The second day of former president Donald Trump’s impeachment trial closed with a momentary controversy. Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) objected to how a Democratic impeachment manager sourced information to him personally and asked that it be stricken from the record.

Rep. David N. Cicilline (D-R.I.) had cited Lee while describing a phone call early in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot between then-President Donald Trump and Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) about overturning the election. Lee had confirmed that Trump called him accidentally while seeking to talk to Tuberville, but the details of the ensuing conversation were not sourced to Lee in news reports. Cicilline had cited Lee’s confirmation of the call and added in the next sentence: “And on that call, Donald Trump reportedly asks Senator Tuberville to make additional objections to the certification process.”

Cicilline’s comments could be read to suggest the “reportedly” was based on Lee’s confirmation, though that generally refers to news reports. Regardless, lead House impeachment manager Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) opted to withdraw Cicilline’s assertion, maintaining that the sourcing was “not critical in any way to our case.”
— Washington Post, 2/11/21

In fact, the “source” Cicilline cited made no mention of Senator Lee and indicated that President Trump’s attorney Rudy Giuliani made the phone call to Tuberville, NOT President Trump himself. Aside from blatantly lying and assuming he wouldn’t be called out, it’s not clear why Cicilline tied Lee to the Giuliani-Tuberville phone call.

At approximately 7 p.m., Giuliani called newly sworn-in Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville, a staunch Trump ally, imploring him to stall the process. “I want to discuss with you how they’re trying to rush this hearing and how we need you, our Republican friends, to try to just slow it down so we can get these legislatures to get more information to you,” Giuliani said in a voicemail.

The problem for Giuliani? He left his message on the voicemail of another senator, who shared it with The Dispatch.
— The Dispatch, 1/6/21

The Dispatch did not reveal which senator actually got the call, neither did the Washington Post or Congressman Cicilline.

But what was also on sad was soon-to-be 81-year-old Sen. Patrick Leahy, president pro tempore of the Senate, presiding over the second impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump, whose senility, cognitive decline, and incompetence was on full display to the world.

Aides having to tell the president pro tempore of the Senate what to do and say during an impeachment trial regarding blatant mischaracterizations by a House manager… seriously?

From the time they arrive in Washington, newly elected members of Congress are told they are something special, an elite class. But too many members of both the House and Senate treat their “special place in life and in American history” as a license to steal, living large at taxpayer expense, ignoring laws that apply to ordinary Americans and betraying the trust of the public that put them there.
— Capitol Hill Blue, “America’s Criminal Class”

Of course since they supposedly “police” themselves and enjoy a partisan media that nurses off the largess, this has conveniently remained under the public radar. It also partially explains why the counties surrounding the District of Columbia are some of the wealthiest in the nation.

The revelations into the Biden family “business” enterprises have also revealed just how that proud tradition continues to this day.

A list of “key domestic contacts” for a joint venture involving Jim and Hunter Biden and now-bankrupt CEFC China Energy Co. included former Vice President Joe Biden’s current running mate Sen. Kamala Harris, among other prominent Democrats, Fox News has learned. An email exclusively obtained by Fox News, with the subject line “Phase one domestic contacts/ projects” and dated May 15, 2017, Biden’s brother, Jim Biden, shared a list of “key domestic contacts for phase one target projects.”

It is unclear if any of the Democrats were ever contacted about the “target projects.”
— Fox News, 10/22/20

We’ll have to wait until the dogged at the New York Times get on the case.

And who was on this email? It reads like a mostly prominent-Democrat who’s who of “domestic contacts” for what could’ve been very lucrative projects in the United States….

May 15, 2017
RE: Key domestic contacts for phase one target projects

1. New York State
Governor Andrew Cuomo

New York Senior Senator Chuck Schumer (D)

Junior Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D) who served as special counsel to Andrew Cuomo when he was Secretary of HUD.

2. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio

3. Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe, previous head of the DNC and former Clinton Campaign chair.

4. Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton (D)
Senior Senator Al Franken (D)
Junior Senator Amy Klobuchar (D)

Governor Rick Scott (R) (personal friend of my friend Billy Rubin and close to my friend Ken Jenne, former Sheriff of Broward County, FL).

