wnd--2020-12-10--Duchess of Cambridge Kate Middleton pays homage to Princess Diana during royal tour

The royal family is known for poise , tradition and subtlety .
Sometimes the subtlety is so subtle you would n't notice , but that 's what we have eagle-eyed fashion experts for .
William and Kate , the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge , visited Edinburgh , Scotland , recently as part of their tour to thank healthcare workers , and , of course , the duchess ' ensemble was quickly itemized and identified .
On Monday , Kate wore a blue Catherine Walker coat ( her husband appeared to be wearing a mask in the same shade ) @ @ @ @ @ @ @ print , and sapphire earrings , according to Insider .
But not just any sapphire earrings -- these ones have history .
TRENDING : Pence to decide race ?
Law profs say VP allowed to 'count ' electoral votes Experts believe that the stunning set is a redesign of a pair originally owned by Princess Diana herself , as part of The Saudi Sapphire Suite , according to Vanity Fair .
Princess Diana received the diamond and sapphire collection in 1981 as a wedding gift from the Saudi royal family .
The last @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in 1987 during a dinner at Hotel Hyatt in Melbourne , and they were inherited by her sons in 1997 .
The royal family has long favored the white and blue gemstone combination .
Sara Prentice , the creative director at crown jeweler Garrard in 2017 , told Vogue that a brooch designed by Prince Albert for Queen Victoria in 1840 was probably the inspiration behind Diana 's , and now Kate 's , sapphire engagement ring .
`` It was said to be a strong influence on Prince Charles when he came @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Lady Diana , '' Prentice explained .
`` He actually ended up setting a sapphire cluster ring for her , which was later given by Prince William to the Duchess of Cambridge on their engagement . ''
`` I would imagine growing up being surrounded by your mother and your grandmother [ with ] such beautiful , incredible jewelry ... it would stick with you . ''
And it continues to stick with the family , falling into Kate 's possession .
In 2010 , when Prince William proposed with his mother 's @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was also gifted to his bride-to-be .
Kate has worn the earrings since , though as stated by Vanity Fair , it seems as though she 's removed the top sapphire cluster and fashioned it into a necklace pendant instead , leaving her with a more modest pair of drop earrings .
According to Kate 's Closet , she was first seen wearing the earrings in 2011 before a royal tour of North America with Prince William .
She was seen wearing the earrings and a necklace with a sapphire pendant more recently @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with the President and First Lady of Ukraine .
Diana was also known to redesign jewelry from pieces she already had , so Kate is following in her footsteps in more ways than one .
These gems are a timeless gift that keeps on giving .
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal .

The royal family is known for poise, tradition and subtlety. Sometimes the subtlety is so subtle you wouldn't notice, but that's what we have eagle-eyed fashion experts for.
William and Kate, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, visited Edinburgh, Scotland, recently as part of their tour to thank healthcare workers, and, of course, the duchess' ensemble was quickly itemized and identified.
On Monday, Kate wore a blue Catherine Walker coat (her husband appeared to be wearing a mask in the same shade), a mask with a small floral print, and sapphire earrings, according to Insider.
But not just any sapphire earrings -- these ones have history.
TRENDING: Is this the 'Final Battle'?
Experts believe that the stunning set is a redesign of a pair originally owned by Princess Diana herself, as part of The Saudi Sapphire Suite, according to Vanity Fair.
Princess Diana received the diamond and sapphire collection in 1981 as a wedding gift from the Saudi royal family.
The last time they were seen on Diana was in 1987 during a dinner at Hotel Hyatt in Melbourne, and they were inherited by her sons in 1997.
The royal family has long favored the white and blue gemstone combination. Sara Prentice, the creative director at crown jeweler Garrard in 2017, told Vogue that a brooch designed by Prince Albert for Queen Victoria in 1840 was probably the inspiration behind Diana's, and now Kate's, sapphire engagement ring.
"It was said to be a strong influence on Prince Charles when he came to Garrard to purchase a ring for Lady Diana," Prentice explained. "He actually ended up setting a sapphire cluster ring for her, which was later given by Prince William to the Duchess of Cambridge on their engagement."
"I would imagine growing up being surrounded by your mother and your grandmother [with] such beautiful, incredible jewelry ... it would stick with you."
And it continues to stick with the family, falling into Kate's possession.
In 2010, when Prince William proposed with his mother's engagement ring, the Saudi Sapphire set was also gifted to his bride-to-be.
Kate has worn the earrings since, though as stated by Vanity Fair, it seems as though she's removed the top sapphire cluster and fashioned it into a necklace pendant instead, leaving her with a more modest pair of drop earrings.
According to Kate's Closet, she was first seen wearing the earrings in 2011 before a royal tour of North America with Prince William. She was seen wearing the earrings and a necklace with a sapphire pendant more recently, in October, during a meeting with the President and First Lady of Ukraine.
Diana was also known to redesign jewelry from pieces she already had, so Kate is following in her footsteps in more ways than one. These gems are a timeless gift that keeps on giving.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.


wnd--2020-12-10--The Steele dossier, the birth certificate and Joe Biden

In March 2019 , an attorney familiar to those who follow the `` birther '' movement softened the ground for Joe Biden 's candidacy with a lengthy salvo in The Atlantic .
Bob Bauer used the pretext of former Trump attorney Michael Cohen 's House committee testimony to launch his attack on the president .
`` Trump repeatedly hawked the lies that Obama was born in Kenya , '' wrote Bauer .
This was false .
Trump did question the mystery surrounding Obama 's origins , but despite their digging , the media could find no instance in which he @ @ @ @ @ @ @ No fewer than a dozen times in the course of this article did Bauer use the words `` race , '' `` racist , '' or `` racism '' to attack Trump .
The article was well timed .
A month later , Joe Biden would announce his candidacy for the presidency claiming that Trump 's racism motivated him to run .
Biden centered his charge on Trump 's reaction to a 2017 incident in Charlottesville , shamelessly misrepresenting Trump 's comments about the violent clash .
But the birther issue was never @ @ @ @ @ @ @ : Pence to decide race ?
Law profs say VP allowed to 'count ' electoral votes Trump `` has sought to fuel racism and tear our nation apart , '' Biden spokesman Andrew Bates said in August 2020 .
He referred to the `` grotesque , racist birther movement '' led by Trump that dated back to his questioning of Barack Obama 's birth certificate in spring 2011 .
In 2007 , the Clinton campaign understood that Obama 's dubious roots were a legitimate issue .
`` All of these articles about his @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Hawaii are geared towards showing his background is diverse , multicultural and putting that in a new light , '' Clinton strategist Mark Penn wrote in a March 2007 memo to Hillary .
`` It also exposes a very strong weakness for him – his roots to basic American values and culture are at best limited .
I can not imagine America electing a president during a time of war who is not at his center fundamentally American in his thinking and in his values . ''
Of course , the Hillary campaign @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 's lead , but Penn never suggested it should .
`` We are never going to say anything about his background , '' he added .
`` We have to show the value of ours when it comes to making decisions , understanding the needs of most Americans – the invisible Americans . ''
Attorney Philip Berg took his doubts about Obama a step further .
On Aug. 21 , 2008 , a week prior to the Democratic National Convention , Berg filed a federal suit in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania challenging @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
A former deputy attorney general for the state of Pennsylvania and a credible pro-choice gubernatorial candidate in a Democratic primary against sitting Gov .
Robert Casey , Berg expected to be taken seriously .
He was n't .
The media expressed zero interest in his suit .
Obama and the Democratic National Committee took a good deal of interest .
Defending Obama 's interest was none other than Bob Bauer , a top gun from the Deep State 's go-to law firm , Perkins Coie .
On Nov. 12 , 2009 , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 3rd Circuit , ruled that Berg lacked standing to bring the suit .
`` I was deprived of my due process rights to be heard , '' Berg would write .
`` Judge Surrick made some outlandish comments claiming Obama had been properly vetted , and that was completely untrue . ''
If Berg were a racist , his lifetime membership in the NAACP made for good cover , and he was not the only one to file suit asking to see Obama 's birth certificate and passport .
Obama 's lawyers fought @ @ @ @ @ @ @ day after Berg 's suit was dismissed , the New York Times reported that White House counsel Gregory Craig was stepping down from his job and that Bauer would be taking over .
In 2011 , when Trump started making noise about the birth certificate , Obama turned to the one man who knew his secrets .
`` Finally I decided I 'd had enough , '' Obama writes in his new memoir `` A Promised Land . ''
`` I called in White House counsel Bob Bauer and told him to go @ @ @ @ @ @ @ from its home in a bound volume , somewhere deep in the bowels of the Hawaii Vital Records office . ''
Bauer dispatched Obama 's personal attorney Judith Corley , also of Perkins Coie , to secure two copies of the long form birth certificate .
If it was all so easy , one has to wonder why Bauer did not get a copy when Berg first brought suit .
In 2016 Perkins Coie again showed its creativity when it retained Fusion GPS to create the infamous Steele dossier .
A cynic might @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Steele dossier would have no trouble dummying up a birth certificate .
`` We are in the battle for the soul of this nation , '' said Biden in April 2019 in announcing his presidential bid .
He warned that if President Trump were re-elected , `` He will forever and fundamentally alter the character of this nation , who we are , and I can not stand by and watch that happen . ''
Bauer could not stand by either .
He and his wife , Anita Dunn , played major @ @ @ @ @ @ @ fact , Dunn ran the whole show and is still running it , the Edgar Bergen to Biden 's Charlie McCarthy .
God help us all .
Jack Cashill 's new book , `` Unmasking Obama : The Fight to Tell the True Story of a Failed Presidency , '' is now widely available .
See www.cashill.com for more information .

