Liberty & Prosperity Blog

Now that Joe Manchin has signed onto the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, aka the Joe Manchin Walk the Plank Act, will Chuck Schumer return the favor a minute after the Inflation Reduction Act is passed? The other option is to have Nancy Pelosi screw Manchin over. RedState's Nick Arama wrote this article to highlight the pickle Manchin finds himself in. In the article, Arama notes that "Mr. Manchin said he had won a commitment from his fellow Democrats that they would approve a separate measure to address the process of issuing permits for energy infrastructure, potentially including gas pipelines, in the weeks ahead. The bill would also require new lease sales for oil drilling on federal lands and waters, including in the Gulf of Mexico, which environmental groups oppose." Then Arama wrote "But as Sen. Marco Rubio observed, this would only happen AFTER he signed on the dotted line for the 'mini Green New Deal.' He thinks that they will ultimately 'screw...

People that think that the economy is still growing, albeit at a sluggish rate, aren't paying attention to the economy. They aren't paying attention to Kevin Hassett, either, which is a huge mistake. Hassett was on Larry Kudlow's radio program Saturday morning to talk about the recession, Manchin's Walk the Plank Act and what to expect for Q3 and Q4 of 2022. Saying that Hassett's perspective was pessimistic is understatement. Hassett and Kudlow both emphasized that the recession that we're already in wasn't caused by the Fed. Hassett highlighted the fact that the Fed tightening didn't start until Q2 of 2022. Hassett and Kudlow both stated that business investment would drop off in Q3 and Q4 thanks to the Fed tightening. Further, home sales will likely drop because of higher mortgage interest rates, which will be triggered by the Fed's tightening. New and existing home sales are already dropping, in fact. Here's how you can listen to the entire in...

Earlier this week, a poll showed Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman holding a double-digit lead over Dr. Mehmet Oz. That lead might be short-lived based on this Newsmax article . According to the article, "Fetterman, several years ago, signed a pledge to ban fracking — drilling technology that provides tens of thousands of jobs in the state – despite his spokesman recently saying the candidate 'does not support a fracking moratorium or ban.'" The article starts by saying "Pennsylvania Democrat U.S. Senate Candidate John Fetterman continues to flip-flop on the fracking issue." This is one of the races to watch this fall. That's because a) a Fetterman victory would represent a Democrat flip of a red Senate seat, b) Fetterman is a green socialist and c) it's likely to be a tight race. Then there's this: Fetterman, for example, agreed to co-sponsor the Keep It In The Ground Act — federal legislation banning new oil, gas, and coal leasing on federal...

In a stunning admission, West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin made a veiled hint that Joe's climate change bill will force vulnerable Democrat senators to walk the political plank . Manchin is quoted as saying that "From here forward, the debate over a future reconciliation bill or any targeted legislation must focus on supporting the everyday hardworking Americans we have been elected to serve. I support the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 because it provides a responsible path forward that is laser focused on solving our nation’s major economic, energy and climate problems. The question for my colleagues is whether they are willing to put their election politics aside and embrace the commonsense approach that the overwhelming majority of the American people support and will best serve the future of this nation." TRANSLATION: The question is whether Democrats are willing to walk the plank this November for the greater good of virtue-signaling and saving our planet. The of...

Tim Ryan was asked by Sandra Smith if he'd support Joe Biden if he ran for re-election. Rather than giving Smith a straight answer, Ryan punted, saying "I'm working on my election and that's all I'm focusing on right now." Ryan then said "Here in Ohio we have less than four months, and we're running a great campaign. We're participating in polls and working really hard, so I'm going to focus on it, and after I've won, and I'm in the US Senate, we can talk about it. I will comment on it then." Let's remember that this is the same Tim Ryan who didn't attend a Biden event in Cincinnati, citing a scheduling conflict. Later, he told Bret Baier that he wanted to be the face of his campaign, hinting that he didn't want Biden's face associated with Ryan's campaign. That's definitely weird since Ryan voted for Biden's bills 100% of the time in 2021: It isn't a stretch to think that Ryan knows that Biden is ...

