Nancy Pelosi Is Radical and Irrational, but the Democrat Party Keeps Following Her into the Un-American Swamp

PELOSI IS NOT BEHAVING RATIONALLY. There's no other way to say it. And, she is not only poisoning the well in Congress, but she will destroy her own Democrat Party if she is allowed to continue. • • • A THREE-WEEK TRUCE. The shutdown is over, for now. And, on Friday, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer gave credit to President Donald Trump, Mitch McConnell, and federal workers as the government shutdown came to an end. In a brief Senate floor speech that followed Trump's announcement of a deal being struck to end the five-week shutdown, Schumer said Democrats are ready to get down to business to come up with a solution to border security. Trump is giving lawmakers three weeks to work out a deal to fund the Department of Homeland Security for the year, which includes money for the border. Senator Schumer said : "I want to thank President Trump and Leader McConnell. As just outlined, we have agreed to pass a clean, three-week continuing resolution to reopen the government. After over a month of increasing desperation, our dedicated public servants will get the relief and the paychecks they are entitled to, including backpay. From the bottom of my heart, I want to thank federal workers who worked so selflessly this past month. They should never have to go through this again....As soon as the President signs the legislation to open government, we in Congress will roll up our sleeves. I genuinely hope that this process can produce something that is good for the country and acceptable to both sides." • Was Chuck Schumer being sincere? We'll find out soon enough. He spoke right after Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell praised the deal that ended the government shutdown but cautioned that Democrats need to hold up their end of the bargain. McConnell said : "I was glad to see today the President's announcement that he and our Democratic colleagues have reached an agreement that will immediately reopen the government while providing the room to negotiate a funding bill for the Department of Homeland Security. Going forward, I hope our Democratic friends will stay true to the commitment they've stated constantly over the past weeks, that once government was reopened, they'd be perfectly willing to negotiate in good faith on a full-year government funding [bill] that would include a significant investment and urgently needed border security measures, including physical barriers." McConnell pointed out that the deal will only reopen the government for three weeks, so that a bipartisan group of Senators and Representatives can hash out a deal for border security that would include money for a border fence. • For President Trump and for Mitch McConnell that means funding "physical" border security, an well as hi tech monitors and more money for Border Patrol and judges. McConnell said : "The days ahead will tell us whether our Democratic colleagues are actually serious about securing our nation, whether they actually mean what they say." • BUT, if Schumer's remarks on the Senate floor Friday are any indication, he is in no way ready to enter real negotiations with President Trump. Here is what Schumer said on Friday : “This agreement endorses that position. It reopens the government without preconditions, and it gives Democrats and Republicans an opportunity to discuss border security without holding hundreds of thousands of American workers hostage. Hopefully, it means a lesson has been learned -- shutting down the government over a policy difference is self-defeating....As just outlined, we have agreed to pass a clean 3-week continuing resolution to reopen the government. Also, we will pass legislation in the Senate that will be related to the Department of Homeland Security so the House and Senate can participate in a conference committee on that legislation. In the conference, Democrats and Republicans will have the opportunity to negotiate the details of the Homeland Security bill, which will include issues of border security, humanitarian aid, drug inspection technology, and many others. I genuinely hope this process will produce something that is good for the country and acceptable to both sides. We don't agree on some of the specifics of border security -- the Democrats are against the wall -- but we agree on many things, such as the need for new technology and the need to strengthen security at our ports of entry, and that bodes well for our coming to an eventual agreement. I believe there is good faith on both sides to reach an agreement, and we will work diligently to achieve one.” • Same old same old !!! Democrats do not understand the words "good faith." • • • PELOSI -- BELLIGERENT AND SPITEFUL. The three-week deal was struck in the Senate, and we have to believe it was not because of help from, but despite Speaker Pelosi's belligerence. On Thursday afternoon, President Trump had told reporters at the White House that he had a number of “alternatives” for reopening the government with funding for his border wall. Among them, he said, is demanding that Democrats agree to “some sort of pro-rated down payment on the wall.” He did not put a figure on the request. Then, the President tweeted in real time as Speaker Pelosi was addressing the partial government shutdown during her weekly news conference : “We will not Cave! Nancy just said she ‘just doesn’t understand why?’ Very simply, without a Wall it all doesn’t work. Our Country has a chance to greatly reduce Crime, Human Trafficking, Gangs and Drugs. Should have been done for decades. We will not Cave!” But, Pelosi rejected President Trump’s Thursday proposal for a “down payment” on a border wall as a condition to reopen the government. Walking off the House floor, Pelosi said the proposal is "not a reasonable" one. • • • A NATIONAL EMERGENCY TO FUND THE WALL? On Friday, Senator Lindsey Graham told Fox News : "If an agreement is not reached on border security by February 15, then President Trump should 'go the emergency route' and secure the southern border....My belief is this needs to come to an end. Every commander-in-chief has an obligation to defend the country. How can you look at that border and believe it's not porous. A nine-month pregnant woman climbed over the wall. A couple of days ago, a hundred people came over the wall using a ladder." Graham called on Democrats to vote for a secure border, as legislation will bring further protection for DACA recipients, pointing out that in 2013, Democrats voted for $42 billion to secure the border, including 700 miles of fencing : "The President is willing to give a better life to the DACA recipients who will lose their legal status....As for shutting the government down, that makes no sense to me. What I want to do is shut down the crime coming across the border....this is the best chance I have seen since 2006 to get a deal that's a win-win for all of us. Take advantage of it....you secure your border and give a better life to the DACA/TPS population. If the Democrats do not work with us, the biggest losers, in my view, are going to be the TPS/DACA recipients. Because this President will secure our border through executive action.” • CNN is reporting, based on internal documents it says it has reviewed, that the White House is preparing a draft proclamation for President Donald Trump to declare a national emergency along the southern border and has identified more than $7 billion in potential funds for his signature border wall should he go that route. CNN quotes a fragment of the proclamation : "The massive amount of aliens who unlawfully enter the United States each day is a direct threat to the safety and security of our nation and constitutes a national emergency....Now, therefore, I, Donald J. Trump, by the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C 1601, et seq.), hereby declare that a national emergency exists at the southern border of the United States.” • The draft was updated as recently as last week, a US government official told CNN -- but CNN usually gets is all wrong and offers FAKE news, so we need to be careful about how far the proclamation preparation has progressed. • CNN also reported that the Trump administration could pull $681 million from treasury forfeiture funds, $3.6 billion in military construction, $3 billion in Pentagon civil works funds, and $200 million in Department of Homeland