Headlines

Kamala Harris goes after Trump on immigration

Trump tells Putin: Don’t meddle in US elections

Biden stammers as Kamala eats him alive! ‘That little girl was me’

Chuck Todd spoke more words at second debate than 7 Democrats

‘Everyone hates this place’: Border bill tears apart Democrat caucus

Kamala Harris attacks Joe Biden’s record on busing, working with segregationists

Dems vow health care for all illegals

‘Hell no’ Ocasio-Cortez opposes Pelosi’s decision to pass Senate [border] bill

Bernie Sanders admits he will raise middle-class taxes

Russia’s Vladimir Putin says liberalism has ‘outlived its purpose’

Supreme blow to Trump ... ‘Contrives’ question on census ... Roberts sides with Libs ...

Report: Biden’s campaign freaking out about poor first debate

Headlines

Poll: Congressional Democrats up 14 points over GOP in generic ballot

We got out first 2019 market forecast for Wall Street: Credit Suisse see 11% surge

Chaos at Kavanaugh hearings, Dems call for adjournment ...

Dems seeking Issa seatembrace Pelosi

Panetta: Democrats should stay away from impeachment

Construction spending rises slightly in July

Chuck Todd: Time for the press to stop complaining -- and start fighting back ...

Grasslety piles on: Sessions 'could be more aggressive' running DOJ

Kavanaugh pledges to be 'neutral' umpire on Supreme Court

US SUV sales surge again in August

REPORT: Aretha's family now says eulogy was offensive ...

Poll: Majority of Republicans feel Mueller investigation should be shut down

Headlines

[Ariz. gov.] Ducey aims to please Trump with McCain fill-in

The US-Mexico trade deal may be bad news for China

SAfrica withdraws land expropriation bill for further reconsideration  ...

... [Donna] Brazile: Swamp will drain Trump!

Trump embraces Mexico, threatens Canada with new trade deal

Trump accuses Google of rigging searches in favor of 'bad coverage'

Czech PM calls for no illegals in Europe ...

Chuck Todd wants Paul Ryan to launch impeachment proceedings now

Jerry Falwell Jr. saysmpeachment Sessions has lost evangelical support

Trump orders flags lowered for McCain: 'Despite our differences,' I respect his service

China withholds samples of dangerous flu virus from USA ...

Chinese media: 'Absurd' for U.S. to link trade with NK denuclearizing

Mother and Son

Mother

Sleepy-eyed Son

Headlines

Oil industry falls out of love with Trump

After Grand Jury testimony Sam Nunberg doubts Mueller probe leads to Trump

Mother's Day cards go gender neutral ...

Canadian Climate Minister pushes 'gender impact' of climate change

[Liz] Warren at war with fellow Dems

Fact check: China produces as much steel in a month as the U.S. does in a year

[CNN] Goes to strip club for Stormy Daniels performance ...

Oakland [CA] coffee shop will not serve cops for 'safety of customers'

Sessions criticizes federal judges for slowing Trump's national agenda

California has too much green energy

[Trump] Calls NBC's Chuck Todd 'son of a bitch' ...

NRA files suit against Gov. Rick Scott's gun control

Lame Duck?

Sleepy Chuck Todd is calling Donald Trump a "lame duck" president and that he will be unable to react if a crisis erupts somewhere in the world. And Maxine Waters is daily calling for his impeachment. These rants are primarily based on Trump's tweet just about a month ago claiming that former President Obama was "wiretapping" him at Trump Tower. The media has been gleefully castigating Trump for this "outrageous" attack on our former president. As more and more evidence is leaking out to support Trump's charge, they are desperately trying to change the subject back to Russian intervention in last Fall's election.

But the tide is clearly turning. It is now becoming evident that there was NSA and possibly FBI surveillance on the Trump team for almost a year ... well before Trump even got the nomination ... and that the intercepts collected were disseminated in raw form, without the names of those intercepted masked out, to a very wide swath in the intelligence community. This later development was under the direct order of President Obama with the implicit understanding that much would be leaked to the media ... a felony carrying a punishment of up to 10 years in prison.

So who ordered the operatives in Trump team to be surveilled ... in itself a political scandal of gigantic proportions and one smacking of a police state? And then who ordered that these collected transcripts be unmasked? And finally who leaked them to the media? Well we may now have an answer to the second question ... Former National Security Adviser, Susan Rice (of the Benghazi big lie fame) ... see: Bloomberg Article. This looks like a devious three-step process to destroy Trump where each party at each step can (try to) claim clean hands. Sinisterly clever.

This revelation is but another indication that Obama's White House hoodlums had been moving well beyond what the American people would and should tolerate ... using the power of a sitting government to crush its political opponents. And it feels very much like Alexander Butterworth's opening of the can of worms in the Watergate investigation ... the revelation about the Oval Office taping system. Therefore the last serious question is, How involved in this was the then president? Clearly his executive order disseminating this intelligence does suggest his approval of this skulduggery.

So, Mr. Sleepy Todd, how lame is Trump looking now? And Ms. Maxine Waters, perhaps you might have to swing your impeachment cannon around to your former president? I know he is out of office, but his history is yet to be written. Perhaps we can impeach even a former president?

Gotcha!

Yesterday at a Labor Day gathering the subject came up about the violence sweeping the black inner city. I proffered that the reason this mayhem was on the upswing was either the lack of police "stop and frisk" enforcement (as in Chicago) ... or the elimination of this previously-allowed option (as in New York City). A liberal friend then threw me a curve ball, "The problem then is the guns?" To which I swung and whiffed ... saying, "Yes."

You know the rest ... the friend's smug "gotcha" smile ... and me, being unable then to explain that I really meant "unregistered illegal guns." Once you have been trapped in such a rhetorical cul de sac, there are only two options: the Trump response, wherein you attack the questioner as being a hypocrite and go on to explain ... or, you "sigh!" and hope some listeners realize that any artless additional comments of yours will only be ignored. I chose the latter option.

Expect a similar trap to be laid by Chuck Todd for Trump in the upcoming first presidential debate ... at which point Hellery will likely descend into paroxysms of laughing and coughing.

Roasted Chestnuts

One favored tactic of liberal commentators is to start a biased point with "Some will say" ... see: Powerline Blog Entry to see Chuck Todd use this time-worn deflection. This is whether or not "some" had ever said the attack words so attributed. I guess I'll ever wonder why the interrogatee doesn't call out the questioner for this deliberate ruse. Some other favorite chestnuts that are used to lend weight to ...  or offload any blame for weak arguments are:

" I am told ..."
" I have it from a reliable source ..."
" I understand that some of your colleagues believe ..."
"Are you aware that ..."
"An anonymous source told me ..." (Reid on Romney's tax returns)
"The American people believe ..." (often used by Bill Clinton)
"Are you now willing to admit that ..."

I think listeners should be sensitive to such leaden lead-ins and discount what follows. Perhaps we can now roast these cheap chestnuts on an open fire?