President Trump to be sentenced by Juan Merchan...in 2029??
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Mike Huckabee
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Daily Bible Verse
O give thanks unto the Lord; for he is good; for his mercy endureth for ever.
1 Chronicles 16:34
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Covering the work of the 47th President of the United States, Donald J. Trump, is going to be incredibly exciting. Please support our newsletter over the next year by becoming a paid subscriber for $5 monthly (cancel anytime) or $36 annually.
Today’s Videos:
Gov. Huckabee’s comments on Trump toppling the “blue wall” from “Huckabee Today” on TBN…
Watch here: https://www.mikehuckabee.com/latest-news?id=3BD8DA96-3DFC-4015-8F65-F3F5BC5A23AD
Also from “Huckabee Today,” Gov. Huckabee’s interview about the red wave election with Julia Manchester of The Hill newspaper.
https://www.mikehuckabee.com/latest-news?id=2F6E2944-5A57-43B1-A63B-66E6E2B5DF0D
And just to get your day off to a happy start, from last weekend’s “Huckabee” on TBN, here’s the Lovin’ Spoonful performing “Do You Believe In Magic?”…
https://www.mikehuckabee.com/latest-news?id=339D85FB-555C-4B82-AC75-48E72A0070EA
The U.S. closes its embassy in Kyiv, Ukraine
The US closed its embassy in Kyiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, telling workers to shelter in place out of “an abundance of caution.” It's in response to receiving “specific information of a potential significant air attack.” The Italian and Greek embassies also shut down for the day.
This comes three days after lame duck President Biden reversed the policy of barring Ukraine from firing US-made long-range missiles into Russia, and a day after they did fire them, prompting Vladimir Putin to threaten a nuclear response.
We must admit the Democrats were right: they told us if we voted for Trump, we might face a nuclear World War III. Well, we voted for him, and look what’s already happening.
More Breaking News:
The Danish Navy chased down and boarded a Chinese ship suspected of sabotaging two undersea communications cables linking Finland-Germany and Sweden-Lithuania. The ship reportedly has a Russian captain and sailed from Russia. Just what we need: more World War III vibes.
House Republicans grill FEMA head Deanne Criswell
Tuesday, Republicans on the House Oversight Committee grilled FEMA head Deanne Criswell on reports that the agency told workers to bypass Florida houses with Trump signs when canvassing to see who needed hurricane aid. Here’s a good recap of what went on:
FEMA blamed supervisor Marn’i Washington solely for the policy, fired her and investigated her. But she insists that this came down as a guidance from higher up and was FEMA policy across all states hit by the hurricanes. That claim was backed by other anonymous FEMA workers who told media outlets that the avoidance of Trump supporters’ houses was an “open secret at FEMA.” One said they were told to avoid homes that could be described with terms such as hick, cowboy, redneck, Trump supporters and MAGA.
Criswell replied, “This is the first I’m hearing any of those terms,” and denied all the accusations, sticking to her story that this was an isolated action by one employee. She said, “…There is nothing in any of our policies, our training, or our information sent out to our field workers, to avoid any home for whatever reason, especially not because of a political affiliation.”
Let’s all wait for the results of further investigations before swallowing that dubious denial. Texas Rep. Michael Cloud had the perfect response: “It’s not in the policy for the IRS to target conservatives. It’s not in the policy for the NIH to fund gain-of-function research. It’s not in DHS policy for them to release foreign terrorists into our land, but they are. It’s not policy in the FBI to target school teachers (he meant parents) or people of faith, but all this is happening…The common response is, ‘It’s not in the policy manual.’ Well, we’re concerned about the culture.”
In short, when you’re accused of horrifically violating policy, claiming that’s not your policy is not an alibi.
Election Updates!
(Yes, it’s still dragging on.) Unfortunately, Republican Eric Hovde has conceded defeat in a squeaker election challenge to Sen. Tammy Baldwin in Wisconsin.
