Hey, Fair Is Fair!

Democrats are in a tizzy over Kevin McCarthy’s threat to bump three of their kind from committees if the Democrats decide to put them up for those committee assignments. As we discussed earlier here, Adam Schiff (D-CA), Eric Swalwell (D-CA), and Ilhan Omar (D-MN) have been threatened that if they were placed on committees by the Democrats, they would be booted.

And Democrats are looking for a fight on this one.

But you have to realize that fair is fair after all. Republicans, as you’ll recall, wanted to put people like Jim Jordan (R-OH), and Jim Banks (R-IN) on the January 6th Special Committee that Nancy Pelosi formed to railroad Donald Trump into a DOJ indictment. Democrats decided that wasn’t going to happen because Jordan and Banks were both overlooked in favor of Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) and Liz Cheyney (R-WY). Both Kinzinger and Cheyney were outspoken critics of Donald Trump who voted for impeachment both times he faced it.

So, my question is, if it was fair for Nancy Pelosi to not include Jordan and Banks on the committee, but to go with people she felt would be more conducive to the outcome she wanted, why in the world are the Dems upset if Kevin McCarthy wants to put Schiff, Swalwell, and Omar on the sidelines? Isn’t fair fair, after all?

While Pelosi’s move was made solely to give her the outcome she sought, McCarthy’s move is more of a punishment that Pelosi did that in the first place. Yes, it’s political, and yes, some may say it’s even petty. But you have to look back to see what started it all, and frankly, that was petty enough!

So, who has the right to decide who goes on the committees in the House of Representatives? Is it the Speaker? If it is, the Democrats have absolutely nothing to bitch about. They lost the House in part because of the January 6th committee, and in part because the pendulum has swung the other way. Had the Democrats not been so liberal in their ideology, and Pelosi such a tyrant in her rule as Speaker, maybe the Republicans would have been a little more forgiving in their dealings once they took over.

And yes, it is exactly what has caused the rift that we’re seeing in Washington these days. Both parties have taken things that happen way too personally. Whatever happened to the day when you could call someone on the other side the dirtiest, slimiest name in the book, and then go out and have dinner with them when the politics was over? That day is long gone. Now, there are deep battle lines drawn, and it’s not common place to work across the aisle with anyone from the other side, lest you get branded a traitor and get primaried up the road. And it happens not only in the House, but in the Senate as well.

Need proof of that? Kyrsten Sinema just got primaried by Ruben Gallego (D-AZ). He decided that if Kyrsten Sinema could switch to being an independent, then he could run as a Democrat and try and unseat her. That’s even though the two have worked together for a decade!

There has to be something that brings these two sides together or nothing is going to get done in Washington. Normally, I think that’s a good thing when there is gridlock. But lately, that hasn’t worked. The country has several issues that need several statesmen to come together and work together to solve the problems. We need comprehensive immigration reform. We need to have the southern border issue solved by people that actually can admit that there IS a problem at the southern border. We need to deal with the crime problem, and we need to deal with corruption in Washington DC. Stealing and hoarding secret and top secret documents is not something that should be taken lightly. And both Joe Biden and Donald Trump have done it. In my book, that disqualifies either of them from serving anywhere ever again, and they need to be punished.

Unless and until Washington gets it’s act together, we’re going to continue this inane circle of both sides investigating the other. And nothing else ever gets done. Politics has taken a front seat above the needs of the people. Shame on you Congress!

Carry on world…you’re dismissed!

Dem’s Are Rightfully Worried About 2024!

Oh, Democrats are really worried. Not just because Joe Biden hasn’t been able to crack the 50% barrier in his presidential approval ratings even once in two years. But also because the Democrats will be trying to defend 20 seats of the 33 seats that are up for grabs in the Senate. And that’s going to be a tall order. Actually, there are the three Independents in the Senate that caucus with the Dems that will be up as well. So, you can say 17 Democrats, 11 Republicans and 3 Independents will be on the ballot.

And that has Democrats shaking a bit.