6. California Governor Jerry Brown (long time friend from his first term as governor).
Senior Senator Dianne Feinstein (D)
Junior Senator Kamala Harris (D)
Mayor of San Francisco Gavin Newsome (Hunter’s friend)
Mayor of Los Angelos Eric Garcetti
Mayor of San Diego Kevin Faulconer

As of now, the Biden family and their business dealings are under a liberal media-reluctant microscope.

“I just saw behind the Biden curtain and I grew concerned with what I saw,” he said. “The Biden family aggressively leveraged the Biden family name to make millions of dollars from foreign entities even though some were from communist-controlled China.”
— Tony Bobulinksi, institutional investor recruited by the Biden family to run their joint-venture with now-bankrupt CEFC China Energy Co.

There are many corporations and prominent individuals who are profiting off the communist Chinese, so this is not to be singling out the Bidens. However, the line of legality appears to have been danced over, not only by their family members, but also by those who could potentially use their political positions to shrink the width of that line.

Things could get very messy, very soon.

Had Hillary Clinton been elected president, everything we now know about the partisan corruption of law enforcement and courts would never have been revealed to the American people. With that you can be sure if Joe Biden is elected president, everything we’re now learning about his family’s business dealing will go into that dark place where inconvenient truth is hidden from view.

It’s also a well known fact that, up until a few years ago, blacks voted in the high 90 percentile for Democrats. When they come out and vote, the Democrat normally wins. When they sit the election out, the Democrat doesn’t fare as well. Ask Hillary Clinton.

President Donald Trump has now changed long-standing norms through deeds; something blacks are not accustomed to from pandering politicians.

There may be a reason why this McAuliffe isn’t with a major news outlet….

Since this appeared to be rather juicy, a few aggregating blogs and a member of the #Squad ran with it as gospel.

’21 Empty Seats’: More Than One-Third of GOP Senators Reportedly Left Room During Schiff’s Speech
People Are Calling Out Republicans for Breaking Senate Trial Rules by Leaving ’21 Empty Seats’
At one point more 1/5 of the Senate — 21 members — were out of the chamber
‘You should quit’: Rashida Tlaib blasts GOP senators for taking breaks from impeachment trial

When something damaging to Republicans appears online, verified or not, the usual suspects run with and blow it up even more.

Oddly enough in a random act of journalism, both CNN and MSNBC decided to verify via people who were actually in the room (Senators Amy Klobuchar and Chuck Schumer). Unfortunately for the media, they didn’t get the responses desired that could have given them more anti-Republican Senator scolding for breaking rules. Instead, it’s encouraged more falsities to be distributed by the base.

According to the rules, Senators are not allowed to leave the floor for any reason while the impeachment trial is in session.
— PoliticusUSA, 1/22/20

Not sure where that line appears but the Senate chamber could get really ripe, without appropriate precautions, had that “rule” not been a figment of the imagination.

When you know your audience will blindly accept your word and are too lazy to look things up themselves, misleading is easy. By the way, there’s no rule stating they have to be there in the first place. According to rules of impeachment decorum distributed to the Senate by Mitch McConnell and Chuck Schumer….

• No live tweeting. Cell phones and other electronic devices should be left outside.

• No outside reading material. Only documents related to impeachment should be brought into the Senate chamber.

• No talking. Senators should refrain from speaking to their neighbors while the case is presented.

• Hit pause on presidential campaigns. Senators should plan to be in attendance at all times during the proceedings.
— US News & World Report, 1/16/20

The only official guidance issued makes no reference to attendance, mandatory or casual. The closest we get is….

At all times while the Senate is sitting upon the trial of an impeachment the doors of the Senate shall be kept open, unless the Senate shall direct the doors to be closed while deliberating upon its decisions.
— Senate Impeachment Rules, March 2, 1868

But that didn’t take long from things being taken an ominous step or two further.

I’m not sure the chief justice is fully aware of just how rare it is, how extraordinary it is for the House members to be able to command the attention of senators sitting silently for hours or even for minutes, for that matter. Of course, it doesn’t hurt that the morning starts out every day with the sergeant-in-arms warning you that if you don’t, you will be in prison.

