“You can’t stay in your corner of the Forest waiting for others to come to you. You have to go to them sometimes.”

–Winnie The Pooh.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture is requiring all food stamp recipients to reapply for their benefits, in an effort to discover and weed out fraud. The usual suspects are already whining about starving children.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency promulgated a rule revising Obama and China Joe Administrations’ regulations which greatly expanded the definition of “waters of the United States”. The EPA regulates “waters of the United States”, which under Obama and China Joe included puddles in your backyard after a light rain. It was ridiculous overreach that the Trump Administration is thankfully correcting.

In Charlotte, North Carolina, a U.S. citizen drove a large van purposefully into an ICE vehicle where agents were conducting an operation. The man driving the van fled the scene, but was quickly apprehended by law enforcement. An ICE agent was injured in the assault.

Other ICE operations in North Carolina have been met with mobs of protesters, disrupting arrests, and screaming profanities at ICE agents. Sad.

Charlotte, North Carolina has a population of 900,000. Of that figure, 150,000 are foreign born. Also, sad. Very, very sad.

Elected Democrats in Wisconsin are holding training seminars to teach residents how to disrupt ICE operations in the State. Unbelievable. Very, very, very sad. And just un-American. This is not “free speech”. This is unlawful behavior being taught and encouraged.

Hassaan Chaudhary, who is Comrade Mamdani’s newly appointed political director for his mayoral transition and inaugural committee, used the word “Jew” as a slur, and even praised former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who infamously said Israel is “a cancer which will be eliminated soon.”  Mr. Chaudhary, who was the director of Muslim engagement for Comrade Mamdani’s campaign, also described Israel as a “bloody country” and a “barbaric nation”.  Lovely.  Just lovely.

Lincoln, Nebraska is the most affordable city in which to buy a cheeseburger, fries, and drink, according to the nation’s Cheeseburger Index (apparently there is such a thing). Other affordable cheeseburger meal cities include Tucson, Arizona, Aurora, Colorado, Dallas, Texas, Austin, Texas, and Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The most expensive city to buy a cheeseburger meal? Anchorage, Alaska, where the average price for a cheeseburger meal is North of $25.00.

The University of San Diego revealed that 1 in 8 California public school graduates, admitted to college, cannot do basic math. As in elementary to middle school level math. That is a sad statistic, and raises questions about how they graduated from high school. But a better question is, how did these people get admitted to college?

Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey (D.) appointed Giselle Byrd to the Massachusetts Commission on the Status of Women. Giselle Byrd is a “trans” woman. In other words Giselle Byrd is a man pretending to be a woman. Sigh.

Researchers have released a study advising parents to secure their infant child’s “consent” prior to changing their diaper. This is the dumbest . . . do people get paid to come up with this horse hockey?

Kim Kardashian is very upset that the failed the California Bar Exam. Maybe she should not have cheated by using ChatGBT on her law school exams.

There is hope for Miss Kardashian. She has only failed the California Bar Exam once. Commiela failed the California Bar Exam 3 times.

Hamas announced it was willing to negotiate the 2nd phase of the Gaza peace plan. Which is a problem, since Hamas already agreed to the entire peace plan. There is nothing to negotiate.

Hamas has yet to fully comply with the peace plan’s phase 1. Hamas is not going to comply. Hamas was never going to apply. Hamas is merely biding time in order to resupply and reorganize. Israel should be allowed to obliterate Hamas, without any interference by outside countries.

SMU is the ACC men’s soccer champion! The Mustangs beat UVA in the championship game.

Thank you for reading. I wish you an outstanding day. And in the words of my former client, the world’s greatest boxer, Muhammed Ali, “Don’t count the days, make the days count.”

GFK

“What is it to grow old?
Is it to lose the glory of the form,
The luster of the eye?
Is it for beauty to forego her wreath?
—Yes, but not this alone.

Is it to feel our strength—
Not our bloom only, but our strength—decay?
Is it to feel each limb
Grow stiffer, every function less exact,
Each nerve more loosely strung?”

–Matthew Arnold, Growing Old, (1867).

In 2019, during a Congressional hearing, Congressional Delegate Stacey Plackett (D. V.I.) received texted questions in real time, from Jeffrey Epstein. The questions were meant to damage and embarrass President Trump. Jeffrey Epstein sure does know a lot of Democrats. And he does not appear to be too chummy with Donald Trump.

Representative LaMonica McIver (D. N.J.) tried to get a federal judge to dismiss criminal charges against her as being “vindictive”. The charges stem from Representative McIver’s attempt to storm an ICE detention facility, and her assault and battery upon ICE agents. How bad was Representative McIver’s behavior? The judge who denied her motion to dismiss is a China Joe appointee. Representative McIver is toast. Burnt toast.

Representative Brad Sherman (D. Ca.) was caught viewing lewd pictures of women on his iPad while on a flight to California. Representative Sherman blamed Elon Musk, claiming that the pictures just popped up on his X feed. Uh, huh.

Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene (R. Ga.) lost President Trump’s support, after the last few weeks of her sniping, opposing Republican priorities, and general behaving like a disruptive Leftist. Representative Greene has always been guilty to speaking first, and thinking second, and that bad habit may have cost her her career. Reportedly, Representative Greene is upset with the President’s opposition to her desired campaign for a Georgia U.S. Senate seat. Whatever the source of her pique, it is time for Representative Greene to exit the Congress.

Recently revealed documents include handwritten notes by James Comey who knew all along of the Hillary Clinton campaign scheme to use the federal government to pursue Donald Trump as Russian agent through the Steele Dossier. Instead of pursuing criminal charges against Mrs. Clinton, Mr. Comey sought to bring down Donald Trump, and thus secure a high level job in a Clinton Adminstration. Mr. Comey continued to target Mr. Trump after he became President, and even after Mr. Comey was fired, and left the government. James Comey is an evil man, who belongs in prison.

Former U.S. Treasury Secretary under President Bill Clinton, Harvard University President, and director of the National Council of Economic Advisors under President Barack Obama, Larry Summers was a regular traveler on Jeffrey Epstein’s plane. He also exchanged hundreds of emails with Epstein, seeking advice on women, and how to seduce the very young women. Larry Summers’s wife apparently encouraged him in this regard.

The Democrats have been harping on and demanding the release of Epstein files. Now that that is happening, it does not look very good for prominent Democrats. Be careful what you wish for; you might just get it.

The United States Court of Appeals for the District Columbia, in a 2-1 decision, ruled that the U.S. Transportation Department could not ban illegal aliens from obtaining commercial drivers licenses. Words fail me. Dumb, dumb, and dumb.

Have we really gotten to the point that the federal government must ban illegal aliens from getting drivers licenses? And have we really gotten to the point that federal judges rule that illegal aliens are entitled to obtain drivers licenses? Our country has gone mad?

Commentator Glenn Beck–when was the last time you heard his name?–has come up with a 9 point list that indicated when societies are headed to civil war. The United States has already passed through the first 7 points. Goodness!

“. . . during the Biden years, we, in our arrogance and affluence, engaged in a great experiment — or rather misadventure. Never in our history has the U.S. been home to roughly 53 million foreign-born residents.

Never have immigrants comprised nearly 16 percent of the population.

Never has California had 27% of its residents not born in the U.S.

Never have we allowed in up to 10,000 aliens a day, with little concern for whether they carried fentanyl, had criminal records, were sick, were unvaccinated, were traffickers, or belonged to violent gangs.

Worse still, the Biden administration made zero effort to acculturate, integrate, and assimilate this massive influx. In fact, they did the very opposite of Ellis Island’s protocols, which fostered pro-American values, melting-pot integration, and respect for American history and culture. Once upon a time, new arrivals were all expected to become Americans — or why else had they come?

Now, the moment an illegal alien has entered the U.S., he likely senses that his ethnicity or race will be essential to his identity. In the minds of the ruling DEI commissariat, claiming a tribal identity offers an easy pathway to generous housing, food, healthcare, legal, and educational entitlements.”

–Victor Davis Hanson.

Portsmouth, Virginia’s Norcum High School allowed its facilities to be used, free of charge, for a political rally for then gubernatorial candidate Abigail Spanberger (D.) and then Attorney General candidate Jay Jones (D.). That is a crime. Oops!

Governor-elect Spanberger remains until her Inauguration, a private citizen. She maintains no authority to exercise any executive authority in the Commonwealth. But she’s a Democrat and “special”. Mrs. Spanberger wrote a letter to the University of Virginia Board of Visitors demanding that it stop its process of hiring a new President until after she becomes Governor. Oh, no, so very inappropriate! And Governor Youngkin (R.) reminded her that her actions were inappropriate, and that she has no authority. Stay in your lane, Abigail. Stay in your lane.

California Governor Gavin Newsom (D.) blamed the slow [non-existent] pace of rebuilding the Palisades residential neighborhood following this year’s earlier wildfires is due to “climate change”. No, rebuilding is not being retarded by a lack of leadership, overbearing State and local regulations, the failure to waive permitting fees, or anything having to do with Governor Newsom or Mayor Karen Bass (D.). Rebuilding is being retarded by the weather. Governor Hair Gel is a disgrace. The people of California deserve so much better.

Governor Kathy Hochul (D. N.Y.) will advocate for the raising of New York State’s corporate income tax, in order to pay for Mayor-elect Mamdani’s socialist schemes. How many more businesses will leave New York? How many more businesses will have to leave New York before the Democrats realize that their punitive taxation will only drive away taxpayers?

Seattle, Washington’s incoming socialist mayor wants to spend $9 million annually in order to allow the city government to put forward its version of the news, so that “right wing media” can be combatted. Is not that what PBS does?

The thought of establishing a government funded and controlled “ministry of truth” should alarm every citizen, whether you live in Seattle or not. Government’s control of information can only lead to a totalitarian society. If you doubt it, please read, or reread, 1984.

The Michigan State Board of Education has released requirements that “gender identity” (“trans”) and sexual orientation (homosexuality) be taught in public schools. Sigh. Why don’t we just concentrate on reading, writing, and arithmetic?

