Liberty & Prosperity Blog

On the day that former President Trump visits the US-Mexico border, Trump didn't mince words in his Washington Times op-ed . He didn't pull punches or bury the lede, either: When I was president, I delivered on my promise to build a border wall to protect our country. All Joe Biden had to do was paint it. Instead, Biden has enacted the most radical open borders agenda imaginable. This is perhaps the first time in world history a nation has purposely and systematically dismantled its own defenses to invite millions of foreign migrants to enter its territory and break its laws. Next, Trump explained what the Biden administration's policies have done: In May, illegal border crossings were nearly 700% higher than when I was president during the same period last year. For each of the last three months, more unaccompanied minors have arrived than in any prior month in recorded history. Seizures of ultra-lethal fentanyl are up 265% from last year, more of the drug has alre

Some Democrats are catching on that the issue of crime is hurting them. As a result, they're starting to speak out on the issue. They haven't figured out how to do that but they're trying. Byron York empathizes with these Democrats. In yesterday's Daily Memo, York reports "The short version is that Democrats are beginning to understand that the ugly anti-police actions and rhetoric some of them engaged in after the death of George Floyd last year helped cause an increase in violent crime, an increase in suffering, an increase in fear -- and now, political blowback. But here's the kicker: Some of those very same Democrats who get the message are afraid to talk about it in public." York continues "'Many of the centrist Democrats representing these districts were reluctant to discuss the issue this week,' the Post continued, 'underscoring that it has not been favorable terrain for the party in recent years. One centrist, who spoke on the c

Rob Portman and Mitt Romney should know better than to trust Joe Biden's 'clarification'. Sen. Portman and Sen. Romney said that they're convinced that Joe Biden misspoke. Romney told CNN’s State of the Union "I think the waters have been calmed by what he said on Saturday. And, look, I called the White House, and the White House called around to, I think, each of us who had been negotiating and said, OK, look, we’re going to make clear exactly what the president means. And I do take the president at his word." What type of idiot signs onto a bill that provides tons of political cover to Democrats to pass on a straight party-line vote a bill that doesn't have anything to do with infrastructure? This should finish Sen. Romney's political career. If he's that stupid, then he doesn't belong in the Senate. Period. Sen. Portman ought to know better, too. He rationalized his support by saying "We were all blindsided by the comments the previous

Joe Biden's economic blueprint isn't working in Texas . Last Thursday, Biden tried issuing a threat to small businesses, saying "This is an employee's bargaining chip now what's happening. They're going to have to compete and start playing [sic] hardworking people a decent wage." Biden isn't too bright, at least when it comes to doing his research: According to the Texas Workforce Commission (TWC), nearly 45% of posted jobs offer wages greater than $15.50 per hour. Approximately 76% pay more than $11.50 per hour. Only 2% of posted jobs pay around the minimum wage. Apparently, Biden isn't satisfied with the Democrats' 'Push for $15', the Democrats' push for a national minimum wage of $15/hr. Two months ago, Jen Psaki said the administration didn't see anything that said people weren't returning to work because of the additional $300/week from the federal government. They can't say that anymore. The proof is everywhere. Th

The MSM is apparently satisfied that VP Harris visited the US-Mexico border despite never visiting the US-Mexico border . She stopped at the airport, then met with some pro-open borders NGOs. Then she flew to California for the weekend. It's instructive what VP Harris didn't do in Texas. Let's compare her photo-op with President Trump's typical border visit. When he'd visit, President Trump always held a 2-hr. meeting with border patrol agents, local sheriffs, mayors, ranchers and senators. He'd spend his time listening to what law enforcement needed. By comparison, VP Harris, Secretary Mayorkas and Rep. Escobar engaged in happy talk about improving conditions at Fort Bliss, how El Paso is the "new Ellis Island" and how this administration inherited a broken immigration system. Mayorkas didn't explain how it was possible to see "tremendous progress" while HHS people confiscated metal objects and ID badges, then put teenagers were put on s

