Category: Current Events

The Unique Value of the Trump Presidency

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If you are toting up the accomplishments of the Trump presidency, different groups will emphasize different things.  If you’re a Constitutionalist then you will value most the appointment of so many federal judges, and most critically, Supreme Court justices by President Trump.  If your liveliest fear is the loss of American manufacturing jobs to China then the tariff negotiations going on with Mexico and China are your favorite Trump initiatives.  If the tidal wave of illegal immigration is what you point to as the existential threat to United States then “build that wall” is your choice.  And if you happen to be a struggling young man trying to support or start a family then the booming economy is the most important thing.

Well, all these things are important and all these things should be acknowledged and celebrated by our side of the political divide.  But there is actually a much more important aspect to the presidency of Donald Trump that should be emphasized.  He doesn’t despise us.

Think about that.  The last time the White House had a President, either Democrat or Republican that didn’t loath us either secretly or openly was Ronald Reagan.  That was thirty years ago.  I was still a young man.  That’s more than a generation ago.  Think of that, all of the people under fifty have no adult memory of a time when the government wasn’t trying to subvert the values and even the interests of the majority of the people they led.  Sometimes we knew this was the case.  Clinton and Obama clearly showed by their actions like, “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell,” and advocacy for same sex marriage that they rejected the values and opinions of the American public.  But maybe more damaging was the hidden opinions behind the façade of conservatism that George Bush and his son held.  They never missed a chance to stab their constituencies in the back whenever it would be most damaging.

Each tailored domestic and international policies that drained the life blood of the working class away, both figuratively and literally.  Each disdained to protect the social conservative groups that they claimed to belong to and instead favored the progressive elements of society whenever a choice was presented.  And both were useless in a political fight.

Compare this to Donald Trump.  Both during his candidacy and during the whole of his term in office he has taken our side.  He has not denounced the normal people who live in this country.  He has championed our causes and at great cost politically he has resisted the voices even in his own administration and party that exhort him to condemn us.  He never puts distance between himself and the least powerful or the least polished of us.  In fact, he sounds more like us than some of us do.  He doesn’t fill his speeches with graduate school rhetoric.  He talks like a guy who worked in the construction industry in New York City thirty years ago.  He brags, mocks our enemies, gloats over his successes and their failures and drives them insane.  He doesn’t give up.  He fights and, best of all, he wins.  He gives us a voice.

What is all that worth?  Everything.  Having your guy in charge, even when we are taking fire from the combined weaponry of the Democrats, the Media, Silicon Valley, the Deep State, the Churches, the Schools, the LGBTQ Mafia, Hollywood and even Wall Street and the Chamber of Commerce is worth more to us than you can imagine.  Think for just a minute where we would currently be if Hillary Clinton were president.  Hell, even imagine where we would be if JEB! were President.

For me all those things I mentioned above are great, judges and jobs, tariffs and walls.  But what gives me hope and boosts my morale is having someone who sounds like me telling Hillary Clinton and Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer and James Comey and Joe Biden and Elizabeth Warren and Barack and Michelle Obama that they’re fake news and he’s the President and go ahead and try to change that.

Donald Trump isn’t a politician, he’s a leader.  He’s the head of our gang.  He’s the one who makes sure we don’t get stepped on by the other gangs.  Of course, this isn’t some school yard in Brooklyn and we aren’t a local stickball team but the theory is the same.  He looks out for his own.  If you’re anyone who isn’t part of a class protected by the current progressive system then Donald Trump is the only one who has your back.  And he isn’t doing this without risk to his life, his freedom, his material possessions and the well-being of his associates, friends and family.  He is the biggest target in the world and the most powerful people in the world hate him and will go after him for the rest of his life.  Kind of a big deal.

So, what is the value of his presidency to me?  What is it worth to you to feel as you do now as opposed to how you felt in the waning days of the Obama presidency while staring down the barrel of the Hillary presidency straight ahead?  I can tell you what it’s worth to me.   Priceless.

 

 

02NOV2019 – OCF Update

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First off, my apologies for the delay last night of the Photo of the Day and Quote of the Day.  Automated systems failed and I was unaware due to my preoccupation with a hastily convened ShatnerKhan!

That’s right November 1st 2019 will live in infamy as the Inaugural, the Premiere, the Initial, the First ShatnerKhan.  I will provide a detailed report but suffice it to say that the world will never be the same.

On non-Shatner related fronts, the political world is unfolding in all its hideousness.  I continue to marvel at how President Trump has broken the old paradigm so thoroughly that even those most heavily invested in it are starting to admit that he has won.  I’ll have some comments on this soon too.

Meanwhile winter has descended on New England.  I took a few last foliage photos yesterday but today I woke up to a killing frost that drained the color from the landscape.  The horror, the horror.