Late yesterday afternoon, Joe Manchin reached a deal with the devil , aka Chuck Schumer, to raise taxes right when the economy is entering a recession . While it's disappointing that he'd pull a stunt like that, it isn't entirely surprising. While the official name of the bill is the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, it really should be titled the 'Joe Manchin's Walk the Plank Act' because, in order for this to pass, all 50 Senate Democrats have to vote for a major tax increase right before the midterm election and after the economy has officially entered a recession. The political timing couldn't get much worse for Democrats. Catherine Cortez-Masto, Mark Kelly, Michael Bennet, Raphael Warnock and Maggie Hassan have to vote for this bill for it to pass. I suspect that the NRSC isn't happy from an economic standpoint but they're jubilant from a 2022 midterm elections standpoint. Predictably, Joe Biden downplayed the fact that we've entered a reces...

I'm tired of hearing Joe Biden's economic and communications teams attempt to "redefine" the economic term recession. It's irrelevant if we're heading into a recession, teetering on the edge of a recession, in a recession or "God willing" (Joe Biden's quote), we won't go into a recession. Whatever position we're in, the indisputable fact is that the economy isn't creating prosperity or wealth for families. That's the only benchmark that's worthwhile. If people are getting lifted out of poverty, which happened during the pre-COVID Trump economy, that's a great economy. If minority communities are experiencing the lowest unemployment rates in this nation's history, which happened during the pre-COVID Trump economy, that's a great economy, too. If inflation is virtually invisible while the economy is growing rapidly, that's a great economy, too. That's what happened during the Trump administration. The economy...

Over the weekend, Biden Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg picked a fight with Florida Sen. Marco Rubio over whether the Senate should vote on a House bill protecting gay marriage. Secretary Buttigieg initially said "If they don't want to spend a lot of time on this, they can vote 'yes' and move on and that would be really reassuring for a lot of families around America, including mine." Sen. Rubio responded , saying "We have a transportation secretary named Pete Buttigieg who believes that highways can be racist, who believes that $5 gas—which is killing working Americans—is a great thing because that means people are gonna drive less, or because everyone is now gonna go out and buy a $65,000 electric car with a Chinese battery in it." Sen. Rubio was just getting started. Next, Rubio said "I'm gonna focus on the real problems. I'm not gonna focus on the agenda dictated by a bunch of affluent, elite liberals and a bunch of Marxist misf...

Dan Henninger's columns are always informative. Henninger's latest column is no exception. It's titled "'National Emergency’ and the Democrats’ Apocalyptic Politics." The subject of this week's highlighting is today's Democrat Party's tactics. Henninger writes "For Democrats, politics has become showtime. On Tuesday, 17 House Democrats—including Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib—staged a made-for-Instagram arrest outside the Supreme Court. Then the committee investigating the invasion of the Capitol by Trump supporters went prime time Thursday evening. The committee has created its own logo—“January 6th”—which looms on a gray screen above the committee." This was done in the hope that Joe Biden will shift into 'Beast Mode' on abortion and climate change: After Mr. Manchin withdrew his support for the climate legislation, citing opposition to new taxes and inflation, former Obama White House counselor John Pod...

When Lee Zeldin was attacked earlier this week (Thursday), Rep. Zeldin predicted in a tweet that his attacker would likely be let out without bail. Rep. Zeldin was initially mocked, then vindicated when a NY judge released him on his own recognizance. This afternoon, justice has been served. David Jakubonis of Fairport, NY was taken into custody this afternoon on federal charges. "Jakubonis is scheduled to make his first court appearance before U.S. Magistrate Judge Marion W. Payson Saturday." Jakubonis "was arrested Saturday afternoon on a federal assault charge, the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Western District of New York announced." This wouldn't have been required if New York hadn't screwed up their bail reform laws so terribly. How screwed up are these bail laws? This local interview highlights the NY Legislature's screwed-up thinking: According to the legal analyst, an E-felony is a very serious crime but that it isn't apparently enough ...