Charlotte, North Carolina’s Democrat leadership is alarmed that ICE is coming to town. The Democrats are vowing to thwart ICE’s efforts to arrest illegal alien criminals, while at the same time demanding that ICE coordinate all its operations with local law enforcement; local law enforcement controlled by the Democrat leadership. ICE’s response was very clear–they are coming, and they are not coordinating with those who would obstruct them.

In the ’70s, the Left’s climate scolds warned that the Earth would perish because of “global cooling”. Beginning in the’90s, those very same climate scolds warned of the perils of “global warming”. Well, now that Winter is nigh, and the weather is cold, the Left’s climate scolds are warning us that we are on the verge of another Ice Age, and that we must change our lifestyles in order to combat “global cooling”. Sigh. The nihilists never give up, they just keep rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.

“. . . transgender, intersex, and nonbinary people are worthy of love, support, and protection.”

–Statement issued by a collection of Leftist “religious” groups, including The Episcopal Church USA.

Of course, God loves all his people, and we should love our neighbors as we love ourselves. That sentiment goes without saying. But this silly virtue signaling statement does not state that; rather, the statement justifies the insanity of some people by claiming that God makes mistakes, and that man can correct those mistakes, by enabling insanity, and encouraging “gender affirming care” (i.e. genital mutilation surgery), including for children. This is evil.

God does not make mistakes. And man does not exist to correct God. Such hubris is blasphemous, and will only lead to sorrow and suffering.

Clearly these religious institutions are unmoored from Scripture. No doubt The Episcopal Church USA will not rest until every pew is completely empty. Will the last parishioner leaving the Church please blow out the prayer candles?

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops voted to ban “gender affirming care” at all Catholic hospitals. WINNING!

Chick-Fil-A is introducing a chicken and waffles sandwich, which comes with bacon and maple syrup. That is the good news. The bad news is that it is only being test marketed in San Antonio, Texas, and Baltimore, Maryland. For now.

Jack’s Restaurant is a San Francisco, California institution, dating back to the 1860s. For the last 25 years, Jack’s has been closed. But now Jack’s is reopening, and it looks to have been restored to its former grandeur. If you find yourself in San Francisco, head on down to 615 Sacramento Street and enjoy the experience.

The idea of a 50 year mortgage is the dumbest idea since New Coke. Let’s move on, please.

Just in time for the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays, McDonald’s is restoring the McRib sandwich and the custard filled Holiday pie to its menu. I’ll take the Holiday pie. McDonald’s can keep the McRib.

Thousands of protesters rushed the National Palace in Mexico City, Mexico, upset over corruption and cartel violence. Viva la revolucian!

Canada continues to mandate EV sales quotas, and it does not look good, as consumers do not want to buy them. Consumers want to buy gasoline and diesel powered automobiles. But the Canadian government cares not, as the government knows better than its citizens.

The world was told that Gaza was enduring a famine, and that the residents were starving. Normally, it takes 8-12 months to emerge from famine conditions. Now, 6 weeks after the declared famine, there are no such signs in Gaza, people appear well fed, and go about their business daily. Did Hamas and their United Nations enablers lie about the famine? Why yes! Yes they did!

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard hijacked 4 commercial ships traveling through the Straits of Hormuz. It seems like the Ayatollahs have not yet learned their lesson.

YouTube TV and Disney resolved their dispute, and now YouTube TV subscribers can watch ABC and ESPN. Now Gram and Rufe can watch college football again.

The Pac 12 Conference, which is now up to 9 schools (8 in football), from 2, announced a television deal for 2026. How ’bout that, like a Phoenix rising from the flames?

It still makes no sense that USC, UCLA, Washington, and Oregon are in the Big 10. No sense at all.

UNC head football coach Bill Belichick quashed the rumours that he would leave the school to take over the New York Giants head coaching job. Coach Belichick insists that he is staying in Chapel Hill, period.

Clemson won a squeaker against Louisville. Florida State won. Georgia Tech slipped by Boston College. UVA handily beat Duke. Notre Dame crushed Pitt. Miami obliterated N.C. State.

Alabama had a disappointing homecoming weekend, losing to Oklahoma. Texas A&M was down by 27 points to South Carolina in the 1st half, in College Station. Then the Aggies showed up, and played in the 2nd half, and won the game, 31-30. Ole Miss won. Georgia beat Texas. Tennessee won.

Oregon beat Minnesota. Ohio State humiliated UCLA. Indiana won. USC was sluggish in the cold rain that fell in Los Angeles, but finally topped Iowa. Michigan slipped by Northwestern. Illinois beat Maryland (sorry Dick Kent!).

BYU beat TCU. Utah beat Baylor. Arizona upset Cincinnati. Texas Tech rolled over the University of Central Florida.

Navy upset South Florida. East Carolina subdued Memphis. Dru missed that game. North Texas State, Tulane, and Tulsa won.

New Mexico beat Colorado State. Nevada crushed San Jose State. Fresno State beat Wyoming. UNLV prevailed over Utah State in overtime, after Utah State’s kicker missed 3 field goals and an extra point in regulation. San Diego State beat Boise State.

Dartmouth beat the Cornell anti-Semites. Yale slipped by Princeton. Harvard beat UPenn. Brown beat Columbia.

Former Cleveland State University head men’s basketball coach Kevin Mackey has died at age 80. R. I. P.

Former Seattle Seahawks safety Kenny Easley has died at age 66. R. I. P.

Singer and songwriter Todd Snider has died at age 59. R. I. P.

Thank you for reading. And in the words of the late UCLA basketball coach John Wooden, “Make [this and] each day your masterpiece.” 

GFK

“The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.”

–Ecclesiastes 1:9.

The Schumer Shutdown has come to a close. Government incompetence is gone. Government incompetence is back.

“We are talking about a coordinated effort of eight senators with the knowledge of Leader Schumer, voting to break with the entire Democratic Party in exchange for nothing.  And now people’s health care costs are going to be skyrocketing . . .  But I think that when we talk about this debate about the Democratic Party, it is, indeed, about the party writ large and our ability to fight or not.”

—Puddin’head.

Puddin’head conveniently forgets that the Obamacare subsidies were a pandemic temporary “emergency” spending item, that Democrats scheduled to end under the China Joe Administration.  She voted for that bill.  But now, she seems to have forgotten all about it.

The Democrats, having lost the Schumer Shutdown, have turned to smearing President Trump with the Epstein Files. They selectively released redacted emails which they claim demonstrate Mr. Trump was a predator. He was not. In fact, one of the redactions was the name of an Epstein victim who claimed consistently and often that Mr. Trump was never inappropriate with anyone.

The Epstein releases also reveal that media personalities and “journalists” were working with Epstein to stop Mr. Trump’s political career as early as 2016. Hmmm. Shades of Russia! Russia! Russia!

Democrats are fond of asserting that Epstein and Mr. Trump were close friends. Hmmm. Then why did emails show that Epstein thought Mr. Trump was one of the worst people on Earth, did not “have a decent cell in his body”, and was “dangerous”. Wow. Some close friends!

Another fun fact. Jeffrey Epstein was a big Democrat. He was not prosecuted by the Democrat Obama Administration, in which China Joe served as Vice-President. No, Jeffrey Epstein was not arrested on federal charges until 2019, when Donald Trump (R.) was President. Had he lived, he would have been prosecuted by the Trump Administration.

The Epstein files are but low grade gossip. The prosecutions are done. Ghislaine Maxwell is in prison. Jeffrey Epstein is dead. President Trump ended his association with Jeffrey Epstein more than a decade before his criminal investigation began. If there was anything in the Epstein files that incriminated the President, it would have been released long ago. This is just the Democrats trying to damage Mr. Trump. Because they have nothing else.

The Democrats are melting down because they did not get their way on spending, the Schumer Shutdown was a temper tantrum destined to fail, and Donald Trump is still President. Orange Man Bad. TDS.

A dear reader is a stereotypical sufferer of TDS. He believes that since Mr. Trump installed gold fixtures in the Oval Office, and since the Kremlin has rooms with gold fixtures, this is proof positive that Trump is an admirer and puppet of Russian President Putin. His TDS is slowly, but surely rotting his brain. It is a sad case.

My favorite French restaurant in New York City has gold fixtures. The Kremlin has rooms with gold fixtures. Does this mean that the restaurant owners are clandestine Russian spies? Nope. Indeed, no one who can bake a cheese souffle that delicious could ever be considered even remotely Russian.

The U.S. Mint stopped coining pennies after more than 230 years. No more “penny for your thoughts?”

Representative Eric Swalwell (D. Ca.) is being investigated for criminal mortgage fraud. That’s a shame.

No it is not a shame. Eric Swalwell deserves whatever bad thing comes his way. He is a jerk.

On the subject of jerks, Representative Jasmine Crockett (D. Tx.) went on CNN to smear Trump over the Epstein emails. She made several false assertions, which CNN hosts called her on, and when she attempted to continue certain falsities, CNN pointed out that it was her fellow Democrats, not Republicans, who concocted those falsities. For once, Representative Crockett was left almost speechless.

There is a revolt underway at the Democrat National Committee. DNC Chairman Ken Martin informed all D.C. based staff that they would return to 5 days a week in the office, beginning in February 2026. Employees called the mandate “cruel” and “callous”, particularly in light of . . . Donald Trump being President, in Washington, D.C. My goodness!

The DNC staff’s union is threatening litigation. Whoa! A bunch of white collar political staffers belong to a union? Good grief!

Governor Gavin Newsom’s (D. Ca.) former Chief of Staff, Dana Williamson was arrested by the FBI on public corruption charges. Allegedly, Mr. Williamson committed bank fraud, wire fraud, and engaged in conduct to defraud the United States government.

A Georgia State judge ruled that a Savannah ordinance making it a criminal offense to leave a gun in an unlocked motor vehicle was unconstitutional under both the federal and State constitutions. Savannah’s Democrat mayor vowed to continue to enforce the ordinance anyway. The heck with the constitutions!

