It appears as though the Trump administration has finally figured out how to win the border wall funding debate. It is quite simple; just give Democrats exactly what they want. Democrats don’t want a border wall at all, they just want open borders. So, let people come in and deliver them to, gasp, Democrats. They can invite CNN and others in to report on how great this is working out. ICE has already figured this out and they know that Beto O’Rourke is the right man for the job. So they just dropped off 200 migrants at the El Paso, Texas, bus station:

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2018/dec/25/beto-orourke-seeks-help-after-ice-leaves-200-migra/

Veronica Escobar, the Democrat who is replacing O’Rourke, calls this “really alarming.”  Why? These are wonderful people just seeking a better life. She should be thrilled at the opportunity to help. What better plan than to hand over responsibility for their care and feeding to their strongest supporters. And, in the ultimate act of kindness, they were delivered on Christmas Day.

Imagine buses arriving in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Sacramento, Chicago, New York, New Jersey, and Washington D.C.  All of them are full of fresh arrivals, ready to start their life in the U.S. Since most of them are guaranteed to vote only for Democrats, send them to Democratic strongholds where they will be most welcome.

Perhaps some buses could even be sent to the home addresses of Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, Diane Feinstein and Kamala Harris. They will know what to do.

If this continues, then just give ICE and the border patrol New Year’s Day off. Be sure to let everyone at CNN know this is happening. All these wonderful people will flood into our country, in places like San Diego and El Paso. The California dream will become available over night. The budget war will be over, because this will prove once and for all why a border wall is completely unnecessary. What a great way to start the New Year.

Happy New Year

TDM

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a convoy of troops has been sent by Saudi Arabia and UAE to areas controlled by the Kurdish YPG group.

https://theconservativetreehouse.com/2018/12/21/checkmate-saudi-crown-prince-mbs-sends-replacement-troops-to-defend-kurds-in-syria/

This would be in the same area where Trump just authorized the withdrawal of American troops. There are two major concerns in this area. One is that Turkey was getting ready to launch a military exercise against the Kurds. That would be the same Turkey that tried to use the Kashoggi affair to point the finger at the Saudi Crown Prince. The same Crown Prince that Trump refused to throw under the bus, even though people like Lyndsey Graham were and are demanding exactly that. Now we may know why, as the Crown Prince is the one sending in the Saudi Troops. Like Trump said, we need Saudi Arabia as an ally.

The other was the fear of a resurgence of ISIS or the continued influence of Iran. Both those concerns just disappeared over night. So, has the fear of a Turkey invasion of the Kurds. We are likely to hear very little about what happens in this region, and that is a very good thing.

If this is accurate, and it looks very accurate. Trump has shown why the military reports to the President and not vice versa. Trump has been very consistent about demanding  that allies put forth more effort to defend their own interests. Saudi Arabia appears to be doing just that. I doubt that either Syria, Russia, Iran or Turkey will be very interested in a conflict with Saudi Arabia. In the meantime, those people predicting a rapid return of ISIS are facing the reality of Saudi Arabia ready, willing and able to finish the job. Unlike our troops, Saudi Arabia will do the necessary without being hampered by the smothering presence of the main stream media. If nothing else, the Kashoggi affair shows us that the Saudis are far less tolerant of resistance in the media.

In summary, instead of creating a vacuum with the removal of U.S. troops, Trump has instead sent in a vacuum cleaner. He has done exactly what he promised. Once again, his opponents may have seriously underestimated Donald Trump.

TDM

President Trump met with the GOP leader in the House and just announced that he will not sign the current continuing funding resolution. Democrats really thought they had won a big victory here. It sure looked like Trump was also going to bow to pressure. That has all changed. Now Trump is standing up to Pelosi and Schumer and the GOP leadership, including both Paul Ryan and Kevin McCarthy are standing behind him.

This is a remarkable change from RINO Republicans who routinely faint in despair at the slightest hint of opposition. While Trump definitely sent some very mixed signals, ultimately he appears to be back on track. That puts the pressure where it belongs, squarely on Chuck Schumer. He needs to explain why his opposition to the border wall justifies shutting down the government. Trump has most definitely explained why he considers funding the wall to be worth the price. So far Schumers main argument is that he refuses to give Trump a political victory.