Security funds, according to the unnamed official. The radical Democrat obstructionists in Congress have already vowed to oppose any national emergency proclamation with a lawsuit. • Gateway Pundit notes Republicans, such as Senators Graham, Chuck Grassley, John Thune, and Roger Wicker, have all said they want Trump to strike a deal rather than declare a national emergency. The latest suggestion from a group of Republican Senators, including Senator James Lankford, and Jared Kushner, revolves around a deal that supposedly gives green cards -- and eventually US citizenship -- to at least 700,000 illegal aliens enrolled in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. Those amnestied illegal aliens would be allowed after five years to bring an unlimited number of foreign relatives to the country, a process known as “chain migration.” This could trigger a chain migration inflow just from the amnestied DACA population of anywhere between 2.2 to 4.2 million foreign nationals arriving in the US. • Considering that the ProgDem media is reporting all this -- CNN and the Washington Post -- we would be wise to wait for President Trump himself to declare his intentions about DACA and green cards. But, the President also spoke last week about alternative ways to fund the wall, re-emphasing its importance in stopping human trafficking, illegal drugs, and illegal immigration. Border crossings in November 2018 -- the last month for which data is available -- hit close to 52,000, marking the highest level of illegal immigration in the month of November since 2006. Projections indicate that illegal immigration for next year will reach 600,000 border crossings, the highest level of illegal immigration in more than a decade. Last year alone, about 2,000 illegal aliens convicted of murder and those suspected of murder were arrested by federal agents. And, drug overdoses in 2017 killed an unprecedented 72,287 U.S. residents, nearly three times the number of individuals killed by global terrorism. Nearly 50,000 of those deadly overdoses were caused by either heroin or fentanyl. Those figures, if we project them into the future, make the DACA / green card deal seem more reasonable. • AND, the Democrat Party refuses to accept the border facts. The massive increase of migrant families and minors crossing the border created a medical crisis for CBP officials to contend with. Officials report : USBP transported 2,224 subjects (5.3% of all southwest border arrests for the same period) to local hospitals since December 22, 2018. USBP has spent a total of 19,299 hours providing various levels of support to these hospital visits. This includes transportation to and from, and over watch for each person / family at the hospital; so there are less agents performing border security duties; officials cite an example from January 15 when Border Patrol agents arrested a group of 247 migrants. At least 50 of these migrants required immediate medical attention from a hospital. Transporting these 50 migrants to a hospital for evaluation and treatment. These migrants crossed in an extremely remote area of the New Mexico border region. Transporting them to hospitals “utilized nearly all available agents, severely limiting their ability to process the large group or respond to other border security duties.” This resulted in increased time in custody, delaying custody transfers, and slowing down Border Patrol agents’ ability to other types of illicit border crossings. Cartel connected smugglers now appear to be taking advantage of this to smuggle large quantities of drugs across unattended border areas. “Smugglers and traffickers then use these large groups as “cover” while USBP resources are utilized to arrest and detention-related duties associated with the large groups,” officials stated. The report cites examples of this behavior : On January 16, 2018, USBP apprehended a group of 253 illegal aliens and in a separate event seized approximately 265 lbs of marijuana. On January 17, 2018, USBP agents seized 705 lbs of Cocaine. On the same day, USBP agents apprehended a large group of 174. On January 18, 2018, USBP apprehended a group of 116 and in a separate event seized approximately 1,087 lbs of marijuana. • President Trump on Saturday promised supporters that the wall on the southern border will be built, but warned in a tweet that “both parties [are] very dug in : "21 days goes very quickly. Negotiations with Democrats will start immediately. Will not be easy to make a deal, both parties very dug in. The case for National Security has been greatly enhanced by what has been happening at the Border & through dialogue. We will build the Wall!" • Breitbart reported on Saturday : "Between January 25 and February 15, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) illegal border crossings indicate that there could be at least 30,000 border crossings at the US-Mexico border. This accounts for the roughly 1,300 crossings that occur every day at the border. This is equivalent to about a caravan of Central American and Mexican migrants crossing the border every day for the next 22 days. This estimate could be upwards of 44,000 illegal border crossings for the next few weeks if there are about 2,000 crossings a day, as there were in November 2018, the last month for which DHS has released total border crossings data. Federal immigration officials have said only about half of illegal aliens who cross the southern border are caught. Most recently in Arizona’s Yuma Sector, a group of more than 110 illegal aliens scaled a border fence and crossed onto the US side of the border. The group was assisted by a human smuggler. A tweet read : "On Monday #CBP#YumaSector Border Patrol agents apprehended a group of 110+ Central Americans who illegally scaled the wall with the assistance of a smuggler with a ladder #NationalSecurity#SouthwestBorderpic.twitter.com/T19JzI3xeC — CBP Arizona (@CBPArizona) January 23, 2019." Border apprehension data from last month reveal that the number of adults traveling to the southern border with children has skyrocketed by 280% compared to the same time last year. 'Fiscal Year 2018 was a record year [for family unit crossings] and this year will surpass that if the current trend continues without any legislative fixes,' the DHS release states." • Acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney confirmed on Sunday that President Trump will secure the southern border "with or without Congress," and did not explicitly rule out the possibility of another government shutdown in the coming weeks. Mulvaney indicated that the President is prepared to declare a national emergency to direct construction of a wall along the southern border if Congress is unable to reach a funding deal to his liking. Mulvaney told Fox News : "It’s still better to get it through legislation...the right way...At the end of the day, the President’s commitment is to defend the nation and he’ll do it either with or without Congress." Mulvaney also downplayed the consequences of what many saw as a capitulation by the President, saying that Trump will "be judged by what happens at the end of this process, not what happened this week....No one wants a government shutdown. But when a President vetoes a bill that’s put in front of him on a spending package, sometimes that has the effect of shutting the government down. We don’t go into this trying to shut the government down." • • • PELOSI STILL SAYS -- NO STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS. Senator Graham also told Fox News that he hopes with the shutdown coming to a temporary end, President Trump will be invited to give his State of the Union address next week : "It would be good for this country to have the President speak from the House chamber, with [Pelosi] over his shoulder, showing we have differences but we are also able to work together." • BUT, Breitbart reported on Saturday that : "House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Friday afternoon at a press conference that she would not commit to scheduling the State of the Union speech in the House Chamber for President Donald Trump until after the government is reopened. Appearing alongside Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer to discuss the deal struck with Trump to reopen the federal government after the longest shutdown in history -- a deal that does not include a wall along the US border with Mexico as Trump wants -- Pelosi was asked if the State of the