Not only that, but there are several that may not run for reelection. Rumor has been circulating that Joe Manchin (D-WV) is seriously thinking of getting out of the rat race and retiring. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) has already announced she won’t be seeking reelection come 2024. And several others will most likely follow. Add to that there are probably six more seats that could very easily flip away from the Democrats that year, and a 51-49 Senate could very well turn into a 43-57 Senate for the leftists.

Here are the seats that The Hill says could most likely flip in 2024:

Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ). Sinema dropped out of the Democrat party after the midterms when it became obvious to her that she was going to be primaried. See, her independent streak cost Dems a few votes along with Manchin, and while that made her rather powerful, the Democrats out here in the desert weren’t real happy with her.

Debbie Stabenow (D-MI). Stabenow has already announced her intention to not seek reelection. Michigan is one of those states that could go either way in the Senate. If the GOP puts up a decent candidate, and funds them correctly, they could indeed take the seat. Rumor has it, Gretchen Whitmer, the current Governor may make a run at the seat.

John Testor (D-MT). John Testor has squeaked by in his last election, winning by only 3.5 points. Montana isn’t known as a Democrat state. So a reelection bid by Testor isn’t assured. It will depend on who the Republicans put up. If they do a Mehmet Oz, or a Blake Masters type of candidate, Testor will probably be reelected. If not and they find someone that actually is a decent politician, the Republicans could easily take the seat back.

Jacky Rosen (D-NV). We learned that Nevada is becoming purple. Catherine Cortez Masto almost lost her seat in November’s midterms, and Rosen isn’t viewed as half as well liked as Cortez Masto. The Republicans should take this seat fairly easily. That would hold true especially if Adam Laxalt tries to get this seat.

Sherrod Brown (D-OH). Brown is the senior Senator from the Buckeye State. But he’s finding more and more that he could be on an island that is slowly sinking. His popularity in Ohio isn’t what it was when he was first elected. And he may realize that his time in DC has come to an end. Rumor has it that he may also be one that announces his retirement if it looks like the internal polling numbers show too close a race to call.

Joe Manchin (D-WV). Manchin is in the same boat Sinema is. Yes, he’s a maverick, but unless he decides to join the Republican party, something he swears he isn’t likely to do, he most likely will get defeated if he runs for reelection. Manchin is the only Democrat to win state-wide elections recently, and that doesn’t bode well for him. That and the GOP is going to target him heavily in deep red, West Virginia.

Tammy Baldwin (D-WI). Baldwin will be seeking her third term in a state that is certainly turned purple since she last won. Ron Johnson, the senior Senator from the Badger State won a very close race this past fall, and Baldwin may not have the same luck. Wisconsin is one of those states that quite frankly could go either way. If that happens, it just adds to the Republican wave (if there actually is one!).

Bob Casey (D-PA). Casey could be in trouble in a state that saw two less than stellar candidates battle it out this past fall. But Casey is hoping that if he seeks reelection, he won’t have half the problem that John Fetterman had against a terrible candidate in Mehmet Oz. It all depends on if the GOP can find someone that is adored state-wide. That and they need to be able to offset the heavily Democrat vote coming out of Philadelphia and Harrisburg.

There you have it. Eight Democrats that could be in trouble if the choose to try and hang around DC for another six years.

Carry on world…you’re dismissed!

Well, What Did You Expect?

NOTE:TODAY’S BLOG IS NOT AVAILABLE ON PODCAST. PODCASTS WILL RETURN TOMORROW!

There are three Democrats in the House of Representatives that have been, shall we say, less than cordial to their Republican counterparts.Eric Swalwell, Ilhan Omar, and Adam Schiff have been some of the more vociferous Democrats who slammed GOP members any time they could. And now, the three of them are incensed that new Speaker of the House, Kevin McCarthy is poised to make good on a promise of removing all three of them from their committee assignments for the 118th Congress.

And they are pissed!

Well, it’s not like they didn’t ask for it. Swalwell admitted that he had an affair with a Chinese spy. That’s something that wouldn’t allow him to get classified clearance anywhere in the real world. But in Washington, DC, that’s a different story. He could get clearance because of his party affiliation, and sit on committees including Intelligence, Judiciary, and Homeland Security. McCarthy says that being associated with a Chinese spy is cause enough to not allow Swalwell the opportunity to sit on committees with sensitive information being bandied about.