It’s our hope that when the trial concludes and you’ve heard us and you’ve heard the president’s counsel over a series of long days that you don’t choose imprisonment instead of anything further.
— Rep. Adam Schiff, 1/22/20

It’s clear Congressman Schiff is again ad-libbing as he’s taking that “imprisonment” thing way out of context to use as a partisan club.

When the managers of an impeachment shall be introduced at the bar of the Senate, and shall signify that they are ready to exhibit articles of impeachment against any person, the presiding officer of the Senate shall direct the Sergeant-at-arms to make proclamation, who shall, after making proclamation, repeat the following words, viz: “All persons are commanded to keep silence, on pain of imprisonment, while the House of Representatives is exhibiting to the Senate of the United States articles of impeachment against.”
— Senate Impeachment Rules, March 2, 1868

So, we have another manufactured controversy meant to inflame the Democrat base; a base relied upon to believe what they’re told.

Mitch McConnell won’t allow recording on the Senate floor during the trial, so there is no video of the Senators, but other Senators saw it happening….
— Daily Sound & Fury, 1/23/20

The upside is that sometimes the truth comes out, live, where it can’t be “edited for time” or omitted altogether.

Repeat.

President Trump has unveiled his proposed budget and the Democrats are repeating the c-word….

CNN: Trump’s budget cuts children’s health insurance program
NPR: White House Proposes Deep Cuts To Safety Nets With ‘Taxpayer First’ Budget Plan
New York Times: Trump Budget Proposes Deep Cuts in Energy Innovation Programs
USA Today: Donald Trump’s budget cuts back key student loan programs
NY Daily News: Trump budget proposal’s $11B education cut leaves advocates outraged

And let’s never forget the inevitable use of the d-word.

Fox News: NYC’s De Blasio: ‘Children Will Die’ Because of Trump’s Budget

Yes, we’ve heard it all before.

Speaking of political repetition, it’s sad I’m still having to explain what I said over 12 years ago. So seeing how the left and their media still assume the American people are a bunch of stoopids who’ll buy their bullshit, as a public service, we proudly present…

As you consume the Democrat messaging (echoed by the media) on how devastating President Trump’s budget “cuts” will be, especially to the poor, women, minorities, the elderly, let’s remind you what a political budget “cut” normally is.

Let’s say I told you I was going to give you $10.

After looking at my personal budget, I determined I couldn’t afford to give you $10 so instead I would give you $7.

(Remember, I’m STILL GIVING YOU $7!)

Democrats would say I was cutting what I was supposed to give you by 30%.

Sorry, it’s that simple.

Donald Trump, as a former president of a billion dollar enterprise knows most successful businesses don’t keep departments that function poorly. Most successful businesses don’t keep departments that can’t account for money misused and/or missing from their budgets. Most successful businesses don’t keep people in their departments who routinely under-perform. Donald Trump would fire people whose departments performed poorly simply because that’s a tremendous waste of his money and if money was stolen, the cops would be called.

However President Donald Trump is no longer looking out for his money. He’s looking out for ours.

Many of the departments whose budgets are being cut (if you’ll be intellectually honest) haven’t been respectful stewards of the hard-earned taxpayer dollar. We’ve seen and heard of many instances of waste, if not outright theft, by government employees, callous damage caused by government agencies, and rarely are there any ramifications as there would be if we did the same thing at a private company.

Let’s look at some of these affected government agencies like one of those supposedly, altruistic nonprofits.

Many of them have intentionally vague missions. Some want to help veterans, feed children, help the poor, save the environment, fund the arts, clean the oceans, etc. Unfortunately, like nonprofits, if the mission were to ever be achieved, employees would be out of a job, thus the vague mission statements.

School Lunch Program “cuts”
As argued in a previous post, exactly why are taxpayers feeding school children three meals a day, and in some cases 260 weekdays a year? Where are the parents? Why did our parents deem it their responsibility to make sure we had a lunchbox complete with sandwich, chips, and a Thermos full of either soup or SpaghettiOs® with Meatballs while many parents today deem it our responsibility to feed their many children so more valuable resources go to their cellphone plans and whatever else considered more important?

We won’t even get into Michelle Obama’s school lunch reboot that resulted in a need to increase the trash budgets.