Union will happen on this coming Tuesday, as it was originally going to before a dustup with Trump over the shutdown. Pelosi said she would not schedule the speech in the House chamber until discussing 'mutually agreeable date' with Trump after the government is officially reopened. Asked if the State of the Union will go on as planned, Pelosi says 'well the State of the Union is not planned now. What I said to the President is when government is opened, we will discuss a mutually agreeable date. And I'll look forward to doing that.' " • So, the government is reopening on the Friday before the originally scheduled date for the State of the Union address, but Speaker Pelosi is not agreeing to give President Trump the platform of the House chamber to deliver the speech on January 29. • • • PELOSI, THE TRUMP-HATING LIAR. Nancy Pelosi makes Harry Reid look like a paragon of truthfulness and probity. At least when Harry Reid lied, he would occasionally later admit it and say "but it worked." Nancy Pelosi seems unable even to know when she is lying. She is -- to be blunt -- a fanatic who is poisoning the United States Congress and American political discourse. • The indictment and reprehensible arrest for former Trump presidential campaign advisor Roger Stone early Friday morning by FBI agents at the behest of Special Counsel Robert Mueller -- a pre-dawn commando-like raid and arrest in Ft. Lauderdale -- reminded me of another FBI Florida shameful performance, the raid and seizure of the little Cuban boy, Elián González, who was stripped away from his mother's family in Florida by the Bill Clinton FBI under the direct order of Attorney General Janet Reno, and sent back to Cuba. • Pelosi had "fantasy" thoughts about Roger Stone's ridiculously over-violent arrest tweeting : "Roger Stone’s indictment makes clear there was a deliberate, coordinated effort by top Trump campaign officials to subvert the will of the American people during the 2016 Election. #FollowTheFacts....@realDonaldTrump’s continued efforts to undermine Special Counsel Mueller’s investigation raises the questions :....What does Putin have on @realDonaldTrump, politically, personally or financially?....Why has the Trump Administration continued to discuss pulling the US out of NATO, which would be a massive victory for Putin?....The Special Counsel investigation is working, and the House will ensure that it can continue, free from interference from the White House. Read my full statement here: https://www.speaker.gov/newsroom/12519-4/..." • Read Pelosi's statement, if you want -- it contains the usual radical ProgDem accusations WITHOUT REASON or EVIDENCE -- here is an excerpt : “The indictment of Roger Stone makes clear that there was a deliberate, coordinated attempt by top Trump campaign officials to influence the 2016 election and subvert the will of the American people. It is staggering that the President has chosen to surround himself with people who violated the integrity of our democracy and lied to the FBI and Congress about it. In the face of 37 indictments, the President’s continued actions to undermine the Special Counsel investigation raise the questions : what does Putin have on the President, politically, personally or financially? Why has the Trump Administration continued to discuss pulling the US out of NATO, which would be a massive victory for Putin? Lying to Congress and witness tampering constitute grave crimes. All who commit these illegal acts should be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law. We cannot allow any effort to intimidate witnesses or prevent them from appearing before Congress." It is all FAKE -- the President is certainly not "surrounded" by anybody who has violated the integrity of "our democracy." President Trump has instead tried to save its "integrity" by cleaning out the Swamp of radicals like Nancy Pelosi. As for the 37 indictments -- Pelosi was obviously counting the two dozen or more "show indictments" of Russians and Russian companies by Mueller, who has no hope of extradicting them from Russia for trial. AND, the final Fake charge -- it is always the last insinuation made by Pelosi or Schumer or Schiff -- that the Mueller fiasco will be protected from "interference by the White House," is just a plain political lie. There has been no interference from the White House -- and perhaps there should be some, not "interference" but "intervention" to end the witch hunt that is destroying the lives of people who have no connection to Russia or the Trump campaign or "collusion," and spitefully rendering the presidency of Donald Trump less than completely in charge of its own destiny. • • • PELOSI -- THE MAD HATTER HOUSE SPEAKER. Illusions of Grandeur -- that is what Nancy Pelosi has. She is so sure that she has bested President Trump that she's acting as if she were President herself -- as if America would ever elect her. • Breitbart reported it on Saturday under the title " 'President’ Pelosi Uses Eight Pens in Signing Ceremony for Bill to Reopen Government." Speaker Pelosi actually had the indecency to hold what Breitbart called "a presidential-style signing ceremony Friday night for the continuing resolution funding the federal government until February 15 that passed the House and Senate moments before. Surrounded by several senior House Democrats, Pelosi signed the bill using eight different pens which she then handed out to her fellow Democrats -- just like Presidents do in special bill signing ceremonies." Pelosi even invited the media to cover her ‘presidential’ bill signing ceremony. Pelosi also had a live video online. Her office played it straight in describing the event, but the self-aggrandizing symbolism was self-evident when she tweeted : "The House just passed legislation to re-open government and end the #TrumpShutdown. Watch as we prepare the legislation to be sent to President Trump. #EndTheShutdown https://twitter.com/i/broadcasts/1yNGaOmejLjxj." • The comments were fast in hitting social media -- Harry Townsend Secretary of Housing & Urban Development : "Well she is from California!! Maybe Russia similarities have her old mind confused?" /// "Pelosi has totally lost it.. she is nothing but an evil lunatic filled her lies and her hate...She is not fit to hold office..." /// "She's behaving like, and everyone, even Trump, is treating her like she is the one calling the shots. RIDICULOUS!" /// "Almost seems like Pelosi has been sniffing to much JP-6! She and her partner Schumer think they have a win, BUT Mr President I believe is giving them enough rope to hang them!!!!!! Go GET'EM MR. PRESIDENT!!!!!!!" • • • THE REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE BACKED THE PRESIDENT. Newsmax reported on Friday that the Republican National Committee voted unanimously to provide President Donald Trump its “undivided support” ahead of the 2020 election. The RNC voted to approve a resolution giving its “undivided support for President Donald J. Trump and his effective Presidency” at its regular winter meeting in New Mexico this week. The resolution was primarily sponsored by Carolyn McLarty, a committeewoman from Oklahoma, who told the Washington Examiner that “my reason for doing it is to support the President. As you know, there’s been so much belittling and that kind of thing going on, Washington elites attacking the president, and that’s the focus of mine, to give him support, give him encouragement. I didn’t need to go beyond that.” The committee also voted unanimously to re-elect Ronna Romney McDaniel as the party chair. • • • A WORD ABOUT THE ROGER STONE ARREST. It comes from American Thinker's Patricia McCarthy, who asked on Saturday : "Are we even America anymore? After news broke of the pre-dawn raid on Roger Stone's home Friday morning in Florida by 29 heavily-armed agents in 19 vehicles, lights flashing, CNN serendipitously on hand to film the raid, millions of us realized once and for all that we are no longer living in the America we knew and loved. Those same millions of us have known for over two years that the Mueller 'probe' is a huge and well orchestrated cover-up. There are now at least two books, Gregg Jarrett's and Dan Bongino's, and well researched investigative articles that prove this beyond doubt. Mueller was appointed by Rod Rosenstein not to investigate Trump collusion with Russia. The principals all knew that was not remotely true. He was appointed to conceal and obliterate the volumes of evidence of crimes