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NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION

50 STATES AND DC, CONGRESS AND THE PRESIDENT

House Republicans seek Jan. 6 treatment for Bowman over fire alarm

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2023/oct/1/house-republicans-want-jamaal-bowman-be-given-jan-/

House Republicans want Rep. Jamaal Bowman, who admitted he pulled a Capitol building’s fire alarm hours before a possible government shutdown, to get the same justice as the Jan. 6 protesters got for their 2021 breach of the Capitol to obstruct official business.

Mr. Bowman, New York Democrat, said in a statement Saturday night that he pulled a Cannon House Office Building fire alarm because he was “rushing to make a vote” and thought that activating the alarm would open a nearby door.

“I came to a door that is usually open for votes but today would not open,” he said. “I am embarrassed to admit that I activated the fire alarm, mistakenly thinking it would open the door,” he said.

The alarm’s going off led to an evacuation of the building while police checked for a threat.

It was not clear Sunday whether Mr. Bowman’s setting off the alarm specifically delayed Saturday evening’s House vote on a Republican spending bill to keep the government from shutting down. But it theoretically could have and it unquestionably came while other Democrats were using numerous parliamentary tactics to delay a vote.

“I regret this and sincerely apologize for any confusion this caused. But I want to be very clear, this was not me, in any way, trying to delay any vote,” Mr. Bowman said. “It was the exact opposite — I was trying urgently to get to a vote, which I ultimately did.”

Mr. Bowman said he also met with the Sergeant at Arms and the Capitol Police, at their request, and explained what had happened.

86% Of Americans Want Gov’t Spending Cuts, Including Most Democrats: I&I/TIPP Poll Terry Jones

https://issuesinsights.com/2023/10/02/86-of-americans-want-govt-spending-cuts-including-most-democrats-ii-tipp-poll/

The government narrowly avoided closing after Congress came to a last-minute, short-term political deal to keep it open for another 45 days. With soaring spending and exploding federal debt, the latest partisan dispute was inevitable. But Americans have a clear retort, according to the latest I&I/TIPP Poll: Regardless of party, they want cuts in federal spending, and blame our dangerously soaring debt on Congress’s failure to do so.

The national online poll of 1,378 Americans, taken from Sept. 27-29, asked respondents two questions related to the current budget impasse. The first: “The national debt has exceeded $33 trillion. What do you believe bears the primary responsibility for this situation?”

The message from the poll, which has a margin of error of +/-2.7 percentage points, was clear: Overall, 66% blamed surging debt on “excessive government spending,” followed by “insufficient taxation” (13%), “slow economic growth” (11%) and “unsure” (9%).

Concerning the Fate of Our Nation by Lawrence Kadish

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/20002/concerning-the-fate-of-our-nation

It appears the Federal Reserve is playing Russian roulette with our nation’s interest rates.

JPMorgan Chase’s Jamie Dimon has looked at the potential future of Fed actions and is deeply concerned that it could raise rates as high as 7%. A Bloomberg News report observed:

“If the key rate climbed to 7%, it would have serious implications for American businesses and consumers. Already, economists put the probability of a US recession over the next 12 months at 60%.”

Suggested Plan of Action by U.S. Congress:

A comprehensive “Made in America Policy” to advance and encourage construction projects and job creation, science and medical research; with incentives such as tax credits, bonus depreciation and low-interest mortgages for first-time home buyers and low-cost housing developments.
Restore energy independence, with America as an energy-exporting nation.
Eliminate pork-barrel spending to reduce our $33 trillion national debt and related interest expenses.
Bribery payoffs, dark money and other criminality should be prosecuted.
Ballot bandits and ballot-harvesting are unlawful enterprises, and offenders should be held accountable.
Engage the U.S. military to reverse open borders policies. Mexico and drug cartels should be held accountable for fentanyl deaths and the invasion of illegal immigrants.

Lawrence Kadish serves on the Board of Governors of Gatestone Institute.