In March 2019, an attorney familiar to those who follow the "birther" movement softened the ground for Joe Biden's candidacy with a lengthy salvo in The Atlantic.
Bob Bauer used the pretext of former Trump attorney Michael Cohen's House committee testimony to launch his attack on the president.
"Trump repeatedly hawked the lies that Obama was born in Kenya," wrote Bauer. This was false. Trump did question the mystery surrounding Obama's origins, but despite their digging, the media could find no instance in which he claimed Obama was born in Kenya.
No fewer than a dozen times in the course of this article did Bauer use the words "race," "racist," or "racism" to attack Trump. The article was well timed. A month later, Joe Biden would announce his candidacy for the presidency claiming that Trump's racism motivated him to run.
Biden centered his charge on Trump's reaction to a 2017 incident in Charlottesville, shamelessly misrepresenting Trump's comments about the violent clash. But the birther issue was never far from Biden's sights.
TRENDING: Is this the 'Final Battle'?
Trump "has sought to fuel racism and tear our nation apart," Biden spokesman Andrew Bates said in August 2020. He referred to the "grotesque, racist birther movement" led by Trump that dated back to his questioning of Barack Obama's birth certificate in spring 2011.
In 2007, the Clinton campaign understood that Obama's dubious roots were a legitimate issue. "All of these articles about his boyhood in Indonesia and his life in Hawaii are geared towards showing his background is diverse, multicultural and putting that in a new light," Clinton strategist Mark Penn wrote in a March 2007 memo to Hillary.
"It also exposes a very strong weakness for him – his roots to basic American values and culture are at best limited. I cannot imagine America electing a president during a time of war who is not at his center fundamentally American in his thinking and in his values."
Of course, the Hillary campaign insisted it never attempted to follow Penn's lead, but Penn never suggested it should. "We are never going to say anything about his background," he added. "We have to show the value of ours when it comes to making decisions, understanding the needs of most Americans – the invisible Americans."
Attorney Philip Berg took his doubts about Obama a step further. On Aug. 21, 2008, a week prior to the Democratic National Convention, Berg filed a federal suit in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania challenging Obama's constitutional eligibility to be president.
A former deputy attorney general for the state of Pennsylvania and a credible pro-choice gubernatorial candidate in a Democratic primary against sitting Gov. Robert Casey, Berg expected to be taken seriously. He wasn't. The media expressed zero interest in his suit.
Obama and the Democratic National Committee took a good deal of interest. Defending Obama's interest was none other than Bob Bauer, a top gun from the Deep State's go-to law firm, Perkins Coie.
On Nov. 12, 2009, the United States Court of Appeals, 3rd Circuit, ruled that Berg lacked standing to bring the suit. "I was deprived of my due process rights to be heard," Berg would write. "Judge Surrick made some outlandish comments claiming Obama had been properly vetted, and that was completely untrue."
If Berg were a racist, his lifetime membership in the NAACP made for good cover, and he was not the only one to file suit asking to see Obama's birth certificate and passport. Obama's lawyers fought the challengers at every turn.
The day after Berg's suit was dismissed, the New York Times reported that White House counsel Gregory Craig was stepping down from his job and that Bauer would be taking over.
In 2011, when Trump started making noise about the birth certificate, Obama turned to the one man who knew his secrets. "Finally I decided I'd had enough," Obama writes in his new memoir "A Promised Land."
"I called in White House counsel Bob Bauer and told him to go ahead and obtain the long-form birth certificate from its home in a bound volume, somewhere deep in the bowels of the Hawaii Vital Records office."
Bauer dispatched Obama's personal attorney Judith Corley, also of Perkins Coie, to secure two copies of the long form birth certificate. If it was all so easy, one has to wonder why Bauer did not get a copy when Berg first brought suit.
In 2016 Perkins Coie again showed its creativity when it retained Fusion GPS to create the infamous Steele dossier. A cynic might suggest that a firm capable of commissioning the Steele dossier would have no trouble dummying up a birth certificate.
"We are in the battle for the soul of this nation," said Biden in April 2019 in announcing his presidential bid. He warned that if President Trump were re-elected, "He will forever and fundamentally alter the character of this nation, who we are, and I cannot stand by and watch that happen."
Bauer could not stand by either. He and his wife, Anita Dunn, played major roles in Biden's campaign. In fact, Dunn ran the whole show and is still running it, the Edgar Bergen to Biden's Charlie McCarthy.
God help us all.
Jack Cashill's new book, "Unmasking Obama: The Fight to Tell the True Story of a Failed Presidency," is now widely available. See www.cashill.com for more information.
Content created by the WND News Center is available for re-publication without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact [email protected].


wnd--2020-12-10--'The big one' lands at the Supreme Court

Tomorrow the Supreme Court is expected to consider a mega-lawsuit written by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton , supported by President Donald Trump and a growing number of states including Arkansas , Missouri Louisiana and at least 14 others .
`` We will be INTERVENING in the Texas ( plus many other states ) case , '' said Trump is a Twitter post .
`` This is the big one .
Our Country needs a victory ! ''
He called it `` the case that everyone has been waiting for .
… It is very strong , ALL CRITERIA MET @ @ @ @ @ @ @ when a vast majority think the election was RIGGED ? ''
But will the Supreme Court be willing to hear the case challenging the Electoral College votes of Georgia , Michigan , Pennsylvania and Wisconsin ?
`` These elections in other states where state law was not followed … affects my voters because these are national elections , and so if there are fraudulent things or things that affect an election and state law is not followed as is required by the Constitution it affects our state , '' Paxton said on Wednesday @ @ @ @ @ @ @ '' `` We ca n't go back and fix it , but we can say , OK , let 's transfer this to the legislature … and let them to decide the outcome of the election .
That would be a valid constitutional situation , '' Paxton continued .
TRENDING : Pence to decide race ?
Law profs say VP allowed to 'count ' electoral votes The aim is to invalidate 62 Electoral College votes of four battleground states and have them awarded to Trump because of fraud .
`` Using the COVID-19 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in the defendant states of Georgia , Michigan and Wisconsin , and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania ( collectively , 'Defendant State ' ) , usurped their legislatures ' authority and unconstitutionally revised their state 's election statutes , '' Paxton 's complaint says .
`` They accomplished these statutory revisions through executive fiat or friendly lawsuits , thereby weakening ballot integrity . ''
Georgia is a defendant in the suit , but two candidates for the U.S. Senate seeking to give the Republicans a majority next month are supporting it .
`` We @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and Attorney General Paxton 's lawsuit , '' Sens .
David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler said in a joint statement on Tuesday .
`` The president has every right to use every legal recourse available to guarantee these simple principles : Every lawful vote cast should be counted , any illegal vote submitted can not be counted , and there must be full transparency and uniformity in the counting process .
This is n't hard and it is n't partisan .
It 's American .
No one should ever have to question the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ credibility of its outcomes . ''
In his brief , Paxton writes : `` Our Country stands at an important crossroads .
Either the Constitution matters and must be followed , even when some officials consider it inconvenient or out of date , or it is simply a piece of parchment on display at the National Archives .
We ask the Court to choose the former .
`` Lawful elections are at the heart of our constitutional democracy .
The public , and indeed the candidates themselves , have a compelling interest in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ – any President – is legitimate .
If that trust is lost , the American Experiment will founder .
A dark cloud hangs over the 2020 Presidential election . ''
This could well be our last chance to root out the obvious stench that has been left behind in the 2020 election .
I urge you to read the entire filing .
I pray that the Supreme Court does the right thing .
Do you appreciate WND 's unfiltered hard-hitting news and commentary ?
Read us AD-FREE by becoming a WND Insider !
@ @ @ @

Tomorrow the Supreme Court is expected to consider a mega-lawsuit written by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, supported by President Donald Trump and a growing number of states including Arkansas, Missouri Louisiana and at least 14 others.
"We will be INTERVENING in the Texas (plus many other states) case," said Trump is a Twitter post. "This is the big one. Our Country needs a victory!" He called it "the case that everyone has been waiting for. … It is very strong, ALL CRITERIA MET. How can you have a presidency when a vast majority think the election was RIGGED?"
But will the Supreme Court be willing to hear the case challenging the Electoral College votes of Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin?
"These elections in other states where state law was not followed … affects my voters because these are national elections, and so if there are fraudulent things or things that affect an election and state law is not followed as is required by the Constitution it affects our state," Paxton said on Wednesday. "It affects every state."
"We can't go back and fix it, but we can say, OK, let's transfer this to the legislature … and let them to decide the outcome of the election. That would be a valid constitutional situation," Paxton continued.
TRENDING: Is this the 'Final Battle'?
The aim is to invalidate 62 Electoral College votes of four battleground states and have them awarded to Trump because of fraud.
"Using the COVID-19 pandemic as a justification, government officials in the defendant states of Georgia, Michigan and Wisconsin, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania (collectively, 'Defendant State'), usurped their legislatures' authority and unconstitutionally revised their state's election statutes," Paxton's complaint says. "They accomplished these statutory revisions through executive fiat or friendly lawsuits, thereby weakening ballot integrity."
Georgia is a defendant in the suit, but two candidates for the U.S. Senate seeking to give the Republicans a majority next month are supporting it.
"We fully support President Trump's legal recourses and Attorney General Paxton's lawsuit," Sens. David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler said in a joint statement on Tuesday. "The president has every right to use every legal recourse available to guarantee these simple principles: Every lawful vote cast should be counted, any illegal vote submitted cannot be counted, and there must be full transparency and uniformity in the counting process. This isn't hard and it isn't partisan. It's American. No one should ever have to question the integrity of our elections system and the credibility of its outcomes."
In his brief, Paxton writes: "Our Country stands at an important crossroads. Either the Constitution matters and must be followed, even when some officials consider it inconvenient or out of date, or it is simply a piece of parchment on display at the National Archives. We ask the Court to choose the former.
"Lawful elections are at the heart of our constitutional democracy. The public, and indeed the candidates themselves, have a compelling interest in ensuring that the selection of a President – any President – is legitimate. If that trust is lost, the American Experiment will founder. A dark cloud hangs over the 2020 Presidential election."
This could well be our last chance to root out the obvious stench that has been left behind in the 2020 election.
I urge you to read the entire filing.
I pray that the Supreme Court does the right thing.
Do you appreciate WND's unfiltered hard-hitting news and commentary? Read us AD-FREE by becoming a WND Insider! Find out more.
Content created by the WND News Center is available for re-publication without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact [email protected].


wnd--2020-12-10--There's more than 1 way to 'skin a Kraken'