Representative Chip Roy (R. Tx.) is introducing a bill to freeze all immigration until the situation in the United States stabilizes. This is actually a very good idea, which is not new. From 1924 until 1952, immigration into the United States was largely paused in order to allow immigrants present in the United States to be assimilated.

Oregon Democrats are outraged over the announcement that ICE plans to construct a new detention facility in Newport, approximately 100 miles from Portland. Let the jackhammers begin!

An Illinois federal judge indicated that he intended to order the release of several hundred illegal aliens, holding that their detention likely violated an agreement between the China Joe Administration and an illegal alien advocacy group. Sigh. Will we ever rid ourselves of the corruption and malfeasance of the China Joe Administration?

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops voted overwhelmingly to condemn President Trump’s deportation of illegal aliens. Which is interesting, since the Catholic Church’s official position is that the Church recognizes and supports a country’s right and authority to establish, maintain, and protect its borders.

“ . . . boiling down the United States to its immigrant population is ridiculous, especially at this stage in history.  The people who crafted it might have descended from immigrants, and that’s great, but many of the people who made America great were born here. 

George Washington was born in Virginia.  Thomas Edison was born in Ohio.  George Washington Carver was born in Missouri.  Elvis Presley was born in Mississippi.  John D. Rockefeller was born in New York.

* * * *

‘Immigrant’ is just a description of how you arrived here.  What makes America great — what it’s based on — is the ability for someone who has nothing, like an immigrant, to become something far greater than what he or she started as through hard work and determination.  The freedom to be what you want is what America is.

* * * *

The left and the politically correct love to tout the value of immigrants today, not because they actually care about immigrants, but because it’s fashionable to do so in this political climate.  That, in itself, is the only reason the left currently thinks immigration is so great; they see it as a middle finger to the Trump administration, and they believe they can get use out of immigrants, both legal and illegal, as a voting bloc.

The moment immigration stops being useful to them, Democrats won’t have much to say about this being a “country of immigrants” any longer. 

What we are is a country of free men and women, not one of immigrants.  It’s fine and dandy to look back and say that immigration is in its roots, but boiling this country down to how well it can virtue signal about immigration is like looking at a well-made steak dinner and saying it’s a meal of salt.  There are way more moving parts, and immigrants only make up a fraction of them. 

* * * *

We haven’t been a nation of immigrants for some time.  We are a nation with a lot of immigrants, but not ‘of immigrants.’  We’re certainly not a country based on immigrants either.” 

–Brandon Morse.

Venezuela’s economy has been in a free fall for more than 2 decades. The increased pressure by the United States on its narco-trafficking threatens to damage Venezuela further. So naturally, China is throwing Venezuela a lifeline, and stands poised to take over much of its economy. This could very easily lead to a direct conflict between the U.S. and China, in our own hemisphere. Not good. The resurrection of the Monroe Doctrine cannot come soon enough.

Legendary New York Post hockey writer Larry Brooks has died at age 75. R. I. P.

ABC News correspondent James Avila has died at age 69. R. I. P.

I wish all you readers an enjoyable and relaxing weekend. Monday is but 2 days away.

GFK

GOOD MORNING HOLLAND KOONTZ! Keep plugging away. You are doing great!

Our daughter is going gangbusters at SMU. Her daily activities make me tired. She is certainly not slowing down and coasting in her senior year.

Holland takes after her Grandpa in that respect. My Father attended Texas Tech, where in addition to studying engineering, he flew planes for the Army Air Corps. And he still managed to have fun, which as I understand it, took some effort in Lubbock, Texas in the late ’40s.

“You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift.
You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong.
You cannot help little men by tearing down big men.
You cannot lift the wage earner by pulling down the wage payer.
You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich.
You cannot establish sound security on borrowed money.
You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred.
You cannot keep out of trouble by spending more than you earn.
You cannot build character and courage by destroying men’s initiative and independence.
And you cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they can and should do for themselves.”

― William J.H. Boetcker.

Every politician and every voter should have to memorize and understand these admonitions. Because based on today’s American society, we clearly do not understand how things work.

U.S. Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy revoked 17,000 Commercial Drivers Licenses, all issued by California’s Department of Transportation, to illegal aliens. Imagine that! Governor Hair Gel unleashed 17,000 CDLs to people not entitled to be present in this country, much less drive a tractor trailer.

Commiela’s never ending book tour continues, and so do her ridiculous comments. The other day, Commiela claimed that she employed a three-dimensional chess strategy against the Trump campaign, and that her strategy beat him. Beat him in what? This woman is delusional.

“It hurts me so much . . . my husband is out there fighting this man, and to me, them voting for Trump is them not voting for my husband and me and our family.  And I unfortunately have kind of lost relationships with people in my family because of it.”

–Molly McNearney, explaining how she values her political views over her family members.

What a sick, sad woman!  You sacrifice your family over your own views on political issues?  How “tolerant” is that?  How absolutely stupid!

Voting is a personal choice. Voting is not a personal betrayal. The world does not revolve around Molly McNearney.

Former Virginia State Delegate Ibraheem Samirah (D.) obtained a PPP loan from the federal government to pay his 4 employees during the former Current Unpleasantness. One problem; Mr. Samirah had no employees. He lied on the forms, got caught, and was convicted of criminal wire fraud. Did Mr. Samirah learn a lesson? No, no he did not. He claimed that he only made mistake. He blamed President Trump for “weaponizing” the Justice Department against him. He claimed to be a political martyr just like James Comey and Letitia James. In other words, it is not fair to hold him accountable because he is a Democrat.

Another socialist appears to have won the Seattle, Washington’s mayoral race. Will she be any different than Seattle’s incumbent Democrat mayor? Doubtful.

“Taxation isn’t theft.  Capitalism is.” 

–Comrade Zohran Mamdani (D. N.Y.).

New York Governor Kathy Hochul (D.) stated her opposition to Comrade Mamdani’s plan for “free” New York City buses. Because contrary to socialist dreams, nothing is free.

“My advice to him is to step down and do something else.”

–Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, referring to Comrade Mamdani as a “communist”, “Marxist”, and a “security threat”. 

Los Angeles, California is refusing to waive building permit fees for homeowners seeking to rebuild their homes after the devastating Pacific Palisades wildfires. Fees run about $20,000.00, and the City Council indicated it is not inclined to forgo an estimated $250 million in permitting fees. Fees that would not need to be paid but for the City’s incompetence in maintaining the forests, reservoirs, hydrants, and the fire department.

“Trans women are women.”

–California State Senator Scott Weiner (D.), who is running to replace Nancy Pelosi (D. Ca.) in Congress.

Scott Weiner is a homosexual activist who pushed for the lowering of criminal penalties for men who have sex with minor age boys.  He is a predator and a pervert.

Protesters mobbed at a Turning Point USA event at the University of California-Berkeley. The protesters wore Arab head garb, and waved Palestinian flags. Queers for Palestine had a large presence. And the whole point was to shut down the event. Thankfully, police in riot gear prevented that, and arrests were made after violence broke out.

Do you notice that these campus protests are a 1 way street? Conservatives do not try to stop Leftists or Liberals from speaking. Only the Left tries to shut down speech, using violence if necessary, to stop conservatives from speaking. Tolerance.

Senior U.S. District Judge Mark Wolf, who sits in the federal District of Massachusetts, resigned his position so that he can rail against President Trump without running afoul of the Judicial Canons of Professional Behavior. Sigh. Trump Derangement Syndrome.

In Illinois, a staffer for U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D. Il.) presented himself at an ICE detention center, posing as a 4-time deported illegal alien’s attorney. This is a crime. And so far, Senator Duckworth–a champion of ILLEGAL ALIENS–has not fired the staffer.

In Hawaii, on the island of Oahu, a homeowners association banned flying the Hawaiian State flag. You can fly the American flag, but not the Hawaiian flag. How very odd.

Tampon Tim (D. Mn.) is working overtime to get the Minnesota legislature to essentially ban firearms in the State. Fortunately, rural Republicans in the legislature are sufficiently empowered to block his tyrannical power grab. Nevertheless, Tampon Tim is holding multiple “town halls”–anti-gun rallies–in order to build political pressure. Thankfully Governor Jazz Hands is failing.

JOLT Initiative, Inc. is a Texas non-profit organization that is working to register illegal aliens to vote in our elections. But, but, but . . . Democrats claim that this never occurs! But it does. And now Texas is suing to shut JOLT down for good.

Shakey’s Pizza once had more than 500 restaurants across the nation during the 1970s. Now, the chain has but 42 stores in California, and 1 in Washington State. But things maybe changing, as Shakey’s is rebranding, refurbishing, and looking to make a comeback. Good luck on the overhaul!

Iran is currently in its fifth year of a drought. The lack of water is so severe, that Iranian officials are preparing to evacuate all of Tehran’s residents to other parts of the country. And the city is now sinking lower into the ground, due to the lack of any ground water.

Great Britain has stopped sharing intelligence with the United States concerning drug trafficking boats in the Caribbean Sea, due to concerns that the strikes against the boats may be “illegal”. Sigh. What a bunch of wienies! But for the U.S., German would be the official language of England. But when we need help with narco-terrorists who are killing Americans? Oh, no. We might get in trouble!

The New York Giants fired head coach Brian Daboll. Because the Giants are just no good. Indeed, they are awful.

American gymnast Jordan Chiles claims that her Bronze Olympic medal was rescinded not on the merits, but because she was black. But of course! That is the explanation for all of life’s disappointments if you are a person of color (colored person?).

GFK

Today I am sharing 2 articles relative to today’s issues. The 1st article identifies the Democrat Party as not only being a source of the problem, but makes it clear that the Democrats will not be a source of our solutions. The 2nd article takes a broader view of our country’s problems, and offers some ideas on how to reverse our country’s decline. I hope you enjoy.

Mamdani Is NOT a New Phenomenon: He’s the Center of the Democrat Party

No, Mamdani is not going to shock or take down the Democrat Party.

By Melissa Mackenzie, The American Spectator (November 6, 2025)

Why are people surprised? Zohran Mamdani is an inevitability. He’s the Democrats’ covert ideology being made overt and incarnate. He is what would happen if Chuck Schumer and Barack Obama had a baby: facile, good-looking, energetic, destructive, hateful, and malicious.