The American status quo as we edge from summer to fall By Molly Slag

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2023/09/the_american_status_quo_as_we_edge_from_summer_to_fall.html

As we segue from the Month of the Autumn Leaf into the Month of the Pumpkin, let us contemplate a brief sketch of the status quo we face, in national defense, internationally, and domestically. And if some of these strike you as far-fetched, remember that, a mere decade ago, all of them would have struck you as far-fetched.

(1) National defense:

(a) We are at war with Russia, using Ukraine as our proxy.

(b) We are at war with China, although it has not yet become kinetic.

(c) China is preparing to invade Taiwan.

(d) China and Russia both have hypersonic missiles. We do not:

These weapons can attack with extreme speed, be launched from great distances, and evade most air defenses. They can carry conventional explosives or nuclear warheads. These weapons combine speed with the ability to fly at low altitudes and maneuver in flight, making them more difficult to spot by radar or satellite. That makes them almost impossible to intercept with current anti-missile systems. In a battle in the South China Sea, Beijing could use hypersonic missiles to more than double its reach, leaving U.S. ships in the region nearly defenseless, and could even strike Guam, home to thousands of U.S. troops and key military installations.

The Downfall of Ibram Kendi The left-wing racialist’s research center has collapsed. Christopher Rufo

https://christopherrufo.com/p/the-downfall-of-ibram-kendi

During the height of the debate on critical race theory, Ibram X. Kendi, the Boston University professor of “antiracism,” attacked my work on MSNBC and other outlets. In response, I penned an op-ed for the New York Post warning that Kendi was the “false prophet of a dangerous and lucrative faith.”  

Now, a prediction I made—that Kendi’s unpopular ideology and bogus research would fail—has proven true. According to news reports, Kendi accumulated more than $40 million for his Center for Antiracist Research at BU, produced virtually no research, and then laid off nearly half of his employees, who accordingly accused him of mismanaging funds, failing to deliver key projects, and mistreating his team. In the wake of these allegations, Boston University announced an official investigation.

As I explained to John Roberts on Fox News:

This is part of a pattern that we saw in 2020. We saw record donations to groups like Black Lives Matter, to groups like Ibram Kendi’s so-called Anti-Racism Center, and now fast-forward three years and what we have seen is the BLM organization, the leaders looted it and headed to the hills. They decamped to their mansions and left the organization in shambles. And now we have Ibram Kendi’s Antiracism Center, which is the most spectacular academic failure in many years. They hoovered up $40 million and produced almost no research.

This really is at the heart of this movement. It’s empty. It’s nihilistic.

Will Hollywood strike back? Writers have been reduced to stoop laborers BY David Mamet

https://unherd.com/2023/09/will-hollywood-strike-back/

In the Fifties, television destroyed radio, many of whose stars were themselves survivors of the death of vaudeville, and persisted through radio and into film: The Marx Brothers, W.C. Fields. And many of the first movie stars had come first from the music halls, such as Chaplin; Will Rogers became a movie star after his pre-eminence in vaudeville.

But the movie stars were contemptuous of the New Form, and hung back until the dam broke. (I recall casting discussions in New York in the Seventies themed: “Do you think he would consider doing a Movie of the Week…?”) Still, television and film rubbed on, misharnessed, until the current amalgamation. In 2013, I wrote and directed an HBO film, Phil Spector. On hearing of it, my young son said: “Dad, you’re doing a Made-For-TV Movie. That’s shameful.”

Now the new technology has, again, upset the applecart. Streaming has forever disrupted the old means of distribution, which, after all, is the determining factor in disseminating information — and, so, in determining content. Industrial production requires and rewards economies of scale and expenditure. The corporation buys in bulk, with neither time nor interest in that which one might call artistic integrity, which a comptroller, looking at numbers alone, could only understand as insubordination. The actually talented — those disposed and able to bring their idiosyncratic vision (art) to manufacturing — are as much of an obstruction as Chinese devotees of Feng Shui would be to the Hyundai production line. (To disrupt a production line is the original meaning of sabotage.)