To tease the public about the mountain of evidence she had accumulated on voting fraud occurring in the 2020 presidential election , attorney Sydney Powell said she would `` release the Kraken . ''
The reference was to a 2006 sci-fi movie about a giant squid .
Just like the movie 's monster , Powell 's Kraken had many tentacles leading to numerous claims of fraud .
As she and others seek court access to slay the beast , two points of interest arise .
First , do the evidentiary tentacles of voting fraud lead back to a central source @ @ @ @ @ @ @ best chance to slay the Kraken lie , not in attacking it directly , but employing an indirect attack that avoids the voter fraud issue ?
Before unleashing the Kraken upon the 2020 presidential election , Democrats had been feeding it in the aftermath of Donald Trump 's 2016 election win .
It was nourished on a diet of lies and half-truths aimed at undermining the legitimacy of his presidency .
Those feeding it were unhinged liberal Democrats , aided by a fake news media , with both groups acting irresponsibly and with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the monster grew – its initial food source the Trump/Russia collusion hoax but , as that failed , feeding on other false claims .
As a second Trump term in office was unacceptable to Democrats , steps were taken both before the election as well as the day of the election to pave the way for a Joe Biden win .
As Powell fights her battle to slay the Kraken , other attorneys – such as Rudy Giuliani – who have collected arsenals of evidence are fighting their own battles to overturn the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ most part , their lawsuits , filed in both state and federal courts , have been dismissed , not so much on an evidentiary basis as on a procedural or timing basis .
TRENDING : Pence to decide race ?
Law profs say VP allowed to 'count ' electoral votes As to the first point of interest above – whether a centralized `` Doctor Frankenstein '' masterminded control of his monster – there is little supportive evidence linking back to a single actor .
While there may well have been some regional collaboration @ @ @ @ @ @ @ single puppeteer .
This , then , raises the question , what would have triggered so many independent players to criminally act to steal the election ?
There are several answers to this question , but money was a key factor in keeping the Kraken alive and well .
Big money paid for 5 million counterfeit absentee ballots to be printed in China .
Much less money was involved in buying and harvesting ballots .
Clearly , however , the biggest factor that effectively worked to steal the election – if proven – @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the voting machines .
It has been alleged that a post-election forensic examination of one of those machines in Ware County , Georgia , had intriguing results .
When an equal number of Trump votes and Biden votes were inserted into it , the machine 's tabulator converted 26 % of the former to the latter .
This raises concerns on a national level as the voting machines served 40 % of voters in 28 states .
But , regardless of the players involved in the fraud , what undoubtedly motivated their actions @ @ @ @ @ @ @ – hook , line and sinker – cast by an irresponsible liberal element that Trump was the Devil incarnate .
As to the second point of interest , whether an indirect attack plan to slay the Kraken exists , such an avenue is being pursued by a very creative attorney general in Texas – Ken Paxton – enabling him to take his case directly to the U.S. Supreme Court ( SCOTUS ) .
Texas appears to be one state that avoided voting fraud .
In fact , state officials have offered a $ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it occurred .
Texas also complied with its own state voting laws passed by its legislature .
However , there are at least four battleground states that implemented absentee voting law changes via a process failing to comply with their own state election laws and , thus , were non-compliant with the U.S. Constitution .
In a nutshell , what Paxton is claiming is because these states implemented changes through the courts or executive action and not through the state legislatures , they have violated the Electors Clause of the U.S. Constitution mandating @ @ @ @ @ @ @ presented with a specific question of law , rather than one of evidence – whether non-legislatively mandated changes governing the appointment of electors violates the Constitution .
If so , the lawsuit demands the electoral votes of the non-conforming states be voided , resulting in no clear winner of the presidential sweepstakes due to insufficient electoral votes .
This would leave the decision up to the four state legislatures .
The brilliance of this lawsuit is that it does not burden the SCOTUS with determining if massive voter fraud occurred , immensely reducing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ attack to slay the Kraken .
In filing the lawsuit , Paxton said , `` Trust in the integrity of our election processes is sacrosanct and binds our citizenry and the States in this Union together .
Georgia , Michigan , Pennsylvania and Wisconsin destroyed that trust and compromised the security and integrity of the 2020 election .
… '' One may query what right Texas has to raise such a claim against other states .
Its argument is that all states have a duty to comply with the U.S. Constitution , which @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Union .
Where states fail to do so , especially in a presidential election , non-complying states detrimentally impact on complying states .
Since Texas was a win for Trump and the four non-complying states were Biden wins , Texas has been detrimentally impacted by their actions .
The bottom-line question is if a state fails to comply with its own election laws and thus with the Constitution , does it then lose the right for its electoral votes to be cast in accordance with its popular vote ?
In 1836 , vastly @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Alamo in what is now San Antonio , Texas , courageously fought against Mexican forces for almost two weeks before being overrun and slaughtered .
It was a pivotal event in the Texas Revolution .
Texas again finds itself playing a pivotal role in history .
Hopefully , its success before the SCOTUS will prove there is more than one way to skin a Kraken .

To tease the public about the mountain of evidence she had accumulated on voting fraud occurring in the 2020 presidential election, attorney Sydney Powell said she would "release the Kraken." The reference was to a 2006 sci-fi movie about a giant squid. Just like the movie's monster, Powell's Kraken had many tentacles leading to numerous claims of fraud.
As she and others seek court access to slay the beast, two points of interest arise. First, do the evidentiary tentacles of voting fraud lead back to a central source? And, second, does the best chance to slay the Kraken lie, not in attacking it directly, but employing an indirect attack that avoids the voter fraud issue?
Before unleashing the Kraken upon the 2020 presidential election, Democrats had been feeding it in the aftermath of Donald Trump's 2016 election win. It was nourished on a diet of lies and half-truths aimed at undermining the legitimacy of his presidency. Those feeding it were unhinged liberal Democrats, aided by a fake news media, with both groups acting irresponsibly and with zero accountability. For four years, the monster grew – its initial food source the Trump/Russia collusion hoax but, as that failed, feeding on other false claims.
As a second Trump term in office was unacceptable to Democrats, steps were taken both before the election as well as the day of the election to pave the way for a Joe Biden win.
As Powell fights her battle to slay the Kraken, other attorneys – such as Rudy Giuliani – who have collected arsenals of evidence are fighting their own battles to overturn the election results as well. For the most part, their lawsuits, filed in both state and federal courts, have been dismissed, not so much on an evidentiary basis as on a procedural or timing basis.
TRENDING: Is this the 'Final Battle'?
As to the first point of interest above – whether a centralized "Doctor Frankenstein" masterminded control of his monster – there is little supportive evidence linking back to a single actor. While there may well have been some regional collaboration, no concrete evidence points to a single puppeteer. This, then, raises the question, what would have triggered so many independent players to criminally act to steal the election?
There are several answers to this question, but money was a key factor in keeping the Kraken alive and well. Big money paid for 5 million counterfeit absentee ballots to be printed in China. Much less money was involved in buying and harvesting ballots.
Clearly, however, the biggest factor that effectively worked to steal the election – if proven – can be linked to the company providing the voting machines. It has been alleged that a post-election forensic examination of one of those machines in Ware County, Georgia, had intriguing results. When an equal number of Trump votes and Biden votes were inserted into it, the machine's tabulator converted 26% of the former to the latter. This raises concerns on a national level as the voting machines served 40% of voters in 28 states.
But, regardless of the players involved in the fraud, what undoubtedly motivated their actions was that they all took the bait – hook, line and sinker – cast by an irresponsible liberal element that Trump was the Devil incarnate.
As to the second point of interest,whether an indirect attack plan to slay the Kraken exists, such an avenue is being pursued by a very creative attorney general in Texas – Ken Paxton – enabling him to take his case directly to the U.S. Supreme Court (SCOTUS).
Texas appears to be one state that avoided voting fraud. In fact, state officials have offered a $1 million reward to anyone with evidence it occurred. Texas also complied with its own state voting laws passed by its legislature. However, there are at least four battleground states that implemented absentee voting law changes via a process failing to comply with their own state election laws and, thus, were non-compliant with the U.S. Constitution.
In a nutshell, what Paxton is claiming is because these states implemented changes through the courts or executive action and not through the state legislatures, they have violated the Electors Clause of the U.S. Constitution mandating it. Thus, the SCOTUS is presented with a specific question of law, rather than one of evidence – whether non-legislatively mandated changes governing the appointment of electors violates the Constitution. If so, the lawsuit demands the electoral votes of the non-conforming states be voided, resulting in no clear winner of the presidential sweepstakes due to insufficient electoral votes. This would leave the decision up to the four state legislatures. The brilliance of this lawsuit is that it does not burden the SCOTUS with determining if massive voter fraud occurred, immensely reducing issue complexity. Paxton conducts an indirect attack to slay the Kraken.
In filing the lawsuit, Paxton said, "Trust in the integrity of our election processes is sacrosanct and binds our citizenry and the States in this Union together. Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin destroyed that trust and compromised the security and integrity of the 2020 election. …"
One may query what right Texas has to raise such a claim against other states. Its argument is that all states have a duty to comply with the U.S. Constitution, which inures to the benefit of the entire Union. Where states fail to do so, especially in a presidential election, non-complying states detrimentally impact on complying states. Since Texas was a win for Trump and the four non-complying states were Biden wins, Texas has been detrimentally impacted by their actions. The bottom-line question is if a state fails to comply with its own election laws and thus with the Constitution, does it then lose the right for its electoral votes to be cast in accordance with its popular vote?
In 1836, vastly outnumbered defenders in the Battle of the Alamo in what is now San Antonio, Texas, courageously fought against Mexican forces for almost two weeks before being overrun and slaughtered. It was a pivotal event in the Texas Revolution. Texas again finds itself playing a pivotal role in history. Hopefully, its success before the SCOTUS will prove there is more than one way to skin a Kraken.
Content created by the WND News Center is available for re-publication without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact [email protected].