committed by Hillary Clinton; her campaign; and a group of higher-ups in the FBI, DOJ, and CIA, all of whom were involved in a scheme to prevent Trump from being elected. All of them have lied under oath and before Congress. Mueller himself was involved in the Clinton scheme to sell 20% of US uranium to Russia. All of these felons are walking free; their homes are not being raided in the wee small hours of the morning, but their crimes are far more serious than anything Roger Stone or Paul Manafort might have committed." • Patricia McCarthy says : "Suddenly, it is catastrophically clear that America is no longer a constitutional republic, a nation of laws and justice. An unelected, tangential officer of the DOJ has for two years abused his position of power to destroy many lives in the cruelest of ways with impunity. No one is stopping him and his band of legal bullies....The man is every bit the scoundrel others have reported him to be for years. Read Sidney Powell's book, License to Lie. It is a primer on the abuse of power long exercised by Mueller and his pit bull, Andrew Weismann. These thugs revel in destroying people, and they keep getting away with it. Someone must stop them." • McCarthy asks : "Where is the investigation into the leaks to the media from Mueller's office? Who tipped CNN about the raid on Stone's home? What is acting DOJ head Whitaker doing? Twiddling his thumbs? How could the FBI head, Christopher Wray, have allowed this raid to happen? There are so many crimes being committed here, one on top of another. Is Whittaker a Mueller-Rosenstein plant, too? Are we to 'pay no attention to the man behind the curtain'? Just who is the man behind the curtain? Is Mueller the Wizard, or is someone else pulling the strings? Is Mueller more powerful than the President? It seems that he is. He has morphed into an American version of Lavrentiy Beria." • We can fully agree with Patricia McCarthy's hope that Mueller will one day "be tried for his crimes. May he be found guilty for the lives he has ruined, many of them long before he became special counsel for the current investigation. This man is a menace." • We can also fully agree with McCarthy when she says : "Trump is a courageous man; he needs to have the courage to put an end to this charade that is nothing but an engine of vile and corrupt hatred speeding toward his presidency with malicious intent. Mueller and his henchmen are violating every tenet of the Constitution and thousands of laws on the books since its drafting. They are out of control. That raid on Stone's home was the last straw. They don't use that much firepower for known gang members who they know are armed and dangerous....This entire enterprise, from the Clinton-DNC plot to ruin Trump to the Mueller "Russia collusion" probe is all of a piece and is the most monstrous political scandal in American history. We are definitely not over the rainbow; as a nation, we are in the throes of self-destruction." • You can read Patricia McCarthy's entire article at < https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2019/01/roger_stones_swat_team_arrest_are_we_even_america_anymore.html#ixzz5diunXG >. • • • DEAR READERS, American Thinker published anotehr article on Saturday, by Jeff Lukens, title "In Defense of Western Civilization." Lukens writes : "The rise of Western civilization has led to the greatest progress in human history. It has given the world democracy, freedom, affluence, equality before the law, the separation of church and state, and the notion of a sovereign state to protect it all. No other civilization on the globe can make that claim. Western civilization is the most prominent civilization because it is better than the others. Yet this point is lost on many of those among us. Western civilization is much more than a geographical area. It is more about the idea of inalienable rights and the intrinsic value of the individual. Beginning in about 1600 until about 1970, Western civilization was exported from Europe to the Americas and other parts of the world. The advances in science, manufacturing, and free enterprise were markedly different from those in Asia or Africa. Closing the gap on these differences in recent years is a result of non-developed countries adopting Western practices. Central to our civilization is the nation-state, which consists of people who inhabit a specified boundary, who rule their own government, and who hold a national identity. Joined with the incentives and liberties of free enterprise, this paradigm has remarkably reduced poverty around the globe to levels never before thought possible. Only the nation-state and its laws can protect citizens' liberty." Lukens states : "America was founded on an idea, and the idea is liberty. The American Founders created divided representative government that avoids the dangers of autocratic or mob rule. It is based on Judeo-Christian morality derived from respect for the individual. The Constitution provides for limited government based on natural law and respect for property rights." BUT, as Lukens adds : "Today, we are confronted with people who seek the downfall of the nation-state. They seek removal of the borders that protect it. Without borders, the nation falls into anarchy driven by people who would ruin the structure that has brought Western civilization to its current level of prosperity. Once defenders of free speech, liberals now work to suppress opposing views in education, in entertainment, on the nightly news, in social media, and in academia. They frequently do so by threats and intimidation. The right to bear arms is also under ceaseless pressure from the left who know that an unarmed, submissive public is necessary for top-down state rule. They believe that global government is the solution for what they view as a socially unjust America." • We can only agree with Jeff Lukens when he says : "The leftist self-loathing Faustian bargain with radical Islam to defeat conservatism will not end well. Together, these two groups would extinguish the essence of Western life....Leftists will do to Western civilization what it has done to the universities, race relations, the arts, religion, and the moral fabric of America. They will destroy it....Europe is floundering with low birth rates and a rising tide of socialism and sharia. It may already be lost to these trends, and we should not follow the Europeans down this hole....Progressives are pursuing a politics of disruption and division with the intent of overturning society. Their politics are modeled on the tactics of Lenin, not on the constitutional foundation of our country. Their goal is to overturn the founding concept of America and Western Civilization with a global socialist state....It would bring with it socialism and an economic breakdown, with its empty shelves, its lack of services, and the unintended devastation that happens when these leftists gain control of our lives. It would have the same consequences for the West as it did in Soviet-dominated Eastern Europe....It's no exaggeration to say the left is engaged in an ideological war against traditional America. As a result, a new cold civil war has settled in, where compromise seems impossible....As sad as it may be, preserving freedom necessitates continuous confrontation against those who seek to destroy it." • America is enduring the outrageous, erratic, and irrational behavior of one of those waging ideological warfare against America -- her name is Nancy Pelosi. She is a menace to the Democrat Party, to Congress, and to America. She surrounds herself with those who lack any notion of restraint or compromise. • We who want to preserve and protect America and its constitution must be tough -- we must stand up to this dangerous Deep State insurrection that is led by Progressive radical Democrats like Nancy Pelosi. Our way of life as Americans depends on it. As Jeff Lukens says, "We must ignore their venom and reassert who we are as a civilization. And be proud of it." • And, that means getting rid of Robert Mueller and his thugs, getting rid of the senior officials in the Department of Justice who refuse to rein in Mueller, getting rid of the upper echelons of the Deep State FBI. And, YES, it means standing with President Trump and encouraging him to clean house in the Washington Swamp while he still can -- before the 2020 election campaign sweeps all else aside for a year or more. The Swamp clean-up should start with ousting Nancy Pelosi.

