Liberty & Prosperity Blog

Saturday night, President-Elect Donald Trump picked Kash Patel to replace FBI Director Christopher Wray. Wray still has time to serve as Director but it's apparent that Trump plans on firing Wray the minute he's been inaugurated. The announcement came via Trump's tweet on Truth Social . In the tweet, Trump said "I am proud to announce that Kashyap ‘Kash’ Patel will serve as the next Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Kash is a brilliant lawyer, investigator, and ‘America First’ fighter who has spent his career exposing corruption, defending Justice, and protecting the American People. He played a pivotal role in uncovering the Russia, Russia, Russia Hoax, standing as an advocate for truth, accountability, and the Constitution. Kash did an incredible job during my First Term, where he served as Chief of Staff at the Department of Defense, Deputy Director of National Intelligence, and Senior Director for Counterterrorism at the National Security Council. Ka...

Since President-Elect Trump's convincing victory, there have been a few instances of Democrats making noises that sound like reasonability. It's almost like they're starting to learn lessons from 2024. This NY Post article has some of those utterances. Though they didn't identify the "senators, aides and sources" who criticized their fellow Democrats, it's obvious that these Democrats aren't happy with Democrat leadership. That might translate into voting support for legitimate immigration reform. Until that happens, though, I'll still be skeptical. I'll take a 'Prove it' attitude to Democrats supporting immigration reform that includes asylum reform, pays for at least 900 miles of Trump's wall and eliminates sanctuary cities and states. Perhaps that's a little too optimistic but here's hoping. After all, Democrats are playing catch-up on immigration. By the time of the next presidential election in 20238, Republicans will ...

It's been 3+ weeks since Donald Trump regained the title of President-Elect Trump. Since then, tons of ink and toner have gotten spilled while pundits/consultants have insisted they know what's happened that produced a decisive verdict on who they want leading the U.S. and the various states. Quite frankly, quite a few messages were sent the night of Nov. 5, 2024. Most of those messages haven't been listened to. One of the messages sent this election was that politicians don't listen enough to the people. President-Elect Trump's forgotten man isn't a schtick. These people actually exist. They showed up by the millions to scream that they existed and that they don't like not being listened to. Election Day's biggest messages Biggest message: I'm frustrated and I won't tolerate you ignoring what I've told you repeatedly. Each election is a reaction to the previous election. They're also forward-looking. Hint to Democrats: It isn't enou...

After being part of one of the most humiliating presidential defeats in U.S. history, Tim Walz insists he's got no regrets on the campaign he and VP Harris ran this summer and fall. Gov. Walz, (DFL-MN), said "No regrets. I regret few things in life other than I didn’t get a dog sooner. That’s my biggest regret. But no, I’m proud to have been part of that [campaign]. I think we put a message out that 75 million liked, but not quite enough." If you don't have any regrets after running one of the most pathetic campaigns in recent history, then you've got no business on a presidential ticket. Don't think that those questions aren't popping up this week. He knows that he's the one that's seen as weird. This isn't just something people here in the Midwest have noticed. It hasn't just spread to the Rust Belt. It's something that's gone global. Weird Walz started the campaign as largely unknown. By the end of the campaign, 'Weird Walz...

First, Donald Trump's victory was a team effort, with some people playing high profile roles (think Elon Musk and J.D. Vance) while others plaid important, though more subtle, roles. (Think Lara Trump, Lawrence Jones and Harris Faulkner.) Let's start with the role Harris Faulkner played in Donald Trump's campaign. While it's true she didn't shill for Trump's campaign like Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough played for the Biden campaign, then for the Harris campaign, Faulkner hosted an all-female townhall in Atlanta that showed a different side of Donald Trump's personality. This NPR article gives some details to the event. It says "Former President Donald Trump attempted to reach out to women voters with a Fox News town hall that aired Wednesday morning. Trump took questions from an all-women audience during the hour-long special." This wouldn't be an NPR article without some editorial commentary mixed into it. This article didn't disappo...

