from WeAreChange
Trump Issues 15 Pardons, Including Republican Allies and Blackwater Contractors Convicted of Killing Civilians
Ex-campaign aide George Papadopoulos, former Republican Reps. Duncan Hunter and Chris Collins among those pardoned
by Associated Press
Market Watch
Trump also commuted the sentences of five others. While it is not unusual for presidents to grant clemency on their way out the door, Trump has made clear that he has no qualms about intervening in the cases of friends and allies whom he believes have been treated unfairly. Despite speculation, though, not on the list were members of Trump’s own family, his personal attorney Rudy Giuliani and the president himself.
The pardons included former Republican Reps. Duncan Hunter of California and Chris Collins of New York. Trump also commuted the sentence of former Rep. Steve Stockman of Texas and pardoned a current state representative, Phil Lyman of Utah, who led an ATV protest through restricted native lands.
Pelosi’s “Mandate”: What “Consent of the Governed” Really Means
by Ryan McMaken
Mises.org
The 2020 election failed to live up to the projections of many pollsters and Democratic strategists . The predicted landslide failed to materialize, and the Democrats lost seats in the House. This means in 2022 the Democrats will be defending a razor-thin majority in the House—a majority they’re almost certain to lose in a mid-term election if Biden is the final victor. The Democrats did well. But not that well.
Nonetheless, Nancy Pelosi, in the days following the election, reportedly declared the Democrats “have a mandate!”
But do they?
Let consider what constitutes a democratic victory given the standard handed down to us by pundits and politicians on the Left. According to the current narrative, the legitimacy of a president’s electoral victory depends on the number of votes he receives through the “popular vote.” That is, when it comes to votes from the overall national population, the candidate with a majority—or a plurality, depending on the standard one is using—ought to be declared the victor.
AOC, Tlaib Rush to Suggest They Get Credit for Trump Wanting $2,000 Checks: ‘Our Legislation’
[Ed. Note: Why stop at $2,000? Why not $20,000? Or $200,000?]
by Ryan Saavedra
Daily Wire
Far-left Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) rushed to falsely claim credit for President Donald Trump announcing on Tuesday night that he wanted the $600 stimulus checks beefed up to $2,000.
“Let’s do it. @RashidaTlaib and I already co-wrote the COVID amendment for $2,000 checks, so it’s ready to go. Glad to see the President is willing to support our legislation,” Ocasio-Cortez claimed. “We can pass $2k checks this week if the Senate GOP agrees to stand down.”
“Me and @AOC have the amendment ready,” Tlaib said. “Send the bill back, and we will put in the $2,000 we’ve been fighting for that your party has been blocking.”
However, Trump made no reference to what they proposed and, in fact, slammed Democrats for the games that they played before the election when it came to a stimulus bill.
Donald Trump Demands Congress Add $2000 Direct Payments to Coronavirus Relief Bill
by Charlie Spiering
Breitbart.com
President Donald Trump demanded Tuesday that Congress amend the coronavirus rescue package and government funding bill before sending it to his desk.
The massive 5,593-page bill was passed by both the House and the Senate on Monday night but immediately drew criticism for only sending $600 of direct aid to each American.
Trump criticized the bill for extending direct coronavirus relief payments to family members of illegal aliens, getting up to $1,800 each.
“This is far more than the Americans are given,” Trump said.
The president did not say he would veto the bill but demanded that Congress amend it before sending it to his desk.
“I am asking Congress to amend this bill and increase the ridiculously low $600 to $2000, or $4000 for a couple,” he said.
Politicians Are Crushing Christmas Miracles
by John Tamny
The American Institute for Economic Research
It’s been said here before and it should be said again: every new American business is a bit of a miracle. That’s the case because the conceit of a new commercial endeavor is that the people in the world’s most capitalist country haven’t fully met the needs of their customers such that a new operation rates creation.
If the correct definition of an entrepreneur is someone who believes deeply in an idea despite near universal skepticism about same (never forget that Jeff Bezos and his early Amazon shareholders were broadly ridiculed….), then the creator of a new business of any stripe is similarly revealing impressive courage. Implicit in any start-up is that some of the world’s most energetic people are not doing enough.
