The Washington Post and New York Times have dropped all pretense, and now see it as their duty to destroy both President Donald Trump and the Conservative Movement in the United States.

This weekend, the NY Times will publish a front-page story on former Donald Trump advisor Paul Manafort.  Can you guess what shocking revelation the Times will be sharing with its readers?  No doubt it will highlight Manafort's long-time business activities in Russia, and close with a comment from another ubiquitous anonymous source, reminding the reader that the justice Department is investigating certain Trump advisors and their "alleged" contact with Russians during the 2016 Campaign.  You can be sure that the Times article will not mention that this investigation, which is becoming more disturbing everyday, has yet to find the slightest bit of evidence indicating wrong-doing on the part of Trump or his staff.  Between the Washington Post and the Times, its beginning to appear as if these two once-respected newspapers are taking turns, publishing stories about Trump advisors or cabinet members, which provide nothing but the same basic allegation, dressed up with the all-important comment from the secret source.  Currently, journalists in DC seem to have an endless supply of inside government sources.  At first, these leakers caused a firestorm by providing the Associated Press and others with the identity of three Trump advisors or confidents who had met with Russian government officials during the campaign.  What should be most disturbing is the willingness of the AP, the Post and the Times, to print information which is obviously classified and illegally obtained.

 If the FBI or another government entity finds it necessary to surveille and "listen in" to the conversations of foreign nationals, occasionally that effort will pick up the identity and incidental comments of U.S. citizens as well.  Whoever has been given the authority to collect intelligence on the foreign national is required by law to mask the identity of any U.S. citizen who has "inadvertently" picked up in conversation.  Before the FBI or whoever are allowed to start the surveillance operation which might involve a U.S. person, they are required to obtained FISA (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act) authority from a Judge.  Trump's nominee for Attorney General Jeff Sessions and advisor Michael Flynn were picked up during a FISA-approved collection effort.  How can we know this?  Because an anonymous source, probably within the Justice Department, provided this information to a journalist.  First and foremost, only a select number of people in Washington DC are supposed to have "unmasking" authority.  One of these individuals unmasked both Sessions and Flynn, which gave the media the opportunity to create a firestorm of innuendo and unproven allegations regarding both Trump and Flynn.  I have yet to hear one Democratic Congressperson express concern regarding the unmasking of U.S. citizens.

Some things in life are guaranteed. Ice is cold, kittens are irresistible, and the American people have no faith in the mainstream media.  Have you noticed that since the GOP has taken over both the Senate and the House of Representatives, the media is anxious to publicize any and all polls that illustrate Congress' low approval rating?  At the same time, you will rarely see poll results on CNN, MSNBC, ABC, or CBS that highlight the complete lack of trust the American people have for the mainstream media.  Regardless, journalists continue to have no clue.  Even after the fiasco of anointing Hillary Clinton as the winner of the 2016 election while the Campaign was still in full-swing, the media remain convinced of their intellectual superiority over almost all Americans (they probably rank themselves somewhere just below tenured Ivy League Professors).  This knowledge burdens them with the heavy responsibility of editorializing every piece of news.  From where they stand, the job of a journalist is not only to report the news, but to do so in a selective and nuanced fashion, ensuring that the audience comes away with the "correct perspective".  For the press, the fact that no evidence exists connecting Trump advisors and staff to alleged Russian efforts to impact the 2016 Presidential Campaign, makes it imperative that the American people are reminded, ad nauseam, that the Justice Department has not completed its investigation into this matter. 