Chuck Schumer (along with Barney Frank in the House) engineered the 2007 housing crisis and financial crash. His manipulations of Wall Street encouraged DEI mortgages to the “discriminated” against, and so the banks, bowing to political pressure, gave loans to anyone and everyone. Then, Wall Street firms bundled this bad debt, sold it to each other, and a death spiral ensued. And then, Schumer, who created this mess, helped the feds bail out bankers and corporations and screw individual responsible homeowners and small business people. This spawned the Tea Party, yes, but it also spawned Occupy Wall Street, the leftist wackadoos who raped each other in tents while spouting off about communism from their iPads.

Zohran Mamdani is all of Schumer and Obama in one stupid, greedy, globalist, Muslim communist.

Barack Obama sashayed into this mess — vacuous, shiny, good-looking, smooth-talking, and utterly skilled at making the intelligentsia feel orgulous, while simultaneously stoking racism and division, and being an unrepentant globalist Marxist in crony capitalism’s clothing. A nation hoping for racial and economic healing got bitterness and Obamacare, which deepened racial and economic woe. He made the cynical calculation: Healing does not equal power. 

Zohran Mamdani is all of Schumer and Obama in one stupid, greedy, globalist, Muslim communist.

Mamdani is not some aberration. He IS the Democratic Party. AOC is the Democratic Party. The party elders’ problems with her stupidity wasn’t ideology. It was letting the cat out of the bag. It was her style, not her substance. Nancy Pelosi expected more grace and deference from the upstart. 

It’s a new day, and the Democrat Party is now overtly what it always was: a racist, communist, redistributionist, conglomeration of contradictory interest groups united by one thing: hatred of God, family, and country. Abortion is their sacrament. Worshipping the creation instead of the Creator is their claim to morality. Transhumanism is their goal. Universalism is their hope. Oppression, terrorism, technological control, and forced compliance are their tools for domination. There is no limit on their words or behavior because their cause is righteous. They are political zealots.

Democrats are anti-Israel. Antisemitism did not harm Democrats, even in New York City, because the Dems did, in this cycle, identify the problem that Trump forgot: The American people are struggling and need solutions to their problems, and the Democrat solution of taking from the rich and giving to the poor sounds like a solution. Hint: This solution is worse than the problems, but stressed people have a way of hearing what they want to hear. And the 43 percent of New Yorkers who are first-generation Americans, many of them illegals, like the idea of handouts.

What does this mean for Republicans? If I had to predict today, I would say that the midterms will be an utter bloodbath for Republicans. The Democrats have effectively stymied the president’s plans with lawsuits and sand in the gears. Even though the president ultimately prevails, precious time is wasted.

Republicans, time is short. Maybe you guys want to live in a digital ID, tech-lord, jobless American hellscape, but Americans do not. President Trump sold out to tech giants, and they’re giving funds to White House renovations and Donald Trump himself, but none of their money and power has translated in downballot races or a commitment to the American Way. These are globalist transhumanists who think Earth is populated with too many people (a notable exception to this ideology is Elon Musk) and who want robots to take over. AI and robots are literally the only thing holding up the stock market. Stocks, like dollars, aren’t worth the paper they’re printed on. 

The housing market is busting a bit, and still, Americans cannot buy, even with lower rates, because they’re poor. The dollar’s value is declining, and with inflation, how can one even get into a house? Illegal immigrants, criminal syndicates, and BlackRock are buying up homes and inflating prices. Houses are way overvalued, and even a house that appreciated cannot compete with a stock market that doubled. But the stock market, owned by 62 percent of Americans, still has wealth concentrated in the top 10 percent — they own 93 percent of stocks. 

So.

What will Republicans do with this mess? What’s the solution?

One solution would be legislation ensuring fair elections by citizens only. At a minimum. Why is this a solution? Because nothing is real if elections aren’t real. Every illegal that votes disenfranchises a citizen voter. Faith must be restored in the system. It’s also important because citizens have an attachment to the well-being of America that illegal immigrants and even many first-generation legal immigrants simply do not have. Americans vote for American solutions that help Americans.

Another solution would be more deportations. One of the beautiful things about the government benefits being cut off is that the illegals living on American largesse are suddenly in trouble. Time for you to go! This helps deflate housing further.

There are some problems, though, that seem insurmountable. Thousands of jobs are being replaced by AI. Thousands more are being shipped overseas for cheap labor. This is all happening while President Trump is extolling business being brought to America. The government being shut down has revealed another level of inflationary grift: Most government jobs seem like a haven for the otherwise unemployable. In addition, companies like Walmart have offloaded their overhead to taxpayers by paying so little that employees must be on SNAP benefits to live. One-third of Walmart employees are on SNAP. Twenty-five percent of Walmart’s profits are from SNAP benefits. Wait, what? The whole of the system seems like a grift at the expense of the stupid dupes in the middle class — those dutiful, Christian, white people who keep the America boat afloat.

Mamdani doesn’t have the solutions. His answers to what ails New York will create more problems. It’s axiomatic. (See also de Blasio, Bill.) Republicans, though, have to find their footing, if it’s even possible, and do something concrete for Americans that Americans can see, feel, and touch.

No, Mamdani is not going to shock or take down the Democrat Party. No, he won’t realign Americans against socialism. These tropes ignore a couple generations of indoctrination and the utter cynicism that the younger people of America have about the lip service to the American dream. They feel that it’s impossible. Hopeless. They crave community without commitment. Morality without responsibility. Connection without risk. Real life feels beyond them. They want a savior who expects nothing. That’s communism. That’s heady stuff for an aggrieved people.

This is a spiritual problem. It is nihilism. When one enters that state, satisfaction comes from instant gratification and dopamine hits. It comes from revenge at perceived slights. There’s no proactive joy in one’s life. There is only the comfort of seeing the enemy pay.

Tuesday’s election revealed the different worldviews on the left and the right. Increasingly, people on the left are secular, globalist, transhumanist redistributionists, while people on the right are Christian, American, family-oriented businesspeople. The divide is widening. Mamdani represents the divide, and it’s not going away anytime soon.

___________________________________________________________________

The Trough and the Bridge: America’s Forgotten Covenant

By  Christian Vezilj, The American Thinker (November 9, 2025)

In 1956, the United States embarked on the most ambitious infrastructure project in its history: the Interstate Highway System. Born from President Eisenhower’s vision of national unity and defense, it stretched across the continent, connecting cities, industries, and families.

It was a marvel of engineering, but more than that—it was a monument to a cultural ethic. The roads were laid not just with concrete, but with conviction: that hard work, personal responsibility, and generational stewardship were the bedrock of a thriving republic.

Image created using AI,

Today, those roads crack, not merely from age, but from neglect. Bridges rust, electrical grids falter, and water systems decay. The nation that once built with foresight now struggles to maintain the basics. This isn’t a failure of engineering. It’s a failure of philosophy.

In the 1950s through the 1970s, Americans lived with limited government assistance. Social Security existed, and Medicare and Medicaid emerged in the mid-60s, but these programs were modest and targeted.

The average citizen didn’t expect the government to solve every problem. Instead, Americans leaned on family, church, community, and personal grit. Fiscal restraint wasn’t just a policy—it was a virtue. People budgeted, saved, and sacrificed. They understood that freedom came with responsibility, and that dignity was earned, not distributed.

Contrast that with today’s landscape. Government spending has ballooned, not toward infrastructure, but toward entitlements. Healthcare, Social Security, and welfare programs consume the lion’s share of federal resources.

The Highway Trust Fund, once a robust engine of national development, limps along on a gas tax that hasn’t been raised since 1993. Meanwhile, the cost of maintaining the Interstate System, estimated at over $1.3 billion annually, is dwarfed by the trillions spent on programs that often reward poor decisions and penalize discipline.

This inversion of values is not merely economic; it’s moral. We have conditioned citizens to look first to Washington, not to their families or communities. We have taught generations that the consequences of their choices will be softened by subsidies. The responsible citizen, the one who works, saves, and sacrifices, is taxed to fund the fallout of those who do not. In doing so, we have eroded the covenant between freedom and accountability.

The metaphor is stark: we have traded the bridge for the trough. The bridge requires planning, labor, and shared sacrifice. It carries generations. The trough feeds for a day. It demands nothing but appetite.

And yet, our national priorities favor the latter. We pour billions into programs that soothe symptoms but ignore causes. We neglect the infrastructure that sustains commerce, safety, and unity—because it does not scream, it does not vote, and it does not promise short-term relief.

This is not a call to abandon compassion. The vulnerable must be cared for. But care must be coupled with clarity. Aid must be a hand up, not a hammock. We must restore the cultural scaffolding that once supported citizens: families that teach resilience, churches that preach virtue, and communities that reward contribution. Government should supplement these pillars—not replace them.

The Interstate Highway System was built during a time when Americans believed in building things that lasted. It was funded by citizens who understood that their taxes were investments in the future.

Today, we collect more tax revenue than ever, yet we struggle to maintain what our forebears built. Why? Because we have lost sight of what money is for. It is not merely for redistribution; it is for regeneration.

Imagine a scene: a grandfather and grandson stand beside a crumbling bridge. The boy asks why it’s falling apart. The grandfather replies, “We built this with sweat, not subsidies. We didn’t wait for help, we became it. And when the bridge needed fixing, we didn’t ask who was to blame. We asked who would show up.” That is the spirit we must recover.

We are at a crossroads, not just of infrastructure, but of identity. Will we continue to reward irresponsibility and neglect the foundations of our nation? Or will we remember the covenant that built the highways, the bridges, and the culture that once carried us forward?

The answer lies not in policy alone, but in principle. We must teach again that freedom is not free, that choices have consequences, and that the road to renewal is paved with responsibility. Only then can we rebuild, not just our highways, but our hope.

