February 18-20, 2020
Feb 18 09:03 Greetings from the Swamp, aka Protect Democracy Feb 18 10:43 SF Giants, Aubrey Huff & Larry Baer Feb 18 20:29 Overturning Conventional Wisdom Feb 19 02:38 Why Barr frightens Deep State Feb 19 07:34 Bernie Sanders, Mijente join forces Feb 19 15:26 Agnes Gibboney for Congress Feb 20 01:59 Bloomberg's bust, Trump's triumph Feb 20 10:44 Bloomberg's evasiveness
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Greetings from the Swamp, aka Protect Democracy
Julie Kelly's article highlights the Swampy critters dedicated to the destruction of all things Trump. The first exhibit is Bill Barr. AG Barr had the audacity to insist that Roger Stone not serve more time in prison than a rapist. When Protect Democracy heard that, they cried 'injustice'. Within a day, Protect Democracy had found 1,100 "former federal prosecutors" to sign this letter calling for Bill Barr's resignation.
These 1,100 former federal prosecutors wrote "Although there are times when political leadership appropriately weighs in on individual prosecutions, it is unheard of for the Department's top leaders to overrule line prosecutors, who are following established policies, in order to give preferential treatment to a close associate of the President, as Attorney General Barr did in the Stone case."
The Deep State, aka the Swamp, is actually run by a hyperpartisan organization called Protect Democracy. Saying that Protect Democracy is dedicated to preserving the Constitution isn't tethered to the truth. The first line in Article II, Section 1 clearly states " The executive power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America . He shall hold his office during the term of four years, and, together with the Vice President, chosen for the same term, be elected, as follows:"
Within that presidential chain of command, it's absurd to think that the Attorney General wouldn't have the constitutional authority to overrule line prosecutors. The president is elected. The Attorney General is appointed by the president, then confirmed by the Senate. Line prosecutors are neither elected, appointed or confirmed; they're hired.
The Constitution is worthless without accountability. The president is accountable to those that elected him. The attorney general is accountable to the president who appointed him. Line prosecutors are only accountable to the people that hired them or that are above them in the chain of command.
About Protect Democracy
It's worth noting that Protect Democracy wasn't founded until "early 2017 ." Protect Democracy wasn't started until after the Obama administration politicized the DOJ, the FBI, the IRS, the CIA and the State Department. What a coincidence. Further, Protect Democracy didn't speak out about the Obama administration's DOJ surveilling newspaper reporters and TV correspondents. Protect Democracy didn't complain that the IRS was weaponized to prevent TEA Party organizations from fully participating in the 2012 presidential election.
The opening paragraph of Protect Democracy's letter:
We, the undersigned, are alumni of the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) who have collectively served both Republican and Democratic administrations. Each of us strongly condemns President Trump's and Attorney General Barr's interference in the fair administration of justice.
What has President Trump or Attorney General Barr done that's violated the Constitution? Further, it's impossible for President Trump and Attorney General Barr to "interfere" in DOJ's operations. They're the ones in charge, not the line prosecutors. Then there's this:
The Justice Manual, the DOJ's rulebook for its lawyers, states that "the rule of law depends on the evenhanded administration of justice"; that the Department's legal decisions "must be impartial and insulated from political influence"; and that the Department's prosecutorial powers, in particular, must be "exercised free from partisan consideration."
This paragraph is BS. The line prosecutors recommended a sentence of 9 years for a non-violent felony committed by a first-time offender. How is that evenhanded when compared with average sentences of 4.2 years for violent rapists?
But Mr. Barr's actions in doing the President's personal bidding unfortunately speak louder than his words. Those actions, and the damage they have done to the Department of Justice's reputation for integrity and the rule of law, require Mr. Barr to resign. But because we have little expectation he will do so, it falls to the Department's career officials to take appropriate action to uphold their oaths of office and defend nonpartisan, apolitical justice.
It's frightening to think that Protect Democracy would sanction DOJ line prosecutors to undercut their boss based on subjective standards. That's what's happening.