On Thursday, Joe Biden reached an agreement with Republicans on an infrastructure bill. Just 2 hours later, Biden blew that deal up, saying he wouldn't sign the bipartisan bill if he couldn't sign a Democrat-only reconciliation bill, too. That evening, Mitch McConnell said that he went from optimistic to pessimistic in 2 hours. Predictably, Republicans are upset with the Democrats' double-cross : Senate Republicans who negotiated an infrastructure deal with President Joe Biden celebrated Thursday, then woke up angry on Friday.  The five GOP senators who cut a deal with moderate Democrats and the president are frustrated that Biden explicitly tied his signature on a bipartisan infrastructure bill to a separate Democrats-only measure, according to three Republican aides familiar with the dynamics. Biden has long said he wants to push forward both measures together, but Republicans viewed his Thursday comment as openness to vetoing the very same bill he'd just endorsed. Re

Merrick Garland, Joe Biden's Attorney General, has filed a lawsuit against the State of Georgia . The lawsuit asserts that "the state is violating federal law by inhibiting voting rights on the basis of race." On Friday at the DOJ, Garland said "Recent changes to Georgia's election laws were enacted with the purpose of denying or abridging the right of Black Georgians to vote on account of their race or color, in violation of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act." Garland continued, saying "Several studies show that Georgia experienced record voter turnout and participation rates in the 2020 election cycle. Approximately two-thirds of eligible voters in the state cast a ballot in the November election, just over the national average. This is cause for celebration. But then in March of 2021, Georgia's legislature passed SB 202. Many of that law's provisions make it harder for people to vote." Left out of Garland's statement is the fact tha

When Air Force Two touched down in El Paso, she said a few words. She was followed by DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin and, finally, Rep. Veronica Escobar. Harris took a single question, posed by FNC's chief White House Correspondent Peter Doocy. He asked why now was the right time for her first trip to the border. Harris snapped at him, saying that this wasn't her first trip to the border. Doocy corrected himself, saying it was her first trip since getting this responsibility from Joe Biden. When Mayorkas spoke, he said that they'd made tremendous progress with the challenge. That's a dishonest answer belied by the monthly statistics that keep getting worse and the pictures from Del Rio, TX and McAllen, TX. When Sen. Durbin spoke, he said that Congress had let the people down, which is incomplete but true. What good are new laws when the administration isn't enforcing the existing laws? The jaw-dropping quote, though

After a bipartisan group of senators reached agreement on an infrastructure bill, Rep. Ro Khanna crowed that "this would be the actual rejection of Reaganism." The full quote is "It feels that this is the beginning of a progressive era that could last 25 years. People will look back and think Joe Biden ushered in the beginning of the progressive era. It would be the actual rejection of Reaganism." What an idiot. This deal is now on life support. After the bipartisan bill agreement, Biden later said that he wouldn't sign the bipartisan bill if he couldn't sign the go-it-alone reconcilliation bill, too. Nancy Pelosi told reporters that the bipartisan bill wouldn't get a vote until the Senate voted on the go-it-alone reconcilliation bill: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi made clear on Thursday that the House won't take up the bipartisan infrastructure bill until the Senate passes a larger, more sweeping infrastructure package through budget reconciliation.

Just yesterday afternoon, Joe Biden killed a bipartisan infrastructure agreement . Sen. Mitch McConnell characterized it this way: Earlier today, a bipartisan group of infrastructure negotiators took the results of their efforts to President Biden. It was an encouraging sign of progress after leading Democrats had gone out of their way to slow the process. Remember: At first sign of an agreement last night and then again this morning, both the Democratic Leader and the Speaker of the House made it clear they would hold the bipartisan agreement hostage, demanding trillions of dollars in wasteful spending and job-killing tax increases in return for even considering it. The two top Democrats literally pulled the rug out from under their bipartisan negotiators with these unserious demands before they’d even made it to the White House. So President Biden’s show of support earlier today appeared to be a major breakthrough for earning Democrats’ support. But that optimism was short-lived. Les

When Brandon Michon took to the microphone to tell the Loudoun County School Board that they'd better reopen schools or else (the or else is implied), he restarted a dormant revolution that was once known as the TEA Party. (It's TEA Party because TEA is the acronym for Taxed Enough Already.) Back in 2009, people rallied against the Obama administration. Specifically, people protested against the Affordable Care Act, aka the ACA, aka Obamacare, and Obama's tax hikes. The protesters' frustration with the Obama administration was palpable. But I digress. Back to Mr. Michon. At the Feb. 2, 2021 meeting, Michon said "Like so many other families, we're just pivoting and adjusting and the desire to send children back to school is because we really believe the education there is integral for both their mental side and their development." At this week's Loudoun County School Board meeting, the superintendent shut down public comment. Just 51 of the 259 parents

