In the days before he was elected President in 2008, Il Duce Barack Obama proclaimed that we were only a few days away from beginning “the fundamental transformation” of the United States of America.”  Many Obama detractors, including myself, decried this proclamation, noting that Obama was being elected to lead the United States, not to remake it in his own image.  Upon his accession, Obama went right to work.  In the two years that he had control of both houses of Congress, Obama managed to push through the badly named Affordable Care Act, a/k/a Obamacare.   It wasn’t affordable,  and it provided no more or better care, but it succeeded in advancing Obama’s aim, which was the insertion of the federal government into our healthcare system, by forcing even those who had healthcare they liked into a far more costly system calculated to exert government control over 1/6 of the U.S. economy, a system that was bound to fail, permitting the ever-helpful Democrats to transition to single payer healthcare, a/k/a universal government healthcare along the British or Canadian models, which has been a goal of the progressives for at least 100 years.  When the Republicans won the Senate, Obama’s plans were delayed.  Il Duce had more big plans, but he had to satisfy himself with his “pen and phone,” a/k/a unconstitutional rule by presidential decree, for instance, his completely illegal DACA declaration, the remnants of which trouble us to this very day.  But, not to worry, the Democrats needed to accomplish but one objective to continue their fundamental transformation – they needed only to elect Hillary Clinton President in 2016.  This was only a minor annoyance, but sadly necessary, as the Dems had to at least pretend that elections still matter in the United States.  We all know what happened.  To the surprise of nearly everyone, Donald Trump was elected President.  But not to worry.  The Dems had a plan, an insurance policy if you will, that would see Trump impeached.  But that hasn’t worked either, and to the Democrat’s great distress, Trump has improved the economy to the point where there now are 1 million more unfilled jobs than there are unemployed Americans.  The Democrats have been compelled to conclude that Trump will run for reelection, and that they must find a candidate to defeat him in 2020.  To that end, a dozen or more Democrats/Democrat Socialists, or downright Marxists have declared themselves presidential candidates.  Only now, the landscape has greatly changed.  With a Republican in the White House, the Democrats are no longer “the loyal opposition,” an alternative Party with different ideas about how to make the federal government work within the bounds of the U.S. Constitution.  The drapes pulled back, the Democrats have revealed what Al Gore might call “an inconvenient truth.”  They have no intention of working within the bounds of the Constitution.  Democrats have one and only one aim – the unfettered exercise of absolute power, despite the Constitution, despite the law, despite the results of elections, and despite the will of the people.  Think I’m exaggerating?  I’m not.  All you have to do is listen to the Democrat candidates.  Want to fundamentally transform the United States?  The Dems are ready.  They want to change or do away with any constitutional provision, or governmental component that stands in their way.  When he emerged from the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in 1787, a woman asked Benjamin Franklin, “What sort of government have you given us?”  Franklin responded, “A republic madam, if you can keep it.”  If the Democrats get their way, we won’t be keeping it much longer.  Democrats are not satisfied with a Supreme Court that contains five or more Justices who are not progressive rubber stamps, so they want to add 6 more Justices that they can control, to ram through policies without Congressional action.  They must have absolute power by any means necessary, after all.  And what about Congress?  Well, the Dems don’t control the Senate right now, so they want to abolish it.  That’s a neat trick, but regrettably necessary.  Any means necessary, right?  The Democrats lost the last election, despite winning the popular vote.  That’s the way the electoral college works, but if Democrats lose it can’t be fair, right?  Not to worry, the Democrats are planning to abolish the electoral college too.  No matter that, but for the electoral college system of choosing a President, there would have been no United States.  The electoral college prevented the States with large populations from dominating the smaller States, which, given a national popular vote, would have to assume all costs and responsibilities of statehood, without having any control over who was elected Chief Executive.  The electoral college prevents that result.  It worked flawlessly in 2016, but the Dems lost, so it too must go.  Any means, right?  These crazy proposals may be no more than fresh red (or is it blue) meat for the wild-eyed maniacs who vote in Democratic primaries. They’re proposals that they can never get enacted, but it’s more alarming than that.  The fact is that today’s Democrats do not deserve the name “Democrat,” as there is nothing democratic about them.  Our system has endured for nearly 250 years because, no matter which Party has been in power, and come depression, foreign war or civil war, we always had the Constitution to guide us back to the route laid out for us by the Founders.  Today, the so-called “Democrats” would sweep away any constitutional provision that stands in the way of their exercise of absolute power.  Founders be damned, history be damned, law be damned, the will of the voters be damned, they want what they want and will do whatever they need to do to get it.  That’s dangerous.  We should be afraid, very afraid of today’s Democrat Party.  Progressives like to claim we have a “living Constitution.” If that is so, someone should ask them why they are trying so hard to kill it.