For nearly 2 years, the Biden administration insisted that the border was shut and Mexico had done their part in securing the U.S.-Mexico border. Nothing illustrates the Biden administration's dishonesty than this tweet announcing Trump tariffs on Canada, China and Mexico and this tweet announcing President-Elect Trump's phone conversation with Claudia Sheinbaum-Pardo, Mexico's president. In his tweet about Biden's open borders, Trump tweeted "As everyone is aware, thousands of people are pouring in through Mexico and Canada, bringing crime and drugs at levels never seen before. ... On Jan. 20, as one of my many first Executive Orders, I will sign all necessary documents to charge Mexico and Canada a 25% tariff on all products into the United States and its ridiculous open borders. This tariff will remain in effect until such time as drugs, in particular Fentanyl, and all illegal aliens stop this invasion of our country. Here is the tweet announcing the tariffs: ...

Despite a Fox9 reporter's statement to the contrary, the race for House District-54A is anything except over . That's because Scott County officials can't prove what happened to 21 potentially missing ballots. According to Fox9's reporting, "The mystery over 21 missing ballots in Minnesota House District 54A appears to be the result of human error, according to the Scott County Attorney's Office." "Appears to be?" I've heard weasel words from attorneys before but that's the worst I've ever heard. "Appears to be" doesn't meet the threshold of proof. Without proof of chain of custody, it's just SWAG, aka Statistical Wild Ass Guess. That's as sturdy as hearsay evidence, In a real court, which is where this is going, hearsay evidence isn't admissible. Scott County Attorney Ron Hocevar said "The preliminary investigation into the 21-ballot discrepancy hasn’t been determinative thus far , and it appears likely...

A loyal reader of this blog sent me Dan Wolgamott's statement after Monday's recount. It said "I’m satisfied that the results of this recount confirm what the voters decided on November 5th: once again, they’ve hired me to get things done for St. Cloud at the Capitol. Serving our community in the Minnesota House is the honor of a lifetime, and I am excited to be re-elected to another term. This victory was possible thanks to the hard work of a broad coalition of St. Cloud residents, and I’m grateful for all the support. Now is the time to foster relationships beyond partisan divides to tackle the challenges facing Minnesota’s families. I look forward to working with my seatmate, Rep. Bernie Perryman, and my colleagues from both sides of the aisle to deliver results for St. Cloud." That's a pile of BS. Did Dan Wolgamott work with Bernie Perryman when he voted to repeal Minnesota's version of the Born-Alive Infant Protection Act? A: No, he didn't. He didn...

According to this article , President-Elect Donald Trump has worked hard enough and smart enough to earn himself a honeymoon to start his second term. According to a recent CBS News/YouGov poll, "50% of voters believe America’s best days are now in its future, while 39% claim they are in the past, and 11% say they are happening right now." Further, a "newly released CBS News poll on Sunday showed that a majority of voters (59%) approve of how President-elect Donald Trump is handling the transition of power." It's worth noting that President-Elect Trump has worked feverishly to name his cabinet. That's meant that he isn't grabbing all of the headlines. It’s obvious that he's a different person than the Donald Trump of his first term. President-Elect Trump is entirely different than ‘Mean Tweets’ Trump from the first term in office. Reporters could get under ‘Mean Tweets’ Trump’s skin without much effort. A majority of Trump voters also supported nomin...

This morning on Outnumbered, the panel spent a segment talking about the tariffs that Donald Trump announced Monday. Just to refresh people's memories on the tariffs, let's reference ABC's article on the tariffs. The article opens by saying "President-elect Donald Trump is making good on his tariff promises, saying Monday he plans to impose them on Mexico, Canada and China in an effort to stop the flow of drugs entering the country and illegal border crossings." This isn't surprising to anyone who hasn't been comatose the last 8+ years. Newly-appointed Treasury Secretary nominee Scott Bessent said over the weekend that the Trump Doctrine on tariffs is to use them as a negotiating tool. That's what Trump's done in the past (see Mexico, 2019, Remain in Mexico negotiations) so it's totally predictable for Trump to use them as a stick against Canada, China and Mexico, especially to force their hand in drug trafficking and illegal border crossings....