 In light of the fact that Democrats are polling badly on the issue of crime/law enforcement, Joe Biden tried to stop the bleeding. He didn't just fail to stop the bleeding. He failed the test miserably. Predictably, the speech was poorly delivered. Equally predictable is that it contained the same tired material as other Democrat crime speeches. For instance, many of the things that Biden called for are already law. Most disappointing is the fact that nothing Biden proposed will stop the current crime wave . President Biden in remarks Wednesday said his crime prevention strategy would focus on strengthening background checks, banning assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, and boosting community policing. Background checks are required. Strengthening them is virtually impossible. Banning assault weapons is counterproductive since they're used in so few crimes. The only item on Biden's list that might help is community policing. That's only possible if that police

Later today, Joe Biden will give a major speech on the crime epidemic gripping the nation. At this point, there's no reason to think that the speech will be anything except Democrat boilerplate. Still, this AP article provides an outline that Biden's speech will likely follow. It says "White House aides believe that Biden, with his long legislative record on crime as a former senator, is not easy to paint as soft on the issue, and the president has been clear that he is opposed to the “defund the police” movement, which has been effectively used against other Democrats to paint them as anti-law enforcement." Biden's legislative record won't provide Democrats much protection if violent crime continues to spike. People in Chicago, New York, Minneapolis and Portland don't care about legislative records because they aren't safe. The White House also planned to convene a meeting Wednesday with Attorney General Merrick Garland; the Democratic mayors of Balt

Has Big Tech become the civil rights issue of our time? After reading Bari Weiss's introduction to Abigail Shrier's article , I'm convinced that stopping Big Tech censorship is the civil rights issue of our time. As the title says, "Books are already burning." Weiss's introduction starts by saying "Do you remember the names Bret Weinstein and Heather Heying? I wrote one of my earliest New York Times columns about the bravery they displayed as tenured professors, words that do not typically appear in the same sentence, at Evergreen State College. It was 2017 and the professors, both evolutionary biologists, opposed the school’s “Day of Absence,” in which white students were asked to leave campus for the day. You can imagine what followed. For questioning a day of racial segregation wearing the garments of social justice, the pair was smeared as racist. Following serious threats, they left town for a time with their children, lost many of their friends, a

When I first started blogging, the first rule I developed was this: the more innocent-sounding the name of a bill or organization, the more scrutiny I'd give it. Enter this year's For the People Act. The Brennan Center for Injustice Justice wants us to know about the bill. It says "Our democracy urgently needs repair. The 'Big Lie' of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election that motivated a violent insurrection at the Capitol has sparked an unprecedented wave of voter suppression laws in the states. The upcoming redistricting cycle threatens to once again be marred by extreme partisan gerrymandering that will distort congressional elections for a decade. And our broken campaign finance system continues to foster a widespread sense from Americans across the political spectrum that their voices simply do not count relative to big donors and entrenched interests." First, there isn't much in the way of "extreme partisan gerrymandering." That'

DHS Secretary Mayorkas' nonfeasance is getting everyone's attention. He might be the worst Cabinet secretary in US history, even worse than John Kerry as Secretary of State. He's dishonest, slippery and not that bright. According to the Center for Immigration Studies' statement , "DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas appeared before the House Homeland Security Committee last week to discuss his department’s FY 2022 budget request. The main takeaways? One, DHS is having trouble filling its ranks of Border Patrol agents; and, two, it has no plans to ask for any more." Let's remember that the Biden budget doesn't call for an increase in DHS spending: Keep in mind that at the same time that it has placed a freeze on requesting additional new agents, the Biden administration is planning what the Washington Post has described as a "four-year, $4 billion plan for Central America, investing in the local economies and nongovernmental organizations to convince