As witnessed by the miraculous restoration of a beach in one week’s time, the whole notion that the planet cannot “heal” itself without governmental environment agencies or nonprofit activists has been near rendered laughable.

Environmental Agency “cuts”
Back in 2007, I shared a piece from the National Geographic that showed evidence that the polar ice caps on Mars were melting. Seeing how Mars is further away from the Sun than the planet Earth and there are no SUV’s or factories there, only the warming of the Sun could explain warming that occurs because of our proximity to that bright, gaseous ball. The sheer fact NOT ONE environmental group EVER attributed global warming and cooling fluctuation to the variation in Sun activity but knee-jerk blamed human activity as the primary source should give pause for a red scam flag.

The Environmental Protection Agency has committed gross indifferent negligence and/or malfeasance over the years while there’s been very little benefit to be shown as a return on investment. The Gold King Mine spill, committed by the reckless EPA polluted a river through four states and negatively affected the livelihood of millions of people, yet no one was really held accountable. Let’s not even talk about who was really negligent and thus ultimately responsible for the lead in the Flint, Michigan drinking water.

But government employees in some of these agencies had enough time to organize a march of defiance, much of it done on the taxpayer dime.

Veterans are still not receiving the benefits they rightfully deserve, the poor have not been given the guidance and tutelage necessary to rise out of poverty (aside from how to apply for “benefits”), “art” has become a scam to subsidize no-talent rich kids with taxpayer dollars so their shit (no one wants to buy) can be intellectualized by humanities academics for validation.

The majority of government agencies being “cut” have shown no great ROI for the taxpayer who’s required to fund them at the threat of fine and/or imprisonment. While most government employees really want to serve the public, too many just look at it as a job; a job that’s very hard to be fired from and if they can keep that job for 20 years, the taxpayer can support them for the rest of their lives.

Education “cuts”
Instead of improving our abysmal ranking in the world, our public schools seem more able to efficiently turn our “young skulls full of mush” into social justice warrior Democrats than to be fully functioning members of society, and the schools start early.

Infrastructure “cuts”
Show me a government road or building construction project that was ever completed on time and under budget?

Nuf’ said.

Predictably, all we hear is that the “cuts” ultimately hurt the poor and benefit the “rich”.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer on Tuesday spared almost no analogy in calling President Trump’s budget proposal “comic-book villain bad” that “relies on fantasy to make the numbers work.”

“The Trump budget takes a sledgehammer to the middle class and the working poor, lavishes tax breaks on the wealthy and imagines all of the deficit problems away with fantasy math,” Schumer said, speaking on the Senate floor. “The Trump budget exists somewhere over the rainbow where the dreams of Mick Mulvaney, Paul Ryan and the Koch brothers really do come true. Of course, these dreams are a nightmare for the average working American.”
— Washington Examiner, 5/23/17

Forgot all about the Koch Brothers….

Disregard how Schumer had no numbers of his own to offer, but not to be outdone for relevance…

Hillary Clinton proclaimed Tuesday that President Donald Trump’s budget shows an “unimaginable level of cruelty” for millions of Americans and children.

The former Democratic presidential nominee, who recently declared herself part of the Trump resistance, lashed out at the Republican president’s spending plan in aggressive terms after being honored in New York City by the Children’s Health Fund, a nonprofit organization that helps provide health care to poor and homeless children.
— NBC News, 5/24/17

If there’s any cruelty it’s the sheer disrespect the entitled and/or elected have for the hard-earned taxpayer dollar they spend like trust fund babies with Daddy’s credit card.

The poor are still poor because the government entrenched want them to stay poor. If they poor ever were allowed to gain back control of their lives, not only would agency employees be at risk of job loss, but many of those now earning meaningful paychecks would see how much was taken out in taxes and who would that eventually make them want to vote for?

So, when you absorb the Democrat and media “cuts” whine, remember this is not about who they say will be hurt.

This is about President Trump showing respect for our tax dollars; something those in government haven’t done in decades.

Imagine the ego it took to write “Obamacare Critics Still Tell Just One Side of the Jobs Story” while plotting to deceive and destroy the health care coverage of millions of individuals and families.

