential terrorists to share in the American dream.
He doesn't give a damn that Americans have died on his watch. Did he invite the family of James Foley to the White House? How about the families of the 4 men who lost their lives in Benghazi when the country declined to come to their aid? No, but he did honor the white trash parents of Bowe Bergdahl and allowed papa Taliban to praise Allah in the Rose Garden. If, God forbid, ISIS is able to carry out a successful attack on the homeland do not expect the families of the fallen to ever see the inside of the White House.


A year ago Americans were asked to dare all for his political agenda. When Ebola threatened he refused to impose travel bans on the West African nation infected with the menace notwithstanding the fact that the first fatality in the nation had come from Liberia, exposing 43 people to the disease on the way. Instead of travel bans the country got an Ebola czar and a politicized CDC.
A non politicized CDC may have traced the outbreak of HEV68 in Colorado and other clusters to the illegal immigrant children DHS had declared to be refugees and placed in public schools but once again the well being of Americans ranked below the whims of the undocumented.
Today Americans are supposed to put aside their all too justified fears while potential terrorists are settled in their midst. Even if one did trust the President their is ample cause not to trust the government with anything important. We have a Secret Service that drinks and whores around and sends lewd pictures to minors, an EPA that pollutes pristine rivers, a VA that allowed thousands to die awaiting treatment, a ATF that ships guns to drug gangs, a DEA the uses prostitutes paid for by drug gangs and the silly son-of-a-bitch says we have nothing to worry about. An intemperate soul might call him an idiot or a traitor.

Zounds! Trump mocks fat protester

I have to admit Donald Trump has made politics fun again.Yes, he mocks "seriously overweight" protesters and good for him.

Ouch! The Carson campaign gets it really wrong.

Is this the image the Carson campaign wants to convey? When a top Carson advisor speaks candidly about the candidate's obvious lack of foreign policy expertise the Carson campaign implies he is senile. Duane R. Clarridge, a former C.I.A. agent and adviser to Ben Carson was quoted in a New York Times story. “Nobody has been able to sit down with him and have him get one iota of intelligent information about the Middle East,” He also said Mr. Carson needed weekly conference calls briefing him on foreign policy so “we can make him smart.”
That was his explanation as to why Carson made the strange and obviously incorrect statement that the Chinese were involved in Syria. Carson claims his source was a retired intelligence agent in the Middle East who made the spurious revelation in a private phone call.
Okay everybody gets bad information from time to time and surely the campaign was aware of Carson's limited foreign experience so why not let the public forget the faux pas? Instead the campaign decide it was better to impugn Clarridge's mental faculties in the Business Insider.
"Mr. Clarridge has incomplete knowledge of the daily, not weekly briefings, that Dr. Carson receives on important national security matters from former military and State Department officials," Doug Watts, a Carson campaign spokesman, told the Business Insider in an email.
"He is coming to the end of a long career of serving our country. Mr. Clarridge's input to Dr. Carson is appreciated but he is clearly not one of Dr. Carson's top advisors. For the New York Times to take advantage of an elderly gentleman and use him as their foil in this story is an affront to good journalistic practices."
Ouch! Then why the hell is he on the payroll? Watts not only dissed a fellow aide but also opened up the campaign to the criticism that it hires incompetent advisors one of whom is in his dotage.

Will the courts decide the Syrian refugee resettlement question?

It was amazing how quickly Republican governors came together on question of resettling Syrian refugees. It took only one day to get 25 states on board. While practically everyone on cable news and social media agrees that refugee resettlement is a federal prerogative only Jim Geraghty at National Review Online has researched the law. Granted Geraghty is a writer, not a lawyer, but the text of the The Refugee Act of 1980 makes it clear that the states do have a significant roll.

(2)(A) The Director and the Federal agency administering subsection (b)(1), shall consult regularly (not less often than quarterly) with State and local governments and private nonprofit voluntary agencies concerning the sponsorship process and the intended distribution of refugees among the States and localities before their placement in those States and localities.
(B) The Director shall develop and implement, in consultation with representatives of voluntary agencies and State and local governments, policies and strategies for the placement and resettlement of refugees within the United States.
(C) Such policies and strategies, to the extent practicable and except under such unusual circumstances as the Director may recognize, shall-
(i) insure that a refugee is not initially placed or resettled in an area highly impacted (as determined under regulations prescribed by the Director after consultation with such agencies and governments) by the presence of refugees or comparable populations unless the refugee has a spouse, parent, sibling, son, or daughter residing in that area,
(ii) provide for a mechanism whereby representatives of local affiliates of voluntary agencies regularly (not less often than quarterly) meet with representatives of State and local governments to plan and coordinate in advance of their arrival the appropriate placement of refugees among the various States and localities, and
(iii) take into account- (I) the proportion of refugees and comparable entrants in the population in the area, (II) the availability of employment opportunities, affordable housing, and public and private resources (including educational, health care, and mental health services) for refugees in the area, (III) the likelihood of refugees placed in the area becoming self-sufficient and free from long-term dependence on public assistance, and (IV) the secondary migration of refugees to and from the area that is likely to occur.

