Liberty & Prosperity Blog

For years, conservatives talked about idiots like Joe Scarborough, Joy-less Reid, Joy-less Behar and the rest of the cast of the View as having "Trump Derangement Syndrome", aka TDS. People making that accusation weren't wrong. In fact, they'd nailed it. That isn't the end of the TDS story, unfortunately. Earlier this week, Trump attacked Kayleigh McEnany because she said on Fox that Trump's lead in Iowa was 25 points, not 34 points like Trump wanted. On Truth Social, Trump said " Kayleigh “Milktoast”McEnany just gave out the wrong poll numbers on FoxNews. I am 34 points up on DeSanctimonious, not 25 up. While 25 is great, it’s not 34. She knew the number was corrected upwards by the group that did the poll. The RINOS & Globalists can have her. FoxNews should only use REAL Stars!!!" What a nasty thing to say about the spokesperson who did the best job of defending Trump's indefensible statements. Trump's statement is inexcusable becuase...

At one point, Jim Justice and Joe Manchin were West Virginia Democrats. Justice succeeded Manchin as governor of West Virginia when Manchin left office to serve in the U.S. Senate. A funny thing happened on the way to Manchin's reelection. He betrayed the people of West Virginia. Manchin won the special election to replace Robert C. Byrd  after Byrd's death. Sen. Manchin's tradition was to act like a moderate West Virginian while in West Virginia. The minute he got to Washington, DC, though, Manchin was 'Mr. Let's-Make-a-Deal', aka 'Mr. Swing Vote.' Principled, he isn't. This week, a poll came out showing that West Virginians don't appreciate politicians that'll sell them out. The poll showed Gov. Justice with a gaping 22-point lead over the sellout, aka Joe Manchin, saying "West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice (R) is leading incumbent Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) by 22 points in a hypothetical U.S. Senate matchup in 2024, according to a poll r...

I got motivated to write something about the sad situation at SCSU after reading this article . Frankly, it got me fired up. The paragraph that got me most motivated was when the article reported "In April, St. Cloud State President Robbyn Wacker announced the university will cut at least 20 faculty jobs for the coming year to help reduce the deficit. Plans also call for reductions of about 60 faculty in 2025, and reductions of about three-dozen faculty over the following three years. Administrators say the plan will help cut the deficit to about $9 million by fall 2025 and get the university to a surplus of about $5 million by fall 2026." There we go again. Put differently, it's "lather rinse, repeat." This is what SCSU veterans call "happy talk." The statistics aren't tethered to reality. It isn't possible to cut programs, cut faculty but expect revenues to increase. That's silliness. This makes as much sense as the explanation: I spoke w...

Earlier this spring, it became clear that SCSU, aka St. Cloud State, was in need of a restructuring. Part of SCSU's problem was caused by poor decisions at the presidential level. That's been the case since 2010. That's when President Potter and Dean DeGroote decided to eliminate the Aviation Program. That's when SCSU hired Earthbound Marketing Group, aka EMG, for their rebranding efforts. SCSU paid EMG $338,000 for that. What a failure that turned out to be. Then there was the Coborn's Plaza fiasco, in which SCSU signed a contract with a foundation to guarantee the foundation full occupancy for 20 years. This cost SCSU hundreds of thousands of dollars. It isn't that surprising that they're now experiencing additional financial difficulties . The Star Tribune reports that financial difficulties continue. They're reporting "Previously, St. Cloud State University had publicly said two dozen faculty jobs would be phased out next year. Now some 100 more...

In 1996, Bill Clinton won reelection because large quantities of swing voters known as soccer moms turned out for him. In 2004, George W. Bush won reelection because those same swing voters, now known as security moms, turned out after 9/11. This year, Joe Biden and Donald Trump, our last 2 presidents, might be denied reelection because a large block of swing voters might show up for either Ron DeSantis, Tim Scott or Vivek Ramaswamy. That isn't to say that Moms for Liberty would reject President Trump. It's just that he shown much of an interest in education reform thus far. This group of swing voters might best be nicknamed 'School Board Moms.' FYI- they're hell-bent on making major changes in education . For instance, "Moms for Liberty" "are pushing to revamp the U.S. education system with policies aimed at limiting teachings on gender, race and sex in schools; banning books they deem inappropriate and placing limits on transgender students in schoo...