Don’t be surprised if even the news media covers this honestly. It is clear to any objective observer that Schumer’s position is entirely political. Democrats are publicly on record approving a border wall while Obama was President. If the media reports objectively on this, it is Schumer who has some explaining to do. He has to explain why a border wall was a great idea, until Trump was elected President. He has to explain why he would have approved something he now says is unnecessary while Obama was President. What, other than the election of Donald Trump, has changed? Was he wrong then or is he wrong now.

Even if the MSM fails to report honestly on this, we can be sure that FOX News and people like Rush Limbaugh will be all over it. I think the liberal left may be shocked at the surged in support for Trump. Even people opposed to the wall will understand something important. Trump is unwilling to back down because he clearly believes national security is at stake. If it wasn’t important, he shouldn’t have requested it in the first place. If it is important, he should refuse to back down. Even if you disagree with the need for a border wall, it is refreshing to see someone stand up for what they believe.

TDM

Who knew? William Shakespeare may have predicted the end of the Mueller Investigation while writing Hamlet around 1602. In the play, Hamlet discovered a plot on his life by Claudius and responds by saying: “For tis the sport to have the enginer hoist with his owne petar:”

One could argue that Hamlet pretended to be mad to expose those who were out to destroy him. Sound familiar? For the record, Shakespeare was referring to a “petard” which was an explosive device used in warfare. It was a small bomb made of wood or metal and filled with gunpowder. It would be set off by lighting a fuse. If the fuse was too short, the petard would blow up before the person placing it could get away. Hence, they would be hoisted by their own petard. Contemporary meaning is to be injured by a device that you intended to use to injure someone else.

In this case, Mueller may have been so focused on destroying Trump, that he may exposed himself to legal jeopardy. The following article by Sidney Powell, who is a former Federal Prosecutor, asserts that new facts indicate that Mueller obstructed justice:

https://www.dailycaller.com/2018/12/16/mueller-destroyed-evidence/

What makes this interesting is that, unlike the Mueller investigation, she actually points out some well documented facts. Judge Emmet G. Sullivan has demanded that Mueller provide the defense with all the “Brady” material. The “Brady” material means that the prosecution must give the defense all evidence favorable to the defendant, whether it impeaches a witness, mitigates punishment or shows his innocence.

The Judge specifically asked for the 302s relevant to the original interview of Michael Flynn. Those have been requested by Senator Grassley for over two years. It looks like Mueller did not comply.  He allegedly only provided a 302 that was produced seven months after the fact. He also redacted the name of Special Agent Joe Pientka, who wrote the original 302.  If the original 302s exist and were not presented that is a problem. If the original 302s were destroyed, it is an even bigger problem.

It is important to consider the legal doctrine of “spoliation of evidence” and “adverse inference.” Basically this means that if someone has material evidence and it is destroyed the jury is instructed to presume that this evidence was bad for the person destroying it. If Mueller destroyed evidence the judge not only has a right, but a duty to assume that this evidence would have been beneficial to Flynn and adverse to Mueller.

Now add in the remarkable report last week that the FBI destroyed the cell phones of Page and Strzok containing text messages sent between December 2016 and May 2017. The IG not only reported that the phones had been reset to destroy these messages; it appears as though his cyber experts were still able to recover over 19,000 of them.

When you add in the obvious problems with the FISA warrants, it gets worse. Then, to cap things off, James Comey admitted he leaked his notes to the press with the express intent of getting Jeff Sessions to recuse himself resulting in the appointment of a Special Prosecutor. Add in the appointment of Robert Mueller, who is reportedly a BFF of Comey and this looks increasingly suspect. Now consider the fact that Comey admitted, under oath, that he deliberately took advantage of Flynn by interviewing him without the presence of legal counsel. It sure looks like a perfect storm to me.

Sadly, we are at the point where either Mueller has smoking guns that will destroy Trump, he is incredibly incompetent, or the entire FBI and Special Prosecutor fiasco was literally an evil plot to obstruction justice in a botched attempt at a coup d’é·tat to remove President Donald Trump from office.