It’s a Four-Letter Word By Ramblin’ Rose Winston Churchill said it, but Obama's former chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel knew how to operationalize it. Democrats/leftists are continuing to refine it to a precise tool for control. The leftists are weaponizing fear.  Unfortunately, it seems that it is working. Thanks to these Democrat politicians, especially those on the far-left, and the talking heads, who offer their opinion or the party line more than the real news, we live in a fog of uncertainty and unending fear. David Kupelian, in the WorldNetDaily in early June, identified fear as the secret weapon that Democrats use to win their battles. It works for them. The ideological war claims the birth of this country in 1619 (a debunked project that is on life-support but claimed as truth by leftist Democrats) on the backs of slaves and now espouses the neo-Marxist Critical Race Theory (CRT) of 'oppressors' (Whites) and the 'victims' (Blacks), with all other ethnic and

To modify a line from Fletch Lives, 'it doesn't take Sherlock Holmes to figure out that the Biden-Harris administration isn't interested in border security. Larry Holmes could figure that out.' The Biden-Harris administration is the first administration that's open about being an open borders administration. Prior to this, the Obama-Biden administration believed in open borders. They were in-the-closet believers, though. Saturday marked the 88th day since Joe Biden gave the border security job to Kamala Harris. She still hasn't visited the border. Most instructively, the Democrats' congressional leadership hasn't uttered a word about this void of leadership. Other than Henry Cuellar, congressional Democrats have treated this crisis like it's toxic waste. During an appearance on Fox News’ "Cavuto Live", Cuellar admitted "No, I haven't I've not heard from her office. I have talked to the White House, my White House contacts, but

If people needed proof that Democrat Angie Craig is a socialist, this article provides that proof. Craig was picked by Nancy Pelosi for a committee looking into income and wealth inequality. Rep. Jim Himes will chair the committee. Other Democrats serving on the committee are AOC, Pramila Jayapal, Marcy Kaptur, Gwen Moore, Vicente González, Angie Craig and Sara Jacobs. It isn't known at this point if Republicans will appoint members to serve on the committee. I'd recommend that Republicans ignore this committee. During the announcement of the new committee, Ms. Pelosi said "The liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerate the growth of private power to a point where it becomes stronger than their democratic state itself." According to Ms. Pelosi, the statement is "a comment from President Franklin Roosevelt when he established the Temporary National Economic Committee in 1938." That's anti-American because it's anti-Constitution. The Co

Hunter Biden isn't finished with selling access to his dad's office. He's just turned it into an art form: Who just paid $500,000 to buy a painting from novice artist Hunter Biden? We don't know.  Art dealer Georges Berges says the names of various buyers will be kept confidential. But Hunter’s art is being priced between $75,000 and half a million – an impressive sum for a neophyte, particularly one with no formal training.  But before anyone gets too impressed, let's think for a minute how convenient this arrangement might be for anyone wanting to buy access to the president of the United States. How convenient indeed. Does this look like it's worth $500,000? Does this look like it's worth $75,000? What are the 'paintings' in this picture worth? Are these paintings art or access to the Oval Office? Once a sleazy influence peddler, always a sleazy influence peddler.  

Joe Rogan is a podcast juggernaut. Sean Hannity's nickname for Brian Stelter is Humpty Dumpty, as in 'all the king's horses and all the king's men can't bring Stelter's ratings back. During an interview with Kyle Kulinski, "a guest sounded the alarm that certain YouTube personalities that have more viewers than CNN 'as if it was some horrible thing.'" Rogan jumped in, saying "They didn't even understand the way they were describing it. They were describing it as if they're entitled to viewers. They were saying, 'There are people on YouTube right now that get more views than this show.' This is because the market has spoken and your show's f---in terrible. Well, Brian Stelter's show keeps slipping and slipping and slipping in the ratings." It's an indicator that progressives aren't that popular. Stelter's show gets virtually no audience. Ditto with Don Lemon's show. Here's the ratings for Ap