GFK

Today is Veterans’ Day, formerly Armistice Day.  It began as a recognition of the Armistice in WWI, which took effect on the 11^th hour of the 11^th day of the 11^th month in 1918.  Holland’s great-grandfather (my grandfather) served in WWI, and a photograph of him in his Army dress uniform adorns our Berryville home’s entrance hall wall.

The “War to End All Wars” of course, did no such thing.  Since the horrific days of trench warfare in France, American soldiers have seen action at Bastogne, Iwo Jima, Pusan, Inchon, Khe Sanh, Da Nang, Beirut, Grenada, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Syria.  The American fighting man has secured liberty and freedom, not just for the United States, but for millions of people around the globe.  Our troops go abroad, not as conquerors, but as liberators.  And since 1973, every man serving in the military has been a volunteer. 

We can, and do, disagree on the wisdom of some of our military expeditions.  But we should always agree that we are blessed to be protected by a very rare group, who are willing to make the ultimate sacrifice for our way of life.  We owe our veterans a debt that can never be repaid.  May we always remember.  May God bless those who gave their lives so that we may be free.

President Trump pardoned those individuals, including Rudy Guiliani, who worked to defend his 2020 presidential campaign. It is a largely symbolic act, as few of these folks were pursued on a federal level. It does, however, prevent a future vindictive Democrat Administration from pursuing them.

“There’s no way to sugarcoat what happened tonight.  And my fear is that Trump gets stronger, not weaker, because of this acquiescence.  I’m angry – like you.  But I choose to keep fighting.  It looks like eight Democrats have joined Republicans to vote for a temporary reopening of the government for about two months, but a bill with no protections to stop the coming health care disaster in this country caused by Donald Trump’s premium increases, nor any provisions to meaningfully stop Trump’s corruption and his illegality.”

–Senator Christopher Murphy (D. Ct.).

A sufficient number of Senate Democrats voted to end debate on government funding, permitting the reopening of the federal government later this week. The full Senate will have to vote on a spending bill, and that version will then have to be voted on by the House of Representatives, and signed by the President.

Senate Democrats are apoplectic. They shut down the federal government, insisting that their spending demands be met in return for the government reopening. And they did not get squat. Nothing. Nada. Nyet. They are calling for Senator Schumer’s ouster as Minority Leader.

REPORTER: “Do you wish that you would have started looking for this off-ramp sooner?”

SENATOR KAINE: “I was so focused on the Virginia elections I wasn’t in this discussion on the healthcare to see how dug in they were.”

See this? The always ever so pious Tim Kaine (D. Va.) was focused, not on the problem his party created, but on the elections. Because Senator Kaine does not give a damn about the people. Senator Kaine cares only about power.

Representative Hakeem Jeffries is angry, and vows that Democrats will fight this measure in the House. Fine. Be an a$$. You do not have the votes.

“Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
And then is heard no more.  It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.”

–William Shakespeare, Macbeth.

This whole Schumer shutdown was such a waste of time, inflicting needless harm on many. But the Democrats do not care; they never intended to do the right thing in the first instance.

In the federal courthouse in Los Angeles, California, there is a statue of Abraham Lincoln. But it is unlike any statue of Lincoln you have ever seen. It is a young, unbearded Lincoln. He is shirtless, and his hand is stuck in his blue jeans, right above his crotch. And his hair is swept back, eerily reminiscent of Governor Hair Gel’s (D. Ca.) hairdo. Sigh. Does California pervert everything?

President Trump attended the NFL game between the Detroit Lions and the team formerly known as the Washington Redskins. It was the NFL’s Salute to Veterans weekend. During a mid-game ceremony where the President presided over the enlistment of troops into military service, some fans took the occasion to boo the President and display their middle fingers in protest. These fans are nothing but spoiled, Leftist trash. They are largely federal government workers who spend their days existing on the taxpayers’ dole. And they have no respect for the President, the office, and maintain no sense of decorum. They are rude.

On the other hand, there were many, many fans who cheered the President, and applauded his presence, and the enlisted troops during the ceremony. These are

The International Olympic Committee will ban men from competing in women’s events. That will frost Leftists’ flakes.

Former New York Knicks coach Lenny Wilkens has died at age 88. R. I. P.

Former NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue has died at age 84. R. I. P.

“Power does not corrupt.  Fear corrupts . . . perhaps the fear of a loss of power.”

–John Steinbeck.

“In the present case it is a little inaccurate to say I hate everything.  I am strongly in favor of common sense, common honesty and common decency.  This makes me forever ineligible to any public office of trust or profit in the Republic.  But I do not repine, for I am a subject of it only by force of arms.”

–H. L. Mencken.

“Corrupt politicians make the other ten percent look bad.”

–Henry Kissinger.

“Power attracts the corruptible. Suspect any who seek it.”

–Frank Herbert.

President Trump pardoned former New York Met Darryl Strawberry, who was convicted of criminal tax fraud in 1995. Mr. Strawberry had pled guilty, and paid his back taxes. He also found God and sobriety. Redemption.

It appears that the person who planted the pipe bombs on Capitol Hill on January 6, 2021, was a former Capitol Policeman, who was, on January 6, a CIA security agent. If this is true, . . .

Senator Charles Schumer (D. N.Y.) offered to end the federal government shutdown if Republicans would agree to extend the temporary Obamacare subsidies for 1 year. Uh, no.

Meanwhile, the federal government remains shut down after Democrats again filibustered the continuing resolution to open the government. Democrats also filibustered stand alone bills that would have 1) paid all federal employees; and, 2) fully funded food stamps. Such reasonable, compassionate folks.

During her 40 year tenure in Congress, Nancy Pelosi (D. Ca.) has earned more than $130 million in stock trading profits. Does anyone believe that Mrs. Pelosi earned that much money honestly? Anyone?

The Left is demanding that AT&T cease providing services to ICE. Do not think that that will become a law if the Democrats ever return to power. Because it will.

And if the Left can punish AT&T, what do you think it can do to you? Ordinary citizens were censored and punish for opposing Leftist overreach during the former Current Unpleasantness. We have seen this movie before, and it has a very sad ending.

The Washington Post is upset that the United States Labor Department produced posters displaying a construction worker, urging the building of America’s future. The Post’s problem is that the construction worker is a white male. Oh, the horrors!

The United States Supreme Court stayed a district court judge’s order that the federal government fully fund food stamps. Congressional Democrats are hopping mad over the ruling. Too bad the stay was issued by Justice Black Female, which should suggest to them how just how wrong was the district court’s ruling.

A D.C. federal judge has ruled that the Trump Administration’s placing of trailer messages on federal employees’ email transmissions, blaming Democrats for the federal government shutdown, is an unconstitutional violation of the federal employees’ rights. NO IT IS NOT. The computers and the email addresses belong to the federal government, not the federal employees. This is right up there when it comes to stupid judicial rulings. And the judge? An Obama appointee.

The United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit ruled an Ohio public school district violated students’ free speech rights by banning the use of sex specific pronouns. The school district punished students who dared not refer to boys as girls, girls as boys, and the other insane folks as non-binary, etc. Good for the Sixth Circuit!

A Illinois federal judge has ordered ICE to address detainees’ complaints about a Chicago area ICE facility. The detainees complained about a lack of beds, having to sleep near toilets, and they did not care for the water’s taste. The federal judge ordered ICE to correct these issues, including providing the detainees with bottled water upon request.

There is NO constitutional right to a bed in jail. How do I know this? I’ve litigated the point when I addressed almost identical complaints while defending the Richmond, Virginia city jail. U.S. District Court Judge Robert Payne yelled and yelled at me about my arguments. He wanted to know how I would like to sleep next to a toilet, to which I responded that I would not want to be in jail. But in the end, he ruled in my favor. Because there is NO constitutional right to a bed in jail.

New York City Mayor Elect Comrade Mamdani (D.) is asking the people he claims to represent–the working people of the city–to send him donations to fund his transition. Apparently Comrade Mamdani wants folks to pay for their “free” stuff.

Modern women constantly talk about being “oppressed” — while drinking $8.00 lattes in air-conditioned offices, wearing $300.00 leggings, and posting selfies from their iPhone 17.  AND, they voted overwhelmingly for an Islamist for New York City mayor. Do they know that Islam really does oppress women? Let’s be real.

A recently released document reveals heretofore unpublicized items on Comrade Hamdani’s agenda, including:

Divest City pension funds from Israeli bonds and securities;

Withdraw City funds from banks that lend money to Israel or do business in Israel; 

End City contracts with companies that do business with Israel;

Operate City-run grocery stores free from Israeli products;

Investigate real estate agents hosting illegal sales of stolen lands in the West Bank;

Evict weapons manufacturers and transporters from the NYC Metro Areaz; 

Divest CUNY endowment and reinstate wrongly fired professors;

Dismantle Eric Adam’s NYC-Israel economic council;

End repression of demonstrators and the SRG [the NYPD’s Strategic Response Group]; and

Arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as well as “active IDF soldiers for war crimes.”

Well? What do you expect when you elect a radical Islamist to office?

New York Attorney General Letitia James (D.) asked a federal court to dismiss the charges against her because President Trump and his Administration’s officials used “insulting words” against her. Is hurting a criminal defendant’s feelings a basis for dismissal? I don’t think so.

In Chicago, Illinois, a crowd gathered around ICE agents arresting illegal aliens, throwing bricks at the agents. Then a male drove a black Jeep by, and opened fire with a handgun, fleeing the scene.

Juliana Milena Ojeda-Montoya is an illegal alien accused of stabbing a co-worker with a pair of scissors. She was arrested in Fitchburg, Massachusetts, when ICE conducted a traffic stop of the vehicle in which she was riding with her husband, also an illegal alien. During the arrest, a crowd gathered around the ICE vehicle, threatening ICE agents, and demanding that they release Mrs. Montoya.

So many questions. Why are people threatening ICE agents for arresting a violent criminal? And how is it that 2 illegal aliens are holding jobs in Massachusetts. They are illegal. Illegal, as in they are not supposed to be in the United States. Period.

A federal judge in Portland, Oregon second guessed the Trump Administration’s justification for sending federal troops to protect ICE facilities and personnel, permanently enjoining the President from doing so. Even though the federal judge does not have the authority to review the President’s determination.

