battle – KenGeorge.org

Perceptions of the Trump Train

I like to think of myself as an observer. I watch, I read, I remember. I put my observations into “the big picture” and try to explain to myself what I see.

I was a very early supporter of Trump. When he came on the scene, I had already spent years studying and researching government. I saw the push toward globalism as a mistake. I saw the stagnant economy being orchestrated by special interests. And I saw the destruction of the middle class being done purposely. No politician, in my mind, could change the course we were on. Then came Trump and his blunt talk about immigration and trade. The two things that globalism has harnessed to advance its agenda. Oh sure, there are others, but these are the two biggies.

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I studied every issue, researched dozens of polls, looked at all the candidates, and came to an awful conclusion, that I pound all the time, as you probably know: Corruption is at the heart of all of America’s ills. From domestic spending to foreign policy, corruption drives all of government. Call it what you will….politics, the Deep State, K-Street lobbyists, or special interests….its corrupt, its unaccountable, and it appears to be unrepairable. Then came Trump…..a brash, uncouth braggart that claimed he could Make America Great Again. When I saw the reaction to Trump from so many, I immediately knew he would win. You see, Americans come in two flavors…..those that love America and those that hate America. The former is a majority, but the latter is growing from generation to generation. Those that love America, of course, have seen what has happened to the country. But its been like the proverbial frog in the pot being brought to a slow boil….we just haven’t noticed the heat being turned up. These folks, the lovers of America, wanted change. When George Bush senior was elected, they expected him to further Reagan’s policies. But I can tell you now, this is when it all began. The corruption, the globalism, and the shift in American status. When he didn’t live up to expectations he was thrown out. A new, fresh face, was elected to take over……as it turns out, one of the most corrupt individuals on the planet. His legacy was to institutionalize this corruption.

Let me stop here and explain something that my free trade friends never understood. Under Bill Clinton, we lived through some pretty good economic times. Clinton, to this day, gets credit for presiding over a robust economy. But did he? Yes, he did. But what is not understood, is our move to globalism had some terrific short-term benefits. You see, it didn’t start as a mass exodus of jobs, a loss of manufacturing, and profits held offshore. It started with lower prices. Los Angeles Port to Be Super-sized Millions of products were being shipped in at half the price of American made products. If you still had your job, you got a huge dividend……happy, happy, happy. But slowly, over time, government orchestrated the decline. I say orchestrated, because it was no accident that companies fled abroad. Unions were causing trouble, taxes were going up, regulations were out of control, and work ethic and worker demands were changing. Big business, who now looked at America as a market rather than a home, began the change. With massive government help, the multi-national was born. Companies, that their only interest is to make money and increase value, and to do it wherever and however they can, took over government. The slow boil had begun. Even when Obama came on the scene and ran for president, both flavors of Americans still wanted the change that Reagan had started. A strong, free market economy, a world super power, and a country based on its founding principles of honesty, hard work, and freedom. Obama promised “change”. obama trump The word itself was the right word. It appealed to the lovers of America, because it was what they saw as necessary. But it also appealed to the haters, as they saw it completely differently. While the former saw it as a return to ethics and accountability, the latter saw it as a social renaissance . An empowering of every minority group that expressed a grievance. For the most part, too many lovers of America ignored the past of Obama. They saw only that he was black and wanted the same things they did, and gave him their trust. Well, it not only didn’t work out for them, Obama was just as corrupt, just as supportive of the globalist’ agenda, and the change he promised was cultural, not economic.

Americans are still looking for change….at least the group that still loves this country. They are accused of wanting to return to some by gone era that no longer can be achieved….that globalism is here to stay and the culture must change with the times.

Trump!

