February 25-26, 2020

Feb 25 01:21 Shelby Pierson's bombshell briefing
Feb 25 02:28 Bernie pays for his programs by killing economy
Feb 25 10:09 Are House Democrats working with the Intelligence Community? Yes

Feb 26 00:23 All the news that's fit to be ignored
Feb 26 02:12 Food fight night at Bernie's
Feb 26 10:29 Is Collin Peterson retiring?
Feb 26 16:44 Donald Trump vs. Democrat candidates, Coronavirus edition

Prior Months: Jan

Prior Years: 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012
2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019

Shelby Pierson's bombshell briefing

Shelby Pierson, the woman who allegedly briefed members of the House Intel Committee, aka the House Committee for Leaking Classified Information, shouldn't have briefed the Committee last week. That's the gospel according to Bryan Dean Wright, a self-identified Democrat. Wright also was a former CIA officer. Pierson was allegedly the briefer who told Committee members that Russia was attempting to interfere with the 2020 presidential election and that Russia wanted President Trump to win.

This weekend, Fake News CNN reported "The US intelligence community's top election security official appears to have overstated the intelligence community's formal assessment of Russian interference in the 2020 election, omitting important nuance during a briefing with lawmakers earlier this month, three national security officials told CNN. The official, Shelby Pierson, told lawmakers on the House Intelligence Committee that Russia is interfering in the 2020 election with the goal of helping President Donald Trump get reelected."

According to Laura Ingraham, Pierson "has a reputation of being injudicious with her words." Wright said that "Well, when the Intelligence Community sends a briefer to Capitol Hill, they aren't sending us their best." Later, Wright said "She was a career satellite imagery specialist. Why, then, did DNI Coats select her for this role in the depths of political analysis, the nuance necessary for that?"
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John Ratcliffe, one of the smartest members of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, nailed it when he told Maria Bartiromo "Look, I'm not trying to be hyperbolic here, but I don't know anyone in the last three years who has done more to help Vladimir Putin and Russia with their efforts to sow the seeds of discord in American elections and American election security than Adam Schiff has."

Frankly, that's being too nice to Schiff. It isn't that Schiff hasn't helped Putin a lot. It's that, in addition to that, Schiff couldn't identify exculpatory evidence that exonerates a Republican if Schiff's life depended on it. When I wrote this post , I quoted Rep. Ratcliffe as saying "the narrative often from Democrats and the media is that Republicans don't think the Russians have meddled in our election. They did. They meddled in 2016, they are going to meddle in 2020. That's not the issue. The issue is why Russia is being so successful in shaking American confidence in the integrity of our elections. And the reason is, it's because Democrats keep perpetuating and accentuating and proliferating Russian propaganda for their political gain and for their political motivation against Donald Trump."

It's time for Democrats to put the US first instead of putting themselves first. Democrats used to be patriots. Democrats aren't patriots anymore. They're really anarchists.

That reality, not the briefing, is the bombshell.

Posted Tuesday, February 25, 2020 1:21 AM

No comments.

Bernie pays for his programs by killing economy

Last week, Bernie didn't have an answer for how he'd pay for his socialist programs. According to this article , he's fixed that. First, let's list his highest priority programs as being "Medicare for All, the Green New Deal : and Housing for All."

According to Sen. Sanders' factsheet, "Sanders said he planned to raise $16.3 trillion for the Green New Deal to combat climate change. The money would come from making the fossil fuel industry pay for 'their pollution,' garnering profit from the wholesale of energy, decreasing defense spending, getting new income tax revenue and saving federal and state safety net spending from the jobs created in the plan and enforcing higher taxes on large corporations."

That's fantastic. Bernie wants to give us tons of 'free stuff' by taxing us into oblivion. What could possibly be wrong with that? Let's see. "Making the fossil fuel industry pay for 'their pollution'" means giving Vladimir Putin a geopolitical advantage by killing our economy.

Next, what "jobs created in the plan"? The jobs already getting created by President Trump's policies? Or are these jobs as imaginary as the jobs created by President Obama's stimulus bill, which I wrote about here ?
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Apparently, Bernie thinks that eliminating profits won't cut into people's willingness to work hard. Why would I work hard if I didn't get to keep the profit? A world without incentives is a world without productivity.

I can't wait to see President Trump slice-and-dice Bernie's Alice-in-Wonderland economic policies. These won't work, at least not in the real world. LFR readers, ask your neighbors, friends and co-workers if they want our nation to be less safe. Ask these people if they'd like to pay exorbitantly more for gas in their car or for heating their homes. Then ask them if they'd prefer keeping the economy they've got.

