The Schumer shutdown is officially over. Eight Democrat Senators voted with Republicans to end the shutdown. The government has officially reopened, and a lot of people are celebrating. This is an exceptionally good thing. Democrats tried, and failed, to intimidate Donald Trump into accepting ridiculous demands to end the hostage crisis. The only thing they accomplished was to allow a vote on extending Obama Care subsidies, a vote they are almost guaranteed to lose. Regardless of how anyone tries to spin this in the MSM, the reality is that Trump won, bigly, again.

It is impossible to overstate the significance of this victory. Republicans remain united and never considered caving to Democrat hostage demands. That is very new. On previous occasions RINO Republicans were always around to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Republicans were within one vote of repealing ObamaCare, but John McCain arrogantly cast the deciding vote, on behalf of Democrats, at the last possible moment.

Many of us feared this happening again. Democrats were counting on this. The MSM, predictably, tried and failed to blame the shutdown this on Republicans. Some people, filled with Trump Derangement Syndrome (“TDS”) bought that argument. But they were wrong. Trump just said no, and his supporters in both the House and the Senate stood beside him. Remarkable.

Democrats made one last feeble stand, in the House, but the Republican Speaker of the House, is Mike Johnson, not Paul Ryan. The continuing resolution easily passed.

The best way to evaluate this is to watch how certain people react. The usual suspects in the media are absolutely horrified that Democrats caved and got nothing in return. Politicians like AOC and Bernie Sanders are over the moon with rage. This is pure evidence that they lost and in the worst way possible. For the first time in an exceptionally long time, Democrats are shouldering all the blame for the government shutdown. Although the media tried to play along and, predictably, blame Republicans it didn’t work. It didn’t work for one simple reason. Donald Trump does not negotiate with hostage takers. That left Democrats with only bad choices. They could continue the shutdown guaranteed to get even more blame, or they could cave, giving Donald Trump the victory. They caved. They caved because eight Democrat Senators decided enough is enough and voted to do the right thing. Something the liberal left will never ever even consider.

Just a few days ago Democrats were celebrating like no tomorrow. Well tomorrow came and they aren’t celebrating now. They are totally defeated and the only thing they can even consider doing is becoming more outraged. In other words, they are doubling down on a strategy guaranteed to fail.

What could make this worse. Easy. Democrats tried to release a couple of redacted emails and desperately try to link Donald Trump to Jeffrey Epstein. This was beyond silly. They even claimed Trump spent Thanksgiving 2017 with Jeffrey Epstein. The numerous news media outlets covering Trump celebrating Thanksgiving at Mar-a-logo made that beyond ridiculous. Democrats had reached the absolute bottom. But wait, there was one more drop to fall. Hakeem Jeffries arrogantly leaked emails from Ghislaine Maxwell in a desperate attempt to embarrass Trump. He just forgot a couple of minor details. Like the emails didn’t mention Trump. And, oh, by the way, he got them from Prison Guards who got them illegally and were promptly fired. Oh boy. It turns out Hakeem Jeffries, who happens to be a lawyer and the former law professor failed to realize that what he did was illegal. Like really really illegal. The only person he exposed to legal liability was himself. Oops.

All of this is because of the terminal disease of Trump Derangement Syndrome. People who should know better, are so fixated on destroying Trump that they failed to realize they were destroying themselves, again. Trump is not perfect, but the people filled with Trump Derangement Syndrome are perfectly awful. Again.

Enjoy, but avoid celebrating. Republicans remain the leaders of the snatching defeat from the jaws of victory society. But this time, the challenge may be beyond their reach. It’s a beautify thing.

TDM

Last night was a disaster for Republicans. A Muslim extremist communist was elected Mayor of New York City. That is extremely likely to be a disaster. One percent of the residents of New York City already pay 48% of income tax revenue. Promising to raise taxes on them will only encourage anyone on the fence that it is time to relocate.

Virginia replaced an effective Republican Governor with a Trump hating liberal. She is also promising to resist Trump. Good luck with that.

New Jersey, predictably, elected another liberal Democrat to be governor. Then California decided to throw all common sense aside and redistrict the entire state to prevent anyone other than a Democrat from ever winning a congressional election. Republicans look like the big losers, but the real losers last night were the few remaining moderates in the Democratic Party. The problem is that they predictably won where the outcome was predictable. But nothing they are planning to do is going to have a positive impact on their state or their city. Winning an election is different from governing well. Blue states will continue to be governed by liberal Democrats, and the results are not only predictable, but they are also guaranteed. To be blunt, by winning they have done nothing more than speed up the path to the bottom.