For Ilhan Omar, she has violated federal immigration law by marrying, and then divorcing her brother, creating a fraudulent situation. She has also backed several terrorist groups on the floor of the House including Al Qaeda, Hezbollah and Hamas.She is one of the more out-spoken members of the Whackjob group that include Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ayanna Pressley, and Rashida Tlaib.Ilhan served on the House Foreign Relations Committee as well as the House Education & Labor Committee.

But probably the biggest name of all was Adam Schiff. The former Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee cried foul when he heard he was losing his committee membership on Intelligence. Schiff abused his position as chair of that committee back with the whole Russian collusion scandal. Schiff would go on TV and tell the world that his committee had rock hard evidence that Donald Trump was a Russian agent, or at the very least colluded with Russia prior to and during the 2016 presidential campaign. But when the actual report from the intelligence committee came out, it pretty well mirrored the Mueller Report, which basically said there was no collusion. Schiff’s commented that his record was being “mis-represented”. Actually it’s not. The man has been caught in several lies over the last few years, and he’s even admitted to lying to the American public. Why the people in his district keep electing him is beyond me.

So, for Swalwell, Omar, and Schiff, it looks like they won’t just be getting secondary committees to sit on. They won’t be getting ANY committees to sit on. That should give them enough time to think about what they’ve been up to and see if they can mend their ways.

Carry on world…you’re dismissed!

Is A GOP Senate Possible BEFORE 2024?

Well, if you’re wondering if the GOP has enough oomph left in the tank after failing to have the anticipated midterm results, and if they can actually succeed in taking over the Senate in 2024, I can’t answer that. I CAN say unequivocally that I think they can actually do it before 2024.

Here’s why.

There are always Senators and Representatives that go out and get elected, and then for some reason, they retire mid-stream. Maybe it’s a health issue. Sometimes it’s a family issue, but it seems that there are always things going on that will preclude at least some members of Congress from completing their term. This year and next year is not any different. According to The Hill, there are five Senators that could step down between today and the election in 2024. So, in no particular order, here they are:

Joe Manchin: Manchin is the only Democrat to win a state-wide election in West Virginia. He’s been a thorn in Joe Biden and Chuck Schumer’s side for the past two years, and most likely will continue to be. He has stated that he has no desire to switch parties and become a Republican, and I don’t see him becoming an independent, like Arizona’s Kyrsten Sinema did. But I do see him not running in 2024. He’s already hinted at that. But becoming a thorn in Schumer’s side has a price to pay. And Manchin may not enjoy that his ethics and morals differ so greatly from a party that he once loved. He may just bolt and resign prior to the election in 2024.

John Testor: The Montana Senator has won his election as a Democrat in a usually red state three times. But he’s not quite so sure that a fourth is in the cards. Testor is only 66 years old (he’ll be 68 by the 2024 elections), and while there are a ton of people older than him in the Senate, he may decide not to go through another battle with Matt Rosendale, who he only beat by single digits in 2018.

Bob Casey: Casey is a Democrat from Pennsylvania, and was recently diagnosed with colon cancer. Now, he says that his prognosis is good, and that he plans on beating it through some aggressive treatments, but you never can tell with cancer. And you can never tell about Pennsylvania. A lot will depend on who the Republicans decide to run in 2024 should Casey opt to stay in the fray. If it’s going to be a weak candidate like Mehmet Oz, the chances of this seat flipping are next to nothing. But never underestimate what a health problem can do to a sitting Senator. It happens all the time!

Tammy Baldwin: Baldwin watched, probably with tears in her eyes, as fellow Democrat, Mandela Barnes lost to Ron Johnson in one of the closest races of this past November. And with Wisconsin definitely a “battleground state” now with Trump having beaten Clinton in 2016, and Biden beating Trump by single digits in 2020, it could be interesting to see if Baldwin wants to go through the hassle, not knowing the outcome. Baldwin won her first race by 6 points and her reelection bid in 2018 by 10. But Ron Johnson’s win may signal that Wisconsin is ready to be a little more conservative than Baldwin may like, and she may decide to pull the plug before 2024.