To hear Sen. Joe Manchin tell it, you'd think that Sen. Manchin worked exclusively with Speaker Kevin McCarthy to get final approval of the permits needed to complete the Mountain Valley Pipeline through West Virginia to Virginia. According to Sen. Manchin's statement , "Last summer, I introduced legislation to complete the Mountain Valley Pipeline. I am pleased Speaker McCarthy and his leadership team see the tremendous value in completing the MVP to increase domestic energy production and drive down costs across America and especially in West Virginia. I am proud to have fought for this critical project and to have secured the bipartisan support necessary to get it across the finish line." That doesn't mean everyone's happy with this pipeline project. According to the Washington Post article, "the Sierra Club on Monday called for Congress to reject it, as did Sen. Tim Kaine (D) from Virginia, where both U.S. senators have opposed the pipeline project....

Apparently, North Carolina's Dan Bishop hasn't figured out that big problems aren't solve in a single piece of legislation. When I wrote this article about Bishop's complaining about the bill, I highlighted the fact that Bishop was upset that "Republicans were congratulating McCarthy for getting almost zippo" in the debt deal. Newt Gingrich's op-ed highlights how Bishop's views are out-of-touch with reality. As with most of his writings, Gingrich highlights a lengthy list of things Republicans should be thankful for: It cuts spending year-over-year, including a rollback of nondefense discretionary spending to FY22 levels – while fully funding the Veterans Administration’s medical programs. It limits topline federal spending to 1% annual growth for the next six years – a huge cut from the Biden budget proposal. It will help lift millions out of poverty by enacting work requirements for food stamps and welfare benefits. The 1996 welfare reform bill mad...

Apparently, Donald Trump finally figured out what Gov. Ron DeSantis figured out literally months ago. On Sunday, Trump finally realized what Gov. DeSantis was fighting against . When Gov. DeSantis engaged in a fight for Florida's children, he engaged in a fight against Disney Corp. Before Trump figured out that Disney had gone woke, Trump attacked Gov. DeSantis . To be fair, Trump didn't criticize DeSantis until after criticizing Disney. In his post on Truth Social, Trump said "Disney has become a Woke and Disgusting shadow of its former self, with people actually hating it. Must go back to what it once was, or the “market” will do irreparable damage. This all happened during the Governorship of 'Rob' DeSanctimonious. Instead of complaining now, for publicity reasons only, he should have stopped it long ago. Would have been easy to do - Still is!" This 'revelation' didn't happen until after Trump had criticized Gov. DeSantis in a different Truth So...

On this morning's Meet the Press, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse proved yet again that he prefers partisanship over constitutional intelligence. Whitehouse said "When Justice Thomas failed to recuse himself from the January 6th investigation that turned up his wife's communications, he made the case that that was okay because he had no idea that she was involved in insurrection activities. That is a question of fact. That's something that could have, and should have, been determined by a neutral examination, and then we'd all know. And so the problem with the Supreme Court is that they're in a fact-free zone as well as an ethics-free zone." Apparently, Whitehouse is operating in a Constitution-free zone. The thought of applying the principles of Separation of Powers appears to be foreign to Sen. Whitehouse. The other thing that's obvious is that Sen. Whitehouse is plenty ignorant of history, too. Here’s proof that Sen. Whitehouse is ignorant of history, too:...

I'm old enough to remember when sport -- whether it was baseball, football, basketball or hockey -- tried to entertain families. Teams understood that taking stands on the issues of the day was foolish. They knew that whatever side they took, 50% of their fans would be upset. The Los Angeles Dodgers are a talented, controversial team. Controversy follows them wherever they go. When they were in Brooklyn, controversy definitely followed them. First, they signed Jackie Robinson, the man who broke the color barrier in team sports. Then they left Brooklyn and moved to Los Angeles, California. Brooklyn still hasn't forgiven the Dodgers for that last move. In a stroke of genius stupidity, the LA Dodgers decided it'd be smart marketing to invite the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence to be part of their Pride Night promotion. When the most predictable backlash in the history of backlashes happened, the Dodgers' management rescinded their invitation to the Sisters of Perpetual In...

The DFL thinks this past legislative session produced one victory after another. Nothing is further from the truth. According to the latest Center for the American Experiment polling , "Fifty-one percent of respondents said Minnesota was on the 'wrong track' in a poll taken over the weekend as the 2023 session came to a close. Only 37% rated the work of the legislature as 'excellent' or 'good.' Fully 58% of Minnesotans rated their work as 'only fair' or 'poor.'" Let's examine the amount of money spent by the DFL, the size of the projected surplus and the tax hikes implemented with unanimous DFL support . Let's remember that a) the November, 2022 projected surplus was $9,240,000,000 and that the March, 2023 projected surplus was $17,600,000,000. Then factor in $8,600,000,000 in various tax and fee hikes. Out of all that, a portion of Minnesota taxpayers are getting a $260 Walz Check. Meanwhile, a portion of Social Security Bene...