But despite Democrat election officials openly defying the Pennsylvania Supreme Court by counting illegal ballots, Republican Dave McCormick still leads Democrat Sen. Bob Casey by a narrow but apparently insurmountable margin. Monday, the state Supreme Court made it clear AGAIN that the three counties defying them “SHALL COMPLY” with their order not to count mail-in ballots lacking required signatures and dates. It’s possible that the election officials who admitted on video to violating the Court’s orders could face prosecution for attempting to steal the election (We'd say that's necessary to “protect our democracy!”)
Democrat Gov. Josh Shapiro finally weighed in on the side of the Court, saying, "Any insinuation that our laws can be ignored or do not matter is irresponsible and does damage to faith in our electoral process. The rule of law matters in Pennsylvania…It is critical for counties in both parties to respect it with both their rhetoric and their actions."
It’s commendable of Shapiro to put the law above his party, but it would’ve been nice if he’d done it sooner, before speculation started that he would have to speak out because appearing to cover up election fraud would harm his 2028 presidential chances.
The Resistance reforms
Some Democrat Governors and Mayors are already talking about forming a “resistance” to Trump and blocking the mass deportation of illegal aliens. Just to make it clear to the people who voted them in what these politicians’ priorities really are, a new study of federal data found that since Biden-Harris took office, so-called “sanctuary cities” have protected more than 22,000 criminal illegal aliens from deportation. That’s how much they value the safety of their citizens.
We also learned during the trial of the illegal alien charged with murdering Laken Riley in Georgia that he was only there because he enjoyed a free airplane trip from New York to Atlanta at taxpayer expense, thanks to the Biden Administration. No wonder Biden was too ashamed to say her name out loud.
A reminder for these Governors and Mayors who plan to shield wanted criminals from federal authorities: You may call yourselves “resistors,” but there’s a different term under the law: “Accessories.”
Duffy for Transportation Secretary
President-elect Trump named another major Cabinet nominee Monday, picking former Congressman and Fox Business News host Sean Duffy as his Transportation Secretary. Trump praised Duffy for his years of working across the aisle in Congress on issues like rural development and clearing “extensive legislative hurdles to build the largest road and bridge project in Minnesota history.” He said Duffy would help usher in a “Golden Age of Travel, focusing on Safety, Efficiency, and Innovation. Importantly, he will greatly elevate the Travel Experience for all Americans!”
As expected, leftist media outlets attacked Duffy as just another Fox News personality, as they did with Pete Hegseth, conveniently ignoring their years of pertinent experience. Maybe they figure people on news channels have no experience at anything useful because that’s how it is on their channels.
Let’s face it: If Duffy just keeps trains full of toxic chemicals from derailing, it will be a major improvement.
Poll: Voters approve of the way Trump is handling the transition
Democrats are doing their best – or worst – to undermine Trump before he even takes office, attacking his reform plans and the qualifications of his nominees (as if Biden appointed anyone with “qualifications.”) But Matt Vespa at Townhall.com reports on a new poll that will make their heads explode once again (they go off and spew more often than Old Faithful these days.)
The poll by Echelon Insights found that by 53-40 percent, voters approve of the way Trump is handling the transition. And by 58-38 percent, they believe it’s likely the country will head in a better direction in 2025. In short, most voters are happy with their choice and they want Trump to do what he promised to do. And anyone who doesn’t like that should take Piers Morgan’s advice:
RELATED: We’ve noticed these hysterical leftists don’t seem to have much talent for thinking things through. Like the feminists who are shaving their heads and getting tattoos to make themselves unattractive, calling sex strikes and refusing to have sex with men, and stockpiling abortion pills. Question: Why will you need abortion pills?
They remind us of the episode of “Friends” where Joey says his emergency kit includes condoms because what if there’s a nuclear holocaust and “we have to repopulate the Earth?” Chandler asks, “And we’re going to do that with CONDOMS?”
These people have actually managed to be dumber than Joey Tribbiani.
Another One Bites The Dust:
Arizona’s Democrat Attorney General announced that she’s dropping her investigation into whether Donald Trump’s criticism of Liz Cheney amounted to a threat against her by firing squad.