Tim Kaine: Kaine, from Virginia is the former running mate of Hillary Clinton. He’s a two-term Senator and will most likely be facing an uphill election in a state that was once solidly blue, but has turned bright purple recently. The reason is simple. Glenn Younkin beat an incumbent Terry McAuliffe to win the Governor’s seat a few years back, and in 2021, the Republicans flipped the state’s House of Delegates. That could bode poorly for Kaine. Especially if Youngkin decides that he wants to run against him. Current polling shows that race a dead heat at the moment. Kaine may decide to jump ship, retire at 65, and enjoy his retirement.

If the Democrats see three of these guys retire or quit early, it could very well put the Republicans in charge of the Senate prior to 2024. All of the Governor’s of these states are Republicans with the exception of Pennsylvania. That would mean that if more than one would retire prior to the end of their term in 2024, the GOP would take back the Senate, and give Republicans the entire Congress.

And, while I really don’t see two or three retiring, there is always that possibility!

Carry on world…you’re dismissed!

McCarthy’s In…What Now?

Kevin McCarthy won his speakership finally…after four long days of campaigning, cajoling, carping, and catering to 20 House members who either wanted to make sure he did things the right way, gave them special treatment, or they just hated Kevin McCarthy. He won his coveted Speaker’s position on the 15th vote on Friday night.

Now what?

Well, it depends on who you want to listen to. If you listen to the Democrats, better known as the “Popcorn Caucus” in the marathon voting sessions, it means the Republicans will have weak leadership, split apart by a handful of people who have more of their own interests at heart than those of the country. It means that any bill that comes before the House will most likely be a long and drawn out floor fight.

If you listen to the Republicans, that’s nothing of the sort. They say that it’s all about “the sausage being made” and that “this is Democracy in action”. This was a growing process for the GOP, and as McCarthy himself said, “We’ve been in the minority, and we’ve used this experience to learn how to lead.” I’m not so sure I go along with that sentiment. I would hope that anybody that gets to the highest political body in the land would already know how to lead.

In the end, both Democrats and Republicans are right. Yes, it’s going to be a drawn out battle for Republicans to pass pretty much anything with only a four-vote majority. So yes, you’re going to see a lot of sausage being made. But the Republicans are right as well in that this IS indeed the way Democracy works…except we don’t live in a Democracy. We live in a “Democratic Republic”. If we lived in a Democracy, you and I would be voting on everything Congress wants to do. Instead, we elect people who do that voting for us. But the question still remains…

Now what?

Personally, I think McCarthy is going to have a bumpy ride. I think the “concessions” he had to make, other than promising certain members of the Freedom Caucus getting prime committee assignments, is going to be good for a conservative government. The days of the omnibus 2,000 page bills that nobody reads before they become law are over. The idea of term limits coming before Congress will be an interesting one. Looking at the fact that the GOP wants to get back to more reasonable spending, and possibly even introduce a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution isn’t a bad idea at all. And they are going to force Biden’s hand at the southern border. They’re going to rescind the 87,000 new IRS agents, which should help quell some of the spending.

Of course, very little of that is going to get through the Senate. After all, the Senate is going to have a hard time passing anything that needs 60 votes, since Democrats only have 51 seats, and the Republicans over there can basically block anything except appointments, and spending.

There is no doubt in anyone’s mind that basically the only person in Congress who actually wanted to be Speaker of the House was Kevin McCarthy. Well, he got his chance. Now we have to wait and see what he does with it. He can be successful, and work across the aisle like a Tip O’Neill did back in the day. Or he can try and Pelosi his way through his own party with an iron fist and a promise of primary fights in 2024 if people don’t go along with him.

Any way you look at it, a split Congress pretty much guarantees one of two things. Either the parties have to come together, or nothing is going to get through Congress, including a budget, for the next two years. And each side will point fingers at the other side in hopes of winning the side of Congress they currently don’t control.

Either way, I think America will lay in for a lot of popcorn and hold its own “Popcorn Caucus”.

Carry on world…you’re dismissed!

