An insight: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez & Socialism

Since the June 26, primary election, when it became shockingly clear that Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, 28, soundly defeated longtime incumbent Democrat U.S. Rep. Joseph Crowley in New York’s 14^th House District,  Americans across the country have been inundated with the inanities uttered, and bizarre antics engaged in, by the full-of-herself, newly elected New York Congresswoman.

AOC is a former presidential campaign organizer for Bernie Sanders. Crowley 56, who had served in congress over two decades was seen as a possible replacement for Nancy Pelosi as the leader of the House Democrats — prior to the election returns coming in. He has not had a primary challenger since 2004, when Ocasio-Cortez was too young to vote. 

She prances and dances, as she spews her radical ideology and redistributionist ideas which many find atrocious, others foolishly amusing and still others grasping at them as if being thrown a life-jacket. The latter groups are the ones in dire need of education.

Knowledgeable people who are familiar with history and economics shudder at her notions of taxing the wealthiest Americans at a 70% marginal tax rate in order to fund her “Green New Deal.”

High earners are not the enemy. They are most frequently job creators who make the American Dream possible for other Americans. They are also who previous generations of Americans desired to emulate, not decimate.

Under AOC’s Green New Deal, every building in the nation would have to be rebuilt to comply with her radical climate change goals, which would include eliminating all air travel within the next ten years. Yes, you read that right! AOC has unilaterally deemed that the earth can only survive another dozen years without swift action.  When questioned about how to fund all of these projects, she shrugs and says, “We’ll print more money “

Ocasio-Cortez embraces the description of radicalism, wildly distorting it to fit her contrived image of herself:

“It only has ever been radicals that have changed this country,” she said. “Abraham Lincoln made the radical decision to sign the Emancipation Proclamation. Franklin Delano Roosevelt made the radical decision to embark on establishing programs like Social Security. If that’s what radical means, call me a radical.”

The best counter to Ocasio-Cortez and her ilk is fact-based truth.  Take time to read, “Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez fails miserably at dissociating her socialism from Venezuela’s,” by Monica Showalter and posted at American Thinker. You’ll be glad you did.  It’s a well-written exposé of the global failures of Socialism, always with the same abysmal results. 

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Trump’s constitutional right to declare nat’l border emergency

Although the left is going ballistic over President Trump’s assertion that he will declare a national emergency to build a wall on our southern border if congress fails to act, the ability to do so is not a new construct emanating from the Trump White House.

The National Emergencies Act was enacted by Congress in 1976, when it was signed into law by President Gerald Ford. It has no specific definition of what is considered an emergency, but has historically been invoked during unusual threats to the nation. There have been 58 national emergencies declared since the act‘s inception. Thirty-one of them remain in effect today.

In 1979, Pres. Jimmy Carter initially put the act to use to declare a national emergency freezing all Iranian government assets in the U.S. in response to the Iran hostage crisis. His national emergency is still in place and has been renewed annually by successive presidents, as required by law.

Pres. George W. Bush declared national emergency acts following the September 11, 2001 attacks. In all, he declared 13. As president, Barack Obama declared national emergencies on 12 foreign relations issues that have also been renewed.

Appearing Friday night with Tucker Carlson, U.S. Army Colonel (ret.) Douglas Macgregor makes the case that President Trump has the Constitutional power, the authority and duty to declare a national emergency on our southern border and craft an Executive Order to delineate precisely what the army must do to appropriately repel invaders. We are already flooded with an estimated 30 million illegal aliens who cost American taxpayers $billions to educate, medicate and, in too many instances, adjudicate and incarcerate. Estimates are they incur nearly $20 billion annually in Medicaid costs, alone.

The Army Corps of Engineers is specifically trained to do the job, having secured other nation’s borders. They, not the national guard, need  to get to work on the wall, a task that is not incompatible with the Corps’ broad mission.

Col. Macgregor provides an in-depth assessment of Mexico’s long standing hostility towards the United States. The informative interview is compelling. Take five minutes to watch it. It’s well worth your time.

 

Pres. Trump’s (sub) mission plan

Following a historic naturalization ceremony in the White House on Saturday, President Donald Trump addressed the issue (video) of the partial government shutdown and the nation’s need of a border wall.

All along, the president has remained steadfast, noting there can be no border security without the wall. He previously stated, “I remain ready and willing to work with Democrats to pass a bill that secures our borders, supports the agents and officers on the ground, and keeps America safe. Let’s get it done! Sadly, there can be no REAL Border Security without the Wall!”

The Administration has requested $5.7 billion for construction of approximately 234 miles of new steel barrier on the southern border. Intransigent Democrat Leaders, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi have refused to discuss wall funding, although Democrats strongly supported even greater expenditures prior to the Trump presidency. This is the senate vote on the Secure Fence Act of 2006, which overwhelmingly passed with bi-partisan support by 80 – 19.  Now Pelosi dismisses Trump’s proposal as a “non-starter.”