That darling of the Left, champion of the Woke Folk, and all-around political neophyte Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a/k/a A.O.C. (Asinine Obnoxious-Cretin)  continues to stay in the news, and surprisingly, seems to be wielding much more power in the Congress than any freshman Representative should ever expect to wield.  Never mind, that she doesn’t know anything about any of the subjects on which she expounds.  Never mind that the things she comes out with are often dead wrong, and even stupid.  For instance, the other day, AOC was questioning a Wells Fargo banker who appeared before her committee.  The bank financed the Dakota oil pipeline.  She lectured the poor man on the dangers of pipeline leaks of that nasty fossil fuel that’s destroying the planet, and asked him if Wells Fargo should be held liable for the damage done by climate change due to their financing of fossil fuels.  Whew!  AOC is on a roll.  Recently, she made news when she publicly threatened to punish any Democratic member of the House of Representatives who dares to vote with a Republican on any issue.  And this from the Party that lectures Republicans about the virtues of bipartisanship.  AOC threatened to take the names of any back-sliders, and turn loose her Progressive protest rent-a-mobs on any Democrat who doesn’t stay in line.  This latest threat came in a meeting with Democrats, after 26 of them defected and voted for a Republican measure that would report illegal aliens who attempt to purchase a gun to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.  Unlike Party stalwart AOC, whose district is such that she never has to face a real election, most of the Democrat defectors are newly elected members from swing districts formerly held by Republicans.  Translation – the defectors know what their constituents expect, and they’d like to get reelected.  Not good enough for AOC.  AOC’s  spokesman, Corbin Trent, told The Washington Post that any Democrat who does not side with her (with “her” not with the Party) “are putting themselves on a list.”  That put me in mind of the Gilbert and Sullivan operetta, The Mikado.  In The Mikado, KoKo is a condemned criminal who is made Lord High Executioner.  KoKo reasons that, if the time comes when someone needs to be executed, he should have ready “a little list,” of offenders who could be gotten rid of, and “who never would be missed.”  And so without further ado, in tribute to that master politician Alexandria Ocasio-KoKo, and with sincere apologizes to the memories of Gilbert and Sullivan,  She’s Got a Little List –

As some day it may happen that some Democrats may stray
I’ve got a little list – I’ve got a little list
Of bipartisan progressives who might have lost their way
And who never would be missed – who never would be missed!
There’s the freshmen in the districts where Republicans got beat
And people who’d take guns away from Wetbacks on the street
All Democrats who fail to vote the way the Speaker rules
Who dare to help the other side by voting with the fools
And all who fail to burn the flag and sport an upheld fist
They’d none of ’em be missed – they’d none of ’em be missed!

If they’re not Socialist – She’s got ’em on her list
And they’ll none of ’em be missed – they’ll none of ’em be missed

There’s that turncoat Candice Owens, and others of her race
And any capitalist – I’ve got them on the list!
And those with a position they won’t scream into your face
They never would be missed – they never would be missed!
There’s the idiot who praises, with enthusiastic tone
Anyone’s opinion that is different from my own
And Joe Biden, who dared to call Mike Pence a decent guy
And who hasn’t said he’s running, but really wants to try
And those who don’t change Parties, like good old Charlie Crist
I don’t think they’d be missed – I’m sure they’d not be missed!