Posted Tuesday, February 18, 2020 9:03 AM
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SF Giants, Aubrey Huff & Larry Baer
The San Francisco Giants will celebrate their 2010 World Series Championship without Aubrey Huff, one of their contributors in 2010 and 2012. The official explanation for the Giants' snub of Huff, which was read on ESPN, said "Earlier this month, we reached out to Aubrey Huff to let him know that he will not be included in the upcoming 2010 World Series Championship reunion. Aubrey has made multiple comments on social media that are unacceptable and run counter to the values of our organization. While we appreciate the many contributions that Aubrey made to the 2010 championship season, we stand by our decision."
Huff didn't buy the Giants' official explanation so he talked with Giants CEO Larry Baer. Baer's explanation is substantially different than the Giants' official statement:
'When I asked why I wasn't invited [Baer] told [me] that the board didn't approve of my Twitter posts, and my political support of Donald Trump . My locker room humor on Twitter is meant to be satirical, and sarcastic. And it was that type of humor that loosened up the clubhouse in 2010 for our charge at a World Series title. They loved it then, and it hasn't changed. That's not the issue. It's politics.
The Giants' actions are a disgrace. When Huff's antics helped keep their clubhouse loose, the Giants loved Huff. The minute that Huff started supporting President Trump, the Giants snub him.
If the Giants want to play to the Woke crowd, they should fire Baer entirely. Here's why he shouldn't be welcome:
Major League Baseball announced Tuesday it has suspended San Francisco Giants CEO Larry Baer without pay through July 1 following a physical altercation caught on video between him and his wife earlier this month.
Rob Manfred, the league's commissioner, said his office conducted an investigation of the incident, which was captured on video obtained by TMZ, of the altercation between Baer and his wife, Pam, in a San Francisco plaza. Manfred said he spoke to Baer before he made his ruling.
Here's the video of the fight:
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MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred suspended Baer without pay through July 1, 2020. Notice the date of the reunion:
The 10-year reunion is scheduled for Aug. 16.
How convenient. Larry Baer beats up his wife and is welcome at the celebration but a key contributor to the team supports the president of the United States and is disinvited from the celebration. What part of that sounds equitable? Larry Baer should've gotten fired by the Giants and prosecuted by San Francisco's district attorney.
Posted Tuesday, February 18, 2020 10:43 AM
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Overturning Conventional Wisdom
The DC pundits who've been talking about how the votes for 'moderate' Democrat presidential candidates outnumber the votes for radical Democrat presidential candidates likely will be surprised by this poll . Hidden deep within the poll is this statistic:
When the Democratic field is reduced to just Sanders and Bloomberg, Sanders holds a 20-point national lead, 57 percent to 37 percent.
The conventional wisdom has been that Elizabeth Warren's voters would migrate to Bernie and that Joe Biden's voters would migrate to either Klobuchar or Buttigieg. Apparently, those voters aren't getting the memo.
Perhaps it's true that Democrat primary voters realize that there isn't that big of a difference between Sanders, Warren, Klobuchar and Buttigieg. Stylistically, there's a little difference but substantively, the difference is quite tiny. This is good news for President Trump, too:
Turning to the general election in November, 47 percent of all registered voters say they approve of Trump's job performance, up one percentage point from last month and tied for his all-time high in the NBC News/WSJ poll.
By the time the Democrats pick their nominee, President Trump's GOTV operation will likely be running at full strength. President Trump's rallies are part of that GOTV effort but it isn't all of it. President Trump's rallies serve as a registration drive, too. After each rally, the Trump campaign announces how many registrations happen, what percentage of the registration were former Democrats, what percentage were minorities and what percentage of registrations hadn't voted in the last presidential election.
President Trump's message resonates with people. Bernie's tax hikes galore won't resonate outside his base. Bloomberg's $5,000,000,000,000 tax hike will frighten people. You can't turn out people who reject your message.
Posted Tuesday, February 18, 2020 8:29 PM
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Why Barr frightens Deep State
I've never seen the type of firestorm that's happening with USAG William Barr. There's little doubt that Protect Democracy is targeting AG Barr because he isn't a go-along-to-get-along type. Unlike previous AGs, Barr is a heavyweight.