Last night, Speaker McCarthy told reporters he wouldn't take their questions until today, explaining that he wanted to brief his caucus first. The WSJ's Natalie Andrews and Sabrina Siddiqui have this article published that reports on the contents of the Speaker-Conference call. They've written "President Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R., Calif.) reached a tentative agreement Saturday for raising the nation’s debt ceiling for two years and placing new limits on spending over that period, moving to end a standoff that has threatened a historic default on U.S. government debt and put the global economy on edge." This is a major victory for Speaker McCarthy, though this is the final part of the victory. This fate was determined when House Republicans passed the Limit, Save, Grow Act , the GOP's debt ceiling bill, back in mid-April. According to the Journal's reporting, "Biden, in a statement, said that 'the agreement represents a compromise...

Within seconds of the start of Gov. DeSantis' glitch-filled campaign start on Twitter Spaces, opponents and pundits alike were pouncing on how terrible the event was . While pundits were pontificating or his opponents started ripping the campaign, the voters apparently didn't get the memo that this was a total disaster. Instead, those uppity peasants contributed to the DeSantis campaign. Then they contributed some more. And after that, they contributed some more. When the first 24 hours since that glitch-filled launch , those uppity peasants had broken the record for the first-day contributions. This article  reports that those damned uppity peasants didn't trust Donald Trump's mean-spirited tweets or Nikki Haley's statement (I'd forgotten about her.). Those uppity peasants refused to listen to the pundits, too. (The indignity of it all.) The lesson in this episode of campaigning is simple. Worry most about whether the people are with you. After that, worry whet...

At 8:10 pm CT on Saturday night of Memorial Day Weekend, Speaker Kevin McCarthy stepped out of his office and announced that he and Joe Biden had reached "an agreement in principle." CNBC is reporting that "House Republicans reached a tentative deal with the White House on Saturday night to raise the nation’s borrowing limit and avoid a catastrophic default on U.S. sovereign debt." CNBC is also reporting that "Speaker Kevin McCarthy said Saturday in the Capitol 'We have come to an agreement in principle. We still have a lot of work to do, but I believe this is an agreement in principle that's worthy of the American people.'" Speaker McCarthy took time to praise his negotiators, Rep. Patrick McHenry, (R-NC) and Rep. Garret Graves, (R-LA). Rep. McHenry is the Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee . Meanwhile, Rep. Graves serves on the "U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and the U.S. House Natural Resources ...

Back on Christmas Eve Day, 2022, the IRS opened its "examination" of Matt Taibbi's life. It's odd enough that they'd start this probe into Taibbi's life on a federal holidayJordan . It's Twilight Zone- type of weird that they started this investigation on a Saturday, too. Kim Strassel wrote this Potomac Watch article to provide watchdogs a little extra context. In her article, Ms. Strassel wrote "This week brought two more examples of IRS roguery that build on its already unsavory record of leaks, incompetence and partisan behavior. The first is the alarming story of journalist Matt Taibbi, who may have been targeted by the IRS in retribution for documenting the joint censorship efforts of Big Tech and the federal government." To the IRS, Taibbi isn't a liberal or conservative. He's just someone who's able to expose the IRS as utterly corrupt. Anyone that gets in the way of the Swamp, aka the Deep State, will get investigated, then p...

Apparently, Monica Crowley thinks that Donald Trump is the only person qualified to be president of the United States. After reading this op-ed , I'm not certain she's tethered to reality. Crowley's opinions are borderline cult-like. She started her op-ed off by saying "In American politics, there's Donald Trump—and then there's everyone else." After that, Crowley says "The GOP primary battle has now been joined by Governor Ron DeSantis, who followed Senator Tim Scott, former Governor Nikki Haley, and star investor Vivek Ramaswamy. All are highly accomplished, talented leaders. But there is a big difference between being a successful governor, legislator, or entrepreneur, and running for President. And it's something else entirely to run for President against Donald Trump. In the political ring, he is unlike any other combatant, as the graveyard of his previous GOP opponents attests." I question Crowley's statement that there's "...

Thanks to the investigation of the Media Research Center, the Department of Homeland Security has been exposed as fully weaponized. DHS should expect a call from House Judiciary Commitee Chairman Jordan in the not-that-distant future. This RedState article doesn't bury the lede, starting with the opening paragraph. That opening paragraph says "Documents obtained by conservative watchdog group The Media Research Center (MRC) reveal that the Biden administration weaponized taxpayer dollars against mainstream conservative groups and the GOP. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) awarded over $350,000 in grant funding in FY 2022 to a University of Dayton program, known as PREVENTS-OH, as part of the DHS’ Targeted Violence and Terrorism Prevention Grant Program (TVTP)." It continues, saying "A seminar was held at the University of Dayton’s Human Rights Center, where researcher Michael Loadenthal from the University of Cincinnati linked organizations such as the Repu...