President Trump Honored the Constitution, After Speaker Pelosi Trashed It

PRESIDENT TRUMP'S SHINING ARMOR IS A LITTLE DENTED BUT IT'S STILL USABLE. The news of the President's rolling over to Speaker Nancy Pelosi's demand that he postpone the State of the Union address until the shutdown is over hit me in the solar plexis. It seemed so weak -- uncharacteristic -- and lazy, if you will forgive me. I had the feeling that our MAGA quest was over, that America was lost to the savages, and that President Trump could never again be able to command the loyalty he has had from us who are his devoted supporters. But, after spending the day talking to friends and advisors and reading absolutely everything published about the last 24 hours, I now need to leave my emotional shock, which still hurts, aside and get back to facts. • • • BASED ON ALL WE KNOW ABOUT DONALD TRUMP, WE HAVE TO BELIEVE HE HAS A PLAN. The President was very low-key in his announcement. He tweeted that he would defer to Speaker Pelosi’s cancellation of her House chamber invitation and schedule the SOTU address when the shutdown is over. “There is no venue that can compete with the history, tradition and importance of the House Chamber,” he tweeted, promising “a great State of the Union address in the near future.” No mention of using the Senate chamber. No mention of going to the southern border. No mention of another place, as he and his staff had suggested in prior days. That in itself is a hint that President Trump has a plan -- and it is undoubtedly to make Speaker Pelosi sit behind him in the House chamber while he castigates her and the Democrat Party for refusing to protect America's borders and refusing to agree to barriers that they had long ago funded. • • • DUTY, HONOR, AND THE CONSTITUTION. But, I think there was another message that has been lost in the gloom and disappointment that pervaded everything on Thursday. President Trump said : "There is no venue that can compete with the history, tradition and importance of the House Chamber.” That was the President honoring America. He is honoring her traditions. He is honoring the great history of the House of Representatives and its historic chamber. And, Donald Trump is honoring the Constitution. • "Article I, Section 5.2 : Each House may determine the Rules of its Proceedings..." The President honored that constitutional rule -- and it permitted Speaker Pelosi to deny the President of the United States the forum of the House chamber to deliver his traditional State of the Union address. President Trump didn't pound on the chamber doors or cry 'foul.' He respected and deferred to the constitutionally-required Rules of the House. • "Article II, Section 3 : He [the President] shall from time to time give to the Congress Information of the State of the Union, and recommend to their Consideration such Measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient;..." The President shall give his information about the state of the union "to the Congress." Not to a group of Americans at the border, or in a hall, or at a stadium, but "to the Congress." And not just to the Senate alone, since it was certain that the House Democrats would have refused to attend a Senate SOTU address. Thus, in deciding to wait until a proper congressional forum in the larger House chamber could be agreed under the Rules of the House as applied by the Speaker, President Trump was honoring the Constitution. • "Article II, Section 1.8 : Before he enter on the Execution of his Office, he shall take the following Oath or Affirmation:—'I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.' ” In deferring to the requirements of the Constitution, to the constitutionally-required Rules of the House, and to the constitutional order to the President to deliver his information about the state of the union "to the Congress," President Trump was honoring his constitutional Oath of Office. • • • DEAR READERS, that President Trump had to delay his State of the Union address because of Speaker Pelosi's belligerent and petty refusal to allow him the forum of the House chamber speaks of her indifference to the Constitution and its hallowed instructions for the Republic. Pelosi made that clear when she said on Thursday that "the state of the union address is so unimportant to the American people..." • Balance Speaker Pelosi's dismissal of the constitutional requirement for a state of the union message with President Trump's courage in honoring the Constitution in the face of a Speaker who was willing to bend the Constitution to the breaking point for the sole purpose of belittling the duly elected President of the Republic. • Of course, his tormentors -- the Progressive and radicalized Democrat Party and its de facto propaganda arm, the media -- attacked President Trump, mocking his capitulation to Nancy Pelosi as if it had been a high school debate. The #NeverTrumpers RINOs had their day in the sun as well, ridiculing the self-styled tough, deal-making President for bowing to the superior skills of Speaker Pelosi. • But, as the sun set on Thursday, the President was still standing. His stunned base was willing to wait for his next move. After all, there is, as we who support President Trump know, nobody to take his place. We may hope that by 2024, his successor will be obvious. That is not the case in 2019. If our President fails, if we desert him, we will be crushed by the Philistines. The Republic will be sold to the Pharisees. And America will cease to exist as a constitutional Republic that stands for and protects the inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. • Procedure and rules are cold, lifeless things. No patriot would ever throw himself or herself into death's jaws for the innumerable sections of the Constitution that refer to things like "the Rules of its Proceedings." We patriots want to face death fighting for "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." The lawyers can handle the procedural stuff. But, without the "procedural stuff," we would be fighting a chaotic battle in which even the winners would quickly lose to mayhem. • On January 24, 1965, Winston Churchill died at the age of 90. In a note he wrote to President Roosevelt in late 1940, he reminded FDR that Hitler, if he defeated Britain, would very likely rule the world. FDR answered : "..."I think this verse applies to your people as it does to us : 'Sail on, O Ship of State! Sail on, O Union strong and great. Humanity with all its fears With all the hope of future years Is hanging breathless on thy fate.' As ever yours, Franklin D. Roosevelt." Winston Churchill's reply to the Longfellow verse has echoed through the years : "Put your confidence in us. Give us your faith and your blessing, and under Providence, all will be well. We shall not fail or falter. We shall not weaken or tire. Neither the sudden shock of battle, nor the long-drawn trials of vigilance and exertion will wear us down. Give us the tools, and we will finish the job." • Carl M. Cannon, Washington Bureau chief of RealClearPolitics, wrote about that exchange on Thursday, adding : "One of those tools didn't need to be borrowed from any other nation : It was the prime minister's own voice, one harnessed to reflect the determination of free people in the British Isles and everywhere else in the world. In 1963, President Kennedy, borrowing phrasing from famed American war correspondent Edward R. Murrow while conferring honorary US citizenship on Sir Winston, put it this way : 'In the dark days and darker nights when England stood alone -- and most men, save Englishmen, despaired of England's life -- he mobilized the English language and sent it into battle." • Today, in America, we are mobilizing the Constitution and sending it into battle. "Neither the sudden shock of battle, nor the long-drawn trials of vigilance and exertion will wear us down....we will finish the job."

A BLACK DAY for America and the Republic

THE PRESIDENT HAS BOWED TO SPEAKER PELOSI'S petty and partisan demand about the State of the Union Address. • • I can find no explanation that makes this a reasonable decision by President Trump. • • I cannot believe that the President has agreed. Surely he will give a speech somewhere. If he does not, this will be a disgusting win for Nancy Pelosi, a radical hatemonger at the head of a radically socialist-marxist Democrat Party that hates America. • • I cannot write a blog today. I am too angry and too sad to find adequate words. Sorry, Dear Readers, I will be back tomorrow. • • This is a BLACK DAY for America and the Republic.