If you're a Green New Deal advocate, prepare yourself for greater use of fossil fuels. It's just a matter of time. That's Holman Jenkins' conclusion in his latest column . That's what history teaches us. According to Jenkins' column, "Energy sources are additive and symbiotic, he writes. Coal, oil, gas, wood, nuclear and renewables all grew together, they didn’t replace each other. An increase in coal provided steel piping to enable oil and gas production. More wood than ever was consumed to support British coal mines. The world’s biggest maker of wooden barrels at one time was John D. Rockefeller. A car in the 1930s consumed more coal via its required steel than it would consume in fossil fuels in its lifetime." Yes, climate change exists. No, it isn't an existential threat to civilization. Quite the opposite. Thanks to ever-emerging technologies, we keep getting cleaner air. Fossil fuel production hasn't stopped since the introduction of AOC...

Starting at 10:00 am Monday morning, Sherburne County performed a recount of their ballots for the HD-14B House race. Here is Ms. Ek's statement: I'm grateful to Sherburne County for the recount. It was not surprising that it did not significantly change my vote total. More will be done to investigate the various abnormalities that occurred. The strong support of the voters in 14B has been a gift. I'm grateful for their prayers and encouragement. Regardless of the outcome of this election, I look forward to running again in 2026. I've written about the "abnormalities" highlighted in this race. While a recount has a purpose in verifying the ballot totals, it doesn't indicate where those ballots came from or whether the ballots are real or counterfeit. While I'm fully aware that making such a statement won't go without snide comments, that isn't a big deal to me. Few people know that 2 legal actions have been filed because there are questions ab...

The Democrats' blame game continues. Some level-headed people have figured it out that the Democrat Party is in trouble if they keep listening to Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and Pramila Jayapal, aka the Loud Left. These sane Midwesterners shouldn't be mistaken for Tim Walz and J.B. Pritzker. These people are weird. The Left Coast is another story entirely. I'm thankful I don't have to write the book about it. The WSJ's Allysia Finley already did that in this column . In the article, Ms. Finley wrote "The first step to any recovery is admitting you have a problem. Some Democrats are starting to do that, but they still won’t admit that their policies are the cause. Take California Gov. Gavin Newsom, whose cure for a hangover is a Tequila sunrise. On his 'Politickin' podcast, he blamed Democrats’ election drubbing on the 'five I's': inflation, immigration, interest rates, incumbency and Israel’s war in Gaza." Actually, it isn't th...

If someone had bet with you last year that Donald Trump would get indicted 4 times, convicted once and blown away his GOP presidential nomination competitors quickly, I think that you might've broken your arm reaching for your wallet. Further, if that person had told you that President-Elect Trump survived a pair of assassination attempts, then swept all of the battleground states on his way to winning the popular vote while cruising to an easy electoral vote victory, you might've talked this fortunate fellow into another bet. Not only did President-Elect Trump accomplish these things but he's heading back to the White House with a mandate to fix the things that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris broke. Finally, check out this article . If you voted for the Trump-J.D. Vance ticket, you've likely been smiling since Nov. 5, perhaps longer. The article opens by saying "President-elect Donald Trump's incoming administration starts off with mostly good will from the public...

During the Clinton administration, Julian Epstein fiercely defended President Clinton's policies. These days, he's spending his time criticizing activist Democrats . It's been a dramatic turnaround. In his latest op-ed, Epstein wrote "Joe Scarborough is on bended knee, licking the boots of an incoming president he has likened to Hitler. Nancy Pelosi, who first defended Biden’s mental capacity before coldly whacking him, is now blaming him for Kamala Harris’s loss. Activist 'journalists' claim that Harris ran a 'perfect' campaign and blame voters 'who gave up on democracy.'" History repeating itself History is repeating itself. In the late 1970s, the late Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan was disappointed that, in his mind, the Democrats weren't the party of ideas anymore. That thought made Sen. Moynihan sad. He loved jousting with his Republican counterparts. Sen. Moynihan especially enjoyed debating Sen. Phil Gramm, (R-TX), about tax cuts....

President-Elect Trump picked most of the rest of his economic team, picking Scott Bessent a his Treasury Secretary , Russ Vought to be his OMB Director , Dr. Janette Nesheiwat to be his Surgeon General , Dr. Marty Makary to head the FDA and Dave Weldon to run the CDC . I'm excited to see Dr. Makary and Dr. Nesheiwat nominated to their posts with the FDA and the U.S. Surgeon General respectively. Despite the fact that Makary is overqualified for the job, NBC is running interference for Democrats. They've written "President-elect Donald Trump on Friday nominated Dr. Marty Makary, a pancreatic surgeon at Johns Hopkins University who's made controversial claims about Covid, as commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration." There's nothing controversial about Dr. Makary's COVID claims. Dr. Makary just disagreed with Biden administration orthodoxy. He wrote an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal in which he proclaimed the virtues of natural immunity. At the ti...