Then the kicker.

“With respect to the location of placement of refugees within a State, the Federal agency administering subsection (b)(1) shall, consistent with such policies and strategies and to the maximum extent possible, take into account recommendations of the State.”

Of course that is subject to legal interpretation and that's what federal courts are for. If a restraining order can stall or possibly shut down Obama's illegal amnesty program it would seem that a suit filed by the states could also stymie this latest abuse of executive power.

Michelle Malkin takes it to the bleachers with Sold Out.

Thank God for Michelle Malkin! She and her co author, John Miano, have exposed in Sold Out the ongoing abuse of the much abused H1B visas program. I had the good fortune to catch Malkin and Miano on CSPAN's Washington Journal Friday. I encourage you to watch as much of the hour long video below as you can. Notice that the outraged calls come from viewers of all political persuasions, Democrats, Republican and Independents. Several calls begin with "I didn't think I would ever agree with you but.." Malkin has hit a home run and it is timely. Please view this clip.



During the video clip Malkin mentions a program that allows foreign, low skilled, non farm labors to steal jobs from Americans. I am happy to document one of those abuses.
Even the the MRE's that feed the military are processed and packaged in part by foreign workers. I would like to direct your attention to this local news story. Please notice who was injured and their destination.
"Deputies say he was taking Haitian workers to Ameriqual in Evansville when the overcrowded van had a massive tire blow out and rolled one and a half times."
Ameriqual Foods is an independent food processor. Mismanagement has taken its toll but at different times it processed for Gerber, Tyson, Kraft, Frito Lay and Hormel to name a few. At one point Dan Quayle sat on its board. I've heard that they did not get an MRE contract this year which does not surprise me but the company was founded for the primary purpose of manufacturing MRE's and the private contracts were just icing on the cake.
Evansville, Indiana does currently enjoy an unemployment of 4.2% but wages have been declining for sometime. Whirlpool and Zenith are gone as are dozens of small machine and motor shops that serviced the coal industry. In short it's not a boom town. Statistics lie. How the hell does Ameriqual manage to hire foreign workers? Not that many years ago a few construction workers  would go to Florida to pick oranges in the winter but that is gone. Not only did we give away those jobs we are giving away the few jobs that remain in this town.
Again, thank God for Michelle Malkin!

Are Democrats hiding the debates from the public?

Of course it's deliberate. The DNC is trying to hide gaffe prone and inevitable nominee Hillary Clinton from television viewers. Consider that while the DNC could boast that 8.5 million viewers tuned into its debate on a Saturday night a week previous 9.4 million views tuned into Saturday Night Live to watch Donald Trump. The next two Democratic debates are also scheduled for potentially low-viewership weekends: the Saturday night before Christmas, and the Sunday night of the Martin Luther King Day weekend, during the National Football League playoffs. What, nobody thought of a 10 PM Thanksgiving Day debate to keep people home from the Black Friday midnight rush?
One might conclude that the DNC is trying to avoid a very embarrassing comparison of enthusiasm level between the two parties.

Republican Fox News	24million	Democratic CNN	15.3 million
Republican CNN	23 million	Democratic CBS	8.5 million
Republican CNBC	14 million
Republican Fox Busi.	13.5 million
Total	74.5 million		23.8 million

Cruz surges as Carson fades in New Hampshire

The latest Gravis poll coming out of New Hampshire shows Ted Cruz in second place behind Donald Trump. An interesting facet of the story is this poll was conducted on November 11 and released 4 days later. Polling was done prior to the ISIS attacks in Paris, the Democratic debate, and Trump's horrendous 95 minute rant in Iowa. Trump has scored higher in previous Gravis polls but Ted Cruz is definitely rising as Ben Carson recedes.

	11/11 Gravis Poll	10/6 Gravis Poll
Donald Trump	29	32
Ted Cruz	12	5
Marco Rubio	10	8
Chris Christie	8	3
Jeb Bush	8	8
Ben Carson	7	13
John Kasich	5	10
Rand Paul	5	2
Carly Fiorina	4	8
Bobby Jindal	1	0