Newt Gingrich's election analysis has always been some of the best in the business. When he wrote this article on the Senate Republicans' strategy this midterm, I paid attention. The article can be summarized as 'Go big or go home.' In the article, Gingrich wrote "There is a lot more confusion about the U.S. Senate races. Republicans are handwringing and Democrats are hopeful as they think through the state-by-state races for U.S. Senate. But there’s a flaw in the popular Senate race analysis. Most people are thinking about Senate races as small, individual contests. When you think of each race as small and individual, there is hope the Democrats could keep the current 50-50 split – or lose only a few seats. This kind of small race analysis emphasizes candidate quality, money raised, and current polling (that is inconclusive at best). If the 2022 Senate elections are analyzed and run as a big, nationalized races, the Democrats will likely lose the Senate by a wide...

H/T: Hot Air's Ed Morrissey It's been Washington's worst-kept secret since the start of the Biden administration. Joe Biden's plan to kill the fossil fuel industry has been apparent since he started. It's just that Biden energy adviser Amos Hochstein admitted it this morning on CNN: Biden energy advisor Amos Hochstein: We need to stop projects and limit oil usage to "accelerate the transition." pic.twitter.com/ItxMdcmAnJ — RNC Research (@RNCResearch) July 19, 2022 Here's the transcript : "It's about making a choice between what is the short term and the medium term so we can make sure we have enough oil and gas to support us through the transition and what are the kind of steps we don’t want the oil and gas industry to take that would have longterm consequences when we don’t want new major projects that would take 20-30 years that would become profitable," Hochstein said. "So we have to make that differentiation to make sure the Am...

Monday afternoon, Newt Gingrich sat down for a conversation with Larry Kudlow. In the last 2 minutes of the interview, Newt said that it's essential to win back the House and Senate but that it's most important that Republicans win the battle of ideas. Exactly right, Newt! While it's important that Republicans lay out an agenda for the nation, it's essential that Republican prove that Democrat policies don't work. In the interview, Newt said "We're probably going to win the House and Senate. The question is what lesson will the country have learned? If all that this country has learned is that these guys are incompetent, we haven't won much. But if the country comes to realize that, with the right campaign over the next 4 months, that it's their ideas that are wrong, that it's their policies that are wrong. This is what Margaret Thatcher did to socialism in Great Britain. She destroyed it as an alternative and no left-wing labor leader has been...

To listen to Arabella Yarbrough talk about Tekle Sundberg, you'd think he was a thug. Actually, that's what he was . Let me correct that. That's who he was until he started shooting indiscriminately into Ms. Yarbrough's apartment. After a 6-hour stand-off and negotiation, police snipers allegedly shot and killed Sundberg. According to the article, "People gathered Saturday afternoon to honor Andrew 'Tekle' Sundberg while demanding more answers after he was shot and killed by law enforcement on Thursday morning. More than 100 people, including Sundberg's parents, gathered outside the apartment complex where Tekle Sundberg was shot." Sundberg's parents are represented by Benjamin Crump and Jeff Storms. Storms was with Sundberg's parents at the rally. The best news from this terrible episode came from Ms. Yarbrough, who stood up for herself and her children: Things boiled over during Saturday’s rally and march for Tekle Sundberg, when the 24 y...

 This morning, Jared Bernstein was interviewed by Fox News's Shannon Bream. Right off the start, Bernstein let alert viewers know that this wouldn't be a straight interview. This would be a spinterview -- half interview, half spin. Bream's first question was "So, it's been almost a year to the day since President Biden last year said that no serious economists thought that we would enter a period of unchecked inflation. We were at 5.4 percent then. We're at 9.1 percent as of this week. How did the White House get this so wrong?" Bernstein replied "that actually was the dominant forecast at the time and we were very much citing forecast across the board, including those of the Federal Reserve. And I think there are number of issues. One is that there were some unforeseen things that occurred. For example, a war in Ukraine. Now, Ukraine and Russia are both bread baskets and energy baskets for the world, and those have put considerable upward pressure o...