Biden FINALLY To Head To The Border

Joe Biden FINALLY realized the his border crisis isn’t going to go away on it’s own. As the emptying of Central America continues with millions of people from eight or nine countries continue to pour through Mexico in caravans to the US southern border, and then cross illegally into the United States, it has become a national embarrassment. Joe Biden has finally decided it’s time to act.

So, with thoughts on 2024, Biden has visited the southern border on Sunday, going to El Paso, during a visit with Mexican President, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.

It’s really a stunning reversal of policy for Biden. He has nonchalantly remarked that he’s been working on the details of a southern border visit for some time. But of course, we all know what’s been happening. As millions of illegals pour across the southern border, with only about 10% being returned to their home countries due to Title 42, the onslaught has caused Republican Governors in Florida, Texas, and Arizona, and now Colorado’s Democrat Governor to send the illegals to various blue states, concentrating on Washington, DC, New York City, Philadelphia, and Chicago, all of whom have professed themselves to be “sanctuary cities”.

The real question is why Biden chose El Paso. Remember, when K-baby Harris went to the border, she visited the Border Patrol station in El Paso. Back then, El Paso was pretty tame. Now, with the latest surge of illegals coming across, no entry point into this country is safe. Biden got an eye opening experience.

My hunch is that Biden won’t take any of the blame for this debacle himself. He’ll blame Congress for not passing comprehensive immigration reform. And to a degree he’s right. Congress needs to do something, and they have kicked the can down the road repeatedly. Democrats blame Republicans, but yet, Democrats held sway in both houses of Congress over the past two years and nothing got passed. Republicans blame Democrats, but they are just as much to blame. Donald Trump had stemmed the flow of illegals with the border wall and the “Stay In Mexico” policy, but Congress could have passed something. Instead they balked.

What needs to happen is that there has to be a break in the logjam somewhere. Biden needs to do whatever he legally can do to stop the flow of illegals. And he can do plenty, as we saw with Trump. He can continue to build the border wall. He can keep the illegals on the Mexican side of the border until their immigration hearings. He can hire not 87,000 new IRS agents, but 87,000 new Border Patrol agents, and judges to hear the cases. That way he can make swift decisions and deport those that are seeking asylum without really needing it.

Biden’s plan, as he outlined last Thursday is to bring technology into the game. What the illegals are supposed to do now is take out their smartphones (they are dirt poor, but have smartphones?) and use an app to signal the Homeland Security folks that they want asylum. They then will get a decision as to whether or not they have been granted a hearing. If they have, they FLY to the United States, and present themselves to customs. Then they are supposed to have a hearing. On the surface it sounds like a nice band-aid, but only if Homeland Security only allows a few through in this manner. The current plan is to allow 30,000 a month from Cuba, Haiti, Venezuela, and Nicaragua. Nothing said about people from other countries.

There has to be some sort of solution to the problem of total chaos. It’s gotten to the point that Biden’s inaction has caused the whole problem to border on such seriousness that we may never be able to fix the border problem. If that’s the case, you’re going to see not only Governors sending busloads of illegals to other parts of the country, but you’re going to see citizens of those border states start to take matters into their own hands. And that would not be very good.

Think of it for a minute. You’ve got ranchers and farmers all along the border from California to Texas that have illegals trespassing on their property, and even breaking into their homes looking for food. What if those people decided to arm themselves against the illegals. You know, here in Arizona, we have a law that says if someone breaks into your home, you have the right to shoot to kill to protect your property. When the dead bodies of illegals that get shot by ordinary citizens starts to pile up, you’re going to have to see Congress and the President start to get involved and take this crisis more seriously. Either that, or it will be all out war.

Carry on world…you’re dismissed!

I Am Embarrassed Because Of This

I know I’m late getting this out to you, but I have to apologize on behalf of the 7.15 million people of the great state of Arizona. We caused a terrible embarrassment this past Monday and I am man enough to admit when we made a mistake.

That mistake was US Senator Mark Kelly.

In case you missed it at the Rose Bowl last week, former Congresswoman, Gabby Giffords was the Grand Marshall of the Rose Bowl Parade. As such, she was at midfield for the coin toss in the game between Penn State and Utah. Now, Giffords is married to US Senator Mark Kelly. And Kelly was standing behind his wife during the coin toss, dressed in what can only be described as a flight jacket (he was in the Navy and is a former astronaut).