This would sure explain the loud opposition by the liberal left to anyone Trump appoints to be Attorney General. It would also explain why being hoisted by one’s own petard may be mild compared to what may be heading the way of Trump opponents.

TDM

We should have known better. There have been numerous congressional hearings, run by Republicans that have accomplished close to zero. The most recent was the absurd hearing on the Clinton Foundation. In the case of the Clinton Foundation hearing it soon became clear that some of the whistle blowers were actually private investigators trying to find tax evasion so they could collect a finder’s fee. Even if they are right, it is hard to have any respect for them. In addition, it is always difficult to assign credibility to someone who stands to make big bucks depending on the outcome. If these guys didn’t find tax evasion, they wouldn’t get paid. Speaks to motive!

At best, every congressional hearing is an exercise in futility. When is the last time you saw serious action taken because of a congressional hearing. At best, you get a “criminal referral” which is sent to the DOJ to do a real investigation. The same scene is played over and over again with identical results. Politicians on both sides of the aisle are more interested in getting camera time than they are in getting real answers. With questioning limited to 5 minutes even if someone asks a hard question, it is pretty easy for a skilled witness to avoid answering. The MSM can be counted on to over hype anything that looks bad for Trump and ignore anything that looks bad  for Obama or Clinton.

The good news is that Democrats will have identical problems with hearings designed to investigate Trump. The biggest difference is that Trump is unlikely to even pretend to cooperate with House committees run by people like Adam Schiff, Elijah Cummings, Maxine Waters or Jerrod Nadler. By the time the legal dust clears, the 2020 elections will be here. The MSM will be in nightly meltdown, but they are already in nightly meltdown. At some point everyone, even liberals, will become sick of this.

However, there are real investigations going on by real professionals. Those investigations are far more dangerous than silly congressional hearings. A lot of people think the FBI is withholding information to protect itself from congressional oversight. But perhaps they are withholding stuff so that an inept congressional committee will not muck it up. There is a report today that the IG recovered 19,000 text messages by Page and Strzok for the period from December 15, 2016 through May 17, 2017 that the FBI thought had been erased. Hmmm.

In addition, while Democrats are doubling down on investigating Trump in a desperate search for something. They are ignoring something that is beyond obvious. If the newly elected Attorney General for New York can investigate Donald Trump and his family without requiring any evidence of a crime, how, exactly can they complain if Donald Trump orders the FBI and the DOJ to investigate someone for similar reasons. That would, of course, be abuse of power. But is it any less abuse of power than Democrats investigating everything Trump for purely political purposes? I would wage a large bet, assuming I had any money to bet, that the loudest voices demanding an investigation of Trump could not withstand a similar investigation of themselves.

Keep in mind that the “me-too” movement, clearly aimed at Donald Trump, resulted in no impact on him, but a whole lot of high level Democrats and liberal celebrities bit the dust. High level Republicans, not so much. Expect similar results if this insane mission to investigate Trump continues. He will find a way to fight back and he can afford the best attorneys in the world who will find a legal way to get it done. This is another example of tweaking the tail of the tiger. Gary Hart can tell you all about that:

https://www.thedailyreview.com/opinion/columns_editorials/don-t-tweak-the-tail-of-the-tiger/article_ff4fe044-ae03-11e7-b077-2302014c22b1.html

Right now liberals are celebrating what they expect to be a continued relentless witch hunt of everything Trump. The liberal media is literally foaming at the mouth in breathless anticipation. Even conservatives who support Trump are predicting this. But, this may come at a cost that liberals can’t even imagine.

TDM

Donald Trump is routinely accused of Abuse of Power. That is why every night on the MSM they explain why this man is so dangerous and why he must be removed from power. This is always accompanied by absurd predictions that the legal noose is closing in on the worst villain in American, if not world, history. So I thought it might be interesting to see the specific actions allegedly taken by Trump that suggest abuse of power.