I'm betting that they'll pick the latter, not the former.

Posted Tuesday, February 25, 2020 2:28 AM

Comment 1 by Gretchen L Leisen at 25-Feb-20 08:00 AM
Bernie Sanders' politics leave me speechless, or in this space, without words. He is totally devoid of common sense. Enough said/written.

Comment 2 by Chad Q at 25-Feb-20 05:50 PM
Sadly Gretchen, there are thousands if not millions of uninformed and economically illiterate people lining up to vote for him and the destruction of America thinking they will be better off than they are now.

Are House Democrats working with the Intelligence Community? Yes

Byron York's article should bother everyone from across the political spectrum. It isn't just about Russian interference. As Byron puts it, "On Feb. 13, the House Intelligence Committee held a meeting at which intelligence officials briefed lawmakers on foreign efforts to influence U.S. elections. By several accounts, the officials told the committee that Russia is working to reelect President Trump."

Later, Byron added " The Republicans' objection was not to the idea that Russia is trying to interfere in a U.S. election. That is an accepted fact . The problem was the assessment that Russia is specifically trying to help reelect Trump. That claim, so incendiary in the 2016 election, was unsupported by the evidence, they said."

This throws the entire briefing into question:

"How should reporting take place?" one member said later. "You would say, 'We believe X is true based on A, B, C, and D.' When that doesn't happen, it's very suspect."

"If you're going to make an accusation like that, you darn well better be ready to answer questions and have evidence to support it," said another member. When pressed, the member added that officials gave "very vague and unsatisfying answers."

If the Intel Community can't tell Congress what they've learned with specificity, then that's questioning the briefing's credibility. As the one unidentified member said, the IC "darn well better be ready to answer questions and have evidence to support it" if they're making such accusations.

As they left the meeting, Republicans agreed that the news would leak soon. It almost seemed to be why Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff, the committee chairman and impeachment leader, called the meeting in the first place.

This is the committee that shouldn't be partisan. That's why Adam Schiff is the worst choice to be a member of it, much less chairman of it. That's why it isn't just important to clean out the Intel Community. That's why it's essential.
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Adam Schiff isn't the only Democrat that shouldn't be trusted. Jim Himes is another Democrat that shouldn't be trusted. Here's why:

For example, not long after the story broke, Democratic Rep. Jim Himes, an intelligence committee member, appeared on CNN. "I can't talk about what happened in a classified setting," Himes said. "But : you don't need an intelligence briefing to think about what Vladimir Putin might want. Would he want a return to sort of conventional, much more confrontational policy with respect to Russia? Or might he want a president who will criticize everybody on the planet except Vladimir Putin?"

Himes's point was clear: I can't talk about it, but of course Putin is working to reelect Trump.

Again, assumptions without proof. If you're making the assertion that the Russians are interfering in the election, that's one thing. If you're claiming that they're interfering with the purpose of helping a presidential candidate, you'd better have tons of rock solid proof to verify that. This sounds like Schiff's handiwork.

During the impeachment hearings and in the impeachment trial, Adam Schiff made wild accusations that he didn't support with verifiable facts. He'd make these allegations, then say that they're supported by hearsay testimony. That isn't proof. That's an unsubstantiated allegation. It's the equivalent of saying 'I know he's guilty because I have a vendetta against him. He's evil.' That isn't proof of anything except that the person making the statement has a vendetta against the accused.

Apparently, the question isn't whether the IC will interfere in this election. The question apparently is whether Ric Grenell can start cleaning out the nasties in the IC before the election.

Posted Tuesday, February 25, 2020 10:09 AM

Comment 1 by eric z at 26-Feb-20 10:33 AM
The Clinton administration fobbed Yeltsin off against Russia, so if Russians are interfering it's just payback. We handed them Yeltsin as a bad joke, they gave us Trump in return. That should have balanced the ledger. Finally, don't you like the term "deep state" which everyone else uses? Your "IC" is a deep state part, but it's bigger. It is outside money and inside entrenched people serving outside money, lobbyists and campaign consultants included. It is a deep state not liking what Bernie stands for. It is mainstream media playing along. Bloomberg is as deep state as they get, yet never having held a federal job of any kind. (Not likely to get one either.)

Response 1.1 by Gary Gross at 27-Feb-20 09:13 AM
The Russians didn't "give us" Trump. Democrats gave us 2 terms of Trump by running some of the worst presidential candidates in history. Seriously, Bernie is a joke wrapped in a phenomenon. A-Klo is utterly forgettable. Mayor Pete is as likable as a porcupine or a cactus. Bloomberg, if not for the billions, would be ignored.

