Democrats Who Can’t Get Over Losing 2016 Formally Demand Trump’s Tax Returns

By William Teach April 4, 2019 – 8:02 am

I’m wondering if all the Democratic members of the House committee have released their own? It’s hard to determine, since most searches bring up something related to this story

House Dem asks IRS for 6 years of Trump’s tax returns, setting up showdown with White House

President Trump responded with a dismissive taunt on Wednesday after a House committee chairman formally requested the IRS provide several years of his personal and business tax returns, in a move that prompted congressional Republicans to warn that Democrats had “weaponized” tax law.

Told by a reporter at the White House that Democrats wanted six years of his tax returns, Trump replied: “Is that all? Usually it’s 10. So I guess they’re giving up. We’re under audit, despite what people said, and we’re working that out — I’m always under audit, it seems, but I’ve been under audit for many years, because the numbers are big, and I guess when you have a name, you’re audited. But until such time as I’m not under audit, I would not be inclined to do that.”

The request Wednesday by Massachusetts Rep. Richard Neal, who heads the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee, is the first such demand for a sitting president’s tax information in 45 years. The move sets up a virtually certain legal showdown with the White House.

Nancy Pelosi and other Dems have refused to release their own returns, which would show how someone on a Congressperson’s salary can make so much money

The president’s congressional allies registered immediate and fierce disapproval. The top Republican on the House Ways and Means Committee, Kevin Brady, R-Texas, wrote to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to decry what he called Democrats’ “abuse” of their authority.

“Weaponizing our nation’s tax code by targeting political foes sets a dangerous precedent and weakens Americans’ privacy rights, As you know, by law all Americans have a fundamental right to the privacy of the personal information found in their tax returns,” Brady said in the letter. “This particular request is an abuse of the tax-writing committees’ statutory authority, and violates the intent and safeguards of Section 6103 of the Internal Revenue Code as Congress intended.”

That provision of tax law generally prohibits the disclosure of personal tax information.

Brady added that while “transparency in our government is enormously important,” the “privacy and freedom” of all taxpayers is paramount — and that Congress should pass new disclosure laws if it sees a problem. Violating the privacy rights of one taxpayer, Brady asserted, “begins the process of eroding and threatening the privacy rights of all taxpayers.”

If Democrats want to play this game, I’ve noted before that Team Trump can use the same laws to obtain the Dems’ tax returns. This is a dangerous road for Dems to travel. Just like with the nuclear option under Harry Reid, Republicans can play this game, too.

Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden, D-Ore., followed up with a statement backing up his counterpart in the House.

“The law is crystal clear—the Treasury Department must provide tax returns to the Ways & Means and Finance Committees when the chairman requests them. I expect the Treasury Department to comply in a timely manner,” Wyden said. “Chairman Grassley should make the same request so Senate Finance Committee members are also able to access them.”

Congress must have an actual, important, relevant, substantive reason for demanding tax returns of any citizen, not simply because they’re pissed off that Hillary lost fair and square and Trump is president.

Read: Democrats Who Can’t Get Over Losing 2016 Formally Demand Trump’s Tax Returns »

Posted in Democrats, Unhinged Tools | 15 Comments | Trackback URL

Democrat Presidential Contenders Cool With Forum That Embraces Cop Killer Assata Shakur

By William Teach April 3, 2019 – 3:00 pm

Now, just imagine that a bunch of Republican politicians of any stripe were at a forum that embraced some right leaning murderer. How would that go?

N.J. cop-killing fugitive Assata Shakur’s words take center stage at Dem presidential forum. State Police, others express anger.

New Jersey’s top law enforcement officials denounced a speaker who led a crowd in a call-and-response using the words of fugitive cop killer Assata Shakur during a conference featuring 2020 Democratic presidential contenders.

Speaking at the We the People summit, NAACP Vice President of Civic Engagement Jamal Watkins called Shakur a “leader.”

Assata Shakur, who was born with the name Joanne Chesimard, was convicted in the 1973 slaying of NJSP Trooper Werner Foerster. The FBI Most Wanted killer escaped from a women’s prison and has been harbored from justice in Cuba.

None of the candidates were on stage during the Watkins speech that evoked Shakur.

Watkins led the crowd in a chant quoting the trooper’s killer, Fox News reported.

“I’m gonna actually have you participate with me in repeating some words from a leader by the name of Assata Shakur. So if you could stand up…but I want you to repeat after me,” Watkins said.