To Democrat governors and mayors who think that they're tougher than Trump Border Czar Tom Homan, you're in the wrong line of work. You'll soon look like idiots when ICE starts deporting criminal illegal aliens. These Democrats are acting tough. Tom Homan is the personification of bad ass. When Homan sat for an interview with FNC's Laura Ingraham , Homan broke open a special bottle of bad ass. If Chicago's Brandon Johnson or Illinois's J.B. Pritzker try stopping Homan's ICE agents from rounding up criminal illegal aliens, they'll be exposed as little boy toys. They won't sound like tough-talking guys they play on TV. If Colorado's Jared Polis or Denver's Mike Johnston try playing tough guys, they'll quickly be humiliated. Ingraham said "Joining me now, Tom Homan, the man tapped as Trump's border czar. He's going to oversee the enforcement of the border, the deportation of millions of migrants who game the system, many of them...

After Matt Gaetz withdrew his name for consideration to be President-Elect Trump's Attorney General, it didn't take Trump long to name former Florida AG Pam Bondi to be his nominee to be U.S. AG. Trump's choice of Bondi has Democrats worrying because ( GASP! ) she's competent. How dare Trump pick someone that's competent. The Washington Post's Marianne LeVine wrote "Bondi, 59, is a longtime Trump loyalist who served on the defense team during his first impeachment trial. Her selection to be the country’s top law enforcement official follows a presidential campaign in which Trump criticized the justice system as 'weaponized' against him and vowed retribution in a second term." It's a pile of BS that Trump is seeking retribution for his getting dragged into court so frequently by partisan prosecutors. Those partisan prosecutors helped him get re-elected. They certainly helped him get the GOP nomination. When they realized what the Biden DOJ...

Throughout his uphill fight to become President Trump's Attorney General, Matt Gaetz has fought for his political life. This afternoon, Gaetz withdrew his name from consideration for that position. NBC is reporting "Gaetz's path was mired by a series of allegations of sexual misconduct, including sex with a minor at a 2017 party. On Thursday, NBC News learned from a source familiar that the House Ethics Committee, which had been investigating Gaetz, was told that a 17-year-old girl had two sexual encounters with the then-congressman at the party." Gaetz made lots of enemies in his time on Capitol Hill from both sides of the aisle. He's considered the opposite of Marco Rubio. Rubio is considered a safe pick and highly overqualified to be President Trump's top diplomat. Other nominees in that safe category would be Linda McMahon, nominated to be Trump's Education Secretary, Elise Stefanik, nominated to be the U.S. Ambassador to the U.N., and Howard Lutnick,...

While Sherburne County wastes its time patting itself on the back for successfully performing a recount for the HD-14B election, they failed to answer multiple questions that remain unasked. It's time for the self-congratulating to stop and for the heavy lifting to start. I haven't spent time congratulating myself for compiling these questions but I'm willing to share these questions with the public:  First, which precincts didn't upload properly? Or was it just a single precinct in Sherburne County that didn't upload properly? How many ballots did Sherburne County initially miss? Was it less than 50? Was it more than 100 ballots? When did Sherburne County first notice that the upload didn't work properly? What date/time was it fixed? The first vote total with 100% of precincts reporting showed Sue Ek leading Rep. Wolgamott by the margin of 9,704-9,700. The final vote total shown with 100% of precincts reporting showed Rep. Wolgamott leading Ms. Ek 10,005-9,814....

Thanks to this op-ed by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, people get a brief lesson in constitutional government initially designed by Madison, Jefferson and Hamilton. The opening paragraph of their op-ed says "Our nation was founded on the basic idea that the people we elect run the government. That isn’t how America functions today. Most legal edicts aren’t laws enacted by Congress but “rules and regulations” promulgated by unelected bureaucrats—tens of thousands of them each year. Most government enforcement decisions and discretionary expenditures aren’t made by the democratically elected president or even his political appointees but by millions of unelected, unappointed civil servants within government agencies who view themselves as immune from firing thanks to civil-service protections." Our federal government hasn't functioned that way for decades. For too long, we've handed decision-making authority over to agency chiefs and bureaucrats. Mr. Ramaswamy and Mr. ...