All the news that's fit to be ignored

It used to be said that the contents of the information in the NYTimes was "all the news that's fit to print." Those days are history and then some. After reading this article , it isn't a stretch to suggest that a slogan change is appropriate. The new slogan, based on the major stories that the NYTimes hasn't paid attention to should be 'all the news that's fit to ignore."

The article says "In the hours and days after Gregory Timm reportedly plowed his vehicle into a tent of Republican Party volunteers registering voters in the Kernan Village Shopping Center parking lot in Jacksonville, Florida, national coverage of the event has been alarmingly lacking." The article starts by saying "Just imagine the national news coverage if a Trump supporter had plowed his van through a Democratic voter registration tent in Florida."

I can't imagine it because it hasn't happened. We know, though, that a vehicle plowed into a tent where GOP volunteers were registering voters. We know that thanks to this:

Local news channel WJXT reported days later on the arrest report, which showed Timm telling the sheriff's office his "disapproval of Trump" was the motivating factor for the attack. He showed the officer a self-recorded video of him driving straight at the volunteers, expressing frustration that the video cut out before "the good part ." Even then, as I write this, the best the New York Times could muster was wire coverage.

Let's be blunt about this. If you eliminated the people who are part of the Democrats' Resist Movement, you'd eliminate 98% of the people who call themselves journalists. Resist Movement journalists are like Journolist on steroids.

It isn't that there's no such thing as fake news. It's that there's much more legitimate news that's ignored than outright fake news. The story about last week's IC briefing on upcoming Russian interference in the 2020 presidential election is more sloppy journalism than outright fake news.

This video highlights a local reporter interviewing Timm:
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The vast majority of the coverage on this story is from local reporters. That's fine because it is a local story. Still, it's disappointing that it hasn't gotten the national coverage it deserves because it's also a national story.

Posted Wednesday, February 26, 2020 12:23 AM

Comment 1 by eric z at 26-Feb-20 10:20 AM
You are talking about a collective failure to cover? That's nothing new. Bernie faced it in 2016. The press did him in, along with DWS and other Clintonista operatives having a whack. For naught. At least the Podesta brothers are keeping a low profile this cycle, so all is not lost. Robbie Mook? Where's he? Up to what? A truly forgettable man. And what's her name, the candidate he worked for? The one Mad Albright was making Hell assignments for; bunched mediocre types getting tons of corporate donor money. Crazy? Of course.

Comment 2 by Chad Q at 26-Feb-20 05:52 PM
As usual, you missed the point yet again Eric. If this had been a GOP driver, this would have been front page on the NYT and lead the national evening news and then there would have been follow up stories about the driver.

Food fight night at Bernie's

What a bunch of wimps these Democrats are. I watched the Democrats' last presidential debate before the South Carolina First-in-the-South Primary. After Bernie's convincing victory in Saturday's Nevada Caucuses, everyone knew that Bernie would be Tuesday night's pinata.

As is often the case when expectations run high, this 'Shoot-out at the OK Corral' didn't live up to expectations. It didn't come close. It wasn't for lack of trying. It was because none of the people could drop a welterweight. Half the field came in needing to land a KO of Sanders to re-establish momentum. These Democrats didn't connect, at least not with a hard enough punch to stop Sen. Sanders from plowing through the competition for the Democrats' nomination.

The Democrats' debate started off strong enough. Everyone came after Bernie -- for the first 10-12 minutes. After that, it was like an out-of-shape boxer who didn't knock out his opponent by the fourth round. After that, Bernie could essentially cruise. It isn't that Bernie performed that well. It's that he survived. Before surviving the night, though, this happened:
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There were times that the Democrats' debate was simply unwatchable. Period. The shouting made it difficult. Listening to a bunch of competing angry voices brag about who could propose the dumbest policies made it impossible to watch.

Other than the shouting, what stood out the most were the attempts to out-progressive each other. This isn't a progressive nation, as Sen. Warren insisted. It's a center-right nation, especially right now. The other thing that couldn't be mistaken was that none of these wimps stand a fighting chance of standing up to President Trump. Trump's charisma and personality is overwhelming. By comparison, Mini Mike's personality is as underwhelming as his net worth is overwhelming.

Pete Buttigieg lacks in personality but in a different way. He just isn't likable. He's elitist too much of the time and he's impolite. For most of the night, he tried bullying his way into the conversations. It wasn't a good look.

The biggest losers last night were the CBS moderators. They lost control virtually immediately. They didn't regain control until after the final question. They should watch the Fox News moderators for the GOP debates in 2016. That's how to moderate a debate, maintain control while asking substantive questions.