It’s not clear whether this is being dropped because of his huge election victory or because he NEVER threatened her with a firing squad, which anyone with a functioning brain already knew. But lack of grounds never stopped Democrats from launching an investigation of Trump before, so we’re going with the theory that it was the election.
Aren’t You Cute?
Leftists who just can’t get over losing to Trump now have a new angle on their never-ending hissy fit: They’re pledging to load up on supplies before Biden leaves office and buy nothing for the next four years to tank the Trump economy.
They might want to buy up 12 years’ worth of supplies to cover the J.D. Vance Administration, too. Somehow, I doubt they’re going to make that big a dent. The rest of us should be making enough money and paying lower taxes that we’ll buy what the leftists don’t. Besides, we weren’t really counting on them to keep the soap and deodorant industries going.
How is it even possible to squander so much money?
Many people wonder how it’s even possible to squander so much money. The answer to that question also explains in a nutshell what’s wrong with the Democrats’ (and too many Republicans’) approach to government:
It’s easy when you’re spending someone else’s money.
For all the wailing we’re hearing about how it’s impossible to cut $2 trillion from the budget as Elon Musk said could easily be done, consider this: Just four years ago, the annual federal budget was $4.4 trillion. Today, it’s just under $7 trillion. Have you noticed the government getting so much better that it’s worth that much more than when Trump was in office?
The pandemic was used as an excuse for a massive increase in deficit spending, and once the public was used to that, the pandemic ended, but the epidemic of spending lived on as the “new normal.” We were told we needed to spend all this money to create the Democrats’ new green utopia and fight climate change. And what did that mean?
Billions handed out to shady green “non-profits” founded by their cronies. More billions to subsidize building EVs that nobody wants to buy, and to blight the landscape with wind turbines and solar panels that are unreliable and don’t last as long, produce as much or pollute as little as we were told. Kamala was given $42 billion to provide wireless Internet to underserved rural areas. Years later and not one house has Internet. Elon Musk could have already hooked them all up with Starlink for less than that. And of course, billions to fund wars that create more pollution in a day than your SUV would in 20 lifetimes.
But those are just the big spending items. For years, we’ve covered the ridiculous spending highlighted by people like Rand Paul or Citizens Against Government Waste’s annual Pig Book:
https://www.cagw.org/reporting/pig-book
Trump’s new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has already released some examples of the essential government spending we’ve been funding. Like a $100,000 grant to study whether gin or tequila makes sunfish more aggressive. A million bucks to find out if cocaine makes Japanese quail more “sexually promiscuous” (someone was on drugs when they awarded that grant.) $1.5 million to encourage video gaming in New York (Paul said the money would be better spent discouraging video gaming.) And $750,000 to determine if Neil Armstrong actually said “One small step for man” or “one small step for ‘a’ man.” DOGE noted that the study was “inconclusive.”
It’s easy to laugh at these stories – indeed, that might be the only thing of value we get for our money – but it’s not so funny when you think of a middle class family struggling to pay a $5,000 income tax bill, only to discover that their hard-earned sacrifice, plus that of 19 more such families, was just enough to cover studying the booze preferences of sunfish.
That link above to Citizens Against Government Waste also details many other examples of waste, including trillions of dollars in earmarks, corporate welfare and tax carve-outs for favored constituencies and behaviors. Read that and you won’t wonder if there’s enough fat to cut; you’ll wonder if there’s anything BUT fat. There’s so much fat, maybe we should put RFK Jr. in charge of it.
There’s also the cost of the explosion of the size of government. Biden takes bows for so-called “job creation,” but never mentions how many of those jobs are new government hires. We have so many bureaucrats, it’s almost as if every American now has his own personal bureaucrat to pester him. As Ohio Rep. Warren Davidson said, “Congress created the Department of Education. Nothing says that they have to have 4,500 employees at the Department of Education.”