The city of San Diego, California has established a platoon of officers who patrol residential neighborhoods to inspect household trash cans. The officers are looking for recyclable items being placed in the wrong trash can. Seriously. This is not a joke.

Incumbent Minneapolis, Minnesota Mayor Jacob Frey (D.) won reelection, and gave his victory speech in . . . Somali. Disgraceful. Un-American. Did I say disgraceful?

U.S. Senate candidate Graham Platner (D. Me.) issued a statement assuring voters that he was “not a secret Nazi”. Wow. Shades of U.S. Senator William Scott (R. Va.), who held a press conference to deny the Doonesbury comic strip’s claim that he was “the dumbest man in Congress”, thus revealing that he was the dumbest man in Congress.

Kim Kardashian, who is seeking to become a lawyer in California, used ChatGBT to provide answers on her law exams. Naturally, all her ChatGBT answers were wrong. Because AI is often wrong, and highly overrated. So Kim is not just a cheater, she is also stupid.

How stupid is Kim Kardashian? After admitting she cheated on her law exams with ChatGBT, she issued an authoritative press release that the 1969 moon landing was “fake”. This comes from a woman who believes that her stepfather Caitlyn is a woman.

Chick-Fil-A has 2 new menu additions, S’Mores Frosted Coffee, and S’Mores Milkshake. YUM!

Casharra Brown was arrested after an altercation at a Buena Vista, Michigan McDonald’s restaurant. Miss Brown was upset over her order, and argued with the manager. Eventually she became so angry, she threw a cup of steaming hot coffee at the manager. Fast food is so dangerous.

Andrew Mountbatten Windsor is under criminal investigation for financial improprieties. And Sarah Ferguson is also under criminal investigation for financial improprieties. She may be exiled from Great Britain. WOW!

The United States struck a $100 billion trade deal with Uzbekistan. WINNING!

The British Broadcasting Corporation is disciplining one of its presenters for using the phrase of “pregnant women”, instead of “pregnant people.” Good grief!

More than 200 Hamas terrorists are trapped in tunnels behind Israeli Defense Force lines in Gaza. Hamas is insisting that this is all a misunderstanding, not a violation of the cease fire agreement, and that the terrorists are harmless, and should be sent home. Uh, huh.

Hezbollah is expanding its illegal narcotics trafficking operation in Venezuela. This will not end well for either Hezbollah or Venezuela’s Maduro regime.

FOX Sports fired Mark Sanchez over his involvement in a brutal assault on an elderly delivery driver in Indianapolis, Indiana. That’s a shame.

USC beat Northwestern. Indiana beat Penn State in a come from behind thriller. Oregon slipped by Iowa. Ohio State beat Purdue. Wisconsin upset Washington.

SMU rolled over Boston College. UNC won its second game, beating Stanford. Cal beat Louisville. Wake Forest stunned UVA. Duke embarrassed itself by losing to Connecticut. Miami thumped Syracuse. Notre Dame swamped Navy.

Texas Tech beat previously unbeaten BYU in Lubbock. Iowa State beat TCU. Arizona beat Kansas. Houston won. West Virginia beat Colorado. Coach Prime is not pleased.

Utah State dominated Nevada. UNLV beat Colorado State. Air Force and Hawaii both won.

East Carolina, Army, Rice, and Tulane won. Missouri State beat Liberty. JMU won.

Alabama beat LSU. Auburn fought valiantly, but fell in overtime to Vanderbilt. Texas A&M topped Missouri. Georgia beat up on Mississippi State.

Dartmouth beat Princeton. Harvard beat Columbia. Yale beat Brown. The Cornell anti-Semites beat UPenn.

GFK

Today is a bonus edition of The Observations. I found Scott McKay’s article reacting to last Tuesday’s elections to be thought provoking. I do not endorse everything contained in this article (published on November 5, 2025 in The American Spectator), but it is spot on in many respects, and it should lead to greater focus and constructive conversation. I hope you find it informative.

The Cold Civil War Is Now on Defrost, and the Right Still Isn’t Ready

Kill the filibuster now, and start making policy in a lightning round.

Just before Tuesday’s election returns started coming in, I found myself confused.

We had gubernatorial races in New Jersey and Virginia where GOP candidates who had once appeared in competitive positions to win were flagging, and badly, other races around the country were ringing alarm bells for the Republicans, the government shutdown was hitting five weeks, and it was obvious the Democrats were using it to mobilize their base voters in ways Republicans weren’t doing, and what was the Right occupying its time with?

Tearing the Heritage Foundation apart because its president, Kevin Roberts, voiced support for longtime ally Tucker Carlson.

And why? Because Carlson did an interview with the boorish Nick Fuentes that wasn’t sufficiently nasty.

Now it’s a day after the election as I write this, and Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer, the architect of the shutdown is cackling away at the “shellacking” that President Trump and MAGA took in the elections, and Schumer and his House counterpart Hakeem “Temu Obama” Jeffries are triumphantly giving written orders to the president.

Wake up, clowns. We don’t have time to fight about Nick Fuentes.

Not when five out of every six women under 30 just voted to make a Ugandan/Indian Muslim communist who wants to globalize the intifada the mayor of America’s largest city.

The Democrats kicked Republicans’ asses not just in deep blue places like New York City and New Jersey and California, where an electoral trick bag just spilled out five more House seats for the Democrats thanks to a thumbs-up referendum on congressional gerrymandering. They kicked the GOP’s asses in Georgia, where two Republican members of the public service commission were turned out of office by communists who will make power generation an impossibility and rates skyrocket.

They did it in Mississippi, where they broke the Republicans’ legislative supermajority. They did it in Pennsylvania, where they seized (perhaps permanent) control of the state supreme court.

And they did it in Virginia, which is a blue state, but you wouldn’t figure it would be blue enough that a Hamas-supporting Muslim would get elected lieutenant governor and a toxic cretin who expressed a desire to murder the Republican House speaker and his children could become the state’s chief law enforcement official.

In positive news, Somali Muslim communist Omar Fateh failed in his bid to become the mayor of Minneapolis. Woke white communist Jacob Frey, one of the chief engineers of the George Floyd riots in 2020, won another term. Just across the river in St. Paul, state Rep. Kaolhy Vang Her, who admitted she came to the U.S. illegally, is now the mayor-elect.

This result might have been worse than what happened in St. Paul:

But all of that happened on Tuesday while Republicans were arguing with each other over the proper amount of opprobrium and shunning to be given to Nick Fuentes, Tucker Carlson, and Kevin Roberts.

In case you people didn’t realize this, we don’t have time for navel-gazing right now.

We’re up against a Democrat Party that literally starved its base voters, in order to radicalize them and drive them to the polls, by engineering a government shutdown through a filibuster. That Democrat Party lined up behind Zohran Mamdani, who quoted in his acceptance speech not Jefferson nor Madison nor Lincoln nor Roosevelt but Nehru, and it mobilized a foreign-born electorate the Democrats had created through aggressive mass migration from the Third World to push him into power in a city that a generation ago adopted the slogan “Never Forget” in response to 9/11.

Well, Mamdani’s electorate didn’t forget. They didn’t even know. And they don’t give a damn.

And getting the ones who don’t give a damn to the polls is the explicit mission of the Democrat Party, by any means necessary.

I could yell some more at these people who want to screech about Nick Fuentes, but I don’t give a damn. Not right now. I want to get things moving again. And I have some suggestions that I want to talk about.

First, Trump is howling at Senate Republicans that it’s time to abolish the filibuster. And as Melissa and I discuss in one of our The Spectacle Podcast episodes this week, he makes a hell of a good argument for it.

It brings me no pleasure that I have come around to Trump’s position. He says he wouldn’t call for the end of the filibuster if he wasn’t convinced that the Democrats will get rid of it as soon as they have unitary control of government again. And he says the only viable way through the midterms is to get Congress out of neutral and passing legislation — lots of legislation — between now and next summer.

I wish we could preserve the filibuster. But there is no Republican bill on any subject the Democrats won’t stop dead in its tracks at this point. The reservoir of goodwill they have to offer the American people isn’t just empty, it’s a vacuum. It’s a black hole that sucks in and destroys goodwill from elsewhere. Let’s remember once again that these people cheered Charlie Kirk’s murder, they now threaten people online with “kirkholes,” and they voted not just for a slew of pro-Hamas Muslim jihadists but someone who openly fantasized about killing the children of his political opponents.

Do you think there is common cause to be made with people who have impoverished their own voters for five weeks in order to gain “leverage” and radicalize their base?

This is a civil war. There isn’t… much… shooting yet, but it’s time to wake up and see it for what it is. We are up against people who spit on the idea of political consensus and will happily crater our society in order to get the absolute political power they worship.

Act accordingly. Kill the filibuster now, and start making policy in a lightning round. Shock and awe, like it was earlier this year. And make policy that cuts at the societal rot the Left has been fostering in earnest since Barack Obama’s inauguration.

No more old-time Third Era consensus politicking. Nobody cares about this anymore.

I’ve got the first bill for it, too. That is, unless the filibuster has to go in order to finally move the budget resolution. I doubt that’ll be necessary; now that they’ve won the elections, the Dems will declare victory and reopen the government soon.

Assuming I’m right, the bill should be a ban on the legislation or implementation of sharia law in the United States. Sharia is utterly contrary to the constitution and its practice violates most of our civil rights. Additionally, the bill should declare the Muslim Brotherhood and all of its tentacles a foreign terrorist organization — that would include CAIR, which is openly orgasmic over its candidates winning and promising Muslim political takeovers of swaths of American territory.

And all we have to do is look across the pond to see our future if we don’t slam the door on sharia.

Let the Dems filibuster the sharia bill. It’ll be a clarifying debate. And then blow up the filibuster to pass it.

Then let them accuse Trump and the GOP of “divisiveness” and “fascism.” If the absurdity doesn’t put an end to that calumny, it’ll at least make for great fun and an instructive moment for voters.

There are lots of others.