If they’re not Socialist – She’s got ’em on her list
And they’ll none of ’em be missed – they’ll none of ’em be missed

The talk show host, who’s influence right now is rather rife
And the Right Wing humorist – I’ve got him on the list!
All backward, dumb miscreants who support the right to life
They’d none of ’em be missed – they’d none of ’em be missed
And apologetic statesmen of a compromising kind
Who see two sides to issues, how archaic – Never-mind!
And Huckabee and Hannity, and also You-know-who
And those who wouldn’t steal your vote, but leave it up to you
But it really doesn’t matter whom I put upon my list
For they’d none of ’em be missed – they’d none of ’em be missed!

If they’re not Socialist – I put them on the list
And they’ll none of ’em be missed – they’ll none of ’em be missed!

So hats off to AOC.  I hope she puts all swing State Democrats on her little list, and brings in Socialists even crazier than she is to run against them in the primaries.  AOC’s friends will be easier to beat in 2020.

We now know that the U.S. government began investigating Donald Trump in the Summer of 2016, months before he was elected.  There were FBI and CIA investigations into supposed collusion with Russia.  There was no collusion with Russia, so they had to get some help.  They found help in the completely false dossier that Hillary’s campaign paid Fusion GPS to hire Brit Christopher Steele to quote unnamed Russian intelligence officers, who made up a load of crap that nobody, including the FBI, ever bothered to try to corroborate.  That wouldn’t have been so bad had the Justice Dept. not used the dossier to get FISA warrants that permitted the Obama Justice Dept. to eavesdrop on the Trump campaign.  In hindsight, you can almost understand why the FBI and Obama’s Justice Dept. had to open an investigation on Trump.  They already were supposed to be investigating Hillary for her email server crimes, so fair’s fair, right?  All they were doing was employing liberal excuse Number Two.  An explanation is in order.  Whenever a liberal imbecile is confronted with an uncomfortable fact, he or she gives one of two excuses – either “That’s not true,” or “Both sides do it.”  Ergo, if Hillary was a criminal under FBI investigation, it was only fair to investigate Trump too.  And investigate they did.  The CIA and FBI looked for Russian collusion.  They didn’t find any, because there was none.  So then, Trump was elected, and James Comey decided to become a double agent.  He met with the President, and instead of playing the role of FBI Director meeting his boss, he became Special Agent Comey, meeting with a suspected criminal.  Comey took copious notes that he transcribed, and then illegally took with him after he was fired by Donald Trump.  Part of the notes detailed the President’s discussion of the investigation of Michael Flynn, during which Trump supposedly said Flynn was a good man, and that he hoped Comey could see his way clear to let the matter go.  When Comey testified to Congress in June 2017, he swore that he did not get the impression that he was being ordered to drop the investigation.  After Comey was fired, he changed his mind about that.  Comey’s firing had that effect on a lot of Democrats.  Before Comey was fired, Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, and other Democrat elected officials called for Comey to be fired, including one Gerald Nadler, the current Chairman of the House Oversight Committee.  For two years, the Dems have been responding to the musical question, “What evidence is there to prove Trump colluded with Russia?” by parroting, “We have to wait for the Mueller report.  