Republicans also need to learn from this. One is to stop trying to win difficult elections with horrible candidates. Curtis Sliwa had zero chance to win the election. The only thing Sliwa accomplished was to make it impossible for Andrew Cuomo to win. That is a good thing, because Cuomo would have done a decent job running New York City and may have fixed some of the problems. He, at least, wouldn’t have made things worse. He would still be a scumbag, but an effective scumbag. New York City is going to get a firsthand dose of Mamdani and that is guaranteed to be beyond bad. Things only change in places like New York when Democrats gain total control and muck things up beyond repair.

In New Jersey, Republicans ran Giacchino Michael Jack Ciatrelli who has now lost his second attempt at running for governor. Very few people win their second attempt at statewide office. They just lose by bigger margins the second time around.

In Virginia, Republicans ran Winsome Earle-Sears. Not only did she lose, she lost by such a large margin that Virginia also elected the worst possible choice for Attorney General. The reality is that mediocre candidates do not win statewide political races.

California continues to have all mail-in voting, with no voter ID and even less cross checking of ballots. In addition, ballot harvesting is legal in California. Until this changes, California will continue to elect people like Adam Schiff and Gavin Newsom. Republicans will become increasingly irrelevant.

Despite the bad news, there is good news. Republicans have an enormous opportunity. The only way things ever change in a Blue state is when Democrats gain total control and predictably mess things up. Republicans need to start preparing now to provide a rational alternative to insanity in four years.

Here are my suggestions for Republicans.

1. Do not even consider giving in to Democrats regarding the government shutdown. Now that these elections are over, Democrats own this lock stock and barrel. Let them hoist themselves on their own petard. Republicans are famous for snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. Democrats have shot their wad in a desperate attempt to win races they were almost certain to win anyway. The dumbest thing Republicans could do at this point is to cave to idiotic Democratic demands. Then Republicans would get all the blame, Democrats would get all the credit, and the 2026 midterms would be a disaster. But, if Republicans stand firm, they will increase control of both the House and the Senate.
2. Recruit better candidates. You can’t beat somebody with nobody, and Republicans are famous for running nobodies. The Republican establishment is famous for choosing people guaranteed to lose elections.
3. Help Donald Trump succeed, but recognize that Donald Trump is famous for promoting Donald Trump. But he is equally skilled at making people angry. This works great when he is the candidate. His involvement in local elections may not be as effective as he believes. In too many cases, it helps motivate the opposition more than Republicans.
4. Do a better job of messaging. For example, Democrats routinely claim that billionaires are funding Republican candidates. Perhaps I am wrong about this, but it sure seems like more billionaires are funding Democrats than vice versa. Obviously, a whole lot of extraordinarily rich people in Hollywood support liberal Democrats. If they really thought Democrats were going to tax the rich, they wouldn’t do that. No one voluntarily pays more income tax. When you raise tax on businesses, they don’t lose money, they just raise their prices.
5. Fight back harder against false narratives. Many people believe prices have increased under Trump. Prices are higher, but not because of his policies. They are higher because he inherited a hot mess of an economy. One reason Democrats shut down the government is that they knew it would result in higher prices and chaos, and they knew Trump would get the blame. Remember that Trump was coasting to re-election in 2020, until COVID. Democrats seized the day and shut down the country. The results were catastrophic, and Trump got most of the blame. Democrats are more than willing to do anything that gets them elected. Republicans need to do a better job of pointing this out.

If Republicans cave on the government shutdown, the results will be catastrophic. Democrats will continue to act irresponsibly, without regard to the impact on others, if it works. This is why negotiating with hostage takers is always a bad idea. It just encourages more hostage taking.

In addition, realize that Democrats only thrive in densely populated areas. These areas do not represent how people living in the rest of the country view things. If you look at the post-election map of Virginia, you will see that the results were determined by extremely dense population centers, and most of the state voted red. New Jersey and New York are composed entirely of high-density areas.

The bottom line is that if Republicans learn from this and seize the day it will be Democrats singing the blues in 2026.