The funny part of the embarrassment is that the head official, Michael Vandervelde introduced Giffords, and then called Kelly, “Senator Mark Lewis”. You have to laugh at that. Mark Lewis is actually a Welsh actor that looks nothing like Kelly. But the embarrassment came when Kelly, who could have attended this affair with dignity and class as a sitting Senator, decided to be high school about it. He had his cell phone out and was videotaping the whole coin toss. It looked like something out of a bad joke. In fact, it was a bad joke. And it showed what I think most Arizonans have known all along. Mark Kelly (Lewis), has no class.

So, on behalf of the millions of folks from the Grand Canyon state, I can only cringe, hide my face in embarrassment, and humbly beg your forgiveness on behalf of my state. Mark Kelly is a buffoon. He could have worn a GoPro camera or something, or been classy and just attended the affair. He didn’t have to be low-brow about it. But that’s Kelly. He IS low-brow.

I moved here almost 12 years ago from a place I thought had become low-brow, Toledo, Ohio. I thought I was moving up in class by coming out here to the desert. I mean, at the time, the most famous person in Arizona was Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who was called “America’s Sheriff”. He was constantly making national news because of his no-nonsense attitude toward crime and criminals. He’s the guy that made them wear pink underwear. When the jails became overcrowded, he built an encampment in the desert, circled it with razor wire and barbed wire and 15 foot high fencing. His prisoners had to live in tents. That was a true American hero!

Now? Now we have Katie Hobbs as Governor, who is all for open borders. Now we have a Senator in Mark Kelly that goes around wearing black t-shirts and actually wears them in his campaign ads. We have a Republican loser to Hobbs, Kari Lake that refuses to accept the fact she was a terribly weak candidate for the office, with no political experience, and wants to be “Stacey Abrams of the west”. She’ll go wherever anyone will listen, and cry out that she’s “not through with those bastards, because now they’ve pissed off this bitch.” Yeah, that’s how I want MY Governor to talk!

But Mark Kelly has been an embarrassment to the state for decades. And at least it’s nice to see he’s consistent. He doesn’t understand that in some situations, you go, you stand quietly and support your wife. You don’t make an internet spectacle of yourself. You don’t always get to be the “hero”. Sometimes you are there as the loving husband. It’s too bad Mark Kelly is such a dork! But that’s what the citizens elected. And that’s what we’re stuck with for six years.

Carry on world…you’re dismissed!

But Would It Really Work???

You can tell the end of the last year and the first week of the new year is a slow news time. Oh, we’ve had the normal end of year stuff…but Rasmussen came out with a poll that kind of set me back a little bit. Don’t get me wrong, I sort of agree with the plurality of folks that went along with it, but it was just interesting to see Rasmussen do the poll in the first place.

The question was, would Congress do a better job if 435 people at random were selected from the phone book?

49% of the people in the survey answered yes. 34% said no and 17% either had no opinion or weren’t sure. Now THAT is telling.

I was rather surprised to see that because when you think of it, politics has become a profession in this country just the same as education, or medicine or law. People start out at the local level on a school board or a city council of some sort. Then maybe they go to the state level either as a Representative or a State Senator. They may actually run for Governor of their state if they really want to hit the big time. Or they run for Congress. Only a very select few ever really toy with the idea of going for the presidency. It’s kind of like a baseball player trying to make it to the major leagues. If you look at those statistics, 0.5% of a high school senior who plays baseball is drafted by a major league team. I’d say the percentages are close to the same for people being elected to Congress.

Oh, we live in a world where we see the human side of the extraordinary people in a lot of different avenues, and we think to ourselves, “Hey, I could do that!” I often thought that of being an Indy race car driver, certainly a NASCAR driver. My wife was the only one standing in the way, reminding me I have a trick back that likes to go out frequently. I got the chance to be up close and personal with both NASCAR and Indy Car drivers and races back my youth. I remember very vividly going to a NASCAR Busch race at Kentucky and watching from the pits as these guys ran around the track at 170 miles an hour bumper to bumper. I came away thinking, “Nope. No way in HELL could I do that!”