Fox News Speculates on Durham Criminal Probe

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I’ve linked to a Fox News post that quotes an “insider” as saying that Durham would not be switching to a criminal investigation if he did not already have targets that will definitely be indicted on criminal charges.  And he said that there must already be some cooperating witnesses to ensure that these indictment will be certain.

The implication is that this “insider” is former or current Justice Department personnel who speaks from experience.  Sounds reasonable.  Read it and see what you think.  Apparently some of the coup have already been contacted that they will be interviewed.  Brennan was one of those.

Schiff and Nadler are outraged that the Justice Department isn’t restricted to only Republican targets.   This is my favorite quote:

“The Department of Justice under AG Barr has lost its independence and become a vehicle for President Trump’s political revenge,” House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., and House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., said in a joint statement after learning Durham’s probe had become a criminal inquiry. “If the Department of Justice may be used as a tool of political retribution or to help the President with a political narrative for the next election, the rule of law will suffer new and irreparable damage.”

Oh, the irony.

 

 

31OCT2019 – Happy Halloween!

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Even a Man who’s pure at heart
And says his prayers by Night
May become a wolf when the wolfsbane blooms
And the Moon is full and bright

Wolfsbane Blooming in October 7

There haven’t been any really good horror movies lately so I think this year I’ll just put up my links to the Universal Classic Monster Movies.

https://orionscoldfire.com/index.php/2018/10/12/universal-classic-monster-movies-an-ocf-classic-movie-review-part-1/

https://orionscoldfire.com/index.php/2018/10/12/universal-classic-monster-movies-an-ocf-classic-movie-review-part-2-dracula/

https://orionscoldfire.com/index.php/2018/10/14/universal-classic-monster-movies-an-ocf-classic-movie-review-part-3-frankenstein/

https://orionscoldfire.com/index.php/2018/10/17/universal-classic-monster-movies-an-ocf-classic-movie-review-part-4-wolfman/

https://orionscoldfire.com/index.php/2018/10/19/universal-classic-monster-movies-an-ocf-classic-movie-review-part-5-the-mummy/

https://orionscoldfire.com/index.php/2018/10/21/universal-classic-monster-movies-an-ocf-classic-movie-review-part-6-the-invisible-man/

https://orionscoldfire.com/index.php/2018/10/23/universal-classic-monster-movies-an-ocf-classic-movie-review-part-7-the-lesser-works-and-a-final-verdict/

https://orionscoldfire.com/index.php/2018/02/22/dr-jekyll-and-mr-hyde-1931-version-a-classic-monster-movie-review/

https://orionscoldfire.com/index.php/2018/10/28/psycho-an-ocf-classic-movie-review/

 

Happy Halloween.

 

Remainers Allow General Election.  It May be the Last thing They Ever Do in Parliament.

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After forcing Boris Johnson to extend the Brexit waiting period yet again to January 31st, the Remainers may have just signed their own political death warrants.  The Tories, with the cooperation of the Labor Party were able to pass a bill calling for a General Election on December 12th.

Currently Boris Johnson’s personal popularity is extremely high.  And the popularity of the Tories is also strong.  They currently lead Labor 37% to 25% as the two largest parties.  Add in the 10% that Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party controls and it’s practically a majority without the necessity of coalition building.  Add to this the anger by even Laborites at the dirty tricks that the Remainers have used to block Brexit and we have the makings of a popular revolt.

I imagine that Boris Johnson and Nigel Farage will need to coordinate their efforts to ensure that the Tories who have remained faithful to the Brexit promise are spared any Brexit Party competition and only Remainers and Labor districts are targeted for replacement.  I imagine Farage will start by selecting all the districts that were represented by Tories that were thrown out of the party for voting against the Hard Brexit last month.  But he may have an even larger prize with the districts that voted for Brexit in 2016 but have a Labor MP that voted against Brexit this year.  That could turn a small electoral majority into a landslide for the Pro-Brexit parties.

I have to confess I’m shocked that the Labor Party agreed to this election.  It seems like an unforced error.  I know there is an element of risk for the Tories.  Electorates can be fickle but I think the upside for them is immense.  With a well-orchestrated campaign attacking the shenanigans that the Remainers committed and playing to the British national pride I believe this will be the chance to have a Pro-Brexit majority in Parliament and provide the right environment to make the Conservative Party actually conservative again.  It will also allow them to shed their image as globalists and steal the populist mantle from Labor.

It is sad that Boris wasn’t able to fulfill his promise to leave the EU by Halloween but he has redeemed himself by ensuring that the British voters will get to have the final say on Brexit.  And based on the date of the election it looks like it could be considered an early Christmas present for the Britons and a good start for 2020.