In listening to “Health Economist” Jonathan Gruber’s presentation of the “agenda” at the University of Pennsylvania, the arrogance is quite disturbing and the question that most comes to mind is… “Who elected YOU?”

“What’s been great about this process is that it’s been a fairly intellectually honest process,” said Gruber.

Turns out it was a good day to check in with Gruber. Of course, lined up on the other side, we have the entreaties of millions of misinformed, Bible-banging suckers, so there’s that.
— A Brief Interlude With Expert Opinion, Esquire Magazine, 9/26/13

This progressive educator (and his family) is probably having a very bad last few days and deservedly so. The truth always comes out and there can be a reckoning.

B&R Flashback: ObamaCare: DEFUND, Not Repeal

This must be done. What’s sad is that Gruber has more balls than some of the Republicans now in charge.

Is Chuck Schumer’s former lawyer, now federal prosecutor for the Southern District of NY, still working to aid contributors to Schumer and his political funds?

Schumer is #3 Democrat in Senate and his committees include:

Committee on Finance
Subcommittee on Taxation and IRS Oversight
Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs
Subcommittee on Financial Institutions
Subcommittee on Securities, Insurance and Investment
Committee on the Judiciary
Subcommittee on Administrative Oversight and the Courts
Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights
Subcommittee on Crime and Drugs
Committee on Rules and Administration (Chairman)
Joint Economic Committee (Vice Chair)
International Narcotics Control Caucus

Schumer used his Senate Committees to have a veto power over appointment of Federal Judges in New York and at the Second Circuit Court of Appeals since 1998. Schumer picked Mukasey as Bush’s Attorney General.  Schumer picked Paulson, when Bush asked him who to make Treasury Secretary. Paulson, as Bush’s Treasury Secretary, engineered TARP which was blamed on Bush and Republicans.

Schumer is the king of cash from the financial sector, taking in $2.2 million in contributions from commercial banks, the securities and investment industry and the finance and credit card industry from 2009 to this month, according to the campaign finance watchdog Center for Responsive Politics. During the past five years, some of the biggest contributions to the vice chairman of the Democratic Conference and chairman of the Rules Committee have come from groups connected to hedge fund Paulson & Co., banking giant Credit Suisse and the investment firm Blackstone Group.

Meanwhile, Gillibrand, New York’s junior senator, aka Schumer’s Hand Puppet, has taken in roughly $1 million from the financial sector since 2009. Her biggest contributors in recent years have included political action committees and employees from JPMorgan Chase, Deutsche Bank and Morgan Stanley.

The Times goes on to describe Schumer’s prodigious pecuniary abilities with a strikingly provocative term:  An exceptional fund raiser — a “jackhammer,” someone who knows him says, for whom “ ‘no’ is the first step to ‘yes,’ ” — Mr. Schumer led the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee for the last four years, raising a record $240 million while increasing donations from Wall Street by 50 percent. That money helped the Democrats gain power in Congress, elevated Mr. Schumer’s standing in his party and increased the industry’s clout in the capital

Connecting some dots: Bharara worked for Schumer. Raymond Lohier was the head of Bharara’s securities fraud unit. Lohier now sits as appointed judge [recommended by Schumer] on the Second Circuit Court of Appeals. Bharara explains why he can’t prosecute bank fraud here.

Who supervises Bharara? Well, it’s Eric Holder, Attorney General, and Lenny Breuer, Head of Criminal Prosecutions at the Justice Department. As described in my prior post they’re connected with outside lawyers and ought remove themselves from overseeing prosecutions on Wall Street. But, the lawyers, like the devil, always want to get their due.   In the Spirit of ” Never let a good shakedown go away unused,” Obama [is] still flush with cash from financial sector despite frosty relations.

So in summary, what would a wise Wall Streeter do?  Contribute to Schumer and Obama, hire the connected law firms and feel safe or risk much more in court battles?   Is this a classic shakedown of honest businessmen or protection racket for crooks?  Were you expecting that the Federal District Court Judges or the Federal financial overseers to independently protect the people or you?  Was the 20 year low in financial-fraud prosecutions and Justice purchased under Obama, Eric Holder and Schumer?