When Barr didn't show up for the House Judiciary Committee's clown show, Steve Cohen Left a bucket of KFC at the table where Barr would've sat had he testified. According to the report, "Barr balked at the opportunity to testify for a second day after spending more than five hours on Wednesday defending his summary of the report's findings."
[Video no longer available]
The reason AG Barr frightens the Deep State is because he didn't hesitate in overruling the Deep State prosecutors' excessive sentencing recommendation for Roger Stone. After that shot against the Deep State prosecutors, Barr sent a shot across President Trump's bow, too. Before departing for California, President Trump admitted that he'd made Barr's life more difficult with his tweets.
Next, Deep State Democrats tried getting AG Barr to quit by circulating this gossip :
The Justice Department pushed back Tuesday night at multiple reports claiming Attorney General William Barr told people close to him he's considering stepping down over President Trump's tweets, days after Barr admitted that Trump's tweeting made it "'impossible for me to do my job."
AG Barr knows how to fight the bureaucrats who think that they run the DOJ. They don't run the DOJ. AG Barr does. He let them know that with his sentencing recommendation in the Stone case.
With Washington, DC all aflutter, AG Barr continues doing what he's paid to do while ignoring DC's drama:
Speaking before the Senate Wednesday, Barr referred to the letter as "snitty" and suggested a Mueller staffer had written it. Democrats, including a swath of 2020 presidential contenders, have since called for Barr to resign.
Democrats don't like this guy because he doesn't play the DC game. Democrats typically can't get things done legislatively so they rely heavily on the courts. With Democrat corruption running rampant, they can't afford a strong USAG in place.
The Deep State is legitimately frightened now that John Durham is questioning the FISA warrant process. Democrats don't want the truth to come out about that. There's tons of signs out there that the Obama administration weaponized the Intel Community, then used that weaponized IC to surveil the Trump campaign. The last thing that the Deep State wants is a legitimate change agent who won't settle for the status quo.
Last fall, the buzz was that impeachment was a way to prevent the Barr DOJ from shining a light on the DOJ/FBI corruption.
Posted Wednesday, February 19, 2020 2:38 AM
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Bernie Sanders, Mijente join forces
Bernie Sanders' Democrat presidential campaign just won a major endorsement ahead of the Nevada Caucus, the South Carolina Primary and Super Tuesday's slate of events. According to the article, "Mijente, a grass-roots organization that mobilizes Latinx and Chicanx voters, decided to make its first-ever presidential endorsement in response to President Donald Trump's rhetoric and policies targeting Latinos. The endorsement adds to the growing collection of progressive groups coalescing around the Vermont senator, after earlier expectations they would be divided between him and Elizabeth Warren."
Politico reports that "Marisa Franco, director and cofounder of Mijente, said the group's members picked Sanders after a lengthy process that included sit-downs with multiple candidates. In January, its members voted on four options: endorsing Sanders, Warren, both of them, or no endorsement at all. In the end, 70 percent of its members voted to endorse Sanders . "
This isn't insignificant. It's big news right before the Nevada Caucuses, where Hispanics comprise a significant portion of the voters. If Bernie does well with Hispanics in Nevada, that gives him momentum with that bloc of voters going into Super Tuesday. The biggest prizes on Super Tuesday are California, with 416 delegates, Texas, with 228 delegates, and Florida, with 219 delegates:
Super Tuesday might be a major determining factor for the Democrat nomination, with a total of 1,345 delegates to the Democrat National Convention being up for grabs that night. Democrats require 1,991 delegates to win their nomination.
If Bernie wins Nevada, that means he will have won the popular vote in Iowa, New Hampshire and Nevada. With that type of momentum from the first 3 states, the rest of the states set up nicely for Sen. Sanders. The other thing that's helping Bernie is the fact that he's got enough cash to compete with Bloomberg. He can't match Bloomberg dollar-for-dollar but he doesn't need to. After all of the opposition research that's come out against Bloomberg in the past week, Bernie is in a strong position to capitalize on the situation.