Henry Cuellar, the Democrat representing Texas's 28th District in Congress, sent an invitation to Kamala Harris to join him on a visit to the US-Mexico border. That's the last thing she wants. Her problem is that this invitation won't disappear anytime soon. Cuellar is a targeted House member. The last thing he wants is to be seen as unresponsive to local sheriffs, mayors, towns people and law enforcement. In the invitation, Cuellar writes "I encourage you to join me and other Members of Congress, while we visit with the people on the ground who deal with these issues every day. I believe it is critical that you meet with local stakeholders and residents, consider their concerns, and use their lived experiences to implement more effective policies." He continues, writing "The rapid rise in the number of migrants arriving at our Southern Border has placed severe burdens on our communities. As the U.S. emerges from the COVID-19 pandemic, South Texans continue

Before Joe Biden or Vladimir Putin flew into Geneva, Putin had already won the summit. That's because Biden had already given him everything he wanted by lifting sanctions against the company behind the Nordstream 2 pipeline. That will help Putin exert pressure on Europe for a generation. That's before talking about Biden giving Putin a 5-year extension of the START II Treaty, which Russia isn't complying with and that China isn't part of. That's 2 major concessions by the Biden administration in exchange for -- wait for it -- nothing . Mike Pompeo, then-President Trump's Secretary of State, told Larry Kudlow that Putin highlighted the fact that he felt comfortable meeting with Biden. That's unacceptable for the Biden administration. Russia took down the Colonial Pipeline. After the meeting, Putin told the world -- unchallenged -- that the US, Canada and Latin America are the places where most hacking comes from. What a joke! A real president would've

On June 30, Donald Trump will do what Joe Biden and Kamala Harris haven't done. Donald Trump has accepted Texas Gov. Greg Abbott's invitation and visit the US-Mexico border. The contrast couldn't be clearer. Biden and Harris haven't visited the US-Mexico border since their policy reversal of President Trump's Remain in Mexico policy triggered a surge of illegal immigration. The US just experienced the third straight month of 170,000 illegal immigrants at the border. That represents the highest illegal crossings in 20 years. The last year of the Trump administration saw illegal crossings hit the lowest point in 45 years. This is a big deal in the southwest : President Trump issued a statement after the announcement. He didn't pull punches or mince words: The president said in a press release that he had accepted Abbott's invitation to visit the "decimated" border, a deteriorating situation that he attributed to the Biden administration’s decisi

When Ed Markey speaks, people listen. They listen, like I do, because the things Sen. Markey says are frequently worthy of ridicule. Yesterday, Sen. Markey said that far-left Democrats will sabotage the infrastructure bill if Republicans deny the American people of "climate action that they've been demanding." Markey said "It's time for us to go our own way. We cannot let Republican calls for bipartisanship deny the American people the climate action that they have been demanding." Republicans should hold fast to their principles on this. There aren't millions of voters in battleground states that insist that we pass major parts of the Green New Deal. Standing on these principles will help Republicans in 2022. Jeff Merkley is a no-go, too. He said "If we’re looking at a deal on infrastructure going to the floor that does not have the energy investments in it and in which there has not been a deal worked out on reconciliation to have those energy in

John Hinderaker, the president of the Center for the American Experiment , wrote this post about how powerful teachers unions are. In the post, he highlighted "a 5" X 7" card." Here's the front of that card: Here's the back of the card: Education Minnesota just admitted that they're socialists. That isn't surprising except in the sense that they're admitting it. They aren't interested in growing Minnesota's economy. Education Minnesota and, therefore, the DFL, are socialists. What's with the #ShareTheWealth? Earlier, Education Minnesota wrote that "Progressives are fighting to rewrite our budget rules to make sure every Minnesotan ... has affordable healthcare and childcare, world-class schools... etc." Socialism requires the building and maintaining of an oligarchy. That's where true income inequality exists. Oligarchies keep the serfs down. With capitalism, the poor have the opportunity to be anything they want if t

It's been evident that Big Tech has censored articles that would've hurt Democrats if the articles weren't shut down by Big Tech. People have started compiling a list of the articles that Big Tech shut down or that they ran with that were BS. This article by Katie Pavlich highlights some of the time that the 'fact-checkers' got it horribly wrong. Pavlich starts with the Lafayette Park story. In that story, the 'expert fact-checkers' insisted that the US Park Police, aka USPP, used tear gas to empty Lafayette Square so then-President Trump could use Lafayette Park for a photo op. This is how Jim Acosta and Anderson Cooper reported on the Lafayette Park story:   The only thing they got wrong about what happened is everything. Tear gas wasn't used. Lafayette Park wasn't occcupied by peaceful protesters the night before. The rioters got so out-of-control that the First Family was taken to the underground bunker in the basement of the White House. Add