The tragedy right now is that the energetic are seeing their visions and dreams suffocated around the U.S. Even though the pre-Covid success of their businesses was a happy sign that they possessed an expertise when it came to fulfilling the wants of a customer base with voluminous choices, politicians gulled by experts decided the past didn’t matter.
Deborah Birx Says She’s Retiring After Criticism of Thanksgiving Weekend Trip
by Damjan Tutarkov
LaCorte News
Dr. Deborah Birx said Tuesday she will step down from her position as White House coronavirus coordinator after Joe Biden assumes office in late January after drawing some backlash over an out-of-state trip she made a day after Thanksgiving.
“It’s been very difficult on my family,” Birx said in an interview with Newsy Tuesday. “I think what was done in the last week to my family… to drag my family into this… they’ve become deeply depressed as I’m sure many elderly have.”
[…] A day after Thanksgiving, Birx traveled to a holiday property on Fenwick Island in Delaware with members of her family from at least two different households, despite cautioning Americans against such trips and gatherings the day before.
Birx, who also owns properties in Washington D.C. and Potomac, Maryland, claimed she was preparing her Delaware property for sale and did not make the trip “for the purpose of celebrating Thanksgiving.”
“Very Disturbing News”: YouTube Censors Ron Paul Liberty Report
Big Tech video platform warns one more strike and pro-freedom channel is gone.
by Adan Salazar
Info Wars
YouTube is moving to shut down the channel of former Congressman Dr. Ron Paul.
According to a tweet by Dr. Paul Tuesday, YouTube issued a strike against his channel over a video in which he discusses a “Fire Fauci!” chant made at a Donald Trump rally in November.
[…] “Your content was removed due to a violation of our Community Guidelines,” a warning from YouTube shared by Dr. Paul states.
Dr. Paul interprets this as “very disturbing news” that could possibly foreshadow the takedown of his channel.
Wealthy Beginning to Worry, Plus Look at What is Skyrocketing
from King World News
As we come to the end of 2020, the wealthy are beginning to worry, plus look at what is skyrocketing!
Wealthier Clients Beginning To Worry
December 22 (King World News) – Liz Ann Sonders, Chief Investment Strategist at Charles Schwab: Latest Bank of America survey of wealthier client cohort (able to invest > $1M): increasing dollars being repurposed for saving/investing vs. consumption
*38% worried about financial setbacks.
*37% concerned about unexpected healthcare costs.
*80% swapped discretionary spending for savings…
The Revolution Should Have Already Begun: Change My Mind
by Karl Denninger
Market-Ticker.org
Last night Congress passed a monster 5,500 page bill for “Coronavirus Relief.”
The bill language was released just a few hours before it was voted upon; it was literally impossible to read it first.
When Obamacare was passed I stayed up, literally all night, and read it first. That was at least humanly possible to do, although I suspect not one Congresscritter did. I did, with a crap-ton of Espresso and four screens going so I could look at all the references in the bill. I actually knew what was in there before it was passed unlike all the *******s who voted on it. And that bill was a fraction of this bill’s size.
So who wrote the bill? You certainly can’t write 5,500 pages in a few hours. Therefore it certainly wasn’t Congressional leadership that wrote it.
Did Xi write it? How about George Soros and his pals? Did he write it? What sort of bull**** grab-bag and screw the people nonsense is in there? Nobody who voted for it knows because…. wait for it…. they didn’t read it first.
Trading Slush Fund for Mnuchin with the NY Fed
by Pam Martens and Russ Martens
Wall Street on Parade
The language that Republican Senator Pat Toomey inserted into the final stimulus bill (Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021) appears below. It not only restricts the Federal Reserve’s ability to extend some of its current emergency lending programs that help small and medium size businesses and state and local governments beyond December 31 of this year (while leaving Wall Street bailout programs alive for at least another 90 days) but it also enshrines the autonomy of the U.S. Treasury Secretary to operate a massive slush fund – the Exchange Stabilization Fund (ESF).
Most Americans have never heard of the Treasury’s Exchange Stabilization Fund. It was created in 1934 to provide support to the U.S. dollar during the Great Depression. The ESF has grown from $94.3 billion in assets prior to Trump taking office to a balance of $681 billion as of October 31, 2020. As recently as March 31, 2007, the ESF had assets of just $45.9 billion.