Mueller was appointed after Comey was fired to try to maintain the coverup of the FBI and Justice Dept. wrongdoing in the Trump campaign.   By all accounts, Mueller is about done with Witch Hunt 1.0, which has turned up no evidence of collusion by Trump.  Enter Nadler, who has changed the narrative to obstruction of justice, which is as improbable as the collusion narrative.  Nadler has, so far, subpoenaed 81 people, including Trump lawyers, in an attempt to find evidence that former FBI Director, former U.S. Attorney, super-lawyer Robert Mueller, and his team of 17 additional Trump-hating super-lawyers were unable to find, which is not surprising, because it doesn’t exist.  There are major problems with the obstruction of justice claim.  Chief among them is that obstruction of justice does not exist in a vacuum.  In other words, you cannot obstruct justice until or unless there is some underlying crime that you are trying to cover up.  The problem with the whole Trump Witch Hunt is that there never was a crime to investigate.  Following the investigative philosophy of Josef Stalin and Lavrenti Beria’s NKVD, “Show me the man and I’ll find you the crime,” the now more than three years of multiple investigations have been a search for a crime, any crime.  In Trump’s case, there is no underlying crime.  A president can’t obstruct justice by simply exercising his Article II executive powers.  Even Comey agreed with that.  That’s all Comey’s firing was.  A President can obstruct justice under some circumstances.  Think Nixon.  Underlying crimes, burglary, conspiracy, perjury, suborning perjury, false swearing, criminal contempt, need I go on?  Nixon was up to his neck in the coverup, including plans to pay off the Watergate burglars, and to encourage witnesses to lie under oath.  Nothing to see with the Trump Witch Hunt.  Gerald Nadler now says Trump obstructed justice, and he needs to be impeached.  How, you might ask?  Well, he fired Comey.  See above.  And oh, by the way, Nadler himself called for Comey to be fired in October 2016.  It didn’t become a crime till Trump did it.  What about the “see your way clear” with Flynn?  “I hope you can see your way clear” is not an order to drop the case.  Even Comey admitted that.  But Nadler has conclusive evidence of Trump’s obstruction.  Get this.  Nadler says Trump has said 1,100 times, that the Mueller investigation is a Witch Hunt.  We’ve come to that.  In 2019 America, a person who is accused of a crime, who is denounced every day as an insane traitor, and who dares to say he’s not guilty, has committed a new crime.  Wow!  So welcome to Witch Hunt 2.0.  We will now have never-ending Congressional investigations of the President, because Gerald Nadler says so.  Nadler already has unwittingly disclosed the true game.  He announced that he needs to investigate to gather the facts necessary to impeach the President.  Translation – We’re going to impeach, but so far, we’ve got nothing.  Nadler continued his swerve into the truth, “We’ve got to convince Trump supporters you’re not trying to steal the last – uh –  you’re not trying to reverse the result of the last election.”  Stealing the last election from Donald Trump is exactly what the Dems are up to.  They will stop at nothing.  On Saturday, at CPAC, President Trump told the crowd his opponents were trying to remove him with “bullshit.”  Bravo!  I’m sure Nadler will add  “bullshit” as an article of impeachment.  Then again, that would be redundant.