The environment in DC at present is bizarre, to say the least.  From 2008 to 2016, Democrats and the Obama Administration, with the assistance of an active, aggressive media, frightened and intimidated Republicans into playing dead.  Now that President Trump is the White House, and the GOP controls both Houses of Congress, the high-tide of the Conservative Agenda should be sweeping away all sorts of Obama legislative leftovers.  Don't hold your breath, folks.  The Democrats act as if they own Capitol Hill, and Obama is still sitting in the Oval Office.  Why do Republicans continue to avoid serious confrontation with Democrats?  The first reason is fear of being labeled a racist or a Nazi.  The Left can manipulate just about any issue, so that with the help of the press, opposing the Democrats will result in being called a racist and/or a Nazi.  The second reason the GOP has become so non-confrontational is, of course, the media.  You don't want to defend Conservative principles too loudly, just ask Ted Cruz.  Devin Nunes, Head of the House Intelligence Committee, temporarily distracted the media away from the Trump/Russia narrative, by visiting his own source and being shown intelligence which demonstrates how leakers passed classified intelligence, including the unmasked identity of a U.S. Senator, to the press.  Once the Democrats on his own Committee discovered that Nunes had been to the White House and shared information with President Trump (which is authorized), the indignation was palpable.  No one gave a rats ass that the Obama Administration went out of its way to spread classified intelligence about the Trump Campaign before Obama left office, nor did anyone on the Left express even the slightest concern regarding the shocking amount of leaked classified intelligence that regularly ends up in the hands of the media.

I'm hoping that the Trump/Russia issue can be put to bed once the Justice Department Investigation is complete.  Can you imagine how much money has been spent to date?  More resources than were expended investigating Hillary and her special server, no doubt.  Once Attorney General Sessions has finally exterminated all the hold-over rats that seem to be lurking in every nook and cranny of the FBI, State Department, and Homeland Security, we can expect internal and external investigations in numerous Agencies, and hopefully prosecutions.  Leaking classified information for political and ideological reasons is not acceptable justification, and a message needs to be sent so as to avoid this situation in the future.  Throw the book at 'em.  It will be interesting to see just how the Post and the Times attempt to keep the Russia story on the front burner.  I might bother to check out a NY Times headline or two, but I don't like trying to read the paper than lines my cat box.          

Meet "The Resistance"- the name chosen for the anti-Trump storm troopers who flood social media with ignorance and hate.

Last week, I was asked to participate in a taped radio interview dealing with allegations of Russian espionage and possible attempts to impact the 2016 Presidential Campaign.  When I discovered that this interview would be taped as opposed to live, I almost canceled; I've been burned by "selective editing" before, and I didn't enjoy the experience.  I eventually chose to participate in the hope that I might be able to actually explain what it means to request a FISA, and how common it has become for Judges in our day and age, to ignore established case law and become political activists.  During the interview, I was asked to comment on California-based artist Karen Fiorito and the growing controversy surrounding the billboard she had painted/created.  As I was unfamiliar with Fiorito, I was unable to comment, and we moved on to other subjects.  The interview itself was for local consumption, and I have no guarantee that it will ever actually be broadcast.  But I had committed the artists name to memory, and that evening, on the internet, I introduced myself to Karen Fiorito, her billboard, and to "The Resistance".

Fiorito is a modern-day hippy/artist from California who burst onto the scene in 2004, with a billboard accusing then-President Bush of lying to the American people, and then asking to be trusted as he ran for a second term.  The current billboard in question sits overlooking downtown Phoenix, and has no written message.  In the center of the billboard is President Trump, who is flanked by two large mushroom clouds.  At either end of the billboard are dollar symbols, altered to also resemble swastikas.  I spent a bit of time examining the image, trying to understand why Fiorito left out long lines of starving refugees and illegal immigrants.  I can only assume that she felt it was time to introduce a new line of attack, but your guess is as good as mine.  Its possible that Fiorito received new talking points/marching orders, which point out that the Left's focus on immigrants and refugees is about to come apart, and a new allegation/attempt to frighten people must be released.  But why mushroom clouds and dollar-swastikas?  Is the Left about to jump-start the "Trump is a war mongerer" narrative?  Its true that Trump is determined to spend more money on National Defense and to use government resources to rebuild the Veteran's Administration, although President Trump has yet to twitter any clues as to which countries might be on his shortlist for annihilation.  And what about the dollar-swastikas; is this somehow a warning that President Trump is planning to send financial aid to fascists and dictators?  Probably not.  Its more likely aimed at the tax issue, including the never-ending accusation that President Trump will find a way to lower taxes on the richest Americans, and transfer the burden to the poorest (you know, the poorest forty-five percent that pay no income taxes whatsoever). 

