DEVELOPING: More GOP Senators Could Defect in Impeachment Trial

Posted on January 27, 2020 by LifeZette

By David Kamioner | January 27, 2020

Respected political analyst Dr. Tim Blessing of Alvernia College in Pennsylvania has had a look at the Senate GOP caucus and how they may vote on witnesses in the impeachment trial.

“I did a count Friday night. The following are GOP Senators who have publicly left some air in their positions as per witnesses: Murkowski, Gardner, Ernst (though she appears to have walked hers back), Collins, Tillis (who also might be rethinking things), Portman, Inhofe (a bit of a surprise), Lankford (also a bit of a surprise), Toomey (who is quietly moving to a center position–but he cannot be re-elected if he does so), Alexander, Enzi, and Romney. I have no idea what Cruz is doing. If we get down in the weeds, some of these folks could switch.”

It’s a majority vote and current projections show that the Democrats only need to flip four GOP Senators in order to get witnesses.

If Dr. Blessing is right and witnesses are called to testify in the impeachment trial, this becomes an entirely different ordeal and one that could go in very strange directions.

LifeZette will provide additional updates as more information becomes available.

This piece originally appeared in LifeZette and is used by permission.

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Bolton Manuscript Leaked, Romney and Collins May Vote Against the President

Posted on January 27, 2020 by LifeZette

By David Kamioner | January 27, 2020

Reports out of DC, on the heels of the selective leaking of John Bolton’s new book, is that Republican Senators Mitt Romney of Utah and Susan Collins of Maine are likely to go south on the GOP trial process and vote to bring in witnesses.

If that happens the trial won’t be over by late this week/early next week. It could go on for weeks. If the duo votes against the president’s trial agenda the Dems would still need two more votes to win on the subject. They are targeting GOP Senators Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Lamar Alexander of Tennessee.

The pressure to vote for witnesses was ratcheted up over the weekend with leaks from John Bolton’s new book that claim that the president directly told Bolton that the delay in military aid to Ukraine was tied to Biden.

Bolton is using the same team and strategy as has James Comey and the leak was coordinated to coincide with the impeachment trial, a vote on witnesses and, most importantly to Bolton, the availability to preorder his book online.

But bringing on witnesses is a two-edged sword for the Dems. Yes, the Dems may get Bolton. But the GOP could call Joe Biden, Hunter Biden, Adam Schiff, and Eric Ciaramella. As spiritually satisfying at it would be to watch Jay Sekulow munch on their still warm legal carcasses for lunch, the sooner this charade is over is the sooner the president can get back to undistracted work and the Congress can get back to whatever it does on a daily basis aside from fundraisers and hitting on lobbyists.

Bolton’s move can not only be seen as revenge for being fired by Trump, but as another chapter in the intramural GOP fight over a Cold War national security stance or the America First approach of the president.

If Collins and Murkowski vote for witnesses it is likely to throw some meat to their moderate supporters. Alexander is a lame duck and can vote the way he chooses without electoral repercussions.

Though if he desires an appointment in a second Trump administration this would not be the way to get it. And then there’s Mittens.

This would be a way for him to play to the press and shiv Trump at the same time. Given Romney’s notorious sanctimony and ego, it may be a temptation he is unable to resist.

This piece originally appeared in LifeZette and is used by permission.

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Brazil’s ‘Trump’, President Jair Bolsonaro, Rises in New Poll

Posted on January 27, 2020 by LifeZette

By David Kamioner | January 27, 2020

It is rule of thumb that many conservatives who take over national leadership from failed liberals undergo a policy trial of fire before triumphing and winning a solid reelection.

Except Donald Trump. His policy and political victories seem to have started the day he took office. His trials, well, have been actual trials.

But Margaret Thatcher went through tough times and violent national labor strikes until good economic news and the Falklands War brought her landslide reelection in 1983.

Ronald Reagan went through his own economic crucible from 1981-1983 until a rising economy and a national security resurgence, typified by the successful Grenada operation, brought him his own massive win over a weak Democrat opposition in the 1984 presidential election.

Now, one of the two strongest conservative leaders in the Western hemisphere is in a similar situation. We know where Trump stands. But how about Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro?

Better than he was before.

Good numbers in a Wednesday CNT/MDA poll has the pugnacious president scoring well with Brazilians on fighting corruption, handling the economy, and stopping crime. 35% of his countrymen view his administration as great or good. That’s up from 30% in August. His detractors are at 31%, down from 39%.