wnd--2020-12-10--Senate report warns of Biden family's China deals

In a report released Tuesday night , two Republican-led Senate committees concluded that members of Joe Biden 's family engaged in deals with Chinese nationals who had `` deep connections '' to the Communist Party .
The Senate Finance and Homeland Security Committees named Joe Biden 's son Hunter Biden and the former vice president 's brother James and James ' wife Sara .
`` Hunter Biden has extensive connections to Chinese businesses and Chinese foreign nationals that are linked to the Communist government .
Those contacts bore financial fruit when his father was vice president and after he left @ @ @ @ @ @ @ which was part of an investigation that produced two previous reports .
The new report warns that the `` connections and the vast amount of money transferred among and between them do n't just raise conflicts of interest concerns , they raise criminal financial , counterintelligence and extortion concerns . ''
TRENDING : Pence to decide race ?
Law profs say VP allowed to 'count ' electoral votes '' The Committees will continue to evaluate the evidence in their possession . ''
Meanwhile , on Wednesday , in a statement issued by the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the U.S. Attorney 's office in Delaware told his lawyers his `` tax affairs '' were under investigation .
`` I take this matter very seriously , '' he said in the statement .
`` I am also confident that a professional and objective review of these matters will demonstrate that I handled my affairs legally and appropriately , including with the benefit of professional tax advisors . ''
The Biden-Harris transition team said , `` President-elect Biden is deeply proud of his son , who has fought through difficult challenges , including @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , only to emerge stronger . ''
Joe Biden has insisted he had no knowledge of his son 's business deals and there have been no credible accusations of any wrongdoing .
When the New York Post reported in October evidence from a laptop abandoned by Hunter Biden that Joe Biden not only was aware of the deals but also profited from them , the story was censored by social media and virtually ignore by establishment news outlets .
A post-election survey found more than one-third of voters who chose Joe Biden were @ @ @ @ @ @ @ former vice president to corrupt financial dealings with China through his son Hunter .
Had they known , according to the survey commissioned by the Media Research Center , President Trump would have won at least 289 Electoral College votes .
The new Senate report says that among the Communist Party-tied nationals with whom Hunter Biden did business was Ye Jianming , founder of CEFC China Energy .
Ye was affiliated with the People 's Liberation Army , the report said .
The Times reported in 2018 that Ye wanted `` access to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and he soon `` was meeting with the family of Joseph R. Biden Jr. '' Ye has been a fugitive since being taken into custody by Chinese authorities in 2018 on suspicision of economic crimes .
In an audio file from the laptop , Hunter Biden is heard dicussing his business partnership with Patrick Ho , calling the former secretary for home affairs in Hong Kong a `` spy chief of China . ''
WND reported Monday a Beijing university professor cited the Biden family 's Chinese business deals as he explained in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ administration will restore the communist regime 's influence on its `` old friends '' on Wall Street and inside the Beltway after it was throttled by President Trump .
The professor , Di Dongsheng of Renmin University , referenced Hunter Biden 's many foreign business deals , including in China , where his vice president father directed U.S. policy .
And he indicated they are of value in Beijing 's relationship with Biden .
`` You all heard that Trump said Biden 's son has securities companies all over the world .
But @ @ @ @ @ @ @ global companies ? ''
Di asked .
`` There are indeed buy-and-sell transactions involved in here , so I think at this particular time , [ with Biden winning the election ] , it is of strategic and tactical value for us to show goodwill to him . ''
On Monday , meanwhile , the Chinese state organ Global Times published an op-ed said it expects a Biden administration to cooperate in silencing critism of the communist regime by American allies such as Australia .
On `` Tucker Carlson Tonight '' Monday , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Tony Bobulinski , who helped craft the deal with CEFC China Energy .
Bobulinski claimed he met Joe Biden twice in person `` to discuss what I was doing with his family 's name and the Chinese CEFC . ''
Carlson asked Bobulinski how the deal might `` constrain '' Joe Biden 's ability to deal with China if he were elected .
`` So I think Joe Biden and the Biden family are compromised , '' the businessman replied .
The Senate committees ' initial September report found Hunter Biden opened a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a $ 100,000 global spending spree '' with James and Sara Biden .
The new report identifies Gongwen , who reportedly executed transactions for Ye 's companies , as another Chinese national with close ties to the Communist Party .
The new Senate report focused on Hunter Biden 's lucrative position on the board of the corrupt natural gas firm Burisma while his father was overseeing Ukraine policy and the U.S. State Department 's anti-corruption agenda .
Joe Biden boasted during a panel at a Council on Foreign Relations meeting that he threatened @ @ @ @ @ @ @ president did n't fire the country 's top prosecutor , who was investigating Burisma at the time .
Republican Rep. Ken Buck of Colorado is urging Attorney General Bill Barr Monday to appoint a special counsel to investigate Hunter Biden 's business deals , claiming the laptop contains evidence of `` impeachable conduct '' by Joe Biden .
However , Sen. Johnson has pushed back , telling Fox News on Wednesday he opposes the appointment of a special counsel while vowing to continue looking into the matter .
• Vice President Joe Biden @ @ @ @ @ @ @ aware of but ignored concerns relating to Hunter Biden 's role on Burisma 's board .
• Secretary of State John Kerry falsely claimed he had no knowledge of Hunter Biden 's role on Burisma 's board .
• State Department officials viewed Burisma owner Mykola Zlochevsky as a corrupt `` odious oligarch , '' but Vice President Biden was advised not to accuse Zlochevsky of corruption .
• While Hunter Biden served on Burisma 's board , Zlochevsky allegedly paid a $ 7 million bribed to Ukraine 's prosecutor general office to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was a Secret Service protectee while on Burisma 's board .
• Obama administration officials and a Democratic lobbying firm had consistent and significant contact with former Ukrainian official Adrii Telizhenko • Democrats falsely accused the Republican committee chairmen , Sens .
Ron Johnson and Charles Grassley , of engaging in a Russian disinformation campaign and used other tactics to interfere in the investigation .
The Biden family influence-peddling was reported by Peter Schweizer in his 2018 book `` Secret Empires : How the American Political Class Hides Corruption and Enriches Family and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Profiles in Corruption : Abuse of Power by America ’ s Progressive Elite , '' which presents evidence that five members of the Biden family `` cashed in '' while Joe Biden was vice president .
Schweizer has noted the 2013 trip to Bejing on Air Force Two in which Hunter Biden accompanied his father and struck a $ 1.5 billion deal with private equity firm secured from the state-owned Bank of China .
The New Yorker has reported Joe Biden met with a Chinese business executive involved in that deal on the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 2018 about his book `` Secret Empires , '' which shows how lawmakers , on a massive scale , are avoiding scrutiny through `` corruption by proxy , '' using family and friends as `` middlemen . ''
Bobulinski claims that tactic – of providing distance between the politician and the family 's deals – was at work in the Biden family 's business , claming Joe Biden clearly was in charge .
Bobulinski told Fox News ' `` Tucker Carlson Tonight '' in late October he raised concerns in 2017 to the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , about Joe Biden 's ties to the joint venture with CEFC China Energy .
Bobulinski , a retired lieutenant in the U.S. Navy , said he remembered asking , `` How are you guys getting away with this ?
'Are n't you concerned ? '
'' WND reported Oct. 16 that Schweizer also obtained emails separate from the cache reported by the New York Post , from former Hunter Biden business associate Bevan Cooney .
Among them were emails showing Chinese investors and Communist Party officials used Hunter Biden to secure a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Joe Biden .
In September 2019 , Schweizer released documents to counter ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos ' claim that allegations of impropriety in the $ 1.5 billion investment deal had been debunked .
Schweizer noted at the time that the Biden campaign , among others , had tried to create the impression that Hunter Biden was only `` passively involved '' in the 2013 venture .
But Schweizer posted online a copy of a document showing Hunter Biden was on the the `` management team '' of the fund , BHR Partners @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , Hunter Biden 's business partner Devon Archer was vice chairman of the board and sat on the company 's investment committee .
Significantly , the $ 1.5 billion deal with BHR Partners was struck 12 days after Hunter Biden traveled with his father on Air Force Two to Beijing .
`` People have a right to know how precisely the Biden family was enriched , and what did Hunter Biden give them in return , '' Schweizer said in an interview in September 2019 with `` Fox & Friends . ''
`` @ @ @ @ @ @ @ expertise .
He was being paid for something , '' he continued .
`` And I think we have a right to know what that something is . ''