Each day, it looks like Joe Biden is overcoming his fear of escalation in Ukraine's war with Russia. Each day closer he gets to the end of his political career, the more it looks like he's trying to get the incoming administration tangled up in a war in Ukraine. After reading this article , I'm starting to think he's trying to get President-Elect Trump tied up in Ukraine. What a total dirtbag he is. He withheld weapons at the start of Ukraine's war with Russia that would've helped Ukraine push Russia out of Ukraine. Now, though, he's made policy changes that've escalated the Ukraine-Russia War to the point of starting WWIII. Fox News is reporting "President Biden approved sending anti-personnel mines to Ukraine late Tuesday, a reversal of policy and yet another escalation in the conflict with Russia ahead of President-elect Trump's inauguration." Had Biden been interested in helping Ukraine drive Russia out of Ukraine, that would've be...

President-Elect Donald Trump continues filling out his Cabinet , this time nominating Howard Lutnick, currently the "head of brokerage and investment bank Cantor Fitzgerald," as his Commerce Secretary. Also on Tuesday, CBS reported that "Trump is expected to pick Linda McMahon, the former wrestling executive, to head the Department of Education, two sources familiar with the transition told CBS News Tuesday. McMahon led the Small Business Administration during Trump's first term, stepping down in 2019 to help with his 2020 reelection campaign." Finally, President-Elect Trump nominated Dr. Mehmet Oz to head the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. NBC is quoting President-Elect Trump as saying "He is an eminent Physician, Heart Surgeon, Inventor, and World-Class Communicator, who has been at the forefront of healthy living for decades." Dr. Oz is quoted as saying "I look forward to serving my country to Make America Healthy Again under the ...

 Twenty years ago this morning, I wrote my first post. It was about then-AG John Ashcroft. Shortly thereafter, I started writing about the Orange Revolution in Ukraine. It isn't surprising that Putin tried installing a puppet president. This puppet president then would have Putin's bidding. It's amazing that Ukraine is still making news 20 years later. This time, though, Joe Biden is pushing Ukraine into the news by giving permission to President Zelenskiy to use long range missiles well inside Russia. Had Biden acted with haste back in 2022, this war likely would've been over before 2023 finished. If there's anything that I've learned through blogging, it's that leadership matters. Because I haven't been afraid to speak truth to power, I've gotten hacked out of existence twice. The first time, I was able to recover from. The other time, I wasn't so lucky. That's how this blog got created. If there's anything that I want people to learn f...

Bob Casey's late father likely wouldn't be proud of his son's actions this last week. This past week, Bob Casey has tried stealing an election he's lost decisively. According to Salena Zito's reporting, "The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has sided with the campaign of Republican businessman Dave McCormick in ordering an immediate end to the deliberately unlawful vote-counting efforts of local officials counting votes in McCormick’s hotly contested U.S. Senate race. Openly flouting a clear, earlier ruling of the state high court, officials in four counties had been tabulating ballots that lacked signatures or dates required by law." This is disgusting but it isn't surprising. These are Democrats, after all. Playing by the rules isn't a Democrat's strength. Ignoring laws is a Democrat's strength. Throw in Marc Elias as Casey's election lawyer and you've got a situation that's perfect for shenanigans. Did Elias instruct his client t...

In 2016, Donald Trump won, primarily because he dominated rural areas and because of a phenomenon known as hidden Trump voters. Most of these "hidden Trump voters" hid in rural areas all across the U.S. In 2020, when Trump lost to Joe Biden, Joe Biden used his 'Scranton Joe' personality to win over some of these voters. This year, Biden had a record to defend and some dementia that couldn't be hidden. The Biden campaign tried baiting Trump into saying no to 2 debates by proposing 2 debates, the first on CNN, the final one on ABC. Instead of saying no, Trump agreed to both within an hour. Biden was stuck. On June 27, Biden and Trump met for the first debate. By the time it finished, Biden's political career was all but officially over. 2024 was an entirely different situation. First, Biden, then Harris, had a record to defend. Defending open borders, the affordability crisis and the administration's record on migrant crime put the administration on the defe...