His personal approval is at 48%, up from 41% in August. The other side sports 47%, down from 54%. The next presidential election is in 2022 and Bolsonaro leads his probable leftist opponent, a former president driven from office and jailed for corruption, by over ten points.

The Brazilian president’s main issue has been in comms. He just had to fire his cultural secretary for cribbing from Josef Goebbels, the Third Reich cultural minister, in a speech. But that’s mild compared to other missteps.

He once told a female political opponent, “I wouldn’t rape you because you don’t deserve it.” He later clarified, saying the female politician was “not worth raping; she is very ugly.”

On women in general, “I’ve got five kids but on the fifth I had a moment of weakness and it came out a woman.”

On those who betray national security, “I am in favor of torture, you know that. And the people are in favor of it as well.”

On gays, “I would be incapable of loving a homosexual son.”

I could go on. But you get the drift. The man makes Donald Trump look like Joy Behar.

However, voters all over the world care more about crime and the economy than they do about boneheaded statements. Bolsonaro like Trump, warts and all, looks like a good bet for eventual reelection.

This piece originally appeared in LifeZette and is used by permission.

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Trump Defense Goes for Broke on Monday

Posted on January 27, 2020 by LifeZette

By David Kamioner | January 27, 2020

Saturday saw the Trump defense team embarrass the Democrat House managers. With a carefully devised message and personality calibration they laid out their case in a concise yet powerful manner.

But Jay Sekulow, the Trump attack dog, said Saturday was but a mere preview. That sets a serious expectation level. What’s the movie going to look like? Here are some possible PR and legal scenarios.

The kitchen sink- The Democrats want it? They get it. After bringing up Hunter Biden and his dad repeatedly on Friday the Democrats have left the door open for the GOP team to walk right through it. Is it a trap? Will they pull a Battle of Cowpens? Unlikely.

It very well could be an invitation from the hard left of the Democrat party to do their dirty work for them and implicate Biden just before the Iowa caucuses.

Just as there are those who say the Pelosi delay was an effort to help Biden by keeping Sanders and Warren out of Iowa close to the election. Either way, Team Trump has said they’re going for it and the possible consequences are devastating for the Democrat legal team.

It will not be too hard to prove that this impeachment effort is but a distraction operation to set aside notice from a myriad number of Democrat scandals, the Bidens among them.

There is no there, there- Pat Cipollone’s team has already shown us this in an entertaining trailer. The main feature looks quite popcorn worthy. The basic premise is, where’s the crime? A phone call? A missed meeting? As Mike Purpura said, “There can’t be a quid pro quo without a quo.”

They could expose the big lie behind the entire Democrat case, that this is a political operation and not a legal argument. It is an attempt to refight the 2016 election by way of impeachment and Senate trial.

It will likely have the same outcome as that election: Donald Trump is the president.

Where is the victim? – If the Ukrainians say they felt no pressure and they didn’t even know about the defense aid delay during the time in question, just who exactly was victimized?

These and other gambits will be featured on Monday by Team Trump. It promises to be a good day for the president’s defense.

This piece originally appeared in LifeZette and is used by permission.

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Poll Gives Trump Best Economic Rating in Almost Twenty Years

Posted on January 27, 2020 by LifeZette

By David Kamioner | January 27, 2020

While the president takes a hit on some issues in a Sunday Fox News poll, the most important issue finds him in fine shape.

55% give him positive marks on the economy, easily the most vital issue to voters right now. That’s the best poll number on the economy since 1991. The poll breaks down mostly on partisan lines. His job approval remains at 45%.

However the president is underwater, sometimes just barely, on guns, immigration, foreign policy, health care, government spending, race relations, and the environment. Again, very partisan breakdowns.

The worst mark is on the bellwether question of how things are going in the country, 56% are dissatisfied. That number can bite hard.

Now this is no death knell for the president. Numbers come and go and he is in overall good shape. But those who think a Trump landslide is guaranteed better think again.

Could he get one in the Electoral College? It’s possible. But the variables that have to be in place before that can be said with any degree of credibility are at least several months away.

But the same people who filled social media with idiotic and presumptuous “Red Tsunami” memes, when every legit sign pointed to the GOP losing the House, are now talking Trump walkover.

You say, but the polls were all wrong in November 2016 and thus they’re wrong now. Yup, the partisan polls were wrong. Hence my “legit” qualification above. There were honest brokers even in 2016 who said Trump had a real shot. Allan Lichtman was one. Helmut Norpoth another. Hell, even Michael Moore did. The South African polling firm Brandseye got it right after nailing Brexit earlier in the year.