So here comes Trump telling us he can give us that change. Of course he would get elected! After 8 years of Obama, a cultural apocalypse, and an economic malaise so destructive, the middle class has all but collapsed. Like all Americans that love this country, Trump saw the same things we all did. Immigration out of control, companies fleeing America, trade deficits at sustained, unprecedented levels, a foreign policy in retreat, radical Islam spreading, and yes, the swamp. In general, America in decline. Trump articulated the things we had been thinking and saying for years. Things must change. The same change that Reagan started and the last 4 presidents tried to stop. trump rally

But Trump did more than articulate. He spoke bluntly and without any political consideration. He spoke like a real person, like any one of us……the lovers of America! I must say, however, there is one thing that stands far above everything else, for me, when it comes to Trump. That is that he was truly honest. He had no ax to grind….he was rich. He had no special interests to satisfy…..he used his own money. He didn’t play political games…..he wasn’t a politician. This brings me to what I have observed. Trump enjoyed a very loyal, supportive base, of 30-35% of Americans. He also was trusted by another 20% that, like the base. wanted that change. So where are we now?

Trump’s support of 50-55% has fractured. There are still plenty of supporters, but some are beginning to show unsteadiness. That said, I suspect that many of these shaky supporters were never strong supporters in the first place. I don’t mean this in a critical way, but truly, they were looking for miracles. Before the election many of these were NeverTrumpers, Cruz At the 2013 Values Voter Summit. supporters, or libertarians that swallowed hard when he won, and waited. I saw it, personally. Republicans reluctantly admitting that Trump was doing conservative things and pushing for conservative policies. I say reluctantly, because they took every opportunity to find fault. Nothing was ever good enough. To this brand of supporter, short of a new American Revolution…..unless a full return to the constitution was implemented immediately, nothing could be accepted, no matter who was president. Then there’s the free traders I mentioned earlier. They still believe Globalism and free trade are synonymous. They think that globalism was and is inevitable and that we need to adapt. They accuse Trump of being an isolationist because he wants better trade deals. This leads them to conclude that Trump is stupid and out of touch. we the people Then there’s the supporter that looks at the presidency as a dictatorship. That a president should be able to get anything accomplished, after all, Obama didn’t seem to have any trouble getting his agenda implemented? Let me say this about the president. Undoubtedly, the POTUS has a lot of power. But it is far from unlimited. Unlike what the constitution outlines as presidential power, the president has the power given to him by the special interests. Does that sound like something you doubt? Of course you do. How can you make yourself believe that special interests literally control the president? Because they control the congress and the bureaucracy, thus limiting the president or empowering the president, whenever that power is needed to implement one of those special interests. Take for example Healthcare. Obama wanted to implement a national healthcare system, in 2008. Something every Republican opposed. So why do we have the ACA? Was it because a few Republicans made deals with their vote as we were told….or was it that the special interests wanted the very thing they said they opposed? Then fast forward…..why can’t it be repealed? The Republicans say they oppose it, but can’t get it done. Why? Because the special interests don’t want it repealed. So see this clearly……one president wants something nobody wants but gets it written into law, while another president wants to end it, which everybody wants, but can’t get it done. You need to see this for what it is. This is how the system works for every issue in America, of any consequence. But I digress. So many of Trump supporters can’t understand why he can’t get the ACA repealed…that he should be able to make deals like Obama did…..he should use the Bully Pulpit to convince the American people….yadda, yadda, yadda! This demonstrates the naivety of many Americans. They still haven’t grasped the premise that the government is absolutely corrupt. So they blame Trump. For Trump, its like trying to write a letter, with your hands tied behind your back. He is trying to work within the rules, while the cogs in congress are being turned by the engine of corruption. Finally, there are people who are just impatient for change that they were promised. They sit back, do nothing, and expect Trump….all by himself….will fix everything. They criticize everything he does, they say he’s not keeping his promises, they treat him like any other politician…but Trump is not that. Trump is like any one of us, only much smarter. He knows what the lovers of America want and is doing everything in his power to get us there. We must stay with him and we must stay focused on the corruption….speaking out often to make sure congress knows we know. Read the rest of my blog if you have any doubts….my 11 part series on the Clinton Foundation…..my three part series on the Uranium One scandal…..or the two-part essay on the deep state. It’s all there…..wrap yourself in the facts and spread them. I recently had the opportunity to talk to Congressman Jim Jordan about the Clinton Foundation. He asked me to send him what I had….I did. Will it matter? Probably not. He says the right things, seems sincere…but still no action. It will take thousands of us doing this to have an impact. But even then, we are up against more money than can even be imagined, and if you have learned anything about life as you make your walk through it….MONEY DRIVES EVERYTHING! Period!