We Need a Wall to Secure the Southern Border, But We Do not Need a Wall Around the House of Representatives

THE SHUTDOWN AND THE SOTU ARE HOSTAGES TO THE PROGRESSIVE DRIVE TO DESTROY AMERICA'S CONSTITUTIONAL REPUBLIC. Of course, that's not news. Everything in America has become a hostage to the radical ProgDem agenda to transform America into a socialist 'paradise.' • • • McCONNELL ROLLS THE DICE. TheHill reported Tuesday afternoon that : "Senate leadership on Tuesday struck an agreement to vote on dueling proposals to reopen the federal government. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) set up two votes for Thursday afternoon, both of which will require 60 votes to advance. The first vote will be on President Trump's proposal to reopen the government, provide $5.7 billion in funding for the border wall and extend legal protections to some immigrants for three years. If that fails, the Senate would then vote on a three-week continuing resolution (CR). There is no guarantee that either bill can get the votes to pass and break the months-long stalemate that has closed roughly a quarter of the government. But the deal between McConnell and Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) is the first glimmer of progress after weeks of entrenched back-and-forth." • Senator Schumer thanked Senate Majority Leader McConnell after he set up the votes and pointed to the Democrat proposal as a way out of the funding fight : "We have a Second Amendment that could break us out of the morass we are in....For the first time, we will get a vote on whether to open the government without any decision one way or the other on border security." The Senate passed a CR by a voice vote in late December that would have funded a quarter of the government through February 8, but that bill was rejected by President Trump because it did not include extra wall funding. • MarketWatch reported on Wednesday morning that Senator McConnell is trying "to flip the script in shutdown standoff: By scheduling two votes on Thursday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and his fellow Republicans are trying to change the narrative in the ongoing partial government shutdown." MarketWatch says : "The votes look set to allow GOP lawmakers to argue that they are acting to end the shutdown after weeks in which only House Democrats have voted on such measures. The record-busting closure has now lasted 33 days. McConnell set a key vote for Thursday afternoon in the Senate related to President Donald Trump’s offer on Saturday for ending the shutdown, which has been triggered by Trump’s demand of $5.7 billion for his proposed wall at the US-Mexico border. That action then is on track to be followed by a vote on a House bill, supported by Democrats, to open shuttered agencies temporarily without providing wall money." But, as Market Watch points out : "As Republicans hold a slim 53-47 majority, neither bill is expected to achieve the usual 60-vote threshold to advance. The Thursday votes, at least, will give everyone clues as to what Senators are willing to buck their parties, said a McClatchy report." • MarketWatch also gave details of a new bill introduced by Virginia Democrat Senator Mark Warner that is aimed at avoiding shutdowns. Warner's bill is called the Stop STUPIDITY (Shutdowns Transferring Unnecessary Pain and Inflicting Damage In The Coming Years) Act. The Warner bill is similar to a bill introduced in early January by a group of Republican Senators that would create automatic continuing resolutions and automatic spending decreases until a deal is reached, BUT Warner said he aims for “automatically renewing government funding at the same levels as the previous fiscal year, with adjustments for inflation.” • • • WILL MODERATE DEMOCRATS BREAK WITH THE PELOSI-SCHUMER LEADERSHIP? TheHill reported on Tuesday that : "Senate Democrats are showing no signs of division so far....Still, the votes on Thursday could allow Republicans to argue that they are putting up proposals to end the shutdown after weeks in which the only actions to do so have been taken by Democrats in the House. After watching House Democrats pass those bills for more than four weeks, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is eager to flip the script and have Democrats vote “no” on a bill to reopen the government -- a day before federal workers impacted by the funding lapse will miss their second paycheck." • The White House and McConnell hare courting moderate Democrats by adding priorities the Democrat Party backs -- an extension of the Violence Against Women Act and more than $12 billion in disaster relief funding. • TheHill says : "Multiple polls have shown that a majority of respondents are blaming Trump and congressional Republicans for the partial shutdown, which is the longest funding lapse in modern history. In the latest The Hill-HarrisX survey, 46% of registered voters who responded and identify themselves as political independents said that Trump and the congressional GOP are primarily responsible for the government closure, a 7-point jump from a December 30-31 survey." But, it is hard to find Republicans who are breaking with the President, who shows no signs of shifting his strategy in response to polling or grumbling by moderate lawmakers. TheHill says : "The President views the battle with Democrats over the wall as too important to lose and is convinced the 33-day shutdown has helped make his case to the public why a wall is needed to end what he sees as a crisis of illegal immigration and drug smuggling at the US-Mexico border, according to a source who requested anonymity to discuss the White House’s internal thinking." TheHill adds that President Trump is expected to meet this week with a group of conservative leaders to get input on immigration proposals and possibly push toward a broader immigration agreement if the shutdown ends. The source added that Trump does not care about the polls and is feeling no pressure to cave on his demands. • DACA decisions loom large in any shutdown compromise -- IF the Democrats finally agree to come to the table and talk. President Trump is not eliminating the possibility of supporting permanent extensions for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program and Temporary Protected Status (TPS) as part of an immigration deal with Democrats. He tried to end the Obama-era DACA program for young immigrants but was blocked by federal judges from doing so. The Senate immigration deal -- based on the President's TV offer jast Saturday -- contains a temporary extension of the program for existing beneficiaries. TPS benefits migrants from disaster-stricken or conflict-ridden countries but Trump has sought to wind down the program for several nations. The source told TheHill that such a concession would have to be in exchange for the right package of border security measures and changes to immigration law and cautioned that President Trump is unlikely to back anything that does not have a chance to win 60 votes in the Senate, which is controlled by Republicans. • The President praised McConnell on Tuesday and pledged that he will not “cave” to the demand from Democrats to reopen the government and then negotiate. He tweeted : “Never seen [McConnell] and Republicans so united on an issue as they are on the Humanitarian Crisis & Security on our Southern Border!” And, TheHill relates that its source says if the President's offer fails to pass the Senate hurdle on Thursday, the White House is not planning to make a second offer to Democrats, indicating the WH believes it is incumbent upon Democrats to make the next move. • Senate Minority Leader Schumer said on Tuesday that the White House’s proposal is “going nowhere fast,” adding “Everyone knows the President said he would be proud to shut down the government. Everyone knows that he and Leader McConnell are the only obstacles to opening it back up. Across the board, the polling shows it.” • BUT, there are more moderate Democrat voices now being heard. West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin said over the weekend that he was “hopeful” Trump’s plan would “allow us to immediately reopen” the government. A spokesman for the centrist Democrat said Tuesday that he is undecided about how he will vote on the President’s plan. Alabama Democrat Senator Doug Jones also faces intense pressure to back the President as he runs for reelection in a state Trump won by nearly 30 points. Jones said at a town hall in Alabama over the weekend that Trump’s plan was a “hopeful sign” and that he thought he saw “movement” in the funding fight. TheHill also reported that some Democrat House freshmen in a letter to Pelosi and party leaders pressed them to promise a vote on border security measures -- including Trump’s wall -- as a condition of reopening the government. The letter, spearheaded by Representative Elaine Luria of Virginia was first reported by Politico. And on Tuesday, Representative Collin Peterson, a Minnesota Blue Dog, told a local radio station that Democrats should “give Trump the money” he wants for the border, saying the project is ultimately inevitable. “Why are we fighting over this?” he told KFGO. “We’re going to build that wall anyway, at some time.” • • • PELOSI IS KEEPING THE GOVERNMENT SHUT DOWN BUT MODERATE DEMS ARE CHALLENGING HER. Tension