TDM

Next year we celebrate the 250^th anniversary of the United States. But perhaps the real beginning was when the Constitution was adopted on March 4, 1779. It was that constitution that made us unique. When asked what kind of government this would be, Ben Franklin responded to a question by Elibeth Willing Powers.  “Well, Doctor, what have we got, a republic or a monarchy.” Franklin responded: “a Republic, if you can keep it.” We have kept it, but not without challenges. One is reminded that the great Roman Empire lasted for an incredibly long time, but eventually it fell because its’ citizens became complacent and ultimately it collapsed completely in 1453.

Roman Empire – Wikipedia

The following article by my good friend Larry outlines his analysis of four distinct periods of time where our republic had to find a way to handle difficult issues in order to survive. It is a great reminder that freedom is never free, it requires all of us to stand firm on our core principles or we risk losing the greatest nation in the history of the world.

Forthcoming Reckoning

America has gone through three great eras—three “republics.” Each one could have been stronger, fairer, and more united if the people had taken responsibility instead of expecting someone else to do it. Each time, ordinary Americans looked the other way when action was needed. And now we live with the consequences.

The First Republic gave us the Constitution and talked about liberty—but the founders protected slavery because it suited them. They left the hardest moral problem to someone else. Ordinary citizens mostly went along, hoping it wouldn’t touch them. We inherited that mess—and it shaped the nation for generations.

The Second Republic was the Civil War and Reconstruction. The nation finally confronted the problem slavery created, but again, ordinary Americans failed to fully confront their own role in the nation’s divisions. We ended slavery—but we didn’t repair the trust and unity that had been broken. Bitterness lingered. Division remained.

The Third Republic came after World War II. America built prosperity, institutions, and opportunity. But instead of fostering responsibility and unity, we let politicians exploit fear and division to win votes. Citizens watched, comforted themselves, and let convenience replace courage. We let ordinary Americans be pitted against each other—and we stood aside.

Now we are in the Fourth Republic. Families are fragile. Institutions are weak. Civility is under pressure. Truth is negotiable. And the responsibility lies with us—our generation. We could have insisted on standards. We could have demanded integrity. We could have taken responsibility when it mattered most. Instead, we got quiet, distracted, or passive.

This Fourth Republic isn’t about lectures or guilt trips. It’s about reckoning. We must step up or the country doesn’t recover. We have to rebuild trust, teach responsibility, restore civility, and show that being a citizen means more than posting outrage online or complaining about politicians.

The Fourth Republic will not be saved by hashtags, TV pundits, or political slogans.
It will be rebuilt by people who actually do the work:

– Neighbors treating each other with respect.
– Communities rebuilding trust.
– Families passing down values.
– Adults acting like adults.

We remember when America worked because we lived it.
We know what’s possible.
We also know what happens when people sit back and assume someone else will do the job.

The Fourth Republic depends on us.
If we don’t act, the country we love won’t survive intact for our children or grandchildren.

It’s on us. And we still can.

Thanks Larry. Great job. We’ve been warned.

TDM

The word of the day from Word Guru is “susurrus.” This is defined as “a whispering, murmuring or rustling sound.” An example is “The susurrus of the wind through the trees lulled him to sleep.”

I was not familiar with this word before and am not exactly sure this is all that important. But then I realized that this is a perfect word to describe what the Democrat Party and its MSM echo chamber have been doing since the day Donald Trump came down that golden escalator.

It should be noted that “susurrus” had the potential to lure one to sleep, but other than that it has no major impact on anyone or anything. In the case of Democrats, they did succeed in rigging the 2020 election putting Joe Biden in the Oval Office. Ultimately that backfired on them for several reasons. One is that Joe Biden is, well, Joe Biden. The only reason he was selected was that all the other candidates were even worse. It finally came down to a choice between Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders. Few establishment Democrats were willing to risk a general election with Bernie Sanders as the candidate for President of the United States.

Joe Biden promised that he would choose a black female as his Vice-Presidential candidate. Some may wonder why he chose Kamala Harris, who was the first candidate to drop out of the 2020 Presidential primary. The answer, again, is that all the other options were worse. For example, one of those options was Karen Bass, the current Mayor of Los Angeles.

Democrats and the MSM echo chamber attacked Donald Trump daily during his entire Presidency. They impeached him for pointing out the obvious fact that Joe Biden was on video saying that he would withhold one billion dollars in aid to Ukraine unless they fired their prosecutor, the same prosecutor that was investigating Hunter Biden. Democrats were outraged and impeached him for politicizing the office of President of the United States. They either didn’t notice or simply didn’t care that Trump was right about this.