This was the first time for these moderators so I won't be too harsh. I'll just say that there's room to grow.

Posted Wednesday, February 26, 2020 2:12 AM

Comment 1 by eric a at 26-Feb-20 10:01 AM
You watched the entire thing? Hound for punishment. Bernie will lead, there will be a brokered convention sidetracking Bernie, and Trump will have his shot at four more, despite being hated by over half the nation. Bloomberg is the one who should stand aside. He messes things up entirely, has no chance as a Rockefeller Republican running in the wrong primary. Aside from being rich, he is as dislikeable as a coronavirus infection. Infecting the body public. He should spend his money on fighting cancer or some other thing he'd be thanked for, instead of despised as just in Bernie's way. He's a Jeb, but not with the sense to quit before starting.

Is Collin Peterson retiring?

Based on his actions, it's more than fair to question Collin Peterson's loyalty to Nancy Pelosi. In this post , I wrote that Pelosi had disrespected Peterson, omitting him from the USMCA press conference. In December, Peterson said that he hadn't decided whether he'd run or retire but that he'd make up his mind "in January or February." Today is Feb. 25 so there isn't much time to make a decision. This tweet might tell us what he's going to do:


"I'm not sure I want to win." Let that sink in a bit. Think about whether Collin Peterson would want to be part of the minority party again. Think about whether Collin Peterson would want to have to deal with AOC + 3. (I think that's his worst nightmare but I might be wrong.)

Personally, I question whether Peterson could win. He isn't the perfect match for the District that he used to be. Peterson's voted against President Trump 85% of the time in a district that Trump won by 31 points . There's a strong set of candidates running on the GOP side. President Trump is pouring tons of money into Minnesota, too, with the goal of flipping the state from blue to red and to bring with him as many House seats as possible. MN-7 is certainly at the top of his 'flip list'.

Nobody would blame Peterson if he retired. The recent Minnesota Poll shows Trump trailing in the metro (Hennepin and Ramsey counties) but winning in the suburbs quite comfortably:


President Trump's approval rating in the suburbs looks quite strong. If that's the case, the GOP congressional candidates in MN-2 and MN-3 should enthusiastically support President Trump's legislative agenda. If Republicans flip MN-2, MN-3 and MN-7, they'll retake their majority in the US House. Does Collin Peterson want to return to the minority party again? That's the $64,000 question.

Posted Wednesday, February 26, 2020 10:29 AM

No comments.

Donald Trump vs. Democrat candidates, Coronavirus edition

Last night, the Democrats' presidential candidates essentially engaged in a 2-hour-long food fight. Pete Buttigieg, Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders seemed to enjoy the festivities the most. At the end, the most common reaction to the food fight across America was 'Thank God that's over.' Democrats did their best to not look competent, composed or somewhat sane.

Now that the shouting match is over, it's time to get serious about what's important to the people these buffoons want to serve. At the moment, the top issue is limiting the spread of the Coronavirus. Anyone watching last night's food fight must admit that nobody on that stage is prepared to lead this nation through a medical crisis.

Think of the Democrats' presidential candidates. The frontrunner is a Marxist who praised Cuba for starting a literacy program, then started slaughtering their own people. The previous frontrunner supposedly had a good night despite the fact that he said that half the nation's population had been killed through gun violence in the past 15 years but didn't notice what he'd said. Pete Buttigieg, who thinks highly of himself despite this fact :

Pete Buttigieg barged in on a protest led by McDonald's workers in Charleston, South Carolina Monday. While some of the protesters appeared to be supporters, others were not at all pleased to see him, especially when he took the microphone and began to speak.

The protest was in support of workers' unions and a $15.00 minimum wage. He joined in with the marchers on the front line and helped hold a banner that read "Racial Justice = Economic Justice." The crowd was mostly African-American. A group of Black Voters Matter protesters began to chant, "Pete can't be our President, where was $15 in South Bend? when he began his remarks and continued until he cut it short after about a minute or two.

Why would anyone have confidence in these buffoons to properly handle a situation like this? There was a time when the first test for a presidential candidate was passing what I've called the commander-in-chief test.

While I don't think it's time for panic, I think it's time to trust in a presidential administration that's done a pretty good job of handling hurricanes and other crises. I wouldn't trust the buffoons on last night's debate stage:
[Video no longer available]

Posted Wednesday, February 26, 2020 4:44 PM

Comment 1 by eric z at 28-Feb-20 10:09 AM
Buffoonery? Takes one to know one?

And, your mayor Bloomberg, the rich buffoon, but not while he financed GOP candidates?

Come on. Get real.

The nation really needs Bernie.

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