Washington Post – August 28, 2017

• Trump’s family, associates and campaign staff had numerous contacts with Russia during the campaign and post-election transition. Evidence exists that Trump’s personal attorney was seeking help from Putin as Trump was running a peculiar campaign that omitted any harsh talk about Russia.
• Trump lied in saying no such contacts occurred. Other members of his administration omitted mention of their Russian contacts on required security applications.
• Trump’s son and son-in-law met with Russian officials for the purpose of obtaining damaging information on Hillary Clinton.
• Trump openly encouraged Russian hacking of his opponent and in the closing days of the campaign made dozens and dozens of references to WikiLeaks.
• Once in office, he tried to pressure then-FBI Director James B. Comey, Director of National Intelligence Daniel Coats and National Security Agency Director Mike Rogers to curtail the investigation into fired national security adviser Michael Flynn.
• After Comey refused, Trump fired him, concocted a fake reason for the firing, attempted to intimidate him before his testimony (e.g. hinting at tapes, threatening to investigate for leaking information) and publicly continued to hint at his power to remove both the attorney general and special prosecutor.

Trump has embarrassed the presidential office in innumerable ways, and members of the House and Senate are obliged to organize these incidents in their heads and get a handle on their constitutional significance. There is a wrong way and a right way to go about this task. The wrong way is to treat the launch of an impeachment inquiry as a matter of political popularity or opportunism. … The right approach is to commit to a clear-eyed and ongoing assessment of Trump’s words and actions against the obligations of the office and to trace out the effects of his misconduct on the security and welfare of the United States.

When we consider the myriad other ways in which Trump has used and misused the presidency — e.g. praising police abuses, insulting federal (“so-called”) judges, pardoning someone who defied a court order, enriching himself while in office, putting unqualified relatives in office, refusing to reveal his financial dealings or to free himself of conflicts of interest — it becomes clear that Trump is not fulfilling his oath or faithfully executing the law; he’s enriching himself, deflecting inquiry and undermining the rule of law. How could impeachment not be on the table?

Here’s more: Washington Post – September 18, 2018

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/trumps-declassification-order-is-an-obvious-abuse-of-presidential-power/2018/09/18/a3a5af5e-bb7b-11e8-9812-a389be6690af_story.html?utm_term=.118fc71e1c6a

Contrast this with the outrageous claims by the Federalist that Saint Obama might be considered, by some delusional Tea Party radicals, to have abused power:

http://thefederalist.com/2017/01/19/10-ways-obama-violated-constitution-presidency/

Now you understand why Trump is so dangerous and why the country desperately needs another President like Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton. Any questions?

TDM

About five minutes after I arrived in Pleiku, Vietnam I learned the extreme importance of understanding one word: “incoming.” At the time, Pleiku AB was the subject of frequent enemy assaults, usually by mortars or rockets. At the same time, there were Army artillery units near the base that frequently fired rounds at the enemy. When those artillery units were in action the sound was incredible, but it was not a threat to us. The mortar and/or rockets launched against us however were very much a threat. Everyone soon became extremely skilled at telling the difference. When someone yelled “incoming,” that meant it was time to take cover.

This actually reminded me of a very funny story, shortly before I left Vietnam. My squadron had redeployed from Pleiku AB to DaNang  AB. I had about a week left before my tour was done. I was walking through the compound with a new Vietnamese linguist, straight out of language school. We passed a couple of the local mama sans and, as normal, we had a brief chat. Since they did not speak English, the conversation was obviously in Vietnamese. After they left, this new linguist looked at me and said: “was that Vietnamese?” Since he was a graduate of the Defense Language Institute with a degree in Vietnamese, I found this both astonishing and hysterical. But then I realized that I would have been just as bad when I first arrived overseas. I explained that although they were speaking Vietnamese, they were speaking slang with the central dialect which is very distinct from the North Vietnamese he had learned in language school. To put this in perspective imagine someone who was raised in London and taught British English being dropped off in a remote part of Louisiana. Yes, they still speak English, but this is not exactly the same language spoken in professional circles in London.