But if we really want to cut more than $2 trillion in spending and not even have to think about it, here’s a suggestion: Take the budget from 2019 -- which was before both the pandemic and the Biden-Harris spending orgy, both of which will be blessedly gone by January -- and just pass that again. We doubt many people other than grifters who’ve grown fat fleecing the taxpayers in recent years would even notice the difference.
More nominees in record time
President Trump is naming his top nominees in record time, with three more on Tuesday. Linda McMahon is his choice for Secretary of Education. She and husband Vince McMahon founded the WWE, and she led the Small Business Administration in his first term. Trump said she would fight “tirelessly to expand [Universal School Choice] to every State in America, and empower parents to make the best Education decisions for their families." He has also promised to cut federal funding to “any school pushing Critical Race Theory, transgender insanity, and other inappropriate racial, sexual, or political content on our children.”
Many Republicans would prefer she do away with the Education Department entirely and put herself out of a job. It’s funny how many Americans think of the ED as a sacred pillar of the government, as if it’s been around since the Founding Fathers. It was created by Jimmy Carter in 1979, some say as a payoff to the teachers’ unions. Our older readers would likely argue that their pre-1979 educations were certainly not inferior to what kids are getting today, and without any federal micro-management.
For a department covering a subject that’s supposed to be the province of state and local governments, it’s grown like kudzu and now has over 4,000 employees and a 2024 budget of $238 billion. It’s been reported that some school districts have more administrators than teachers, just to comply with all the ED mandates and paperwork. Those who defend its huge budget point to the good it does, like funding programs for kids with disabilities. But think how much more effectively that money could be spent without the heavy layer of expensive bureaucracy and the imposition of federal control on local schools.
Trump also named Cantor Fitzgerald CEO Howard Lutnick to be his Commerce Secretary…
…And Dr. Mehmet Oz as Administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Oz would oversee Medicare, Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act insurance programs.
Naturally, critics are attacking Oz as (say it with me) “unqualified,” calling him a “former talk show host” and citing his “controversial” comments about COVID edicts during the pandemic (never mind that many of those comments were later proven correct.) But as Trump pointed out, Dr. Oz is a heart surgeon, holder of various patents for medical inventions, best-selling author of many books on wellness, and he graduated Harvard and has joint MD and MBA degrees from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and Wharton Business School. Is any Biden appointee that qualified for his/her/zir job? Or qualified at all?
One interesting tell we noticed is that some Democrats and their pet media outlets claimed Oz is unqualified because he’s never run a huge government bureaucracy. So they’re admitting that medical knowledge isn’t required, but being a bureaucrat is. This is one of the major reasons people voted for Trump: to get rid of the bureaucracy and get the focus back on whatever the original mission was.
Dr. Lawrence J. Peter, inventor of the Peter Principle (“In a hierarchy, workers rise until they reach their level of incompetence, then stay there”) also once observed that as an organization grows, its function shifts from whatever its original mission was to preserving the organization. We now have a government filled with gigantic bureaucracies that employ thousands of people and spend billions of dollars while accomplishing virtually nothing, but will go to war at the thought of cutting any of the bureaucracy.
It might be a welcome change to have someone overseeing the Medicare bureaucracy who is an actual doctor who’s dealt with Medicare. Maybe he could change the rules that are causing so many doctors to retire rather than having to deal with Medicare.
Sunny Hostin reads “legal note”
There are going to be a lot of attempts to smear Matt Gaetz even before he gets to Senate confirmation, but this illustrates how Republicans are no longer sitting back and taking it. We’re not going to do the liberal media’s job by repeating these sleazy allegations. But the hosts of “The View” had barely fed them to their audience when Sunny Hostin was forced to read an on-air “legal note” affirming that Gaetz has called these allegations “invented” and a “false smear” that was investigated by the DOJ for three years before being dropped with no charges filed.
Nancy Mace fights back
Delaware’s election of the first “transgender” Congress member, Sarah McBride, is already bringing back all the trans controversies that helped sink the Dems in the election. Rep. Nancy Mace, who is a rape survivor, reacted by filing a resolution to bar biological males from women’s restrooms in the Capitol.