Let me address one current news item that will come to demonstrate how far the corrupt government will go to stay in power and maintain the status quo. Recently, Judge Roy Moore, won the republican primary in Alabama. He defeated Mo Brooks, a sitting congressman, and Luther Strange, the republican establishment’ selection. He won fair and square in a deep red state, with a large majority of lovers of America. I could almost hear the voters words as they made their choice…..Mo Brooks is a politician…Nope!, Luther Strange is the establishment….Nope! Roy Moore….a long serving, principled judge, who absolutely loves America. Yes! Money flowed into Luther’s coffers…but it wasn’t enough. Now what I want you to see is how to look at what happened next in the context of corruption. First, you have to understand something. The republican congress hates being in the majority. At least, today, with Trump as president. You see, it was good when Obama was president because he could block whatever they did, same with the democrats…..when they had the majority and Obama was president, they too failed to move the people’s agenda. That’s how it works. They blame the other party for their perceived failures, when really they didn’t fail, everything went according to plan. They want and have adapted to a divided government. It allows them to blather on about doing the people’s work, while they continue to serve their masters……the big money special interests. But what does this have to do with Roy Moore, you ask? Everything. right AFTER Moore wins the primary, a poll comes out showing him with a 17 point lead over the democrat in the upcoming special election in December. All through the primary, the establishment told the voters that Moore couldn’t win against the democrat….then why is he 17 points up? luthor strange Time to take him down. Out comes the accusations, from so long ago that nothing could be proven one way or the other….a classic she said he said. But what is telling is that 15 minutes after the allegations were made a bevy of sitting republican senators felt compelled to weigh in and try, convict, and sentence Roy Moore to oblivion. The calls for his stepping aside were thunderous…from the right! But think of this: Senator Menendez is on trial for corruption and pedophilia and not a peep from anyone that he should resign. In fact, they’ve been trying to figure out how they can get his vote back in the senate. If that’s all there was you might just call it hypocrisy, but there’s more. The senate recently put forward their tax “reform” plan. I put reform in quotes because this is far, far from tax reform…but that’s another story. In this tax plan, the corporate tax rate has been lowered from 35% to 20%. Almost everyone agrees that this is needed. Great! Then why does McConnell insist pushing it back until 2019, after the midterm elections? Because he fully expects and wants to lose the majority in the senate. This will allow the democrats to block this tax reform, so everything can stay the same. Once again democrats and republicans working to maintain the status quo. But now you question me….if everybody wants this, why would he want to stop it? Just like the ACA, everybody wants it but the special interests. In this case, the giant multi-national corporations. Think of this. The multi-nationals like Wal-Mart, Microsoft, Apple, Dow, and dozens of others are making gazillions of dollars with the tax system we have. They pay almost no taxes, meet no regulations and pay no high labor rates. Meanwhile, all your American competitors are strapped with all those things. If you think about it….as I have….its beautiful. What a great strategy. Once they lose the senate, Trump will become neutralized for the most part. They then can campaign on Trump’s inability to keep any of his promises in 2020, and be rid of him in January of 2021. The establishment wins. And you can bet your ass, that they are working right now on a plan to make sure what happened in 2016, never happens again.
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I hope you can see from this example, just how politics and money has destroyed our democracy. Our government no longer works to protect our rights or serve our needs. It simply is a product to be bought by those with the most money.