In 2017 Lichtman also predicted eventual impeachment.

He’s not made a call for November yet. But given his rules of the road and methodology it wouldn’t surprise anyone if he predicted reelection. But landslide? Not likely.

Confirmation bias, basing your analysis on what you want-not on what the facts say, is a malady common to partisans of all stripes. We see it every day on the Democrat side of the Senate impeachment trial. It weakens and brings arrogant lethargy. It depresses vote totals by complacency.

Conservatives and Republicans should be smarter than that and work like we’re two points behind right up until election day. Or, we are at risk of another “Red Tsunami” scenario.

This piece originally appeared in LifeZette and is used by permission.

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Intel Hero Recovers From Clinton Machine Hit

Posted on January 27, 2020 by LifeZette

By David Kamioner | January 27, 2020

Wayne Simmons, 66, served his country for most of his adult life. First in the Navy, enlisting in 1973, and soon after that in the shadowy world of undercover operations.

But at the same time he was coming up the Intel ladder another even more covert shadow was rising in America. It was, beginning with the mid-70s Church Committee in the Senate, the ascendancy of an anti-American establishment inside of the American elite. That group would slowly gain power over the years, in the process doing all they could to cripple U.S. Intelligence.

Wayne Simmons would become a victim of their sordid quest.

According to Simmons, he spent 27 years in the covert world as a contractor with the CIA in sensitive posts that took him from Central America to Afghanistan. He was in that war torn Asian locale as late as 2010, though officially retired since 2000.

After his service he became an unpaid analyst for Fox News Channel from 2002-2014. That’s where he ran afoul of the Clinton Machine.

In 2012 Hillary Clinton was serving, mostly herself, as the Secretary of State in the Obama administration. In September of that year our Libyan embassy was overrun in Benghazi. Ambassador Chris Stevens and others were killed by an Islamist mob. Obama, Clinton, and their cohorts at first lied about the attack and then ignored it ever happened. The blood still stains their hands.

Veterans of the Intel world like Simmons, and this analyst, were outraged at this betrayal of U.S. personnel in the field. Simmons had been saying as much on Fox News. That put him on the Clinton radar.

Two weeks after he again laid the blame for the attack square on the shoulders of Hillary Clinton on a show on Fox News, he got a knock on his door. It was April 9, 2014.

Federal agents interviewed him in his home. 18 months later he was arrested on charges involving fraud against the government. The apparent scope of his legal railroading defies imagination. The judge and his own attorney were old associates who allegedly bartered Simmons’ fate between themselves. The process was not to the benefit of Simmons.

It resulted in Simmons being found guilty of a charge he only found out about at the last minute. This was after a deal had supposedly been worked out with the prosecution. The same judge, T.S. Ellis, also handled the Manafort and Mike Flynn cases.

Simmons then spent 25 months of his 33 month sentence in a federal prison. He was released this last October 18th.

Today he resides in Annapolis, Maryland. He is working on clearing his name and various other projects. Before this article I came to know of him. I now consider him a friend. One that has been wronged by those who have also wronged America for quite awhile.

It’s time that score got evened.

This piece originally appeared in LifeZette and is used by permission.

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Developing: Rocket Strikes U.S. Embassy in Baghdad

Posted on January 26, 2020 by LifeZette

By David Kamioner | January 26, 2020

Amid escalating tensions on the streets of Baghdad, the U.S. embassy was hit with a rocket attack on Sunday that damaged the embassy restaurant. No casualties are yet reported.

The Iraqi government blamed the attack on an “unruly militia” backed by Iran.

Other rockets hit the Green Zone adjacent to the city’s riverbank. No injuries at all or serious damage.

Much like the recent Iranian missile attack on U.S. forces that also resulted in no serious damage or injury, this attack seems intended to keep up PR pressure while insuring that the U.S. does not respond with force.

Baghdad is on edge because a major religious leader withdrew his support from the anti-government movement, causing the usual keening rent-a-crowds to fill the city’s Khilani Square on Sunday with their scripted screams and contrived anger. Some protestors are reported wounded.

In another incident, one protestor was killed Sunday and six were wounded by security forces at Baghdad’s Wathba Square.

This piece originally appeared in LifeZette and is used by permission.

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NBA Star Kobe Bryant Killed in Helicopter Crash

Posted on January 26, 2020 by LifeZette

By David Kamioner | January 26, 2020

Basketball legend Kobe Bryant, 41, was killed on Sunday in a helicopter crash over Calabasas, California.