The situation in Venezuela continues to deteriorate, with the Socialist Maduro government holding on to its precarious grip on power, in the face of a challenge from former presidential candidate Juan Gaido, and a popular revolt, which has brought thousands of desperate Venezuelans into the streets.  The benefits of Socialism are on full display in Venezuela.  In light of the U.S. Socialists, led by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, AOC (Apparently On-Crack), supporter of the Green New Deal, there are lessons to be learned.  Once, not so very long ago, Venezuela was a rich country, the richest in South America.  Venezuela has the largest known oil reserves in the world.   Because of the oil wealth, Venezuelan workers enjoyed the highest wages in Latin America.  Venezuela was one of the world’s leading oil exporters.  The country once had the world’s 4th highest GDP, rivaling that of Germany.  Venezuela was prosperous, until self-avowed Marxist Hugo Chavez came to power, promising to bring about revolutionary reforms to improve the lives of the poor.  Sound familiar?  Chavez went to work nationalizing the oil industry, for the good of the people, of course.  Rampant Socialism gave Venezuelans 1 million percent inflation, over 90% of the people are in poverty. Venezuela ranks number 1 on the misery index, the most dangerous place in the world with rampant crime, the population is starving, eating zoo animals and raiding garbage trucks for food.  They owe it all to Socialism, the system that Democrats have promised us with their Green New Deal.  This result is not unfamiliar in South America.  Argentina suffered a similar fate.  Argentina was once the richest country in South America.  She had vast gold reserves, and a thriving export economy.  Argentines enjoyed a high standard of living, fed on marvelous Argentine beef.  All that ended after Socialist Juan Peron’s “Peronista Revolution” stripped the country of its wealth.  The result was a series of military juntas, hyper-inflation, and repeated devaluation of the peso, including government confiscations of bank accounts and private pensions, which cause Argentines to store cash in safe deposit boxes to protect it from the government.  The last Socialist mastermind, Christina Kirchner, hastened Argentina’s descent into bankruptcy.  To be fair though, it wasn’t just Socialism, as Kirchner has been charged with stealing $160 million from the government.  And so, Argentina went the way that all Socialist States have gone, transitioning from wealth to despair, and leaving human wreckage in its wake.  Kirchner’s brand of Socialism operated much like the U.S. variety of “Democratic Socialism”- Socialism for foes, capitalism for friends.  The little guy must suffer, for the good of “the people,” while the billionaire Bolsheviks who fund the Democrat Party live a much different life. The lesson of Venezuela is that, once again, Socialism has been proven to be a bankrupt political system, which comes to power with the promise of utopia, and always ends in abject poverty and humanitarian tragedy.  The Green New Deal is just the latest utopian promise.  The Dems are using the fantasy of free everything to regain power.  Should they do so, they would surely try to expand their giveaway programs, but even I don’t think the Dems actually mean to enact all the nutty provisions of the Green New Deal. The Democrat way is to promise the Moon to gain power. When you have a media that permits Dems not only to lie with impunity, but aids and abets the lies, then there is no need ever to deliver on your promises.
That’s a good thing for Democrats too, because even the Dem leaders have to understand that the American people will put up with only so much before they take matters into their own hands.  Donald Trump’s election was just a mild expression of American’s conclusion that “enough is enough.” In Venezuela, it took 1 million per cent inflation, near universal poverty, and the masses robbing garbage trucks for their next meal to lead the people into the streets to topple their government.  Americans are neither that patient, nor that tolerant.  We’ve lived high on the hog for too long.  Just a minor drop in the standard of living will light the fuse.  The Green New Deal guarantees economic disruptions, nationalized industries, high unemployment, and even more crippling taxes.  Restraints on personal liberty, trying to power 20 watt light bulbs with windmills and pond scum, no cars, airplanes or hamburgers?  I don’t think so. Thomas Jefferson said, “A little rebellion now and then is a good thing.” Now, I’m certainly not advocating violence, and I hope it never comes to that, but implementing the Green New Deal would spark a big rebellion.  And this is not Venezuela, where the people are defenseless.  In America, there are more than 300 million guns in private hands, and most of those hands belong to conservative capitalists.  Again, I hope that day never comes, but I’m just sayin’.  Even the Democrat leadership must be smart enough to understand they are playing with fire.  The Dems are walking a tightrope between their crazy Socialist base and the reality that Americans will not put up with Socialism.  In the meantime, the Democrats will continue to blather about their Green New Deal, and will continue to wallow in hypocrisy.  Yesterday, AOC (Admired Only by-Cuckoos), declared she would search out and punish any Democrat who voted with a Republican.  So much for the Party that likes to preach about bipartisanship.  The Democrats clearly don’t get it.  Only we can change it.