In a report released Tuesday night, two Republican-led Senate committees concluded that members of Joe Biden's family engaged in deals with Chinese nationals who had "deep connections" to the Communist Party.
The Senate Finance and Homeland Security Committees named Joe Biden's son Hunter Biden and the former vice president's brother James and James' wife Sara.
"Hunter Biden has extensive connections to Chinese businesses and Chinese foreign nationals that are linked to the Communist government. Those contacts bore financial fruit when his father was vice president and after he left office," says the report, which was part of an investigation that produced two previous reports.
The new report warns that the "connections and the vast amount of money transferred among and between them don't just raise conflicts of interest concerns, they raise criminal financial, counterintelligence and extortion concerns."
TRENDING: Is this the 'Final Battle'?
"The Committees will continue to evaluate the evidence in their possession."
Meanwhile, on Wednesday, in a statement issued by the Biden-Harris transition team, Hunter Biden acknowledged the U.S. Attorney's office in Delaware told his lawyers his "tax affairs" were under investigation.
"I take this matter very seriously," he said in the statement. "I am also confident that a professional and objective review of these matters will demonstrate that I handled my affairs legally and appropriately, including with the benefit of professional tax advisors."
The Biden-Harris transition team said, "President-elect Biden is deeply proud of his son, who has fought through difficult challenges, including the vicious personal attacks of recent months, only to emerge stronger."
Would China prefer Joe Biden as U.S. president over Donald Trump? Yes No Completing this poll entitles you to WND news updates free of charge. You may opt out at anytime. You also agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use You're logged in to Facebook. Click here to log out. 99% (85 Votes) 1% (1 Votes)
Joe Biden has insisted he had no knowledge of his son's business deals and there have been no credible accusations of any wrongdoing.
When the New York Post reported in October evidence from a laptop abandoned by Hunter Biden that Joe Biden not only was aware of the deals but also profited from them, the story was censored by social media and virtually ignored by establishment news outlets.
A post-election survey found more than one-third of voters who chose Joe Biden were not aware of the evidence linking the former vice president to corrupt financial dealings with China through his son Hunter. Had they known, according to the survey commissioned by the Media Research Center, President Trump would have won at least 289 Electoral College votes.
China's 'old friends'
The new Senate report says that among the Communist Party-tied nationals with whom Hunter Biden did business was Ye Jianming, founder of CEFC China Energy. Ye was affiliated with the People's Liberation Army, the report said.
The Times reported in 2018 that Ye wanted "access to the corridors of power in Washington" and he soon "was meeting with the family of Joseph R. Biden Jr."
Ye has been a fugitive since being taken into custody by Chinese authorities in 2018 on suspicision of economic crimes.
In an audio file from the laptop, Hunter Biden is heard dicussing his business partnership with Patrick Ho, calling the former secretary for home affairs in Hong Kong a "spy chief of China."
He's also heard lamenting Ye had disappeared.
WND reported Monday a Beijing university professor cited the Biden family's Chinese business deals as he explained in a Nov. 28 lecture why a Biden administration will restore the communist regime's influence on its "old friends" on Wall Street and inside the Beltway after it was throttled by President Trump.
The professor, Di Dongsheng of Renmin University, referenced Hunter Biden's many foreign business deals, including in China, where his vice president father directed U.S. policy. And he indicated they are of value in Beijing's relationship with Biden.
"You all heard that Trump said Biden's son has securities companies all over the world. But who helped Biden's son build his global companies?" Di asked.
"There are indeed buy-and-sell transactions involved in here, so I think at this particular time, [with Biden winning the election], it is of strategic and tactical value for us to show goodwill to him."
On Monday, meanwhile, the Chinese state organ Global Times published an op-ed said it expects a Biden administration to cooperate in silencing critism of the communist regime by American allies such as Australia.
On "Tucker Carlson Tonight" Monday, Carlson recalled his interview in October with Tony Bobulinski, who helped craft the deal with CEFC China Energy. Bobulinski claimed he met Joe Biden twice in person "to discuss what I was doing with his family's name and the Chinese CEFC."
Carlson asked Bobulinski how the deal might "constrain" Joe Biden's ability to deal with China if he were elected.
"So I think Joe Biden and the Biden family are compromised," the businessman replied.
Special counsel?
The Senate committees' initial September report found Hunter Biden opened a bank account with Gongwen Dong to fund a $100,000 global spending spree" with James and Sara Biden. The new report identifies Gongwen, who reportedly executed transactions for Ye's companies, as another Chinese national with close ties to the Communist Party.
The new Senate report focused on Hunter Biden's lucrative position on the board of the corrupt natural gas firm Burisma while his father was overseeing Ukraine policy and the U.S. State Department's anti-corruption agenda.
Joe Biden boasted during a panel at a Council on Foreign Relations meeting that he threatened to withhold U.S. aide if Ukraine's president didn't fire the country's top prosecutor, who was investigating Burisma at the time.
Republican Rep. Ken Buck of Colorado is urging Attorney General Bill Barr Monday to appoint a special counsel to investigate Hunter Biden's business deals, claiming the laptop contains evidence of "impeachable conduct" by Joe Biden. However, Sen. Johnson has pushed back, telling Fox News on Wednesday he opposes the appointment of a special counsel while vowing to continue looking into the matter.
The new report found:
Vice President Joe Biden's office and the State Department were aware of but ignored concerns relating to Hunter Biden's role on Burisma's board.
Secretary of State John Kerry falsely claimed he had no knowledge of Hunter Biden's role on Burisma's board.
State Department officials viewed Burisma owner Mykola Zlochevsky as a corrupt "odious oligarch," but Vice President Biden was advised not to accuse Zlochevsky of corruption.
While Hunter Biden served on Burisma's board, Zlochevsky allegedly paid a $7 million bribed to Ukraine's prosecutor general office to close the case.
Hunter Biden was a Secret Service protectee while on Burisma's board.
Obama administration officials and a Democratic lobbying firm had consistent and significant contact with former Ukrainian official Adrii Telizhenko
Democrats falsely accused the Republican committee chairmen, Sens. Ron Johnson and Charles Grassley, of engaging in a Russian disinformation campaign and used other tactics to interfere in the investigation.
'Corruption by proxy'
The Biden family influence-peddling was reported by Peter Schweizer in his 2018 book "Secret Empires: How the American Political Class Hides Corruption and Enriches Family and Friends" and a follow-up, "Profiles in Corruption: Abuse of Power by America’s Progressive Elite," which presents evidence that five members of the Biden family "cashed in" while Joe Biden was vice president.
Schweizer has noted the 2013 trip to Bejing on Air Force Two in which Hunter Biden accompanied his father and struck a $1.5 billion deal with private equity firm secured from the state-owned Bank of China. The New Yorker has reported Joe Biden met with a Chinese business executive involved in that deal on the trip.
WND interviewed Schweizer in April 2018 about his book "Secret Empires," which shows how lawmakers, on a massive scale, are avoiding scrutiny through "corruption by proxy," using family and friends as "middlemen."
Bobulinski says that tactic – of providing distance between the politician and the family's deals – was at work in the Biden family's business, claiming Joe Biden clearly was in charge.
Bobulinski told Fox News' "Tucker Carlson Tonight" in late October he raised concerns in 2017 to the former vice president's brother Jim Biden, about Joe Biden's ties to the joint venture with CEFC China Energy.
Bobulinski, a retired lieutenant in the U.S. Navy, said he remembered asking, "How are you guys getting away with this? 'Aren't you concerned?'"
He claims Jim Biden chuckled and replied, "Plausible deniability."
There's more
WND reported Oct. 16 that Schweizer also obtained emails separate from the cache reported by the New York Post, from former Hunter Biden business associate Bevan Cooney.
Among them were emails showing Chinese investors and Communist Party officials used Hunter Biden to secure a private, off-the-books meeting with then-Vice President Joe Biden.
In September 2019, Schweizer released documents to counter ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos' claim that allegations of impropriety in the $1.5 billion investment deal had been debunked.
Schweizer noted at the time that the Biden campaign, among others, had tried to create the impression that Hunter Biden was only "passively involved" in the 2013 venture. But Schweizer posted online a copy of a document showing Hunter Biden was on the the "management team" of the fund, BHR Partners, as a board member. Further, Hunter Biden's business partner Devon Archer was vice chairman of the board and sat on the company's investment committee.
Significantly, the $1.5 billion deal with BHR Partners was struck 12 days after Hunter Biden traveled with his father on Air Force Two to Beijing.
"People have a right to know how precisely the Biden family was enriched, and what did Hunter Biden give them in return," Schweizer said in an interview in September 2019 with "Fox & Friends."
"He wasn't being paid for his expertise. He was being paid for something," he continued. "And I think we have a right to know what that something is."
Content created by the WND News Center is available for re-publication without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact [email protected].


wnd--2020-12-10--Jobless claims up as coronavirus rebounds

( WASHINGTON EXAMINER ) -- The number of new applications for unemployment benefits last week soared by 130,000 to 853,000 @ @ @ @ @ on Thursday , as COVID-19 continues to wreak havoc on the job market .
Altogether @ @ @ @ @ filed for benefits last week , when including claims for the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program @ @ @ @ @ category of eligibility for relief created for workers sidelined by the pandemic , such as @ @ @ @ @ up .

(WASHINGTON EXAMINER) -- The number of new applications for unemployment benefits last week soared by 130,000 to 853,000, the Labor Department reported on Thursday, as COVID-19 continues to wreak havoc on the job market.
Economists had projected 725,000 new claims.
Altogether, over 1.2 million workers filed for benefits last week, when including claims for the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program, which is a new category of eligibility for relief created for workers sidelined by the pandemic, such as gig workers whose work dried up.
Read the full story ›


wnd--2020-12-10--Rocket prototype explodes during landing attempt

( WASHINGTON EXAMINER ) -- SpaceX 's high-altitude Starship rocket prototype exploded during its attempted landing , but founder Elon @ @ @ @ @ mind .
SpaceX launched the Serial Number 8 rocket on Wednesday with a goal of @ @ @ @ @ far higher than the previous 500-foot tests conducted earlier in 2020 with SN5 and SN6 @ @ @ @ @ .
While the rocket successfully launched , reached its intended altitude , and reoriented itself @ @ @ @ @ to the vertical landing position , the rocket 's descent was not slowed enough by @ @ @ @ @ the rocket combusted on impact .

(WASHINGTON EXAMINER) -- SpaceX's high-altitude Starship rocket prototype exploded during its attempted landing, but founder Elon Musk didn't seem to mind.
SpaceX launched the Serial Number 8 rocket on Wednesday with a goal of flying roughly 41,000 feet, far higher than the previous 500-foot tests conducted earlier in 2020 with SN5 and SN6 prototypes, according to CNBC.
While the rocket successfully launched, reached its intended altitude, and reoriented itself from a horizontal flight position to the vertical landing position, the rocket's descent was not slowed enough by the propulsion system, and the rocket combusted on impact.
Read the full story ›