Liz Cheney won't win her Wyoming primary in August. This Casper Star-Tribune poll provides the proof for that prediction. According to the poll, "Former President Donald Trump’s pick to unseat Rep. Liz Cheney in the race for Wyoming’s lone House seat holds a commanding 22-point lead with a month until the primary, a new Casper Star-Tribune poll shows. Natural resources attorney Harriet Hageman leads Cheney 52% to 30% , the poll shows. No other challenger received more than 5% support. Only 11% of voters were undecided." Ms. Cheney is desperate. In the last month, she's put out invitations to Democrats to vote for her. That's the personification of desperation, especially in Wyoming. According to the article, "This time around, it's not just Republicans who are participating in the GOP primary. Many Democrats and independents plan to take advantage of Wyoming’s same-day voter registration and party-affiliation changes to vote for Cheney. According to figu...

Joe Biden's open borders policy has helped the Sinaloa Cartel in importing fentanyl-laced drugs into the U.S. That's indisputable. Thanks to Biden's open borders policies, fentanyl poisonings have become "the leading cause of death for adults from the ages 18 to 45." Statistics show that "nearly 79,000 people between 18 and 45 years old — 37,208 in 2020 and 41,587 in 2021 — died of fentanyl overdoses, the data analysis from opioid awareness organization Families Against Fentanyl shows. This is a national emergency. America’s young adults — thousands of unsuspecting Americans — are being poisoned . It is widely known that illicit fentanyl is driving the massive spike in drug-related deaths. A new approach to this catastrophe is needed." These aren't overdoses in the typical sense. When a drug addict dies after taking too much heroin, for example, the addict knows that he/she is taking heroin. That isn't what's happening here. Ann Milgram, th...

Larry Kudlow will be happy to hear that Joe Manchin has rejected the Biden-Schumer-Democrat mini-spendapalooza bill . Still, a major point must be made about the Democrats' spending proclivities and economic literacy. Apparently, Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema are the only semi-sane Democrats left in DC. First, Sen. Manchin "and his staff told Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D, N.Y., unequivocally Thursday that he is only willing to support a reconciliation bill in August that includes a provision to lower prescription drug prices and a two-year extension of subsidies for the Affordable Care Act." This is a major blow to Democrats. They've wanted to spend the U.S. into the grave since they gained full control of the federal government. Sen. Manchin just shut that down for the final time before Republicans take back control of the Legislative Branch. Let's recall that all 221 House Democrats voted for the $1,900,000,000,000 ($1.9T) American Rescue Plan. All 5...

As we near Minnesota's State Fair, then Labor Day, it's becoming clear that the Jensen-Birk campaign is shifting into the policy phase of the campaign. Thus far, the Jensen-Birk videos have spelled out what they'd do if elected. Their videos have addressed small businesses, crime and education. The theme thus far has been one of the importance of changing direction. The Jensen-Birk ticket also released their plan for energy, which has drawn this rave review from Isaac Orr. Orr praised the Jensen-Birk plan, saying "The main pillars of Jensen’s energy policies are legalizing the construction of new nuclear power plants, repealing the California car mandates for electric vehicles, which unelected bureaucrats in the Walz administration unilaterally imposed on Minnesota, and maintaining the reliability of our electric grid. Each of these proposals is exactly what we should be focusing on for the future of energy in Minnesota." This is a no-brainer of a decision. Gov. ...

Yesterday, the Biden administration's spin was that the inflation figures were tough, but they were already out-of-date. Today's Producers Price Index, aka PPI, flushed that spin into the dustbin of history as some of the worst spin in presidential history thanks to the PPI coming in at a much-hotter-than-expected 11.3% year-over-year . That's actually the least bad news from the report. The month-over-month rate was 1.1%. Quoting Larry Kudlow, "inflation is broadening, deepening and accelerating." Today's PPI report proves that. The PPI is higher than the CPI, which means that the wholesalers haven't passed on the price increases that they've experienced yet. Kevin Hassett's explanation of long-lasting inflation is chilling but it's something that people understand because they're living it. Had the PPI shot up for 2-3 months, people would've been better equipped to deal with it. As it lasted past the transitory stage, people needed to...