Democrats responded in Pavlovian style, accusing her of lacking kindness and empathy for what others have to deal with. In what might be the most tonedeaf Tweet of 2024, Rep. Dean Phillips taunted Mace, “Pathetic. What are you scared of, Nancy?” As hundreds of commenters responded, maybe she’s afraid of getting raped AGAIN, which can happen when you let any male who puts on a dress enter women’s private spaces. Where’s all that famous Democrat “empathy and kindness” now, Dean?
https://twitchy.com/amy-curtis/2024/11/19/dean-phillips-nancy-mace-n2403981
After getting major blowback from conservatives for dodging questions about whether biological males who claim to be female are actually female, Speaker Mike Johnson finally came down on the side of biological reality and said “appropriate accommodations” will be made for everyone in Congress, but transgender staffers will not be allowed in women’s restrooms.
RELATED: The Democrats’ natural urge is to just keep pushing the wokeness, but if the election didn’t knock it into their heads that Americans are sick of it, maybe this will:
A YouGov survey found that a large majority of Americans reject the “woke” terms the left tries to force on us, and that’s not just Latinos angry at being called “Latinx.” Only 20 percent or fewer of respondents said they regularly use terms such as “safe space,” “woke,” “lived experience” or “white privilege.”
https://thehill.com/homenews/4998414-woke-terminology-survey-poll/
Ironically, we’re in that 20 percent, but only because we use them every day to mock them.
President Trump to be sentenced by Juan Merchan...in 2029??
You’ve likely heard that with Judge Juan Merchan’s cancellation of President Trump’s November 26 sentencing hearing over his conviction in a Manhattan courtroom for “falsifying business records,” Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg notified the court that his office does not oppose further delays that could defer sentencing “until after the end of the defendant’s upcoming presidential term” in 2029.
Trump’s defense team intends to file a motion for dismissal “once and for all.” But Bragg opposes any attempt to dismiss the case. He apparently wants to keep the threat of jail time weighing on the President for the next four years, until he leaves office at the age of 82.
Also, as law professor Alan Dershowitz pointed out Tuesday night on HANNITY, he’s using this tactic to “circumvent the appellate process,” because “this is slam-dunk for an appeal.” Bragg, he said, wants to campaign for office next year “with the scalp of Donald Trump,” able to crow that he got Trump convicted by a jury. “It’s unethical, it’s unconstitutional, it’s immoral.”
His advice to Trump’s legal team if this plan goes forward is to immediately file a writ of mandamus to the appellate courts, which is “very, very appropriate” in this case. It’s what you file “to get a review when you can’t get an appeal.” (Under New York state law, you can’t get an appeal until you get a final judgment, which now apparently is being deferred for FOUR YEARS.)
Speaking of New York state law, FOX NEWS legal analyst Gregg Jarrett points out that the prosecution’s strategy violates it, as sentencing is supposed to take place within 12 months of conviction (remember “Justice delayed is justice denied?”) Jarrett also says that because the case relied on testimony and documents that constituted “official acts,” the conviction should be overturned, and he characterizes what Judge Merchan is doing as a “parlor game.” But what he calls the “quintessential miscarriage of justice” in this case is that Merchan instructed the members of the jury that they need not agree unanimously on each element of the criminal offenses.
“That aberrant ruling obliterated Supreme Court precedent,” he says. “The inexorable consequence is that Trump was denied the right to properly defend himself from the alleged underlying crimes because Bragg’s prosecutors never fully disclosed which ones were violated. They remain hidden still, along with the precise vote among jurors.” Unbelievable. Maybe that information will become available in 2029.
This case, to use our favorite layman’s term, is a hot mess. Here’s Jarrett’s full analysis:
Incidentally, if Merchan failing to pass sentence within 12 months violates state law, then shouldn’t he be prosecuted? And if it’s a misdemeanor, isn’t there some way to twist it into a felony? After all, he’s the one who set the precedent for that.