Including doing something about the crushing health insurance premiums afflicting Americans in the individual market, the one Obamacare destroyed but was propped up, poorly, with hundreds of billions of dollars’ worth of COVID-era subsidies the Democrats have shut the government down in an attempt to renew.

So you’ll know, if you don’t already, Obamacare was designed to be a time bomb that would explode the private insurance market and make it impossible for any other healthcare system in America but a fully socialized one like what exists in Canada and the U.K. The Democrats will not cooperate on any healthcare legislation that reforms Obamacare unless it achieves their demanded result.

And you cannot fix Obamacare, or the individual/non-employer health insurance sector with market-based reforms unless the filibuster is done away with.

Don’t fix Obamacare, and the Democrats will ride the runaway health premiums to a midterm comeback and retake the House and Senate next year, and they’ll kill the filibuster after they destroy the second half of Trump’s second term, probably by pursuing yet another impeachment, in order to elect a stupid communist president in 2028 on the strength of an imported electorate like the one that turned New York into West Karachi on Tuesday night.

When a lot of this problem could be alleviated simply by allowing membership organizations like college alumni associations, churches, unions and bowling leagues to offer health insurance to their members. A century ago, people would get a medical plan through the Moose Lodge or some such organization, and it actually worked pretty well. Now, health insurance for a family of four for a year costs the price of a new car. It’s utterly ridiculous, and the other side is salivating over the power that will give them if they can just make people suffer enough.

Negative capital in the hands of the young is a real issue. It’s why all the stupid communist chicks want to vote for the pro-Hamas anti-American who promises them free things under his burgeoning new caliphate. Are they morons? Of course. But someone hoodwinked them into majoring in underwater basket weaving or Furry Studies while charging them $200,000 in debt-fueled tuition, and regardless of whether those were bad decisions on their part, you will not get them to adopt adult attitudes unless they’re able to take on an adult lifestyle.

So instead of spending taxpayer funds on a student loan bailout the Democrats have never stopped demanding, start coming up with real solutions.

Like allowing those debts to be discharged in bankruptcy like all the other debts. Or maybe put a debt relief program together funded by a tax on filthy-rich university endowments. Watch Liz Warren throw a fit in opposition to that.

Or demanding a nationwide housing construction boom, complete with real policies incentivizing it, which crashes the price of houses on the bottom end of the market and makes it possible for gainfully employed young Americans to buy something they can afford.

I’m not talking about another Fannie and Freddie-fueled bubble. This is about deflating housing prices, not inflating them, specifically on the lower end of the market. And to do this, it’s likely going to mean taking a predatory stance against Democrat-run municipal governments who have pushed decline and blight on working-class areas of their cities.

Or blowing out all of the idiotic regulations of the auto market that stifle domestic production, and in doing so force a dropdown in car prices. An average new car just hit $50,000 for the first time earlier this year, a number far, far too high for most Americans — and inventories for automakers are through the roof because of the disconnect between price and the market’s capacity to bear it.

Student debt, housing costs, and car prices are crushing young Americans. It’s time to get on policies that move the needle for them, and hopefully doing so will pull them back from the ledge. There isn’t a single meaningful bill Republicans could bring in Congress to accomplish these ends that this Democrat Party wouldn’t filibuster.

We can sit around and gripe about the crappy attitudes of these kids, and we wouldn’t be wrong. But a lot of those crappy attitudes come from cultural institutions we allowed hegemony over by the same Left that has been trying to destroy our civilization for so long. And we have done nothing to try to reclaim those institutions.

Another podcast episode Melissa and I did this week talks about the utter destruction of the entertainment industry by commie theater kids who believe all the things Zohran Mamdani does. Luckily that industry doesn’t have the power to inflict cultural damage that it used to, but that’s largely because the damage already done is close to total. Where is the Right’s answer for it, now that the opportunity has been wide open for years now?

When you don’t capture their imagination and you don’t show them opportunities, and you’ve let the enemy enervate and demoralize them all their lives, why are you surprised that they’ve become what they’ve become? Do something about it.

And stop talking about podcasters and edgelords for five damn minutes when the Left is defrosting the Cold Civil War.

GFK

“Democrats know that as long as you depend on them, you’ll vote for them — and that’s exactly how they like it.  It’s ridiculous to have so many people count on the government, and have one party say, ‘No, we aren’t going to open it up.’ That’s unfair.

What I see what the government is doing, it’s unfair.  It’s unbelievable.  That’s not the way it was set up to be.  And yet, we’re trying to play games.  Just open up the government, let it function along as we go along.  But, no, you want to make more people rely on you.  That’s why you want to give them government subsidies.  As long as they rely on you, they’ll vote for you, and that’s not the way it should be.

I worry about the future of this country.  Why is that?  Because we’ve gotten to the point where everything is about government and, ‘What can you do for me?’  And I’m going to vote for the person that promised me more free things than anything else.  There’s no free lunch.  They put together a group that tries to tear down the secret to success.”

–Former college head football coach Lou Holtz.

The United States Supreme Court ruled that the U.S. State Department can insist that passports be issued with your biological sex listed. Sorry “trans” and non-binary folks. We do not have to legitimize your insanity.

Of course Justice Black Female dissented, as did the other 2 liberal justices. Because they are insane.

The United States Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit reversed a lower court ruling, holding that the New York criminal prosecution of Donald Trump should have been removed to federal court. While there are lots of judicial hoops to jump through, it appears as though New York D.A. Alvin Bragg’s conviction may have vanished. That’s a shame.

Representative Nancy Pelosi (D. Ca.) is retiring from Congress. She spent 40 years in Congress, doing her best to destroy the United States. She will not be missed.

CNN asked Representative Jaimie Raskin (D. Md.) if he supported President Trump’s call for the elimination of the Senate filibuster. Representative Raskin stated that he did not, mimicking the idea as a “gimmick”. Yet when China Joe was President, Jaimie Raskin called almost daily for the filibuster’s elimination. Hmmm. HYPOCRITE!

Former U.S. Senator Jeff Flake (R. Az.) wrote an op-ed in The Washington Post, celebrating what he terms a coming revolt of the Republican Party against President Trump and MAGA. Senator Flake was useless. Citizen Flake is no more useful.

Giffords is a gun control organization founded by former Representative Gabby Giffords (D. Az.) and her husband, Senator Mark Kelly (D. Az.). Giffords is celebrating that the Democrats are now able to bring more unconstitutional “gun control” legislation into effect in Virginia. But when asked if penalties for gun involved crimes should be increased, Giffords issued a statement condemning harsh penalties for crimes involving guns, called for lessening existing penalties, and emphasizing that current laws were racist due to the effect that they had on “people of color” (colored people?). Giffords gives the game away; gun control organizations are not concerned with “gun violence”. No, gun control organizations want to disarm the citizenry and eliminate the Second Amendment. Because a disarmed citizenry is easier for the Left to control.

Giffords did call for the criminalization and accompanying harsh penalties for using a gun in self-defense. Apparently using a gun in self-defense is oppressive to the criminal class which makes up a large portion of the Democrat Pary base.

Notably, Giffords celebrated Jay Jones’s (D.) victory in the Virginia Attorney General’s race despite the fact that Mr. Jones wishes gun inflicted death on his political opponents, their families, and policemen. You see, Jay Jones is a Democrat and a colored person, so . . . .

“We will prove that there is no problem too large for government to solve and no concern too small for it to care about.”

–New York City Mayor Elect Zohran Mamdani (D.).

My goodness the man wants to dictate every aspect of New Yorkers’ lives.  Who would think that a communist Islamist would think like that?

Comrade Mamdani gave an angry victory speech on Tuesday evening, rallying aliens–not American citizens–to his cause. He promised to destroy private property in New York City, and give it all back to the people who deserve it.

New York legislators are already signaling their willingness to implement Zohran Mamdani’s massive tax hikes. They will not rest until they control every penny in private hands.

New York City Fire Commissioner Robert Tucker announced his resignation hours after Zohran Mamdani (D.) was elected Mayor. Hmmmm.

The FBI arrested 2 Muslim men for amassing a cache of high powered firearms, and plotting to shoot up LGBTQ++ nightclubs and bars outside of Detroit, Michigan. Someone alert the group Queers for Palestine.

Also in Michigan, 3 Chinese aliens who worked as researchers at the University of Michigan were arrested and criminally charged for smuggling biological materials into the United States. And we let them into the country.

A UPS plane crashed shortly after takeoff from the Louisville, Kentucky airport. Nine (9) are dead, 15 are injured, and 16 are missing. Tragic.

Oregon’s Secretary of State announced that even though scores of illegal aliens are registered to vote in that State, and did vote in that State, none would be referred for criminal prosecution. We are being ruled by our invaders, with the complicity and approval of the Left.

Another Muslim country has made peace with Israel. Kazakhstan has joined The Abraham Accords. WINNING!

Maldives enacted a new law that prohibits anyone born on or after January 1, 2007 from purchasing or using tobacco products. No smoking for you!

Winemaker Jedediah Steele, famous for establishing America’s favorite Chardonnay, has died at age 80. R. I. P.

Dallas Cowboy defensive end Marshawn Kneeland has died at age 24. R. I. P.

Former University of Southern California and NFL linebacker Keith Browner has died at age 63. R. I. P.

GFK

For all the money spent on education in this country–and it is a lot of money–we are an ignorant people. High school students routinely graduate without being able to read, do basic math, or write a cogent sentence. Scores of college graduates know more about identity politics than in the true meaning of the Constitution’s mandate for equal treatment of all persons under the law. And how many of our citizenry actually know who their State and federal representatives are, much less how they vote, what they believe, and how these issues fit within our Constitutional Republic’s framework of government?

How many people believe that ANTIFA is actually anti-fascist? How many people believe that President Trump and MAGA folks are fascists? How many people even know what is fascism?

How many Americans actually consider and debate the issues of our day? How many Americans read or view the news critically? How many Americans know our country’s history? How many Americans actually read for pleasure?

