It was September of 2007 when George W Bush sat behind his oval office desk and signed into law the Fiscal Year 2008 Federal Budget. Exactly eight years ago.
It has now been eight consecutive years without a federal budget. Eight consecutive years of debt ceiling increases, continuing resolutions to fund government, threats of shut-downs and the insufferable back-and-forth blame.

But this year is different. You see for this budgetary year (constructed in ’15 for fiscal year 2016) the Republicans hold significant majorities in both the House and the Senate. And for those of you who don’t pay as close attention to these things, the fiscal year starts on October 1st.

Yeah, exactly a week from now !

… and yet we have NO BUDGET. Why?
Well, the honest answer to that question is what scares the hell out of the Professional Republican party. We have no federal budget this year, because, just like the Democrat party, the GOP doesn’t want a federal budget. (more…)

A ruling this morning from the Wisconsin Supreme Court (read here), rendered official what observers have long known for a long time:

Wisconsin Democrats did, in fact, launch a massive, multi-county “John Doe” investigation of the state’s conservatives, featuring extraordinarily broad subpoenas and coordinated “paramilitary” raids of private homes; the “crimes” that provided the investigation’s pretext were not crimes at all, but First Amendment-protected speech; and the legal theory underpinning the investigation was bunk, “unsupported in either reason or law,” as the court put it.

[…] On October 3, 2013, multiple Wisconsin conservatives were awakened by a persistent pounding on the door, their houses were illuminated by floodlights, and police — sometimes with guns drawn — poured into their homes. Once inside, the investigators turned the private residences of these innocent conservative citizens “upside down,” seeking an extraordinarily broad range of documents and information. These raids were supplemented by subpoenas that secured for investigators massive amounts of electronic information.

The court was obviously disturbed: (more…)

Don’t forget, we have Senator Orrin Hatch because Representative Jason Chaffetz took Tom Donohue’s 2011 Chamber of Commerce bribery money and agreed not to challenge Hatch in Utah’s 2012 primary (state delegate convention, not election). In addition to significant amounts of cash, Chaffetz was also promised establishment perks, a House GOP leadership position, and key chairmanship in exchange for his collaboration.  

All these historical Decepticon (establishment Republican) maneuvers are achieving their intended goals.  It’s very frustrating to watch play out against the backdrop of us being called wing-nuts by other “conservatives” for the past 8 years, for predicting it..  Nuts !

WASHINGTON DC – Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) on Thursday praised Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts as a “remarkable” and “tremendous” jurist who wrote a “clever” opinion upholding a key provision of ObamaCare.

“All I can say is that the chief justice is a remarkable judge. He’s a tremendous human being. I have a tremendous confidence in him and I believe in him. I differ with him on this opinion,” Hatch said from the Senate floor. “On the other hand, it is a very clever opinion, and I have to say only a clever judge could have written it as well.”

Roberts authored the 6-3 decision handed down earlier Thursday that upheld federal healthcare insurance subsides under the Affordable Care Act. The ruling is a major victory for the Obama administration. (more…)

Tell me again what benefit there was to re-electing Mitch McConnell, or giving Republicans the victory in the Senate?

Trade Promotion Authority or TPA contains fast-track provisions would allow Congress, under strict timelines, to consider trade deals with a simple up-or-down vote without any amendments or requirements of a Senate super-majority to end debate.
This would grant new power to the executive branch and reduce congressional ability to modify of block the TPP bill itself.  Obviously this would help Obama complete the final details of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), with the other 11 nations, a bloc that represents about 40 percent of the global economy.

(Via Washington Post)  President Obama won a big victory for his trade agenda Friday with the Senate’s approval of fast-track legislation that could make it easier for him to complete a wide-ranging trade deal that would include 11 Pacific Rim nations.

A coalition of 48 Senate Republicans and 14 Democrats voted for Trade Promotion Authority late Friday, sending the legislation to a difficult fight in the House, where it faces more entrenched opposition from Democrats.

(more…)

If, like many of us, you are deep in the weeds in your understanding of the issues around Benghazi, the 2010 Arab Spring (Tunis, Egypt, Libya, Syria, Bahrain, Yemen), or the CIA operation “Zero Footprint” in Libya and the follow-up operation in Syria, you will enjoy this interview with former Panetta/Petraeus replacement Mike Morell.
Or, if you have a cursory understanding of events, this interview might spur you toward further research.  “The Benghazi Brief” – Regardless of your current level of understanding behind events of the past 7+ years, this interview is well constructed.
Bret Baier has done his homework, and in a refreshing and surprising manner you can see how Baier is able to cut through the distracting ‘talking points’ (no pun intended), and draw out the reality of what lies behind Morell and his foundational motives.