If you look back to 2016 it was the Brexit victory in the UK that preceded and almost announced the way for the even more astonishing Trump electoral victory over the Wicked Witch and the Republican Dwarfs.

It would seem almost poetic justice if achieving Brexit with a truly conservative Parliamentary majority is the opening act for President Trump to crush the Resistance under the heel of William Barr and achieve re-election by a landslide.  If only we could imitate that venerable old English custom of installing traitors like Comey and Clapper and Brennan in the Tower of London and provide them with the just desserts they truly deserve.

Tonight We May Know if Brits Will Soon Get the Chance to Vote in a Pro-Brexit Parliament

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According to this report the Parliament will vote tonight on whether a general election will occur in December.  https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/britain-looks-set-early-election-attempt-break-brexit-deadlock-n1073201

Of course I wouldn’t put it past the Remainers, both in and out of the Tory party, to prevent the election.  They must know their days are numbered if they allow it.  Good luck Boris Johnson, Nigel Farage and the rest of the British people.

 

Fingers crossed.

 

2019 – 2020 is Going to Be an Important Judicial Year in the Supreme Court

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A number of important cases are on the docket at the Supreme court this fall.

This year the Supreme Court will have the chance to rule on:

  • The constitutionality of Louisiana’s Abortion Law mandating an abortionist have admitting privileges at a local hospital.
  • Whether New York City’s ban on transporting a licensed, locked and unloaded handgun to a home or shooting range outside city limits is consistent with the Second Amendment, the commerce clause and the constitutional right to travel.
  • Whether the temporary DACA program can be allowed to expire.
  • Whether Kansas is allowed to identify illegal aliens by their obvious documentation and act on this.
  • Whether homosexuality is a protected class under employment discrimination laws.
  • Whether transgender status is a protected class under the employment discrimination laws.

Putting aside for a moment the health status of Ruth Bader Ginsberg, we will have the chance to see whether John Roberts is an honest man or a stooge.  Something like the DACA program is a clear-cut case of a temporary law that has expired.  To extend it would be an obvious act of judicial trespass onto the prerogatives of the Executive and Legislative branches of government.  If Roberts uses his vote to legislate from the bench then we know he is a Deep State creature either voluntarily or due to some kind of blackmail.  Likewise, with the NYC gun transport ban this is a clear violation of the Second Amendment and upholding the ban would make Roberts’ status clear.

As for the homosexual and transgender cases, those will be even more transparent markers of where he stands.  Supposedly only Justice Kennedy was responsible for the outrage that was the gay marriage decision.  If somehow Roberts comes out in favor of either of these protections then it will be obvious that he was a plant all along.

If it turns out that Roberts is indeed a creature of the Left then it becomes even that much more urgent that President Trump appoint one or more conservative justices to the Supreme Court.

So, returning to the question of Ginsberg’s health I stated during her last cancer eruption that I would be shocked if she didn’t retire before April.  To be blunt, she is currently experiencing the results of metastatic cancer from one of her previous tumors.  Whether the cells are originally pancreas, colon or lung cancer they have obviously migrated out of the original site and are now showing up in new organs.  The question of whether these cells have already migrated to the liver is probably what will determine how long she has.  And also, to slow down the spread of the metastases, chemotherapy will be needed and this is a woman in her late eighties.  How is she supposed to support the side effects that include neurological damage and still sit on the Supreme Court and decide the legal fate of the nation?

Hopefully she will elect to spend her last few months with her loved ones as anyone would in that position.  At that point President Trump will appoint a reliable conservative justice and put an end to Roberts’ veto on conservative judicial decisions.  But while these are important legal battles, even more urgent is a Supreme Court decision to end all forms of affirmative action, whether sex or race based.  The glaring anti-constitutional nature of these programs has been long recognized by the court but has always been spared as being a necessary temporary measure to correct past inequities.  Any honest observer would admit that the cure is now worse than the disease and it’s time to save the patient from his treatment.  Whether this will come up for review next year or the year after, sooner than later the Supreme court will need to address this most egregious civil rights atrocity.

President Trump Has a Very Good Day

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I watched President Trump announce the successful operation that eliminated al-Baghdadi.  I was struck by just how elated he sounded.  Apparently, this was something that he valued very highly and the superlative laden but well-deserved praise that he heaped on the special forces and other military personnel underscored how proud he was of their accomplishment.  President Trump also praised the Turkish, Russian, Syrian and Iraqi governments for wisely showing restraint when he informed them that he was sending an air force through their territories.