“It is our duty to fight for our freedom. It is our duty to win. We must love each other and support each other. We have nothing to lose but our chains,” he continued, citing words Shakur wrote while in prison.

NJ’s AG Gurbir Grewal wisely slammed this.

The conference features 2020 hopefuls U.S. Sen. Cory Booker, U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, U.S. Sen, Elizabeth Warren, Washington Governor Jay Inslee, U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, Julián Castro and Beto O’Rourke, Fox News reported.

What’s worse for Booker is that he is a Senator for New Jersey. He took a nice selfie while there and spoke on stage. None of these people have complained, nor did they walk out in protest.

Nice to know they support the cop murderer.

Read: Democrat Presidential Contenders Cool With Forum That Embraces Cop Killer Assata Shakur »

Posted in Democrats | 9 Comments | Trackback URL

If All You See…

By William Teach April 3, 2019 – 1:00 pm

…is a reminder of rising waters from fossil fuels, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is A View From The Beach, with a post on the coming avocado doom.

Read: If All You See… »

Posted in If All You See | 22 Comments | Trackback URL

Dem. Presidential Candidate Julian Castro Thrills Open Borders Advocates With Immigration Plan

By William Teach April 3, 2019 – 10:30 am

Julian Castro is, at this time, one of the very low hanging candidates among a large gaggle of Democrats, with Beto, Biden, and Bernie leading at this time. But, you never know what will happen as time goes on, debates are held, and people vote in primaries. And here comes the Open Borders push

Castro unveils immigration platform, laying an early marker in the 2020 presidential contest

Democratic presidential Julián Castro sought Tuesday to lay down an early marker on immigration, releasing an extensive plan to address an issue that is sure to remain front and center through November 2020.

Castro’s People First Immigration Policy, which comes 10 months before the first votes are cast in the 2020 primary, offers a few ideas that are commonplace among Democratic candidates, like reversing President Donald Trump’s travel ban and providing a pathway to citizenship for people in the country illegally. But in many other areas, the proposal goes much farther than other contenders have gone, thrilling advocates who have been waiting to see which White House hopeful would be first out of the gate with such a detailed proposal.

“They’ve all done riffs at rallies, but this is the first serious, thoughtful and thorough proposal,” said Frank Sharry, director of the liberal immigration group America’s Voice. “He got his wonk on, and wonks appreciate it.”

The plan comes as Castro, the only Latino presidential candidate, works to find a voice in the 2020 primary, where he hardly registers in polls two and a half months into his candidacy. And specifically on immigration, he is vying for attention with fellow Texas Democrat Beto O’Rourke, the El Pasoan who has made the border central to his three-week-old 2020 campaign.

So, what is it about?

Castro’s proposal is highlighted by a call to decriminalize illegal border crossings — which he would do by repealing a provision of U.S. law that makes it a criminal, instead of civil, offense to unlawfully enter the country. The provision, Section 1325 of the Immigration and Nationality Act, has been a key factor in the Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” approach that led to family separation at the border last year.

“The truth is, immigrants seeking refuge in our country aren’t a threat to national security,” Castro wrote in a Medium post outlining the plan. “Migration shouldn’t be a criminal justice issue. It’s time to end this draconian policy and return to treating immigration as a civil — not a criminal — issue.”

In fact, it is a criminal act with a civil penalty for a first offense: a small fine and deportation. What making it strictly a civil penalty would do would be to allow illegal aliens to pay that fine and stay around, at which point Democrats would demand they be given free citizenship, and, more importantly for Dems, voting rights.

In addition to making illegal border crossings a civil offense, Castro’s plan lays out a number of ideas that have not yet entered the 2020 primary mainstream. He wants to end so-called “287(g)” agreements that allow local law enforcement to perform immigration duties after undergoing training. He also wants to eliminate three- and 10-year bans, which prohibit undocumented immigrants from re-entering the United States for certain periods of time after they are deported.

Crossing illegally after being deported is a purely criminal offense, and Open Borders advocate Castro wants to do away with this. It would mean more of this

(Breitbart) A convicted sex offender and illegal alien, who was previously deported from the United States, has been charged with multiple counts of child sex crimes, including producing child pornography, in the state of Louisiana.

In an announcement on Tuesday, Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry confirmed that 44-year-old illegal alien Miguel Martinez was arrested in Harvey, Louisiana, and charged with 100 counts of possession of child pornography, one count of production of child pornography, and one count of sexual battery of a child under the age of 13-years-old.