between Speaker Pelosi and President Trump escalated on Tuesday when the White House signaled it wants to move forward with a January 29 State of the Union speech even though he doesn’t have approval from Congress -- that is, from Speaker Pelosi to use the House chamber. BuzzFeed wrote about Pelosi on Wednesday, saying that : "Anyone who disliked her before will dislike her more after this shutdown fiasco is over. Centrist Dems who have to worry about those voters are already looking for ways to create a little distance....The group, led by Representative Elaine Luria of Virginia, is asking the California Democrat to offer Trump a vote on his border wall sometime in February if he signs a bill reopening the federal government, according to a draft copy of the letter obtained by POLITICO. In the letter, the centrist Democrats ask Pelosi to allow the appropriate panels to consider Trump’s wall request after the government is open and ask Pelosi to “guarantee” a vote for the funding package on the House floor by the end of February. The lawmakers also say the measure should be open to amendment to allow lawmakers to protect Dreamers and those currently in Temporary Protected Status -- ensuring that Democrats would be able to put their stamp on any immigration and border security measure. • But, that suggestion is not going to appeal to President Trump, who has been "burned" so often by Pleosi and the Democrat Party that he has no reason to put any faith in their "word." • BussFeed says "The point of this offer...is simply to start the wheels turning for some sort of Democratic counteroffer to Trump’s new “BRIDGE Act for wall” proposal. Democrats will vote down a clean bill that would provide money for the wall, of course, but maybe they could cobble something together via the amendment process that would mirror Trump’s offer while upping the ante...a full DREAM amnesty in return for wall funding. To believe that would work, though, you need to believe that (a) Trump would consider “DREAM for wall” knowing how the Coulterites would react and (b) Pelosi and Schumer are merely driving a hard bargain right now in refusing to put up money for the wall. They aren’t. They’re not trying to extract concessions from Trump. They’re not holding out for him to put DREAM on the table or whatever. The entire point of this standoff is to deny him the thing he most wants. An amendment process aimed at forging a Democratic counteroffer to “BRIDGE for wall” completely misses the point. But the centrist Dems floating it know that. This letter they’re preparing isn’t aimed at Pelosi. It’s aimed at their constituents, to show them that they really are trying everything to end the shutdown." • AND, McConnell and White House tweets set up the Thursday confrontation : "Manu Raju @mkraju McConnell is NOT supporting the House bill that the Senate will vote on Thursday to reopen the government until early February, and the WH has indicated Trump will NOT sign it. Several GOP aides say it won’t get 60. Dems have votes to block Trump plan also. Shutdown continues." 22:21 - 22 Jan 2019. • • • SOME WISER HEADS STEP UP. One is Conrad Black, who wrote a "Special to the Sun" article for the New York Sun on Wednesday. Conrad Black says : "The logjam is finally starting to loosen in Washington. Readers may recall that last week I took it upon myself to urge the President to launch a four-pronged attack on the border-security/partial-government-shutdown impasse. I presumed to recommend that he offer the endlessly bandied-about 'comprehensive immigration reform,' which has always meant doing nothing, but make it real this time, including DACA, deportation of serious offenders, and a path to naturalization for established residents with unblemished conduct. I urged that the President declare a national emergency, start building border security, and declare in advance that judgments resulting from Democrats’ forum-shopping among flaky leftist district judges would be ignored until the issue got to the Supremes (presided over by a Chief Justice who claims that all judges lose their political prejudices on arrival on the sacred bench). Plus, I suggested that he also present a measure offering 60% relief to unpaid federal workers, and that he send three brigades of Army troops to the border to back up ICE officials and ensure that the present border is finally leakproof, though with rules of engagement to avoid live fire against illegal migrants." • Black says that President Trump has taken "an important step toward the first of these has been enough to shake up the ghastly Democratic morality play, with its promise that if the President just brings everyone back to work in the federal government, they will sit down with him in a spirit of compromise but will not give more than one dollar for any sort of wall or barrier. This won’t fly. The Democrats seem to have gained about three points in the polls so far, but that is a modest return from the President’s televised utterance that he would be 'proud to own' the shutdown. It isn’t enough to spook the President’s followers in Congress. Now he can apply the pressure. Obviously, the Democratic proposal that if he surrenders and humbly reopens the unpaid sections of government, they will graciously meet with him and waste everyone’s time again, as has happened with administrations and congresses of both parties for 30 years, is nonsense." • Conrad Black sees a path forward for President Trump : "...fairly soon, some sort of special relief to alleviate extreme financial shortages for unpaid federal employees should be provided. The Democrats could not vote against it, and once it was in place, the absurdity of the state of the government would fall entirely on them, shorn of their ability continue their tear-jerking sniveling about the Bob Cratchit desperation of the government workers. Discussions with the serious Democrats will start soon, and the President’s task is to add the ingredients of amelioration of the lot of the unpaid federal employees and increased border security by executive order until the Democratic morality play ends. It will end, either because the audience has effectively mounted the stage in hot pursuit of the actors in this inane farce, or because the discussions will enable the Democrats to take what is on offer and claim victory because they always wanted border security." • Black cites the "supreme insolence of the Democrats -- not just the leadership, but their whole congressional delegation -- that they thought Speaker Pelosi, House Intelligence Committee chairman Adam Schiff, and the rest could disinvite the President from the State of the Union address in the Capitol and then embark on a week’s official tourism and nuisance-affliction on the American forces in Afghanistan and Iraq. This was the same contagion of impertinence that caused all 238 Democratic members of the House of Representatives to ignore a presidential invitation to lunch at the White House. The idea that the House speaker imagined that this was the time for her to go on a congressional junket to the Middle East must fill a great many reasonably nonpartisan Americans with the disturbing notion that the unofficial leader of the Democratic party, and second in line after the vice president to be president, is completely foolish and totally unqualified for high national office." • President Trump, says Conrad Black, "...is the President, and a very successful one. Most of his Democratic opponents are harpies, hacks, and borderline subversives. He must win this battle to reestablish a border for the United States, as he has moved to reduce American dependence on foreign oil, eliminate the exploitation of the United States by foreign exporters, reassert nuclear nonproliferation, recalibrate the alliance system, and withdraw from self-punitive climate agreements and overexposed foreign commitments. The American people, not typecasting studios, choose the President of the United States. This President must win this battle with congressional Democrats over the border security of the United States. The implications of a Pelosi-Schumer victory do not bear thinking about." • • • BORDERS AND A SANE IMMIGRATION POLICY ARE VITAL. On Wednesday, American Thinker's Eileen Toplansky wrote a long and instructive article about immigration policy axioms of President Theodore Roosevelt. It is well worth reading and you can access it at < https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2019/01/teddy_roosevelt_schools_nancy_pelosi_on_being_american.html#ixzz5dRsMxYBt >. • After setting out Teddy Roosevelt's ideas on immigration and patriotism, Toplansky writes : "With European countries bowing to the dictates of Islam and uncontrolled third-world migration, it is instructive that Roosevelt instinctively understood that 'it is precisely along the lines where we have worked most independently that we have accomplished the greatest results; and it is in those professions where there has been no servility to, but merely a wise profiting by foreign experience, that we have produced our greatest men.' Likewise, 'where our people have striven hardest to mold themselves in conventional European forms...they have succeeded least...' So when Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez pushes for a socialist America, she shows absolutely no understanding of the true American Dream that has brought so many to our shores. Finally, Roosevelt emphatically affirmed that it is critical to the health of the country to Americanize newcomers. 