Every time Donald Trump spoke, he was accused of lying. If you talk to any Trump hating Democrat today, they will quickly tell you that Trump is a serial liar. But if you ask them what Trump’s biggest lie was, that can be a challenge. The following article, designed to document Trump’s biggest lies, is a case study in misinformation.

Fact Check: What were the most significant lies told by Trump duri…

His number one lie was claiming widespread fraud during the 2020 election. People who believe this might want to check out the numerous cases where election fraud is being documented.

They also included minimization or promotion of unproved COVID-19 treatments, linking acetaminophen in pregnancy to autism risk, denying climate change, etc. Recently it has discovered that the lies were told by those promoting COVID-19 vaccines, requiring people to isolate and wear masks.

This is typical of the liberal left and supporters in the MSM. If they disagree with something Trump says, it is considered proof that he is lying.

But one of the problems with “susurrus” is that while it creates a significant amount of noise, it doesn’t actually change anything. Trump was elected with significant margins of victory in the Electoral College and the popular vote. Many people voted for him because they recognized who was lying and who was telling the truth.

Trump is far from perfect, but many of the people opposed to him are perfectly awful. But the good news is that this is “susurrus.” Loud, annoying, but ineffective at doing anything except helping some people fall asleep.

TDM

If you watched the MSM lately, more reporters are challenging the Democrat narrative. For far too long, not only did the MSM fail to investigate, but it also seemed like they were focused solely on repeating Democrat talking points. Recently, things have shifted, and we might have reached a pivotal turning point. We may have reached critical mass. That is when the quantity of explosive information reaches the point where it can no longer be contained. The results are likely to be a chain reaction explosion that will rock our world.

One of the problems for Democrats is that while the MSM tried to push Democrat talking points about the government shutdown, this quickly became unsustainable. The lies told by Democrats are simply too ridiculous to withstand scrutiny. This time Republicans are not backing down and reporters in the MSM are pushing back against Democrat lies. This includes people like Jake Tapper, who remain very liberal and who clearly want to support Democrats, but can no longer ignore the obvious. To make things worse, Democrats are running out of answers.

Incredibly, this is not the first time the Democrat Party engaged in widespread corruption. Corruption so sustained and so comprehensive that it is difficult to comprehend. In 1871, Boss Tweed used Tammany Hall to run New York. But when the New York Times exposed records of the actual accounting, the result was the downfall of Boss Tweed.

But the story did not end there. Tammany Hall continued to thrive and wasn’t removed from power for another 60 years, in the 1930s. The names had changed. The times had changed. But the pattern of corruption and rigged elections were remarkably similar. That didn’t change until reformers, inside the Democrat Party, hired Samuel Seabury, an anti-Tammany Democrat to clean things up. What he uncovered finally took down Tammany Hall. Sadly, there was more than 100 hundred years of corruption before that happened.

 The 1930s Investigation That Took Down New York’s Mayor—and Then Tammany Hall | HISTORY

This time, it is not Democrats who are exposing the corruption, this is being done by Republicans led by Donald Trump. The same Donald Trump the Democrat machine, which sadly includes so many members of the MSM, tried desperately to destroy. Like Tammany Hall they used every legal trick in the book to try and paint Trump as a convicted felon while ignoring the blatant corruption by the Democrat machine.

Miraculously, Trump survived. He not only survived the never-ending legal assault, he survived, barely, a political assassination. Sadly, Charlie Kirk did not survive his assassin’s bullet, but his death just may have been the catalyst to expose what should have been obvious for an extraordinarily long time. The lies about Charlie Kirk were impossible to sustain. His followers responded, not with violence, but rather with an enormous prayer service singing hymns. It is impossible to reconcile this with the hateful, racist, divisive monster created out of whole cloth by the liberal left. 

One suspects that political corruption is not limited to Democrats, but they have been in power for an exceptionally long time and, thus, they had more opportunity. It should have been obvious to a lot of people that Democrat politicians managed to become extremely wealthy while serving in office with relatively modest disclosed income. It should be no surprise that it is the corrupt who are most willing to point fingers at everyone else. This is not exactly new.