I respectfully advise anyone who is interested in the Federal Budget and National Security to do a bit of research on the issue of military spending.  Certain technologies advance at a head-spinning rate, and no-doubt our scientists and researchers in the military industrial complex are on the top of their game.  But with the introduction of every new application and the improvement of existing hardware, upgrades must be made across-the-board.  Having the world's greatest military is a tremendously expensive obligation, but an obligation that we can't afford to relinquish to China, Russia or anyone else.  Realistically speaking, military spending grew stagnant under the Obama Administration. His reluctance to spend money on the military was only matched by his determination to avoid using U.S. personnel in a combat posture.  Trying to unravel the Obama agenda vis-à-vis our military always brings on a huge headache, mostly related to the precipitous withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq, and the immediate, subsequent invasion of Iraq by ISIS.  Today's blog post has a different focus, thank goodness, although trying to decipher the dollar-swastika message might just bring along a headache in its own right.

Since Hillary Clinton conceded the 2016 election to Donald Trump, the Left has done everything possible to damage the Trump Presidency.  It began with a confused attempt at recounts in Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, with the result of a handful more votes for Trump-Pence.  Then the media lathered itself into a frenzy over a few electoral voters who announced opposition to Trump, also a dead-end.  It was about this time that the Progressive Democratic opposition got itself together, and created a plan to cripple the Trump Administration.  Its marching orders were to make a mess out of Congressional Hearings for trump nominees, and to direct leftover Obama personnel in the Department of Justice and the Intelligence Agencies to create a false narrative that Trump campaign personnel were involved with Russian efforts to mess with the 2016 Presidential Campaign.  The goal of this effort may be to neuter the Trump Administration, but in their heart-of-hearts, they are dreaming of, dare I say it, IMPEACHMENT.  They've managed this operation well, with the media jumping through hoops to print any and all negative allegations, regardless of merit.  They will fail, simply because as John Adams once said, "Facts are stubborn things".  There is no evidence whatsoever that Trump personnel were involved with Russians intent on impacting the 2016 campaign. The is the end, folks, not the middle or the beginning.  Now the Trump Justice Department, hopefully removed of its politically active Obama leftovers, will find out the truth about leaks from government agencies, and discover if FISAs were issued by some activist Judge to allow the wiretapping of the Trump campaign and possibly even a sitting U.S. Senator. 

This group of Progressive Democrats that have declared war on the Trump Administration, are all battle-hardened veterans of the Clinton Campaign, and they understand how to make the best use of a compliant, friendly media.  I've noted a handful of separate Leftist groups with catchy names, but "The Resistance" seems to be leading the pack.  I came to this conclusion by checking out the Twitter accounts of the most offensive members of the entertainment and professional sports communities.  All the well-known loud-mouths have aligned themselves with this group, although the more respectable, suit-wearing political activists have to be a bit more discreet, and the ones behind the scenes are the most dangerous, because they hide behind this mask of fake moderation; they are no more moderate than Alec Baldwin.  Another reason why I'm keeping my eye on this group, is its unclear connection to the media.  For those of us who identify as conservative, oppose big government, support the Second Amendment, demand effective border control and a strong military, stand by local and Federal Law Enforcement, expect a repeal of Obamacare and expect tax policies that encourage economic growth, we are well-aware that the media will not hesitate to manipulate the news in support of liberal political causes (with the exception of Fox News, Drudge, Rush Limbaugh, Breitbart, and a few brave others).  This new billboard in Phoenix, crafted by Progressive Lefty Karen Fiorito, serves notice as to what "The Resistance" and the Democrats are going after next: support for the military/military spending, and taxes.  No doubt the Trump Team will be ready.  Stay tuned......