Tonight's debate will play a larger-than-usual role in shaping the race. It wouldn't surprise me if Bernie captures a strong victory in Nevada on Saturday. It isn't the delegates that are most important; it's about maintaining the momentum. If Bernie wins and Buttigieg finishes second, that essentially eliminates the Biden, Warren and Klobuchar campaigns.
Posted Wednesday, February 19, 2020 7:34 AM
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Agnes Gibboney for Congress
I first learned about Agnes Gibboney's story in April, 2018. For LFR readers who aren't familiar with my post about Agnes , make sure you check it out. After you do that, check out Agnes' campaign website and learn about Agnes .
Having had the privilege of getting to know Agnes, I can state emphatically that Agnes is the personification of a patriot. When I spoke with her this afternoon, the first thing that impressed me about Agnes is that she isn't a politician. She's a doer. She's running for the congressional seat currently occupied by Congressman Pete Aguilar. The comparison couldn't be more stark. Agnes' opponent is a cookie-cutter politician .
On immigration, Agnes' opponent said "Both parties need to come together to pass comprehensive immigration reform that keeps families together, provides a pathway to citizenship, protects people who were brought to the United States as children from deportation, while also protecting the border and our national security." Later, he exposed himself as an open borders Democrat:
We need an immigration policy that builds bridges, not walls and keeps families together instead of tearing them apart.
By comparison, Agnes was born in "Budapest, in Soviet controlled communist Hungary." They wanted to live in the United States "but they were not allowed that choice. They eventually immigrated to Brazil, waiting thirteen years for the family's US immigration application to be accepted." Eventually, Agnes became a US citizen.
Agnes is an Angel Mom, having lost her son Ronald when he was 29. Ronald "was murdered by a previously deported illegal alien gang member." Immigration isn't just a policy issue. It's part of who she is. Agnes told me that she wants to "be part of the solution" that finally fixes the US immigration laws, including the asylum laws. While she is a proponent of President Trump's wall, she admits that a wall by itself isn't enough.
Agnes said that this presidential election will be a choice between President Trump and a socialist. Agnes plans to help President Trump keep the economy strong. By comparison, Agnes' opponent said that "I stood up to Republican efforts to give a massive tax cut to the wealthy while leaving middle-class families to foot the bill." That's an outright lie. Guy Benson's tipsheet article notes this:
Tax Policy Center: 80% of taxpayers are going to get a tax cut next year under the GOP bill.
5% will see a tax hike of more than $10
- Joseph Lawler (@josephlawler) December 18, 2017
It's time to fire career politicians like Pete Aguilar, Adam Schiff and Nancy Pelosi. These politicians couldn't tell the truth if their lives depended on it. Follow this link to contribute to Agnes' campaign. Be part of the team that fires Nancy Pelosi as Speaker. It's the right fight at the right time. Join with Agnes because she's the right person to fight this fight.
Posted Wednesday, February 19, 2020 3:26 PM
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Bloomberg's bust, Trump's triumph
To say that Wednesday night went perfectly for President Trump is epic understatement. During his Phoenix rally, President Trump gave the jam-packed arena audience an update on the Democrats' presidential debate being held in Las Vegas. When he spoke about the Democrats' presidential debate, Trump said "Now they have a new member of the crew, Mini Mike. No Boxes, we call him No Boxes. I hear he's getting pounded tonight. I hear they're pounding him. I think he spent all this money, he has maybe 15 points. Hey, fake news, how many points does he have? They won't tell you the truth."
Yes, Mini Mike got pounded Wednesday night. Elizabeth Warren had her best performance by starting strong with this shot:
[Video no longer available]
Wow! Bloomberg looked flummoxed, pissed and uncertain. His face was frozen. (He needs to work on his poker face.) He wasn't happy being the center of attention. Most importantly, gone was Bloomberg's TV ad persona. It's easy to look polished when you aren't facing live bullets. It's another thing to look polished when there's live ammunition coming at you starting in the first minute.