What is new is that the MSM is finally starting to pay attention. They aren’t buying the Democrat nonsense regarding the government shutdown. They are shocked that the Democrats’ lust for power is so extreme that they still support a deranged candidate for Attorney General of Virginia who incredibly made threats against political opponents, including threats to their children. James Comey may not be convicted of lying to congress, but everyone knows he lied. They also know why he lied.

Then we learned that Jack Smith, the Special Prosecutor, appointed illegally by Merrick Garland, to investigate Donald Trump, subpoenaed the phone records of Republican Senators. To seal the deal, there is an incredible document verifying that Joe Biden went to Ukraine and threatened to withhold U.S. aid, because he was getting kickbacks from Hunter Biden. Even the government of Ukraine, internationally famous for its own corruption, was stunned. Joe Biden buried the report documenting this, but he didn’t bury it deep enough.

We are about to see a complete dismantling of the current Democrat Party and the results will be similar to what happened to Tammany Hall, first with Boss Tweed and later with Mayor James J. Walker. In that case, it was Democrats like FDR and Samuel Seabury who exposed the corruption. But the real solution came when Fiorello LaGuardia, a Republican, replaced Walker. During his term in office, Tammany Hall local organizational membership dropped by 70%.

The 1930s Investigation That Took Down New York’s Mayor—and Then Tammany Hall | HISTORY

Meanwhile the MSM finally realized that while Donald Trump was lining the walls of his office with peace treaties ending military conflicts, Democrats have been focused almost completely on lining their own pockets. It is the ultimate chain of fools, and we are on the verge of a world class chain reaction.

TDM

Up until now Democrats and the MSM have tried desperately to avoid the elephant in the room. They all know that the DOJ, the FBI, and the intelligence community conspired to stop Donald Trump from governing. They didn’t care because they also hated Trump. But then the bombshell dropped that is going to change everything. It turns out that Jack Smith had subpoenaed several Republican Senators in a failed attempt to gain a conviction against Donald Trump for alleged obstruction. Since several of the January 6^th defendants were charged with obstruction, Smith needed to also charge Trump.

It is hard to imagine a poorer choice as Special Prosecutor to investigate a former President of the United States. Jack Smith has a long history of irresponsibly aggressive prosecutions. The following article from Fox News describes several of these:

History of Jack Smith’s courtroom smackdowns after landmark loss in Trump immunity case | Fox News

In 2016, he secured a conviction against former Virginia Governor Robert McDonnell. That conviction was overturned with a unanimous 8-0 ruling by the Supreme Court. In that decision the court warned that the “uncontrolled power of criminal prosecutors is a threat to our separation of power.”

In 2012, he prosecuted John Edwards, former Senator & Democratic VP candidate. He lost.

In 2017, he prosecuted Senator Bob Menendez. That resulted in a mistrial.

Incredibly, Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed Jack Smith to investigate Donald Trump. It is shocking to think that Obama appointed Merrick Garland to the U.S. Supreme Court, but Mitch McConnell refused to even consider approving this.

Smith charged Trump with conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding and conspiracy against rights. He desperately wanted to try Trump before the 2024 election.

The Supreme Court put a stop to this, and Smith lost two Supreme Court decisions. The decision by Merrick Garland to appoint Jack Smith was pathetic. He was arguably the worth possible choice. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas wrote that there are “serious” question about Special Counsel Jack Smith’s appointment.

Clarence Thomas swipes at Special Counsel Jack Smith’s appointment in SCOTUS immunity case | Fox News

While Fox News covered this, the MSM was not interested. That just changed. The reason is easy to understand. For at least some Democrat Senators the light bulb just went on. If a Democrat prosecutor could subpoena Republican Senators phone records, then a Republican prosecutor could subpoena our phone records. Odds are a lot of powerful people in both parties are terrified at the thought of their personal phone records or emails being disclosed publicly. There are no U.S. Senators, past or present, who come close to meeting the requirement for Sainthood. Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Few people have more power than a U.S. Senator.

Perhaps the best way to describe it is “for whom the smell tolls.” We can be certain that U.S. Senators on both sides of the aisle realize that if they don’t stop this, the next time that “smell will toll for thee!.”

TDM

Senate Democrats voted to shut down the Federal Government. They are demanding that the Trump administration agree to add a reported $1 trillion+ in additional spending. They claim that failure to do this will cause our health care system to collapse and costs will explode. Some have literally said people will die if this demand is not met.