The same thing is true in politics. And while I think that 49% of the people out there would love to be selected to go to Congress to make a difference, I wonder if most if not all of them could ever do the job. The current Congress doesn’t seem to want to do anything major when it comes to passing bills that we Americans need and want passed. I’m sure there are several people that think they could do a better job, but when push came to shove, I’m not sure it would come to fruition. We’re seeing that now in the likes of people like Cori Bush from St. Louis, and AOC from New York. These people think they can make a difference. But in reality, all they are doing is taking up oxygen and screaming a lot. None of these Whackjobs have ever put forth a bill that even made it to committee, much less to a floor vote.

People are professionals for a reason. They’ve spent years honing their craft. They work at getting better. I’ve always said if you do anything for 25 years, you’re going to be pretty darn good at it. You may not be the best, but you’ll be better than average for sure. And the same is true for politics. And while I’d really like to see all of the House and maybe the Senate selected at random to lead the country for a term, I’m not so sure that the results would be something I’d be in favor of.

I know my Congresswoman personally, and I think she’s paid her dues and understands her profession. She was in the State House when I moved to the AZ, and she moved over to the State Senate when she termed out in the House. Then our Congressman got tied up in some scandal of sorts, and she ran for his seat. This is a really conservative area of Arizona, and she had no trouble winning the election. This past year, she ran unopposed. She does a good job, but she’ll be the first to admit, it’s an entirely different ballgame in Washington than it is in downtown Phoenix at the state level.

So, could a random selection of people actually do a better job? Not so sure I’d want to find out. But it’s interesting to talk about!

Carry on world…you’re dismissed!

Here’s What The New GOP House Will Bring Up

The Republicans control the House of Representatives. And since they’ve taken over, there has been a lot of speculation in the mainstream liberal media over what they will be doing for the next couple of years. I’ve talked about what they SHOULD be doing, which is basically fixing what’s wrong and broken in this country right now. But is that what they actually WILL do?

New House Majority Leader, Steve Scalise has sent an email to his members outlining the bills that will be coming to the floor in the coming weeks. A lot of them won’t be fixing the problems we face. Instead, the GOP will be spending time and effort trying to undo some of the things Democrats have done in the past.

First things first, Scalise will bring up a bill that will rescind the incredibly expensive allocation that was voted in for the Internal Revenue Service, as part of the “Inflation Reduction Act”. The GOP contends that they will save the money that was supposed to be used to hire 87,000 new IRS agents to audit middle class families. Democrats have said all along that it’s to modernize an outdated system and to bring the IRS into the 21st century.

Another bill that Scalise hopes to bring to the floor would make the Hyde Amendment permanent. That is a decades-old bill that forbid the government to spend any money on any program or project that could be used for abortions. Democrats tried to get rid of it in 2021, but failed. This bill would make it permanent. Or as permanent as Congress could make it.

In three other bills, the House would establish a select committee on China. They would block emergency “drawdowns” from the federal Strategic Oil Reserve, and they would force the Department of Homeland Security to turn away illegal immigrants at the border if there is a lack of “operational control”. You can read that as, “we don’t have enough border agents, and immigration judges to adequately handle all of the influx of people invading the country.”

While those bills are nice, and I would certainly agree with all of them, it doesn’t really fix the problems we are having in the country right now. I think more effort needs to be spent on getting a permanent solution to the border issue, and closing the border to ALL traffic until that is done. I realize that is going to be a major inconvenience for everyone on both sides, but that also adds pressure to Congress to get something passed that is going to be more permanent than just turning people away from the border.

We also need to deal with the over-spending issue Democrats seem to have. The only way I can see this happening is to introduce a Balanced Budget Amendment to the Constitution. This would do away with deficit spending, and would allow Congress to actually have a budget, not free reign on spending anything anytime they want. Without something like this in place, again, the solution of stopping IRS modernization (which IS needed), and hiring 87,000 new agents (which is NOT needed) is just a band-aid solution to the problem.

We need to do something about crime. We need to insure that District Attorneys and Judges are held accountable for their actions. If they break federal law, they need to be arrested and charged with it. That would mean not charging criminals for the crimes they commit, or allowing dangerous people to go free with a “cashless bail system”.