Rest assured I will continue to do my research and present the facts to anyone that will listen. But I am not hopeful that we can change anything. We’ve changed the people, we’ve changed the party, we’ve protested, campaigned, called, written, posted, and complained. But still, nothing changes. There was a time when right here I would right: “Not until we……”, but I just can’t do it. There is nothing we can do as a people who can change things short of revolution….but even that might not be enough. Its one thing to fight a government that’s corrupt and tyrannical….its quite another to fight 50% of the population that thinks everything is perfect and should continue….the rubes on the left that can’t find their ass in a snow storm with two hands. Our best hope is to stay on the Trump Train, pick up as many stragglers as we can and ride that train for as long as we can. Trump is doing his part….we have to do ours.

The Filibuster

Relevant information for making a decision

senate I recently wrote on FB, about the vast amount of misinformation spanning the internet, especially by well-intentioned conservatives that voice their opinions without having the needed information to formulate the proper understanding of an issue. Trust me when I say this is a natural reaction to highly charged and important stuff, but when opinions are formulated based on misinformation and a lack of understanding, it can hurt the things we hope to accomplish.

I have always been about educating my friends to the best of my ability. I make every effort to read and understand things and then report back as to what I learned, hoping to build a valuable knowledge base amongst conservatives…..and if a liberal has a desire to learn…all the much better.

As you might have guessed by now, this is mostly about the recent debate about the proposed healthcare reform bill, backed by Trump and blocked in the House by the Freedom Caucus and some moderate members of the Tuesday Group. Over the past two weeks there has been much said and debated about the AHCA (American Health Care Act). I wrote hundreds of comments and made dozens of posts explaining the reasons why we should have gotten behind it as republicans. This is when I was bombarded with the misinformation I spoke about yesterday on my FB page. So I asked 5 questions that highlighted that misinformation. So here, I wanted to provide what I know about these issues and simply help others to understand. Here’s what I posted on FB:

“If there’s anything I have discovered over the last two weeks is that there is more mis-information out there than there are facts….this cannot be disputed. When I say misinformation, I mean the repeating, posting, and commenting on subjects that the commenter has little or no knowledge of the subject. It has been said that “opinions are like assholes, everybody has one!” But uneducated opinions can be dangerous.

What I would like to do is illustrate this idea with a series… of questions. If you would just answer yes or no, without explaining, I would appreciate it. I will deal with the subject later….right now I just want to know how many of my FB friends will be honest in what they think they know I’ll start with just 5 questions….just write
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Then place a Y or N next to the number. I will compile the responses, and then ask for some details. Here are the 5 questions:

1. Do you understand how a filibuster works, where it came from, and how it can be ended on a single vote and how it can be eliminated as a senate rule? (nuclear option)
2. Do you understand what regular order is, in the congress?
3. Do you understand reconciliation beyond the 51 vote provision?
4. Do you know the difference between majority rule and super majority rule?
5. As it applies to intelligence gathering do you know what the ‘gang of 8’ is?

My purpose is not to denigrate or embarrass just to educate…as is my role. If you feel you want to Google these things before you answer, that’s fine….you will be educated. I will explain these things next, at least what I know.”

I received a sufficient response to respond. Most troubling, however, was a response implying that Google is somehow a false source of information. It can be. But that said, Google is the greatest tool for learning mankind has ever created. Used properly, which is the key, one can learn anything they desire to learn, the information of thousands of teachers is at your finger tips.