(Via Breitbart) In its indictment of Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ) and Dr. Salomon Melgen, a Florida opthalmologist, the Department of Justice cites Melgen’s $600,000 donation to Senator Harry Reid’s (D-NV) Senate Majority PAC in 2012.

That money, the feds charge, was earmarked for the successful re-election of Menendez, and was part of “hundreds of thousands of dollars and contributions to entities that benefitted MENENDEZ’s 2012 Senate campaign, in exchange for specific requested exercises of MENENDEZ’s official authority.”

The indictment makes no mention of the additional $100,000 Melgen contributed to the Senate Majority PAC a mere two weeks before Reid arranged an August 2, 2012 meeting among himself, Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius, and Menendez. (more…)

The insufferable GOP had better knock off using the Clinton email controversy to attack. If the GOP is not careful the substance of the Hillary manipulation and deception will be lost amid the MSM talking points of the controversy merely being a Republican partisan attack.

Framing her defense that way has already protected her Benghazi Scandal from the sunlight of congressional inquiry, and more importantly a public understanding the issues at hand.

A far better approach would be simple questions to people like John “Skippy” Podesta, Admiral Mullen and the ARB authors, about how long they have known that Secretary Clinton was using a personal email account to conduct official U.S. State Dept business.

Get them all on record, then follow-up with a blistering series of “why” questions.

Oh, what a tangled web is weaved….

The IRS inspector general, tasked with the internal IRS investigation, reveals to House Oversight Committee that the IRS withheld the documents showing the existence of the back-up tapes which contain internal IRS email communication, thought to contain the missing Lois Lerner emails.

Watch Jim Jordan:

All of this, ALL OF THIS, is because the IRS is trying desperately to hide the chain of communication showing the IRS and Senior White House administration officials , specifically Jack Lew, creating a scheme to target political opposition.

The evidence so far showcases a chain of communication from the initial discussion with the Obama Administration toward the IRS and Dept of Justice.

As a result of that strategy planning, the DOJ and IRS formulated a plan to use 501(c)(4) applications and tax filings to pull out the attached “Schedule B’s” – which are the forms listing the groups sponsors (individuals and organizations).

Those “Schedule B” lists were then assembled into a SECRET TARGETING LIST. The DOJ then used the “targeting list” (the DOJ Secret Research List) to send forth various compliance and regulatory agencies to audit, review and inspect the activity of those on the list.

The regulatory agencies sent by the DOJ included: OSHA, ATF, FBI, EPA and Labor Dept. (perhaps more) who then put targeted individuals, groups and businesses through the rigorous inspection of regulation and compliance. In short the weaponization of government against them.

…..THIS, ULTIMATELY, IS WHAT THEY (White House, IRS and DOJ) ARE TRYING TO HIDE.

Aaron Schock should resign from congress, but not specifically because of any controversy regarding his ridiculous outlandish spending that the MSM has recently sought to bring to the attention of the public. No, Schock should resign because he has compromised himself at the altar of the GOP establishment, the “Decepticons”.

We have repeatedly outlined the agenda of the professional establishment class of BIG GOP Republicans, the false constituency within the conservative movement that advances government at the same or similar rate to Democrats, hence the term “Decepticons”.

In a brilliant bit of investigative reporting, utilized only to attack ideological adversaries, the Associated Press found the trail to lavish indulgences afforded to Aaron Shock as a result of his compromise:

[…] The AP tracked Schock’s reliance on the aircraft partly through the congressman’s penchant for uploading pictures and videos of himself to his Instagram account. The AP extracted location data associated with each image then correlated it with flight records showing airport stopovers and expenses later billed for air travel against Schock’s office and campaign records. (link)

The AP report outlines the extravagant lifestyle of a GOP representative who makes a decision, a specific and intentional decision, to engage in the alluring comforts of Karl Rove’s Decepticon class of BIG R donors. The extent of the extravagance is well worth the read. (more…)

Typical Democrat. Buried deep inside a Politico article -outlining a possibility of Debbie Wasserman-Schultz running for a Senate seat- you find the following paragraph’s. Emphasis mine:

POLITICO […] Throughout her time as chair, Wasserman Schultz has turned off colleagues, other top Democrats and current and former staff for a management style that strikes many as self-centered — even for a politician — and often at the expense of the DNC or individual candidates or campaigns. Many top Democrats, including some she counts as supporters and friends, privately complain about her trying to use the DNC as a vehicle for her own personal promotion, and letting her own ambition get in the way of larger goals.

Wasserman Schultz has a different sense of herself. According to people who spoke with her, when she sensed Obama was considering replacing her as chair in 2013, she began to line up supporters to suggest the move was both anti-woman and anti-Semitic. Under fire last fall for her leadership, she took Obama’s decision not to remove her then as evidence of renewed strength and said she was confident no one could get her out of the DNC before her term is over at the beginning of 2017, according to sources who’ve spoken with her. (more)