'We must Americanize them in every way, in speech, in political ideas and principles, and in their way of looking at the relations between Church and State.' We have no room for any people who do not act and vote simply as Americans, and as nothing else. Moreover, we have as little use for people who carry religious prejudices into our politics as for those who carry prejudices of caste or nationality. We stand unalterably in favor of the public-school system in its entirety. We believe that English, and no other language, is that in which all the school exercises should be conducted." • Yet, says Toplansky, Theodore Roosevelt he was clear that America is "opposed to any discrimination against or for a man because of his creed. We demand that all citizens, Protestant and Catholic, Jew and Gentile, shall have fair treatment in every way; that all alike shall have their rights guaranteed them." Toplansky then addresses the current Democrats : "It would behoove Nancy Pelosi and her ilk to comprehend that 'the mighty tide of immigration to our shores has brought in its train much of good and much of evil; and whether the good or the evil shall predominate depends mainly on whether these newcomers do or do not throw themselves heartily into our national life, cease to be Europeans, and become Americans like the rest of us.' So instead of insulting Americans with baseless racist charges about 'making America white again,' perhaps Nancy Pelosi should go back to school and learn about the foundation of American greatness." • • • JUDGES WILL MAKE A DIFFERENCE, BUT NOT RIGHT NOW. What will happen Thursday as the Senate votes is impossible to predict. Wise heads say neither package will pass. Some see moderate Democrats who fear for their seats voting with the President. Some Democrats actually see the need for a secure border wall, but seem to be afraid to break with their leadership and its death grip on their future re-elections. • Fox News told us on Tuesday evening that the White House announced 51 judicial picks, including two for the liberal 9th Circuit. These conservative -- constitution-based -- judges will finally make a difference. But, that will be long after this 2019 debate on secure borders and border walls vs. open borders and a welcome mat for illegals who become residents of the Democrat Plantation, illegal voting cards and all. And, these nominees will ahve to run the gauntlet of the ProgDem anti-Christian anti-Catholic Democrat Judiciary Committee members like Dianne Feinstein, Mazie Hirono and Kamala Harris. In an Op-Ed this week in the Washington Post entitled "Anti-Catholic bigotry is alive in the US Senate," columnist Michael Gerson wrote that questions like the ones from Harris and Hirono were inappropriate and "scare the hell out of vast sections of the country." The White House and Senate GOP leaders have made appointing conservative judges and justices a key priority. Under the Trump administration, 85 federal judges have been installed, including Associate Supreme Court Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh, and 30 appellate judges. Senate Democrats previously eliminated the filibuster for federal judicial nominees below the Supreme Court level during the Obama administration, meaning that each of the 51 nominees needs only a majority vote in the Senate to win confirmation. Once they claimed their current Senate majority, Republicans, in response, eliminated the filibuster for Supreme Court nominees as well. • And, yes, Chief Justice Roberts -- there are Trump judges and Obama judges. They are everywhere -- the most flagrant example, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, sits on your Supreme Court, or mails it in, as she is now too ill to come to Washington BUT will not resign while Donald Trump is President. Marc Thiessen wrote in the Washington Post last November that Americans know this, even if you do not : "The American people know that Roberts is wrong. In the 2016 election, exit polls showed that 70% of voters said Supreme Court appointments were either the most important or an important factor in deciding their vote. And polls show that Republicans expanded their Senate majority in 2018 in large part because conservative voters were angered over the left's brutal campaign of character assassination against Kavanaugh." • President Trump is right, says Theissen : "that the US Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit is a disgrace. This is the court that ruled that the phrase "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance was unconstitutional, that the Second Amendment doesn't recognize an individual right to bear concealed arms and that bans on assisted suicide are unconstitutional. This is why it is so important that Trump has nominated, and the Senate has confirmed, a record number of district and circuit court judges -- and why liberals are aghast at the pace of Trump's judicial confirmations. As former Hillary Clinton advisor Ronald Klain complained, 'Trump's judicial nominees will be deciding the scope of our civil liberties and the shape of civil rights laws in the year 2050 -- and beyond.' Everyone, left and right, knows that Roberts is wrong." • So, while judges in America are independent, they do reflect one of two opinions about the Constitution -- either it is an open-ended document that can be added to by any group that has the Senate muscle ot vote their judge in OR it is a precise document that can not be stretched out of shape to satisfy every 'issue majority' in every generation of American 'issue majorities.' • • • DEAR READERS, Pelosi was at it again on Wednesday, telling President Trump that she will not open the House chamber for his State of the Union message next Tuesday. TheHill reports : "In a letter to Trump, Pelosi said she would not move forward with the legislative steps needed for the address to take place. 'The House of Representatives will not consider a concurrent resolution authorizing the president's State of the Union address in the House chamber until government has opened,' she wrote. By refusing to schedule a vote on the resolution, Pelosi is preventing Congress from meeting in a joint session for the purpose of hearing Trump’s address. The Speaker said she would invite the President to deliver his speech 'on a mutually agreeable date' but only 'when government has been opened.' " • President Trump, in a letter to Pelosi earlier on Wednesday, said he has been assured by national security officials there are “no security concerns regarding the State of the Union address” and “therefore, I will be honoring your invitation. It would be so very sad for our country if the State of the Union were not delivered on time, on schedule, and very importantly, on location!” White House pres secretary Sarah Sanders released the President's letter and it is available at < pic.twitter.com/B4QN9hDJnv >. The White House released Trump’s letter after a top Democrat said earlier Wednesday that it was all but certain party leaders would prevent Trump from delivering his address next week if the government remains partially closed. Representative Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), the head of the House Democratic Caucus, told reporters in the Capitol : “I can say that unless the government is reopened, it’s highly unlikely that the State of the Union is going to take place on the floor of the United States House of Representatives.” House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said Wednesday that Pelosi’s request for a delay is reasonable,” since affected law enforcement officers will not be paid. But he also stressed that Democrats are confident that prominent figures expected to attend the State of the Union would be protected. “The Capitol Police [and] Sergeant-at-Arms have assured us that we’ll be fully prepared if, in fact, there is a State of the Union address on the 29th,” Hoyer said during a press briefing in his Capitol office, shortly before Trump issued his letter to Pelosi. Hoyer also seemed to endorse the idea that, if the President wants to speak on Tuesday he should be permitted to do so -- shutdown or none : “He’s the President of the United States. So if the President of the United States wants to speak to the Congress, the question was, ‘Was I willing to hear him?’ And the answer was, ‘Sure,’ ” Hoyer said. • Pelosi's move to bar President Trump from the House chamber is risky, since she is facing calls from some rank-and-file Democrats to take steps to end the shutdown. But many others in her party have backed her willingness to take a hard line against the President and Democrat lawmakers quickly began lining up in support of Pelosi’s decision. • The President quickly promised to hold an "alternative" event and contended that the California Democrat, Speaker Pelosi, is "afraid of the truth." • Yes, when President Trump's "constitutionalist" judges are in place, it seems certain that the Republic's borders will be secure and the wall will be built and doing its job. But, for now, we have to deal with the wild-eyed and radical Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her gang of subversives.