So here’s what I know:
1. The FILIBUSTER
The filibuster was a tool that sort of creeped into the senate in the 19th century. It actually started as extending a debate in order to block further action on an issue. So to that end, a senator would talk and talk and talk, frustrating his colleagues until they went home, leaving the issue unsettled. At some point, someone decided there had to be a way to stop the debate. They came up with “cloture”. Cloture is a way to stop a debate. When cloture is called for, a vote is taken. At the beginning 2/3 (66) senators needed to vote yes to stop the debate. In 1975 two big changes were made to the rule (known as rule 22). They agreed to eliminate the need to speak continuously and they lowered the threshold to stop the filibuster to 3/5 (60). This is where it stood until 2013. If One senator decides he doesn’t want an issue to be voted on, he simply declares a filibuster, and no vote can be taken, effectively stopping the issue from getting through congress. Which brings me to 2013 and one piece of misinformation. It is said that Harry Reid, the then leader of the senate, used the nuclear option to end the filibuster. Not completely accurate. The make-up of the senate in 2013 was 53-45-2. A clear democrat majority, but far from the 60 needed to stop a filibuster. Reid threatened to use the “nuclear option” (I’ll get to what that is in a minute). The issue was federal judges. At the time there were hundreds of Obama appointees, waiting for confirmation from the senate. The republicans were blocking all of them with a filibuster.

When Reid threatened to end the filibuster, the gang of 16 was created to stop Reid, yet get those federal judges confirmed. Since there were 8 democrats and 8 republicans in the gang of 16, if they agreed, they could stop a filibuster and get the judges confirmed. If the 8 republicans voted with the democrats they could stop the filibuster. If the 8 democrats voted with the republicans they could defeat any nominee from being confirmed. So an agreement was struck. The filibuster would be changed. All appointments made by a president, except to the Supreme Court, would no longer be able to be filibustered. A simple majority was to be used. So over 300 federal judges were confirmed that were appointed by Obama. But the filibuster was saved and still available for regular legislation and the selection of Supreme Court justices. The nuclear option was avoided.

So what is the nuclear option? In the constitution under Article 3, it gives the senate the power to “make its own rules”. The filibuster rule, 22, is one of those rules. But can the senate make any rule it wants? This is a debatable point, but I contend that they can’t. Any rule certainly would have to comply with the constitution itself. For example, could the senate make a rule that said only men could be on committees? Obviously this would be contrary to the 1st and 14th amendments, and would be unconstitutional. So the so-called nuclear option, or as it is also called the constitutional option, is the declaring of the filibuster, by the president of the senate, to be unconstitutional. If this is done, a vote is held on the motion, and a simple majority is needed to uphold the motion. This effectively ends the filibuster…..but permanently. You see, if a senate rule is changed, it effectively sets a precedent in constitutional jurist prudence. The rule could never be brought back. Congress would revert back to where it started, with simple majority rule. I have to say that this would be a huge step. The minority would no longer be protected by the senate. A majority could now easily roll over all opposition to its objections. The filibuster is the only tool, other than the constitution that protects the minority interests in the country. The vote, would be the only tool left to protect minority interests. But I would be remiss if I didn’t include the 17th amendment in this discussion. You see the constitution originally gave state legislatures the power to choose senators. This gave states a lot of control over their senators. States able to elect local people to their state house, could expect a US Senator that would protect their interests. If they didn’t, the state legislature could replace them. Today, senators are elected directly by the people, per the 17th amendment, leaving no recourse for change, other that the ballot box. This change can certainly be debatable, but senators are now more accountable to party rather than the people of their state. This change in the way senators are selected, made the filibuster a much more important tool and created the adversarial situation we have today. It leaves open the argument of did the founders intend a simple majority to enact legislation or a super majority of 60 votes? I’ll get into that in question 4.

So what does all this have to do with the AHCA and misinformation? If I heard it once, I heard it a thousand times…….”REPEAL OBAMACARE!” Over and over FB posts and comments asking for repeal…simply repeal it. Even House members and senators going on TV and claiming they promised a full repeal…..repeal first! they said. Well….the AHCA was not immune from a filibuster in the senate, which a full repeal would have brought, as sure as Obama vetoed the 2015 bill that called for a partial repeal. There was only one way around the filibuster if a full repeal bill was sent to the senate…..ending the filibuster for ever.