President-elect Donald Trump unequivocally stated he would terminate DACA, (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals), an executive order — bypassing congress — signed into law by Obama in 2012. It originally provided an exemption from deportation and a renewable two-year work permit, but it’s end theme is full-blown amnesty and American citizenship. Center for Immigration Studies provides facts and figures.

Now President Trump is in deal making mode, offering a DACA giveaway in exchange for wall money. Extortion is a crime. Capitulating to extortionists is reckless lunacy engaged in by those backed against a wall — in this case not metaphorically.  Vice President Mike Pence and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, who are watching the polls and not taking the pulse of Republican voters, are reportedly behind this preposterous capitulation scheme.

When originally proposed, those applying for the gift of U.S. citizenship needed only to affirm they were 16 years of age or younger when they initially entered the United States and were currently 35 years of age or younger. With the passage of time, it’s safe to assume the ages have changed to accommodate the applicants. They have to declare that they have been persons of good moral character since initially being brought to the U.S. as children by their parents — illegally. Verifying how many came as babes in arms or ably propelled themselves over the border last year at age 35 is impossible to substantiate. Many are now grandparents. They will also be voters, most assuredly in the Democrat camp. 

President Trump’s most fervent supporters voted for him because of his promise to build a wall to secure the USA from invasion and crime.  The invasion continues and crime is rampant.

If he moves forward with this capitulation, he will not win the Democrats, but he will lose his base.

Pelosi OKs failed, substandard border security sans wall

Nancy Pelosi is frozen in time in more ways than her overly nipped-and-tucked, botoxed face. She has now declared that she has the answer to securing our southern border — by implementing technology rather than constructing a physical barrier and utilizing trained border agents. She obviously has no commitment to curtailing the invasion, since leftists look at these lawbreakers as the future heft of the Democrat party.

We’ve all witnessed Nancy’s mental lapses, but this latest blunder should have at least caught the attention of her aides, who could have righted her listing memory.

This SRAZ post, “Virtual  fence is a virtual flop,” was written nearly a dozen years ago, but couldn’t be more timely. As we wrote at the time, the entire high dollar project ended up being scrapped, due to the clumsy incompetence of the Bush administration’s Homeland Security Secretary, Michael Chertoff, the contractors and the failed system itself.

Chertoff, a former federal judge appointed by George W. Bush, was a Hillary Clinton supporter in 2016 and currently works at Covington the same law firm with a massive lobbying presence where former AZ Sen. Jon Kyl and Barack Obama’s onetime Attorney General, Eric Holder, each hang their hats.

The NY Times reported the Obama administration spent $1 billion before the Department Homeland Security canceled the ineffective ‘Virtual Fence.’ Then-homeland [In]security Secretary Janet Napolitano (previously Arizona’s calamitous governor), acknowledged her decision to end the five-year-old project, because it “does not meet current standards for viability and cost effectiveness.”

…And besides, it’s just taxpayer’s money. There’s more where that came from. And truth be told, Democrats have no desire to stem the tide of illegals.

More bull from the Senate’s “Sell Out Six”

Leftist media mischaracterize border wall as “Trump’s.”  It’s OURS!

Here we go again. Compromise to Republicrats and Leftists always includes provisions for granting amnesty to illegal invaders.  It’s the old song and dance that John McCain and Jon Kyl peddled for years, followed by the same two-step with performers McCain and Flake, as we noted back in 2013. McCain minced no words telling us we had to accept amnesty.

In its latest incarnation, there’s a new component added to the mix. It’s the reliable magician’s trick of misdirection, which falls flat when wily senators rather than David Copperfield are on stage. Cunning and deceit are not showstoppers.  Americans are weary of the porous border, its accompanying crime and the lies being proffered to cover the deception.

Six RINO Senators including Lindsey Graham,(SC); Thom Tillis,(NC); Lamar Alexander,(TN); Rob Portman,(OH); Lisa Murkowski,(AK); and Susan Collins,(ME) are swaying and swooning to the ludicrous amnesty and farcical DACA tune, as they play to their business class campaign donors desirous of cheap labor.

Then Presto! Graham has an epiphany, issuing this statement chiding House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for “her refusal to negotiate on funding for a border wall/barrier — even if the government were to be reopened”… opining, “It is time for President Trump to use emergency powers to fund the construction of a border wall/barrier.”

Earlier Graham concluded that under a potential deal “the president gets his security funding and can add some things to the mix that would draw some bipartisan support.” 

Let’s get this single fact straight: Making deals with the devil makes you a demonic pawn.  Graham, a member of the infamous “Gang of Eight,” was integral to the many versions of McComprehensive Immigration Reform, despised by American citizens. Their frustration set the stage for the presidency of Donald J. Trump, who fully comprehended the level of discontent and remains keenly aware that border security is national security.  