Of course, the President never misses an opportunity to throw a punch at his adversaries so when he also praised the Intelligence department personnel for the excellent job they had done, he made sure he mentioned that there were other intelligence personnel who were doing things that were less than praiseworthy.  And when he talked about the secrecy needed to protect the mission, he added that he kept Congress out of the loop because of their reputation for leaking secrets.

And when President Trump describes the final moments of the ISIS leader, that is when the discussion he provides differs from anything a typical politician would deliver.  Listen to his description, “He died a coward — crying, whimpering, screaming, and bringing three kids with him to die a certain death. And he knew the tunnel had no end. I mean, it was a — it was a closed-end — they call it a closed-end tunnel. Not a good place to be.”  His plain spoken and impolite way of describing his enemies is off-putting to many people who were raised to be polite even to monstrous individuals.  I guess I see what bothers them.  But I see that as their problem not his.  President Trump doesn’t believe in false modesty or misplaced politeness.  Al-Baghdadi was a monster.  The brutal murders of thousands of people, many recorded and televised on the internet are proof that this man was either completely insane or a remorseless murderer who valued human life not at all.  The fact that President Trump went out of his way to insult al-Baghdadi for cowardice is fitting.

After watching the interview, I followed up by watching an interview that Lindsay Graham did discussing the al-Baghdadi operation.  Despite Graham’s initial criticism of President Trump’s withdrawal of US troops from the Syrian “safe zone,” the Senator now sees the value in moving US soldiers away from a flash point between Turkish, Syrian and Kurdish forces and instead position them where they could provide strategic value without making themselves a target for any potential provocateurs in the region.  It’s remarkable how often the President’s positions start out being disparaged by the experts and pundits but end up accepted because they work.

This was a good day and despite all the impeachment hullaballoo, it was a good week too.  News from the NY Times that Durham’s investigation has been elevated to a criminal investigation seems to confirm that the long wait for results of all the evidence that Durham has been sifting through will soon be over and indictments will be forthcoming.  The nervousness displayed by Clapper and company tells me something too.  I don’t think they believed it would ever move forward to where we are now.

The rumor that James Baker has agreed to provide Durham with cooperative testimony while less certain is potentially the bigger story.  If one of the big or medium fishes in the cabal decides to provide state’s evidence it will be devastating for everyone on the Left.  That includes cabalists, the Media and probably some members of Congress that have been in on this up to their elbows.  While I’m not convinced that the rumor is true, the timing of it would make a lot of sense.  Finding out that you will be required to provide sworn testimony would be terrifying to someone like Clapper who has lied under oath a number of times and now would be forced to reconcile his various inconsistent testimony under penalty of a perjury conviction.

So, the past week was extremely good and I expect next week to be even better.  But what we’re all waiting for is Durham and Barr to get the party started.

 

 

25OCT2019 – OCF Update

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This has been a very interesting week.  Probably the biggest story is that the investigation into the origins of the Russiagate scam by William Barr’s hand picked man, U.S. Attorney John Durham, has expanded into a criminal investigation.  That means that hostile witnesses can be subpoenaed, grand juries can be empaneled and suspects can be indicted and tried for crimes.  I was starting to wonder if any action would be forthcoming but based on the panic on the Left I’m guessing this is the real thing.  Speculation is that James Clapper and John Brennan are the first targets but real information will have to wait for the names of the subpoenaed witnesses before the guesses are meaningful.

I’m finishing up another of Anspach and Cole’s Galaxy’s Edge books.  This one, Requiem for Medusa is not part of the main series.  It takes place before the Battle of Kublar which is the beginning of the main sequence of the series.  It involves an anciliary but memorable character, Tyrus Rechs whose origins tie him in with all the main threads of the saga.  At this point in his career Tyrus is a bounty hunter, a wanted man, working outside the legal system.  And the story is about vendetta for the murder of woman he loved.  Now this is a little removed from the mil-sf that makes up the heart of the Galaxy’s Edge novels but the bounty hunter’s revenge story is suffused with the machinations and action associated with a military mission.  When I finish it I’ll put up my review.

The Brexit battle is a story of betrayal by the traitorous Tories that joined the Remain movement and sold out their fellow Britons.  Whether Johnson finds a way to get the general election called anytime soon is difficult to say.  Up until now he’s been stymied in every direction by the conspirators in the Remain camp.  One of the stranger aspects of this situation is that Macron of France could theoretically block an extension of the exit date.  Because Macron is leftist scum, I highly doubt he would do anything as beneficial for our side but who knows.  We’ll have to stay tuned on this one.

I’m enjoying the Star Trek reviews so far and the next episode is “Where No Man Has Gone Before,” which in addition to having the usual Shatner bufoonery is actually a good sci-fi story.

So there’s a preview of some stuff coming up but I predict lots of additional political drama and leftist imbecility will be on tap next week.  Stay tuned.