For months, Larry Kudlow finished his show's opening riffs by saying "Save America. Kill the Bill." The bill he referred to was BBB. One man stood between Joe Biden and a nuclear explosion of inflation at the time -- Joe Manchin. Finally, after months of negotiations and speculation, Manchin told Bret Baier that he simply couldn't get to yes on BBB. Larry Kudlow rejoiced on his show, as well he should. Larry was the 'Vote No' campaign against BBB and higher taxes. Joe Manchin, according to some liberal pundits, had saved Democrats from themselves. That's true. Recently, speculation started that Manchin had been approached by Sen. Majority Leader Schumer about a stripped-down version of BBB. Speculation pegged the price-tag at 'only' $1,000,000,000,000. Re-enter Mr. Kudlow. Several of his opening riffs included pleas to Manchin, saying that Manchin would break his heart if Manchin agreed to this bill. Today, Larry Kudlow can rejoice. This morning...

I'm not an economist and I don't play one on TV. Still, I expected inflation to hit 8.8% year-over-year when today's CPI report was released. That prediction didn't come close when the report was released . The headline number was 9.1% year-over-year but that wasn't the figure that caught my attention. While 9.1% inflation year-over-year is terrible, that isn't the worst news on CPI. According to the article, " Prices jumped 1.3% in the one-month period from May . Those figures were both far higher than the 8.8% headline figure and 1% monthly gain forecast by Refinitiv economists. It marks the fastest pace of inflation since December 1981. " Things aren't improving. They're getting worse. Couple that with the fact that this administration is doubling down on its failing policies and you've got a recipe for a historic disaster. This administration has shown great stupidity in setting economic policy. If stupidity is what gets you in trouble,...

If you need proof that the pro-abortionists are losing, this article provides that proof. In the article, Sen. Warren is quoted as saying "In Massachusetts right now, those crisis pregnancy centers that are there to fool people who are looking for pregnancy termination help outnumber true abortion clinics by 3 to 1. We need to shut them down here in Massachusetts, and we need to shut them down all around the country. You should not be able to torture a pregnant person like that." That's astonishing from multiple perspectives. Sen. Warren apparently thinks that using the government to stop private citizens from persuading women to carry a baby to term is a legitimate function of government. First, the thought that the government should be used to silence people stands in direct opposition to the First Amendment. That makes Sen. Warren a marxist , which is defined as "the collective term for the economic, social, and political philosophy of Karl Marx. In particular, t...

Each month, Joe Biden dishonestly reminds us that the economy is a record-breaking economy. Then he says that "we still have a long way to go." Finally, he reminds us that the inflation is part of Putin's price hike. This month, Joe's complaining that "Republicans are doing nothing but obstructing our efforts to crack down on gas-price gouging, lower food prices, lower healthcare costs, and hopefully, soon, lower your prescription drug costs." Price-gouging is a crime. If Biden thinks that there's price-gouging happening, it's supposed to be investigated and, if warranted, prosecuted by Biden's DOJ. If there's proof of price-gouging, show it to us. If price-gouging doesn't exist, stop with the heated rhetoric. Biden isn't the only administration official lying about the economy. Transportation Secretary Buttigieg told this whopper on Fox News Sunday: But I'm proud to be part of this administration that has done such work to brin...

Democrat activists clearly haven't thought things through the Dobbs Decision. They're upset with the wrong justices. The justices that these Democrat activists should be upset with are the 7 justices that invented the 'right' to abortion in the first place. Instead, these Democrat hotheads have taken to harassing Supreme Court justices like Brett Kavanaugh when he ventured into a public place. It's unfortunate that these activists can't think straight. These hate-filled activists should be upset with these justices: Harry Andrew Blackmun (Author) Warren Earl Burger William Orville Douglas William Joseph Brennan, Jr. Potter Stewart Thurgood Marshall Lewis Franklin Powell, Jr. These men invented a constitutional right that doesn't exist. If I asked a law school student where the right to free speech is, he'd reply 'the First Amendment.' He'd know that because it's clearly written. Similarly, if I asked where the right to keep and bear arms...