The city is about 30 miles northwest of downtown Los Angeles. ESPN and ABC News confirm the report.

The Sikorsky s-76 aircraft crashed with five people on board. The cause of the accident is not yet known.

Bryant played with the LA. Lakers for 20 years and won five NBA championships. He was named all-star 18 times, was a 15 time all-NBA player, and was the 2008 NBA MVP.

Bryant had a colorful personal life and was known for his actions on and off the court.

His death will no doubt draw mourning from fans and retrospectives of a great sports career cut short by an untimely death.

This piece originally appeared in LifeZette and is used by permission.

The post NBA Star Kobe Bryant Killed in Helicopter Crash appeared first on The Political Insider.

Pence and Prince Mark Solemn Occasion, Battle Domestic Anti-Semites

Posted on January 26, 2020 by LifeZette

By David Kamioner | January 26, 2020

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence and heir to the British throne Prince Charles of Wales both attended the World Holocaust Forum in Jerusalem on Thursday.

Press reports mistakenly said the Prince snubbed Pence. But they met before the main reception and thus had no need to speak at length again during it. That’s when the media said they saw the snub.

This is not true. VP and Prince Charles spoke prior to entering the event floor and after his remarks as well. https://t.co/Qr79TN42Ax pic.twitter.com/LhsQVtHMRF

— Katie Waldman (@VPPressSec) January 23, 2020

The two men face interesting scenarios in their own nations in regards to anti-semitism.

In the UK the far left Labour Party, the main opposition to Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s strong and popular Conservative Party, is rife with anti-semitism. It got to the point in the recent UK election campaign that Labour party members and office holders left it in the middle of the hustings, so as not be associated with such a vile grouping.

Labour’s anti-Israel views, its cozying up to Middle East terrorists, and its fear to fight Islamist extremism is considered a large contributing factor to its tremendous bashing by the Tories at the polls.

Here we see Democrat leaders like Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib take a once pro-Israel party and drag it to the edge of reflexive anti-Israeli stands and associated anti-semitism.

Thus both men have challenges on their hands.

RELATED: The Broken Down Caravan

Pence has pro-Israel President Trump’s ear. Also, as a possible successor to Trump, Pence may have to navigate his own way through these treacherous geopolitical and ethnic waters. For the sake of both nations he dare not run aground now or later.

As a constitutional royal with family issues that would drive any father to distraction, Prince Charles does have a role to play in the UK’s social and political debates. But he can not exert himself too strenuously in this regard. That would violate the constitutional settlement that took place after the Glorious Revolution of 1688. In that most British of coup de tats, King James II, who tried to rule, was overthrown by his son in law and daughter, William and Mary, who agreed to reign but not rule. That has since been the practice.

At any rate, both the U.S. and the U.K. face internal anti-semitic political movements. It is good to know that leaders of each nation are fighting against the pernicious doctrine.

This piece originally appeared in LifeZette and is used by permission.

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Nadler Calls Trump a “Dictator”

Posted on January 26, 2020 by LifeZette

By David Kamioner | January 25, 2020

It is a very strange type of despot who allows his political opponents to remain out of jail, much less publicly criticize him in front of a free national legislature where one house of that body has also been given permission by said dictator to try and remove him from office.

But then, President Donald Trump is unique in many ways.

Yes, the Democrats closed up their trial arguments on Friday with the gem of Democrat House manager Jerry Nadler accusing Trump of being a “dictator.”

Now we have put up with many flights of fancy from the Democrats. But the claim that they live under a dictatorship, while they flagellate President Trump in front of a global audience, is surely one of their most absurd lines.

What the Democrats are doing, as previously noted in this space, is a move their ideological ancestors perfected in their heyday in the mid part of the last century. It is the “big lie.”

Repeat the most ridiculous lines often and loud enough, as long as you control the great part of the press, and there are those out there who will buy them regardless of the concept’s strident advocacy for cocoa puffs.

Combine that with the Democrat preference for arbitrary emotion over logic or facts and you have the kind of scenario where adult pundits on various cable news outlets will term Adam Schiff’s trial strategy and delivery as “brilliant” and “inspiring.”

Team Trump states that they did not intend to bring up Hunter Biden to any significant extent in their presentation. But since on Friday the Democrats obsessed on the Bidens, now in rebuttal the GOP has little option but to answer their forward defense on Monday.

Why the Democrats would do this, knowing full well the GOP would respond and thus put the Bidens center stage, is an interesting question to ponder.

And the plot gets curiouser and curiouser.

This piece originally appeared in LifeZette and is used by permission.

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