The second thing that happened while we were walking along is that DaNang was attacked with rockets. I was used to this, because it happened all the time. When I heard the first rocket coming, I realized two things. One was that it was headed over us, closer to the flight line. The second was that there were likely to be more rockets so taking shelter was a really good idea. So, I shouted “incoming” and dove into a little pothole bunker that was located near the path. I looked up and there was this guy, standing in the path, looking down at me like I was from another planet with eyes the size of 50 cent pieces. I quickly told him that we were being attacked by rockets and he might want to seriously consider joining me in that bunker.  By the end of that day he had learned the significance of “incoming” and the need to act.

There are lot of people united in their lust to destroy Donald Trump who are about to learn the meaning of “incoming.” Up until now, it sure looked like all of the legal artillery was being fired at Donald Trump by those determined to destroy him. That has changed. It is increasingly obvious that a lot of “incoming” is headed their way.  Most of us know that Michael Flynn plead guilty to lying to the FBI. It is increasingly apparent that he may have been entrapped by unscrupulous FBI agents with a secret agenda. The following article from the Conservative Tree House explains:

ttps://theconservativetreehouse.com/2018/12/12/hold-the-phone-on-flynn-sentencing-judge-emmet-sullivan-has-questions/

I don’t always agree with the opinions expressed on this website, but so far, the facts presented are always very accurate. In this case it turns out that Judge Emmet Sullivan has demanded some critical documents from the FBI, specifically the FD-302 interview forms which resulted in the guilty plea by Flynn. The only accurate word to describe this action is “incoming.” It is really important to understand that Judge Emmet Smith is the same judge who had prosecutors investigated for criminal actions regarding the improper prosecution of Senator Ted Stevens. This was so bad that ultimately Eric Holder personally apologized for the actions by the Federal prosecutors involved and asked the court to overturn the conviction of Ted Stevens. Sadly, this happened after he was humiliated, lost his Senate seat and was killed in a plane crash.

One should note the similarities here. The same judge, Smith, demanded the government hand over actual documents leading to the prosecution of Stevens. Once he saw those documents, he was outraged. This sure looks like history repeating itself. Soon and very soon we may see that that the people prosecuting Michael Flynn in more legal jeopardy than Flynn himself. But in this case the impact could be far more serious because of who was involved. We are talking about Andrew McCabe, Peter Strzok and Andrew Weissman. In addition, the Director of the FBI during the botched prosecution of Ted Stevens was, gasp, Robert Mueller.  This has the potential to discredit the entire Mueller investigation. Like I said: “incoming.”

TDM

One of my favorite songs was: “You Don’t Mess Around With Jim” by Jim Croce. Most of us can’t quite remember who the heck was Jim, but we all remember the following chorus:

You don’t tug on Superman’s cape

You don’t spit into the wind

You don’t pull the mask off that old Lone Ranger

And you don’t mess around with Jim.

Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer just learned this the hard way. Donald Trump called a meeting in the Oval office, he invited the press to attend and he asked them to stay for the entire event. It turned into a shouting match between Trump and Schumer. Pelosi was reduced to looking ill, desperate for an exit. This is a reminder that Donald Trump, for all his faults, is a reality TV star. The man really knows how to put on a show. Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi are political hacks who lack the charisma of a ceramic frog. That was more than apparent today. The main stream media, as expected, missed this, but those people who watch these videos will understand.

You don’t tug on Superman’s cape, at least not in public.

TDM

The DOJ continues to request that the justification for the raid on a whistleblower remain secret. A copy of the actual letter is available on the link below:

https://www.scribd.com/document/395382132/U-S-Attorney-Motion-Opposing-DCNF-Request-to-Unseal-FBI-Raid-Documents-December-7-20128

The Daily Caller requested that the Court unseal search warrant material. The reason the DOJ gave for denying this request is as following:

“The request should be denied. Public disclosure of any search warrant materials would seriously jeopardize the integrity of the ongoing investigation. Continued sealing is essential in order to guard against possible tampering of witnesses and destruction of evidence, to maintain the ability of the grand jury to investigate this matter, and to prevent the disclosure of sensitive investigative techniques and methods.