A multi-agency investigation into the illegal alien revealed that Martinez had been previously deported from the U.S. in 2005 and is a registered sex offender in the sanctuary state of California, which shields criminal illegal aliens from deportation.

Castro would be protecting people like Martinez. Remember, though, that they aren’t for Open Borders and totally believe in the rule of law.

Read: Dem. Presidential Candidate Julian Castro Thrills Open Borders Advocates With Immigration Plan »

Posted in Democrats, Illegal Immigration | 1 Comment | Trackback URL

Sixteen Youths Tell Us What They Think Of The Green New Deal

By William Teach April 3, 2019 – 8:29 am

I wonder how all the young people would feel if anyone explained to them that if the GND was implemented they’d have to take a train if they wanted to take a selfie in a special place, but, unfortunately, an unintended consequence would be wiping out the manufacture of smartphones, which use massive amounts of electricity and require lots of rare earth minerals and such, shipped all around the world with a massive carbon footprint

What 16 Young People Think About the Green New Deal

…

The policy proposals that will undergird the Green New Deal are still to come; for now, the GND represents a moral and political imagining that politicians have consistently failed to offer. It’s a vision to champion; a charge to lead; and a new, youth-led expectation for the people elected into power.

The Green New Deal can only exist with the force and imaginations of the young people whose world it will shape. So Student Nation asked young people across the country: As the generation poised to inherit a world directly threatened by the impacts of climate change, how could the Green New Deal affect your future, or the future of disaffected communities coast to coast?

Yes, let’s ask the world-wise kids. What follows are the quick stories from the 16, let’s take a look at them, shall we (each excerpt is a different student)?

As a millennial college student entering the workforce in a time of economic uncertainty and environmental crisis, I am constantly inundated with the word “burnout.” With a growing mental-health crisis across college campuses, the looming burden of astronomical student debt, and the daunting prospect of inheriting a planet on the brink of catastrophe, it is no surprise that we are frequently called the “burnout generation.” Among a seemingly endless succession of burgeoning crises, the Green New Deal offers a glimmer of hope. Emma Fiona Jones is a senior at Vassar College studying art history and women’s studies.

So, pretty much someone wasting all those loans on a worthless degree. Let’s listen to her about “brink of catastrophe.”

With healthier foods, organic options and other “green” efforts to cleanse the earth on our side, we’ll restore the landscapes and places as we once knew them. Trees will grow to help purify our air. Animals will return to their natural habitats. Green jobs will help sprout economic prosperity. We can strip away America as we’ve known it—the America that, for many Americans, spoon-feeds them their own suffering.

Um, trees love carbon dioxide. More under the fold

Read More »

Read: Sixteen Youths Tell Us What They Think Of The Green New Deal »

Posted in AGW Idiocy, Global Warming, Special Snowflake Syndrome | 42 Comments | Trackback URL

Democrats To Take To Streets Thursday If Unredacted Mueller Report Isn’t Released

By William Teach April 3, 2019 – 8:04 am

This should turn out well

This will surely turn into a typical leftist protest, incorporating all their other gripes

(Common Dreams) A coalition of progressive advocacy groups representing millions of Americans is planning mass protests nationwide if Attorney General William Barr fails to release the full Mueller report by Tuesday night, the deadline established by congressional Democrats.

“We are calling for a National Day of Action on Thursday, April 4, to demand that Attorney General William Barr #ReleaseTheReport if he fails to meet the deadline set by congressional leaders of Tuesday, April 2,” the Trump Is Not Above the Law coalition said late Monday.

“Barr has offered an alternate timeline for a redacted version of the report,” the coalition continued, “but we deserve the full report and Congressional leaders and the American people expect it now.”

Barr has already stated it would be released mid-April, but, you know, the Dem base is like a 4 year old denied a cookie before dinner

Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), chair of the House Judiciary Committee, was quick to reject Barr’s timeline and reiterate his demand for the full report—as well as all underlying evidence—by April 2.

On Monday, Nadler took steps  to authorize a subpoena for the complete report.

Expecting Barr to miss the deadline, advocacy groups—including MoveOn, Common Cause, Public Citizen, and Stand Up America—are planning demonstrations throughout the country to demand that all of Mueller’s findings be made public.