Maybe I’m just old fashioned, but I long for the days when someone who not only was in jeopardy of criminal prosecution, but already had been recommended for prosecution, had the good sense to keep his mouth shut.  Those days ended when Donald Trump was elected President.  First, James Comey was fired under circumstances under which he was likely to be prosecuted for lying to investigators.  He wrote a book and did numerous interviews.  Now comes Andrew McCabe.   When Comey was fired McCabe became the acting FBI Director.  Later, McCabe was fired from the FBI for a repeated lack of candor.  Translation – McCabe was caught in numerous lies, some of them under oath before Congress, and he was recommended for prosecution by the Justice Department.  Ordinarily, someone facing such a fate would heed his counsel’s advice and keep his mouth shut.  He didn’t.  He wrote a book, and now is doing the rounds of television interviews to promote the book.  McCabe went on 60 Minutes.  Then he went on The View, featuring the original cast of the opening scene of Macbeth.  What McCabe said proved that Fox News, Mark Levin, Sara Carter and Kimberly Strassel were right when they reported, almost two years ago, that the FBI and Justice Department attempted a coup de etat against Donald Trump in an effort to remove him from office.  Two years ago, the mainstream media said such an allegation was preposterous, and they are still denying any wrongdoing by the FBI now.  No matter how dark it gets, keep pulling down the shades, right?  What Andrew McCabe said was chilling, and had the victim of the FBI and Justice Department conduct been anyone other than Donald Trump, it would be the biggest scandal in American history.  Since only Donald Trump was the victim, the mainstream media doesn’t care.  After James Comey was fired, McCabe says he ordered two investigations of the president himself.  They asked two questions.  One,  Trump fire Comey to impede the investigation into whether Russia interfered with the election; and two, if so, Trump acting on behalf of the Russian government.   McCabe told 60 Minutes, “I was very concerned that I was able to put the Russia case on absolutely solid ground in an indelible fashion that were I removed quickly or reassigned or fired that the case could not be closed or vanish in the night without a trace.”  How inspiring!  McCabe was acting as a patriot, to protect his country.  McCabe’s story would be compelling, but for the fact that we have so much information proving that it’s a total lie.  McCabe is claiming that there was evidence suggesting that Trump may have been working for the Russians because, “The president had been speaking in a derogatory way about our investigative efforts for weeks, describing it as a witch hunt…” That’s certainly evidential.  Trump objected to being framed for something that he didn’t do.  How dare he?  McCabe told interviewers on TV that he began the counter-intelligence investigation in May of 2017 because there was evidence that Trump might be a Russian agent.  How patriotic!  There’s only one problem with McCabe’s explanation.  It’s a blatant lie.  Justice Department official Bruce Ohr has testified that in July of 2016, that’s right even before the election, he told people in the Justice Department and FBI, including McCabe, for some reason Hillary loving,  Mueller attack dog, Andrew Weissman, Rod Rosenstein and an aide to Attorney General Loretta Lynch, that the Steele dossier was an unverified opposition research hit piece, paid for by the Hillary campaign.  Ohr said, “I told them that Chris Steele was desperate that Donald Trump not get elected.” “I don’t know how reliable it is.  You’re going to have to check it out and be aware.  These guys were hired by somebody relating to—who’s related to the Clinton campaign, and be aware.”  Despite the warning, the FBI did nothing to corroborate the dossier, or to verify any of its contents, despite using it to get FISA warrants that they extended three times, from 2016 to 2017.  This means that when McCabe opened his counter-intelligence investigation on Trump, he already knew there had been no Russian collusion.  But there’s more.  McCabe went on to say that Rod Rosenstein, the man who signed off on the FISA warrants, and who appointed Mueller as the independent counsel, did offer to wear a wire when he went to the White House to speak with the President.  Translation – the FBI and Justice secretly turned Donald Trump from the Chief Executive to a criminal target from whom they were secretly trying to obtain evidence to remove him from office.  According to McCabe, Rosenstein discussed using the 25th Amendment to remove Trump.  That’s a constitutional provision which permits a president’s cabinet to declare the president unable to perform his office when he is physically or mentally disabled.  The Justice Department plays no role in the process, other than the Attorney General having a vote.  Trump’s crime?   He called the investigation a witch hunt and fired Comey.  The FBI decided Trump had to go.  McCabe claims that he notified Congressional leaders, and that none of them objected.  Trey Gowdy says that didn’t happen, but even if it did, the question is what McCabe told them.  I’m sure McCabe didn’t tell them the whole stinking mess was based on the unverified crap in the dossier.  After all, they didn’t even tell the FISA court that much.  The Congress had the right to assume that the FBI was acting within the law, so of course they didn’t object.  McCabe’s explanations simply don’t wash.  Moreover, they are insulting.  McCabe would have us believe that he did what he did for his country.  Bull crap!  He did what he did to remove a duly elected president because that’s what Il Duce Obama wanted done.  Now he’s pretending to be a patriot.  Let me remind you of the words of Samuel Johnson. “Patriotism is the last refuge for a scoundrel”?
When all else fails, the scoundrel relies on “I did it because I love my country.”  Well, I love my country too, and I want no part of a police state.