I get that there are those that think this would be a good idea, and even I am on the fence……but the filibuster has helped block nutty liberals and progressive majorities for a long time. Republicans were able to block a lot of Obama legislation during his tenure. For sure, they were doing it when it was convenient for their special interests, but that’s corruption and that’s a whole other discussion. Personally, I think ending the filibuster would be a mistake, because just imagine a democrat majority in congress and a democrat president like Obama again. Any legislation could be enacted as long as it passed constitutional muster, which, in case you haven’t noticed, the courts have been packed with leftist, activist judges. This is why the republicans are prepared to end the filibuster to get Gorsuch confirmed to the Supreme Court. In the scenario I just portrayed, the Supreme Court would be the only tool left to stop leftists policies from being enacted. His confirmation would maintain the court’s conservative slant, at least for a while. The next three justices to leave the bench are all liberal leaning activist types. Again these vacancies will be occurring easily within the next few years. As long as republicans have control of the senate, and the filibuster is gone, the court will shift right for a generation. Even if the democrats regained control within the next few years, there would be no change. So today…it makes sense to eliminate it. But in the future it could be a terrible choice. At minimum, if the filibuster is ended, we can rest assured that the court will not change in the foreseeable future.

To sum up……The AHCA would have been filibustered in the senate, if it was a full repeal of the Affordable Care Act. So the AHCA was created to get the bill through the senate and avoid a filibuster.

The Battle Continues

We must win the fight against the progressives!

An essay from my great friend Robert Surgenor. Robert is a retired detective, long time police officer, author, photographer, and IT expert who is a true American conservative and patriot. He sees the problems of America through the eyes of common sense. I am proud to include his latest essay on my blog.
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Buckle up folks. Many of you are aware of what I am about to say, but many are clueless as to what is happening in our political world right now.

If we lose the fight I am about to describe, the United States of America will cease to exist as a free nation designed by our forefathers as a representative republic that provides opportunities and freedoms that no other country has ever experienced in the history of the word.

The progressive socialistic movement in this country has been taking baby steps for years to take control of our government. Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, and Barack Obama all took steps to rip the control of our government from “We The People” and to transfer that authority to themselves. They had grand plans to complete their mission with the election of Hillary Clinton. They miscalculated the will of We The People, and the tenacity of Donald Trump.

But it didn’t take long for the progressive movement to regroup. Barack Obama has set up headquarters in Washington. There is overwhelming evidence that there is a network of noted liberal leaders working together in what could be described as a “shadow government.” And the major objective of this organization is to disrupt and destroy the efforts of Donald Trump.

The progressive liberals hate conservatism. And they are dedicated to destroying it. They believe an unborn baby can be murdered. The conservative movement is a threat to that activity. They believe that men should be allowed to marry men. The conservative movement believes otherwise. They believe that the hard earned dollars of the working man should be given to people who don’t work. Conservatives believe that a person should be allowed to keep what they earn, and if you can work and don’t, you don’t live. Both classic and social liberalism are a threat to conservatism.

The liberals are busy disrupting the town meetings being held by the Republicans. They want to make it appear that conservatives are unhappy with Trump. Closet liberals, like John Boehner are making public statements to discredit Trump and his desire to dismantle Obamacare. Nancy Pelosi and Chuck You Schumer spend hours in front of the news cameras lying to the American people about Donald Trumps’s objectives. Elizabeth Warren has been seen screeching about how she is single handedly going to stop Donald Trump from building his wall. Inside the Trump administration, Obama appointees, still working in many of the numerous departments within the government, are leaking secret information to the media and throwing roadblocks in the way of progress that Trumps hopes to accomplish.

The swamp is much deeper and more dangerous that anyone imagined. There are citizen activists that want to destroy Trump. There are Democratic elected officials that want to destroy Trump. There are Republican elected officials that want to destroy Trump.

We The People had better become engaged in this conflict. If we lose, America will no longer exist. Seriously!