Remember when the Washington, DC punditocracy wrung their hands wondering if Kevin McCarthy would become Speaker? Remember when the Washington, DC punditocracy wondered if Speaker McCarthy would be able to pull his tiny majority together and get something meaningful done? Of course, we remember those things like they were yesterday. That's because, unlike with Joe Biden, our absent-minded Oval Office occupant, we remember things that happened all the way back to January. Wy back then, the punditocracy didn't predict problems for Hakeem Jeffries, the incoming House Minority Leader. His job was just to oppose everything proposed by Republicans and regurgitate the phrase "extreme MAGA Republicans" whenever it seemed fitting, which is frequently in the minds of the vast majority of Democrats. A few funny things happened after those events in January. Kevin McCarthy became Speaker McCarthy. Speaker McCarthy united his conference. (Thank you very much.) Then the House GOP p...

Based on this article , I think we've found a successor to Eric Swalwell's role as useful idiot to the Chinese Communist Party, aka the CCP. As you might expect, Swalwell's replacement is another Democrat. This time, the Democrat is Jim McGovern of Massachusetts. He' a real peach when it comes to fixing the U.S. military. On the subject of the military, Rep. McGovern said "I cannot quite understand what they are thinking when they believe it is appropriate to try to balance the budget on the backs of those people, the vulnerable in our country, but we can’t touch tax cuts for billionaires, we can’t touch military spending." Here's a hint, Jim. We need additional military spending because of this enemy that wants to destroy the U.S. over the next 5-25 years. That nation's name is China. We're already lightyears behind China on the military front that it's frightening. To useful idiots like McGovern, it isn't a priority for us to defend ours...

 In a delightful-sounding slap-down of Hennepin County, Chief Justice John Roberts wrote "that the taxpayer must 'render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s, but no more,' effectively ending the practice of home equity theft." In Chief Justice John Roberts' majority opinion , he wrote "Geraldine Tyler owned a condominium in Hennepin County, Minnesota, that accumulated about $15,000 in unpaid real estate taxes along with interest and penalties. The County seized the condo and sold it for $40,000, keeping the $25,000 excess over Tyler’s tax debt for itself. Minn. Stat. §§281.18, 282.07, 282.08. Tyler filed suit, alleging that the County had unconstitutionally retained the excess value of her home above her tax debt in violation of the Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment and the Excessive Fines Clause of the Eighth Amendment. The District Court dismissed the suit for failure to state a claim, and the Eighth Circuit affirmed." Next, Chief Justice Roberts " ...

While Tim Walz and the DFL celebrate the signing of Minnesota's biennial budget, successful Minnesotans are heading for other states. On Wednesday, Gov. Walz signed the budget into law . this budget calls for a 38% increase in spending from the budget that's expiring at midnight, June 30,2023. The Walz-Flanagan ticket promised a $2,000 rebate check to everyone filing taxes in Minnesota during the campaign. That's when the projected surplus was estimated at $9,240,000,000. When the dust settled, though, Walz signed a tax bill that included a Walz Check worth $260 for single filers, $520 for married couples and up to $1,300 for families with up to 3 children. By the time that the budget was passed, the projected surplus had increased to $17,600,000,000. That's an epic fail. The projected surplus doubled but the Walz Checks got cut by 80%. That's before looking under the hood on the tax bill. John Phelan's reporting asks the essential question of "which taxes...

Stories outlining Ron DeSantis's political demise are greatly exaggerated. Following his disastrous launch on Wednesday, voters across the nation apparently didn't listen to the DC punditocracy. Voters with a mind of their own sent their own message of what they think of Gov. DeSantis. That noteworthy conservative newspaper known as the NYTimes reports that Gov. DeSantis raised a paltry $8,200,000 in the first 24 hours after his presidential launch. Apparently, voters didn't get the Trump-MSM memo that this was a disastrous launch. Apparently, potential DeSantis voters actually like Gov. DeSantis. What's more is that people can actually trust the things that Gov. DeSantis says. The NYTimes article starts by saying "Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida raised $8.2 million in his first 24 hours as a presidential candidate, his campaign said on Thursday, a huge sum that cements his standing as the leading Republican rival to Donald J. Trump." It continues, saying "...