There is a hopscotch effect in show business — it may be universal, but this is the only racket I know. The entrepreneurs and adventurers jump on the new thing. Some become successful, and the creators, actors, hucksters and thugs may exist in some sort of equilibrium until the tide turns.

With the coming of television, producers searched out the famous, to draw the viewers, but also hired the unknowns to work cheap. Early TV scripts were farmed out, one or several at a time, to individual writers (previously known as “writers”). There was a writers’ room, generally, only in comedy shows. No writers’ rooms were required for horse operas, and Warner Television churned them out on their lot, distinguishable only by their theme-songs. With the success of The Industry, land values increased. The movie lots — belonging to Paramount, Warners, Universal, Fox — cut down or eliminated the backlots where the films were made, turning them into cash. (Century City was the backlot of 20th Century Fox.)

Scale of Alleged Biden Foreign Influence Peddling Unprecedented in History of D.C. Corruption, Impeachment Witness Testifies Ryan Mills

https://www.nationalreview.com/news/scale-of-alleged-biden-foreign-influence-peddling-unprecedented-in-history-of-d-c-corruption-impeachment-witness-testifies/

George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley, testifying during the first House impeachment inquiry hearing into President Joe Biden, said Thursday that while Washington, D.C., is “awash” with influence peddling, the “size and complexity” of the allegations against Biden and his family are unprecedented.

House leaders, he said, have a “duty” to determine if the president was involved in a pay-to-play scheme.

Turley was one of four witnesses — three Republicans and one Democrat — who testified during the hearing. None of the people who testified were direct fact witnesses to any crimes or to an alleged Biden-family scheme.

Republicans claim that there is a mountain of evidence that Biden’s family members, including his son Hunter and brother James, enriched themselves by selling the “Biden brand,” access to Joe Biden when he was vice president and a candidate for president, to foreigners.

Representative Jim Jordan of Ohio called it a “tale as old as time” and the “oldest story in the world.”

Turley, who previously testified in the impeachments of presidents Bill Clinton and Donald Trump, said that comments by Hunter Biden and the “labyrinth of accounts and companies” used by the president’s family members to transfer money make the inquiry credible.

“The question is, did the president know? Did he encourage this type of corruption?” Turley said during questioning by Representative Glenn Grothman (R., Wis.). “You have to begin with the recognition that what Hunter Biden and his associates were doing was corrupt.”

Grothman asked Turley whether there was any precedent for the scale of foreign influence peddling Biden is alleged to have participated in.

“Influence peddling is the favorite form of corruption in Washington, D.C., and this city is awash in it,” Turley responded. “But have I seen anything of this size and complexity? No.”

Joe Biden’s so-called “Successful and Effective Presidency” Victor Davis Hanson

https://victorhanson.com/joe-bidens-so-called-successful-and-effective-presidency/

So, we are assured by David Ignatius that Biden has had such “a successful and effective” presidency that he must now step down, deprive us of his genius, and rest upon his laurels?

All of Biden’s initiatives now poll below 50 percent. Biden himself struggles to poll above 40 percent. That is no surprise given his record of governance.

Candidate Biden by design had told illegal aliens to come into the U.S. during the 2020 campaign. And they immediately took him up on it. Nearly eight million have now swarmed in, without background checks, medical exams, COVID vaccinations and testing, or any examination at all. We will deal with that disaster for decades to come.

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas was appointed to lie that the border was secure, on the expectation that his erasure of it altogether would not be impeachable, given political realities. So egregious were the arriving numbers and annihilation of U.S. immigration law, that even Democrats and leftists in Chicago and New York now want illegal aliens to go back to Texas (but not to Mexico), as they de facto redraw the U.S. border on Texas’s northern state boundaries.