wnd--2020-12-11--Half of small-business owners fear they won't survive

Nearly half of small-business owners across the nation are at risk of closing by year 's end due to the lockdowns implemented in response to the coronavirus pandemic , according to a survey .
About 48 % of the owners say they are generating revenues below what they need to stay in business , according to Alignable 's Small Business Funding Needs report , Fox Business reported .
The report surveyed 6,300 U.S. business owners during the first week of December .
`` It 's been nine long , frustrating months for small business owners as they ’ ve worked @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , and the jobs of everyone they employ , '' said Alignable CEO Eric Groves in the report .
TRENDING : 'The big one ' : Trump intervenes in Texas case at Supreme Court Groves said the Paycheck Protection Program passed by Congress was only a short-term fix .
His organization reported 87 % of small-business owners say they need additional funds to survive .
Fully 60 % said the need is `` critical . ''
About 82 % of the business owners surveyed sought loans of up to $ 100,000 .
Many @ @ @ @ @ @ @ upon which politicians say they rely .
A reporter for the Los Angeles Fox TV affiliate who asked L.A. County Supervisor Sheila Kuehl to provide the evidence behind shutting down outdoor dining in Los Angeles was met with sarcasm .
Kuehl 's office said it was `` so glad FOX 11 is interested in science , '' according to Bill Melugin .
The reporter received 12 studies but none had anything to do with outdoor dining .
Melugin said he followed up and asked which studies Kuehl used in her decisionmaking .
`` @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , '' he said .
And business owners ca n't be faulted for suspecting the politicians who have closed their businesses do n't believe what they say .
The Fox affiliate discovered Kuehl was found dining at a Santa Monica Italian restaurant hours after she voted to move ahead with the ban on outdoor restaurant dining .
But she 's one of many across the nation who have been credibly accused of hypocrisy .
Among them are Kuehl 's governor , Gavin Newsom , who famously was spotted dining indoors with a large @ @ @ @ @ @ @ most expensive restaurants .
The toll on business owners was expressed in an emotional video posted on social media by the owner of an L.A. eatery , Angela Marsden .
She was overcome by tears as she showed a catering company just 90 feet from her outdoor dining area that was set up one day after L.A. forced her to close her business .
Even Joe Biden 's coronavirus adviser was once against lockdowns , warning in a March 21 op-ed for the Washington Post of the high economic and social costs of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ at the time in China and Italy , which ultimately do n't reduce the number of cases , only stretching them out over time .
Michael T. Osterholm , a professor and director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota , advocated the strategy now promoted by epidemiologists at Stanford and Oxford advising Florida Gov .
Ron DeSantis : With a 99 % survival rate for most , according to the Centers for Disease Control , let the healthy go about their business while protecting the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ multiple life-threatening diseases .
Osterholm wrote in his Washington Post piece that `` the best alternative will probably entail letting those at low risk for serious disease continue to work , keep business and manufacturing operating , and 'run ' society , while at the same time advising higher-risk individuals to protect themselves through physical distancing and ramping up our health-care capacity as aggressively as possible . ''
`` With this battle plan , we could gradually build up immunity without destroying the financial structure on which our lives are based , '' @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , Osterholm advocating a national lockdown of four to six weeks .
The CDC estimates a 99.997 % survival rate for those from birth to age 19 who contract COVID-19 .
It 's 99.98 % for ages 20-49 , 99.5 % for 50-69 and 94.6 % for those over 70 .
Those who died of coronavirus , according to the CDC , had an average of 2.6 comorbidities , meaning more than two chronic diseases along with COVID-19 .
Overall , the CDC says , just 6 % of the people counted as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ In a July podcast that resurfaced this week , White House coronavirus adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci admitted the widely used PCR tests pick up harmless fragments of the coronarvirus , resulting in many false-positive cases that result in overstating the threat .
In August , the New York Times examined PCR testing data in three states and found `` up to 90 percent of people testing positive carried barely any virus . ''
WND reported earlier this month an external peer review concluded a major paper supporting the PCR test for COVID-19 has @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in many false positive cases .
A briefing published by four British scientists concluded PCR testing is `` distorting policy and creating the illusion that we are in a serious pandemic when in fact we are not . ''
The paper noted that legal cases and technical challenges to PCR mass-testing are growing across Europe , including in the U.K. '' A false positive pseudo-epidemic is a well described phenomenon in the medical literature which results in an exponential rise in diagnosed cases and deaths but no excess deaths , '' the British @ @ @ @ @ @ @ study published by the peer-reviewed journal Nature found no transmission of the coronavirus among people in close contact with asymptomatic patients .

Nearly half of small-business owners across the nation are at risk of closing by year's end due to the lockdowns implemented in response to the coronavirus pandemic, according to a survey.
About 48% of the owners say they are generating revenues below what they need to stay in business, according to Alignable's Small Business Funding Needs report, Fox Business reported.
The report surveyed 6,300 U.S. business owners during the first week of December.
"It's been nine long, frustrating months for small business owners as they’ve worked tirelessly to save their businesses, livelihoods, and the jobs of everyone they employ," said Alignable CEO Eric Groves in the report.
TRENDING: Is this the 'Final Battle'?
Groves said the Paycheck Protection Program passed by Congress was only a short-term fix. His organization reported 87% of small-business owners say they need additional funds to survive.
Fully 60% said the need is "critical."
About 82% of the business owners surveyed sought loans of up to $100,000.
'Studies'
Will small business owners be able to survive? Yes No Completing this poll entitles you to WND news updates free of charge. You may opt out at anytime. You also agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use You're logged in to Facebook. Click here to log out. 4% (4 Votes) 96% (89 Votes)
Many business owners question "the science" upon which politicians say they rely.
A reporter for the Los Angeles Fox TV affiliate who asked L.A. County Supervisor Sheila Kuehl to provide the evidence behind shutting down outdoor dining in Los Angeles was met with sarcasm.
Kuehl's office said it was "so glad FOX 11 is interested in science," according to Bill Melugin. The reporter received 12 studies but none had anything to do with outdoor dining.
Melugin said he followed up and asked which studies Kuehl used in her decisionmaking.
"They were unable to answer that question," he said.
Yesterday, I reached out to @SheilaKuehl's office to request the "six studies" she claimed to have highlighting outdoor dining risk. They told me they're "so glad FOX 11 is interested in science" & provided me these 12 studies. None of them analyze outdoor dining. @FOXLA https://t.co/kLNo47pwac pic.twitter.com/pJhFdnGxKK — Bill Melugin (@BillFOXLA) December 9, 2020
And business owners can't be faulted for suspecting the politicians who have closed their businesses don't believe what they say.
The Fox affiliate discovered Kuehl was found dining at a Santa Monica Italian restaurant hours after she voted to move ahead with the ban on outdoor restaurant dining.
But she's one of many across the nation who have been credibly accused of hypocrisy. Among them are Kuehl's governor, Gavin Newsom, who famously was spotted dining indoors with a large group at one of the state's most expensive restaurants.
The toll on business owners was expressed in an emotional video posted on social media by the owner of an L.A. eatery, Angela Marsden. She was overcome by tears as she showed a catering company just 90 feet from her outdoor dining area that was set up one day after L.A. forced her to close her business.
See Angela Marsden's video:
'The near-draconian lockdowns'
Even Joe Biden's coronavirus adviser was once against lockdowns, warning in a March 21 op-ed for the Washington Post of the high economic and social costs of "the near-draconian lockdowns" in effect at the time in China and Italy, which ultimately don't reduce the number of cases, only stretching them out over time.
Michael T. Osterholm, a professor and director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, advocated the strategy now promoted by epidemiologists at Stanford and Oxford advising Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis: With a 99% survival rate for most, according to the Centers for Disease Control, let the healthy go about their business while protecting the vulnerable, the people over 70 with multiple life-threatening diseases.
Osterholm wrote in his Washington Post piece that "the best alternative will probably entail letting those at low risk for serious disease continue to work, keep business and manufacturing operating, and 'run' society, while at the same time advising higher-risk individuals to protect themselves through physical distancing and ramping up our health-care capacity as aggressively as possible."
"With this battle plan, we could gradually build up immunity without destroying the financial structure on which our lives are based," he said.
In November, however, Osterholm advocated a national lockdown of four to six weeks.
In an MSNBC interview on Nov. 19, he falsely predicted "we're going to see hospitals collapsing in the next two to three weeks." He said that "even if we did everything we could right now, we would still not turn this thing around for literally three to four more weeks."
The CDC estimates a 99.997% survival rate for those from birth to age 19 who contract COVID-19. It's 99.98% for ages 20-49, 99.5% for 50-69 and 94.6% for those over 70.
Those who died of coronavirus, according to the CDC, had an average of 2.6 comorbidities, meaning more than two chronic diseases along with COVID-19. Overall, the CDC says, just 6% of the people counted as COVID-19 deaths died of COVID-19 alone.
In a July podcast that resurfaced this week, White House coronavirus adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci admitted the widely used PCR tests pick up harmless fragments of the coronarvirus, resulting in many false-positive cases that result in overstating the threat. In August, the New York Times examined PCR testing data in three states and found "up to 90 percent of people testing positive carried barely any virus."
WND reported earlier this month an external peer review concluded a major paper supporting the PCR test for COVID-19 has 10 "serious flaws," resulting in many false positive cases.
A briefing published by four British scientists concluded PCR testing is "distorting policy and creating the illusion that we are in a serious pandemic when in fact we are not."
The paper noted that legal cases and technical challenges to PCR mass-testing are growing across Europe, including in the U.K.
"A false positive pseudo-epidemic is a well described phenomenon in the medical literature which results in an exponential rise in diagnosed cases and deaths but no excess deaths," the British researchers write.
WND reported Monday a study published by the peer-reviewed journal Nature found no transmission of the coronavirus among people in close contact with asymptomatic patients.
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wnd--2020-12-11--Deficit? Limbaugh says congressional concern 'has been bogus as long as it's been around'