So, since he and the other unhinged elected Democrats didn’t get the report, I guess we’re going to get the usual bit of unhinged liberals chanting and yelling and shrieking and banging on drums and accomplishing…..nothing. Nadler himself knows damned well that it would be against the law to release the report unredacted. He argued this post-Bill Clinton impeachment.

Now, Mr. Starr in his transmittal letter to the speaker and the minority leader made it clear that much of this material is Federal Rule 6(e) material, that is material that by law, unless contravened by a vote of the House, must be kept secret. It’s grand jury material. It represents statements which may or may not be true by various witnesses, salacious material, all kinds of material that it would be unfair to release. So, I assume what’s going to have to happen before anything else happens is that somebody — the staff of the Judiciary Committee, perhaps the chairman and ranking minority member — is going to have to go over this material, at least the 400 or 500 pages in the report to determine what is fit for release and what is, as a matter of decency and protecting people’s privacy rights, people who may be totally innocent third parties, what must not be released at all. Now, the House Rules Committee will be meeting overnight, and I presume that we will vote tomorrow probably on a recommended rule as to how to handle the report.

And that vote of the House would be different today, as the special prosecutor was empannled differently that Mueller, who directly reported to the DOJ, so the House couldn’t vote. They could appeal to the federal judge involved, but, the judge would most likely avoid releasing the secret information. As Ed Morrissey goes on to note

Emphases mine. If that sounds familiar, it should; William Barr and others have made the same arguments about the contents of the special counsel report from Robert Mueller. On top of that, the Department of Justice has specific policies that prohibit the release of investigative material involving anyone who hasn’t been indicted. James Comey did that twice and got fired over it. That is why Trey Gowdy argued last week that the Mueller report shouldn’t be released in any significant form, public curiosity be damned. The executive summary should suffice for public consumption.

Most Democrats have really moved on from Russia Russia Russia. Most news on this is not front page. The opinion pieces and editorials have dried up. There’s just a few elected officials, some nutters like Rachel Maddow (whose ratings have collapsed), and the lunatic base who are holding on.

Read: Democrats To Take To Streets Thursday If Unredacted Mueller Report Isn’t Released »

Posted in Democrats, Unhinged Tools | 10 Comments | Trackback URL

Queen Nancy Introduced New ‘Climate Change’ Bill Day After GND Went Down In Flames

By William Teach April 2, 2019 – 3:44 pm

I’m still waiting for Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to demand a vote on the House floor for the Green New Deal, since she’s holding all sorts of town halls and tweeting about it and such. But, hey, did anyone remember anything in the news about this? I ran across it by accident

PELOSI INTRODUCES NEW CLIMATE BILL ONE DAY AFTER GREEN NEW DEAL COLLAPSED

Democratic lawmakers introduced a stripped-down climate bill Wednesday less than a day after Senate Republicans dinged a more ambitious plan.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi described the Climate Action Now Act as one of many steps toward Democratic efforts to confront global warming. In particular, the bill aims to prevent President Donald Trump from removing the United States from the non-binding Paris Climate accord.

The bill is a watered-down version of New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s Green New Deal, which called for shifting completely away from fossil fuels and toward green energy. The GND was torpedoed in the Senate on Tuesday after Republicans voted en masse against the resolution while Democrats voted present.

Ocasio-Cortez, a Democrat, was not present Wednesday during the roll out of the Climate Action Act.

Interestingly, it’s not about the climate according to Pelosi

“This is about jobs,” Pelosi said. “It’s about good-paying green jobs. It’s about advancing our economy and our global pre-eminence in green technology.” Pelosi listed a number of other related issues, including public health, and defending national security.

Interesting. But not even close

The bill itself is mostly concerned with returning to the Paris Agreement, which President Donald Trump agreed to withdraw from in June 2017.

Castor said the Climate Action Now Act “will be marked up in the committees of jurisdiction over the coming weeks and then brought to the floor for passage.”

So, I’m guessing this is really the “We Don’t Like Trump’s Views On Climate Change Act.” Because it is doesn’t really say much other than directing Trump to Do Something, per the header

To direct the President to develop a plan for the United States to meet its nationally determined contribution under the Paris Agreement, and for other purposes.

It’s actually more of a resolution than the bill it claims to be, and it is very short. Section 3 prohibits the use of funds to advance the withdrawal of the United States from the Paris Agreement. Section 4 is a “Plan for the United States to meet its nationally determined contribution under the Paris Agreement,” and directs Trump to develop a plan. Think that could backfire monumentally if this even made it out of the Senate and Trump signed it? Based on the text, he could send back in 120 days “Our plan is to not do anything.”