Graham obviously missed the fact that Pelosi said there will be no funding for any type of border barrier — although she does make her priorities clear. The ability to fund killing human babies remains paramount, yet national security is “immoral.”

It’s time to put the numbers in perspective. The Immigration Reform Law Institute’s 2017 study revealed illegal immigration to the U.S. costs federal, state and local taxpayers a staggering net cost of $116 billion a year — an increase of $16 billion compared to previous estimates. Consider the relative costs as the Washington Post reports today that “another caravan of illegal invaders is forming in Honduras, with plans to embark next week on a journey that will once again test the immigration policies of Mexico and the United States.”

Galahad Flake defends Sinema

The news that jobless RINOcrat Jeff Flake has donned his armor— not to set out to seek the Holy Grail—- but to defend the honor of Kyrsten Sinema, should not come as surprise. Flake is engaging in whatever provocative actions he can to reignite his relevancy just long enough to land a job. What better way to catch the attention of leftist networks CNN or MSNBC, where he could inveigle permanent employment as a renegade Republican?                               

Flake’s days of trying to pass himself off as a conservative are long gone.  In its place is the bared provocateur auditioning for a full-time perch on a left-wing network where he reliably bashed President Trump as a prized turncoat guest.

Arizona’s GOP National Committeeman Bruce Ash, currently the object of intra-party conservative wrath, was obviously trying to hone his credentials by commenting that Sinema looked more like “Senator Madonna” than the “Senator Barbie Doll” image that filled her 2018 senate campaign ads.

Ash noted that Sinema’s politics and positions will “lean further left than the dumb ass people on our side ever imagined,” when they left their ballots blank in the race between Sinema and Republican candidate Martha McSally, “which led the way to her being seated in the U.S. Senate this past week.”

Unemployed Flake responded with this tweet:

No, @kyrstensinema won because she ran a good race and had a message that resonated with Arizona’s voters. The sooner we Republicans recognize this, the sooner we will we be in a position to win the next contest.

Complement bestowing Flake neglected to say that Sinema never mentioned her party affiliation in her deceit-based campaign. Both Sinema and Martha McSally now hold Arizona’s two U.S. Senate seats. After Jon Kyl stepped down to resume his lucrative D.C. lobbying gig, Gov. Ducey appointed Martha McSally to fill the seat previously occupied by John McCain.

And Ash? In 2016, Seeing Red AZ reported on the lunacy that defines Bruce Ash. With the passage of time, he has only become more unhinged.

Ducey swears in Dems: Proof of AZ GOP ineptitude

This morning at 10:00 Gov. Doug Ducey will preside over the inauguration of newly elected state officers. The spiffy invitation is topped by a copper-toned replica of the state seal. The text is embossed on high quality, ivory card stock. To the untutored eye, it looks elegantly celebratory.  But the hard truth is, of the five state officers being sworn in, two are Democrats, newly elected to formerly Republican-held posts.

Republican Mark Brnovich was reelected attorney general as was Joe Hart, state mine inspector. Former state senator Kimberly Yee was victorious in her bid for state treasurer.

The debate can rage over what caused the upsets. The striking  #REDSforEd unionist teachers, who abandoned approximately 840,000 students in over 1,000 Arizona public schools for more than a week, claim credit for the eminently unqualified Democrat Kathy Hoffman winning the Superintendent of Public Instruction and Katie Hobbs now a heartbeat away from the Governor’s office. Republicans also lost a seat on the utilities’ rate-setting corporation commission. Five of Arizona’s nine congressional district seats are now in the Dem column.

There’s plenty of blame to be spread around, but as the sign on Pres. Harry Truman’s desk spelled out, “The buck stops here,” meaning with him, since he was in charge. The same analogy can be made with Jonathan Lines, the Republican state chairman. He lives approximately 200 miles away in Yuma, with his wife and 11 children, runs a business in the area and rarely shows his face at Republican headquarters. He is the marionette to string-pulling Robert Graham’s puppeteer. Arizona Republicans need leadership, not someone taking orders from the representative of the Republican syndicate. Frank Thorwald, the backup candidate, conveniently works with Graham.  And Graham?  He’s been censured, barred and fined $15,000 for alleged violations of Massachusetts  securities laws, according to a consent order from the state’s securities regulator.

Dr. Kelli Ward, a former two-term state senator is challenging the bungling Lines. She’s knowledgeable and familiar with the process. We have the rare occasion to elect a Trump-supporting conservative who speaks our language and is not beholden to the establishment. The statewide GOP Statutory Meeting is Sat. January 26, 2019. If you are an elected state delegate, be sure to cast your ballot for Dr. Kelli Ward.