The Biggest Political Blunder in American History
by Steve McCann
American Thinker
If courts and state legislatures award Joe Biden the presidency, the anti-Trump cabal, driven by a four-year single-minded obsession to defeat President Trump, will have committed the greatest political blunder in American history — the unabashed and overt theft of the 2020 presidential election.
This myopic and oblivious group so misunderstood the depth and breadth of support for Donald Trump that their blatant manipulation of the election would fall monumentally short of the planned for and anticipated landslide defeat of the incumbent. A landslide they needed in order to dominate the political arena for the foreseeable future and avoid any backlash from the electorate for their duplicity.
Thus, this cabal, which consists of the Democrat party establishment, Tech and Wall Street billionaires, the mainstream media and left-wing elitists, will find itself in a quagmire of being unable to govern. The Democrat party’s dominant and radicalized left-wing base will revolt over failed promises and expectations while the extent of the fraud will inevitably be fully exposed, resulting in nearly half of the citizenry viewing the government as illegitimate.
I Can’t Believe It: I Agree with AOC
by Simon Black
Sovereign Man
Since the beginning of March, the US federal government has spent more than $5 trillion battling the Coronavirus and the effects of COVID-19. And governments around the world, from Europe to China, have spent trillions more.
And that amount doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface of the long-term economic toll, including then incalculable cost of shutting down the economy.
Government-imposed lockdowns have wiped out trillions of dollars, pushing businesses to failure and costing millions of jobs.
And this economic toll also affects tax revenue; with the economy notably weaker, government tax revenue is almost nonexistent this year. So they’re spending record sums of money while generating minimal revenue.
Unsurprisingly, debt levels have spiraled out of control.
Google and Facebook Had “Secret Pact” to Divide and Conquer the Ad Market
from Zero Hedge
Texas and nine other states have accused Google and Facebook of colluding to divide and conquer the advertising market – and now it’s being reported that the two tech giants are working together to fend off accusations from the government.
The two companies had a secret agreement where “Google agree[d] to give Facebook perks if the latter backs off from direct competition”, according to RT. The two companies, in true Silicon Valley-nerd fashion codenamed their secret pact after a Star Wars character, reportedly called it “Jedi Blue”.
The pact reportedly said that “the two firms were aware that their agreement could trigger antitrust investigations” and that the two companies agreed to “cooperate and assist each other in responding to any Antitrust Action,” and “promptly and fully inform the Other Party of any Governmental Communication Related to the Agreement.”
The word “antitrust” was used no fewer than 20 times in the agreement, RT noted.
Trump Outlaws Ugly Federal Buildings
Plus: House OKs bloated $1.4 trillion spending package, new Amash bills aim to protect asylum seekers and immigrant detainees, and more…
by Elizabeth Nolan Brown
Reason.com
Brutalist buildings begone! The White House just gave us a latecomer entry for the most perfect illustration of President Donald Trump’s commitment to central planning and petty shows of executive power. Yesterday, the president issued an executive order micromanaging the aesthetics of federal buildings.
All public federal buildings “should uplift and beautify public spaces, inspire the human spirit, ennoble the United States, and command respect from the general public,” as well as “respect regional architectural heritage,” says Trump’s latest executive order, issued Monday.
“In the District of Columbia, classical architecture shall be the preferred and default architecture for Federal public buildings absent exceptional factors necessitating another kind of architecture,” it continues.
The order reportedly represents a compromise for Trump, who wanted to ban modernist design in federal building plans.
Biden Staffer’s Caustic Comment Reveals Media Double Standard
by Katie Walsh Shields
Real Clear Politics
If you were waiting to see an obvious double standard in the way media outlets cover Democrats vs. Republicans, you didn’t have to wait long. Cue Jen O’Malley Dillon – Joe Biden’s campaign manager and newly named deputy White House chief of staff. In an interview with Glamour magazine, O’Malley Dillon uses a seven-letter version of a four-letter word to describe Senate Republicans.
The news isn’t that she holds these senators she theoretically is going to work with in such low regard, nor that Democrats in Washington have such enmity towards Republicans in general. (Anyone remember the look of horror on the faces of the Obama White House staff when the last transition began?)