That’s really it.

Read: Queen Nancy Introduced New ‘Climate Change’ Bill Day After GND Went Down In Flames »

Posted in AGW Idiocy, Democrats, Global Warming | 7 Comments | Trackback URL

If All You See…

By William Teach April 2, 2019 – 1:00 pm

…is a horrible fossil fueled vehicle causing it to get so hot that palm trees grow in Boston, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is Political Clown Parade, with a post on reefer madness.

Read: If All You See… »

Posted in If All You See | 1 Comment | Trackback URL

New Zealand Passes First Reading On Gun Bans Bill

By William Teach April 2, 2019 – 10:34 am

So many gun grabbers here in the U.S. are wondering why we can’t do the same, all while proclaiming they aren’t for banning most guns, they just want common sense reform

New Zealand passes initial vote for new gun controls

New Zealand lawmakers on Tuesday voted overwhelmingly in favor of new gun restrictions during the first stage of a bill they hope to rush into law by the end of next week.

The bill would ban the types of weapons a gunman used to kill 50 people at two mosques last month.

The bill was backed by both liberals and conservatives, with only a single lawmaker from the 120 that sit in Parliament voting against it. The vote was the first of three that lawmakers must pass before the bill becomes law.

So, what exactly is this gun grabbing bill doing?

(NPR) In addition to banning most semi-automatic firearms, the bill also prohibits the sale, import, supply or possession of pump-action shotguns that can be used with detachable magazines or that hold more than five cartridges. It excludes pistols, as well as some guns — “small-calibre rimfire semi-automatic firearms and lesser-capacity shotguns” — often used by farmers and hunters. The measure also provides exemptions for groups such as “bona fide collectors of firearms” and pest controllers.

The bill provides amnesty covering the surrender of firearms, magazines and parts through Sept. 30. Ardern has said the government will create a buyback scheme to compensate owners of banned firearms, a program that could cost up to 200 million New Zealand dollars (about $137 million).

Have a shotgun that holds more than 5 shells? Banned. You’re now a criminal unless you turn it in. Have a rifle that shoots a caliber higher than a .22, which many, many hunters of bigger game have? Criminal unless you turn your legally purchased property in. Pistols may be excluded, but only if they hold 10 rounds or less. And, really, any gun owner knows that a handgun can do just as much damage in a crowded area as an “assault rifle.” Maybe more.

The bill is set to have its first reading on Tuesday and then head to the Finance and Expenditure Committee, New Zealand newspaper Stuff reports. A second tranche of gun control measures, including a weapons registry, is expected later this year.

The government can take anything if it knows where it is. I wonder how many women will now be dis-empowered now that they are disarmed?

Oh, and the graphic isn’t quite correct, since the non scary rifle would seem to be banned, too.

Read: New Zealand Passes First Reading On Gun Bans Bill »

Posted in Current Affairs | 63 Comments | Trackback URL

We’re Saved: Lunatics Strip Down In British Parliament For Climate Justice Or Something

By William Teach April 2, 2019 – 7:57 am

If you want to get noticed, this works. If you want to be taken seriously? Not so much

Semi-naked climate change protesters cause a stir in Brexit debate

A group of semi-naked climate change protesters created a stir in Britain’s parliament on Monday, pressing their bottoms against a glass panel overlooking the chamber where MPs struggled to concentrate on a Brexit debate.

As MPs started yet another day of lengthy debate on how or even whether the country should leave the European Union, 12 protesters stripped to their underpants to show slogans painted on their backs, including: “Climate justice now.”

Several MPs could not stop themselves from looking up towards the public gallery, some giggling as Labour MP Peter Kyle tried to defend his bid for force the government to stage a confirmatory vote on its Brexit deal by pointing out what he called the “naked truth”.

Some protestors appeared to have glued themselves to the glass, while at least two were dressed up as elephants.

On their bodies were written the words “Climate justice act now” and “eco collapse”.

Why can’t the ones who do this be attractive? Why do they always look like the don’t get exercise and only eat tofu? Why do they think this kind of childish stunt will help their position?

The group who did this, Extinction Rebellion, is just getting nuttier and nuttier.

Read: We’re Saved: Lunatics Strip Down In British Parliament For Climate Justice Or Something »

Posted in AGW Idiocy, Global Warming | 11 Comments | Trackback URL
Pirate's Cove