[ Editor 's note : This story originally was published by Real Clear Politics . ]
The king of debt was of two minds .
At least , he was during his first try at election .
Give him eight years , Donald Trump bragged then to Bob Woodward , and he ’ d pay off the national debt , no problem .
The future president was more sober a few weeks later .
Sure , he told Fortune , he could pay it off , but the thing about fiscal responsibility is that it requires fiscal sacrifice .
“ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to be , ” explained the famous self-promoter who had financed a real-estate empire and who was then on his way to wiping away a primary slate of more qualified Republican contenders , not by promising to cut back but by pledging to go big .
“ I 'd rather not be so aggressive , ” he admitted .
“ Do n't forget : We have to rebuild the infrastructure of our country .
We have to rebuild our military , which is being decimated by bad decisions .
We have to do @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 'The big one ' : Trump intervenes in Texas case at Supreme Court Some of those things happened ( defense spending has increased each year ) .
Some did not ( “ infrastructure week ” was only ever a joke ) .
As president , Trump and a compliant Congress were both of the build-now-pay-later mindset .
The national debt grew from $ 19.5 trillion the day he took office to $ 27.4 trillion now as President-elect Joe Biden prepares to move in and assume the mortgage .
The moment he sits down @ @ @ @ @ @ @ greet Biden with rewarmed Tea Party-era talking points about how dangerous it is to carry such a high debt load .
Never mind that they ignored or enabled or cheered four years of deficit spending .
The GOP is already singing the old deficit song .
Sen. Lindsey Graham , who will helm the Budget Committee if Republicans hold on in Georgia and keep the majority , told reporters that he looks forward to “ a dialogue about how can we finally begin to address the debt.
” Sen. John Thune of South @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that such a focus would mean “ getting back to our DNA.
” Of course , a Biden White House will call “ malarkey.
” Democrats have heard all of this before , including from the same Republicans who criticized Barack Obama , but cheered Trump , for deficit spending .
Fiscal responsibility ?
Please .
“ Republicans never really cared about the budget deficit .
It was always a political tactic , ” one of Obama ’ s economic advisers , Jared Bernstein , told the Atlantic in 2018 .
“ With @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , ‘ Go ahead and finance it with massive deficit spending.
” The Grand Old Party talks about fiscal responsibility when in the minority , he said , but the GOP in the majority is about doling out “ goodies to their donor base.
” Now a senior fellow at the liberal Center on Budget and Policy Priorities , Bernstein has been tapped to serve as on Biden ’ s Council of Economic Advisers .
His advice to the incoming president ?
“ Seize those opportunities ” afforded by the pandemic to spend @ @ @ @ @ @ @ may have greased the skids for him ; the outgoing president spent more than Obama during good times and much more during a crisis .
Trump is the rare Republican who regularly complained when the Federal Reserve contemplated increasing interest rates .
He favored an easy money policy to juice the economy , and when he thought a strong dollar was harming U.S. exports , he sniped at Fed Chairman Jerome Powell on Twitter .
Repeatedly .
Inflation fears be damned .
Before the coronavirus burned a path across the country , on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ( and counting ) , Trump ’ s Treasury secretary insisted that the debt “ was very manageable.
” This was on brand for Steven Mnuchin , disgruntled deficit hawks quietly grumbled .
They griped that he was Democrats ’ favorite Republican , “ waving the white flag of surrender ” during negotiations with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi .
Spending subsequently spiked in 2019 and 2020 , just as it did during the two years prior when Republicans controlled both the House and the Senate .
Before Trump took office , the nonpartisan @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that his proposed agenda would add $ 4.6 trillion to budget deficits between 2017 and 2026 , excluding interest .
Counting from the start of the administration to the beginning of the pandemic – the first three years of his presidency -- the committee now figures that deficits increased by $ 3.9 trillion .
The tax cuts , the marquee achievement of a Republican House and Senate , make up $ 2.3 trillion of that number .
Increased defense spending adds $ 950 billion , and increased non-defense discretionary spending , another $ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ taken together , these $ 3.9 trillion of tax cuts and spending will lead to about a 15 percent of GDP increase in debt by 2026 , ” the CRFB reported before noting that “ this debt was also approved by Congress , about half on a broad , bipartisan basis.
” Fiscal conservatives remember brief moments where it seemed as though Trump might himself come around and thereby prick the conscience of Republicans who had punched their political ticket by condemning Obama ’ s tax-and-spend policies .
His first budget director , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ hawk from the House Freedom Caucus who had given then-Speaker Paul Ryan fits over spending during the waning years of the Obama administration .
Under Mulvaney , and later Russ Vought , the OMB churned out conservative budget proposals full of cuts and attempts to balance federal ledgers .
Predictably , these plans went nowhere in Congress , and Mulvaney would privately complain to colleagues that “ in Washington , budgets are either paperweights for the desk or doorjambs for the floor.
” Trump shocked Washington another time when he threatened to veto @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the blue one morning in March 2018 .
He eventually signed that omnibus , citing the need to keep the military funded , but he vowed never again to sign “ another bill like this.
” But he did sign similar legislation , a behemoth $ 1.4 trillion omnibus , the next year to avert a shutdown just five days before Christmas .
“ Trump just doesn ’ t care about spending , ” the leader of a prominent grassroots organization explained on condition of anonymity .
“ There were moments when @ @ @ @ @ @ @ he just lacked follow-through.
” Asked about the fiscal situation during a meeting with congressional conservatives last year , the president told lawmakers , “ We ’ re going to handle that in ‘ year five.
’ ” A source present for the conversation recounted how Trump had predicted that in a second term he would “ cut so much spending that you are going to call me and say , ‘ Please stop cutting , Mr. President , please stop the cutting.
” But there will be no year five , at @ @ @ @ @ @ @ conservatives are left wondering what could have been .
They have another , more-real , worry as Biden prepares to take office with his own plans to spend big : Will anyone listen to them this time ?
It was news when Sen. Ted Cruz previewed the inevitable Republican rediscovery of fiscal conservatism if his party is again left in the minority on Capitol Hill .
Cruz told Axios that while the tax cuts had added to the debt , a pro-growth posture is necessary to reducing deficits .
“ Do I wish @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the president to rein in spending and the debt ?
Yes .
He did n't run , principally , on reining in spending and deficit and debt .
That 's not what he promised to do , ” added the runner-up to Trump in the 2016 GOP primary season .
“ We had real differences between us — and you know what , the voters made a decision.
” The difference isn ’ t between Trump and Cruz anymore .
It ’ s between an out-of-power GOP and an ascending Democratic Party led @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
“ Democrats are the party of higher taxes , more regulations , and socialist spending sprees — which is why it ’ s crucial Republicans maintain a majority in the Senate , ” Cruz told RCP .
“ I ’ ll continue working to rein in our out-of-control spending , while fighting for economic opportunity and fiscal sanity.
” This battle will follow a familiar script , and Republicans will find comfort in their old pre-Trump roles .
The Republican Study Committee , the largest , most organized group of conservatives in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ vanguard of that effort , and its new chairman admits that “ Republicans have definitely lost their way , we ’ ve lost the moral high ground when it comes to fiscal responsibility.
” At the same time , Rep. Jim Banks adds , “ it ’ s not like Democrats have picked it up .
...
They 're going to expose themselves over the next four years as the party of reckless spending , and it 'll be an easy opportunity for Republicans.
” Sen. Rand Paul , who eulogized the Tea @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , offered the same self-diagnosis on behalf of his party .
“ Republicans are always more fiscally responsible in the minority , ” the Kentucky Republican said .
“ Problem is , Democrats are , if anything , more fiscally irresponsible in the majority.
” This pithy analysis is an open secret .
Mulvaney , upon becoming White House chief of staff , made the same point during an address at Oxford University .
“ The worst thing in the whole world is deficits when Barack Obama was the president , ” he @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Post .
“ Then Donald Trump became president , and we ’ re a lot less interested as a party.
” And that is exactly the problem with any renewed Republican debt rhetoric , says former South Carolina Rep. Mark Sanford : “ It will be lip service.
” He launched a symbolic but short-lived primary challenge against Trump last year to try to force a discussion on what he saw as Republican fiscal hypocrisy .
He doesn ’ t give his former colleagues a pass for running up deficits because Trump didn @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
“ What matters is what you do when you have power , ” he said of the last four years , “ and Republicans did not exercise their ability to have an effect on that front.
” Maybe all the deficit hawks really are dead and Republicans are only saying the things they said under Obama to survive under Biden .
Rush Limbaugh certainly thinks so .
“ Nobody is a fiscal conservative anymore , ” the radio host admitted in 2019 after years of railing against Obama spending .
“ All @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and the budget has been bogus for as long as it 's been around.
” Then again , maybe the conversation about top-line spending numbers is too simplistic .
Perhaps what will emerge is a more nuanced deficit hawk .
“ You ca n't divorce debt and deficit from the policy priority that it is being used to fund , ” said one introspective senior Senate Republican who admitted that the GOP was “ too focused on deficit ” during the Obama era and had “ overlearned the lessons ” of 1970s inflation @ @ @ @ @ @ @ profligate , viewed this way , while spending on Green New Deal under Biden wouldn ’ t be either – at least to liberals .
“ If you explained that decision to our grandkids , ” the Republican said of the spending dichotomy , “ they would probably think it makes sense.
” Why even return to an old spending orthodoxy that Republicans preached but never really practiced ?
The spending programs and priorities are obviously relevant , said Oren Cass , the executive director of American Compass , a right-of-center think tank @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and failures of the Trump presidency .
But , he added , the principles about what constitutes acceptable levels of spending or debt should not fluctuate based on the party of the administration .
“ As Republicans think about the different policy levers at their disposal , they have to grapple with the success that things like low interest rates and lots of spending seem to generate rather than just trying to claim that tax cuts and deregulation are what got the job done , ” Cass argued before name-checking and then rejecting @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , who opposes deficit spending as counterproductive redistribution .
“ It ’ s pretty clear that tax cuts were an enormous success by any measure , ” Moore said of the budget policies he helped design .
“ My own view on this right now is that growth is the answer to almost all of these problems.
” Moore would not defend Republicans who defaulted on their debt promises though he did say that federal borrowing at low interest rates isn ’ t necessarily a bad thing .
But as Republicans prepare for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ economist encouraged them to fight Biden “ on every single penny that he wants to spend.
” They ought to reject as erroneous , he continued , “ this total mythology that government spending stimulates the economy .
It just does n't .
All it does is rob Peter to pay Paul — there is no positive return to almost any government spending.
” “ I mean , if you believe that then you 're not a Republican , ” he added .
“ You ’ re a Democrat.
” [ Editor 's @ @ @ @ @ @ @ by Real Clear Politics . ]