Meanwhile in Phoenix, President Trump had a triumphant rally. He brought the Arizona congressional delegation onto stage. Included in the delegation was Gov. Doug Ducey. Minutes later, President Trump brought up "special guest" Sen. Martha McSally. First, President Trump gave McSally his full endorsement. Then he asked her to speak:
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McSally got the crowd on their feet when she said that Mark Kelly "finally admitted" that he'd support Bernie Sanders if he was the Democrats' nominee. She also ripped into Kelly for his gun-grabbing agenda. It's difficult to picture Arizonans picking a gun-grabbing socialist over a tax-cutting capitalist who voted to acquit President Trump.
According to this article , Elizabeth Warren was Wednesday's winner, mostly at Bloomberg's expense:
Winner: Elizabeth Warren
The Massachusetts senator had performed poorly in the first two primary contests, declined in the national polls, and faded into the background in the past few debates. It looked like her campaign was on death's door.
It seems like Warren needs a miracle to save her campaign, and while strong debate performances haven't always translated into good polling in the past, Wednesday night was still one hell of a start. Warren dominated the stage, delivering striking answers in one of the best performances I've seen from a presidential candidate - not just in this cycle, but ever.
Then there's this:
Loser: Mike Bloomberg
Up until Wednesday, Bloomberg's campaign had been a grand experiment. It eschewed the typical marks of a political campaign - public events, speeches, actual interactions with voters - in favor of an unprecedented ad blitz funded by the former mayor's seemingly unlimited personal fortune. Bloomberg has spent more than $400 million of his own money on political ads. As my Vox colleague Ezra Klein noted, "if you ignore Tom Steyer, the other self-funding billionaire chasing the Democratic nomination, Bloomberg has spent more than three times as much as all the other Democratic candidates combined."
President Trump must've been smiling Wednesday night. Not only did Trump have fun at the rally but he got great news from the Democrats' debate.
Posted Thursday, February 20, 2020 1:59 AM
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Bloomberg's evasiveness
Money won't erase the memory of Mini Mike's evasive answer when Elizabeth Warren prosecuted Mini Mike about lawsuits. CNN pundit Van Jones said that Bloomberg looked like the Titanic while Sen. Warren looked like the iceberg . That sums it up pretty nicely. Watch this and decide for yourself:
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Obviously, this was a great moment for Sen. Elizabeth Warren. This was likely Sen. Warren's finest debate performance. Bloomberg's reply was entirely defensive and evasive. While Sen. Warren demanded specifics, Bloomberg spoke about statistics and awards that his organization had won.
The question that remains is whether this temporarily hurts Bloomberg or whether it sinks his ship. Will he organize a press conference and surround himself with women as character witnesses? Or will voters agree with Sen. Warren that voting for Bloomberg is voting for an out-of-touch billionaire? I suspect that we won't know the answer to that until Super Tuesday.
Considering the fact that the Democrats' establishment is frightened to death of Bernie, another thing to watch is whether the Democrats' establishment will try to resuscitate Bloomberg's campaign. Prior to last night's debate, Bloomberg had moved up in the polls by running a pretty decent campaign. The campaign got high marks for their commercials.
Then came last night. No amount of slick ads can eliminate last night's performance. Further, Bloomberg had gotten hit with one opposition research dump after another that made him look elitist and out-of-touch. His demeaning talk about farmers was particularly disgusting, especially after watching Paul Harvey's 'So God made a farmer":
[Video no longer available]
The farmer in Paul Harvey's story is strong, virtuous, compassionate, hard-working and the type of man that others look up to. Mini Mike is none of those things. He's an elitist city slicker who's hiding something.
Posted Thursday, February 20, 2020 10:44 AM
Comment 1 by eric z at 21-Feb-20 11:58 AM
Biden will do okay in South Carolina, and based on that he and his people will call him Lazarus. Bloomberg will feel the Bern, and try to buy the convention hammer to stop Bernie, but with what? Bloomberg? Joe? Who else would merit a kingbuilder nod? All that money, to torpedo one vocal socialist. The little guy must run on sheer hate. Intent on giving Trump four more years is all I can see as basis to spend all that money. What makes the guy tick? He hides that while it is essential that he show something laudatory, but he seems only intent on hurting Bernie.