Time will soon tell. One of the problems with forecasting disaster is that most of the time they never happen. For example, how many times have we been told that if we don’t fund all these climate change emergency projects immediately and demand world-wide compliance, that we are all doomed to extinction. There have been numerous warnings like this, none of which came close to happening. In 2009, Al Gore said there was a 75% chance that the arctic ice would be completely gone by 2013. Oops. Politifact tried desperately to say that Gore was misquoted, or this was taken out of context, but instead they just showed us how desperate they are to cover up for liberals:

PolitiFact | Fact-checking claims that Al Gore said all Arctic ice will be gone in the summer by 2013

I seriously doubt that people will suddenly start dying because of the lack of medical care. Those of us who have been around for a couple of years know that prior to the passage of ObamaCare, this wasn’t happening. It is unlikely to happen now.

In addition, if the continuing funding resolution had passed, it included health care payments already authorized during the Biden administration. This means that if there is any immediate impact to healthcare funding, it will be caused by the government shutdown.

Democrats own this. The longer this lasts the more damage to the Democrat party. When they fold, as they must, they will lose support from their most vocal and angry base. This is a lose-lose situation.

To make things worse, AOC just told Republicans to come to her office to negotiate directly with her. When Nancy Pelois learned about this she was clearly rattled. It now means that Hakeem Jeffries has two unbelievably bad options: He can shut down AOC, and risk making the liberal left even more angry, or he can try to accommodate her, which would make him look even weaker.

“Oh, what a tangled web we weave when we practice to deceive.”

Sir Walter Scott “Marmion: A Tale of Flodden Field.”

The battle of Flodden Field in 1513 was a complete disaster for Scotland. The Auld Alliance between Scotland and France let King James IV to invade England during Henry VIII’s campaign against France. This was apparently designed to divert English attention and resources away from France. It didn’t work. King James IV was killed along with many of his nobles.

 Battle of Flodden – Wikipedia

I am not sure what Democrats expected, but unless something changes this will be a complete political disaster. There are no signs of Republicans even considering backing down. So far, even the MSM is putting most of the blame on Democrats. Ouch! Odds are the double secret probation committee is working overtime on an exit strategy. Donald Trump is too busy giggling and cutting things important to Democrats to be impressed. This is a classic case of going all in on a poker hand, without actually having any cards to play.

TDM

Anyone remotely familiar with American History knows that things didn’t start out with two political parties, Democrats and Republicans. Thomas Jefferson was the unofficial leader of the Anti-Federalist Party, which was the party of small government. Alexander Hamilton was the leader of the Federalist Party. After the War of 1812, the Federalist Party collapsed and split into a two-party system. President Andrew Jackson was the first leader of the Democratic Party. National Republicans called themselves Whigs in opposition to “King Andrew.” Sound familiar?

The Northern Whigs were opposed to slavery, but Southern Whigs were not. As a result, the Whigs vanished. The modern-day Republican Party emerged with President Abraham Lincoln. You can read all about this yourself in the following article:  The History of Political Parties in the United States | Bill of Rights Institute

The point being that political parties in this country have disappeared in the past and it is entirely possible that this could happen again. We are used to seeing “Democrats” and “Republicans,” so it is easy to assume this is permanent. But that is not guaranteed.

Up until recently, it would have been hard to imagine the Democratic Party disappearing. But then up until now, even if one disagreed with Democrats, it seemed very unlikely that they would completely fall apart. It wasn’t that long ago that Democrats controlled the House, the Senate, and the Presidency.

But it is also hard to imagine a Democratic Party dominated by people who appear to want to stake their future on things like letting transgender males competing against females in sports, allowing unlimited illegal migration into the country, allowing criminals to walk free with a slap on the wrist and demanding millions of tax dollars to be spent on projects that have not and never will succeed. Republicans like to say these are 80/20 issues, meaning 80% of the people want one thing and only 20% want the other. That is probably an exaggeration, but if one had money to wager on a lost cause it would be hard to find a better opportunity than the modern-day Democratic Party.

Now, after voting for a continuing funding resolution 13 times, while Biden was President, Democrats are on the verge of letting the government go unfunded unless Republicans yield to idiotic hostage demands. This is the ultimate example of Trump Derangement Syndrome. If this does not change soon, like within hours, then: “oh boy.”