The election results of this week are not surprising in one sense. It is not surprising that Democrats win in heavily Democrat jurisdictions. Is anyone surprised that a Democrat won in New York City, New Jersey, or Virginia? You should not be.

What is surprising, and dismaying, is the ignorance of the voters, the lies told by the mainstream media, and the utterly nonchalant reaction to one Statewide candidate’s affinity for political violence. What is surprising, and dismaying, is the disinterest in informed engagement by voters. How can we possibly govern ourselves if we do not care enough to educate ourselves on the issues of the day, and the actions of our elected officials?

I read The Wall Street Journal religiously. Every Saturday, there is a column by former Reagan and H. W. Bush speechwriter, Peggy Noonan. Peggy Noonan can turn a phrase, and would certainly be considered eloquent. But she is not learned, and she is not introspective. No one would ever accuse her of being a critical thinker. She is often wrong, but rarely in doubt.

Set forth below is an article that recently was published in The American Spectator, on November 3, 2025, written by San Francisco, California attorney John D. O’Connor. Mr. O’Connor dissects Peggy Noonan’s writing, and analyzes her lack of critical thinking. I found it interesting, and hope you will too. Because while you dear readers may, or may not, be familiar with Peggy Noonan’s columns, you should be able to relate to the concept Mr. O’Connor identifies.

We are a superficial people, who need to do better. Our Founding Fathers were geniuses, and they bequeathed to us the finest system of governance known to man. But our system of governance is only as good as those who implement it. It requires education, interest, hard work, and individual participation. It requires critical thinking. We need to do better. Because if we do not, we are wasting our great gift. And our failures are putting us on a path to serfdom.

Peggy Noonan and the Dangers of Uncritical Thinking.

Just because Trump’s style isn’t pretty doesn’t mean he is wrong.

Elvis Presley, as most would agree, sang beautiful songs. But he was wise enough not to attempt composing any of them. Peggy Noonan has written beautiful words and phrases, but she should have the wisdom to collaborate with a sound thinker whose thoughts, not hers, might be expressed through her belles-lettres. In her attempts to appear thoughtful, writing rhythmically from an Olympian perch, she dispenses vapidity disguised as wisdom. Her recent column, “A Republic, But Can We Keep It?” unwittingly shows the danger of a lack of critical thinking to our republic, not, as she claims to demonstrate, the dangers to the country of President Trump’s unconventional, decidedly not pretty, style.

This article purports to tell us all the ways that President Trump has violated our republic’s sacred norms and thus endangers the republic. There is no doubt but that the president is often vulgar, profane, and insulting, offending those who value dignity in our country’s officials. These are fair criticisms. But there is arguably a kernel of common sense in many, perhaps most, of his substantive projects that is lost on citizens who judge primarily on appearance.

What our republic urgently needs today are thinkers who can separate wheat from chaff and argue about this frantic presidency on substance, not style.

As John Stuart Mill so eloquently wrote in 1835, our republic was founded on liberty, which in turn is achieved by principled argument and discussion. Thus, what our republic urgently needs today are thinkers who can separate wheat from chaff and argue about this frantic presidency on substance, not style. We have plenty of TDS victims and Rachel Maddow commentators in the vast legacy media, and do not need any more reflexive bombast. The problem with Ms. Noonan joining this vapid, uncritical crowd is that she claims the conservative mantle of Reagan and Bush Sr. Peggy Noonan is a conservative and a Republican, so her criticisms of Trump must be valid. So, to the extent she cites conclusions that are supposedly beyond principled argument, she thereby uses her status to stifle the very debate that is so crucial to our democratic republic. 

Noonan lists many ways she claims that Trump has crossed the republic’s “lines,” and therefore, pearls be clutched, endangers our republic. They sound good on the surface, but just a small dose of critical thought shows them not to be profound wisdom, but rather, lofty drivel. She does not explore the arguments that what Trump is attempting in many areas is a rough, bullish correction to reform our republic, consonant with its core traditional values. We do need, then, a discussion as to how he may be destroying the norms of our republic versus how he may be making America great again.

Let’s start with her superficial treatment of our elections, which, we all can agree, are at the heart of preserving a democratic republic.

It is one thing to contend, as we do here, that the citizenry must, however begrudgingly, abide by the 2020 election results. But it is quite another to say about this election, as Noonan does: “You can pretty much trust the numbers even factoring in the mischief of any system built by man.” This is didactic, above-the-fray sentiment, but it does not address the problems that serious people have concluded about this serious subject. As a result, in effect, Noonan is denying the need for election reform, not salutary for the republic she cares about oh so ardently. 

Ms. Peggy, for instance, ignores a five-year study by the bipartisan Carter-Baker Commission, which in 2009 found that the biggest problem with achieving fair elections is absentee voting. This is especially so, the Commission found, when vulnerable populations, such as nursing home residents, vote through intermediaries, i.e., vote harvesters. This finding was made well before the special pandemic circumstances of 2020, when mail-in voting was put on steroids, and ballot harvesters, by many accounts, cultivated an unusually bountiful crop. 

So, while Noonan advises us to “trust the numbers,” Jimmy Carter and James Baker advise otherwise, even in a normal election, if absentee ballots are used. In 2020, abnormally, millions of unsolicited ballots were sent to the dead, relocated, and uninterested; the resultant 155.5 million votes were nigh on impossible, after 136.7 million in 2016. Nursing homes? In Wisconsin, a state with a 20,000-vote margin, normal government election monitors were not as per usual sent to nursing homes, leaving Democrat workers to preside. Turnout in Milwaukee homes was close to 100 percent, with 95 percent voting for Biden. In Arizona, residents without proof of citizenship were allowed to vote. Foreign mail-in ballots were, oddly, heavily for Biden. None of this required a reversal of the results, but it suggests the need, per Carter-Baker, for reform of mail-in voting, not the reckless expansion that occurred.

To make it appear that Trump, not suspicious Georgia voting, was fraudulent, she quotes him saying, famously, “I just want to find 11,780 votes.” As she knows well, he was not suborning the manufacturing of votes, but instead the finding of the likely illegal ones. This is a cheap shot from an opinion leader that harms our country. It perhaps escaped her memory that Al Gore tried similarly to find wrongly tallied ballots, which she then said was the essence of the democratic process. So what is sauce for the goose is apparently not sauce for the gander.

By writing, “your governor won, your congressman won,” she implies that Trump’s true 2020 fate can be discerned from congruence with his down-ballot ticket. In Pima County, Arizona, a whistleblower reliably relayed a scheme to insert 35,000 phony ballots. Consistent with that allegation, Trump led his Republican ticket in precincts with normal turnout, while, in a “fishtail” graph, consistently trailing it in unprecedentedly high-turnout precincts, where votes appear to have been injected in a 10,000 margin state.

She is therefore arguing against election reform and improving voting security, since, after all, mail-in vote harvesting is a system “built by man.” According to Noonan, there is no “worry about our democracy” by any “erosion” here, even though there is such worry about Trump’s complaints of obvious voting irregularities. Really?

Only a person with willful blindness toward history or one with entitled Manhattan ignorance would say:

Are we maintaining our republic? Is our equilibrium holding? The last nine months, a lot of lines seemed to have been crossed — in the use of the military, in redirecting the Justice Department to target the president’s enemies, real and perceived… The executive branch takes on authority to bend its foes, defeat them.

One must conclude that Noonan was not around when Obama sicced Lois Lerner on Tea Party nonprofits, preventing them from participating in elections, or when Biden sent the DOJ’s Matthew Colangelo to New York to prosecute Trump on disgustingly specious non-crimes. Is John Bolton wrongly prosecuted by Trump’s DOJ for carelessly allowing Iran our most sensitive secrets, so Bolton could collect a million in book dollars?

The use of the military is in conformance with her idea of “equilibrium,” she implies, when it is used to enforce desegregation in Arkansas and Alabama in the 1960s. Why was that not a danger to our republic, but calling on troops to protect immigration enforcement officers is? How about Washington using the military to put down the domestic Whiskey Rebellion? Was Washington not crossing lines in protecting controversial excise tax collection, but Trump is in stopping violence against lawful deportation orders? 

Is Noonan arguing that the use of the army to enforce Reconstruction and the Civil Rights of freed slaves was right, but Trump’s use to enforce a safe District of Columbia was not? Was Thomas Jefferson correctly using the military to fight Barbary Coast piracy, but Trump is not correctly using the military to interdict Venezuelan drugs that kill millions of Americans? Is she claiming that Rutherford Hayes was noble when, in exchange for the 1876 presidency, he quit using the military to enforce Reconstruction, thus sanctioning Jim Crow Laws?

In yet other claimed “lines … crossed,” Trump’s tearing down the seemingly useless East Wing, an FDR addition, was purportedly “disturbing” and “upsetting.” Are tents a good look for the free world’s greatest country? And does Noonan know of the frequent major remodels of the White House throughout our history, including the addition of the West Wing? What is a better venue to entertain foreign dignitaries, a ballroom or Obama’s $376 million basketball court, built with taxes? Since her thesis is about Trump’s departure from traditional republican norms, why would she conceal abundant relevant comparisons?

While some may reasonably think that Trump’s use of private donations to fund the ballroom is a good thing, Noonan frets about what favors might be gained by “donors who are paying for it.” Are these folks more corrupt than Obama’s, or Biden’s, or any candidate’s donors? Why would she write something so jejune, if not to gratuitously throw shade on Trump?

Any student of American history knows that the boundaries between the three branches’ “specific powers and duties” by design are ill-defined. But, according to Noonan, it was Trump, not Jefferson, Jackson, Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, Wilson, FDR, Nixon, or this fellow Washington, who first energetically tried to exert executive power.

Unfortunately, this fine wordsmith no longer expresses the wise sensibilities of Reagan, or the traditional wisdom of her hero Edmund Burke, but, rather, her superficial, half-baked thoughts as an intellectual poseur.

It takes courage and intelligence to give voice to critical conservative thought. So the question is, does Peggy Noonan lack critical thinking skills, or does she lack the intellectual courage to live in snooty New York and openly entertain the possibility that Trump may be, in some ways, yes, making our republic great again?

GFK