[Editor's note: This story originally was published by Real Clear Politics.]
By Philip Wegmann
Real Clear Politics
The king of debt was of two minds. At least, he was during his first try at election.
Give him eight years, Donald Trump bragged then to Bob Woodward, and he’d pay off the national debt, no problem. The future president was more sober a few weeks later. Sure, he told Fortune, he could pay it off, but the thing about fiscal responsibility is that it requires fiscal sacrifice. “It depends on how aggressive you want to be,” explained the famous self-promoter who had financed a real-estate empire and who was then on his way to wiping away a primary slate of more qualified Republican contenders, not by promising to cut back but by pledging to go big.
“I'd rather not be so aggressive,” he admitted. “Don't forget: We have to rebuild the infrastructure of our country. We have to rebuild our military, which is being decimated by bad decisions. We have to do a lot of things.”
TRENDING: Is this the 'Final Battle'?
Some of those things happened (defense spending has increased each year). Some did not (“infrastructure week” was only ever a joke). As president, Trump and a compliant Congress were both of the build-now-pay-later mindset. The national debt grew from $19.5 trillion the day he took office to $27.4 trillion now as President-elect Joe Biden prepares to move in and assume the mortgage.
The moment he sits down behind the Resolute Desk, Republicans will greet Biden with rewarmed Tea Party-era talking points about how dangerous it is to carry such a high debt load. Never mind that they ignored or enabled or cheered four years of deficit spending. The GOP is already singing the old deficit song.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, who will helm the Budget Committee if Republicans hold on in Georgia and keep the majority, told reporters that he looks forward to “a dialogue about how can we finally begin to address the debt.” Sen. John Thune of South Dakota, the second-ranking Republican, said that such a focus would mean “getting back to our DNA.”
Of course, a Biden White House will call “malarkey.” Democrats have heard all of this before, including from the same Republicans who criticized Barack Obama, but cheered Trump, for deficit spending. Fiscal responsibility? Please. “Republicans never really cared about the budget deficit. It was always a political tactic,” one of Obama’s economic advisers, Jared Bernstein, told the Atlantic in 2018. “With their own tax cut, they said, ‘Go ahead and finance it with massive deficit spending.” The Grand Old Party talks about fiscal responsibility when in the minority, he said, but the GOP in the majority is about doling out “goodies to their donor base.”
Is the congressional concern for debt 'bogus'? Yes No Completing this poll entitles you to WND news updates free of charge. You may opt out at anytime. You also agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use You're logged in to Facebook. Click here to log out. 94% (15 Votes) 6% (1 Votes)
Now a senior fellow at the liberal Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, Bernstein has been tapped to serve as on Biden’s Council of Economic Advisers. His advice to the incoming president? “Seize those opportunities” afforded by the pandemic to spend boldly. The irony is that Trump may have greased the skids for him; the outgoing president spent more than Obama during good times and much more during a crisis.
Trump is the rare Republican who regularly complained when the Federal Reserve contemplated increasing interest rates. He favored an easy money policy to juice the economy, and when he thought a strong dollar was harming U.S. exports, he sniped at Fed Chairman Jerome Powell on Twitter. Repeatedly. Inflation fears be damned.
Before the coronavirus burned a path across the country, on its way to extinguishing 286,000 American lives (and counting), Trump’s Treasury secretary insisted that the debt “was very manageable.” This was on brand for Steven Mnuchin, disgruntled deficit hawks quietly grumbled. They griped that he was Democrats’ favorite Republican, “waving the white flag of surrender” during negotiations with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Spending subsequently spiked in 2019 and 2020, just as it did during the two years prior when Republicans controlled both the House and the Senate.
Before Trump took office, the nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget estimated that his proposed agenda would add $4.6 trillion to budget deficits between 2017 and 2026, excluding interest. Counting from the start of the administration to the beginning of the pandemic – the first three years of his presidency -- the committee now figures that deficits increased by $3.9 trillion.
The tax cuts, the marquee achievement of a Republican House and Senate, make up $2.3 trillion of that number. Increased defense spending adds $950 billion, and increased non-defense discretionary spending, another $700 billion. “We estimate that taken together, these $3.9 trillion of tax cuts and spending will lead to about a 15 percent of GDP increase in debt by 2026,” the CRFB reported before noting that “this debt was also approved by Congress, about half on a broad, bipartisan basis.”
Fiscal conservatives remember brief moments where it seemed as though Trump might himself come around and thereby prick the conscience of Republicans who had punched their political ticket by condemning Obama’s tax-and-spend policies.
His first budget director, Mick Mulvaney, was a bare-knuckled fiscal hawk from the House Freedom Caucus who had given then-Speaker Paul Ryan fits over spending during the waning years of the Obama administration. Under Mulvaney, and later Russ Vought, the OMB churned out conservative budget proposals full of cuts and attempts to balance federal ledgers. Predictably, these plans went nowhere in Congress, and Mulvaney would privately complain to colleagues that “in Washington, budgets are either paperweights for the desk or doorjambs for the floor.”
Trump shocked Washington another time when he threatened to veto a $1.3 trillion spending bill out of the blue one morning in March 2018. He eventually signed that omnibus, citing the need to keep the military funded, but he vowed never again to sign “another bill like this.” But he did sign similar legislation, a behemoth $1.4 trillion omnibus, the next year to avert a shutdown just five days before Christmas.
“Trump just doesn’t care about spending,” the leader of a prominent grassroots organization explained on condition of anonymity. “There were moments when it seemed like he might, but he just lacked follow-through.”
Asked about the fiscal situation during a meeting with congressional conservatives last year, the president told lawmakers, “We’re going to handle that in ‘year five.’” A source present for the conversation recounted how Trump had predicted that in a second term he would “cut so much spending that you are going to call me and say, ‘Please stop cutting, Mr. President, please stop the cutting.”
But there will be no year five, at least not sequentially, and disillusioned fiscal conservatives are left wondering what could have been. They have another, more-real, worry as Biden prepares to take office with his own plans to spend big: Will anyone listen to them this time?
It was news when Sen. Ted Cruz previewed the inevitable Republican rediscovery of fiscal conservatism if his party is again left in the minority on Capitol Hill. Cruz told Axios that while the tax cuts had added to the debt, a pro-growth posture is necessary to reducing deficits.
“Do I wish that it was a higher priority for the president to rein in spending and the debt? Yes. He didn't run, principally, on reining in spending and deficit and debt. That's not what he promised to do,” added the runner-up to Trump in the 2016 GOP primary season. “We had real differences between us — and you know what, the voters made a decision.”
The difference isn’t between Trump and Cruz anymore. It’s between an out-of-power GOP and an ascending Democratic Party led by Joe Biden in the White House. “Democrats are the party of higher taxes, more regulations, and socialist spending sprees — which is why it’s crucial Republicans maintain a majority in the Senate,” Cruz told RCP. “I’ll continue working to rein in our out-of-control spending, while fighting for economic opportunity and fiscal sanity.”
This battle will follow a familiar script, and Republicans will find comfort in their old pre-Trump roles. The Republican Study Committee, the largest, most organized group of conservatives in the House, will likely be the vanguard of that effort, and its new chairman admits that “Republicans have definitely lost their way, we’ve lost the moral high ground when it comes to fiscal responsibility.” At the same time, Rep. Jim Banks adds, “it’s not like Democrats have picked it up. ... They're going to expose themselves over the next four years as the party of reckless spending, and it'll be an easy opportunity for Republicans.”
Sen. Rand Paul, who eulogized the Tea Party on the Senate floor in 2019, offered the same self-diagnosis on behalf of his party. “Republicans are always more fiscally responsible in the minority,” the Kentucky Republican said. “Problem is, Democrats are, if anything, more fiscally irresponsible in the majority.”
This pithy analysis is an open secret. Mulvaney, upon becoming White House chief of staff, made the same point during an address at Oxford University. “The worst thing in the whole world is deficits when Barack Obama was the president,” he explained in audio obtained by the Washington Post. “Then Donald Trump became president, and we’re a lot less interested as a party.”
And that is exactly the problem with any renewed Republican debt rhetoric, says former South Carolina Rep. Mark Sanford: “It will be lip service.” He launched a symbolic but short-lived primary challenge against Trump last year to try to force a discussion on what he saw as Republican fiscal hypocrisy. He doesn’t give his former colleagues a pass for running up deficits because Trump didn’t run on that particular issue. “What matters is what you do when you have power,” he said of the last four years, “and Republicans did not exercise their ability to have an effect on that front.”
Maybe all the deficit hawks really are dead and Republicans are only saying the things they said under Obama to survive under Biden. Rush Limbaugh certainly thinks so. “Nobody is a fiscal conservative anymore,” the radio host admitted in 2019 after years of railing against Obama spending. “All this talk about concern for the deficit and the budget has been bogus for as long as it's been around.”
Then again, maybe the conversation about top-line spending numbers is too simplistic. Perhaps what will emerge is a more nuanced deficit hawk. “You can't divorce debt and deficit from the policy priority that it is being used to fund,” said one introspective senior Senate Republican who admitted that the GOP was “too focused on deficit” during the Obama era and had “overlearned the lessons” of 1970s inflation. Military spending under Trump was not profligate, viewed this way, while spending on Green New Deal under Biden wouldn’t be either – at least to liberals. “If you explained that decision to our grandkids,” the Republican said of the spending dichotomy, “they would probably think it makes sense.”
Why even return to an old spending orthodoxy that Republicans preached but never really practiced? The spending programs and priorities are obviously relevant, said Oren Cass, the executive director of American Compass, a right-of-center think tank trying to make sense of the successes and failures of the Trump presidency. But, he added, the principles about what constitutes acceptable levels of spending or debt should not fluctuate based on the party of the administration.
“As Republicans think about the different policy levers at their disposal, they have to grapple with the success that things like low interest rates and lots of spending seem to generate rather than just trying to claim that tax cuts and deregulation are what got the job done,” Cass argued before name-checking and then rejecting the views of Trump adviser Stephen Moore, who opposes deficit spending as counterproductive redistribution.
“It’s pretty clear that tax cuts were an enormous success by any measure,” Moore said of the budget policies he helped design. “My own view on this right now is that growth is the answer to almost all of these problems.” Moore would not defend Republicans who defaulted on their debt promises though he did say that federal borrowing at low interest rates isn’t necessarily a bad thing. But as Republicans prepare for the next four years, the conservative economist encouraged them to fight Biden “on every single penny that he wants to spend.”
They ought to reject as erroneous, he continued, “this total mythology that government spending stimulates the economy. It just doesn't. All it does is rob Peter to pay Paul — there is no positive return to almost any government spending.”
“I mean, if you believe that then you're not a Republican,” he added. “You’re a Democrat.”
[Editor's note: This story originally was published by Real Clear Politics.]