Regardless of whether there is a government shut down, Social Security checks will continue to arrive. So will most other things required to keep things functioning. In the meantime, President Trump is likely to cut things he wants to cut anyway and blame Democrats. There are reports that 75,000 federal employees have already resigned. Some expect another 100,000 to resign if the government shuts down. Despite the shrieks of horror by Democrats, doctors and hospitals will continue to treat patients and we are unlikely to see people dying on the street because they can’t get medical care. Most things that really matter will continue as normal. One can never predict the unpredictable, but it is hard to imagine this working out well for Democrats. On the other hand, we could see people deserting the Democratic Party faster than people are leaving places like California and New York.

At a minimum, this will be fun to watch. It would be nice if wiser heads prevailed, but if there are wiser heads in the DNC, they are hard to find. Instead, there is a steady dumbeat (SIC) of people like AOC and Jasmine Crockett droning on. There is desperate. There is stupid. And there is desperately stupid. Erik Swalwell got caught photoshopping a pro-Trump logo on the shirt worn by the guy who shot up that LDS church in Michigan. I rest my case.

TDM

The assassination of Charlie Kirk changed our world. When something like this happens, it is important to allow a little time to pass to avoid reaching false assumptions. For example, many of us always assume that Republicans will eventually fold, again, allowing Democrats to gain another undeserved victory. Unfortunately, this pattern has been repeated many times. Every time there is a government shut down pending, Democrats refuse to bargain unless Republicans roll over and accept ridiculous spending demands. But this time a couple of things are different. One is that Donald Trump doesn’t play the game. When Democrats threaten him with shutting down the government, he says: “make my day.” But there is another crucial factor. The Mainstream Media (“MSM”) has lost much of its influence. Previously, regardless of the facts, Republicans were guaranteed to get all the blame. That is one important reason why Republicans caved so often.

The Charlie Kirk assassination exposed the hypocrisy of the liberal left and its supporters in the MSM in ways that cannot be overstated. The most important is just this simple. People willing to assassinate someone just because they don’t like what they are saying, are obviously willing to do anything to gain and keep power. People like this won’t hesitate to lie, to fabricate false stories, to blatantly distort facts, and to scream and holler if they don’t get their way. They never miss an opportunity to exploit a tragedy. This is why we saw all the BLM riots, the George Floyd riots, and the Michael Brown “hands up, don’t shoot” nonsense. It is why the same people are shrieking about right-wing rage, calling opponents Nazis, racists and referring to ICE agents as the gestapo.

I can find few incidents were conservatives demanded violence. If there are instances of referring to political opponents as Nazis, or racists, or the gestapo, where are they? If there have been violent riots because conservatives didn’t get their way, why don’t we know all about this? This is one reason Democrats and the MSM went all in on January 6^th, calling it an insurrection, and describing it as an attempt to violently overthrow the government. They simply have nothing else that even comes close to the violence from the liberal left. It is another example of Democrats accusing Republicans of doing what they actually do. Sadly, with the cooperation of the MSM, they got away with this far too often.

So, what was so different about Charlie Kirk? Even though Kirk was publicly assassinated in the most shocking way possible, and a lot of people were furious, conservatives did not respond with calls for violence. There were no riots. No one turned over police cars or burned things down. Republicans didn’t go on television saying this was evidence that Democrats were the true Nazis, that they were the racists. Instead, they responded by holding prayer vigils, all over the country and the world. The only violence was by leftists attempting to interrupt these events. Charlie Kirk supporters organized a memorial service, which drew over 100,000 people and if one included adjacent venues, close to 200,000 people. The international viewing audience has been estimated at over 100 million. They wasted little if any time demonizing the people who assassinated Charlie Kirk. They were too busy worshiping, praising God, and singing together in joy. Then his widow somehow managed the grace to follow the example of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and forgive the unforgiveable.