What Scalise has outlined is a fair start. It’s not great, but it does move the needle a little bit in the right direction. But if we have learned anything from the socialist leftists over the past five years or so, it’s that you don’t get anything in Washington these days unless you go big. It’s time for the Republicans to step up to the plate and take a full swing. Nothing less is going to work.

Carry on world…you’re dismissed!

Here’s What The GOP Needs To Do To Have a GREAT 2023!

The Republicans are going to be taking over the House of Representatives today. As I write this, I can’t tell you if it’s going to be Kevin McCarthy or Condoleeza Rice elected to the Speakership. But I can tell you the GOP is going to be calling the shots for at least the next two years in half of Congress.

That doesn’t mean that they are going to have a good go at it. In fact, the GOP is notorious for screwing up their opportunities. I’ve often said, the Republicans are the party of great ideas, and lousy management. The Democrats on the other hand, have great management, and terrible ideas. It’s too bad the two of them can’t work together.

And no…they can’t.

Here is what the Republicans need to do in order to have a great 2023 and catapult themselves into the future.

First and foremost, they need to realize WHY they were elected in the first place. There are several things that We The People see as a detriment to our society. First things first, close the friggin’ southern border down. Yes, we need comprehensive immigration reform, but you don’t get that with a porous border. Shut it down and send the illegals back to where they came from. I mean all of them. Make them come through legally, or at the very least make them go through the hoops I’ve described here ad nauseam. Second, continue on to fixing immigration. I know the Dems want at least some of the Dreamers to become citizens, but it should not be easy of cheap. They broke the law when they came here, even if they were children. They need to be punished somehow for that, THEN once rehabilitated, allow them to start to become citizens, which they need to do whatever everyone else coming to this country needs to do.

Once you get the border secured, and get the immigration problem solved, move on to the next biggest problem. Over-spending by our government. We need to have a zero-based budget. If you take in $1.7 trillion in tax revenues, you get to spend $1.7 trillion in programs. You need to keep the promises that you’ve made years ago to Senior Citizens to not screw with Social Security or Medicare or Medicaid. Those are the faults of Democrats, and they need to lose the chance to expand or maintain other social programs because those come first. Passing a balanced budget amendment is the way to do this and Republicans need to do it. It would have caused Biden not to overspend us into the current poor economy we have.

Next up they can tackle the crime problem in this country. And you don’t do it by making laws tougher. You do it by enforcing the laws already on the books. If a District Attorney decides that they aren’t going to hold somebody with priors but will release them with “cashless bail”, they will be fined $10,000 a day for each instance and each day. They’ll get the message when they don’t get a paycheck. You allow judges to judge, and if they are too lenient on the criminals that have been found guilty, you do the same to them.

NOW, if you want to go after Hunter Biden, hold your hearings. If you want to impeach Alejandro Mayorkis, do it only if a) you’ve accomplished the three things I’ve listed, and b) you have the votes to actually take him out of office. Then you can go ahead and charge him with breaking federal law by allowing illegals to stream into this country. You want to hold hearings on other liberal issues? Fine, get your work done first. Forget about crappy party politics. Fix what’s wrong with this country, or get out of town and resign your positions. It’s that simple.

If the Republican party wants to maintain it’s hold on Congress, and expand it to the Senate, they have to show the American people that they can be trusted to do the thing that got them there in the first place. We were tired of seeing Nancy Pelosi with her idiotic ideas and laughable press conferences. So we are replacing the Democrats. If we think the Republicans are doing a good enough job in the House, it only gives us more reason to reward them with the Senate. And if we start passing bills that get vetoed by a Democrat president, it only gives more impetus to show the world you need a Republican at the Resolute Desk.

IF, and I realize that’s a HUGE if, the Republicans were to do those three things before they tackle any partisan investigations, they will be rewarded. If they want to fall in step with the Democrats and do meaningless hearings that amount to nothing, that the American people could give a damn about and nothing ever happens to the person anyway, go right ahead, and come 2024, you’ll be sitting in the minority again.

Carry on world…you’re dismissed!