We don’t dare call the Biden invitation to eight million, “The Great Replacement Theory” of altering the demography to ensure future leftwing voters. “They,” however, boast of just that agenda with slogans and book titles like “The New Democratic Majority” and “Demography is Destiny.”

Look at the interest rate, the inflation rate, and the price of gas and diesel since Biden took office and the squeeze explains why he does not poll 40 percent confidence on the economy. Ditto crime. The administration smiles as Soros-elected prosecutors downgrade felonies to misdemeanors, and misdemeanors to nothingness. The embarrassing lunacy of defunding the police is now rarely mentioned because police forces nationwide have been virtually defunded and even the Biden people are not happy with the scary results.

Senate Forces Fetterman to Wear Big Boy Pants, Passing a Formal Dress Code By Stephen Kruiser

https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/stephen-kruiser/2023/09/27/senate-forces-fetterman-to-wear-big-boy-pants-passing-a-formal-dress-code-n1730465

Our seemingly long national nightmare is over: Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) will no longer be able to dress like a homeless crackhead at work.

After Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) made a unilateral decision to relax the unwritten dress code to accommodate Pennsylvania’s most notorious outpatient, his colleagues decided to get it in writing.

CBSNews.com:

The U.S. Senate has passed a resolution formalizing business attire as the proper dress code for the floor of the chamber by unanimous consent.

This comes after Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer chose to stop enforcing the unwritten requirement, and Democratic Sen. John Fetterman’s casual dress became a flashpoint in the Capitol.

The bipartisan bill from Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Utah Republican Sen. Mitt Romney requires that members abide by a real dress code – rather than an unwritten custom – when on the Senate floor, that includes a coat, tie, and slacks for men.

“Though we’ve never had an official dress code, the events over the past week have made us all feel as though formalizing one is the right path forward,” Schumer said. “I deeply appreciate Senator Fetterman working with me to come to an agreement that we all find acceptable, and of course I appreciate Sen. Manchin and Sen. Romney’s leadership on this issue.”

Savor the moment, my fellow Americans, this may be the last reach-across-the-aisle, Kumbaya vote we see on either side of Capitol Hill for a while.

Biden’s Booby Trap For a Republican President Protecting bureaucracy instead of democracy. by Betsy McCaughey

https://www.frontpagemag.com/bidens-booby-trap-for-a-republican-president/

The Biden administration is setting a booby trap in case a Republican wins the presidency in 2024.

Last Friday, the White House unveiled a proposed rule that would make it even harder than in the past for an incoming Republican president to wrestle control of the left-leaning federal bureaucracy and actually implement the conservative policies promised to voters.

Of the 2.2 million federal civil workers, only 4,000 are presidential appointees. The rest stay in their jobs, from one administration to the next, protected by rules that make it nearly impossible to discipline or replace them.

They overwhelmingly favor the Left. A staggering 95% of unionized federal employees who donate to political candidates give to Democrats, according to Open Secrets. Only a tiny 5% support Republicans.

Some federal workers in high positions slow-walk or even derail a Republican president’s agenda — and get away with it.

Why bother to vote if the left-leaning deep state stays in charge no matter who wins the presidency?

GOP candidates Donald Trump, Vivek Ramaswamy and Ron DeSantis are vowing to conquer this obstructionism.

Everett Kelley, union president of the American Federation of Government Employees, claims GOP contenders want to “politicize routine government work.” Nonsense. We’re not talking about mail carriers. It’s time to make lawyers, PhDs and other top-level career bureaucrats implement the president’s agenda, not their own.

After Trump won in 2016, they went to town neutralizing him on almost every policy front, explains James Sherk, special assistant to the White House Domestic Policy Council under Trump.

Career lawyers in the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division flat out refused to challenge Yale University’s discrimination against Asian American applicants. Trump had to recruit lawyers from other divisions. After Joe Biden became president, the DOJ dropped the case. But the same career lawyers who refused to sue Yale made the losing argument in support of affirmative action before the U.S. Supreme Court.