“These warrant materials reveal investigative sources, factual assumptions, and legal theories as well as evidence that has been gathered, including through sensitive investigative methods. Facts set fourth in these warrant materials reveal what has been searched and indicate what has not yet been searched.”

There clearly has been an investigation of the Clinton Foundation, that continues to this day. The real question is regarding other potential targets of the investigation. On page three this letter provides an important hint:

“The identity of unnamed subjects not yet charged would be revealed: there may be mistaken notions concerning who may be subjects.” “unsealing would reveal the scope of the government’s case and could lead to destruction of evidence and witness tampering.”

It is important to review the appointment of John Huber:

https://thehill.com/policy/national-security/381888-mystery-surrounds-sessions-appointee-to-fbi-investigation

Sessions said that the appointment of Huber was sufficient to address the concerns raised by GOP lawmakers. Those concerns were to have the DOJ investigate putative wrongdoing by the Clinton Foundation as well as the 2010 sale of Uranium One. They also demanded a probe into how the Obama DOJ handled the investigation into the Hillary Clinton private email server. In addition, there was demand for a probe into allegations of surveillance abuse raised by Devin Nunes. It is reported that Michael Horowitz, the Inspector General, is investigating all of this and is working in cooperation with Huber. Huber provided Sessions with regular updates about his work.

If Huber is doing exactly what Sessions asked him to do, then a lot of people, including former members of the DOJ and the FBI may be in for a very turbulent winter.

TDM

We used to enjoy “There’s A Bad Moon On The Rise!” by Credence Clearwater Revival. One of the reasons we liked the song is that it sounded like they were actually singing “There’s A Bath Room On The Right!”

This is now the anthem on the left. Once again they are convincing themselves that Donald Trump is “finally” in legal trouble. Incredibly some supposedly smart people are even saying this on Fox News. It is more than wrong, it is absurd. After all this time, Mueller has found zero evidence of collusion with Russia and is instead hinting that Trump may have illegally used campaign funds to buy off Stormy Daniels. Trump has already said this was a private transaction and his only real concern is outrage by Melania Trump. When you think about this, it is silly. Trump is the polar opposite of most politicians. He self-funded much of his campaign. He didn’t need to raid campaign funds for his personal use. The MSM is used to people like the Clinton’s who do that all the time.

There is a bad moon on the rise, but the light will shine on Trump’s opponents, not Trump. Even if Mueller miraculously came up with something resembling a smoking gun, he couldn’t do anything about it. The only recourse against a sitting U.S. President is impeachment and even if the House did impeach Trump they would never get 67 votes in the Senate to convict. Trump is a very different person from Nixon and he will fight back. They are not going to intimidate this man out of office.

On the other hand, James Comey testified before congress, again, and lied, again. He also admitted that the Trump Dossier is still unverified. Then, in an incredibly stupid move, he begged people to vote Trump out of office in 2020. His reasoning was that this was necessary to stop the lies. Seriously? This was right after he said he saw no signs of bias from people working for him in the FBI. Right, no bias there!

It is increasingly apparent that Comey is not very bright. He was caught in a hard place because the evidence against Hillary Clinton was beyond obvious and Attorney General Loretta Lynch was hopelessly conflicted because of her secret meeting with Bill Clinton. Comey never considered the obvious. He could and should have simply resigned. What makes this worse is Comey still doesn’t even understand the problem.

There are a lot of people who have stupidly put themselves in serious legal jeopardy by complaining about others. This reminds me of the time I complained to the local police about people speeding in our neighborhood. A couple of days later I was late for a golf tee time so I was going about 5 miles over the speed limit. I got a ticket. To the best of my knowledge, I was the only person in the neighborhood who got a speeding ticket. Lesson learned; if you are going to complain about people speeding, make sure you don’t speed.

A whole lot of people have complained about Trump lying and are demanding prosecution. A lot of these people live in glass houses. Trump is hardly a saint, but neither are his accusers. Many of them, unlike Trump, have lied under oath in public settings. They have demanded that people be held accountable and they are going to achieve that goal. Only Trump is not the one in legal jeopardy, that honor will go to his harshest opponents.

TDM