According to analysis provided in Salena Zito's latest article , 2022 will "be a cultural war election." Ms. Zito quoted Paul Sracic, political science professor at Youngstown State University, as saying "I don’t think it’s going to be an economy election, it’s not going to be a pandemic election." The chaotic border and inflation will still matter but people are still most passionate about critical race theory, in-person learning and out-of-control crime. Those issues hit closest to home. Steve McMahon is a DC-based Democrat consultant. In his opinion, JD Vance, who authored the book Hillbilly Elegy, has the opportunity to convincingly win the soon-to-be-open Ohio Senate seat if he runs. Regrettably, McMahon thinks that Democrat elites won't accept him: "Vance demonstrated something in his uniquely American success story. [He] showed it’s still possible in America to pull yourself up from adversity and be successful," McMahon said. "But once

Apparently, Tim Walz's dictatorial powers will be extended a 15th time . Though the emergency part of the pandemic is behind us, the DFL majority in the House keeps voting to extend Walz's Peacetime Emergency Powers. What are they afraid of? Is the DFL afraid that they'll have to negotiate in good faith with Republicans? Does Gov. Walz hate democracy that much? Is the DFL that much in love with a governing system that's totally devoid of checks and balances? Is Tim Walz that much in love with single-branch government? The Minnesota Constitution established 3 co-equal branches of government. The legislative and executive branches are considered the political branches of government. They're expected to work together. The people who wrote the federal constition wanted this type of government because they hated the thought of efficient government. The British monarchy was efficient in that the subjects were expected to do whatever the king told them to do. At the time o

This past week, the chickens came home to roost for the Biden-Harris administration. That's due in large part to Harris's trip to Guatemala and Mexico but not to the US-Mexico border. According to Katie Pavlich's article , "the reality of governing and problem solving came crashing down on Vice President Kamala Harris." Until this week, she'd been free to stay out of the spotlight. Last week, though Democrats wished she could, she couldn't avoid that spotlight. Reality crashed into Harris's carefully crafted image. In that matchup, reality always wins. The inescapable truth is that the root cause of this immigration crisis is Joe Biden. Biden's irrational case of Trump Derangement Syndrome caused him to make a series of foolish decisions, which transformed an under control border into a chaotic border. Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei told CBS News "The message changed to 'we're going to reunite families, and we're going t

In August of 2009, people attended congressional townhalls to speak out against the Affordable Care Act, aka the ACA, aka Obamacare. These were passionate people who didn't hesitate in telling their elected officials what they thought of the ACA. Most of those people were passionate because they thought it was a terrible bill. The Democrats' plan was to use their August recess to sell the nation on the positives of Obamacare. Within half a month, it was obvious to the Democrats' leadership that their strategy had failed. Suddenly, Democrat politician sightings were as rare as hail storms at the North Pole. It was obvious that Democrats were heading for a terrible defeat in the 2010 midterm elections. Nobody at that time thought that Nancy Pelosi would keep her speaker's gavel. Predictions of Democrats losing 40 seats net were commonplace. LFR predicted a loss of 60-65 net seats for the Democrats. They lost 63 net seats. This midterm is shaping up to become another blowo

A Visit—but NOT to the Southern Border By Ramblin’ Rose “Those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it.” (George Santayana) Apparently, Biden and Harris march to a different drummer. Consequently, their record is not a litany of successes, unless the criteria are the sheer number of executive orders to mandate control. They prefer to repeat previous mistakes. Obama has said that Biden is completing his third term…more truth than fiction. Last weekend, nearly three months after being appointed by Biden to resolve the issues at the southern border, Harris did not visit the border, but rather charted a path to Guatemala and Mexico to discover the reason for the exodus from Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, and Mexico. Data from April reported that 30% of the persons entering illegally came from other countries—from nearly every continent, though not Antarctica. As a presidential candidate, Harris declared that she would not deport illegal aliens. So did Biden. That reveals