The liberal left still doesn’t get it. People like Jimmy Kimmel deliberately lied and tried to blame the assassination on Trump supporters. Even though 100% of Republicans voted to condemn the shooting of Democratic politicians, over half of Democrats could not bring themselves to condemn the shooting of Charlie Kirk. Instead, they doubled down on blatant lies and misinformation. They continue to call ICE the Secret Police and the Gestapo. But they were too busy screaming to notice something incredibly significant. While there are always an unfortunate number of people who still swallow this nonsense, there are a lot less of them than before the Kirk assassination. Jimmy Kimmel is back on ABC, but a lot of ABC stations are refusing to broadcast his show. Turning Point is holding events with thousands of participants. There are requests for new Turning Point chapters all over the country. Meanwhile Gavin Newsom holds an event and about 15 people turn up, most of them paid to be there with professionally printed signs. ( I didn’t provide a link to this, because Newsom posts these videos himself)

The noise hasn’t changed. The nonsense hasn’t changed. The lies haven’t changed. That may never change. But what has changed is that a lot fewer people are listening. During his debate with Stephen Douglas, Abraham Lincoln said:  “You can please some of the people some of the time, all of the people some of the time, some of the people all of the time, but you can never please all of the people all of the time.” This of course is frequently misquoted, but the meaning remains the same.

Douglas thought he won that debate, but Lincoln eventually won the presidency and is widely considered one of our greatest Presidents.

I have many friends who are liberal. Ever since the Charlie Kirk assassination they have become much more silent and restrained. None of them are bothering to repeat the nonsense from people like AOC, Jasmine Crockett, or Gavin Newsom. Just perhaps, for at least some of them, lesson learned.

TDM

A couple of weeks ago we had the opportunity to visit with dear friends who live in New York City. They live in a magnificent condominium, which overlooks the East River and the Hudson River, including the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. It is truly a world class location with views that are beyond incredible. But that is only part of the story. We know them because the husband owns a law firm that is extremely successful in New York City. But the real story here is that this man was born with no arms and only one complete leg. He faces challenges in his life the rest of us can only imagine. Yet he managed to learn how to feed himself, and he is one of the most highly skilled and dangerous trial attorneys I have ever met.  

It would be so easy to be distracted by what he can’t do, because of this tremendous disability, to ignore the simple fact that they are part of who he is. He once told me the reason he believed in God is that only God can make a hand. But he also said he learned to not only accept his disability, but on occasion, to embrace it.

I saw this in action for myself. He had been assigned to defend the New York Subway system regarding a young black man who had lost both legs, too high for prostheses. The previous court had already decided that the subway system was totally responsible, his job was to try it for damages. This young man was on the stand, when my friend waddled over to him, on his one real leg and an artificial leg, with no arms, after having taken notes with a pencil in his mouth. He asked the plaintiff to explain how difficult life was for him.

This severely injured young man received a large jury verdict, as was expected, but my friend had managed to put even this severe injury in perspective. I was the litigation manager for a large firm, and his firm already represented me in New York. I immediately made a deal with him that he would personally handle any trials for me.

I first met him when he and his then fiancé, came out to San Francisco to meet me. I was informed that he was born without arms and would attempt to greet me by shaking hands with one of his prosthetic arms. When I saw him, I ignored that advice and just hugged him. I later learned that he was shocked by that and assumed that I understood his need for human touch. I was not that sharp, but that hug started a life-long friendship that continues to this day.

I still can’t even imagine how someone would find a way to lead a happy and productive life despite this enormous handicap. But I now realize this was meant to be and in some ways his handicap made him the tremendous man he is today.

I used to have season tickets to the San Francisco Giants. Our seats were in front of the press box behind home plate. The Giants used these seats as gifts to whoever sang the national anthem, former ballplayers and celebrity guests. I meet Dave Dravecky several times when he sat behind us. One day, he brought his parents. I asked his dad how he could manage having a son who was a star athlete losing his pitching to cancer.  His dad, like Dave Dravecky, a devote Christian, said “I finally realized this was meant to happen.” He explained that Dave’s impact on other people would not have been possible if he had not suffered this horrible cancer.

Last week we saw Charlie Kirk shot and killed, in the ultimate senseless act of violence. It is hard to find any comfort in this, but I am reminded that there are people who have suffered the unthinkable whose influence was elevated far above any possible impact they could have achieved without these horrific events that had the potential to destroy them. I still can’t understand why Charlie Kirk was assassinated in such a horrible manner. It is beyond my capacity to understand. But I already see signs that he has become even more powerful in death than what was possible if this had not happened. I still wish it had not happened, and we could just turn back the clock, but I am comforted by the knowledge that our God is a better planner than any of us. Sometimes he uses the worst possible circumstances to produce the most miraculous outcomes. Our Savior was executed, in the most brutal way imaginable, yet this was used to deliver the promise of salvation to the entire world. It is not necessary for us to understand, only to trust and believe.

TDM