When the Border Patrol was accused of whipping illegal Haitian immigrants, Joe Biden infamously said "Those people will pay." What's noteworthy is that Biden admitted that he'd seen the video of the incident before making that ill-fated statement. Friday, CBP (Customs and Border Protection) stated from the podium that "[DHS' Office of Professional Responsibility] found no evidence Border Patrol agents involved in this incident struck anyone with their reins intentionally or otherwise." This statement was made by "CBP Commissioner Chris Magnus said at a press conference, in which he also said that agents were not carrying whips." Before going further, it's essential to highlight this because that's proof that Biden knew the truth about the situation before rendering his verdict that these agents were guilty without conducting an investigation. It's essential to highlight this because people are presumed innocent if the prosecution ...

Since the George Floyd riots in the summer of 2020, Minneapolis has been a mess in terms of enforcing the law. Things aren't getting better based on what happened this past Independence Day Weekend. This isn't surprising to thinking people but it's beyond disappointing in the extreme. Just how bad did things get? Pretty rotten, according to this Alpha News article . According to the article, "The Minneapolis Police Department (MPD) had just 80-plus officers on duty Monday night to respond to the city’s more than 1,300 9-1-1 calls. The city was besieged by violence when the sun went down on Independence Day. Fireworks were launched at people and homes and up to 12 people were injured by gunfire." Thank God for Tim Walz being on the job. According to this Fox9 News article , Dr. Jensen criticized Gov. Walz, saying "What in the world are you thinking? You’ve got levers to pull. You could be making things happen. Minnesotans are getting so damn tired of you freez...

Anyone with 2 brain cells rubbing together knows that the J6 'Committee' is mostly show. Yes, there are things that we've learned that aren't flattering to former President Trump. What's indisputable, though, is that the Committee is editing some of the testimony. Newt Gingrich has a method for smoking out the frauds on the Committee, which he writes about in this Washington Times op-ed . In the op-ed, Gingrich writes "As Susan Ferrechio of The Washington Times reported: '[The committee] has interviewed more than 1,000 witnesses and obtained more than 25,000 documents related to last year’s riot at the U.S. Capitol — yet most of the evidence remains a secret. The committee has kept hidden the vast majority of its testimony, including entire transcripts of depositions that are now under dispute by more than a dozen people. Among the most prominent objectors are two Secret Service agents who are refuting a sensational claim made at a public hearing Tuesday by...

A loyal reader of this blog sent me a devastating video by the Jensen campaign criticizing Gov. Walz's leadership during times of crisis. The video lasts 275 seconds (4:35) and criticizes Gov. Walz for freezing in times of crisis. In the video, Jensen cites repeated examples of times when Gov. Walz waited too long to react. Dr. Jensen cites an article in which a Minneapolis DFL City Councilmember (Michael Rainville) talks about the crime from this past 4th of July. Dr. Jensen quotes Rainville, who says "This lawlessness cannot continue. We need help from the Governor. He has to bring in the National Guard to Minneapolis. I would like to ask Gov. Walz why he doesn't care about public safety in Minneapolis. I wish he'd call me." Context This happened this 4th of July. Minneapolis had cancelled Fourth of July fireworks because of the heightened potential for violence. Accusation Tim Walz froze. The video: This isn't an official campaign ad but it's telling pe...

There's no doubt that Stacy Abrams is a radical. She's still pretending like she didn't lose the 2018 Georgia governor's race. In fact, the Georgia Democrat lost the race by almost 55,000 votes. That isn't the full extent of Ms. Abrams' radicalism, though. After losing that election, Ms. Abrams refused to admit that she'd lost. Still, that isn't the complete picture of Ms. Abrams' radicalism. While she's running against Gov. Brian Kemp, who's seeking re-election after defeating Ms. Kemp, Ms. Abrams is running as a defund-the-police Democrat while spending tons of campaign cash on private security . According to the article, "Georgia's Democratic gubernatorial nominee Stacey Abrams has paid out hundreds of thousands of dollars for private security through her campaign since December 2021 when she launched her second bid for governor, despite being a board member of a foundation that wants to abolish police and personally backing an a...